Bugs (Conversations)

Expressions researched:
"bug" |"bug's" |"bugs"

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

These bugs, bedbugs, they produce by this blood.

Morning Walk -- December 2, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupada: Ah. So increase the fire. Yes. But because we have got this body, we have to utilize it to make the best use of a bad bargain. Therefore marriage is allowed, grhastha life is allowed, not for increasing sex life, but to finish it as soon as possible.

Svarupa Damodara: But, Srila Prabhupada, even in the very lower forms of life, there are some species, they reproduce without any sex? It's called asexual reproduction.

Prabhupada: Yes, yes. Oh yes. These bugs, bedbugs, they produce by this blood. You kill...

Svarupa Damodara: We cannot check reproduction.

Prabhupada: No, how can you check? There are so many living entities. They have come to this material world to enjoy. So the reproduction must go on. Just like you cannot stop the jail. You come out, but another is ready to enter it. That is not possible.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

The bug is also there. The mosquito is also there. The leader is also there. So, so many bodies, they are in the same room, but the enjoyment is not the same.

Morning Walk -- January 18, 1974, Hawaii:

Prabhupāda: Today you are living on the twenty-fourth floor of this skyscraper, and tomorrow you may become a rat in that room. How you can change it? It is not in your power. The rat is also in the same room and you are also in the same room. Who has made this arrangement?

Nitāi: So they say...

Prabhupāda: The bug is also there. The mosquito is also there. The leader is also there. So, so many bodies, they are in the same room, but the enjoyment is not the same. Leaser's enjoyment is not exactly like the occupier of the room.

No. They're eating this. They can eat stone and digest.

Morning Walk at Marina del Rey -- July 14, 1974, Los Angeles:

Bali Mardana: There's little flies and bugs.

Kṛṣṇa-kānti: They're called sand fleas.

Bali Mardana: Sand fleas.

Prabhupāda: No. They're eating this.

Jayatīrtha: Garbage.

Bali Mardana: This?

Rāmeśvara: Those are the stones.

Prabhupāda: They can eat stone and digest.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

The sveda-ja means just like these bugs. Wherefrom the bugs in the bed come? Is there any laboratory arrangement?

Morning Walk -- April 2, 1975, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: The same argument, vṛścika-tāṇḍula-nyāya: "Vṛścika, the scorpion, is coming out of the heaps of rice." That... It does not mean the rice is produced the scorpion. That is foolishness. Rice, the heaps of rice, it does not create any scorpion. We have to get down here?

Tamal-kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Four sources of life: aṇḍa-ja, udbhi-ja, jarāyu-ja and sveda-ja. Sveda-ja. The sveda-ja means just like these bugs. Wherefrom the bugs in the bed come? Is there any laboratory arrangement?

Pañcadraviḍa: No.

Prabhupāda: So why these rascals do not understand? The bugs come from the perspiration. So in the perspiration, there is all chemicals, and the bug is coming. Now, where is their chemical? Who has put here chemical? This grass is coming. How it is coming?

Just like bugs, bed bugs. Due to your perspiration of the body, the bed being unclean, they come.

Morning Walk -- June 10, 1975, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: Four kinds of generating process is there. So what they have studied? That germs come out perspiration, that is already accepted in the Vedas. Under certain circumstances the germs come by, what is called? Scientific name?

Siddha-svarūpa: I don't know.

Prabhupāda: Just like bugs, bed bugs. Due to your perspiration of the body, the bed being unclean, they come.

Harikeśa: So the capability was already there in like seed, and you just watered it.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes.

Just like unclean bed they produce bugs. The man gets perspiration, bad perspiration, and in contact with air, with this perspiration, the living entity comes. That is bug. This is called sveda-ja, "out of perspiration."

Room Conversation with Dr. John Mize -- June 23, 1975, Los Angeles:

John Mize: True, but the egg in the mother has been fertilized by the male sperm, whereas the egg laid by a chicken was not fertilized...

Prabhupāda: Not necessarily. They have got that potency. There are four kinds of birth: from the egg, from the vegetable, from fermentation, and from embryo. So from any of these four kinds of sources the living entity come out. Aṇḍa-ja, udbij-ja, jaraya-ja, and sveda-ja, the Sanskrit name. Sveda-ja, simply by perspiration. Just like unclean bed they produce bugs. The man gets perspiration, bad perspiration, and in contact with air, with this perspiration, the living entity comes. That is bug. This is called sveda-ja, "out of perspiration." Your coat, shirt, if you don't cleanse, or your body is unclean, you will find so many moths within the shirt. How it is coming? From the perspiration, bad perspiration, bad smell. Not that every time the male female combination required. There are other sources also.

