Devotees are... (Conversations 1967 - 1974)

Expressions researched:
"devotee are" |"devotee is" |"devotees are"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase query: "devotees are" or "devotee are" or "devotee is" not "devotees are never" not "devotee is never"not "devotee are not"not "devotees are not"not "devotee is not"not "devotees never"not "devotee never"

1967 Conversations and Morning Walks

Discourse on Lord Caitanya Play Between Srila Prabhupada and Hayagriva -- April 5-6, 1967, San Francisco:

Prabhupāda: Caitanya Mahāprabhu?

Hayagrīva: His age at this time?

Prabhupāda: Twenty-four years. It is just after His sannyāsa. He took sannyāsa at the age of twenty-four. So He's visiting. After sannyāsa He's going to Jagannātha Purī. On the way He visited this Kṣīra-corā-gopīnātha, Sākṣi-gopāla, and ultimately He came to Jagannātha temple. And in the Jagannātha temple was very crowded temple because it is always at least 500, 1,000 devotees are always seeing. It is significance of Jagannātha temple. So He entered and as soon as He saw Jagannātha He became overwhelmed with ecstasy and fell down unconscious. So all the people gathered, "He's a young sannyāsī. He has fallen down." So there was Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, the learned scholar of Purī. He saw, "Oh, this young sannyāsī, He's not ordinary." So he asked his men to carry Him to his place and that will be the scene. Then after His departure His followers will come, and they will search in the temple that Caitanya Mahāprabhu is not there. Then one Gopīnātha Ācārya, I think the character is there? Gopīnātha Ācārya?

Hayagrīva: Now is this the...

Prabhupāda: Yes, Gopīnātha Ācārya.

Hayagrīva: Is this the learned brāhmaṇa?

Prabhupāda: Gopīnātha Ācārya and Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya. They were brother-in-law.

Hayagrīva: Saba...Be...

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- July 16, 1968, Montreal:

Pradyumna: No, but there would be some people there, to open correspondence with them, and they might be interested in sponsoring you.

Prabhupāda: It is not... It is more difficult.(?) (Prabhupāda is taking prasādam) (pause) Is there anything about Kṛṣṇa in Vivekananda's speech?

Pradyumna: I wasn't reading his speeches. I wanted to see how he worked things. I know he's a rascal.

Prabhupāda: So you can give me a little milk and finish business. (pause) (devotees offer obeisances) All glories to the assembled devotees.

Devotees: All glories to Guru and Gaurāṅga!

Prabhupāda: Yes. All glories to you because you are interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Certainly it is glorious. Greatest science. Please try to understand it very nicely. You will be all happy. That is my request.

Devotee: Is this picture of He who is considered(?) Kṛṣṇa in the pine tree?

Prabhupāda: What is this? Some imagination. Some imagination. All cheating. (end)

Prabhupada Comments on Prahlada Maharaja Slides - August 25, 1968, Montreal:

Prabhupāda: These are gross elements. And there are subtle elements: mind, intelligence, ego. And then spiritual. Our body is composed of three things—the spirit soul, and it is covered by subtle body: mind, intelligence ego; and there is gross body: fire, water... earth, water, fire, air, ether. So this universe, this universe is only one universe, but there are millions of universes, and they are covered with the gross and subtle elements. And penetrating that gross and subtle elements, when one comes to the sky, there are innumerable planets. The planets are seen, the suns and stars, like that. So the two souls, Jaya and Vijaya, they are coming on this earth. That is shown in this picture. Now they came as demons because they had to fight with the Supreme Lord. The devotees will not fight. The devotees are servitors, but the atheists, the demons, they are always inimical to the Personality of Godhead. That is the nature. Demonic nature means they do not believe in God. "Oh, what nonsense, God. I am God." Although he's a dog, he thinks himself, "I am God." That is demonic nature. He is being kicked every minute by the laws of nature, and still, he is superficially thinking that "I am God." God is not so cheap, but they have made to become God is very cheap. If you pay thirty-five dollars to a person, he'll give you a mantra and you become within six months God. This is very nice statement and people will follow. Thousands and thousands will follow. But if you say, "Oh, you have to undergo much austerity, penance, regulation and tapasya," "Oh, this is botheration. We shall enjoy material life, and the same time become God." So these cheap things are exhibited by the demons. And when a demon is born, the natural disturbances are there. When there are natural disturbances, we must know that there is some demonic principle.

Questions and Answers -- Montreal, August 26, 1968:

Prabhupāda: Hum?

Devotee: Nārada Muni delivered the chanting, the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, to the Earth?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Devotee: Was it here before he came? And what..., how long ago did he come?

Prabhupāda: That you cannot calculate. Nārada Muni is one of the sons of Brahma, so he's present since the time of creation. And many great sages and saintly devotees are all devotees of Nārada Muni. Prahlāda Maharaja is disciple of Nārada Muni, Dhruva Maharaja is the disciple of Nārada Muni, Vyāsadeva is disciple of Nārada Muni, Vālmīki is disciple of Nārada Muni. So Nārada Muni was very expert in getting disciples. He had so many disciples. Unlimited.

Devotee: Swamiji, what's the meaning of "Ṭhākura"?

Prabhupāda: Ṭhākura actually means God. So one who is godly, he is also addressed as Ṭhākura. Yes.

Devotee (girl): When we're dreaming, when we're asleep, are we in māyā?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Devotee (girl): Even when we dream about...

Prabhupāda: So long you sleep, you waste your time.

Devotee (girl): Swami, even when we dream about Godbrothers and Godsisters?

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Questions and Answers -- Montreal, August 26, 1968:

Devotee: Are there elephants available in India, Swamiji?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Elephants, there are many in India. Elephants, camels, horses also. Still there are many.

Devotee: Could we film on location, on the battlefield?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. The battlefield is still existing, Kurukṣetra. Yes. It is about hundred..., about within two hundred miles from Delhi. It is not far off. That, my red tape recorder is not replaced. Is it very costly now?

Devotee: I think so. Yeah. About five hundred dollars.

Prabhupāda: Five hundred dollars, that may be Japanese. The original is English.

Devotee: Oh, English? I thought it was German. English?

Prabhupāda: Yes. German or English. That is eight hundred dollars. It was very nice. Yes. I therefore used to keep daily in my compartment. I didn't allow to leave it here. How you are feeling, Jadurāṇī? All right? So I think we shall chant little Hare Kṛṣṇa and close this meeting. (kīrtana) (end)

Room Conversation -- October 27, 1968, Montreal, With First Devotees Going to London On Evening of Their Departure:

Prabhupāda: Everyone eats. Kṛṣṇa also... Kṛṣṇa eats through fire. Therefore yajña is offered. Kṛṣṇa eats by so many ways, but people want to see that "I give foodstuff; it must be finished." (chuckles) So for the rudimental seers and the less intelligent class, this is...

Janārdana: Virāṭa rūpa conception.

Prabhupāda: Virāṭa rūpa, yes. That is also nice, right, that through fire He eats, yes, or through the mouth of the brāhmaṇas and devotees. Two things are there. Therefore, according to the Vedic religion, the brāhmaṇas or Vaiṣṇavas, devotees, are invited to take food in some ceremonies. In śraddhā ceremony they are especially invited with great honor. In pilgrimage somebody goes to Vrndavana, Prayag, Mathura. They invite the brāhmaṇas and Vaisnavas so that through them Kṛṣṇa is eating. They have come to satisfy Kṛṣṇa in a place of pilgrimage. These are the systems. So for the purpose of eating, so many brāhmaṇas have sprung up. Because brāhmaṇas are invited, so so many so-called brāhmaṇas there. They'll be present when eating, and when there is chanting of Vedas they are not present there. (break) Baby has also tilaka. (chuckles) She is very happy. You see? I never seen such small child not crying. That means she is always happy. She's not crying means... Because baby cries when there is discomfort. And with her face shows that she is very happy. (laughs)

Yamunā: (break) ...Swamiji.

Prabhupāda: Just see. Thank you. (break) ...see?

Girl Devotee: (inaudible)

Prabhupāda: Oh. Just see. All very healthy, I see, because very energetic.

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- April 11, 1969, New York:

Prabhupāda: But that frustration has no disappointment. (laughter) That is the beauty. Just like Lord Caitanya is manifesting that spiritual frustration. "Oh Kṛṣṇa, I could not see You." He's jumping on the sea in frustration. But that frustration is the highest perfection of love. Yes. Everything is there. But without inebriety. You are very intelligent boy. I thank you. Yes. Yes. There is frustration, but not this frustration. Yes. That frustration, I mean to say, enriches one's eagerness of love for Kṛṣṇa. Everything is there, but without inebriety. Everything is there. Yes. Now see, Viṣṇu? Of course, in Vaikuṇṭha-jagat there is no violence. But Viṣṇu is taking the symbol of violence. Otherwise what is the meaning of this disc and club? So when He wants to be violent, He comes here as Nṛsiṁha-mūrti. (laughter) And He sends some of His devotees to play violence. That is Hiraṇyakaśipu. Because there the devotees are so much in accord with Kṛṣṇa and Viṣṇu that there is no question of disagreement. But violence is when this disagree-ment, atheist. Therefore sometimes a devotee is deputed in this world to play as atheist, and Kṛṣṇa comes to kill him. To teach these people that "If you become atheist, then here is disc and club for you." But it is not possible to be displayed in the Vaikuṇṭha. Otherwise, if there is no the propensity of violence... Just like there is sometimes mock fight. A father is fighting in mock with a small child, and he has become defeated. But there is pleasure. So ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). The Lord is joyful. So there is joy in fighting also sometimes. So your question that everything is there, that is a fact. Everything is there. Otherwise if everything is not there, they cannot be manifested here because it is reflection. Just like in... Of course, this discovery is by the Vaiṣṇava, Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava. Just like the love between Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, it is called parakiya. They are not married husband and wife. But Rādhārāṇī appears to be wife of some other gentleman. But Kṛṣṇa, from childhood, They were friends. So Radhārāṇī could not forget Kṛṣṇa. She used to come to Kṛṣṇa and stand like that. That's all. And He was playing.

Room Conversation -- April 27, 1969, Boston:

Prabhupāda: So what does she say?

Jadurāṇī: She said the flowers weren't out yet, but that was months ago. We have some mail for you. One letter is from her with up-to-date news.

