Dead man

Expressions researched:
"dead man" |"dead men" |"dead young man"

BG Chapters 13 - 18

BG 17.4, Purport:

Now, it is clearly described here that those who are in the mode of passion worship and create such gods, and those who are in the mode of ignorance, in darkness, worship dead spirits. Sometimes people worship at the tomb of some dead man. Sexual service is also considered to be in the mode of darkness. Similarly, in remote villages in India there are worshipers of ghosts. We have seen that in India the lower-class people sometimes go to the forest, and if they have knowledge that a ghost lives in a tree, they worship that tree and offer sacrifices. These different kinds of worship are not actually God worship. God worship is for persons who are transcendentally situated in pure goodness. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (4.3.23) it is said, sattvaṁ viśuddhaṁ vasudeva-śabditam: "When a man is situated in pure goodness, he worships Vāsudeva."

SB Canto 1

SB 1.13.30, Purport:

Mahārāja Dhṛtarāṣṭra accepted the order of vānaprastha, and at this stage the wife is allowed to remain as a voluntary servitor, but in the sannyāsa stage no wife can stay with her former husband. A sannyāsī is considered to be a dead man civilly, and therefore the wife becomes a civil widow without connection with her former husband. Mahārāja Dhṛtarāṣṭra did not deny his faithful wife, and she followed her husband at her own risk.

The sannyāsīs accept a rod as the sign of the renounced order of life. There are two types of sannyāsīs. Those who follow the Māyāvādī philosophy, headed by Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya, accept only one rod (eka-daṇḍa), but those who follow the Vaiṣṇavite philosophy accept three combined rods (tri-daṇḍa).

SB Canto 2

SB 2.3.21, Translation:

The upper portion of the body, though crowned with a silk turban, is only a heavy burden if not bowed down before the Personality of Godhead who can award mukti (freedom). And the hands, though decorated with glittering bangles, are like those of a dead man if not engaged in the service of the Personality of Godhead Hari.

SB 2.9.36, Purport:

Therefore all advancement of knowledge in the present context of things is being misused by cats and dogs fighting with one another for sense gratification, and all acquisition of knowledge in science, philosophy, fine arts, nationalism, economic development, religion and great activities are being spoiled by being used as dresses for dead men. There is no utility in the dresses used for covering a coffin of a dead body save getting false applause from the ignorant public. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam therefore says again and again that without attainment of the status of bhakti-yoga, all the activities of human society are to be considered absolute failures only.

SB Canto 4

SB 4.9.37, Purport:

Dhruva Mahārāja, a five-year-old boy, went to the forest for penance and austerity, and the King could not at all believe that a small boy of such a tender age could live in the forest. He was certain that Dhruva was dead. He therefore could not fix his faith in the message that Dhruva Mahārāja was coming back home again. For him this message said that a dead man was coming back home, and so he could not believe it. After Dhruva Mahārāja's departure from home, King Uttānapāda thought that he was the cause of Dhruva's leaving, and thus he considered himself the most wretched. Therefore, even though it was possible that his lost son was coming back from the kingdom of death, he thought that since he was most sinful it was not possible for him to be so fortunate as to get back his lost son.

SB 4.18.18, Purport:

This ghostly position is very painful because a ghost has intelligence, mind and ego and wants to enjoy material life, but because he doesn't have a gross material body, he can only create disturbances for want of material satisfaction. It is the duty of family members, especially the son, to offer oblations to the demigod Aryamā or to Lord Viṣṇu. From time immemorial in India the son of a dead man goes to Gayā and, at a Viṣṇu temple there, offers oblations for the benefit of his ghostly father. It is not that everyone's father becomes a ghost, but the oblations of piṇḍa are offered to the lotus feet of Lord Viṣṇu so that if a family member happens to become a ghost, he will be favored with a gross body. However, if one is habituated to taking the prasāda of Lord Viṣṇu, there is no chance of his becoming a ghost or anything lower than a human being. In Vedic civilization there is a performance called śrāddha by which food is offered with faith and devotion.

SB 4.28.24, Purport:

Human civilization devoid of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is simply a civilization of lower animals. Sometimes such a civilization may study the dead body and consider the brain or the heart. However, no part of the body is important unless the spirit soul is present. In a modern civilization of cows and asses, scientists try to search out some value in the brain or heart of a dead man.

SB Canto 5

SB 5.26.30, Translation:

A lowborn and abominable person who in this life becomes falsely proud, thinking "I am great," and who thus fails to show proper respect to one more elevated than he by birth, austerity, education, behavior, caste or spiritual order, is like a dead man even in this lifetime, and after death he is thrown headfirst into the hell known as Kṣārakardama. There he must great suffer great tribulation at the hands of the agents of Yamarāja.

SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13

SB 10.13.58, Translation:

Lord Brahmā's external consciousness then revived, and he stood up, just like a dead man coming back to life. Opening his eyes with great difficulty, he saw the universe, along with himself.

CC Madhya-lila

CC Madhya 2.31, Purport:

The upper portion of the body, though crowned with a silk turban, is only a heavy burden if not bowed down before the Personality of Godhead, who can award mukti (freedom). And the hands, though decorated with glittering bangles, are like those of a dead man if not engaged in the service of the Personality of Godhead Hari. The eyes which do not look at the symbolic representations of the Personality of Godhead Viṣṇu (His forms, names, qualities, etc.) are like those printed on the plumes of a peacock, and the legs which do not move to the holy places (where the Lord is remembered) are considered to be like tree trunks. The person who has not at any time received upon his head the dust from the feet of a pure devotee of the Lord is certainly a dead body. And the person who has never experienced the flavor of the tulasī leaves from the lotus feet of the Lord is also a dead body, although breathing.

Nectar of Devotion

Nectar of Devotion 10:

Anyone who is in the material world is also sleeping, as he is ignorant of his actual self or his actual duty and his relationship with God. So materialistic life means that one is bitten by the snake of māyā, illusion, and thus, without any Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is almost dead. Now, the so-called dead man bitten by a snake can be brought back to life by the chanting of some mantra. There are expert chanters of these mantras who can perform this feat. Similarly, one can be brought back into Kṛṣṇa consciousness from the deadly unconscious state of material life by hearing of the mahā-mantra: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.11 -- Edinburgh, July 16, 1972:

In India still, there are many snake chanters, enchanters, I am sorry. So they chant some mantra, and a man, snake-bitten, can be revived to his consciousness. Anyone Indian present here, they know. Still. Especially I have seen in Punjab, there are many snake enchanters who know the how to chant the mantras. So if it is physically possible that a dead man... Of course, when a man is bitten by a snake he's not dead. He becomes unconscious. He's not dead. But by this chanting of mantra, he comes to his consciousness. Therefore, it is the system in India, if a man is bitten by a snake, he's not burned, or he's not taken as dead body. He's floated in some lifeboat and given to the water. If he gets chance he may come out again to consciousness. So similarly, we are, at the present moment, due to our ignorance, we are sleeping. We are sleeping. Therefore, to awaken us, this mantra, mahā-mantra, is required to awaken. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12).

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- New York, March 11, 1966:

And because it is beyond the calculation of our human knowledge, therefore they are disappointed: "Nirākāra, nirākāra, nirākāra." Not nirākāra. It has ākāra. But we are so, our senses are so blunt that we cannot calculate.

Now, now, this, in these days of scientific advancement you take a dead man. You sit down. Now, we shall see how the soul transmigrates from this body to another. You cannot see. You cannot see. Our eyes are not qualified to see it. Therefore the all the senses, they should be spiritualized. If we want to see the spirit whole... The Lord is spirit whole. We cannot see even the spirit part. Our, our... We are very much proud of our senses, but our senses are so imperfect that... Now I see with my eyes, but I cannot see my eyelid. You see? The eyelid is always attached with my eye, but I cannot see. So our power of using the senses, that is very limited. So we should not depend only on the senses. Pratyakṣa. It is called pratyakṣa-anumāna.