Nim is very, very antiseptic. Therefore it is natural, the flies and bugs, they are afraid of.

Morning Walk -- August 27, 1975, Vrndavana:

Upendra: They don't like nim? The flies.

Prabhupāda: That ask them. (laughter) You do not expect all answers from me, whether the flies like or not like. This is antiseptic. Nim is very, very antiseptic. Therefore it is natural, the flies and bugs, they are afraid of. Yes.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

That is called sveda-ja. Just like from perspiration, bugs are coming out. Sveda-ja.

Morning Walk -- June 8, 1976, Los Angeles:

Candanācārya: Some devotees are saying that cockroaches are coming from the vapors of impure things.

Prabhupāda: Yes, they come. That is called sveda-ja. Just like from perspiration, bugs are coming out. Sveda-ja.

Rādhāvallabha: So isn't that life coming from matter?

Prabhupāda: Not matter. From matter is not coming, but they are taking birth.

Hari-śauri: That's the atmosphere that they get born into.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Just like nasty bedding, from your perspiration, if you don't clean, then bugs will come. Sveda-ja. In India, the Europeans they eat meat, and automatically bugs and germs come within their coat and shirt due to bad perspiration.

Morning Walk -- July 5, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Sadāpūta: Do we accept the way bacteria's reproduce, by fission, splitting in half? I know Kapiladeva instructs there are four different methods—the egg, the lump of flesh, etc. The scientists are saying that bacteria split in half and produce two daughter cells.

Prabhupāda: Bacteria is produced from fermentation. Sveda-ja. Just like nasty bedding, from your perspiration, if you don't clean, then bugs will come. Sveda-ja. In India, the Europeans they eat meat, and automatically bugs and germs come within their coat and shirt due to bad perspiration.

Hari-śauri: When you say that they're born from perspiration like cockroaches, does that mean that the eggs are laid by the female and then the atmosphere of perspiration enables the eggs to be hatched? Like that?

Prabhupāda: No, from the perspiration automatically it comes.

Bugs, they come from perspiration. Many, many come by fermentation.

Morning Walk -- July 5, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: The thing is that the scientists may isolate some cockroaches in a box, and they will watch the cockroaches secrete eggs and this or that or whatever—I don't know exactly how the cockroaches...

Prabhupāda: Not, give up cockroach. There are many other living entities, they come from perspiration. Take for..., bugs. Bugs, they come from perspiration. Many, many come by fermentation.

Hari-śauri: Yes, but it seems that form of the bug must come from the form of another bug.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Hari-śauri: So it's very difficult to understand how it comes from perspiration.

Prabhupāda: The form is coming directly. Why from another? The form is, the birth is coming directly.

Hari-śauri: From the perspiration.

Prabhupāda: And those who are coming, they will take that form, buglike form, and drink blood. That is all destined.

Hari-śauri: So just like a spirit soul, say, in a human form.

Prabhupāda: Spirit soul, according to his desires, he's gotten that body. But that body is coming from perspiration. That is the way.

Hari-śauri: So like in our case, the spirit soul takes shelter in the semen.

Prabhupāda: Yes, according to his desire he's given shelter to such and such place, and he comes out with body.

Hari-śauri: And in that case he take shelter in the perspiration.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Daiva-netreṇa. That is by superior administration, he has to take shelter and take out the body, come and act. It requires little brain. The dull meat-eaters cannot understand, the drunkards and meat-eaters.

In this seat there may be some bugs. So the bug is also living on this couch, but he has no understanding.

Interview and Conversation -- July 8, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: Yes. So it is for you, because you cannot sit down cross-legged, we have arranged this couch for you. (laughter) If it is not lavishly decorated, you'll refuse to come here.

Janice Johnson: Why is it necessary to live in such comfort as this for the spiritual...?

Prabhupāda: No, we can live on the street, but you cannot come and see on the street. For you we have arranged. That is the... We can live underneath a tree. That is a... But that does not make any difference. Our point is that you may live materially comfortably—there is no harm—but if you forget your spiritual identity, then you'll remain like animal. Just like sometimes a cat or dog is also allowed to sit on the couch, but that does not mean he has become a human being. He remains a cat and dog because the consciousness is lacking of a human being. In this seat there may be some bugs. So the bug is also living on this couch, but he has no understanding.

