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Come to understand (Conversations)

Conversations and Morning Walks

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Interview with Reporters -- November 10, 1971, New Delhi:

Prabhupāda: It is not subject matter to understand immediately. It is a science.

Reporter: Yes, a science.

Prabhupāda: It is a science, jñāna sa vijñāna. So you cannot understand a science in five minutes. That is not possible.

Reporter: Yes. So we were trying to understand... No. We have just come to understand you.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That was others you cannot understand. (laughter)

Reporter: (indistinct) He is trying to tell some kind of parochial (indistinct).

Prabhupāda: If you kindly accept what I say, then it is possible. If you are simply, what I say, if you have faith in me, and if what I say you believe, then you can understand. Other, it is not possible.

Reporter: Can there be an existence without a faith, sir?

Prabhupāda: No. Faith is the beginning. But you have to... If you don't increase that faith scientifically, then that faith will not help you.

Reporter: My (indistinct), sir, that without existence, without faith, there can not be (indistinct).

Prabhupāda: No, no. That I say: faith is the beginning. Faith is the beginning.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation with Author -- April 1, 1972, Sydney:

Author: Yes, well, I'm not trying to... Because I am not an adherent of... I'm not a Hare Kṛṣṇa movement member. That is obvious. And because I am not a member of the movement, I am therefore not trying to do precisely what you gentlemen are saying, but I'll not try to package an unwholesome product like poison...(laughter) Yes, I appreciate that. But what I am trying to do is to describe what is. Now this requires an exercise of the imagination. If you imagine somebody who is outside, as each of you people were at one stage, you came to understand what this movement was by a gradual process. Now I, in a book of about a hundred pages, am going to trace that process, not in the way you did it, but in a slightly different way. But the things that strikes one immediately are these external, superficial characteristics. And then one he comes to appreciate rather more important things. And it's just a question of stating these in that way. Now in order to understand the highest possible things, it surely is necessary to state the superficial things as well, the less important things. It seems to me to be clearly...

Upendra: What Prabhupāda is speaking tonight is very important and it might appear that he is not understanding you but he is actually speaking to you, like you said, necessary (indistinct) so that if you can assimilate everything Prabhupāda is saying tonight, you'll be able to write the book much more clearly. You might think that he is not understanding you, but he is speaking the most important part.

Author: I am not (indistinct) his understanding. I think he is worried about my understanding, which is why he is... Right. Well, I appreciate this, but I am trying to convince him that I am going to try to say accurately what your philosophy is. And in this I'll have to rely on your help, because I can't do it otherwise.

Prabhupāda: I have already explained our philosophy.

Room Conversation -- July 5, 1972, London:

Prabhupāda: Here?

Sumati Morarjee: No, our Prime Minister.

Prabhupāda: Oh, our Prime Minister.

Sumati Morarjee: And they were both (indistinct) for four days, five days, and then they discussed various thing, and now they have come to an understanding that everything must be mutually done, and with the (indistinct), and they have to be...

Prabhupāda: So, what is the use of keeping Pakistan? Let it, let, let, let them have another.

Sumati Morarjee: I know, I know, but what about this Bangladesh also, you'll have to.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Sumati Morarjee: Do something, because I met so many people from Bangladesh they were completely subverting our culture.

Prabhupāda: Ah.

Devotee: That's, we're going there next month. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa. I think you remember him.

Sumati Morarjee: Yes, yes, very well.

Devotee: He's got his visa now, he's taking a party there, to Bangladesh.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 20, 1973, Los Angeles:

Brahmānanda: And they think that's progress.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Progress in one sense. Because they're rascals, making little progress.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Advancing in the wrong direction.

Prabhupāda: But the real progress is that when they will understand that: "We are rascals." That will be real progress, when they come to understand that: "We are all fools and rascals." That will be real progress. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu presented Himself that: "My Guru Mahārāja found me a rascal number one. Yes." That is real progress.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Science is nearing that stage. Science...

