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Contemplation (Conversations)

Conversations and Morning Walks

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

So they are publishing, and the magazine is well received by the French-speaking people there. And we have contemplation to publish the same magazine in German language also from Germany.
Interview -- February 1, 1968, Los Angeles:

Interviewer: Have you... Did you... Well, you've only been over here about four years. But have there been dropouts, out of the movement, of the hundred that were initiated?

Prabhupāda: They are doing nicely. They are making progress. They are understanding the philosophy. They are working for it. Now I am the only man who came from India, and still, I am one. I have no... There are many Indians, but I have no Indian follower here. Of course, in India we have got. That's a different thing. But these, all these American boys, they are cooperating with me. That means they are taking this movement very seriously. We have got two great papers, magazines, already, Back to Godhead. One is published from New York, and the other is published from Montreal. (break) In French language. Montreal it is published in French language, and they are well received. Recently I have received one letter from my disciple, Janardana. He is Janus Dambergs, M.A., he is the editor of that paper. He is a very good scholar in French language. His wife is also good scholar, Muna. She is also very good scholar in French language. So they are publishing, and the magazine is well received by the French-speaking people there. And we have contemplation to publish the same magazine in German language also from Germany.

That they could not do till now. That is future contemplation. Because even going up to sixty miles off they could not.
Interview with LA Times Reporter About Moon Trip -- December 26, 1968, Los Angeles:

Hayagrīva: It's just the means. He said it's not impossible to go there, but the means that they're using now are not very good means to go there.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Hayagrīva: He has some doubts about the means they're using to go there. He doesn't think that the...

Reporter: I think what... I think we have to carry it further enough so that we can tell whether, for one thing whether I have a story or not. If it's felt if you have doubts that it can be done, that's one thing. But if you have great confidence that it can never be done except by changing one's body...

Prabhupāda: No, I don't say that. I say that in order to enter into the... Just try to understand me clearly. In order to enter the moon planet you have got to prepare yourself for a suitable body. Is that clear? If you, by some way or other, you make that suitable body you can enter. But the present body which you have manufactured, the spacesuit, is not suitable.

Reporter: Okay, then when I try to carry it further, if they use the present body and do, are successful...

Prabhupāda: That they could not do till now. That is future contemplation. Because even going up to sixty miles off they could not. Therefore this is not suitable. Now you say also, just like they didn't have the ticket. The further arrangement is still waiting. That means this is not suitable. This is... We just try to convince you.

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Vimukta māninaḥ. Māninaḥ: "You are contemplating." Why? Tvayy asta, ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas. Our test is there. "I am liberated. I am Nārāyaṇa." Why? "How you call me rascal?" Yes, we have got a test: ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ. Tvayy asta-bhāvād. Still they have not reached the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Room Conversation -- December 11, 1971, New Delhi:

Prabhupāda: These Māyāvādī sannyāsīs, they address among themselves as namaḥ nārāyaṇa. That means each one of them has become as good as Nārāyaṇa, because Nārāyaṇa is mukta. Nārāyaṇa paraḥ. Śaṅkarācārya says paraḥ. Paraḥ means liberated. Paraḥ and aparaḥ. Aparaḥ means conditioned. So nārāyaṇa paraḥ, avyaktāt. Nārāyaṇa is transcendental to this cosmic manifestation. He's above. So the Māyāvādī philosopher, they think that "I have become now a liberated, as good as Nārāyaṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead." But Bhāgavata says, "No. You are simply thinking like that. You are rascal." Bhāgavata challenges: "You are thinking that you have become now liberated, but you are a rascal." The Bhāgavata, Vyāsadeva is very learned, but he says "rascal," but in a very sweet language. (laughter). Vimukta māninaḥ. Māninaḥ: "You are contemplating." Why? Tvayy asta, ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas (SB 10.2.32). Our test is there. "I am liberated. I am Nārāyaṇa." Why? "How you call me rascal?" Yes, we have got a test: ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ. Tvayy asta-bhāvād. Still they have not reached the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Simply impersonal idea, and self-complacent that "I have become now Nārāyaṇa." So this kind of knowledge is aviśuddha, impure, impure knowledge, because the test is, unless one comes to the point of understanding the Personality of Godhead, the knowledge is imperfect. So they are impersonalists, and falsely thinking themselves as Nārāyaṇa. Therefore we can immediately test that "Here is a rascal."

