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Canal

Srimad-Bhagavatam

SB Canto 4

SB 4.25.14, Translation and Purport:

That city was surrounded by walls and parks, and within it were towers, canals, windows and outlets. The houses there were decorated with domes made of gold, silver and iron.

The body is protected by walls of skin. The hairs on the body are compared to parks, and the highest parts of the body, like the nose and head, are compared to towers. The wrinkles and depressions on different parts of the body are compared to trenches or canals, the eyes are compared to windows, and the eyelids are compared to protective gates. The three types of metal—gold, silver and iron—represent the three modes of material nature. Gold represents goodness; silver, passion; and iron, ignorance. The body is also sometimes considered to be a bag containing three elements (tri-dhātu): mucus, bile and air (kapha, pitta and vāyu). Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke. According to Bhāgavatam (10.84.13), one who considers this bag of mucus, bile and air to be the self is considered no better than a cow or an ass.

SB 4.25.14, Purport:

The body is protected by walls of skin. The hairs on the body are compared to parks, and the highest parts of the body, like the nose and head, are compared to towers. The wrinkles and depressions on different parts of the body are compared to trenches or canals, the eyes are compared to windows, and the eyelids are compared to protective gates. The three types of metal—gold, silver and iron—represent the three modes of material nature. Gold represents goodness; silver, passion; and iron, ignorance. The body is also sometimes considered to be a bag containing three elements (tri-dhātu): mucus, bile and air (kapha, pitta and vāyu). Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke. According to Bhāgavatam (10.84.13), one who considers this bag of mucus, bile and air to be the self is considered no better than a cow or an ass.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta

CC Adi-lila

CC Adi 7.97, Translation:

“Compared to the ocean of transcendental bliss that one tastes by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, the pleasure derived from impersonal Brahman realization (brahmānanda) is like the shallow water in a canal.

CC Adi 11.50, Purport:

One can visit Baḍagāchi by taking the Lālagolā-ghāṭa railway line. Formerly the Ganges flowed by Baḍagāchi, but now it has become a canal known as the Kālśira Khāla. Near the Muḍāgāchā station is a village known as Śāligrāma in which King Kṛṣṇadāsa arranged for the marriage of Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu, as described in the Bhakti-ratnākara (Twelfth Wave). It is sometimes said that Navanī Hoḍa was the son of Rāja Kṛṣṇadāsa. His descendants still live in Rukuṇapura, a village near Bahiragāchi. They belong to the dakṣiṇa-rāḍhīya-kāyastha community, but, having been reformed as brāhmaṇas, they still initiate all classes of men.”

CC Adi 17.117, Purport:

Yamunākarṣaṇa-līlā is the pastime of attracting the Yamunā. One day, Śrī Baladeva wanted the Yamunā River to come before Him, and when the river Yamunā refused, He took His plow, wanting to dig a canal so that the Yamunā would be obliged to come there. Since Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the original form of Baladeva, in His ecstasy He asked everyone to bring honey. In this way, all the devotees standing there saw the yamunākarṣaṇa-līlā. In this līlā, Baladeva was accompanied by His girlfriends. After drinking a honey beverage called Vāruṇī, He wanted to jump into the Yamunā and swim with the girls.

Other Books by Srila Prabhupada

Teachings of Lord Caitanya

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 19:

Lord Caitanya further informed Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī: “Because I have full faith in My spiritual master's words, I always engage in chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. I do not know how I have become just like a madman, but I believe the name of Kṛṣṇa has induced Me. I have realized that the transcendental pleasure derived from chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare is just like an ocean, in comparison to which all other pleasures, including the pleasure of impersonal realization, are like the shallow water in canals.”

Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead

Krsna Book 41:

They observed that the gate of Mathurā was made of first-class marble, very well constructed, and that the doors were made of pure gold. There were gorgeous orchards and gardens all around, and the whole city was encircled by canals so that no enemy could enter very easily. They saw that all the crossroads were decorated with gold and that there were copper and brass storehouses for stocking grain. And there were many rich men's houses, all appearing symmetrical, as if constructed by one engineer.

Krsna Book 59:

To enter the city of Prāgjyotiṣa-pura was not a very easy task, because it was very well fortified. First of all, there were four strongholds guarding the four directions of the city, which was well protected on all sides by formidable military strength. The next boundary was a water canal all around the city, and in addition the whole city was surrounded by electric wires. The next fortification was of anila, a gaseous substance. After this, there was a network of barbed wire constructed by a demon of the name Mura. The city appeared well protected even in terms of today's scientific advancements.