Prabhupāda: Oh. Some devotees are coming. And in Honolulu, two boys, they are also doing. In Hawaii there are two branches now. Yes. One at Honolulu, one at Kauai. Kauai. That island's name is Oahu. Hawaii has five islands' stretch, and this is called Oahu. Oahu island, one side, Honolulu, and one side... This island means hill. And the valley of the hills are utilized for residential purposes. So all sides, Pacific Ocean. And there is ample production of sugar cane and pineapple. I was chewing sugar cane as it is. Yes. And there is so many coconut trees, palm trees, and mango. In mango season they throw away mangos. So I have asked Govinda dāsī that "You make mango pulp and dry it and send it." So they are doing nice, husband and wife, Gaurasundara, yes, trying their best. I do not know whether they are working now.

Himāvatī: Govinda dāsī is working.

Prabhupāda: Working. She can work. She can earn $400 at least.

Haṁsadūta: Typing?

Prabhupāda: Yes. She is good typist.

Room Conversation -- April 27, 1969, Boston:

Prabhupāda: 247. You see? (chuckles)

Haṁsadūta: I'll try in Montreal. We have new devotees now, lot of new boys.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Oh, you will get devotees. You just begin saṅkīrtana party. You will get many devotees. You see? In Los Angeles, daily the devotees, new devotees, are coming, and very nice boys. We are now searching after a bigger place. Yes. That temple is not sufficient, although that is the biggest center of all our centers. It has got compound. It has got parking place. It has got two big halls, one big room, one big kitchen, and three, four, five small rooms. It is a nice situation, you see, just suitable for our purpose. And they decorate Jagannātha very nicely. Yes. So increase centers. And what is the name of the boy who went to... Nanda-rūpa(?). He wants to open Toronto?

Haṁsadūta: In Toronto. Toronto is a very good place to go.

Prabhupāda: So let him open.

Haṁsadūta: Let him go?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Haṁsadūta: Okay. But not alone. He needs someone else, I think. He needs one more boy. I don't think by himself he can do it.

Prabhupāda: That we shall arrange, somebody to go. Yes.

Room Conversation With John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and George Harrison -- September 11, 1969, London, At Tittenhurst:

Gurudāsa: So you see many devotees of the authority, and then you decide which is the most sincere devotee. And just like in the ninth chapter He says, "You will come to Me." Now, if I asked you for a glass of water and you poured it on the wall, I'd think you were silly. But if you brought it to me, then I knew you were in knowledge, we were having a reciprocal relationship. Therefore, if the devotee is saying, "Worship Kṛṣṇa," and not putting so much of his own ideas in, but just saying, "Worship Kṛṣṇa," all throughout, as Swamiji does, then you can know he's a sincere devotee.

Prabhupāda: No, no. One thing you try to understand. Why these people, if Kṛṣṇa is not the supreme authority, why they are taking Kṛṣṇa's book and translating? Why don't you try to understand?

George Harrison: I'm not saying Kṛṣṇa isn't the Supreme. I believe that.

Prabhupāda: No, no. I mean to say, even there are other sects, as you say, Maharsi. They accept also indirectly Kṛṣṇa as the supreme authority. Because if we say Maharsi belongs to Śaṅkara sampradāya...

George Harrison: Yeah, but we had a misunderstanding before about the translation of the Sanskrit Gītā into English, and I was saying that there's many versions, and I think we thought you were trying to say that your version, your translation, was the only authority and that the other translations... But we didn't really have understanding as to the identity of Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. If you believe Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord, if that is your version, then you have to see who are much addicted to Kṛṣṇa directly. For argument's sake. That these people are twenty-four hours chanting Kṛṣṇa, and another person who has no, not a single word Kṛṣṇa, how he can become devotee of Kṛṣṇa? How he can become representative of Kṛṣṇa, who does not utter even the name of Kṛṣṇa? If Kṛṣṇa is authority accepted, therefore who are directly addicted to Kṛṣṇa, they are authorities. (Kīrtanas follow, George Harrison leading) (end)

1970 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- December 12, 1970, Indore:

Prabhupāda: The first two steps are yama, niyama, then āsana, then praṇāyāma, then pratyāhāra, then dhyāna, then dhāraṇā, then samādhi. These are explained in the yogic śāstra or Bhagavad-gītā. So this man, although born of a brāhmaṇa father... Now, here it is said that naṣṭa-sadācāra. Although he is born of a brāhmaṇa father, his ācāra, his dealings for advancing in spiritual life...A brāhmaṇa is expected to be truthful, to be self-controlled, to be fully cognizant of spiritual life, practical application in life, jñānam, vijñānam, āstikyam, to have complete faith in the statement of the śāstras. That is... That is called āstikyam. We, according to our Vedic system, we do not accept any other system of religion because we consider them nāstika. That is the primary principle. Nāstika means one who does not believe in the Vedas. He is called nāstika. Not that he does not believe in God. One may believe in God, but one who does not believe in the Vedic literature, he is called nāstika. Veda na manīyā bauddha haila nāstika. Lord Buddha, although he is accepted as incarnation of God, but because he defied the Vedic principles it is said, nindasi yajña-vidher ahaha śruti-jātaṁ. Lord Buddha criticized the, I mean to say, sacrificial ceremonies because in the sacrificial ceremonies sometimes there is recommendation of killing an animal. But he was preaching nonviolence. So he criticized even the sacrifice in yajña. He criticized. Nindasi... But a Vaiṣṇava is praying, "My dear Lord, you are defying the Vedic principles." He knows why the Lord is now defying the Vedic principles; therefore he is devotee. In spite of Lord Buddha's defying the Vedic principles, a devotee is offering him obeisances. Keśava dhṛta-buddha-śarīra jaya jagadīśa hare. He knows the Lord, how He is playing, how He is bewildering the atheistic class of men. The atheistic class of men did not believe in God. Lord Buddha says, "Yes, you don't require to believe in God. There is no God. But you feel yourself that when you are attacked with violence you feel pain. Why should you offer to others?" Because his mission was to stop animal killing. Sadaya-hṛdaya-darṣita-paśu-ghātam. The Supreme Lord became too much compassionate when he saw that people are unnecessarily killing animals, as it is going on still. Instead of... At least those who are claiming Buddhist, they are killing animals. Bruce, is it not? Yes. But in the Buddhist religion there is no sanction for killing animals. Yes?

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- February 17, 1971, Gorakhpur:

Devotee: But then...

Prabhupāda: There is no then. Don't talk nonsense. If you are so much addicted to sleeping, you simply chant sixteen rounds and whole day sleep. But don't take food also. (laughter) Don't get up taking prasādam. "Now I have to honor prasādam. Let me eat sumptuous, then again sleep more."

Devotee: Is there some order of priority in service then? I mean, sixteen rounds is more important than anything else. And then following that, there's something else.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. If you cannot do anything else, you simply chant sixteen rounds, take prasādam, and sleep. (laughter) It is special prerogative for you. There is no then. This is, this is order for you.

Devotee: In a situation where there's a choice between say chanting and reading. Is chanting a better activity than reading?

Prabhupāda: Yes, chanting and reading is the same thing.

Devotee: But is one better than the other?

Prabhupāda: No better. That I explained. It is absolute. Either you chant or read, the same thing. But you have to fulfill the sixteen rounds. That's it. All right. Let us... (end)

Darsana -- June 28, 1971, San Francisco:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Previous year... Anyone? Everyone you have got? All right. So this is the difference. I have been in Moscow. So there is... I couldn't find this. I could not eat fruit. Now your country, Kṛṣṇa has given so nice, so nice flowers, and so nice Vaiṣṇavas. And that country is very proud of advancing, but there is no fruit, there is no flower, there is no Vaiṣṇava, and there is no freedom. And this is the... They are proud. You see? "We are advanced." This is the... There is a story, one worshiper of Durgā... In Bengal, they worship Durgā Mātā. So it is a story, the Durgā Mātā, the Goddess Durgā is asking the devotee, "My dear boy, you are happy?" "Yes, mother, I am very happy. Simply two things wanting." "What is this?" "I have no food, I have no clothing." Just see. This is story, just try to understand, that "I am happy, but two things wanting: no food, no clothing." Is that happiness? No food, no clothing. Similarly, this Russian country, they are very much proud of advancement, but no food sufficient and no freedom. No food and no freedom, that's all. This is the sum and substance.

So in your country also that position may come. Now in America you are happy. Because the nature is changing, jagat. Jagat means which is changing. So before any further changes come, you spread this Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over your country. You should utilize these fruits and flowers for Kṛṣṇa and be happy. Don't slip down. That is my request. Whatever I could do, I have done. Now it is up to you to spread this movement all over the world. Don't go away. There is some tendency, somebody. Therefore, I ask you, no. This is all nonsense. This is māyā's peeping, "Why you are working so hard for a sentiment, chanting and dancing? Come on, take to service and be happy with your wife and children." This is māyā. This is māyā. I did not ask my students to marry to become a lost child. I wanted to give them some facility, because you cannot do without wife. But now I am seeing that some of them are slipping away. This is not to be done, no. Every one of us as good as sannyāsī because we have sacrificed everything for Kṛṣṇa. Sannyāsī does not mean simply having no wife and children, he's a sannyāsī. No. Nothing to possess except Kṛṣṇa. That is sannyāsī. One should know that "I will have simply Kṛṣṇa, nothing more." Then he is sannyāsī. This mentality, that "I have nothing to serve, I have nobody to serve except Kṛṣṇa." But if you serve Kṛṣṇa, you will serve everyone. Just like I was teaching this Indian gentleman. The same process. If you pour water on the root of the tree, automatically the branches, the leaves, and the flowers are all served. If you put the foodstuff here, not here, not here, then automatically this is served. Although the foodstuff is here, automatically this is served, this is served, this is served, this is... Everybody is served. This is practical. If you serve Kṛṣṇa, then all service will be included. They are serving humanitarian and so on. Suppose I, I am Indian, I came to your country. Why I came to your country in this old age? That is service. To be Kṛṣṇa conscious, that's the best service. Without any distinction of caste, creed, country, color. No. Everyone should have Kṛṣṇa. This is the best service. Go everywhere, every part of the world, and give Kṛṣṇa. That is the best service you can do. And actually, they are now feeling, because they are Indians. Even in India, where there are so many devotees of Kṛṣṇa, but when they saw "These American devotees are so nice," thirty thousand people were coming daily. And what was our magic?

Interview -- July 29, 1971, Gainesville:

Prabhupāda: I am encouraged.

Interviewer: Encouraged? Why?

Prabhupāda: Because so many devotees are coming daily.

Interviewer: So many? You say so many. You know, we have maybe, what, two dozen people sitting here. But of course there are...

Prabhupāda: We have got sixty centers.

Interviewer: ...205 or 210 million Americans.