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

He was not thinking in terms of Kṛṣṇa. He was thinking in terms of his own benefit, "whether I shall go to hell or heaven." That was his contemplation. Therefore he was taught Bhagavad-gītā.
Conversation with Bajaj and Bhusan -- September 11, 1972, Arlington, Texas, At Their Home:

Guest (2): No, that is what my question is, how to do that. I mean, how in our day to day life...

Prabhupāda: That I have explained. Just like Arjuna, who was a fighter, warrior, means he fought for Kṛṣṇa. For himself, he was hesitating. He put all these questions that "If I kill my brothers, then their wives will be widow, and they will be prostitutes and there will be varṇa-saṅkara, and then there will be no piṇḍa-dāna and then the whole nation will go to hell," in this way, as he could think. But he was not thinking in terms of Kṛṣṇa. He was thinking in terms of his own benefit, "whether I shall go to hell or heaven." That was his contemplation. Therefore he was taught Bhagavad-gītā. And after understanding Bhagavad-gītā he agreed to Kṛṣṇa's proposal. Kariṣye vacanaṁ tava naṣṭo mohaḥ smṛtir labdhā: (BG 18.73) "Now my illusion is gone. I have got my real consciousness, so I shall fight." So the fighting was Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And when he was trying to become nonviolent, very benevolent to the family, he was chastised by Kṛṣṇa. Aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādām: (BG 2.11) "You are talking like a very learned man but you are fool." So this is our position. We may talk very learned, scholarly, but if we have no Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then we are subjected to the chastisement.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

About our temple contemplation, it will be almost a skyscraper building.
Conversation with Sridhara Maharaja -- June 27, 1973, Navadvipa:

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: All sorts of deception. Even Vaikuṇṭha. Paravyome (Bengali) And the calculation, even they, the self is, a sort of calculation comes between the, the servitor and the object of service, then also it throws us down. In Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that sort of calculation is also absurd. Where there is love, there cannot be any calculation. It is autonomous. Autonomous anurāga. Cultivate, do. No sort of calculation of any benefit. The calculation disturbs autonomy.

Prabhupāda: (Bengali) Goloka-nāmni nija-dhāmni tale ca tasya devī-maheśa-hari-dhāma... (Bs. 5.43). (Bengali) About our temple contemplation, it will be almost a skyscraper building.

Bhavānanda: Will be.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh?

Prabhupāda: Skyscraper building in temple shape, with four divisions. Goloka-nāmni nija-dhāmni tale ca tasya devī-maheśa... (Bs. 5.43). So Maheśa-dhāma, how it will be depicted? Pārvatī-wise. (?)

Everyone is suffering. But one who knows that he is suffering, he is intelligent.
Morning Walk -- December 15, 1973, Los Angeles:

Karandhara: The classic idea is that one goes away and just lives in a state of remorse, solitude and remorse, thinking how sinful and wretched he is, and performing severe austerities.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Karandhara: Going away, living in a monastery, performing severe austerities, and always contemplating how sinful and wretched we are and how we must suffer.

Prabhupāda: Everyone is suffering. But one who knows that he is suffering, he is intelligent. (Aside): Good morning. Everyone is suffering. If you are not suffering, why you have covered? Why you have covered? Because you are suffering, is it not? Why you are not naked body? Because we are suffering, therefore we have covered. It is a fact. And if somebody says, "No, we are not suffering," then he's a madman. So everyone is suffering. One who knows it, he is intelligent man. That's all.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Śrīdhara Swami was a great devotee, so he was thinking of taking sannyāsa. So he was contemplating that "I shall now leave my home and take sannyāsa." So in the meantime, his wife became pregnant.
Room Conversation -- February 6, 1974, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So actually, that is the fact, and I was going to tell about Śrīdhara Swami. Śrīdhara Swami was a great devotee, so he was thinking of taking sannyāsa. So he was contemplating that "I shall now leave my home and take sannyāsa." So in the meantime, his wife became pregnant. Then he thought that "I was thinking like that. Anyway, this has happened, and if I take sannyāsa now, what people will say, that 'His wife is pregnant and he has taken sannyāsa, he has gone out of home.' " So he waited, the child was born, and the mother died. (laughing) Then he thought, "I do not know what Kṛṣṇa desires. Who will take care of this child, motherless child?" So that he was thinking very deeply. One lizard dropped before him, one small child lizard. Mother gave birth to a child this morning, and the small lizard was staying, and immediately small ant came before the mouth of that small lizard, and he ate. Then Śrīdhara Swami thought, "The every arrangement is there. Why I am thinking of this or that?" Immediately went away. Actually, that is the position. The actual care is taken by Kṛṣṇa, eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān, nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). He is taking care of everyone.