Lecture on BG 2.17 -- (with Spanish translator) -- Mexico, February 17, 1975:

He has got multi-energies—parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport)—but they have been summarized into three. The one energy is called spiritual energy, the other is called material energy, and the third is called marginal energy. The spiritual and material we can understand. At least we can feel when the, a living man and a dead man... A living man means spirit and matter combined. And a dead man means the matter is there; spirit is gone. So you can distinguish what is spirit and what is matter. So similarly, there is, as this is material world, there is another spiritual world. We living entities, we, by nature, we are spiritual, but because we have got the potency either to live in this material world or in the spiritual world, therefore we are called marginal. The real position is, because we are spiritual, we should live in the spiritual world. At the present moment we have lost our spiritual constitutional position; therefore we are in this material world.

Lecture on BG Lecture Excerpts 2.44-45, 2.58 -- New York, March 25, 1966:

The Buddha philosophy, they do not recognize the soul. They, according to them, that the combination of matter at a certain stage produces consciousness. But that philosophy, that argument, can be refuted that with matter, you cannot produce consciousness. Because... Take the example of a dead man. The dead man is there. All the elements, material elements, are all there present. But you cannot revise, you cannot revoke that man to consciousness. The elements are there, the ingredients are there. Now, if you think this ingredient has been decomposed or deteriorated, then replace that ingredient. Just like in a machine. In a machine some part is wear and tear. It is not working, stopped. You can replace that part into new part, and the machine will work. But this is not like that. If you think that something has deteriorated in this body, therefore it has become dead. Say, for example, that they say generally, due to heart failure.

Lecture on BG 4.11 -- New York, July 27, 1966:

You can see some particles. That small particle, they are combination of six atoms. That particle, when it is divided into six, that becomes the atom. So you cannot see even the material atom, and what to speak of the spiritual atom.

When a dead man is there, the medical man or every scientist, everyone is sitting. How that spiritual atom is passed from this body, nobody can see. They can simply say, "Oh, now he is gone." Who is gone? Have you see who is gone? "No." Then what you are seeing? "I am seeing this dead body." So whole life you have seen this dead body. If I cannot see at the present structure of my body even the spark, material atom, how we can see God, the Supreme Spirit?

Lecture on BG 4.11-12 -- New York, July 28, 1966:

So as we find... You have got now... We have no experience. Scientific advancement of knowledge, so far we have in this material world, that is bounded within the area of material energy. They have not succeeded in finding out the spiritual energy. Otherwise they would have given life to the dead man. That has not been possible. Suppose a man is dead. What is that death? Death means separation of two energies: the material energy and the spiritual energy. That is death. The supreme spiritual energy and the atomic part of it, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ... (BG 15.7). Just you have experience in this atomic age, the minute quantity of atomic material existence, similarly, there is spiritual atomic existence. Now, this spiritual atomic existence...

Lecture on BG 4.13 -- Bombay, April 2, 1974:

Although the activities of the leg is not so important than the activity of the brain. Comparatively studying, the brain is most important part of the body, this head. If you cut the head of a man, then, in spite of possessing the arms, belly and legs, he is dead man. But if you cut the hand or the leg, he can live, and the brain can work. This is an example.

Similarly, when the society is divided nicely in these four divisions, the brahminical culture, the kṣatriya culture, the vaiśya culture, and the śūdra culture... Brahminical culture means people should learn how to speak truth, satya, śama, how to control the mind, how to control the senses. Satya, śama, damaḥ, titikṣā, how to become tolerant, ārjavam, how to become simple in life, how to become cleansed, how to acquire knowledge and how to practically apply the knowledge in daily life.

Lecture on BG 4.19 -- Bombay, April 8, 1974:

You are thinking that "I shall become desireless." So this is also a desire.

So how you become desireless? Very nice argument he gave. Our Caitya-guru gave it. I was very much pleased. It is not possible to become desireless. This is foolishness, to give up desire. You cannot give (up) desire. That is not... If you give up desire, then you are a dead man. A stone has no desire. Do you like to become a stone-like? No. Desire cannot be less. That is not possible. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (CC Madhya 19.167). Abhilāṣitā-śūnyam, anya. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam: "Except Kṛṣṇa, any other desires should be given up." That is anyābhilāṣa. Abhilāṣitā-śūnyam, the ācārya, Rūpa Gosvāmī, does not say. That is not possible. I must have desires because I am living entity. I am not a stone. I am not a wood. So this is a false philosophy, to become desireless. That is not possible. To become desireless—other desires. Other means except Kṛṣṇa.

Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (CC Madhya 19.167). Uncovered, coverless, without any covering of jñāna and karma. Jñāna and karma.

Lecture on BG 6.21-27 -- New York, September 9, 1966:

One has to be intelligent. If you want to enjoy life, then you must be intelligent also. Just like the animals, they are not intelligent enough. Therefore they cannot enjoy life as a human being can, standard. So here, in the Bhagavad-gītā also, it is said that buddhi-grāhyam atīndriyam.

Atīndriyam. Now, just take the example of a dead man. The senses, the hands, the nose, the sense organs, and everything is there, but now he cannot enjoy. The dead body, it cannot enjoy. Why? This requires intelligence. Why the dead body cannot enjoy? What is the difference? The body is lying there. The hands and the nose and the legs and the eyes and all other sense organs are there. But why the dead body cannot enjoy? That requires intelligence. That means that the enjoying energy, the spiritual spark, that has gone away. Therefore it has no power to enjoy. Then, if you make advance further with intelligence, then you will understand that actually the body was not enjoying, but that little spark, spiritual spark, that was enjoying, not this body.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- San Francisco, March 17, 1968:

They are all rascals. I frankly say it. Anybody may come. Any society where there is no intellectual persons or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is a rascal society because there is no head. Either it is madman or a headless man, or dead body. If there is no brain, there is no head. If the brain is not working properly, then he's a madman. And if there is no head at all, then he's a dead man. So do you think in a dead society or in a mad society there can be any peace? No. What is peace? If the dead..., society is already dead, what do you mean by peace? And if the society is all full of madmen, then where is the question of peace?

Therefore Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the most important subject of the present-day society. The responsible men who are leading the society, the president, or the secretaries, or the mayor, they should have intelligence to understand. But if we approach... The other day when I was coming to your country, I met in Japan, Tokyo, one chief secretary of the governor.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Hyderabad, April 27, 1974:

We have got so many desires. So mind's business—to become attached. Therefore, I accept something, I reject something. This is mind's business. So you cannot become zero, you cannot become desireless. That is not possible. Our process... Just like others, they say, "You become desireless." That is a foolish proposal. Who can become desireless? It is not possible. If I am desireless, then I am a dead man. A dead man has no desire. So that is not possible. We have to purify the desires. That is required. Purify the desires. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). This is called purification. Nirmalam. Tat-paratvena. Tat-paratvena means when God conscious, Kṛṣṇa conscious, then desires become purified.

So we have to come to the point of not desirelessness, but to the point of purified desires. That is wanted. Therefore here it is said, mayy āsakta-manāḥ: "You can not make your mind desireless, but you fix up your mind upon Me." That is required.

Lecture on BG 7.1-3 -- Stockholm, September 10, 1973:

Yes. That is not very difficult to understand. Just like a living man and a dead man. Living man means the body is carrying the spirit soul, and dead man means the body is there, but there is no spirit soul. But as soon as the body is dead or the spirit soul is out of it, immediately it begins to decompose. The same body, as long as carrying the soul, there is no such thing. Therefore if you keep your body spiritualized, then there is no question of decomposition or diseases. Another example: just like if you take an iron rod and put into the fire, it becomes warm, warmer, and at the end, it becomes red-hot. When it is red-hot, it is no more iron rod, but it is fire. You touch that iron rod, red-hot, anyplace, it will burn. Similarly, if you make your body spiritualized by Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then there is no question of disease.