Prabhupāda: But you cannot, when you sell diamonds, you cannot expect everyone will purchase. There must be bona fide customer for diamond. You cannot expect diamond is sold among mass of people. You cannot expect it.

Interviewer: Do you in general approve of this society, or do you major complaints about it, the American society that you now live among?

Prabhupāda: I have no complaint. These boys and girls, they are very nice. I am rather encouraged that these body and girls, they are so much inquisitive about Kṛṣṇa. So it is a best field for, best field everywhere. But these boys and girls, I can understand they're hankering after something nice. They're frustrated. So they have got now the things, so they're coming.

Room Conversation -- August 14, 1971, London:

Prabhupāda: That chance we are giving. We are chanting and others are hearing. By this process, chanting and hearing, both of us will be benefited, awakening our original God consciousness.

Revatīnandana: At the stage of awakening, when you're waking up, when you're becoming cured of the diseased condition, you sometimes have to restrict your diet. Later on, when you are healthy, you can take all kinds of foodstuffs in the proper way. But while you're getting over a disease you have to restrict your diet. Therefore we hear things that are directly concerned with Kṛṣṇa's name, form, activities. Later on, then we'll be able to see God in a flower, God in everywhere. Otherwise we'll see the flower however we enjoy a flower because we're not at that healthy stage. So therefore there are regulations that we follow for curing the disease. That means for a little while we restrict the diet. Then when we're healthy...

Prabhupāda: Just like these flowers. These flowers the devotees are bringing to their spiritual master, to God. They are not enjoying. Ordinary man, if he gets a flower, he'll put it in the pocket. How... You see? That is the difference of God consciousness. The flower is the same, but use is different.

Guest (2): What's your view, if I may ask, on, for emotion in, of, an ideal, a Christian ideal and so on through the media. Will you use television and radio to condemn things like racial intolerance and the Vietnam War? Do you believe that you should become involved in these things? Could you issue a statement and say that the movement condemns so and so? Do you believe getting into anything in the world spectrum to comment on things?

Revatīnandana: Do you follow the question, Śrīla Prabhupāda? His question is do we concern ourselves with particular problems in the world, there's the war in Vietnam, there's racial discrimination? Do we make statements to condemn this war or to condemn that discrimination?

Room Conversation -- August 21, 1971, London:

Haṁsadūta: Yes, I understand. I just wanted to know if it was acceptable.

Prabhupāda: No, no. Why not acceptable? No. Yes. Yes. That's all right. Let him take. We are paying Hayagrīva also. What can be done?

Haṁsadūta: And another thing I wanted to ask you about, Prabhupāda, is that Maṇḍalībhadra, he wants to make your literature perfect, which is natural because we want to make the nicest presentation. But the devotees are saying that the translation... For instance, this Easy Journey to Other Planets, has been in the process so long, it has so many times been reworked, that it's no longer palatable to them. They don't even read it. They'd rather have the English version. So I know that Your Divine Grace has said you have full faith in his ability to do the work...

Prabhupāda: No, no. If you... you find out somebody else. He can also do.

Haṁsadūta: Because my opinion is that he's becoming overworked, it's becoming strained, so much so that we're not even able to bring it to the printer because he insists on making every time more and more corrections.

Prabhupāda: (chuckles) It never comes to perfection.

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

Dr. Weir: Causa causam. (Latin)

Prabhupāda: Ah, cause of all causes.

Devotee: Is that Latin?

Dr. Weir: Yes.

Devotee: It's similar.

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Dr. Weir: A Latin legal phrase: causa causam, the cause of the cause.

Prabhupāda: So God is cause of all causes. And in the Bhagavad-gītā it is explicitly said,

ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo

mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate

iti matvā bhajante māṁ

budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ

(BG 10.8)

"I am the original source of everything. Everything is emanating from Me." Iti matvā, understanding like this, budhā. Budhā means those who are conversant, thoroughly in knowledge. Iti matvā bhajante māṁ budhā bhāva samanvitāḥ, in ecstasy, "Oh, here is the original cause of all causes." So in this way those who are advanced in knowledge, budhā, they engage themselves in the service of the original cause of all causes. He's the cause of all causes, but He has no cause. That is God. Anādir ādir govindam. He has no cause, but He's the cause of all life. That is God. Just like I am the effect, my father is the cause. Similarly, my grandfather is the cause of my father. My grandfather is the effect of the cause of great-grandfather. You go on searching out, searching out. So when you find out the original cause, that is God. That is the definition of God.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Talk with Bob Cohen -- February 27-29, 1972, Mayapura:

Śyāmasundara: ...1972 in Māyāpura. Conversations between Śrīla Prabhupāda and Bob, a Peace Corps worker, entitled "Perfect Questions, Perfect Answers." (break) (Devotees are singing prayers to Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva loudly over loudspeaker in background.)

Prabhupāda: ...because he knows things as they are.

Bob Cohen: (indistinct) ...knows things as they are.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Bob: He hopes he knows things as they are.

Prabhupāda: No, he's supposed to know. We approach to a scientist because he's supposed to know the things right. (A loudspeaker is playing very loudly in the background.) Let them make a little soft. (break) (laughter) Great relief. (laughter)

Bob: I have felt that the loudspeakers were too loud all day.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Bob: And I mentioned it to somebody.

Prabhupāda: It is pinching.

Talk with Bob Cohen -- February 27-29, 1972, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: They are above goodness. Śuddha-sattva. Devotees are not in this material world. They're in the spiritual world. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā.

māṁ ca yo 'vyabhicāreṇa

bhakti-yogena sevate

sa guṇān samatītyaitān

brahma-bhūyāya kalpate

(BG 14.26)

Devotees are neither in the goodness, passion, or ignorance. They are transcendental to all these qualities.

Bob: This is a devotee who practices very faithful...

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Bob: A devotee who is very faithful reaches this stage?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Devotee, you can become devotee, as they have become. It is not difficult. Simply you have to engage yourself in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. That's all.

Bob: I wish to gain more knowledge of God and be able to feel God's presence more. The reason for this is because I feel life has little meaning without this.

Talk with Bob Cohen -- February 27-29, 1972, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: We shall place the in... what is called, paraphernalia? And then begin. So ten feet deep and six feet wide. So you have ordered for bricks and cement? (loudspeaker in background very loud)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I was speaking with Mr. Sanyal and he also agreed that by having a man come here and make the bricks, we can save fifty percent.

Prabhupāda: So try to find out. (break) You can talk. (break) (A devotee is speaking in Bengali over the loudspeaker and Prabhupāda mimics him, everyone laughs.) Mahāṁsa? Who is speaking, Mahāṁsa speaking or Bardon? (break)

Indian man: Śrīla Prabhupāda, I have one question. What is the purpose of service minus devotion?

Prabhupāda: Hmm? That is not service; that is business. (laughter) Just like we have employed some contractor. That is not service; that is business. Is it not?

Indian man: Certainly.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Just like sometimes they advertise: "Our customers are our master." Is it not? Sometimes advertise. So this is business, but it is a flowery language only that "Our customers are our masters." Because nobody is a qualified customer unless he pays. Hmm? But service is not like that. Service, Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, āśliṣya vā pāda-ratāṁ pinaṣṭu mām (CC Antya 20.47), "Oh, You do whatever You like; still, You are my worshipable Lord." That is service. "I don't ask any return from You." That is service. When you expect some return that is business. (pause) Very nice road. (break)

Talk with Bob Cohen -- February 27-29, 1972, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Yes. So long you are in the material world, what is physical laws, you cannot neglect that. Just like if you go to a jungle, there is tiger. It is known that it will attack you. Why should you voluntarily go and be attacked? It is not that a devotee should take physical risk so long he has got some physical body. It is not a challenge to the physical laws: "Oh, I have become a devotee. I challenge everything." That is foolishness. Anāsaktasya viṣayān yathārham upayuñjataḥ. Viṣaya, these physical necessities, the devotee is advised to accept the necessities of life without any attachment. Physical law is take the boiled water, but if boiled water is not available, does it mean he'll not drink water? If it is not available, you drink ordinary water. (break) We take Kṛṣṇa-prasādam. But while in touring, in hotels sometimes we have to take some food in the hotel. Does it mean, "Oh, I do not take any foodstuff from the hotel, I shall starve"? If I starve, then I'll be weak, I cannot preach. (break)

Bob: Does a devotee lose some of his individuality in that...

Prabhupāda: No, he has got full individuality, but he sacrifices individuality for pleasing Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says, "You surrender unto Me." So he voluntarily surrenders. Not that he has lost his individuality. He keeps his individuality fully. But because Kṛṣṇa desires that he should surrender, he never minds. He's individual. Just like Arjuna, in the beginning he was declining to fight on account of his individuality. But when he accepted Kṛṣṇa as his spiritual master, he became śiṣya. Then whatever He ordered, "Yes." That doesn't mean he lost his individuality. He voluntarily accepted, "Whatever Kṛṣṇa says, I shall do it." Just as all my disciples, they have not lost their individuality, but they have surrendered their individuality. That is required. Just like if a man does not use sex, does that mean he has become impotent? If he likes he can have, thousand times sex life, but he has voluntarily avoided it. Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate (BG 9.59). Sometimes we fast, that does mean we are diseased. We voluntarily fast. It does not mean that I am not hungry, I cannot eat. But we voluntarily fast.

Talk with Bob Cohen -- February 27-29, 1972, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Girirāja: There are other things which we're instructed to do which even though we try to do we cannot do perfectly yet.

Prabhupāda: How is that? You try to do and cannot do? How it is?

Girirāja: Like chanting attentively. Sometimes we try to...

Prabhupāda: That is not fault. Suppose you are trying to do something and due to your inexperience you sometimes fail, that is not fault. You are trying. There is a verse in Bhāgavata that a devotee is trying his best, but due to his incapability he sometimes fails. So Kṛṣṇa excuses. And in the Bhagavad-gītā also it is said, api cet sudurācāro bhajate mām ananya-bhāk (BG 9.30). By, due to his bad habit, past, sometimes, not willingly, but due to his habit, habit is second nature, he does something nonsense. But that does not mean he is faulty. But he must repent for that, that "I have done this." And should try to avoid as far as possible. But habit is the second nature. Sometimes, in spite of our trying hard, the māyā is so strong, push me into pitfalls. That can be excused. Kṛṣṇa excuses. But those who are doing willingly something, that is not excused. On the strength that "I am a devotee, I am chanting. Therefore I may commit all this nonsense, it will be nullified." That is the greatest offense. (end)

Room Conversations -- April 22, 1972, Japan:

Prabhupāda: No, no. Just waking, ārati begins. And you can offer something.