Prabhupāda: Because they're going to accept that they're all rascals? That will be the real progress. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). After many, many births of rascaldom, when he comes to Kṛṣṇa and surrenders. Yes. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti (BG 7.19). He is everything. That is real knowledge. (pause)

Svarūpa Dāmodara: A group of scientists are now working on the idea that before we start anything, one should think...

Prabhupāda: No, there is the latest theory. What is this, theory of ignorance? Or what is that? Theory of impossibility, or something like that?

Karandhara: Oh, theory of uncertainty?

Room Conversation with Mister Popworth and E. F. Schumacher -- July 26, 1973, London:

Revatīnandana: See, the habits are one thing. If we understand that it is an undesirable habit, they can be changed. All of us are from meat-eating backgrounds, almost without exception. We've all strictly stopped. We've stopped taking intoxicants. We've stopped gambling and we've stopped illicit sex life, although we were habituated to doing these things, because we came to understand that it was necessary for the advancement of our spiritual life. But the difficulty is that somebody who is so much engrossed in this kind of life, who has made it a pillar of his life, and that by the psychological effect of such habits, he comes to the stage of being so stony-hearted that he does not see the miserable suffering he's putting the animals to unnecessarily. He has no sense for it. Even if it's graphically described to him... I described it to this monk about how conscious the cow is compared to, say, the cauliflower. He couldn't see any difference. No distinction.

Popworth: I'm sorry. Distinction between what?

Revatīnandana: The distinction between killing a cow and cutting off a cauliflower from a plant. He said, "Both are alive." Yes, both are alive. But what is the psychological state of a cow, and what is the psychological state of a cauliflower plant? Practically speaking, he has no psychology. No senses, no mind, no ability to feel elation or suffering. But a cow is a completely different condition. Cow is very nearly to human consciousness. Practically the next birth after a cow, according to the Vedas, is a human birth. So you're putting so much suffering unnecessarily. But he had no sense, not... An intelligent man who can sense that "If I suffer, I don't like it," then when he sees another living entity put into suffering, he thinks, "How I could avoid that suffering for that living entity, because I don't like to suffer." But this gentleman had no conception. He's...

Prabhupāda: There is one moral instruction by Cāṇakya Paṇḍita. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita was a great minister during the time of Mahārāja Candragupta. So he was honorary Prime Minister in the empire. So he has a book of moral instruction. So he says in that moral instruction, who is a learned man. So he gives the description of a learned man, that: mātṛvat para-dāreṣu. Mātṛvat. "Just treat all other women except your wife as your mother." Mātṛvat para-dāreṣu, para-dravyeṣu loṣṭravat. Loṣṭa means as there are so many pebbles lying on the street, you don't care for it, similarly, others' property, others' money you should treat just like these pebbles lying on the street or the garbage lying on the street. Don't touch it.

Morning Walk -- December 6, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Therefore you have to become servant of Kṛṣṇa; you are not responsible. Just like government servant, police, and military kills, but he's not responsible. He's not responsible. Their business is killing, soldiers, but they are rewarded: "Oh, thank you very much. Take this title." Just Arjuna, just like Arjuna killed on the order of Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa gave him cert..., bhakto 'si priyo 'si me: (BG 4.3) "You are My very dear friend. You are my devotee." So we have to act by the order of the Supreme. Then we are not responsible. Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa...

Umāpati: (break) ...I have, I have been reading some of the writings of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, and I have come to an understanding from what I have read that there are, there is, there is a thing called tendency and, and... Well, in other words, the Vedas will teach a man if he is incapable of not killing, of, incapable of not killing, if he's addicted to meat-eating, that there are rules whereby he can eat meat and thereby, under prescribed rules found in the Vedas. And thereby, his pious activity, he can raise to a higher level of understanding. And then there are rules that says, "Thou shalt not eat meat," and therefore one is eligible and must follow those restrictions.

