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Depend upon (Conversations)

Conversations and Morning Walks

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Dr. Weir of the Mensa Society -- September 5, 1971, London:

Prabhupāda: That is a different thing. Suppose you are a lawyer. I put my faith in you but if you cheat me I lose the case. That is another thing.

Dr. Weir: Sometimes it's just honest ignorance.

Prabhupāda: No. Generally mother is honest. If one is unfortunate he has got a mother like that, cheat you. Generally expected, a mother is honest. Mother loves his child, he gives the good information. That is mother's position. But if someone has got a different mother, that's..., the same thing can be applicable to you also. You are lawyer. Everyone depends on you, but if you conduct a case in a different way just to make profit to other party, you can do that. That is my misfortune. I have to depend on you for conducting the case. I have no other means.

Dr. Weir: And the poor lawyer has to depend upon the other person in telling him what is supposed to be the true facts.

Prabhupāda: But my position is, as soon as I appoint my lawyer, I'll have to depend fully on you. I cannot do anything else. Whatever you advise me I have to do that.

Dr. Weir: Yes, but whatever you told me depends upon what advice I give to you.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. But, as you say, the mother gives misinformation. Similarly, if you misguide me, that is not good. But I will have to depend on you.

Dr. Weir: But not deliberately. A lot of people don't know that that information is wrong.

Prabhupāda: No. Sometimes it is done deliberately. Sometimes it is done deliberately because everyone in this material world is imperfect. Therefore there is tendency of cheating. That is one of the qualifications of the conditioned soul. He becomes mistaken. He becomes illusioned. He cheats and his senses are imperfect.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

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

Prabhupāda: In this way he lives for one hundred years, according to these calculations.

Krishna Tiwari: I can understand that, but, see, we do know. We do know the age of the earth, and we know better than anybody else does.

Prabhupāda: How can you know?

Krishna Tiwari: Oh, we know. We know our own measurements, which are very reliable. Different people will come up with the same number, and we do not have to depend upon any, you know, round-about answer.

Prabhupāda: No, we have to depend...

Krishna Tiwari: No, we don't.

Prabhupāda: You theories changes every year.

Krishna Tiwari: No... Well it changes (laughter), because it is very...

Prabhupāda: Therefore we have to depend.

Krishna Tiwari: No. Change is the law of nature. Change is the law of nature. Change...

Prabhupāda: "Change is the law of nature," that's fine...

Room Conversation with Indian Guests -- July 11, 1973, London:

Revatīnandana: Is this faithfulness, is it a product of the mode of goodness?

Prabhupāda: Eh? Yes. Goodness helps. But not... Unless you take it seriously... Then it depends upon the person. Even if he's not in goodness... That, just like all these European and Americans. They were not in goodness. They were on the platform of ignorance. But still, they, because they took it, therefore they are coming, progressively.

Room Conversation with Indian Ambassador -- September 5, 1973, Stockholm:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Why not this? So if you kindly help in this way. That is within your power.

Ambassador: I'll simply write. Of course.

Prabhupāda: Yes. No, there is no use of writing. You can do it. We can immediately submit some of the names. And you can give us.

Ambassador: Of course, from Sweden, I mean, it depends upon the nationality. People can go for three months without any visa.

Prabhupāda: No, that is different thing. But missionary visa. From missionary... When there's missionary, there is no question of any particular country, because we have got men from different countries. Our men, ISKCON representatives, they should be given missionary visa when they want to go. That is my... That much help I want.

Ambassador: Who is the representative in India? Of this...? In Delhi, of your organization? In Delhi?

Prabhupāda: In Delhi?

Ambassador: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Yes, there is. Tejas.

Morning Walk -- December 9, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prajāpati: Trust means to depend completely upon God?

Prabhupāda: Eh? Just like Arjuna. While Arjuna was fighting the battle, he completely depended on Kṛṣṇa. But he was not idle. Completely, to depend completely on God does not mean idleness. Arjuna is the example. Kṛṣṇa never advised Arjuna that "You are My friend. You are My devotee, completely dependent upon Me. So you can sit down." Never said like that. Similarly, we should remain always completely dependent upon God. That does not mean we shall be lazy and idle and gossiping. We must fully utilize the intelligence which God has given us, but at the same time, we must completely depend on God. This is called "In God we trust."

Svarūpa Dāmodara: This is called?