Bhānu: We should offer the plate after the ārati?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Devotee: After.

Devotee: Is it all right for the Deities' hair to show?

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Devotee: Sometimes, at some temples, the Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Deities, sometimes Their hair shows.

Prabhupāda: Shows?

Devotee: Yes. Like Rādhārāṇī's hair is down in front. Is that all right?

Prabhupāda: That doesn't matter. That is for beauty, as it is possible. Better keep it that side. Just like Rādhārāṇī's hair... There is picture. That gopīs, they have got their hair that side. Rādhārāṇī is also one of the gopīs, but she is the dearmost gopī. That's all. Otherwise, she is also gopī. Then? What else?

Sudāmā: Bhānu had a question about something.

Bhānu: Does evening ārati vary according to the sunset? Or it is just...

Prabhupāda: No. Sunset.

Sudāmā: And how many full āratis should we perform, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Conversation in car -- April 22, 1972, Tokyo:

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. They will get. Automatically they will get. Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare. (sings hari hari biphale) Is it far?

Sudāmā: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare. Some new devotees are joining us in our all centers?

Karandhara: Yes. Not so many as before, but the ones that are coming are much more fixed up. Before some would... Ten would come and seven would leave. But now they don't come so much, but when they come, they stay.

Prabhupāda: They stay. (sings softly) The students dress like policemen?

Sudāmā: Yes. They all wear uniform.

Karandhara: Right now there are twelve brahmacārīs in Los Angeles who are getting ready to go to India.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Karandhara: They'll be going on about the 5th of May, the 6th of May. I think also the same number in New York are preparing to go.

Prabhupāda: Now we have got enough place. Yes. Very nice place, Vṛndāvana. And we are expected to get another place at Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura's birth place. Oh, that is very nice place also. (end)

Room Conversation -- June 29, 1972, San Diego:

Prabhupāda: No. That destiny can change. Śāstra says... Destined means so far you're... Suppose you are to get, say, one thousand dollars per month. That you'll get. You try for it or don't try for it, you'll get. Therefore we should not waste our time for getting one thousand dollars. We should utilize the time for developing our Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is our philosophy.

tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido

na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ

tal labhyate duḥkhavad anyataḥ sukhaṁ

kālena sarvatra gabhīra-raṁhasā

(SB 1.5.18)

Just like nobody tries for becoming unhappy, but unhappiness comes. Nobody tries, that "Let me become unhappy." But people become unhappy. Why? He does not try for it. Similarly, that happiness also, even if you don't try for it, it will come. So śāstra says, "You don't bother yourself for worldly happiness or unhappiness. Whatever you are destined, you'll get it. You try for develop your Kṛṣṇa consciousness, which in other life, in the animal life, you could not do." In the animal... (break) ...advised... If the animal is advised that, "You become Kṛṣṇa conscious," he cannot do it. He has no power. But a man can do it. Therefore the man's main business should be how to develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness, not for so-called economic development. Economic development will come automatically, what you are destined to have. This is our philosophy. We don't try for any economic development. All our members, we have no concern what we shall eat tomorrow, although we haven't got any source of income. We are pushing this movement all over the world. We have got about one hundred branches and similar devotees are there, each branch, not less than twenty-five. What is that?

Room Conversation -- July 4, 1972, New York:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Not preset. That you can do, because you have got little independence. It is not natural to commit suicide. It is unnatural. So, because we have got independence, we can go from nature to unnature, and we shall be prepared for that. Just like a prisoner cannot go out of the prisonhouse naturally, but somehow or other he arranges to jump over the wall and goes away. Then he becomes again criminal, for farther (indistinct). Naturally, the prisoners cannot go out of the prisonhouse. Somehow or other, he manages to go out. That means he becomes again criminal. He will be again arrested, and his term of imprisonment will be increased, or he will be punished more. So naturally we cannot violate the destiny, but if we do it, then we suffer(?). But our destiny can be changed by Kṛṣṇa when we are Kṛṣṇa conscious. That we do not do, but Kṛṣṇa will do. Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi: (BG 18.66) "I shall give you protection." So that change takes place for my protection by Kṛṣṇa. There are two stages: nondevotee and devotee. The nondevotee is under the control of material nature, and devotee is under the direct control of Kṛṣṇa. Just like a big man. In the office there are many employees, they are controlled by different departmental superintendent. But the small man at home is controlling his children directly. The controller, he is controller both in the office and factory and home, but at home he is controller directly; outside home he is controller indirectly. But he is controller always. Similarly, God is controller always. When one becomes devotee, he is controlled directly by God. When he is nondevotee, he is controlled by His agent, māyā. But he has to be controlled. Just like every citizen of America is controlled by the government. When he's all right, his civil department controls him. When he's not all right, then the criminal department controls him. But he cannot say that "I am not controlled." That is not possible. If somebody says, "I am not controlled," he is not sane. He is crazy. Everyone is controlled.

Room Conversation -- July 4, 1972, New York:

Prabhupāda: Huh, where is Christian? Simply by saying that "I am Christian..."

Ātreya Ṛṣi: There is no Christian.

Prabhupāda: There is no Christian. Otherwise there is no difference between Christianity and our philosophy. They're Christian; we're Krishnian. And Christ comes from the word Kṛṣṭa. So if they actually follow the commandments given by Lord Jesus Christ, the world will change, immediately.

Devotee: Is that so...

Prabhupāda: Unnecessarily, false argument. Even Jesus Christ ate meat, you cannot imitate. You have to follow his instruction.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Yes, our best, I have found that the best argument is, you practice. Proof.

Prabhupāda: Yes. So I shall go? No.

Devotee: A few minutes, I think, 'cause they are still packing.

Prabhupāda: All right.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: None of these religions have produced a sannyāsī.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: None of them. A person who is detatched from material life.

Room Conversation -- July 4, 1972, New York:

Prabhupāda: Popular. (laughter)

Devotee: (10) Time magazine, special issue.

Prabhupāda: (devotees are laughing as they look at magazine) What is that?

Devotee (10): It says "Vai..., Vaikuṇṭha Playhouse, statement of purpose." There's a theatrical group called the Vaikuṇṭha Players.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: (break) ...Śrīla Prabhupāda, fourth of July.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: It's the fourth of July.

Prabhupāda: Today?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Hm. Keep it all in (indistinct).

Devotee (10): This is some peanuts.

Prabhupāda: Distribute.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: It's a very sad day for us, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Room Conversation -- July 5, 1972, London:

Sumati Morarjee: So, at that time it is handed over to Hong Kong ship. It will be delivered in Bombay. Then we reship it to Hong Kong, to Los Angeles.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Devotee: Is that on a regular basis, that it goes to Hong Kong?

Sumati Morarjee: Yes, mostly. I'll let you know, because that service is also Bombay. These people, they don't know. So you can write one letter for this car, and another letter for this. So they're not intermixed.

Prabhupāda: Yes, all right. Scindia Steam Navigation meant for carrying Kṛṣṇa conscious.... (laughter)

Sumati Morarjee: (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: That was written in the beginning.

Sumati Morarjee: Ah (laughter)

Prabhupāda: I think it was done by, at your expense.

Sumati Morarjee: Yes, yes.

Prabhupāda: That small pamphlet.

Sumati Morarjee: Yes, yes.

Room Conversation -- July 5, 1972, London:

Prabhupāda: Instead of becoming empty, it is better too crowded. Our building, in the morning it was, there was no place to bow down. It was just match box packed up.

Devotee: Yeah, that's right.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Devotee: That is because all the devotees are here from all the temples, but still...

Prabhupāda: Could not (indistinct). That is good. And it is always like that.

Devotee: No.

Devotee (2): Well, like I say, all the devotees are here from all the temples in England, so Edinborough and Manchester, they're all here too, but always it is crowded, and uh, on Sunday's it's no good at all because so many people come, they can't even come in to see the Deities, you know. They can't fit all in the temple, and uh, and we don't advertise the Sunday feast. If we advertise the Sunday feast, we couldn't get them in the whole building. So we can't even advertise. So therefore they don't even mention it, people still come, and we can't fit them all in the building. And we're hoping that it would get so full that Kṛṣṇa will see and he'll give us a place quickly.

Prabhupāda: Give her some position, and she's very influential, rich. But everyone wants some post, that is natural. Therefore I told, offered her the presidency of Bombay Trust. To raise the fund. In Bombay we have got very nice place. The best place of anywhere. And it is so nice in summertime, you'll find in paradise. So many coconut trees. You have seen?

Room Conversation -- July 5, 1972, London:

Prabhupāda: Mr. Nair. Mrs. Nair. She is, she is also very nice devotee. So every year four lakhs of rupees, in three years, or four years, fourteen lakhs, without any interest. So we have got good facility. And in Vṛndāvana, some gentleman has given us the land.

Devotee: Is the land in Vṛndāvana, is it in the city? Is it on the outside of Vṛndāvana, or is it in the city?

Prabhupāda: No, it is just in front of Bon Mahārāja's college.

Devotee: It's in Rāman Reti.

Prabhupāda: (laughter) Best place in Vṛndāvana. All (indistinct). And we have got potential. There are so many buildings, they are not being properly utilized. If we want to, you can purchase the whole area.

Devotee: How is the Gauḍīya...

Prabhupāda: Now you have got enough place in Vṛndāvana, in Navadvīpa, in Bombay. There will be no difficulty if you go by thousands to India. You can live very comfortable. So you can go, purchase, you can go and come back. We saw that foreigners, they visit, and gradually, there will be unity between the so-called Hindu, Muslim, all Kṛṣṇa's servant. This is the idea behind Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We don't believe in this skin disease. (end)

Room Conversation -- August 1, 1972, London:

Devotee (2): Tomorrow I will go out, some of the others will go out, we'll find some places to look at for you. I have some friends, we'll all go see them.

Prabhupāda: So what do you think of this Dr. Sar? As he speaks, it is all right, do you think? Does he speak more than what he is?

Devotee: Is he trustworthy?

Dhanañjaya: Yes, he speaks more than what he is.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Devotee (Revatīnandana?): Yes. I, I, I don't like him very much. I, I don't know what his motive is, you know. I don't think his motive is strictly very much..., you know?

Dhanañjaya: He approached me and he said... I was talking about life members to him, saying, "Why shouldn't it be one hundred pounds? This is a good price for life members." And he said, "Well, fifty-one pounds, this is the value of one hundred(?) rupees." He said, "I am prepared to give fifty-one pounds." Then he said, "Actually, I have given already more than than fifty-one pounds. I have given Kṛṣṇa's jewelry, so why you don't make me life member?" And I said, "But you have not asked." And he said, "But I have given at least..."