Lecture on BG 7.4 -- Bombay, February 19, 1974:

It has ākāra, but you cannot see with the blunt eyes. "Then how can I understand?" Śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham, tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). You have to learn by hearing. There is no other process. The Vedas says, the śāstra says, "This is the magnitude of the soul." You have to take it. Then you will understand. Otherwise, by so-called experiment, you have neither instrument nor facility to make, find out. The first-class medical man or physiologist, find out where is the soul in this body. But they cannot. They have no such power, but there is something which, being absent, the body is dead. That is a fact. That is a fact. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). That... Because that soul has gone out of this body, therefore the body is now dead. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ. Therefore it is authority.

What is the distinction between dead man and living man? That you have to understand. You cannot make experiment why the body is dead.

Lecture on BG 7.4 -- Nairobi, October 31, 1975:

And finer than the intelligence and ego is the soul. So how you can see soul? You cannot see even the material things, as soon it becomes finer. How you can see the soul? They cannot see, but soul is there. Therefore when the soul departs from the body we see the bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhi-ahaṅkāra... (BG 7.4). Buddhi-ahaṅkāra The man, the dead man, is lying. The gross thing we are seeing, but the mind, intelligence, ego, which is carrying that soul, that we do not see. How transmigration of the soul takes place, that we have no knowledge, poor fund of knowledge. We can simply think gross. Jaḍa-darśana. It is called jaḍa-darśana. Even there is no sūkṣma-darśana. Although there is mind, but we cannot see. Then how you can see the soul?

Lecture on BG 7.5 -- Nairobi, November 1, 1975:

Similarly, the whole material world or any world, spiritual world, they are manifestation of the supreme energetic. The energies are coming. Energy... You have got also energy; I have got my energy. You cut your hair; automatically the hair will again grow. Do you know what is that energy? But there is energy. Otherwise a dead man shaved will not grow, will not grow any more hair—finished. But a living man, because he has got that energy, so today you shave, again tomorrow there is hair. This is called inconceivable energy. Even I do not know what is that energy, you do not know what is that energy. We can talk foolishly some bombastic word, "These cells and this and that," and so many things, but it is not in our control.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.2.28-29 -- Vrndavana, November 8, 1972:

All scientific research should be to know Vāsudeva. In Boston I was invited in the Massachusetts Technological Institute? Yes. So I, first of all I questioned the students that "You have got technological department. So where is the technology where we can understand the difference between a dead man and a living man? What is the thing is lost that a body's called dead body? What is that technology." So I talked on this point. The students appreciated very much. Actually, there is no technology why a man is dead. What is the machine, what is the component part of the machine is missing? You can replace it. But where is that technology? There is no technology. Because there is no knowledge with reference to Vāsudeva. Simply superficial. Bahir-artha-māninaḥ. They do not know what is the purpose of knowledge. They're taking interest, taking care of this bahir-artha, external things. Bahir-artha-māninaḥ. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum (SB 7.5.31).

Lecture on SB 1.16.25 -- Hawaii, January 21, 1974:

Realizing means you can... It is very simple thing, that a living man and a dead man. So you can realize. There was soul so he was living. Now the soul is not there, he's dead. Is there any difficulty? What is the difficulty? Why this man is dead? They may explain, these rascals, in so many ways, but actual, any simple man can understand that there was something, either you call it soul or something else, that is now missing. That soul has now gone. So one minute before, the body was so important, and now, after one minute, the passing of the soul, it is useless. Throw it away. Is it very difficult to understand? That is realization. If you don't realize... Just like a man, sleeping, but he is not sleeping. He's awakened. But a man is calling, "Mr. such-and-such, wake up, wake up." But he's as if sleeping.

Lecture on SB 2.3.2-3 -- Los Angeles, May 20, 1972:

So therefore, Vedānta-sūtra begins, athāto brahma jijñāsā. This is the opportunity. But unfortunately, people are not given the opportunity, facility. School, college, they are simply giving "More become mechanics," how to deal with instruments, iron instruments. Big, big institutions for technological understanding. And where is this technology? Why a dead man is dead man? Why don't you give some mechanical power so that he can come out again? Where is that technology? You know the technology... When a motorcar is stopped, you know the technology how to start it again. But you do not know this technology. When this motorcar, this body motorcar will stop, you have no technology to start it again.

Lecture on SB 2.3.2-3 -- Los Angeles, May 20, 1972:

Then where is the perfection of your technological institute? You are missing the real point. Therefore abodha-jātaḥ, everything is failure, all technology failure. Failure, simply failure. What is the use of? You do not know real technology. Therefore it is failure. But the informations are there. If we are intelligent enough, then we can take that "What is this? Why a dead man cannot be revived into life again? Then what is the fact?" But nobody wants to die; he wants to continue. Why he becomes old? Old means warning and, of the... Just like the, what is that, yellow light. "Now please prepare for the red light." So this is coming... You stop this. Technology. Where is your technology? But the information is there. Bhagavad-gītā. Tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13). Then as you have changed so many bodies, from your mother's womb up to the point of death, so you are going to change another body. Therefore any sane man will say "Oh, then what is that body?

Lecture on SB 2.3.20-21 -- Los Angeles, June 17, 1972:

Pradyumna: (reads synonyms, then:) Translation: "The upper portion of the body, though crowned with a silk turban, if not bowed down before the Personality of Godhead who can award mukti, freedom, is a heavy burden only. And the hands, though decorated with glittering bangles, if not engaged in the service of the Personality of Godhead Hari, are like those of a dead man."

Prabhupāda: So you have seen Indian turban—very, very big, made of silk and jewels. Perhaps you can, you have seen the typical turban by the Indian Airways, a big turban. So what is the use of the turban? It is a great burden, you, if you do not bow down before the Lord. Similarly, if you don't engage your hand in the service of the Lord, it is exactly like the dead man's hand. If the dead man's hand, if it is decorated with nice, glittering, golden bangles, what is the beauty? There is no beauty. So we'll discuss tomorrow again. Thank you. (end)

Lecture on SB 2.3.21 -- Los Angeles, June 18, 1972:

Pradyumna: (leads chanting, etc.)

bhāraḥ paraṁ paṭṭa-kirīṭa-juṣṭam

apy uttamāṅgaṁ na namen mukundam

śāvau karau no kurute saparyāṁ

harer lasat-kāñcana-kaṅkaṇau vā

(SB 2.3.21)

Translation: "The upper portion of the body, though crowned with a silk turban, if not bowed down before the Personality of Godhead who can award mukti, freedom, is a heavy burden only. And the hands, though decorated with glittering bangles, if not engaged in the service of the Personality of Godhead Hari, are like those of a dead man."

Prabhupāda: So bhāraḥ paraṁ paṭṭa-kirīṭa-juṣṭam. A silk turban with pearl, what is called, decoration, bedecked with pearls, these are the signs of king. Just like we decorate Kṛṣṇa with turban, bedecked with jewels. So this turban is good so long we bow down before the Deity. Otherwise it is a great burden. Although it is made of silk, still, it will be a great burden. The idea is that if we bow down or surrender unto the lotus feet of Mukunda-Mukunda, Kṛṣṇa, one who gives liberation—then we can enjoy princely order or richness.

Lecture on SB 2.3.21 -- Los Angeles, June 18, 1972:

The Darwin's theory, this theory, that theory, simply they are bewildered, thinking this body is the self. The body's developing or evolution ... No. So all our senses should be engaged in the service of the Lord. That is perfection. It is indirectly being said in these verses that if our senses are not engaged in the service of the Lord, then it is dead. Śāvau. Śāvau karau no kurute saparyām. Just like a dead man, he has got his legs and hands, but he cannot employ it for any service. It is now flat. Actually, it is flat, but because within the body there is the soul, who is eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa, if he does not come to the Kṛṣṇa consciousness platform and does not engage himself in the service of the Lord, then his hands, legs, heads, everything is dead body's head. The decoration of dead body. This is the conclusion. Now go on reading.

Lecture on SB 2.9.4 -- Japan, April 22, 1972:

You try to understand all this reasoning. You have to preach. This is the reason. Because Kṛṣṇa says that "I remember everything," therefore Kṛṣṇa does not die. Is it established or not? Yes. You say... My personal example... Because I remember all my childhood, boyhood activities, therefore I am not dead. Nobody says that "You are dead man," although my body has changed, because I can remember. And as soon as I shall forget, that is death.