"Here I am present. Why you should contemplate on imperson?"
Morning Walk -- February 19, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ. This is the stress. Mayy āsakta. "Here I am present. Why you should contemplate on imperson?" But the foolish people will not understand this. Mūḍha. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante (BG 7.15). He is canvassing, "Here I am," but they will not surrender. They are searching out God somewhere else. "Here I am." "No, no, no. You are not." Mūḍhas.

"So much I surrender to Kṛṣṇa, and I contemplate like this, like that, like that." That is not surrender.
Morning Walk -- March 25, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: You are not only ego. You are combination of so many things.

Dr. Patel: But ego is the master of the whole thing.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Guest (1): After all, ego is the president of all aggregate.

Prabhupāda: That surrender has been explained by Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. He has written a nice song. Mānasa, deho, geho, jo kichu mora. It is very easy to understand.

Guest (1): Yes, yes.

Prabhupāda:

mānasa, deho, geho, jo kichu mora

arpiluṅ tuwā pade, nanda-kiśora!

Guest (1): Nanda-kiśora. Correct, correct.

Prabhupāda: "Nanda-kiśora, what I have got? I have got a restless mind and I have got my family, home, wife, children, and this body. This is my possessions. I am not the proprietor of the whole world or universe. But I am pro... I suppose, I think like that, that I have got a mind, think like nonsense and do like nonsense, and I have got this body, and I have got my family. So everything I surrender." This is surrender. Don't think anything else, what Kṛṣṇa does not like. That is first surrender. No reservation, that "So much I surrender to Kṛṣṇa, and I contemplate like this, like that, like that." That is not surrender.

Interview with Minister -- April 26, 1974, Tirupati:

Prabhupāda: But the Rāmānuja sampradāya do not recommend pañcopāsanā. In the Rāmānuja sampradāya there is no pañcopāsanā.

Indian man: No, these are built by Hindees (?) and other custom. This temple is giving only Vighneśvara and Veṅkaṭeśvara. But the construction of other temples, they are raising funds.

Prabhupāda: Oh, local money.

Indian man: Yes. throughout India and also in America.

Prabhupāda: That, they are raising funds for millions of years. (laughs) I know that. Birla about... Yes, about fifty years ago there was contemplation of, that Birla would construct a very big temple in London. But there was no temple at all. Now since I have gone, I have established two temples, not very big, but still one of the temple is on the seventeen acre of land. A little outside London. One big musician, George Harrison, he has donated that temple, fifty-five lakhs. And we have got one temple in rented house...

No, no. By controlling the senses, gradually the mind will be controlled.
Morning Walk -- June 14, 1974, Paris:

Devotee: If the senses are controlled, but his mind is contemplating sense objects, is he a pretender or is he becoming purified?

Prabhupāda: No, no. By controlling the senses, gradually the mind will be controlled. You know. In the..., the tiger and the lion trained up to play in the circus, do you know how it is done?

Dhanañjaya: They starve the animals.

Prabhupāda: No.

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: They feed them every time, whenever they do something.

Prabhupāda: No, after catching them from the forest, they kept within the bars, and no eating for at least one week. Then the trainer comes. Only whips. He comes, and open the doors and only: (makes sound) Flosh, flosh, flosh. So already he's hungry, weak, and he's whipped. In this way, he becomes fearful. As soon as the man comes, he becomes fearful. Then he gives him little food. In this way, after all it is animal, he thinks that "This man is my God. He can save me. He can kill me." Then he takes to him. Whatever he says, he takes. Similarly, if you do not give the ingredients for sense enjoyment, the mind will be controlled. That is the beginning. You simply... Don't give... The mind wants, "Now let me go to the restaurant." "No, sir." Beat him with shoes. Instead of going to the restaurant, he beats the mind with shoes. Then mind will not again say, "Go to the restaurant." That is called swami, gosvāmī. One who can control his mind, that is gosvāmī. We giving the title "Gosvāmī" But if you cannot control your mind, then you are unfit.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

So our process of understanding real knowledge is to take it from the person who has the real knowledge. Just like if we contemplate or speculate who is my father, it is never possible to understand who is my father. But if we receive the words from mother that "Here is your father," that is perfect.
Room Conversation with Professors -- February 19, 1975, Caracas:

Professor (Hṛdayānanda): He's saying that in European history many, many people, in the name of looking for transcendence, there have been so many wars, hatred between men, and, you may know, in Spain they had what is called the Inquisition where they burned so many people. And so he's saying, psychologically, that his brain tells him that in the name of searching after transcendence there has been so much bad, so how is this different?