Devotee (2): Make him life member. He's given all the jewelry.

Prabhupāda: Is he a very influential man?

Room Conversation -- August 1, 1972, London:

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Devotee (2): He's still selling that record.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Must be selling and taking advantage of this Hare Kṛṣṇa movement.

Devotee (2): That's a nice record.

Devotee: Is that Govinda?

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Devotee (2): That's a very nice record. Everyone is appreciating.

Prabhupāda: But I heard that rascal always played my record and hear Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee (1): At least he's benefiting somehow. I saw him in Bombay also one day in the market of Madhubal, Madhubhag(?) temple? He was buying beads for his store in New York.

Prabhupāda: He's selling beads, records, on our account. (laughter)

Devotee (1): He was being cheated himself, in Bombay. He was being cheated like anything. He was paying one rupee for one strand of beads, those poor quality beads. (pause)

Prabhupāda: Now you can arrange for the car?

Devotee: Yes. Ātreya Ṛṣi is going to be working on it, too, to raise funds.

Prabhupāda: So, at least two first-class car must go to India.

Conversation with Bajaj and Bhusan -- September 11, 1972, Arlington, Texas, At Their Home:

Satsvarūpa: It's eight-thirty now.

Prabhupāda: (Hindi) ...fruits... Just accept Kṛṣṇa, the most learned man. Follow His teaching. Your life is perfect. And practically you see. They have accepted Kṛṣṇa the supreme teacher, and how their life is becoming perfect. (Hindi) Kṛṣṇa ye bhaje se baḍa catura. Unless one is very, very intelligent he cannot come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kṛṣṇa ye bhaje se baḍa catura. As Kṛṣṇa is very cunning, intelligent, so His devotee is also very cunning and intelligent. Kṛṣṇa ye bhaje se baḍa catura. Kṛṣṇa also says, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate: (BG 7.19) "After many, many births' struggling, when he actually becomes wise, jñānavān," māṁ prapadyate, "he surrenders to Me." Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ: (BG 7.19) "That mahātmā is very rare to be found." Mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritaḥ, bhajanty ananya-manaso jñātvā bhūtādim avyayam (BG 9.13). This is mahātmā. This is description of mahātmā.

Guest (2): Why... When you said ananya, is there a conflict between a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa when he chants Lord Rāma's name...?

Prabhupāda: Rāma and Kṛṣṇa, the same. Rāma and Kṛṣṇa, the same. Kṛṣṇa means Viṣṇu-tattva. So Viṣṇu-tattva has many forms. So any Viṣṇu form will do.

Conversation with Bajaj and Bhusan -- September 11, 1972, Arlington, Texas, At Their Home:

Satsvarūpa: We have our temple in Dallas. I don't know if any of you have been there. It's on Gurley Street, off East Grand, very big building there, and we have a school there for children Śrīla Prabhupāda has started, called Gurukula. It's based on Vedic philosophy that the children at a very early age is the best time for them to learn these principles so that later in life, whether they become householder life or whatever business they take to, they will know the principles, how to avoid sinful activities, knowing love of Kṛṣṇa. So we have about thirty children there now, and Śrīla Prabhupāda has come to Dallas... He's traveling all over, but he's come here just for a few days to see this school, to see how his devotees are managing the children. He's given us so much advice how to improve the school. Also while he's here, coincidentally you would say, but Kṛṣṇa is in control. So his arrival, we received Deities, large Deities of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, marble Deities, forty-eight inches. And so tomorrow Śrīla Prabhupāda is going to install these Deities in our temple. That's going to be early in the morning, at eight o'clock. But then all day long, up until the evening there will be distribution of prasādam and... Just the idea of coming out to see the Deities. Most of the devotees... There are about a hundred devotees back at the temple now and they are all working very, very quickly, hard, to get everything ready.

Śyāmasundara: Do you have another small table?

Guest (2): Yes.

Śyāmasundara: Or else we can take this one.

Satsvarūpa: So please come to the temple tomorrow, to take darśana. I know everyone works or is busy, but try to come at least in the evening and see this. As Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying, the name is not different than Kṛṣṇa. We chant on our big japa beads. The holy name is the same as Kṛṣṇa is in His form or in the picture or the same as His philosophy. And so these Deity forms, we don't consider them as marble Deities but as Kṛṣṇa Himself. People misunderstand. They think this is idol worship, that we are worshiping some idol, bowing down to idols. Same with the food, they don't understand. We offer food to the Deity. But Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that "If you offer Me a little fruit or a leaf or water..."

Prabhupāda: So Śyāmasundara, you can invite all these gentlemen tomorrow.

Morning Walks -- October 1-3, 1972, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: That attachment will become. That is the special (indistinct). You cannot be completely detached. If you be detachment from something, you must be attached to something. Otherwise you have no perception(?). So you should be detached from matter and attached to Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee (2): (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: (indistinct)

Devotee (2): The devotee is always offering devotional service to the Supreme Personality.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is (inaudible). Simply by knowledge... Knowledge you must have, but simply theoretical knowledge... Practical manifestation that he's a great devotee. Whenever there is any doubt or question, he will prove by the evidences of śāstra.

Jayatīrtha: ...was saying last night to our scientist friend, than Kṛṣṇa is the perfect teacher. The spiritual master is simply repeating perfectly what Kṛṣṇa is saying. So if Kṛṣṇa is saying, "Surrender to Me," then the spiritual master is saying, "Surrender to Kṛṣṇa."

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Jayatīrtha: So in this way, the spiritual master and Kṛṣṇa are in complete agreement.

Prabhupāda: Thus he becomes the (indistinct) of Kṛṣṇa.

Rāmeśvara: The other teachers, they don't talk...

Prabhupāda: When is Ekādaśī?

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- August 11, 1973, Paris:

Yogeśvara: You quoted... In the course of your lecture this morning, you quoted that verse from the Tenth Chapter, dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ tam. When that knowledge comes, the devotee is qualified by some degree of advancement?

Prabhupāda: Yes. The more he's qualified, the direction comes from Kṛṣṇa.

Yogeśvara: And what is the... What form does that direction take?

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Yogeśvara: And what form does that direction take?

Prabhupāda: In whichever way. The real direction is that he may come back to home, back to Godhead after giving up this body.

Yogeśvara: Is that buddhi, that intelligence manifested in some way, in his service, or in his thinking?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes. Because the process is devotion, bhakti. Bhakti means not idle. Activities. Bhakti is not idle gossip. It is something, activity. Therefore karmīs sometimes misunderstand that they are working like us. So where is the... what does it mean, bhakti? Just like Arjuna is fighting. But ordinary man will see that he's a soldier, he's fighting. What is this bhakti? But Kṛṣṇa certifies: "Yes, you are My devotee." By fighting, he's devotee. Because he's fighting for Kṛṣṇa. Therefore it is bhakti. Similarly, by the order of Kṛṣṇa, whatever you do, that is bhakti. Karmīs cannot see. Karmīs see... (break) ...tiki, laukikī, vaidikī. Laukikī means material activities. And vaidikī means according to Vedic instruction. Whatever you do, if it is done for Kṛṣṇa, then it is bhakti.

Room Conversation -- September 2, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: This is the process. If you hear about Kṛṣṇa, then Kṛṣṇa is within yourself. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). When he sees you are anxious, then he helps you in cleansing the dirty things within your heart. Purport read?

Śrutakīrti: Messages of the Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa are nondifferent from Him. Whenever, therefore, offenseless hearing and glorification of God are undertaken, it is to be understood that Lord Kṛṣṇa is present there in the form of transcendental sound, which is as powerful as the Lord personally. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, in His Śikṣāṣṭaka, declares clearly that the holy name of the Lord has all the potencies of the Lord and that He has endowed His innumerable names with the same potency. There is no rigid fixture of time, and anyone can chant the holy name with attention and reverence at his convenience. The Lord is so kind to us that He can be present before us personally in the form of transcendental sound, but unfortunately we have no taste for hearing and glorifying the Lord's name and activities. We have already discussed developing a taste for hearing and chanting the holy sound. It is done through the medium of service to the pure devotee of the Lord.

The Lord is reciprocally respondent to His devotees. When He sees that a devotee is completely sincere in getting admittance to the transcendental service of the Lord and has thus become eager to hear about Him, the Lord acts from within the devotee in such a way that the devotee may easily go back to Him. The Lord is more anxious to take us back into His kingdom than we can desire. Most of us do not desire at all to go back to Godhead. Only a very few men want to go back to Godhead. But anyone who desires to go back to Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa helps in all respects.

Room Conversation -- September 18, 1973, Bombay:

Acyutānanda: Well, like sometimes the devotees are preaching, but they get feelings of getting entangled, so they want to...

Prabhupāda: That means it is not yet perfect preacher. He requires perfection.

Acyutānanda: So they argue with me or some other...

Prabhupāda: It is not the question of arguing.

Acyutānanda: No, they say, "Well, I want to fix myself up," and we want them to preach.

Prabhupāda: Preaching is our only business, preaching. Whatever we do, it is aimed at preaching. Namaskāra. (break) That is our business. Whatever we are doing, it is for preaching. (break) In, in the practice, or in the engagement of preaching, their position is better than those who are worshiping the Lord in a secluded place, bhajanānandī.

Acyutānanda: What about those who are preaching, but imperfectly, and those who are...?

Prabhupāda: Even it is imperfect...

Acyutānanda: It's better than just sitting.

Room Conversation -- November 4, 1973, Delhi:

Prabhupāda: That his actions will prove.

Guest: No, not action. Just you say the brāhmaṇa must do by actions.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Guest: So a devotee is also by actions he can do it?

Prabhupāda: By symptoms.

Guest: Symptoms.

Prabhupāda: Just like your daughter, she is always thinking of Kṛṣṇa. Even she does not like to live with family because she does not find very congenial atmosphere.

Guest: (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: A devotee.... Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura prays, tādera caraṇa-sevi-bhakta-sane vās, bhakta-sane vās. You must live amongst the devotees.

Guest: (indistinct)

Morning Walk -- December 2, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes, yes. Prāpti-siddhi. Now we are flying by aeroplane. A yogi can fly without any instrument. As Durvāsā Muni, he went even Vaikuṇṭha-loka. Not Vaikuṇṭha-loka. Within this planet, there is one planet where, Śvetadvīpa, Lord Viṣṇu lives. He went there and saw Lord Viṣṇu personally to request him to save him. He refused, "No, I cannot. You go to Ambarīṣa Mahārāja, beg pardon of him. If he pardons, then you will be saved." So to a devotee, innocent devotee, he had to fall down on his lotus feet, "Please save me." So what is the power of yogi?