Then? One heard and one spoke. Śrī-viṣṇoḥ śravaṇe parīkṣit. Parīkṣit Mahārāja sat down. He did not do anything. He simply heard about Viṣṇu, Lord Viṣṇu, Kṛṣṇa, activities. So śrī-viṣṇoḥ śravaṇe: "Simply by hearing, Parīkṣit attained perfection." Abhavad vaiyāsakiḥ kīrtane. Vaiyāsaki. Vaiyāsaki means Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Kīrtane. He simply narrated. He also gained. Therefore śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam (SB 7.5.23). There are nine different processes of bhakti-yoga. Any one of them you adopt, you become perfect, not that you have to adopt nine.

Lecture on SB 6.1.32 -- Surat, December 16, 1970:

Yes. In the spiritual sky you will find happiness, real happiness. In the material sky there is no happiness. How it can be happiness, because the four things are there, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9)? If you think it is happiness in spite of your death, then you are a fool. You do not want to be a dead man, but you are forced to accept death. You do not want to become old man, but you are forced to accept. And these things, if you accept—happiness—that is your foolishness. Vyādhi. Jarā-vyādhi, disease. If you are constantly suffering from various types of diseases and if you think you are happy, that is another foolishness. Therefore Bhāgavata says, parābhavas tāvad abodha-jāto yāvan na jijñāsata ātma-tattvam, that "All the foolish persons who are born foolish, all their activities are defeat for them unless they are enlightened to inquire about ātma-tattvam."

Lecture on SB 6.1.39 -- Los Angeles, June 5, 1976:

Actually, all these descriptions are there in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, different types of hellish life, what kind of sinful activities are punished by what kind of hellish condition. Everything is there. In the Fifth Canto, everything is there. There are different planets where Yamarāja is there, how a dead man or the soul is taken there, the path—everything is in detail there. If you say it is mythology... Why you should say mythology? You have not seen the whole universe, how it is situated. You are simply imagining from this place. So your imagination, imaginology, and we have our mythology. So we have got some evidence, but you have no evidence. At least we have got some support of the books. But what you have got? You are simply imagining, "I think," "I believe." What is this nonsense? What is your proof? Everyone is saying "I believe." Hundreds and thousands... And what is correct? Everyone... At least, we have got something correct. We don't say "I believe."

Lecture on SB 6.3.25-26 -- Gorakhpur, February 18, 1971:

So Śrīdhara Svāmī says, "As a physician without knowing the presence of mṛta-sañjīvanī..." In Ayurvedic medicine system there is a medicine which is called mṛta-sañjīvanī. Mṛta-sañjīvanī. Mṛta means death, and sañjīvanī means giving life. Even a dead man can get life by drinking that medicine. It is a strong tonic. It is still used in Ayurvedic medicine, and some of the biggest manufacturer of Ayurvedic medicine, they prepare, and it has a good sale. So it may not be exactly the same mṛta-sañjīvanī, but it is very well known. So Śrīdhara Svāmī says... Just like one, a person, is suffering from fever, so according to Ayurvedic medicine, tri-kaṭu... Tri means three, and kaṭu means bitter. Tri-kaṭu, just like nim, nim fruits, kālamegha and ciratā. They are prescribed, very bitter to eat. So Śrīdhara Svāmī gives this example: "Without knowing that there is a very nice medicine, mṛta-sañjīvanī, they takes so many troublesome medicines.

Lecture on SB 7.9.35 -- Mayapur, March 13, 1976:

"What I am? Am I this body or something else...?"

So we have to analyze, analyze that this body is made of the material elements: earth, water, fire, ether, like that. The... We are breathing. What is this breathing? We are very much proud of breathing. Eh? The breathing is simply ventilation, air. But you cannot set up this breathing to a dead man. That is not possible, although it is simply air, nothing but air. But as soon as it is gone out of it... You are great scientist. Bring this air, pump. No, there is no life. So in this way there is analysis. From water we are getting blood. From blood we are getting semina. From urine... So many things we are getting. So this body is manufactured by these things, by the material elements. So am I this body? If I am this body, then after the death why...? These material elements are there. Why you cannot replace it? I am not body. I'm living within the body. And that is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa says, dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanam, tathā dehāntara (BG 2.13). Asmin dehe: "In this body there is the living entity."

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, October 20, 1972:

"I shall engage myself very nicely in Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement." That is first qualification, enthusiastic. Dullness will not help you. You must be very enthusiastic. My Guru Mahārāja used to say, prāṇa ache yara sei hetu pracāra. A preacher can, a person can become a preacher if he has got life. A dead man cannot become a preacher. So you must be very enthusiastic that "I shall preach the glories of the Lord to my best capacity." It is not that one has to become very learned scholar to become a preacher. Simply it requires enthusiasm, "My Lord is so great, so kind, so beautiful, so wonderful. So I must speak something about my Lord." This is the qualification, enthusiasm. You may not know Kṛṣṇa very perfectly. It is not possible to know Kṛṣṇa very perfectly. Kṛṣṇa is unlimited. We cannot know Kṛṣṇa cent percent. That is not possible. But Kṛṣṇa reveals as far as possible you can understand. So if we are sincere servant of Kṛṣṇa, utsāhān, and if we serve patiently, then Kṛṣṇa reveals.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.1 -- Mayapur, March 1, 1974:

This is Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's incarnation magnanimity. What He will kill? These demons are petty demons. They can be killed only by slap. So it is not very difficult to kill them, to call for sudarśana-cakra or any deadly weapon. They are already killed. There is no food. How they will work? How they will fight? So it is not possible. So it is to kill the dead man. Now, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu incarnation, if they want to kill them, they are already dead. To give them life again is Kṛṣṇa's or Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's special gift. Therefore it is said, śrī caitanya, prema-bhakti-vadānyatā, His magnanimity. He delivered by His personal example Jagāi Mādhāi. And Jagāi Mādhāi, they were born in nice brāhmaṇa family, rich family, but they were drunkard and meat-eaters and woman-hunters. That is their fault. And for this purpose they can do anything and everything. They were doing that. So the whole world is now all drunkard and woman hunter meat-eater. Especially in India, although it was unknown, now the government is teaching how to drink wine, how to eat beef and how to... This is going on.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.334-341 -- New York, December 24, 1966:

In ignorance we identify with this body and bodily relationships. And in passion we are very much active for this bodily comfort. And in goodness we can see what we are. So in goodness we can see that "I am not this body." Of course, it is very common thing to understand that "I am not this body," the distinction between a dead man and living man. When a man is dead, the relatives cry, lament, "Oh, my son is gone," "My father is gone," "My wife is gone." But if we think, "Your wife is there lying. Your son is lying there. Why do you say he is gone?" Actually he is gone, but so long he does not go, we think this body as my son, as my daughter. This is ignorance. At the end we can understand, "Oh, this body is not my son," "This body is not my daughter," "This body is not my father," when the end is done. But still, even after that experience, we think that "This body is myself." This is called ignorance.

Festival Lectures

Janmastami Lord Sri Krsna's Appearance Day Lecture -- London, August 21, 1973:

They do not take. That is our misfortune. But it is the Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission. He says any Indian, bhārata bhūmite manuṣya janma, if he's human being, he must make his life perfect by taking advantage of this Vedic literature and distribute the knowledge all over the world. That is para-upakāra. So India can do. They are actually appreciating. These Europeans, American young men, they are appreciating that how great... I get daily dozens of letter, how they are benefited by this movement. Actually, that is the fact. It is giving the life for the dead man. So I shall specially request the Indians, especially His Excellency, kindly cooperate with this movement, and try to make successful your life and others' life. That is the mission of Kṛṣṇa, advent of Kṛṣṇa.