Prabhupāda: The difference is transcendence is beyond our mind, bodily activities, mental activities or intelligence. The European philosophers and transcendentalists, they do not know actually what is transcendence. They understand that there is something, but they do not know what it is. Therefore they speculate by their imperfect senses. Gradually it becomes craziness. Therefore you find that defect.

Professor (Hṛdayānanda): So do you mean to say that this is just a contemplative thing that doesn't really have a active influence upon the society to change the different...?

Prabhupāda: No, we must first of all understand that our senses are imperfect. Just like we are sitting in this room. We have got our eyes, but we cannot see what is there, going on, beyond this wall. The sun is fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than this earth, and we are seeing just like a disc. So the eyelid is just near the eyes, but we cannot see what is the eyelids. If the light is off, we cannot see. So we can see under certain condition. Then what is the value of our seeing? If we, even if we manufacture telescope, that is also manufactured by the imperfect senses, so it is also not perfect. So anything understood by manipulating our imperfect senses, that is not real knowledge. So our process of understanding real knowledge is to take it from the person who has the real knowledge. Just like if we contemplate or speculate who is my father, it is never possible to understand who is my father. But if we receive the words from mother that "Here is your father," that is perfect. Therefore the process of knowledge should be not to speculate but to receive it from the perfect person. If we receive knowledge from a mental speculator, that is not perfect knowledge.

I think I have explained this. Instead of contemplating what will happen to this world, you have got a short duration of life, say fifty, sixty years. You chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and go back to home, back to Godhead. Don't consider what will happen to this world.
Morning Walk -- February 21, 1975, Caracas:

Devotee: Hiraṇyākṣa was taking the gold from the earth. Now they are taking the oil. So the weight, the oil makes weight in some parts of the globe, no? So when they take it and they put it some place else or they convert it in the earth, the earth is losing weights in some parts. That is no going to cause...

Prabhupāda: I think I have explained this. Instead of contemplating what will happen to this world, you have got a short duration of life, say fifty, sixty years. You chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and go back to home, back to Godhead. Don't consider what will happen to this world. The nature will take care of it. You don't puzzle your brain with these thoughts. You utilize whatever time you have got in your possession and go back to home, back to Godhead. (break) You cannot check it. Best thing is that you mold your life and go back to home, back to Godhead. "Oil in your own machine." Instead of thinking what will happen... They will happen. Because people will go on with their rascal civilization, natural consequences will be there. You better take advantage of whatever time you have got and become fully Kṛṣṇa conscious and go back to home. (break) ...and we are thinking, "You are crazy. You are losing the opportunity of life." Therefore I wrote that "Who is Crazy?" They have got this opportunity, human form of life, to make a solution of all problems, but they do not care for it. They are simply allured, the temporary happiness of this body, and the body will finish within some years. That they do not take care. They think it is all in all, body.

No, the Spiritual Sky was contemplated that our gṛhastha bhaktas may be employed...
Conversation with the GBC -- March 27, 1975, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: So you were also taking one thousand?

Jayatīrtha: I was... But that was... But I was... I wasn't taking anything. But that was...

Prabhupāda: Then? How...? Why he is taking?

Jayatīrtha: Because we were working illegally.

Haṁsadūta: The thing is the whole situation has deteriorated into a karmī business, and no one's making any profit on it.

Jayatīrtha: Well, now, let's...

Haṁsadūta: It's just a headache.

Jayatīrtha: That is a... That is an unschooled statement, an uneducated statement. It's not a...

Haṁsadūta: No, that's not a fact. Where is the advantage?

Jayatīrtha: Anyway, let me finish... That's why I don't want to discuss this in front of Prabhupāda, because of argument. Anyway, the next point is that, as far as Karandhara's salary is concerned...

Prabhupāda: No, the Spiritual Sky was contemplated that our gṛhastha bhaktas may be employed...

Haṁsadūta: Yeah, but they're not employed anymore.

Jayatīrtha: That's not true.

Prabhupāda: And the bare necessities should be paid.

Jayatīrtha: Right. Well, generally we have about seventeen, eighteen gṛhasthas employed in Los Angeles, and they get much smaller salary, and they, for the most part, they're giving everything over subsistence to the temple as donation. They take out minimum subsistence...

Prabhupāda: But Karandhara is not giving anything.

Jayatīrtha: Well, his point is... As you know, he made that unauthorized loan from BBT when he left, for five thousand dollars. And he has to pay it back at three hundred dollars per month. So after he makes...