Krsna Book 59:

When Kṛṣṇa arrived, He broke all the strongholds to pieces by the strokes of His club and scattered the military strength here and there by the constant onslaught of His arrows. With His celebrated Sudarśana cakra He counteracted the electrified boundary, annihilated the canals of water and the gaseous boundary, and cut to pieces the electrified network fabricated by the demon Mura. By the vibration of His conchshell, He broke the hearts of the great fighters and also broke the fighting machines that were there. Similarly, He broke the walls around the city with His invincible club.

Renunciation Through Wisdom

Renunciation Through Wisdom 2.3:

From the ocean of loving compassion, which had been completely dammed up, Lord Nityānanda cut a canal of love of Godhead and flooded the entire world. And then some persons called caste Gosvāmīs, claiming to be the Lord's descendants, again dammed up that ocean of mercy with their malpractices of fruitive activities and rituals. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura once more cut open the canal of love of Godhead and brought in the flood waters. And now are we, of all persons, trying once more to dam it up like the caste Gosvāmīs? By the influence of the good association of the Lord's devotees, even a fool and rascal like me, possessed of a destructive, demoniac mentality, can accumulate enough piety to become inspired to serve the Supreme Lord.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 5.1:

The Supreme Lord's energy often works in subtle ways, but where it ultimately takes us is inconceivable to the human mind.

The mundane processes for elevation are, after all, initiated by intelligent human brains. They are like man-made canals: useful for easy transportation from one place to another, but otherwise of limited utility. Human efforts are imperfect, and therefore they keep us in the material world.

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 6.16-24 -- Los Angeles, February 17, 1969:

People laughed. "Gandhi is declaring war with the Britishers, so powerful, British Empire." And actually after the Britishers lost India, they lost all Empire. Because that was the jewel of British Empire. They lost all possession in the Far East, they lost possession in Egypt, they lost possession on Suez Canal, everything lost. So determination is so nice thing. Go on.

Devotee: "She began to pick out the water in her small beak, and everyone laughed at her for her impossible determination. The news of her activity spread, and at last Garuḍa, the gigantic bird carrier of Lord Viṣṇu, heard it."

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 6.1.6 -- Bombay, November 6, 1970:

That is not fact. They... Even though they have reached the moon planet, it is not a fact that there is no living entity. Accepting they reached the moon planet, they might have gone to the part where it is desert or barren land, because in each and every planet there is such possibility. In our, this planet also, when I was passing through the Suez Canal, it is horrible desert. So if somebody drops in that Arabian desert and concludes that there is no living entity in this planet, it is simply foolish. Similarly, these people are going, maybe going... First of all, I don't believe they have gone, frankly speaking. Even they have gone, they are landing in some part of the moon planet where there is no inhabitation.

Conversations and Morning Walks

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- February 28, 1973, Jakarta:

Prabhupāda: Before I had four—one wife and one only daughter but both (indistinct) passed away, and widower. So I was anywhere safe alone, widower, so I left Japan '63, for India first. (indistinct) Kabul, Peshawar and Tehran, Karachi and come here '66. Too long, (indistinct) easiest place to live, easiest places to live. But too long (indistinct) So I will leave from here maybe next year (indistinct) Alexandria, Egypt and from there along the south coast Mediterranean up to Rabat, Morocco. Before pre-war time I was several times (indistinct) Suez Canal (indistinct)

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 20, 1974, Hawaii:

Prabhupāda: Moon planet?

Nitāi: No, this is the Martian... They call them "the Martian canals." So they think that although the life there may not be like we have here, that there may be some living beings there. They consider... What they consider living being is something that could live on this planet. That's what they consider living. So they think that Mars and Venus, because they're very close to this planet-out of all the planets that they know, those two are the closest—that on those two planets, there may be life like on this planet.

Morning Walk -- February 25, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: This is sea, and that's a canal or a river only, small.

Dr. Patel: They are... So far as the custom hygiene is concerned, I mean, the... We have actually been teaching personal hygiene through religion. This is the only country that...

Prabhupāda: But that is also hygienic. After passing stool, they are taking bath in the river. That is good hygiene.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, yes.

Prabhupāda: That is good hygiene.

Morning Walk -- April 17, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: We have... (break) "...one sect. Because we are sitting in Haridvar, and people will come here. And A.C. Bhaktivedanta, he is going." So...

Dr. Patel: Bhaktivedanta has formed a canal to take the spiritual India.

Prabhupāda: So they are now envious. (break) Abaddha karuṇā sindhu, katiya mohan, abaddha karuṇā sindhu, katiya mohan... That "All men, you take..." "Nityānanda has cut open the stagnant water, and now it is overflooded."