Lord Nityananda Prabhu's Avirbhava Appearance Day Lecture -- Bhuvanesvara, February 2, 1977:

Bewildered, they do not understand that the real strength is spiritual strength. We see daily, see daily that a very strong man, very powerful man, very good brain, very good scientist... So where is the strength? The strength is ātmā. As soon as the ātmā, or the soul, goes out of this body, so intelligent, so strong, and so many things, that is nothing. That is the difference between dead man and the living man. A living man is very powerful, very good position, everything. As soon as he lies down, he is lying down on the floor, and if you kick him on his face, he'll not protest. So where is that strength? The strength is gone. That is spiritual strength. On the spiritual strength, the body moves. Suppose you have got a very good car, Mercedes car or Rolls Royce car. But when there is no petrol, how the car will move? It is not possible. There is spirit, petrol spirit. Similarly, real strength is spiritual strength. That spiritual strength is Balarāma. Bala means strength. Therefore we have to take shelter of the lotus feet of Balarāma, guru-tattva.

General Lectures

Lecture on Maha-mantra -- New York, September 8, 1966:

The body has developed, the mind has developed, from me, soul, not that I, consciousness, is developed from this body. No. That is a wrong conception. That is a wrong conception. You cannot develop consciousness from this body. Otherwise a dead man could have been again revived to consciousness. Because if matter is the cause of consciousness, then the whole matter is there already. Whole matter. The dead body means, so far material substance is concerned, everything is there, present. Nothing has disappeared. If you say there is no blood-oḥ, that is not very difficult thing, blood, a red substance. Do you mean to say something red injected within this body will bring back the life? No. If redness is the cause of life or consciousness, then modern chemical can make immediately by chemical combination the whole thing red. Or take example: there are many natural stones, they are by nature red. If you say that "This artificial redness cannot give life; the natural redness is the cause of life," then you take the stone. It has got natural redness, but there is no life. But there is no life. So redness is also not the cause of consciousness of life. That is a wrong theory.

Lecture -- Montreal, June 26, 1968:

Of course, I do not know whether you have got this experience, but India there are experts who, simply by chanting mantra, he can give life to a man who is bitten by serpent. Mantrauṣadhi-vaśaḥ sarpaḥ. Mantra and auṣadhi. Auṣadhi means there are herbs. Of course, these things are now gone, but there, still there are persons. So even the mantra can give a so-called dead man bitten by serpent. Similarly, we are bitten by the serpent of māyā, and this mantra, Hare Kṛṣṇa, will raise him to consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is effect.

Lecture -- Los Angeles, July 20, 1971:

Sometimes past, I think sometimes in 1968, when I went to Boston, I was invited to speak in the technical institute. So my first question was that "Where is that technological department which is making investigation between the dead man and the living man?" Where is that technology? A man becomes dead. Something is losing. Where is that technology to replace it? Why do they not try for it? But because it is very difficult subject, they set aside. They are busy for technology, for eating, sleeping, mating and defending, that's all. Animal technology. The animals also trying their best, how to eat nice, how to have nice sex life, how to sleep and how to defend. So what is the difference between man's knowledge and animals' knowledge. The man's knowledge should be developed to find out this technology, what is the difference between a living man and a dead man, a living body and dead body. That is spiritual knowledge.

Lecture -- London, July 12, 1972:

That further means when you come to the conclusion that "I am spirit soul." If you can understand this, then it is scientific. If you remain in ignorance, that "I am this body," that is not scientific. Actually, I am not this body. Everyone can understand. Just like a dead man. Suppose some of your relatives has died. You are crying, "Oh, my friend has gone. My friend has gone." Your friend is lying there. Why you say that "My friend has gone"? What is the answer? If I say... The dead body, you are crying, "Oh, my relative has gone. My father is gone." I say, "Where he has gone? He is there. Why you are crying?" Then what will be your answer?

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Hegel:

Śyāmasundara: Yes.

Prabhupāda: You see. He is lost, he is a dead man, living dead man. He cannot (indistinct).(laughter) He's finished. This philosopher for money's sake, he occupied the presidential post and maintained slaughterhouse. He is a philosopher.

Śyāmasundara: So he got the reaction.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is his opportunity, he's finishing his sinful life in this life.

Śyāmasundara: Oh, you said, that's right, you said it was good for him that he was suffering.

Prabhupāda: Yes, it is good for him. Because he is fortunate that his sinful reactions are being finished in this life. Otherwise he would have to drag it, he would have to continue, and he might have been a dog or cat, like that. So it is good for him. I said that. It is good for him.

Philosophy Discussion on Henri Bergson:

Śyāmasundara: Bergson says that this quality of the soul can only be perceived by man's intuition, not by his senses, but by his intuition.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is nice. Soul cannot be experienced by senses, but we can understand when there is a dead man, we can perceive that there was soul, which is now absent; therefore the body is dead. This is called perception.

Śyāmasundara: The dictionary defines intuition as "immediate apprehension by the mind without any reasoning."

Prabhupāda: That is experience. That is experience. Intuition means mature experience. Just like when as soon as there is mosquito, my hand immediately sees. You can say it is intuition, but it is experience, that when there is mosquito my hand must go there and try to kill him. But the experience is so mature that without consideration the hand goes.

Philosophy Discussion on Mao Tse Tung:

Prabhupāda: Yes. But so-called scientists, they sometimes put forward wrong theories.

Śyāmasundara: Well, he says that the proof is if it works socially, if it has a social effect.

Prabhupāda: That I am coming to. Suppose... Just like a living man and a dead man. So what is the scientific statement about this dead man? What do they say?

Śyāmasundara: Well, that he's just a lump of chemicals.

Prabhupāda: All right. Then if you are scientist, then bring that chemical and fulfill it. That is experiment. If that experiment is not possible, then what is the use of your scientific statement, "It is loss of chemicals"?

Śyāmasundara: The idea is that the theories are not practical unless they are tested socially, unless there is social benefit.

Philosophy Discussion on Mao Tse Tung:

Prabhupāda: It is not the question of social. You say that this body is dead because some chemicals are wanting. So you should make experiment that such chemicals be replaced and the body may come out again in life. Then your scientific statement is... Otherwise, it is most unscientific. So how to test the scientist? His theory is not practical. You say that the dead man means some chemical wanting. So you put that chemical. Just like when a motorcar is stopped, so the engineer comes, a mechanic comes, he says, "This part is broken. It should be replaced." All right, replace it and car moves. But you say that "This part is wanting; therefore this man is dead." Now you replace that part. Then it will be scientific because it will be proved by experiment.

Philosophy Discussion on Auguste Comte:

Hayagrīva: Well he felt, um, that the worship of humanity could be systematized, just like the worship of God, and he even devised a calendar devoted to the worship of famous dead men, and he felt that the churches could serve for a while as places to carry out these ceremonies. He says, "The buildings erected for the service of God may for a time suffice for the worship of humanity in the same way that Christian worship was carried on at first in pagan temples as they were gradually vacated."

Prabhupāda: Yes, unless one has got full sense of God, they cannot stick to the worshiping method. And we have got practical experience in Los Angeles that we purchased that church because it was not going on at all. They made plans for Sunday school and so on, so on, but somehow or other it failed. Nobody was coming to the church. At last it was sold to us. Now this same church is there, and the same Americans are there, but at the present moment in our Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Temple it is always packed up.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- May 3, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: But as soon as gone, everything is finished. Why these rascals do not know? Why they cannot replace with chemicals to bring life again? Why these rascals are accepted, I do not know. If the matter is the cause of origin of life... Now one dead man, such a big man, such a Professor Einstein, big brain, he is dying. Put another chemical. Let him come back to life and work again. So why these rascals talk like this? You cannot protest? You should protest. Your protest will be accepted because our, they say that "You are not scientist. We cannot talk with you." That's all right. But here is a scientist. Talk with him. Where is your that material chemical by injecting which...? What do they say? What is wanting in the dead body that the body is dead?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: That they do not know.