Prabhupāda: Yes. In the beginning...

Umāpati: In the beginning.

Prabhupāda: Just like loke vyavāyāmiṣa-madya-sevā nityā hi jantoḥ. There is tendency for eating meat. Therefore Vedas says that "You can eat meat, but..." Not only Vedas, in other scriptures also. The Jews also say. The Mohammedans also say that you can kill in the synagogue or in the, what is called, mosque, one animal. But not slaughterhouse. No religion prescribes that you open slaughterhouse. No.

Morning Walk -- December 11, 1973, Los Angeles:

Karandhara: The Arabs, some of the Arabs, they say they believe in God, but that everyone else is...

Prabhupāda: Nobody believes in God. That is our proposition. Nobody believes... All this bogus. Now they should come to understand what is God. This, in this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Nobody believes, neither know what is God. Here we are giving the name, the address, the form, the activities, everything of God—Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Let all the Arabians, all the Americans, let come to us. Those who are chief men, intelligent man, we shall convince them. That is our preaching.

Karandhara: There's one Arab leader, he goes to the temple five times a day, he doesn't eat meat, er, doesn't drink liquor or smoke or go out with women...

Prabhupāda: Yes, these are, these are prohibited in Muhammadan villages.

Karandhara: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Yes. But still it is good. To some extent, he's advanced.

Karandhara: He doesn't allow any liquor shops or tobacco shops in this country.

Prabhupāda: Yeah, that's good.

Karandhara: Khadafi.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 18, 1974, Bombay:

Girirāja: (reading) "This māyā or illusory struggle for existence is immediately stopped. Lord Brahmā, who has full control over the Goddess of learning and who is considered to be the best authority in Vedic knowledge, was thus perplexed, being unable to understand the extraordinary power manifested in the Supreme Personality of Godhead." (break)

Prabhupāda: ...muhyanti yat sūrayaḥ. Tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye muhyanti yat sūrayaḥ. (break) ...said that unless one comes to understand the inconceivable power of God, there is no meaning of God.

Dr. Patel: It is inconceivable to conceive God.

Prabhupāda: No, no, inconceivable power of God. God is in your presence.

Dr. Patel: No, no, but His personal power is inconceivable. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...understand the inconceivable power of God. (break) First of all he has to come to the sattva-guṇa. Sthitaḥ sattve prasīdati.

Morning Walk -- May 3, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dr. Patel: Then I was not able to grasp it, though I am born Vaiṣṇava from my right birth. (break)

Yaduvara: Lord Indra is saying that Kṛṣṇa is so merciful that without punishing the offenses of the demons, that He devises means so that their false prestige is subdued. How is that? How does he devise means without punishment.

Prabhupāda: This is the device, that he agitated Indra, and he came down and surrendered unto Him. This is the device. Not directly punishing. That he came to understand what is the value of Kṛṣṇa.

Yaduvara: "My dear Lord, You are the supreme father, supreme spiritual master and supreme king." (break)

Prabhupāda: ...accepted by Indra is all described in the Bhagavad-gītā. (break) ...composed after Mahābhārata.

Yaduvara: "Due to my gross ignorance, I created great disturbance in Vṛndāvana by sending torrents of rain and heavy hailstorms." (break)

Prabhupāda: ...first of all, being observed by father of Kṛṣṇa. It is very important. (break) ...necessity of tapasya, if one worships Kṛṣṇa? Nārādhito yadi haris tapasā tataḥ kim. And after austerities, if he does not know Kṛṣṇa, then what is the value of his tapasya? (break) ...imitating here, that is lust.

Dr. Patel: Anything with a view on the sex is lust.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is lust. Here everything is lust. Center is lust. Yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tuccham (SB 7.9.45). The central point is sex.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- March 2, 1975, Atlanta:

Rūpānuga: People will speculate so many theories as to why the hairs are coming out but then after some time they will see that theory is wrong they'll have to present a new one.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is their rascaldom.