Give one example. Just like royal throne. The king is there, and a bug is there. On the throne, both of them are sitting, but king's consciousness and mosquito's consciousness are different. It is not because they are on the same throne, therefore of the same conscious.

Interview with Newsweek -- July 14, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: I can give one example. Just like royal throne. The king is there, and a bug is there.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: On a royal throne there's a king...

Prabhupāda: And the bug.

Rāmeśvara: Also a mosquito may be there also.

Prabhupāda: But the mosquito is mosquito, and the king is king, although they are sitting on the same place.

Bali-mardana: Both sitting on the throne.

Rāmeśvara: Everyone is here on this planet. Some people are affected by the material conditions...,

Prabhupāda: He's mosquito.

Rāmeśvara: He's the bug.

Prabhupāda: This is the best example. On the throne, both of them are sitting, but king's consciousness and mosquito's consciousness are different. It is not because they are on the same throne, therefore of the same conscious. Mosquito's business is to bite, and king's business is to rule over.

I am sitting on this chair and there is a bug also. He is also sitting on this chair. But that does not mean the bug and myself equal. The bug's business is different, my business is different. But superficially, if one sees that the bug and Swamiji's on the same chair, therefore they're all equal?

Evening Darsan -- August 10, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: So twelve thousand dollars means about more than one lakh of rupees. So we are spending that, but not for any other purpose than for Kṛṣṇa's service. Anywhere we speak we are talking only Kṛṣṇa, trying to push on Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is our business. So the platform is different, eh? Externally, one can see, they are also spending so much money for traveling, they are living in a nice house and they have some nice car. But the consciousness is different. Another example in this connection, that I am sitting on this chair and there is a bug also. He is also sitting on this chair. But that does not mean the bug and myself equal. The bug's business is different, my business is different. But superficially, if one sees that the bug and Swamiji's on the same chair, therefore they're all equal? That is not the fact. Similarly, we may be using all these material things, but we have no material business. We have simply spiritual business.

Jīvo jīvasya jīvanam. One life is food for the another life. Kṛṣṇa has made such an arrangement that every living entity has got some service.

Garden Conversation -- September 7, 1976, Vrndavana:

Caraṇāravindam: He is eating all the bugs.

Prabhupāda: Ācchā?

Caraṇāravindam: He eats bugs and those nasty flies.

Prabhupāda: Oh, they eat bugs?

Caraṇāravindam: Yes. They do very good service in gardens. Gardener's friend, the toad. Grass snakes, earthworm and the toad and frog. Gardener's friends. He'll sit there and he'll wait for a fly to come.

Prabhupāda: Jīvo jīvasya jīvanam. One life is food for the another life. Kṛṣṇa has made such an arrangement that every living entity has got some service. So he's allowed to do the service, then he's finished by another living entity.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Just like ordinary insects. He is also living entity. He is enjoying in his own capacity, he's enjoying.

Morning Walk -- January 4, 1977, Bombay:

And the post of vidhi, means Brahmā and Mahendra... What is this? Kīṭāyate. It is just like...

Dr. Patel: Bug.

Prabhupāda: Ha, just like ordinary insects. He is also living entity. He is enjoying in his own capacity, he's enjoying. Vidhi-mahendrādiś ca kīṭāyate yat-kāruṇya-kaṭākṣa-vaibhava-vatāṁ taṁ gauram eva stumaḥ. "It happens so by the little fragmental mercy of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Therefore I offering my obeisances unto you." Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī. Durdāntendriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī protkhāta-daṁṣṭrāyate viśvaṁ pūrṇa-sukhāyate vidhi-mahendrādiś ca kīṭāyate yat-kāruṇya-kaṭākṣa-vaibhava-vatāṁ taṁ gauram eva stumaḥ(Caitanya-candrāmṛta 5). This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mercy. A little mercy will render all this.

They are disturbing; still, you cannot kill them. This is your position. But people are with Flit (a bug killer) killing thousands of mosquitoes and flies, becoming implicated.