Prabhupāda: "We trust in God." I am speaking that American currency notes bears the slogan, "In God we trust."

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 24, 1974, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: I was... I wanted a little exposition on this, svakarmaṇā tam abhyarcya.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Svakarmaṇā.

Dr. Patel: Svakarmaṇā. Now the karma of a man... I will speak for the while, huh?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dr. Patel: The karma of a man depends upon his position in the society...

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes, (etc.)

Dr. Patel: ...whether he's a kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra whether he's a sannyāsī or a gṛhastha. That karma. And that karma when he does without any expectation of any fruits, that karma is as good as bhakti according to this line, svakarmaṇā tam abhyarcya siddhiṁ vindati mānavaḥ.

Prabhupāda: No, no. Without... The result should be there, but tam, unto Kṛṣṇa. Give the result to Kṛṣṇa. Tam abhyarcya. Not self. You earn lakhs of rupees, but tam abhyarcya, give to Kṛṣṇa. Not take it yourself or distribute amongst your children. That is service. Tam abhyarcya. Tam abhyarcya. First of all understand this word, tam. Tam abhyarcya.

Morning Walk -- April 5, 1974, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: Bhagavad-gītā is not the secondary I mean other, literatures. (break) Why not? Have I no right to read?

Prabhupāda: You can have right to misinterpret. That's all right. But we are not going to do that. No.

Dr. Patel: It all depends upon my own intelligence.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. (break)

Dr. Patel: ...dadāmi yogo 'ham. He gives me that yoga and I read that way. How can you say that? I have got no power excepting the power given by God.

Prabhupāda: When you take intelligence from Kṛṣṇa...

Dr. Patel: That is what He gives me and I take it.

Prabhupāda: And He says that "If you don't surrender Me, then you are mūḍhā, narādhama." He says that. He says that.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with three Trappist Monks, Psychologists from the University of Georgia, and Atlanta Lawyer, Michael Green -- March 1, 1975, Atlanta:

Guest (4): I am not denying anything, but I'm saying that the meaning might be, that "God and Jesus is one," is in a similar way that I and God is one.

Prabhupāda: That is fact. That is fact.

Guest (3): Well, again it depends upon the belief of each individual.

Prabhupāda: No, Jesus is described as son of God. Do you deny that?

Guest (3): Definitely, he is definitely son of God just as you and I are. But at the same time, as Christians... Of course it's a matter of belief.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. The son and the father, they are the same because son is born out of father. So how he can be different? In that sense it is one.

Room Conversation with Yoga Student -- March 14, 1975, Iran:

Indian man: In the beginning it's relatively easy to be...

Prabhupāda: No, no. Explain what is bhakti-yoga.

Indian man: No, what we have understood from the chapters only...

Prabhupāda: So what is that? What you have understood?

Indian man: Just surrender yourself first...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Indian man: And then depend upon one God or one Deity in whom you have a sort of immense belief or confidence.

Prabhupāda: No, you cannot create God. God is one, already there.

Indian man: No, no, but then I can create in the form of Rāma as one.

Prabhupāda: That is not creation.

Indian man: No, not creation, but I can have my own concentration in the Rāma-mūrti.

Prabhupāda: That's all right.

Morning Walk -- June 25, 1975, Los Angeles:

Dr. Judah: No. There is no actual statement of any one person or any concept concerning God that would be accepted by all Christians. There are various theologies about God, as I said.

Prabhupāda: No, theologists, some of the prominent theologist, what do they say? How they describe God?

Dr. Judah: Well, it depends upon whether one is a Lutheran or a Calvinist or...

Prabhupāda: Let any one of them say something, I want to hear.

Morning Walk -- July 1, 1975, Denver:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, around our society now there are many devotees who are following different kinds of diets. They read some book and they get some idea. They follow...

Prabhupāda: This is not good.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And one of the things I see about the unique feature of all the diets that they have in common is that the devotees more or less stop taking the prasādam which is offered to the Deity.

Prabhupāda: This is not good. (break)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It seems to me that one of the important aspects of bhakti-yoga is to depend upon Kṛṣṇa for one's maintenance.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So whatever is offered to the Deity, one should accept.

Prabhupāda: The prasādam is not suitable?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well it is standard prasādam. Capatis, rice, dahl, subji, fruits.