Rūpānuga: And until they come to understand that Kṛṣṇa is pushing it, then they will never understand what's actually causing everything to grow.

Dr. Wolf: False ego.

Prabhupāda: That's it. So give something.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: The last chapter is entitled "Intellectual Amalgam, Psycho-social Implications." That will be Rūpānuga...

Prabhupāda: What is it?

Rūpānuga: It was their idea. In a book like this there has to be some social conclusion as to the effects of such atheistic theories.

Prabhupāda: Yes, the people are being misguided. That we want to stop. They have got this human form of body, that is an opportunity to understand himself and God and act accordingly. Now they are being misled. It is a social disservice. Cheating. In the name of scientist, they are exploiting this innocent person, taking their money and spoiling it without any good result.

Conversation with Devotees on Theology -- April 1, 1975, Mayapur:

Prajāpati: They are simply word-jugglers. They are not held nearly so tight to...

Acyutānanda: Well, then, what's some of the things they invent?

Prajāpati: Well, one we were bringing up is that theology is a means that faithful men are coming to understand themselves, not that are approaching God. One approaches God within a community and within...

Prabhupāda: That a faithful man understands God, that we say. Then what is the basic principle of theology? Why this separate science has been established as "theology"? Logy means science.

Prajāpati: Yes. From the Christian point of view, the science is there simply that man does not accept simply by sentiment or by faith, but he can have his mind convinced as well.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Acyutānanda: But that has to be there. So what is the self according to theology?

Prajāpati: Again, Christian... In Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we can ask such a question. "What does the Bhagavad-gītā or Kṛṣṇa consciousness say about the self or about Kṛṣṇa?" But in theology it's not so cut and dried. There's so many different authorities, each one saying a different thing.

Acyutānanda: Well, that's why I said...

Prajāpati: You must say, "So and so says..."

Pañcadraviḍa: Or they say, "At the time of judgement, a man must stand before the ever-living God and he will be held, called, held accountable for his actions during this life."

Conversation with Devotees on Theology -- April 1, 1975, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: That is all right. Anyone who chants Hare Kṛṣṇa, he becomes purified. It doesn't matter what he is.

Ravīndra-svarūpa: Many of them are afraid to accept our movement or our philosophy because they feel that their personal religion is threatened, that they'll have to stop being a Christian. So when I earlier mentioned that to start some Christian group, the idea was to have some people who are professing to be Christians, but they are taking the word of Jesus to the deepest point where he says that "There are many things I have not revealed to you, and you will understand them by the grace of the Holy Spirit." So they could have a Christian group where people worshiped Lord Jesus as their spiritual master and simultaneously worshiped Kṛṣṇa. And they could introduce that to develop more knowledge of God one can read the Bhagavad-gītā, one can follow the instruction in the Bible by chanting the names of God, and they would have better access to Christians than those of us who are wearing robes or shaving our heads.

Prajāpati: Better the same people to understand that Śrīla Prabhupāda meets all the qualifications that Jesus Christ met, plus more in he is here, and he is the Christ. Christ is the anointed one of God.

Ravīndra-svarūpa: Yes. So we have to bring them to that understanding, but we have to understand also that they're afraid, that their own faith will be shaken. So if you can give them more knowledge, then they can come to understand that. So if they... You have said that we accept Jesus as our guru. So if someone was practically worshiping, so then they could see. They could not deny. When a devotee says to them, "Yes, I'm accepting Jesus in my heart," They could not deny. If they are, for instance in a person, householder's home-he's worshiping Kṛṣṇa, and he's having a picture of you and a picture of Jesus—then there's no way they can deny that they are not Christians. And they could have access to a lot of the young Christian groups. (break)

Morning Walk -- April 2, 1975, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: That is, means another death. You check death by death. That's all. These are all rascals. You are not yet convinced that these, they are rascals. That is your defect.