Devotee: Is the pure devotee more merciful than Kṛṣṇa?

Prabhupāda: Oh yes, yes. Because Viṣṇu could not excuse him, but as soon as he came to Mahārāja Ambarīṣa, fell down, and "You take all my assets of pious activities. You be saved immediately." That is Vaiṣṇava. When he begged, humble, "Mahārāja Ambarīṣa, you save me, I am in danger." "Yes, you take all my pious activities' result. You be saved immediately." That is devotee. Viṣṇu refused, "No, I cannot give you protection." Therefore he is more merciful, although he was attacked, he was harassed. Just like Arjuna. Arjuna was merciful, "Let them enjoy. I don't want to kill them." Kṛṣṇa said, "You must kill. You must kill. Why you are deviating from your path? You must kill." Therefore he taught him Bhagavad-gītā, just to induce him to kill. But he was merciful, "No, they have done so much wrong to me, never mind. They are my relatives. I excuse. I don't want to fight." Yes. This is Bhagavad-gītā. You see? Arjuna is more merciful than Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa wanted to see them all killed because they were, I mean to say, offender to the devotee. Last time, Kṛṣṇa says, "Arjuna, you fight or not fight, it is already settled. They are not going back home. They will be killed here. If you like, you take the credit. That's all. It is already settled." Then Arjuna understood that "My Lord is so persistent. (laughter) Why shall I resist Him? All right, I will do what He says."

Morning Walk -- December 5, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: No. And why Kṛṣṇa will require like that? Do you mean to say Kṛṣṇa is a madman?

Umāpati: No.

Yaśomatīnandana: Yes, I was thinking that too. Why would Kṛṣṇa require any of his devotees to sleep on the beach?

Prabhupāda: He wants to see His devotees are comfortably situated. Why He'll unnecessarily ask that "Go to the beach and lie down?"

Umāpati: You say that Kṛṣṇa stands there smiling very sweetly, playing the flute.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Umāpati: So why should he require us to go through austerities like...?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Ācārya means he must show by example. Āpani ācari bhakti śikhāimu sabāre. Hare Kṛṣṇa...

Umāpati: Is there such a thing as a sincere atheist...

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Umāpati: ...who benefits by austerity?

Prabhupāda: Atheist? Atheist? How he's sincere?

Umāpati: That's what I... That's what I'm asking.

Morning Walk -- December 8, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes, this body can also be perfect. But you do not know how to make it.

Prajāpati: Devotees are beginning more and more, Śrīla Prabhupāda, under your instruction, to enter into politics. But the political leaders, they will claim, "Well you have no experience. How can you be qualified to...?"

Prabhupāda: No, we have got experience. If there is a good man, he'll do, he'll act very nice. That we have got experience. Just like if a man is honest, you can trust him. This is our experience. So similarly, if the leaders be good according to this standard, then the whole human society will be happy. This is our propaganda. We are not after the post, but we have to disclose this rascaldom, that "All these rascals, animals, fools, they are taking the post of leader, and you are suffering repeatedly, but you have no sense that 'How we can be happy with this Nixon and company's leadership?' " So therefore we want to disclose the fact, that's all. We have no ambition. Just like we are brāhmaṇas. We have nothing to do, but according to Vedic civilization, the brāhmaṇas guides the kṣatriyas how to rule. So our position is to reform the politicians. We are not going to compete with them, we have no business, neither we have time. But because people are suffering—we want everyone to be happy-therefore we want to reform these rascals. That is our goal. What we shall do taking part in politics? We have no business. But our real aim is how people will be happy. That is our real aim. So these rascals are leading, misleading. Therefore we want to check them. Is that all right? Is that all right?

Morning Walk -- December 8, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Just like the Mulliks they're De Mullik. The original title is De but they got the title Mullik. Similarly, there is another family. They are called Sil Mullik. The original title is Sil but they got the title. As De we belong to the same family. But because, somehow or other, they got this title, so they... It is not different but... (break)

Yaśomatīnandana: ...Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā in which you, all the original svarūpa of all the devotees are given?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Yaśomatīnandana: So most of the Lord Caitanya's associates were gopīs from the...

Prabhupāda: Associates...

Yaśomatīnandana: Lord Kṛṣṇa's...

Prabhupāda: Some of them gopīs, some of them cowherd boys, some of them father, mother, like that.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: In Bengal, Śrīla Prabhupāda, the brāhmaṇa caste family like Mukherjees, then Bannerjees, then,... I had a roommate when I was in Calcutta, his was Mukherjee. So he was telling me one day that we are much more superior brāhmaṇas than other like Chaudhuris and Sanyals.

Prabhupāda: But where is your superiority?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: He was explaining like that.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. But what is your superiority. You're a servant now. You're śūdra. You're not even a brāhmaṇa. Superiority by simply explanation will not do. You must be (indistinct). Guṇa, karma, superiority means guṇa, karma. You must have the quality and you must work in that quality. You're a scientist, but after a few generation, a foolish boy in your family say, "We belong to the scientist's family." So what is the use of saying like that? You must become scientist. When you are a scientist then you are superior not by simply... This has killed the Indian, I mean Vedic culture when they began to claim superiority simply by birth without any qualification. That killed the whole civilization.

Morning Walk -- December 15, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: No, I am not in hell. I am with the devotees, so how can I say I am in hell? (break) Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, tāṅdera caraṇa sevi bhakta-sane vās: "My duty is to serve my guru and live with the devotees." That is Kṛṣṇa's grace. "My mission is to serve my guru, but live with the devotees."

tāṅdera caraṇa sevi bhakta-sane vās

janame janame hoy ei abhilāṣ

"This is my desire life after life." A guru or bhakta does not aspire that he is going to Vaikuṇṭha, Kṛṣṇa. "Never mind." But their only desire, his only desire, is that to serve the predecessor ācārya and live with devotee. That's all. This is the only ambition. (break) ...says, tatra tiṣṭhāmi nārada yatra gāyanti mad-bhaktāḥ. Where, the place where the devotees are glorifying the Lord, Kṛṣṇa is there. So if Kṛṣṇa is there with the devotees, then wherever devotees are there, that is Vaikuṇṭha. That is Vaikuṇṭha. Just like our temple. It is Vaikuṇṭha. Because the devotees are chanting the glories of the Lord, so that is Vaikuṇṭha. Vaikuṇṭha is not limited. Vaikuṇṭha, as Kṛṣṇa can expand Himself, similarly, Vaikuṇṭha can also be expand, Vṛndāvana can expand. So wherever there is Kṛṣṇa, that is Vai... And where is not Kṛṣṇa? And that is to be appreciated. Then if anyone appreciates Kṛṣṇa everywhere, then he is living in the Vaikuṇṭha. He is not living in hell or Los Angeles. (break)

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 18, 1974, Hawaii:

Prabhupāda: What?

Satsvarūpa: They don't see that we, that the devotee is actually free of the material nature.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Satsvarūpa: They say, well, we also, we have to die, we have to grow old. Just because we're Hare Kṛṣṇas...

Prabhupāda: That's all right. But we admit that. But you don't admit that. Therefore you are foolish. We admit that "Yes, we are under control." That is the difference between you and me. But you don't admit. Therefore you are foolish.

Nitāi: Usually, they admit.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Nitāi: Usually, they admit that death is certain. But the thing is that they say, what, that you can't do anything about it.

Prabhupāda: That means you are under control. You are not independent.

Satsvarūpa: But we say, "Surrender to Kṛṣṇa and you can become free," and they say, "No, I don't see that."

Prabhupāda: Therefore I say that a sensible man is that "I am controlled. I am controlled by some other agent of Kṛṣṇa. So why not be controlled directly by Kṛṣṇa." This is sense. I cannot be independent. Just like the government. If somebody says, "I don't agree to be controlled by you," then government will kick with police, with military. That is our position. We are being kicked by the agent of government, material nature. We are desiring in different way to become controller or enjoyer, and we are being offered different facilities, means different types of body, birth and death. So because they have no sense, they have accepted this process. So by the force of nature... "You wanted to desire. You desired this thing. All right, take this body. You wanted to eat without discrimination. All right, take this body of a pig and eat up to stool." That is nature's gift. So therefore he's changing. Ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa brahmite kono bhāgyavān jīva. He's going on changing, this dress that dress, that dress, that dress, that dress. But he's not in sense that "How I can stop this change?" That he doesn't know. Now, as Americans, they have so many nice facilities, but you cannot enjoy them. By nature's force, you'll have to change. What you can do? Today you are living on the twenty-fourth floor of this skyscraper, and tomorrow you may become a rat in that room. How you can change it? It is not in your power. The rat is also in the same room and you are also in the same room. Who has made this arrangement?

Morning Walk -- January 18, 1974, Hawaii:

Prabhupāda: We are making them bhāgyavān. We are giving them service, how to become bhāgyavān. We are spending our blood, gallons of blood, to make them bhāgyavān. This is the sacrifice of the devotees. Just like you are poor. Somebody, rich man, comes, "All right, take one million dollars from me." You get immediately rich. So it is the devotees' sacrifice that they're becoming... Just like Vāsudeva Datta. He requested Caitanya Mahāprabhu, "My Lord, you have come. Take away all these people, unfortunate people, back to home, back to Godhead. If You think they are so inglorious, they cannot be taken, then give me all their sins to me. I shall suffer. You take them." That is Vaiṣṇava. They are sacrificing everything for these unfortunate rascals. Therefore they are becoming very, very dear to Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says, na ca tasmān manuṣyeṣu (BG 18.69). Those who are sacrificing everything for giving, making fortunate these rascals, they become immediately very, very dear to Kṛṣṇa. Just like, if a rich man gives his money for public welfare, immediately he's recognized by the government, "Yes." He's given some title. Why? Because he has given his possession for the benefit of the public. Similarly, the devotees, they are distributing their possessions to these unfortunate people. Therefore he's immediately recognized. That is the process. But devotee does not want any recognition, but he knows that "My Lord wants this rascal to go back to home, back to Godhead. So let me try my best." He knows the mind of the master; otherwise, why the master comes and canvasses, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66)? He has no business, but He wants that "These rascals are suffering in this material condition. They are My part and parcel, My sons. Let Me try." And devotee understands that "My Lord wants it. So let me do it on His behalf." Therefore devotee is so dear. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa... (end)

Room Conversation -- February 6, 1974, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So in this way he decided, or he made a plan, not to kill. From superficial, material point of view, he was very nice gentleman. But Kṛṣṇa actually chastised, kutas tvā kaśmalam idaṁ viṣame samupasthitam, aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādāṁś... (BG 2.11). "You are talking like a very learned man, but you are fool number one." This is the instruction of Bhagavad-gītā. And then at last He said that "The most confidential part of knowledge I am telling you," sarva-dharmān parityajya mām e... (BG 18.66). "What I say, you do. That means I am asking you to kill, to do that." So he said, kariṣye vacanam, "Yes." That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. "I do not like to do it, but Kṛṣṇa wants me to do, all right." This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is very difficult. (laughing) I do not like to do, but Kṛṣṇa likes to do, I have to do it. This decision is very good. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person, a devotee, is prepared to do anything nonsense for Kṛṣṇa, even in the estimation of ordinary person. People ask me that "You are spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness and he is, say, encouraging war," because they have got experience of the last two wars in Western country. So when Kṛṣṇa encouraging the war, they do not take it very nicely. They say, "What kind of God He is?" because they have suffered in the war, and then we are presenting a God who is encouraging war. So there was one lawyer, you know, Goldsmith. He helped me, incorporated this...