Prabhupāda: Unauthorized loan?

Jayatīrtha: When he left last year, he took loan for five thousand dollars, and he is repaying at three hundred dollars per month. So after taxes, he gets eight hundred dollars. Three hundred dollars goes to BBT. That's five hundred. Now, with the balance, he supports his wife and children, and his wife is giving donations for Deities and so on. So he is not actually...

Prabhupāda: No, that you discuss whether he is... Otherwise I can give you a very first-class man, but he won't charge anything.

As soon as there is any contemplation of sense gratification, then the spirit will be lost.
Morning Walk -- April 7, 1975, Mayapur:

Satsvarūpa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, sometimes you say only a very small percentage can take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Satsvarūpa: But yesterday morning in your lecture you were saying it can expand to ten thousand, million, or ten million.

Prabhupāda: Yes, if you take the proper way it can be increased.

Satsvarūpa: Is that just up to our preaching?

Prabhupāda: Yes. That will depend on your purified preaching activities. If you again become materially victimized, then you cannot do it. If you remain on the spiritual platform, if you try, then it will increase. Ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam. It will increase. As soon as there is any contemplation of sense gratification, then the spirit will be lost. Then instead of Christianity, it will be "Churchianity," officially going to the church, doing nothing, and gradually nobody will go.

If one becomes lusty and if it is not fulfilled, he becomes angry. This is all psychological.
Room Conversation with Alcohol and Drug Hospital People -- May 16, 1975, Perth:

Translation: "While contemplating the objects of the senses, a person develops attachment for them, and from such attachment lust develops, and from lust anger arises."

Prabhupāda: If one becomes lusty and if it is not fulfilled, he becomes angry. This is all psychological.

That is smaraṇam. Memorizing. Thinking of God's activities.
Room Conversation with Jesuit -- May 19, 1975, Melbourne:

Jesuit: And do you have a, what I may call a training in contemplation, in which you get...

Prabhupāda: That is smaraṇam. Memorizing. Thinking of God's activities.

Mystic prayer means to think of God's activities. So that is smaraṇam.
Room Conversation with Jesuit -- May 19, 1975, Melbourne:

Jesuit: And, er, now in mysticism, Christian mysticism, Western mysticism, we have, say, the seven castles of St. Theresa of Avila, and we have a process of contemplation which we call infused, which God gives. Ordinary prayer, which anybody is able to make. Theresa would speak about the three castles, the first three castles.

Prabhupāda: Three castle?

Jesuit: Mm. In her book, Interior Mansions. But the real mystic prayer, well, is not given to everybody. Do you have... Do these men get trained in mystic prayer, contemplation?

Prabhupāda: Mystic prayer means to think of God's activities. So that is smaraṇam.

Yes. Now, these boys they are coming from your Christian group, Jewish group, but they are taking to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Room Conversation with Jesuit -- May 19, 1975, Melbourne:

Jesuit: And it's good that, I think, we are coming more to understand that. And I think you see a lot of young people who really are longing for some form of contemplation and prayer. That is why you get followers.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Now, these boys they are coming from your Christian group, Jewish group, but they are taking to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. One priest in Boston, he issued one pamphlet that "These boys are our boys, and before this movement, they didn't care to come to the church. And now they are mad after God. How is it? The same boys." So indirectly he accepted this process as easier to understand God. And actually it is easier. What do they do? They don't go to the forest, or meditate, or make any very austere, what is called, penances. They simply chant in the morning and dance in ecstasy and then eat sumptuously. That's all. And now they have given up everything. Now, you bribe them, "You eat meat." They will never eat. They will not drink tea even. The method is... The American government they spent lots of money for stopping this addiction to drugs. And these boys, as soon as they come to me, they give up. Ask them what money I have bribed them. You can ask how they have left it.

How they have left it? How they have given meat-eating, how they have given drinking even tea, cigarette, everything? What I have given them? I am poor Indian. I have no money. (laughter) But how they have accepted?

These rascals, they are dealing with small things and contemplate describing life.
Morning Walk -- May 27, 1975, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: There is a Bengali proverb, ādār vapare yahare khabor (?) A man is dealing with ginger. So ginger is used... Suppose we take ginger, a few small pieces. You cannot expect ginger selling in wagons. (laughs) Ginger is accepted—you purchase one or two pieces, that's all. So a merchant dealing in ginger is asking, "What is the fare of one big freight? I shall take ginger that." He is selling only two pieces, and he's taking information of a big freighter. Similarly, these rascals, they are dealing with small things and contemplate describing (?) life. What about that moon expedition?