Pañcadraviḍa: I went to see my grandfather when he was dying. They said, "We have a nice arrangement. He's going to die in two weeks. Don't tell him. He'll die peacefully in his sleep." That was their arrangement.

Prabhupāda: Coma.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Many of the scientists actually believe in God, and they think that by experimentation, they'll come to understand God more and more.

Prabhupāda: That is another thing. That we admire, that you are trying to understand God. But there is no God, and they are becoming God—that is nonsense.

Rāmeśvara: Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Rāmeśvara: Some people say that Darwin was paid by the British...

Prabhupāda: Yes, I said.

Rāmeśvara: ...to make propaganda.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Morning Walk -- May 8, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: They are trying. That is admitted. But, they are concluding that there is no operator. That is their foolishness, because they have failed to find out. They have to go further, further, and see, "Yes, there is operator." That is the final part of the... That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān mām (BG 7.19). So after many, many births of sincere inquiry, when he is actually intelligent, he will see, "Oh, vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti (BG 7.19). Here is Vasudeva. He is everything." That is stated. He'll enquire. Go on enquiring, life after life. And then he'll come to understand vāsudevaḥ-sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ. You did not read this verse? They will come, after much trouble, much enquiry, they will come to the same conclusion, vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti (BG 7.19). But they'll waste time. That's all. When we say, "Here is operator," they will not take. But they'll waste time, and life after life laboring, one day they will come.

Jayadharma: Does that mean that everybody is ultimately on the way back home? Back to Godhead?

Prabhupāda: Yes, everyone is enquiring, but according to his intelligence, perfection, he is making progress. Everyone. Everyone, because he is meant for that purpose. He has forgotten Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa is the reservoir of all pleasure. He is trying to find out pleasure other than Kṛṣṇa, therefore he is being baffled. Unless he comes to Kṛṣṇa there is no pleasure. That he does not know.

Paramahaṁsa: We have a saying in the West that curiosity killed the cat.

Morning Walk -- May 8, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: Another example as I gave, crying children, child, crying, crying, crying, crying. As soon as he is on the lap of his mother, immediately stops. Why? He can understand, "Now I have got the real thing." Other woman taking, he still continues crying. You have seen it? This is practical. But when the child comes to the lap of his own mother, he immediately stops. Mother also takes care, "My dear child, come." He sucks the breast and is satisfied.

Gaṇeśa: So one day the material scientist after many, many births will come to understand Vasudeva or Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Gaṇeśa: They will become devotees.

Prabhupāda: But that is their foolishness. We, people, Kṛṣṇa conscious people say, "Here is your ultimate goal of this science. Take it." That they will not take. That is foolishness. They will come to the same point. But when you offer him, he will not take. That is less intelligent. (break)

Paramahaṁsa: You were saying that inquisitiveness is the...

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- June 17, 1976, Toronto:

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes, any rascal thing. They made a good market. And British Empire means to sell their goods. And they, for that purpose, they became rich. Money was drawn from all parts, especially from India. Everything. Later on, gradually we came to understand. In Lucknow, because I was in medical business, so I saw one Japanese salesman was selling one medicine, one or two items, potassiodide. Do you know? No. Potassium iodide. And another, iodine. He was selling at four rupees, eight annas a pound. But we were accustomed to purchase English potassiodide and iodine, thirteen rupees a pound. That Howard's.... Very famous, Howard's chemicals, like that. They were selling. So I doubted that "How so much cheap this Japanese firm can supply?" And they used to advertise that all these Japanese goods are third class. Yes, "German goods are second class. Our goods, first class." So I inquired from the salesman, "How is it that you are supplying so cheap?" "They're supplying.... The price is the real price." "Now why they charge more?" "They purchase from us and pack and sell." There are many big chemical concerns in Germany. Germans are very good manufacturers, especially of chemicals, iron, machine. Still you find, all this Uher and, what is called, Gundsag?