Devotee: In New York.

Prabhupāda: New York, yes. He was very good friend. So he was asking that "How it is good, Swamiji, that Kṛṣṇa is encouraging war, fight?" Although Arjuna was making own plan not to fight, Kṛṣṇa took the trouble for instructing him Gītā and then inducing to change his plan: "Go on, fight!" (end)

Morning Walk -- March 9, 1974, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Yes, they do like that.

Guest (2): I like to save the paths(?) of the temple. And that devotee's not... Up till devotee, but he was a worker, his whole time living in the temple. And I asked Gargamuni, "Your devotee is saying, 'We'll go by car. It is expensive. Because we are collecting money from the different peoples and from the public. And we must not use our money in this way.' "

Prabhupāda: Jaya. For Kṛṣṇa bhakti, yes.

Guest (2): Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: (Bengali)

Guest (2): (Bengali) (break)

Dhanañjaya: ...who are very much attracted to living in Māyāpura, residing in Māyāpura, after perfecting their lives, do they sometimes join Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu's saṅkīrtana movement in Goloka Vṛndāvana?

Prabhupāda: Let me... (break) Those who are living in Māyāpura, they have already joined.

Dhanañjaya: Haribol.

Prabhupāda:

Morning Walk -- March 12, 1974, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Eh? No. Devotees are devotees. Actually devotees are above this brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra. But for management of material things, we have to divide. Just like in the body there are divisions. There are... Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa was acting as a kṣatriya. In His boyhood, He was acting like a vaiśya. But Kṛṣṇa is neither kṣatriya nor, nor brāhmaṇa. This is the example. He was a cowherd boy. That is business of vaiśya. And when He was fighting in the battlefield, He was a kṣatriya. He was marrying as a kṣatriya. So although He was acting sometimes as kṣatriya, sometimes as vaiśya, but He's neither of these. So devotee is like that. He may act in any position, but He is above all the material conception of life. That is perfection. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa...

Nitāi: Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Nitāi: What should the kṣatriyas be taught?

Prabhupāda: Kṣatriyas should be taught that he is manager. He must see that everyone is engaged. And if there is any fight, they must come forward to fight. This is kṣatriya's business. There may be fight. Somebody may attack us. Not that chanting, "Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa..." No. They must come forward. "Yes, we are prepared to fight." That is kṣatriya.

Tamāla-Kṛṣṇa: Prabhupāda?

Morning Walk -- March 12, 1974, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Spinning, yes. Everyone should be engaged. That is management. So all GBC members must see that in every temple, everyone is engaged.

Brahmānanda: That is the meaning of leadership.

Prabhupāda: That is the meaning of leadership.

Hṛdayānanda: And that all the devotees are protected.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Hṛdayānanda: And all the devotees are protected.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Everyone should be engaged. And if everyone is engaged, he'll never fall sick. Yes. (break) ...the farmers, their son, they're giving up the farming business.

Haṁsadūta: Going to the city.

Prabhupāda: Going to the city. In your country also?

Ātreya-ṛṣi: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Or you have nothing to do with farming.

Ātreya-ṛṣi: Excuse me?

Prabhupāda: Your country, there is nothing to do with farming. You have got petrol.

Morning Walk 'Varnasrama College' -- March 14, 1974, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Devotees is... I have already explained. We are all devotees. Past condition, we are all devotees. We are not, we do not belong to this varṇāśrama. I have already told you. Suppose I am mopping. So that does not mean I am mopper. But I am teaching how to mop. This is our position.

Parivrājakācārya: So the students, also, they must all be devotees.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Devotees are... That is our life and soul.

Satsvarūpa: And the idea is that after they've finished their schooling, they would take part in ISKCON, preaching in some way as vaiśya or...

Prabhupāda: Yes. This preaching is also required, to make the groundwork. Because nobody's taking care. Just like some of the devotees, great devotees, they took the profession of becoming thief. They, in South India, it was done so. They took the profession of becoming thief. So a devotee is a thief? But he took. They took it. Because nobody was paying. So they organized a plundering party. "Plunder all these big men." Just like the politicians do. There is history. Yes. So even up to the point to become a thief, devotees took it. Yes. And the gopīs, even up to the point of becoming prostitute—for Kṛṣṇa. So for Kṛṣṇa's sake we have to accept any nonsense type of business. Or on the highest grade. Anything. But for Kṛṣṇa we have to do that.

Hṛdayānanda: So, Prabhupāda, in our temples, we have so many devotees. Should the devotees...?

Prabhupāda: They should be engaged.

Hṛdayānanda: Should they be trained in a particular...?

Morning Walk -- March 24, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: That is a sampradāya. Viṣṇu Svāmī-sampradāya. That is accepted. That is accepted.

Dr. Patel: Rāmānujācārya's Vaiṣṇava was not Vaiṣṇava?

Prabhupāda: Oh yes.

Dr. Patel: Then why do you say so? They are all Vaiṣṇavas but...

Prabhupāda: But Rāmānujācārya does not say that the devotee is God.

Dr. Patel: Nobody says so.

Prabhupāda: No. (break) ...oneness with diversity. Yes. That is viśiṣṭādvaita philosophy. And nirviśeṣa. Nirviśiṣṭa-advaitavādī sāṅkhya philosophy. Nirviśiṣṭa.

Guest (1): Nirviśiṣṭa means?

Dr. Patel: Vallabhācārya.

Prabhupāda: Nirviśiṣṭa means... No, Vallabhācārya... śuddhādvaita. Śuddhādvaita. That is called kevalādvaita. Kevalādvaita. (break) Kṛṣṇa is ādi. Viṣṇu is in the material world, He's accepted as one of the devas. Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśvara. So Kṛṣṇa says, aham ādir hi devānām (Bg 10.2).

Guest (1): So Kṛṣṇa is ādi of Viṣṇu...

Prabhupāda: Viṣṇu also.

Morning Walk -- March 25, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes. There are many songs: "O my dear Kṛṣṇa, please come dancing with Your flute. I will see." These are not devotees' songs. Kṛṣṇa will never say, uh, devotee will never say, order. No more.

Dr. Patel: Devotees are... The real devotees are gopīs.

Prabhupāda: Simply he's to carry the order. He's not to make orders. That is devotee. Everyone, in the material world, they worship demigods—why? Because they can order, "Please give me this. Please give me that." Rūpaṁ dehi, bhāryāṁ dehi, yaśo dehi, this dehi, this dehi, dehi... Therefore they go to demigods. But to Kṛṣṇa he cannot demand. And therefore they do not go; they do not become Vaiṣṇavas. You see? You'll see, all the devotees of Lord Śiva, they demanded something. "My dear Lord Śiva, you are so nice. Please give me this." "What do you want?" "Now, I shall touch anyone's head and head will be cut off." "All right, that's all." These things you cannot get from Kṛṣṇa. These things you cannot get from Kṛṣṇa. Therefore people do not go to Kṛṣṇa.

Dr. Patel: Kṛṣṇa is a more hard taskmaster.

Prabhupāda: Because He cannot acc... He is God! He cannot accept anyone's order. That is God. If somebody accepts my order, he's not God. He's my servant. Or I make him my servant. That is surrender. No more ordering. God is not order-supplier. Although He supplies everything, but not... You cannot order. You cannot order.

Guest (1): According to His will.

Morning Walk -- March 31, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Then he comes to the bhakti-yoga. Not that only daridra-nārāyaṇa-sevā, not dhani-nārāyaṇa-sevā.

Dr. Patel: You came out with that.

Prabhupāda: No, no that is, that is the deficiency. If daridra is Nārāyaṇa, why not the dhani?

Dr. Patel: Again, we are not (indistinct).

Prabhupāda: No, no, we have to accept. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu. A devotee is equal. Either he's daridra-nārāyaṇa or dhani-nārāyaṇa.

Mr. Sar: Dhani-nārāyaṇa, yes.

Prabhupāda: It is not that...

Mr. Sar: Both are equal.

Prabhupāda: Both are equal.

Mr. Sar: Either poor or rich.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Mr. Sar: Devotee's equal, whether poor or rich.

Prabhupāda: That is samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu. Why there should be distinction?

Mr. Sar:

Morning Walk -- April 2, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: They did not give.

Dr. Patel: Their wives gave.

Prabhupāda: All yajnic brāhmaṇas, like that. There are so many fools like that. They are thinking that "I am, we are doing yajñas, I am doing this, I am doing that. What is this Kṛṣṇa? The Kṛṣṇa devotees are less intelligent. They are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa."

Dr. Patel:

ahaṁ hi sarva-yajñānāṁ

bhoktā ca prabhur eva ca

na tu mām abhijānanti

tattvenātaś cyavanti te

(BG 9.24)

Because they fall from the truth.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Because these people do not understand Kṛṣṇa tattvataḥ, therefore they fall down.

Dr. Patel:

yānti deva-vratā devān

pitṟn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ

bhūtāni yānti bhūtejyā

yānti mad-yājino 'pi mām

(BG 9.25)

Prabhupāda: Ah, yes. "Now, the devayājas, they can go to the heavenly planet. Pitṛs and śraddhā performer, they go Pitṛloka. Bhūtejyā. Those who are worshiping this material world, they remain here. But if one worships Me, he comes to Me."

Dr. Patel: Come to Me in Goloka Vṛndāvana.