Prabhupāda: So why they do not like?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, they are reading these books...

Prabhupāda: And becoming influenced.

Morning Walk -- July 2, 1975, Denver:

Devotee (1): Only Kṛṣṇa is doing everything then.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Kṛṣṇa is not like you that when you are given some business, you become embarrassed. That is the difference between Kṛṣṇa and you. He never becomes embarrassed.

Devotee (1): Śrīla Prabhupāda, is it true that our advancement in devotional services... Is it influenced a lot by our past karma, how many sinful activities we have committed?

Prabhupāda: No, no, no. Bhakti is not under karma. Bhakti is under your good will. If you accept to surrender to Kṛṣṇa, you can do that without being checked by anything else. Simply you have to will, "Yes, Kṛṣṇa. You are asking me. So long I did not do. From this day I do." That will depend upon you.

Morning Walk -- October 2, 1975, Mauritius:

Prabhupāda: Accha bole tomare lagdha, suta jagat murare.(?) You give me that chewra and milk and banana, nothing else. (break) ...and so much useless labor for growing tea, that will be stopped. You can grow food. (break) You drink tea, you'll require sugar. Then unnecessarily producing so much sugarcane. And the by-product of sugarcane, molasses, you'll have to utilize. Then produce wine, liquor. One after another.

Indian man (3): But our country depends upon sugar.

Prabhupāda: No, that is mistake. Your country, you can produce your own food. That's all. Why you should depend? You produce food grains. You produce milk. Then your all necessities is supplied. Why should you produce unnecessarily?

Brahmānanda: Here they use powdered milk because they have no cows.

Prabhupāda: Just see. And here even by this sugarcane, what is called? Upper part? This part?

Indian man (1): We call it ag.(?)

Prabhupāda: Ag, yes. You can maintain thousand of cows.

Morning Walk -- October 6, 1975, Durban:

Prabhupāda: "Only for Englishmen," "Only for Englishmen." Still that policy is going on here. That is not good. When one takes shelter of you, you must give him proper protection. That liberality is not there.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: They would make the people dependent upon them and then exploit them, yes?

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is the fault. Exploitation was their policy. Whole European, the France, Holland—go some other country and exploit. They were doing the same thing in America also. Therefore America rebelled. Washington was Englishman. Still, he rebelled. He separated. Independent. A small country and bring money from the whole world—this is their bad policy.

Morning Walk -- November 18, 1975, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: Everything is occuring by explosions. In our mind an explosion occurs, and we start believing in God. So that is not that, sir. I think they are misguided. How can anything happen without a supreme power?

Prabhupāda: If they are misguided, how they are scientists?

Dr. Patel: But we have all learned in the same schools of science, he, I and the rest, also scientists, here. We have learned the same way the science. But it all depends upon how he grasps it, how he thinks about it, how he understands it.

Prabhupāda: So that we can understand, that he is grasping like a fool. Therefore we call them "fools, rascals." There was a newspaper interview with a so-called scientist.

Morning Walk -- November 21, 1975, Bombay:

Yaśomatī-nandana: Even if one is in the complete mode of ignorance he can...

Prabhupāda: Yena tena prakārena mana kṛṣṇa niveṣayet. Somehow or other, come to Kṛṣṇa. Kāmād prayat deśāt. Any way come to Kṛṣṇa.

Yaśomatī-nandana: Then actually that means that it depends upon Kṛṣṇa's devotee rather than Kṛṣṇa, because only by association...

Prabhupāda: No, if he comes to Kṛṣṇa on any account he will become devotee.

Yaśomatī-nandana: Right. But he will come to Kṛṣṇa only if he comes in contact with His devotee.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Yaśomatī-nandana: It appears that we came to Kṛṣṇa consciousness even though we were in a very low stage.

Prabhupāda: That is the process, but if somebody comes to Kṛṣṇa with some material motive, he also becomes... (break) ...civilization and other civilization.

Morning Walk -- December 24, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Experiment means to examine whether it is truth or not.

Dr. Patel: That examines, who examines and what? Who examines the mind, man's mind? After all, no? And examination of anything depends upon the state of the mind, sir, according to the psychology. More concentrated the mind, better it will be nearer the truth.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that's all right...

Dr. Patel: That is what I say.

Prabhupāda: ...but, my point is...

Dr. Patel: See, experiment depends upon all that.