Bali-mardana: Rocks.

Prabhupāda: No, rocks, that is the last. Now what is the latest news?

Bali-mardana: They want to send a satellite to the other planets.

Prabhupāda: Moon finished?

Bali-mardana: Yes, it is not good for... It is too much money. They cannot afford it.

Guru kṛpā: It's nothing but rocks anyway there. They think it is nothing but rocks so why waste time, go to some other place.

Prabhupāda: Oh. Grapes are sour.

Guru kṛpā: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Jackal. Jackal and the grapes. The grapes were high. First of all jumped, jumping. Then, when he could not get it, "This is useless. It is sour."

Devotee (1): They didn't reach moon at all.

Prabhupāda: At all. Jumping, jumping, the jackal says, "Oh, it is no use. It is sour."

That is my philosophy.
Car Conversation -- August 3, 1975, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: ...God conscious or he is another edition?

Brahmānanda: He has some leanings toward some mysticism.

Satsvarūpa: Yes. His philosophy is... Dr. Wolf sent you a clipping on it when you were in Bombay. He wants that people should just live on the land and raise crops and live in a simple way like that and, yeah, worship God.

Brahmānanda: There is even some talk that he was wanting to join a monastery and live a life of austerity and contemplation.

Jagadīśa: He also favors a monarchy, a religious monarchy.

Prabhupāda: That is my philosophy.

Brahmānanda: Mahendra in Philadelphia was trying to arrange a meeting with Your Divine Grace and him. There wasn't time. (break)

Prabhupāda: He is American?

Jagadīśa: I don't know.

You are fool. You are befooled because you are simply contemplating. But I have got a definite literature, information. So my position is better than yours.
Morning Walk -- October 9, 1975, Durban:

Prabhupāda: We want perfect knowledge, not such, what is called, saṁśayam. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, asaṁśayaṁ, "without any doubt." That is knowledge. And samagram, "complete." So if we have got the chance of knowing complete, without any doubt, so why shall I go to you, rascal? Your knowledge is based on "perhaps, maybe." I will have to go somewhere to take knowledge, so why not go to Kṛṣṇa, where the knowledge is complete and without any doubt? Why shall I go to you, you rascal? You simply say "maybe, perhaps, I think." What is the use of this knowledge? We don't accept. You cannot say that "You are right; I am wrong" because you are also going to somebody to get knowledge, I am also going to somebody to get knowledge. So here it assured, that "complete knowledge without any doubt." But you have no such confidence. Am I right or not?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes. The difficulty arises in... We say, well, you have to grow old. And then we say the moon is so high above the sun. So...

Prabhupāda: So how can you deny it? First of all tell me. You have not gone there.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: I haven't gone, but the argument...

Prabhupāda: No, no. The scientists. I challenge that he has not gone there.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: (to someone:) Pay your obeisances.

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya. I have not gone, you have not gone, but I have got this authentic literature; you have nothing. So my position is better than yours. You are fool. You are befooled because you are simply contemplating. But I have got a definite literature, information. So my position is better than yours.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

But if I say, "You rascal, why you are contemplating like that? I made this sound like this (make sound with cane). That's all," So that knowledge they'll not take.
Morning Walk -- March 1, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: Vasudeva says, "I am everything." Then accept immediately. The whole solution is there. Two, two ways: āroha-panthā, avaroha-panthā. You are trying to search out. Go on. It will take many, many births. But if you accept... The same Vasudeva is coming kindly ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo (BG 10.8). You accept it, then the knowledge is perfect. Suppose I am making this sound (makes sound with cane). Underneath they are puzzled: "Wherefrom this sound is coming?" They are making research. And if I say, "I am making this sound," then everything, knowledge, is there. The rascal will not surrender. Ask the man who is making sound. Then the knowledge is perfect. But he'll make research: "Wherefrom the sound came?" This is rascaldom. And one man is suggesting, "It is... The sound may be like this. The sound may be due to this." They are going on, researching. But if I say, "You rascal, why you are contemplating like that? I made this sound like this (make sound with cane). That's all," So that knowledge they'll not take. Mūḍhāḥ. Therefore they are... Nābhijānati. Mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam. So if we call them all mūḍhas, what is the wrong? They become angry. But if we call them, all these rascals, mūḍhas, what is the wrong? They say, "Oh, you are using very strong language. You are calling us all mūḍhas." But actually you are all mūḍhas because you do not know Kṛṣṇa.