'Life Comes From Life' Slideshow Discussions -- July 3, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: So we say, yes, the fundamental and basic requirement is to understand this basic difference between the two principles, life and matter. Now here the Absolute Truth, in the śloka,

ity etat kathitaṁ gurvi
jñānaṁ tad brahma-darśanam
yenānubuddhyate tattvaṁ
prakṛteḥ puruṣasya ca
(SB 3.32.31)

The translation says, "My dear respectful mother, I have already described the path of understanding the Absolute Truth by which one can come to understand the real truth of matter and spirit and their relationship." So here it clearly says that in order to understand these basic principles, one must have at least some idea about the Absolute Truth. And it is quite scientific. Comparing our normal scientific disciplines like physics, chemistry and mathematics, in fact this very principle is utilized. But the scientists, not knowing that the axioms, or fundamental truths, are coming from the absolute source. So this is the basic requirement.

Prabhupāda: I have heard that mathematics believes by some imaginary thing, minus, so on, like that.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: The absolute numbers?

Prabhupāda: Something minus one, like that. Who is mathematician here?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: (laughs) Here is our mathematician.

Prabhupāda: All right, so is that the beginning of mathematics?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: What is the beginning of mathematics?

Sadāpūta: Well, the beginning of mathematics is counting a number. We have that square root of minus one.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That I heard. The beginning is minus one. That is imaginary; it is not fact. But they imagine something at the beginning.

Room Conversation -- September 9, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Whatever your father and mother has chosen, that's all. He's your worshipable husband. This is the... This point I wanted to bring. And her father was surprised. "How is that? I got you married with an old man? Somehow or other, circumstances I was obliged. How is that you have picked up one young man?" He chastised her like anything. Then when he came to understand that the same old man has become now young man by medical treatment, then he was satisfied. So you cannot change. I have seen it. One, my father's friend, he was very old man. My father was also... He was at that time not less than sixty-five. But his wife died, and he was married with another young girl. But his sister forced him to marry. That "Unless you marry, who will look after you? You have no children." But I have seen that young woman who was married with that gentleman... In our childhood we used to called her didi. Didi means elder sister. So the relationship was very thick and thin. But that old man, not less than sixty-five, and this young woman, utmost twenty to twenty-five. She was serving the husband like anything. We have seen it. There is no question of changing or being dissatisfied.

Hari-śauri: Now they bring them up to be independent.

Room Conversation -- October 31, 1976, Vrndavana:

Hari-śauri: Yeah, he says that here, because of their own ignorance then they find fault. He goes on: "From this misunderstanding came fear then hatred and from hatred grew injustices and often atrocities. An injustice is now being perpetrated through ignorance. Are atrocities far off? This may sound like an overstatement, but for those who say, 'It can't happen here,' it already has, such as to the American Indians and to our people (of) Japanese descendant. The time to stop such action is at the beginning, now. The way to stop it is to replace ignorance with knowledge, and hatred with understanding. Sometimes people stand off at a distance and look at another person's belief and laugh at them or fear them. But as they get closer, they may come to understand how similar the observer's beliefs may be to their own beliefs. As a scientist, a psychologist, I have tried to learn about and understand the Hare Kṛṣṇa people. For nearly a year I have spent hours each week, talking with, reading about, and testing members of the movement. I have been to their temples in this country and in Europe. I have eaten in their homes and I have been to their children's schools. What I have found is a group of people trying to find God and live as closely to the way that He would like them to live. There is no place in their lives for immorality, for cruelty to other people or animals, for artificial stimulants or harmful chemicals such as alcohol, drugs, or tobacco. At first glance their approach to God may seem alien to us with their different dress, the incense, and the many statues and their unique ceremonies, but a closer look reveals similarities to our religious practices that are just the same. In Catholicism we find the holy water, chanting on the rosary, statues of saints and incense. And in Judaism we find the blowing of the shofar."