Prabhupāda: ...if there is truth, where is the scope of experiment?

Dr. Patel: I mean, that you want to, you want to pick up that point, then you are absolutely right, there is no experiment.

Prabhupāda: Yes. It is contradiction. If you say "truth," there is no question of experiment. That I..., try to understand. It is contradiction.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 19, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: And describe that he has... Just like Mādhava Mahārāja also attempted. This is the attempt. So what we have to do in this connection? Let them do whatever nonsense they want. We shall do our own business. And we have no business to propagate that we are making... People already know us all over the world. So... But suppose if he makes an attempt to mix with us so that he can take advantage, his main policy is that we may go there. That is his... Because if we do not go, then all their propaganda makes him not very important if we go there..., if we do not go there.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Why does he depend upon our going there to become important?

Prabhupāda: Because he is visualizing that by our propaganda throughout the whole world, people will come here. That he has already seen. And if we do not go there, then he becomes insignificant.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: If we don't means if anyone from all over the world who comes...

Prabhupāda: Yes, naturally.

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

Prabhupāda: Head or not head, sun is there, but you cannot see. That is the point.

Hari-śauri: Prabhupāda is explaining the existence of the sun is not dependent upon your perceiving it through your senses. The sun is always there, but sometimes you perceive it and sometimes you don't.

Prabhupāda: You don't perceive. That is your position.

Richard: Right. That is because I am physically limited by my body.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is the point. That is the point.

Interview with Newsday Newspaper -- July 14, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: Anesthetic, he becomes unconscious. Then, another process, we can bring him to conscious.

Interviewer: All right, let me ask a rather long question. Let's assume that all human beings have an innate ability to speak, and depending upon the circumstances they find themselves in when they are very small, they will learn Sanskrit, they will learn English, they will learn French, they will learn Chinese. What... Now, if I were Chinese, I would say, "Well Chinese is the best language." I would have a, you know... I could take a different mode on what's the best way to communicate.

Prabhupāda: No, Chinese...

Interviewer: Now, in terms of your movement, you're bringing out consciousness, which I would analogize...

Prabhupāda: No, I say...

Interviewer: To the ability to speak. Now, how is your path or your way different from (or) better than others?

Prabhupāda: No, but there is no question of "better than others." It is the only thing.

Room Conversation -- August 24, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: I have got a sister. She is three years younger than me. So sometimes I chastise her like anything. Because we have the same feeling, she is younger. Seventy-seven years, younger sister. But the feeling is there, younger. You know I sometimes chastise her.

Indian man: Here the feeling is about... We can do more work. It doesn't depend upon the age. In spite of this age we can do as much work as you want. This is what I wanted to emphasize here.

Prabhupāda: Because the soul is not dependent on the body. Asaṅgo 'yaṁ puruṣaḥ. If the soul has got energy, he doesn't care for the body.

Garden Conversation -- October 14, 1976, Chandigarh:

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa also says, ācāryaṁ māṁ vijānīyāt. Ācāryaṁ māṁ vijānīyān nāvamanyeta karhicit (SB 11.17.27). Ācārya and Kṛṣṇa-identical. Who is ācārya? Who speaks on behalf of Kṛṣṇa, he is ācārya. Ācārya means one who speaks on behalf of Kṛṣṇa. That is ācārya.

Indian man (4): Because Kṛṣṇa never wrote any book...

Prabhupāda: He spoke.

Indian man (4): ...therefore we have to depend upon His...

Prabhupāda: No, no. Kṛṣṇa did not write, but Kṛṣṇa spoke. If you speak and if I note down and write, what is the difference? Because you did not see, therefore it is not good? He spoke and I note down, er, you note down. Then it is as good. Kṛṣṇa was speaking, and Sañjaya was noting, and that was written by Vyāsadeva in the Mahābhārata. So what is the difference?

Indian man (4): That is one disclosure. That is one only Bhagavad-gītā.

Prabhupāda: That is sufficient. First of all, you understand few lines of Bhagavad-gītā; then jump over other. About this only, one line, tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13), if you simply understand this one line, your life will be successful.

Press Conference -- December 16, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Which concentration? What is the subject?

Guest (4): It can be from man to man, from... One may do it on Kṛṣṇa and one may do it on...

Prabhupāda: That is not standard. If meditation is according to one's whims, that is not meditation.