That I am not contemplating now. But there is no need of one person.
Room Conversation with Reporter -- June 4, 1976, Los Angeles:

Reporter: Do you expect to name one person as your successor or have you already?

Prabhupāda: That I am not contemplating now. But there is no need of one person. As other things are managed, but by committee, so this can also be managed, and the committee may elect one person as chief. As, just like in the democracy there are senators and there is president, so it may be I may nominate or they can nominate.

Yes, they can eat by packing.
Morning Walk -- June 27, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Śyāmakunda: They say that the economically proper thing to do is to kill the cow after it, er, and not waste the meat.

Prabhupāda: And who will take? When he'll die, who will take his meat? That is also economical. Why don't you give it to the animal-eaters instead of wasting it? Why they bury in the ground? Why? Let it be thrown eating by the jackals or anybody else.

Śyāmakunda: The people should eat their..., the people, then, according to that philosophy, right?

Prabhupāda: No, when man is dead, why the economic calculation is not taken? Hm?

Devotee (2): Because they think it is animallike.

Prabhupāda: Animal or a man, when it is dead, then it is the same value. Is there any difference of value between the animal body and man's body?

Devotee (2): They think it is barbaric.

Prabhupāda: "They think," but you think like human being.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: But the animal has no soul.

Prabhupāda: Soul or not soul, when the body is dead, is there any difference of value?

Śyāmakunda: Well, it doesn't seem human to eat a human.

Prabhupāda: This is nonsense, the rascal's nonsense.

Hari-śauri: It's too horrifying for them to contemplate that they may start eating each other.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Or their family dog.

Dhṛṣṭadyumna: Or their grandmother.

Śyāmakunda: But if it was wrapped up in a package and they didn't know it was the dog or their mother, they could probably eat it.

Prabhupāda: Yes, they can eat by packing.

So show the simple example that how by simple living and thinking of Kṛṣṇa, one can become perfect and happy.
Room Conversation -- August 3, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Prabhupāda: But it doesn't matter. Our purpose will be served anywhere. So, try to concentrate in this village organization life. Full of anxieties, city life. The houses already there, if you repair them nicely then it is a very nice place. They're gradually being repaired.

Bhagavān: Yes. No one is getting any salary here, they are just working and taking...

Prabhupāda: Yes, that's all. Why salary? Kṛṣṇa's servant. We are eternal servant. That is the beauty of our institution. We have no hired men. Unless one is sincere, why he'll work? What is the time now?

Bhagavān: Eight-thirty.

Prabhupāda: I think it is stopped. Just see how beautifully it is colored. This sense, aesthetic sense. Kṛṣṇa knows how it will become beautiful. Svā-bhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca. Construction—eh?—of the flower. And there is no intelligence.

Hari-śauri: Chance.

Prabhupāda: So beat them with shoes and when they protest, "Oh, it is chance, don't mind. It is by chance I am beating." (laughter)

Bhagavān: It seems they are struggling so hard for existence they do not have time to contemplate these simple things, working so hard.

Prabhupāda: So show the simple example that how by simple living and thinking of Kṛṣṇa, one can become perfect and happy.

We are contemplating having a planetarium with electric arrangement. You'll have to work.
Room Conversation -- August 8, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: They are saying that the moon is full of dust. And dust is so brilliant? We have to believe this? The rascals they are making this proposal. So what do you think?

Dayānanda: I don't think they know actually what they are talking about, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Yes, actually this is fact. It is similar planet like the sun, but it is surrounded by cold atmosphere, therefore it is so pleasing. And because it is far away from the sun, the distance between moon and earth is more than the distance between the sun and the earth. Therefore sun looks bigger and it looks smaller. We are contemplating having a planetarium with electric arrangement. You'll have to work. The whole planetary system is moving from east to west, and the sun, moon and... They are up and down.

That means you are not properly trained up. The thing is, the first business of human being is to inquire about the spiritual subject matter.
Press Interview at Muthilal Rao's House -- August 17, 1976, Hyderabad:

Interviewer (3): I am a layman, I do not know the importance...

Prabhupāda: You are not a layman, you are a representative of paper.

Guest (2): He doesn't mean that he's a layman, but suppose he is a layman...

Prabhupāda: Layman, he must go to a person who is experienced.

tad viddhi praṇipātena
paripraśnena sevayā
upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ
jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ
(BG 4.34)

This is the instruction of Bhagavad-gītā. If you are layman you must go to a person who has seen the truth. If you remain at home, then how you can see?