Prabhupāda: And they say, the cow's urine, they are forcing to eat. (laughter) (Bengali) ...that they are forcing the devotees to drink cow's urine. (laughter) These are the charges: brainwash, mind control, forcing cow's urine to drink. (laughter) How clever they are to find out some fictitious faults.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation on Train to Allahabad -- January 11, 1977, India:

Prabhupāda: No, no. Apart from Bible, I am speaking from practical point of view. What is milk? Milk is blood. If the mother is unhealthy, anemic, you cannot keep. It dries away.(?) Milk is transformed from the blood. That's a fact. Now our cows in New Vrindaban, they are supplying more milk than in other farms. So you do not know how to utilize blood. You are so uncivilized. And you are claiming to be civilized. You are untouchable. You do not know what is the... Yes, in our New Vrindaban the men from other farms, they come. They are surprised. "Milk can give, this much?"(?) You know that? They are uncivilized, cutthroat. And therefore they are now eating better. You are not civilized. Don't talk of anything. First of all be civilized. Give up sin, sinful activities. Then come to understand what is God.

Jagadīśa: In the Kṛṣṇa book you describe that the only person who can't understand Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the killer of the cow.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Animal. Why cow? Any animal.

nivṛtta-tarṣair upagīyamānād
bhavauṣadhāc chrotra-mano 'bhirāmāt
ka uttamaśloka-guṇānuvādāt
pumān virajyeta vinā paśughnāt
(SB 10.1.4)

Unless one is animal-killer, everyone welcomes God. This very word is used, vinā paśughnāt. Excepting these persons who are animal killers, everyone will welcome Kṛṣṇa. It is so nasty thing, animal-killing. So you require thoroughly to be washed. Then you'll understand. Actually it is brainwashing. Civilized man, in the presence of so many nice grains, fruits, flowers, vegetables, milk, so many things, and you are eating meat like the man in the jungle? Are you civilized? Does it mean that the fruit, flowers and grains is meant for animals? It is meant for human beings. You do not know how to utilize it. You are in the state of the animals.

Room Conversation -- January 15, 1977, Allahabad:

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. As you have changed. You are American. Why not others?

Rāmeśvara: So the nightclubs and the cinema, this will be gradually...

Prabhupāda: Not required.

Rāmeśvara: ...given up.

Prabhupāda: They simply produce anxiety. When they will come to understand that they will get better engagement, automatically these nonsense things will be stopped.

Rāmeśvara: Television also.

Prabhupāda: They can be utilized.

Gurudāsa: Yes, they can be utilized.

Prabhupāda: In a different way.

Rāmeśvara: Formerly civilization did not have so many technological devices.

Talk About Varnasrama, S.B. 2.1.1-5 -- June 28, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: What is the purport?

Upendra: This material world is called the world of death. Every living being, beginning from Brahmā, whose duration of life is some thousands of millions of years, down to the germs who live for a few seconds only, is struggling for existence. Therefore, this life is a sort of fight with material nature, which imposes death upon all. In the human form of life, a living being is competent enough to come to an understanding of this great struggle for existence, but being too attached to family members, society, country, etc., he wants to win over the invincible material nature by the aid of bodily strength, children, wife, relatives, etc. Although he is sufficiently experienced in the matter by dint of past experience and previous examples of his deceased predecessors, he does not see that the so-called fighting soldiers like the children, relatives, society members and countrymen are all fallible in the great struggle. One should examine the fact that his father or his father's father has already died, and that he himself is therefore also sure to die, and similarly, his children, who are the would-be fathers of their children, will also die in due course. No one will survive in this struggle with material nature. The history of human society definitely proves it, yet the foolish people still suggest that in the future they will be able to live perpetually, with the help of material science. This poor fund of knowledge exhibited by human society is certainly misleading, and it is all due to ignoring the constitution of the living soul. This material world exists only as a dream, due to our attachment to it. Otherwise, the living soul is always different from the material nature.

Page Title:Come to understand (Conversations)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:03 of Nov, 2013
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=22, Let=0
No. of Quotes:22