Morning Walk At Cheviot Hills Golf Course -- May 17, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes. But they are rascal. It is not the brain that is working. It is the spirit soul that is working. The same thing: the computer machine. The rascal will think that a computer machine is working. No. The man is working. He pushes the button, then it works. Otherwise, what is the value of this machine? You keep the machine for thousands of years, it will not work. When another man will come, put the button, then it will work. So who is working? The machine is working or the man is working? And the man is also another machine. And it is working due to the presence of Paramātmā, God. Therefore, ultimately, God is working. A dead man cannot work. So how long a man remains living? So long the Paramātmā is there, ātmā is there. Even the ātmā is there, if Paramātmā does not give him intelligence, he cannot work. Mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca (BG 15.15). God is giving me intelligence, "You put this button." Then I put this button. So ultimately Kṛṣṇa is working.

Room Conversation with Krishna Tiwari -- May 22, 1973, New York:

Prabhupāda: Belief, belief is there. Fact is not belief. Fact is fact.

Krishna Tiwari: Well fact has to be established.

Prabhupāda: Established? Is established. I say, I say that this is the distinction between dead man and living man.

Krishna Tiwari: Will that extend to animals also?

Prabhupāda: Anyone. Anyone.

Krishna Tiwari: According to our Hindu philosophy, I understand everything has a soul.

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. Everything. Everybody has a soul.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Mr. Deshimaru -- June 13, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Therefore daily life means so long the spirit is there. As soon as the spirit is gone, there is no more daily life. (French)

Pṛthu Putra: He says but the goal...

Prabhupāda: Has the dead man has any daily life? (French)

Yogeśvara: He says his daily life is just lying in his coffin.

Prabhupāda: That is daily life? That is perpetual life. (chuckles)

Karandhara: No, ask him is death always the solution? If we're in ignorance or we're suffering, when I die, even if I don't attain Zen within this life, when I die, does that solve all the problems? (French)

Prabhupāda: That I said already. The cats and dogs, they are also having the same result without any Zen philosophy. (French)

Morning Walk at Marine del Rey -- July 13, 1974, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: ...that if we remain rascals, then that Gaurasundara's example will be followed. One day you'll again become crazy and close up everything and smoke. That's all. My Guru Mahārāja used to say, prāṇa arthe yaṅra sei hetu pracāra. "One who has got life, he can preach." The dead man cannot preach. So you become with life, not like dead man. Without life... Just like all my godbrothers. They are dead men. And therefore they are envious of my activities. They have no life. If you want to make easy-going life, showing the Deity and then sleep, then it is a failure movement.

Bahulāśva: Jaya Prabhupāda.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 27, 1975, Tokyo:

Prabhupāda: So you have to understand like... That is sura. And asura, they will say, "No, there is no God. It is taking automatically, it is going on," This is foolishness. The asura means foolish, first-class foolish, that's all. Why it has become so? That is explained here. That they do not know how to behave, nāpi cācāraḥ. Na satyaṁ teṣu vidyate, neither they know what is the actual truth. They are defective themself and they are explaining in the defective way that so many rascal chemists they say that the chemical evolution is the cause of life. What is this nonsense? Chemical evolution, you get the chemicals and make a experiment and produce life. Then your proposal is all right that by chemical evolution there is life. No, that is not possible. You have got all the chemicals. Why don't you revive a dead man by injecting chemicals again into life, where is your power? So why do you talk foolishly like that? This should be challenged that "You are foolish number one." Actually it so happened in California.

Morning Walk -- June 10, 1975, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: Well, they no spiritual information. That is the... Therefore the first education is to understand what is spirit. Then spiritual knowledge is... They do not know what is spirit. (break) ...imāni bhūtāni bhavanti. That is spirit, the original source of everything. This body, original source is the spirit. As soon as the spirit is not there, the body will not grow. They are seeing actually. Therefore the original source is the spirit. Why the dead child does not grow? Or dead young man does not grow? They have not studied still, what is the cause? If it is chemical, then inject some chemical, if you know it, and make it grow. Is there any... Why they cannot do it? Why do they say it is chemical? Chemical you have got in your possession. So inject the dead child and it will grow, then it is correct. And where is that? Simply bogus propaganda. And we have to accept it? Either they must say that "Yes, it is chemical, but we did not find that chemical."

Morning Walk -- July 20, 1975, San Francisco:

Bahulāśva: Śrīla Prabhupāda, how should they set out to prove it, though? We've proved it by giving scriptural evidence. But how should a scientist do it?

Prabhupāda: No, we prove it as a living and dead man, we give that proof. What is the difference between this dead man and living man? What is losing? What is missing? This is the proof. If... I so many times spoken that son is crying, "My father is gone, my father." "Where is your father gone? He is lying here. So what is gone? You have not seen it." This is the proof. Why do you cry, "Father is gone"? Father is lying here. Why do you say, "gone"? So that means what is gone, you have never seen it. Now you perceive, "Yes, something was there. Now he is gone." This is the proof.

Bahulāśva: So our statements are also backed up by observation. The Gītā's statements are also backed up by observation.

Morning Walk -- July 20, 1975, San Francisco:

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is science. (break)

Guru dāsa: To make an experiment by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: No. Here is experiment, just like the dead man and living man. First of all, you observe that this man is moving or this animal is moving. There is some moving force. And the experiment is when the man and animal is dead, you can understand that the moving force is gone. This is experiment.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Your car is here, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Jayatīrtha: We can walk further if you like.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. (break)

Morning Walk -- Durban, October 13, 1975 :

Prabhupāda: That's all right. That is his rascaldom. He's a rascal. But soul is there. Then find out what is the missing point of a dead man. If there is no soul, something is missing.

Harikeśa: Well, actually they’ve pinned it down to a little bit of a molecule that breaks down.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. Bring that molecule.

Harikeśa: They’re working on it.

Prabhupāda: Huh? Again, "working on it." You see. This is bluff. This is bluff.

Harikeśa: Now they are inventing these different DNA and RNA molecules to change people by injecting them with these different things before they are born, making new people.

Morning Walk -- November 7, 1975, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: You did not consult with me but I wanted to know the explanation.

Prabhupāda: No. The explanation... (laughter) Now this doll should be displayed, that laboratory, they are testing urine, stool, and somebody is asking, "Here is a dead man. Why don't you test the urine and stool of this dead man and give him some injection?" This kind of doll should be displayed. The people will be interested. So I will give you suggestion. Not that stereotyped: "If one is doing something, I have to follow that." You should do something...

Morning Walk -- November 29, 1975, Delhi:

Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) ...apaśyatām. They cannot see. They see only that the tongue is vibrating, the ear is hearing. And the dead man, the same ear is there, the tongue is there. Why there is no music? What they will answer?

Tejās: They say it's a chemical interaction.

Prabhupāda: What is that chemical? Eh? Why talk nonsense? Chemical reaction? Bring that chemical and let him hear again. What is the answer? Why do they say nonsense which he does not know? Chemical reaction, if it is chemical reaction, bring chemical and inject it. What is the answer?

Harikeśa: That chemical is very complicated. They haven't found...

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Siddha-svarupa -- May 3, 1976, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: ...by taking birth of any, whether the tree is taking birth or the ant is taking birth and the fish is taking birth. Everywhere, living entities, they are taking birth, that's all. And they are dying also. And between birth and death there is disease and old age. So during birth one cannot understand, because there is unconscious stage. So even the fetus is killed, it cannot under..., because fully unconscious stage. And there is life undoubtedly; otherwise how the fetus all of a sudden gets life? But these mūḍhas cannot see it. Here in this matter there is no life; therefore many thousands of years, if you kill, it will never show any symptom of life. But if there is life, at a time it will come to consciousness. Just like fainted man is lying like a dead man, but he is not dead. There is life. It is fainted, unconscious state. So because there is life, he may lie down in that unconscious state for two, three hours; again he'll come. It is common sense. And if a log, wood log, is lying flat, will it come to life, anything? But because these mūḍhas, they are taking that "Fetus has no life. Kill it, finish it and eat it." It is going on. You know that?

Morning Walk -- May 12, 1976, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: Ah. That proves that you are a rascal number one. These are not important things. Why do you keep memory of so many dead men in statues? It is not important thing. He has died, died. That's all.

Devotee (1): They say that being able to work on all of our practical problems in the material world...

Prabhupāda: And this is practical. You make something that nobody will die.