Guest (2): But I am so preoccupied with my...

Prabhupāda: You are taking so many education...

Guest (2): ...that I don't have to time to contemplate or study such things. Don't you think it's the responsibility of people like you to...

Prabhupāda: That means you are not properly trained up. The thing is, the first business of human being is to inquire about the spiritual subject matter. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. This is the Vedānta philosophy. Now we have got this human form of body, it is your duty to inquire about the spiritual subject matter. But if your guardians, if your parents, if your government does not teach you, then it is our misfortune.

We have organized New Vrindaban farm, and Philadelphia farm, so the farm was also to be organized by you. That was the contemplation.
Room Conversation -- September 5, 1976, Vrndavana:

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Now we have the farm in Hyderabad. Mahāṁsa's asking for men for the farm, for the temple. They can give...

Prabhupāda: Yes, we have got the biggest farm.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Six hundred acre farm.

Prabhupāda: As we have organized New Vrindaban farm, and Philadelphia farm, so the farm was also to be organized by you. That was the contemplation. So six hundred acres of land. Very nice land. Very nice land. Six hundreds and it is not with (indistinct) like Vṛndāvana, but very fertile.

You have got the contemplative man with you.
Room Conversation with Dr. Theodore Kneupper -- November 6, 1976, Vrndavana:

Dr. Kneupper: The growth, the temple here, beautiful. On my next trip to India...

Prabhupāda: Yes, you can come and stay here or in Bombay, we have got...

Dr. Kneupper: But I want to see the one, the city when it's constructed. That would be really...

Prabhupāda: Oh, that is... Yes.

Dr. Kneupper: I hope that is... Calcutta will be a success story.

Prabhupāda: You have got the contemplative man with you. (indistinct)

Indian man: Yes sir.

Dr. Kneupper: This will be over 300 acres if it's...

Prabhupāda: Three hundred fifty acres.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Kṛṣṇa is giving protection.
Room Conversation -- January 8, 1977, Bombay:

Guest (1): But I'm sure that with your protection, Prabhupāda, I'll reach the goal which I have contemplated.

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa is giving protection. Ahaṁ tvāṁ sarvapāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi. But still we are not agreeable. Kṛṣṇa says that "I shall give you protection from all reaction of sinful life." But we are not taking that protection. You simply surrender. It is only process.

He inquired, and he immediately wrote Tīrtha Mahārāja that "You are contemplating. This we do not approve. We are the donor." So Tīrtha Mahārāja replied him that "It is no more in the hands of the donor. I am the trustee. Whatever I like, I can do."
Room Conversation -- January 19, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: So it will be nice. That was started by my Guru Mahārāja. We have to take.

Gargamuni: Yes. Because after he goes there's nothing.

Prabhupāda: Tīrtha Mahārāja was planning to exchange that property with a Calcutta Muhammadan, that he would give him that property, and this Muhammadan would give him this property, his property. I checked it. I approached the donor, the Bali-hatti(?) zamindar, that "You donated this temple and it is going to be in the hands of Muhammadan. Do you like it?" So he said, "No, I don't like it." I said, "Make it inquiry." He inquired, and he immediately wrote Tīrtha Mahārāja that "You are contemplating. This we do not approve. We are the donor." So Tīrtha Mahārāja replied him that "It is no more in the hands of the donor. I am the trustee. Whatever I like, I can do."

Municipality judge will not sanction. They're harassing our...
Room Conversation -- February 19, 1977, Mayapura:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You had a plan to make another building on the Bombay land.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is already in the...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Contemplated.

Prabhupāda: Municipality judge will not sanction. They're harassing our...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Still.

Prabhupāda: That man is there.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Mantri.

Prabhupāda: Hm. But major triumph is there in our side. He was harassing not to allow the temple. That has been baffled. Similarly, the other building also will be done. Try. Go on.

So you are contemplating all management. First of all bring whom to manage. Simply office manager, this, that and.
Gurukula Inspection -- June 26, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: (Hindi) ...this manager, that manager. But who to manage? Bring that first. (Hindi) In Bengali there is a superstition that "Don't keep your head towards the northern side." So the man said, "I have no head. Where is the question of keeping northern side or southern side?" So you are contemplating all management. First of all bring whom to manage. Simply office manager, this, that and... Bambhārambhe laghu-kriyā. (Hindi) All right.

Page Title:Contemplation (Conversations)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, MadhuGopaldas
Created:28 of Dec, 2008
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=34, Let=0
No. of Quotes:34