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation With Yogi Bhajan and Jain Muni -- July 21, 1975, San Francisco:

Yogi Bhajan: As far as Golden Temple is concerned, that is their result... (Hindi) They have lot of temples and a lot of good word, (?) and let them learn to by themselves. (Hindi) I have no time to spoil(?) it. He is great. That is what I want to learn, how he can do that. And I don't believe that. My territory they define. It starts... It ends at the Suez Canal.

Prabhupāda: Suez Canal means whole Mediterranean.

Yogi Bhajan: Yes, Mediterranean. And there I have up to Singapore, Malaysia. So I said, "Well, you have forgotten writing down Burma, and you never wrote a word about India, so good-bye." That is not our territory.

Morning Walk -- October 8, 1975, Durban:

Prabhupāda: And that Suez Canal is closed, complete?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: No, it's open again. (break) It is not as Westernized as in a place like Nairobi.

Prabhupāda: The Africans are all thieves.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Here there is not as much stealing as in Nairobi. (break) I think they have had to amputate afterwards, mangled by the shore. It happens frequently. On some of the beaches here they've put up signs that "There are many sharks in the water. It is dangerous to bathe here." Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā, "Amongst fish, I am the shark." (Prabhupāda chuckles) He shaved off his beard yesterday, this young boy. He shaved off. He had beard. He shaved off.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 12, 1976, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: Yes. He could at least save the American government from catastrophe, how to drain before finishing this Panama Canal. The Panama Canal is an engineering feat, sir. The two sides, seas, are uneven, and they have made locks in the.... You must have seen that. No? They have locks. One side, sea is higher than the other, and they allow the ships to get to the middle lock, then pump in water and then bring on that side. Engineers must be knowing, you know. We had to study all these things, medical history.

Prabhupāda: So many medicines, vitamin D, vitamin C...

Morning Walk -- March 9, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: ...if there is water. And if there is lowland, the whole water will go to the lowland. And that means you have two or three canals, there will be no more flood.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So you need the land to make the canals.

Prabhupāda: That's it.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Emergency yajña.

Prabhupāda: Yes. You convince him like that.

Yaśodānandana: This is very clever.

Room Conversation -- May 4, 1976, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: This philosophy, it is science. Without water you cannot produce. This is science. This is not imagination. So if you want to surpass nature, then you do practically. Why should you try to bring canal water or well water? Don't bring. You cannot surpass the laws of nature. That has to be accepted.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Their main point is that they want to manipulate expertly the laws of nature.

Prabhupāda: That means let them waste their time. Therefore it requires many births to understand this law. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19).

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

Vipina: The water is too rough for the boats to travel, so they made this artificial canal so boats could travel without getting wrecked, and they could transport their items of sense gratification in that way. They used to have mules that pulled the boats with ropes alongside here, these pathways, pulled them through the canal.

Prabhupāda: It will grow mosquitoes, mosquito plant.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Mosquitoes. When the devotees came back from India, many got malaria, Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

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

Vipina: That's why they had to build this canal, because it was too rocky for boats. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...potency of hari-nāma-kīrtana, everyone will join. We have to be sincerely working, then everything... Kṛṣṇa will. Natural, even child, drunkard, sane man, everyone was.

Vipina: Yes, they were all dancing.

Prabhupāda: The proof was there.

Morning Walk -- July 18, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: They propagated the Thames River as very big river. And when I first saw it, it is canal. (laughter)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Canal. And the Ganges they said was nasty. Thames was a river and the Ganges was...

Prabhupāda: Jamesford, Lord James. That Jamesford is a village only. Some big man, little, take the title lord and go and become governor there. And when some Indian comes they say that Lord Jamesford was traveling in third-class compartment in railway.

Room Conversation -- August 17, 1976, Hyderabad:

Guest: (Bengali) We decide a date, and take... Not too... We have no means for having too many people, but about dozen people, or ten people can come. And they will have all facility. We can arrange a station wagon and everything there. You have to come up to Kore Canal(?) Road Station. And if you like we shall arrange for your departure from Madras. We will come with you. We will accompany you all the way. (Bengali conversation interspersed) When you come there I'll get everything ready. It is settled you are coming at there earliest.

Prabhupāda: Yes. When they'll make program, conveniently.

Guest: I'm leaving on 29th morning. If you can give me a word by tomorrow evening. Not 29th, 19th. Today is 17th.

Room Conversation -- October 31, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: I saw in London... Near London there is a village, Chelmsford, and he is Lord Chelmsford. We thought Chelmsford, the big state. (laughter) We were under the impression, Thames River is four times bigger than Ganges and (laughter) it is a canal. When I saw it, it is nothing but a canal. But they advertise this river, very big river. And underneath the water, men are going, and upper and wonderful. Big Ben, that Big Ben advertisement.