Devotee (1): But a lot of them already admit that there's nothing we can do about death.

Room Conversation -- June 10, 1976, Los Angeles:

Richard: Well, when I say "myself," I should perhaps define it. Myself being all that I can recall being before, as well as my present, ah...

Prabhupāda: How do you distinguish between a dead man or living man?

Richard: Um, well...

Prabhupāda: The living man is important, but the dead man is not important.

Richard: Not his physical body, no.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Then within the physical body, there is something which is making him living man. Is it not?

Richard: Um...

Room Conversation -- June 10, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Then within the physical body, there is something which is making him living man. Is it not?

Richard: Um...

Prabhupāda: What is the dead man? Something is missing; therefore it is dead. Otherwise the body is there.

Richard: Right. Okay. His ability to, to...

Prabhupāda: Yes. Body is.... The same hands, legs, mouth, eyes, ears, hair, everything is there, but now they're crying, "Oh, Mr. such and such gone, oh, finished." What is that finished?

Richard: Well, his ability to share...

Room Conversation -- June 10, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: What was the important thing?

Richard: The important thing was his ability to share physically and intellectually.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that means that important thing was within the body; now it is missing. That is distinction between dead man and living man.

Richard: As far as I'm concerned that's it.

Prabhupāda: That is very important thing. This nice body can work on account of presence of that important thing. Otherwise, useless.

Richard: Right.

Prabhupāda: So we are preaching about that important thing.

Richard: Isn't that the object of all philosophies, both personal and...

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

Prabhupāda: One minute. That Absolute Truth is explained in the Vedānta-sūtra, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Absolute Truth is that from whom everything comes into existence, everything emanates. Now that has been discussed in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, because Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the natural commentary by the same author. So he begins janmādy asya yato 'nvayād itarataś cārtheṣv abhijñaḥ (SB 1.1.1). This word is used. He's not dead body, dead matter-abhijñaḥ, like that. In the beginning. That source of everything... Janmādy asya yato 'nvayād itarataś cārtheṣv abhijñaḥ (SB 1.1.1). Just like a mother gives birth to a child. She knows everything, how the child was born in the womb, how it developed, how it is coming. At least, on the whole, she knows everything. Similarly, the original source of everything is immediately informed in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that abhijñaḥ, experienced, knows everything. Anvayād itarataś ca, directly and indirectly, everything it knows. So the origin of everything cannot be a dead man. That is the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

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

Prabhupāda: Yes. So what this studying of a dead man, the molecules? When a man is dead, what is the condition of the molecules?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: The molecules will deteriorate to simple molecules. It will degrade from big, big molecules to small molecules. In other words, it tends to be simple. When the living entity is out of the material body, the body itself becomes very simple.

Prabhupāda: No varieties.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: No, no variety.

Prabhupāda: That I explained.

Hari-śauri: The complexity is there because the spirit soul is complex.

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes.

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

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is explained in the Vedānta-sūtra, axiomatic. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). By nature, ānandamaya. And variety is the mother of enjoyment. Unless... Just like these bunch of flowers... When there are varieties of flowers, it becomes a very enjoyable bunches. If you simply bring rose, although it is very valuable, it is not so enjoyable. But when there are small, insignificant leaf also, which is not valuable than the rose, but rose becomes beautiful. That is life. And who appreciates it? When a man is living. A dead man cannot appreciate this beauty. There is beauty. Combination of varieties is beauty, or blissfulness.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Next point says, in the column of matter, it says it has temporary complex forms in association with life. On the other hand, life is immutable. From Bhagavad-gītā, it has neither beginning nor end. Now this is what actually we find when a living entity is in association with matter, now matter tends to the form, into definite specific forms. Like human body has a specific form, like that, other living entities have forms. But this is only due to in association with life.

Interview with Religious Editor Of the Associated Press -- July 16, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: Bodily.

Interviewer: Oh, bodily, walking on the, yes yes.

Prabhupāda: And we are working on the spiritual platform. Just like what is the distinction between a dead man and a living man? There is some distinction.

Interviewer: Right.

Prabhupāda: So those who are working on the bodily platform, they are working on the dead platform.

Interviewer: Does that involve a majority of the people, or...?

Prabhupāda: Anyone. It is a little difficult. Try to understand, that this body, so long the living force is there, the body is important. Do you follow it or not? This body is important how long? So long the life is there.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Darsana and Room Conversation Ramkrishna Bajaj and friends -- January 9, 1977, Bombay:

Girirāja: This is Mr. Sharma, the head technician at the airport, radar.

Prabhupāda: When I went to your MIT, I challenged that "Where is that technological department where a dead man can be brought into life?" It was interesting speech. The students gathered. This body is mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā as machine. Do you know that? This body is mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā as machine. Yantrārūḍhāni māyayā.

īśvaraḥ sarva bhūtānāṁ

hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati

bhrāmāyan sarva bhūtāni

yantrārūḍhāni māyayā

(BG 18.61)

Just like you make a tour by driving a motorcar, similarly, the jīvātmā is touring all over the universe riding on this machine. This is machine. So... Aiye aiye. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (guest enters) (Hindi) Aiye. We have arranged for your prasāda. Yantrārūḍhāni māyayā. This is machine. This body is machine made by the material energy, as all other machine are made by the kṣitir-āp-tejo marud-vyoma, earth, water, air, fire. These are the ingredients, any machine.

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

Prabhupāda: Material body has no sex. A dead man does not enjoy sex. Do you think that a dead man enjoys sex? Suppose a beautiful girl-dead. Will you accept for sex? Then why do you take that sex is for the body? (train noises) "Sex if for the material body" is not the fact. When the soul is not there, where is sex?

Rāmeśvara: They consider sex to be his lower nature, animal nature.

Prabhupāda: No. Everything is..., becomes animal nature when it is perverted, when it is contaminated.

Rāmeśvara: They do not have any conception of the positive.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Rāmeśvara: They have no conception of pure life. So they think that it's just...

Room Conversation -- January 19, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: How rascal they have been educated. Mūḍha.

Rāmeśvara: And the only problem was he had the wrong brain.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Rāmeśvara: They took the brain from a known criminal and put it inside the dead man. So when he came back to life he was a demon. That's their only problem, they say. If they'd only taken a brain from a dead body who was a good man, then everything would have been all right.

Prabhupāda: Why do you not take the brain of scientist and make another scientist? Why you should, they should regret "That this scientist is dead"?

Rāmeśvara: That's their goal. That is their goal.

Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Rāmeśvara: Here's the description of that. "The initial appearance of this luminous being and his questions are the prelude to a moment of startling intensity, during which this luminous being presents to the person a panoramic review of his life. It is obvious that this luminous being can see the individual's whole life and he doesn't need the information," but he is getting the dead man to reflect on his past life. It says that "The remembrance is extraordinarily rapid. Everything appears at once and can be taken in with one mental glance. Yet despite its rapidity, all the..."

Prabhupāda: That is happening in dream also. So many remembrances come together; it becomes topsy-turvied. Therefore we see all of a sudden: "Oh, it is done long, long ago."

Rāmeśvara: Yes. They say that the review, even though it's very quick, is incredibly vivid.

Morning Walk -- February 1, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Hm? That means less intelligent.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: We need to show the alternative.

Prabhupāda: No, a child can see there are two things, that what is the difference between a living man and dead man. So my father was living one moment before. Now he is dead. The something is missing. The two things are there. Where is the difficulty? And these big, big scientists, they cannot understand. How less intelligent they are. Immediately understood two things, but something is missing.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Somehow they have developed this false understanding that everything can be reduced to atoms and molecules.

Prabhupāda: That is still less intelligence, still less intelligence. Kartāham iti manyate.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Because life is something which is beyond experimental knowledge...

Room Conversation -- February 12, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Life is coming.

Jayapatākā: Yes. Taking time. (laughs)

Prabhupāda: That is the fact.

Jayapatākā: You can put the life in the dead man Śrīla Prabhupāda. We were all practically dead but you are putting life in us.

Prabhupāda: I don't think in any other place there are so many activities.

Jayapatākā: No.