Conversation: Animals' Expertise -- April 28, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: So it is very difficult to understand our philosophy, but still, we have to preach. That is our mission. A little drop, maybe like a film or less than that... Still, they are... And again, when you cleanse this, you kill them—you become implicated. You have killed. You have to suffer. They are disturbing; still, you cannot kill them. This is your position. But people are with Flit (a bug killer) killing thousands of mosquitoes and flies, becoming implicated.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We shouldn't kill them. What about if they're biting you, right in the process of biting you?

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Supposing a mosquito is biting you and sucking the blood.

Prabhupāda: Yes, when they bite, you can kill, according to laws of nature. But on the whole, you cannot kill.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You cannot invent means...

Prabhupāda: Therefore mosquito curtain.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Prevention.

Prabhupāda: Prevention is better than cure. They are meant for that purpose. God has made. So instead of killing them, you protect your... But if you are in the service of the Lord, you are not responsible.

So first of all, general, from water. That you have got experience. Fish is coming. As soon as there is some reservoir of water, after some day mosquito will come, fish will come, many other bugs and germs will come, jalajā.

Talk with Svarupa Damodara -- June 20, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Bhramyādbhiḥ. There are different forms of bodies of jīva. That is also stated. Jalajā nava-lakṣānī sthavara lakṣa-vimśati. So first of all, general, from water. That you have got experience. Fish is coming. As soon as there is some reservoir of water, after some day mosquito will come, fish will come, many other bugs and germs will come, jalajā. And their number is also given, nava-lakṣānī. In this way, bhramyādbhir jīva-jāti, the soul, the living entity, is wandering, jīva-jātiṣu. Then he gets a human form of life. The civilization is there. And five thousand years ago Kṛṣṇa said, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). So what this nonsense Darwin will tell us? Rascals. We have already information-jīva-jāti, they are already existing, one after another.

I see at night these small bugs. They have got the same happiness. The husband and wife or the male and female together, jumping and having sex, and everything in a different body. And same thing is going on in higher planetary system. There is no other business.

Room Conversation with Vrindavan De -- July 6, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes... So happiness, unless Kṛṣṇa gives, there is no question of happiness. Our business should be that we may not be uncomfortably living which will disturb our progress of Kṛṣṇa consciousness—that much. Other things? Depend on Kṛṣṇa. If He wants to make you Indra, you become Indra. There is no happiness even by becoming Indra. You... We read from books. Indra is how much disturbed, always fighting, devāsura. He has to fight. The same thing as here. Only difference is the standard of living in the heaven and the duration of life are greater. But if you have to struggle for existence, then what is the use of this duration of life, greater? Simply struggling, where is happiness? So in different planets, in different species of life... I see at night these small bugs. They have got the same happiness. The husband and wife or the male and female together, jumping and having sex, and everything in a different body. And same thing is going on in higher planetary system. There is no other business. Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunam: eating, sleeping, sex, and defense. But breath must be there. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). So one who is intelligent: "So here is unhappiness. Why I'll have to die?" And that can be solved only by Kṛṣṇa consciousness. There is no other.

If you don't attain Kṛṣṇa in this life, then again you go back to the process of birth and death. That's all. And in that process of birth-death, sometimes you become Indra and sometimes you become that small bug, that's all, according to your karma.

Room Conversation with Vrindavan De -- July 6, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: No. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma (BG 4.9). If you don't attain Kṛṣṇa in this life, then again you go back to the process of birth and death. That's all. And in that process of birth-death, sometimes you become Indra and sometimes you become that small bug, that's all, according to your karma. So our struggle should be how to stop this birth and death, punar-janma-jayāya, to conquer over rebirth. That is real life. Again dying, again entering in the mother's womb, lie down packed up for ten months and then again come out, again another chapter begins—is that life? These rascals, they do not understand.

A bug is coming from bed—they think it is automatically. No?

Room Conversation -- November 6, 1977, Vrndavana:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: So these two views, completely opposed. And I'm going to propose that...

Prabhupāda: No, it is a common sense. There is mother and there is children. Where is the father? They have no common sense even. Everything is produced... There are four kinds of living entities: udbhid-ja, sveda-ja, aṇḍa-ja and jarāyu-ja. They do not know anything. You are taking account of the jarāyu-ja, Not udbhid-ja, sveda-ja, aṇḍa-ja. They think the trees are coming automatically. That is their theory. That's not fact. Ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā (BG 14.4). Bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām (Bg 7.10). They do not consider this. A bug is coming from bed—they think it is automatically. No? The bīja-pradaḥ pitā... There are four kinds of births.