Haṁsadūta: Yeah.

Prabhupāda: Parliament. All photograph (laughter) actually. Downing Street, 10 Downing Street, Prime Minister's office and so on. And actually it's all (chuckles) no importance. Parliament, big, big advertisement. People are still going, they are paying fees to see.

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- December 7, 1976, Hyderabad:

Mahāṁśa: This whole rocky area which we see here used to be like a natural dam, and the land on that side which is now our field used to be a big tank so the soil there is very good. It's like silt. But then, afterwards, somebody had cut through this natural dam and there's a canal that flows through here and goes into that tank over there.

Prabhupāda: The canal is in our land?

Mahāṁśa: Yes, it passes through our land. Plenty of water, and it goes and flows into that land, into that tank.

Prabhupāda: So but you cannot use that?

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- December 7, 1976, Hyderabad:

Devotee: You can see the canal from here. You can see (indistinct).

Hari-śauri: Just down there at the base of that rock.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Devotee: Water from the canal.

Prabhupāda: It is coming? You can go?

Mahāṁśa: I think the ground becomes muddy.

Jagadīśa: Go and check, Jagadānanda.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Discussion about Kumbhamela -- January 8, 1977, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: I tell you, this vicious propaganda of the government... I have got a small hill, fifteen bigas, on a highway, Bombay highway, with canal waters irrigating my land and a well with pump and everything. Last year we spent nine thousand rupees on fertilizer and all things and other paraphernalia, and pay for the servants. And they got paddy worth six thousand rupees.

Prabhupāda: Three thousand lost.

Evening Conversation -- January 25, 1977, Puri:

Prabhupāda: Hm. Through Atlantic.

Hari-śauri: Yes. We had to go Atlantic and right 'round the tip of Africa and across the Indian Ocean, because the Suez Canal was finished then. It was blocked by the war.

Prabhupāda: Suez Canal still not open?

Hari-śauri: No.

Prabhupāda: What they have done, these...? They were getting, minimum, fifty thousand rupees daily.

Room Conversation -- October 12, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: No. Throw the earth this side and that side. Automatically it will be like a small canal.

Kīrtanānanda: Put crocodiles. (laughter)

Bhavānanda: Śrīla Prabhupāda, I was somewhat disturbed after the incident, but I'm feeling much better now. After that, in the jail, and I was discouraged, I was feeling, "Oh, Śrīla Prabhupāda is working so hard to develop this Māyāpur, and the people don't appreciate it or... What is the use?" But that I think was... That's all gone now. So many people, they're coming, and books are being distributed. Increase.

Correspondence

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Brahmananda -- Los Angeles 26 February, 1968:

Flying Enterprise on the 14th of January, 1968. As such, the ship should have reached by now New York, so please take information immediately whether the ship has arrived and also send immediately one letter to the United Shipping Corp. I think nowadays it takes a long time to arrive in New York from Calcutta on account of the Suez Canal being closed. Anyway, you should find out the list of arriving ships from the port information and do the needful. If the ship is arrived recently, send them a telegram why the documents not received.

1976 Correspondence

Letter to Gopala Krsna -- Honolulu 20 May, 1976:

You mentioned that there is not much land available next to the Bengali temple. That will not suit us. In any case send me a site sketch of the available land, giving length and breadth. However, we do not want some land on one side of the canal and some land on the other side of the canal. All the land must be in one piece, together, not separately. If the government gives us 30 acres of land then we shall attempt, otherwise, let it be postponed. We are not anxious to construct next to the Bengali temple, but send the dimensions of the available land in any case.

Letter to Hamsaduta -- Honolulu 29 May, 1976:

You were there in Kuruksetra when Mr. Gupta, the Chief Minister verbally agreed to grant us land and support. You should personally negotiate with Mr. Gupta as Caitya Guru is not so important to deal with him. I wrote one letter to Gopala Krishna dated May 20, 1976, wherein I mentioned that we must have the land all in one piece, not some on this side of the canal, and some on the other side. If the government gives us 30 acres (which was proposed to me by Gopala Krishna) in one piece, then we can attempt. If the land next to the Bengali temple is too small, we are not particularly anxious to construct next to the Bengali temple. But we must have the land in one piece sufficient for our purposes. Also, I will require a sketch of the available land, giving length and breadth. But you should personally do the transaction with the Chief Minister, don't depend on Caitya Guru.

Page Title:Canal
Compiler:Visnu Murti, Krsnadas, RupaManjari
Created:08 of Sep, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=2, CC=3, OB=6, Lec=2, Con=19, Let=3
No. of Quotes:35