Prabhupāda: They come during that festival only.

Satsvarūpa: Every night many people come. (end)

Room Conversation -- February 17, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: ...brainwash or brain-giving, that "This movement is not brainwash; we are brain-giving. Where is your brain? First of all you must have brain; then it is a question of washing. But you have no brain; you do not know what is this life. So we are giving, brain-giving movement, not brainwashing movement." On this point. "Where is your brain? You do not... You cannot explain what is the difference between a dead man and a living man. You have got so many big, big scientists, philosophers. You do not know. So where is your brain? First of all put your brain; then it is a question of washing or... So it is not brainwashing; it is brain-giving movement. Unfortunately you have no brain; therefore you misunderstand." On this point the Bhagavad-gītā will explain. What do you think? "Brainwash or brain-giving?" This should be the heading.

Room Conversation -- February 17, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: "So whatever the cause, but you have no brain. Cause may be so many things. But you have no brain to understand the simple truth. Where is your brain? So this movement is not brainwashing. Brain-giving. You have no brain." Therefore śāstra says, sa eva go-kharaḥ (SB 10.84.13). Animal has no brain. They say animal has no soul, but that's not the fact. Animal has no brain. Otherwise, all anatomical, physical, physiological conditions are there. Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithuna. But they have no brain. They cannot understand what is the difference between dead man and living man. That is the distinction between man and animal. But if you cannot understand, then where is your brain? On this point. Actually he has no brain. Sa eva go-kharaḥ (SB 10.84.13). That was the point Arjuna was chastised, that "You rascal, you have no brain. You are lamenting on this body and talking like very learned man." Aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādāṁś ca... (BG 2.11). The whole world is going on like that. They're talking like very big scientist, big philosopher, very big, big, big, but real thing they do not know. "So where is your brain?" Challenge them like that. "You cannot answer. You are big, big scientist, putting forward, 'by combination of chemical...' So why don't you combine the chemical and give the dead man to become alive? Where is your brain? You simply say 'combination of chemical,' but you take the chemicals and combine, then we can understand you have got brain.

Room Conversation -- February 17, 1977, Mayapura:

Pradyumna: But ultimately our intelligence comes from scripture and Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: No, that... Apart from scripture, logic, argument come. Scripture we take. That is our business. But you answer on common ground. Where is the difference why there is dead man and alive? What is your answer? Set aside scripture.

Ādi-keśava: That, they say, is beyond our intelligence.

Prabhupāda: That means you are not intelligent. That is the proof. "Beyond your intelligence"—that means your intelligence is not yet perfect. You're lacking in brain. (aside:) I see so many workers simply loitering. They are doing nothing. What can be done? So many. Simply they are taking money. Doing nothing. I see. There is nobody to see. They take advantage. Seventy-five percent of the workers, they are doing nothing. But the Gītā explains that within this body there is something. Not body itself is moving, but dehinaḥ asmin dehe. Within this body there is the real power, dehī, who has got this body. That is there. And because he is there, the body is changing. They cannot understand. No brain, exactly like the dogs and cats. The dog cannot understand that "Within my body, I am." They cannot. Therefore you are no better than dogs. And actual fact is you are not this body. You are within this body. It is a dress. In so many ways Bhagavad-gītā teaches, but you have no brain. Then where is brainwashing? You have no brain to understand your real position.

Room Conversation -- February 17, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: "Who are you? What is your identification? That you do not know. Rather, we are teaching that identifying yourself with this body, you have lost your identity. That is brain. (pause) If you say 'beyond our intelligence,' that means you have no brain. And we can explain. Therefore we have got brain. (pause) You have so many technical insti..." That I challenged in the M.T. (M.I.T.), that "Where is your..., that technology that when a dead man is stopped, you can replace life by technology? Where is that department?" They could not answer. Technology means the car has stopped. Go to the expert. He will repair it and do the needful. Again you will run on. That is technology. And where is that technology? As soon you say "beyond our intelligence," then don't talk nonsense. Your intelligence is not perfect. So where is your brain? This very point will solve. "You have no brain."

Room Conversation -- February 17, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: It is a good chance for explaining our mission. You should very carefully do it. Finish. Lay it... (break) (someone enter and offers obeisances) I was talking with Ādi-keśava that "There is no question of brainwash, but you have no brain." You have to prove. "How I have no brain?" "Because you do not know what is the difference between a dead man and living man. For centuries in the history, you people, you had no brain that whether the body is important or the active principle which is working within the body, that is important. You have no brain." Challenge them. Which one is important? The body's important or the active principle which is moving the body, that is important? What is important? Hm?

Tripurāri: Active principle, the soul.

Prabhupāda: So what information you have got about the active principle?

Room Conversation -- March 24, 1977, Bombay:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa:

bhāraḥ paraṁ paṭṭa-kirīṭa-juṣṭam

apy uttamāṅgaṁ na namen mukundam

śāvau karau no kurute saparyāṁ

harer lasat-kāñcana-kaṅkaṇau vā

"The upper portion of the body, though crowned with a silk turban, if not bowed down before the Personality of Godhead who can award mukti, or freedom, is a heavy burden only. And the hands, though decorated with glittering bangles, if not engaged in the service of the Personality of Godhead, Hari, are like those of a dead man." Purport: "As stated hereinbefore, there are three kinds of devotees of the Lord. The first-class devotee does not at all see anyone who is not in the service of the Lord, but the second-class devotee makes distinction between devotees and nondevotees. The second-class devotees are therefore meant for preaching work, and..." (break) Sometimes the scholars criticize you that you are giving us all the Kṛṣṇa viewpoint instead of being impartial.

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa is supreme. Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat (BG 7.7). Bhāgavata begins, namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Vāsudeva is Kṛṣṇa.

Conversation, 'Rascal Editors,' and Morning Talk -- June 22, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So you die, what you will see? Your eyes are taken away. What you will see? You say, "I die." Then what you will see after death? A dead man has got eyes. Can he see?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Then they say, "How have you seen, that you are telling us what will...?"

Prabhupāda: Seen by intelligence. (break) We are accepting everything like that.

Devotee (3): So they will say, "We accept there is a change of bodies. So then life is simply changing bodies. There is no more than this, simply..."

Prabhupāda: No, there is stoppage of change of body when you...

Devotee (3): How so?

Prabhupāda: How you... How you know? You are a rascal. What do you know? You learn it. You are rascal. What you know? You become intelligent. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). You are a rascal. What do you know? The difficulty is that you are rascal; you want to take the position of a learned man. And that is your fault. You do not accept your position, that you are a rascal.

1971 Correspondence

Letter to Jadurani -- Los Angeles 14 July, 1971:

Bhisma was lying on the bed of arrows on one side of the battlefield. There was trees and grass, but no dead men were around. Only there was the Pandavas. Krishna and great sages such as Vyasa—big, big men. Krishna was in the forefront in His royal dress. Bhisma was a stout and strong old man. The arrows were piercing his body only. They did not go all the way through. The arrows piercing his back were supporting his body and there were many arrows piercing his chest. There were no arrows in his head. A sunset scene is all right.

1975 Correspondence

Letter to Tusta Krsna -- Melbourne 20 May, 1975:

I am in due receipt of your letter dated May 14, 1975 and have noted the contents. Thank you for the U.S. 226 dollars and the A. 50 dollars daksina. I am very glad to hear that you are keeping yourself busy preaching. Don't become a dead man. Always preach.

It is very nice here in Melbourne. The temple is very beautiful. I will leave from here on the 23rd for Fiji and stay there for two days. Then I shall go to Honolulu and stay for at least one month.

1976 Correspondence

Letter to Rupanuga -- Mayapur 21 February, 1976:

They are getting a flat-bed truck, then no blocking. They can sit comfortably and chant and people will hear. He (Madhava das) is giving a class at MIT, that is very good. I challenged them where is the technology to understand the distinction between a dead man and a live man.

Regarding relocating New Kuruksetra and beginning the Bhaktivedanta Institute there, first of all decide among the scientists, Svarupa Damodara and party, and if they agree then I have no objection.