Guest (4): But it depends upon the faith.

Prabhupāda: According to śāstra, meditation means to meditate upon God. That is meditation. Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ (SB 12.13.1). Yoginaḥ, those who are yogis, they meditate upon the form of the Lord.

Guest (4): So through that, you...

Prabhupāda: That is meditation.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation Varnasrama System Must Be Introduced -- February 14, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Yes. He is śūdra, clerk. He can... As a śūdra, he can get the perfection. Why he should artificially become a brāhmaṇa and sannyāsī and fall down? This has to be checked.

Hari-śauri: So that depends upon our men who are giving recommendations.

Prabhupāda: So that recommendation is not good. Bible is giving so many recommendation. He's also not following them. (laughs)

Hari-śauri: Following them. So how will we implement? Right now we have... Every temple president can...

Prabhupāda: That is supposed. Where there is no tree, a castor seed tree is very big tree. That is going on.

Satsvarūpa: If there's no tree?

Prabhupāda: You know castor seed tree, a plant? it does not grow.

Satsvarūpa: Small.

Prabhupāda: Small. So there is no banyan tree. It is taken—"Oh, it is very big."

Room Conversation -- April 2, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: One must follow the regulative principles and refrain from sinful activities. Then it depends on Kṛṣṇa's mercy. You cannot force Him to give you mercy. That is not possible. Mercy is mercy. You have to do your duty, and the mercy depends upon Him.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Good answers.

Prabhupāda: All good news?

Guru dāsa: (entering?) Yes. This is very nice place, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Hm. Nice place. Better than anywhere?

Room Conversation -- May 8, 1977, Hrishikesh:

Prabhupāda: Same thing. Sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma. So jīva is also Brahman. It is same thing, but very small particle. That's all. You can understand the nature of God by studying the nature of jīva. It does not take much hard... He said, mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke. Manaḥ... Because now... He says, manaḥ ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati (BG 15.7). "So why he's struggling? Because he's depending on the mind and the senses. He's not depending upon Me." They are creating mental creation, concoction, and acting sensually. Therefore the normal condition... Just like this finger is part and parcel of my body, so it is the duty of the finger to act according to my desire. I ask the finger, "Please come here. I have some itchy feeling." If it cannot, then it is diseased. Similarly, the duty of the jīva is to serve Kṛṣṇa. If he cannot, then he's diseased. And if you want to continue in diseased condition, that is your obstinacy. Yathecchasi tathā kuru: (BG 18.63) "Whatever you like, you do." Kṛṣṇa says that "Now that I have spoken to you everything, now whatever you like, you do." And because Arjuna understood Him totally, he said, naṣṭo mohaḥ smṛtir labdhā kariṣye vacanaṁ tava (BG 18.73). This is Gītā's verse. "I'll do what You say." That is all. And He says also, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam... (BG 18.66). So if you do that, then your life is perfect. If you don't do that, then rot. Aprāpya māṁ nivartante mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani. Aśraddadhānāḥ puruṣā dharmasyāsya parantapa: (BG 9.3) "One who does not hear Me and what I am speaking, this Bhagavad-gītā—he has no faith—then he does not get Me." Then what is the result if one does not...? No, nivartante mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani: "Then he returns back again in the cycle of birth and death, sometimes cat, sometimes demigod, sometimes this..." Go on. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). Become something, remain for some time. Then again you become something else and jump like dog: "I belong to his nation. I belong to this community. I belong..." Śva-viḍ-varāhoṣṭra-kharaiḥ saṁstutaḥ puruṣaḥ paśuḥ (SB 2.3.19). He remains animal, and another big animal becomes his leader. This is going on.

Conversation with M.P., Shri Sita Ram Singh -- May 19, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Ghee, first-class ghee, we were purchasing, one rupee, Vardwa(?) ghee. Now what is the price of ghee?

Indian man (1): Twenty-five.

Sita Ram Singh: Twenty rupees.

Indian man (1): Twenty, twenty-five. Between twenty and twenty-five, depending upon the place.

Prabhupāda: That means between twenty-five to thirty times, the price has increased. But income has not increased.

Indian man (1): Not in the real sense.

Prabhupāda: No sense. All nonsense.

Page Title:Depend upon (Conversations)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, Serene
Created:20 of Dec, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=27, Let=0
No. of Quotes:27