Morning Walk -- April 3, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Teṣām. Who are those, teṣām? Not all. Satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam, teṣām. It is a special favor for them. Teṣām evānukampārtham. So if Kṛṣṇa dissipates ignorance from the heart of a person, how he can be less intelligent? If somebody is guided by the most perfect intellect, intellectual, then how he can be less intelligent? So these Māyāvādīs' accusation that bhakti is meant for the less intelligent class and jñāna is meant for the higher class of men, so this accusation is refuted that "No, don't think that the devotees are less intelligent, because I am guiding them."

Dr. Patel: Nāśayāmy ātma-bhāva-stho, aham ajñāna-jaṁ tamaḥ. Tamaḥ nāśayāmy ātma-bhāva-stho.

Prabhupāda: Tamaḥ. No more ignorance, darkness. So how a devotee can be in darkness, in ignorance? This is refuted.

Dr. Patel: Now arjuna uvāca.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dr. Patel:

paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma

pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān

puruṣaṁ śaśvataṁ divyam

ādi-devam ajaṁ vibhum

(BG 10.12)

Prabhupāda: Yes. So therefore, what is Kṛṣṇa, is to be understood from Arjuna. This is paramparā system. Paramparā system. Arjuna talked with Kṛṣṇa personally. So his experience is first-hand. So how this rascal can imagine of Kṛṣṇa, that "Kṛṣṇa is like this, Kṛṣṇa is like that." If you actually reading Bhagavad-gītā as Arjuna understood Kṛṣṇa, you have to accept it. This is called paramparā. So what is the experience of Arjuna? Arjuna said, "You are, you are the Supreme Personality, puruṣam. You are not female. You are not prakṛti. You are puruṣa, śaśvata, and the original, śaśvatam, eternally." Not that, the Māyāvādīs, "Now impersonal..." Yes, read one line. That is sufficient.

Morning Walk -- April 7, 1974, Bombay:

Yaśomatīnandana: Their limited intelligence.

Prabhupāda: Limited intelligence, yes. (break)

Yaśomatīnandana: ...nirmatsarāṇām.

Prabhupāda: Ah, paramo nirmatsarāṇām satāṁ vāstavya vastu vedyam atra (SB 1.1.2). Not for anyone. Paramo nirmatsarāṇām. That means devotees. Devotees are nirmatsarā, not envious. Otherwise everyone is envious. (break) ...like a vehicle like this. In U.P. there is, called tanga.

Yaśomatīnandana: Surat also, they have a lot of these.

Prabhupāda: Tanga? Like this?

Yaśomatīnandana: Not like this. (end)

Morning Walk -- April 8, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes. And even followers of Śaṅkarācārya... Śaṅkarācārya does not give anyone any recognition unless he's a sannyāsī. That is the strict principle of Śaṅkara sampradāya. They are gṛhamedhis and they are thinking they are advanced in spiritual consciousness. Śaṅkarācārya does not give anyone any position unless he is in the renounced order of life.

Girirāja: (break) ...sign of a great devotee is also to be always absorbed in...

Prabhupāda: Yes. Therefore in their sampradāya it is a custom, as soon as he takes sannyāsa, he becomes Nārāyaṇa. "Namo nārāyaṇa." (laughs) That is an allurement. So this... Even one says that he is follower of Śaṅkarācārya, but there is no meaning in it. Unless one is a sannyāsī, he cannot say that he is follower of Śaṅkarācārya. Śaṅkarācārya took sannyāsa at the age of eight years.

Indian (1): He died about thirty-nine.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Thirty-two. (break) ...never think what is the truth of life. Everyone. So somebody is taking sense gratification as truth of life. Somebody is taking mental speculation as truth of life. So many ways. But Bhāgavata says, satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi (SB 1.1.1). We worship the Supreme Truth. Namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. The Supreme Truth. (break) ...say Brahmā, oṁ. Not Rāma, Kṛṣṇa. No, they'll never say. Sometimes they say, "Nārāyaṇa." That is, means thinking himself as Nārāyaṇa. (laughter) Daridra-nārāyaṇa, this nārāyaṇa, that nārāyaṇa, Swami Nārāyaṇa.

Devotee: Then they want to serve Nārāyaṇa.

Morning Walk -- April 14, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) Yaśodāmāyī is more powerful than Kṛṣṇa.

Indian Man (1): No, devotees are more powerful always.

Prabhupāda: (laughing) Just see. He liberated Nalakuvera, but He remained bound up by the rope of Yaśodāmāyī. (break) ...children. (break) ...some conjugal love.

Dr. Patel: Then he became eight years old. How could any gopī have conjugal love with a boy of seven or eight years?

Indian Man (1): Spiritual love.

Prabhupāda: That is not this love. That is a different love.

Dr. Patel: Conjugal love is mādhurya-rāsa.

Prabhupāda: Mādhurya-rāsa, yes... (break) eat along with my father. Unless I come, father will not...

Dr. Patel: But you were brought up in a big city, but I was brought up in a small village. Actually... (break)

Prabhupāda: The same. It doesn't matter whether it is in the village or town.

Dr. Patel: In the village we eat more. We used to buy... (end)

Morning Walk -- April 20, 1974, Hyderabad:

Pañcadraviḍa: Or that devotee who was making leaf bowls for worshiping the Ganges.

Prabhupāda: Any engagement, any engagement for Kṛṣṇa, he is Vaiṣṇava. If he is under the guidance of his spiritual master and doing the business according to the direction, he is Vaiṣṇava. He is above all these.

Pañcadraviḍa: A śūdra, if he is working, he cannot take brāhmaṇa initiation, but he can take hari-nāma, is that it?

Prabhupāda: Just like sometimes our men, my devotee, they wash the cupboard. Does it mean he is a methar(?)? No. He can go to the Deity room also. He is not a methar(?) or sweeper. But sometimes we do that. So devotee is above all these consideration. But because there is management, they should appear as brāhmaṇa, as śūdra, as kṣatriya, like that.

sa guṇān samatītyaitān

brahma-bhūyāya kalpate

māṁ ca vyabhicariṇi

bhakti-yogena yaḥ sevate

(BG 14.26)

A devotee, because he is working as a śūdra, he is not a śūdra; neither he is a brāhmaṇa. He is already in the spiritual platform. But for management we have to do that. One can do the śūdra's work nicely—let him be engaged in that way. Why he should imitate?

Mahāṁsa: Does he get second initiation?

Prabhupāda: Everything he will get.

Morning Walk -- April 20, 1974, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Second initiation means recognized: "Now he has become fully competent Vaiṣṇava." Just like master is teaching the servant, "Now you give massage in this way, this way." But that does not mean he has become servant.

Pañcadraviḍa: What if the person working as śūdra says, "I can do so much. I can...,"

Prabhupāda: First of all, try to understand. A devotee is neither brāhmaṇa nor śūdra. He may act like a śūdra, but he is not śūdra. He may act like a brāhmaṇa; he is not brāhmaṇa. He is Vaiṣṇava. Just like gopīs. The gopīs, they are village cowherds women. They are, according to social construction, they are not very high class. They did not belong to the brāhmaṇa class. But their worship, method of worship, has been taken the highest. Ramyā kācid upāsanā vrajavadhū-vargeṇa. They were village girls, and practically their character was also not good. Because at dead of night they are going to Kṛṣṇa. But why they have been taken as the most topmost devotee of Kṛṣṇa? Because the love was so high class. It is the test, how much one has learned to love Kṛṣṇa. That is wanted. Apparently he may appear as a brāhmaṇa, a śūdra or vaiśya. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. The only business is to see: sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adho... (SB 1.2.6). Aiye. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya. That is wanted.

Pañcadraviḍa: What if the person cannot chant sixteen rounds a day. He says, "I can't..."

Prabhupāda: Then he is not even a human being. He is a rascal. That's all. He is not a human being. What to consider of talking...? Don't talk about him if he cannot chant sixteen rounds. He is not even a human. He is animal. (break)

Pañcadraviḍa: ...even he may be employed as factory worker or something.

Room Conversation with Irish Poet, Desmond O'Grady -- May 23, 1974, Rome:

Nitāi: This verse is a reply to Arjuna's third question: What is the means of attaining to the transcendental position? As explained before, the material world is acting under the spell of the modes of material nature. One should not be disturbed by the activities of the modes of nature; instead of putting his consciousness into such activities, he may transfer his consciousness to Kṛṣṇa activities. Kṛṣṇa activities are known as bhakti-yoga—always acting for Kṛṣṇa. This includes not only Kṛṣṇa, but His different plenary expansions such as Rāma and Nārāyaṇa. He has innumerable expansions. One who is engaged in the service of any of the forms of Kṛṣṇa, or of His plenary expansions, is considered to be transcendentally situated. One should also note that all the forms of Kṛṣṇa are fully transcendental, blissful, full of knowledge and eternal. Such personalities of Godhead are omnipotent and omniscient, and they possess all transcendental qualities. So, if one engages himself in the service of Kṛṣṇa or His plenary expansions with unfailing determination, although these modes of material nature are very difficult to overcome, he can overcome them easily. This is already explained in the Seventh Chapter. One who surrenders unto Kṛṣṇa at once surmounts the influence of the modes of material nature. To be in Kṛṣṇa consciousness or in devotional service means to acquire the equality of Kṛṣṇa. The Lord says that His nature is eternal, blissful and full of knowledge, and the living entities are part and parcel of the Supreme, as gold particles are part of a gold mine. Thus the living entity's spiritual position is as good as gold, as good as Kṛṣṇa in quality. The difference of individuality continues, otherwise there is no question of bhakti-yoga. Bhakti-yoga means that the Lord is there, the devotee is there and the activity of exchange of love between the Lord and the devotee is there. Therefore the individuality of two persons is present in the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the individual person, otherwise there is no meaning to bhakti-yoga. If one is not situated in the same transcendental position with the Lord, one cannot serve the Supreme Lord. To be a personal assistant to a king, one must acquire the qualifications. Thus the qualification is to become Brahman, or freed from all material contamination. It is said in the Vedic literature: brahmaiva san brahmāpyeti. One can attain the Supreme Brahman by becoming Brahman. This means that one must qualitatively become one with Brahman. By attainment of Brahman, one does not lose his eternal Brahman identity as individual soul.

Prabhupāda:

brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā

na śocati na kāṅkṣati

samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu

mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām

(BG 18.54)

Find out this verse.

O'Grady: The best truth, and I think it's truth for most of us who take ourselves seriously...

Room Conversation with Catholic Cardinal and Secretary to the Pope -- May 24, 1974, Rome:

Prabhupāda: Yes, kindly pray to God.

Cardinal Pignedoli: Thank you for your kindness, for coming, and if sometimes you come to Rome, don't forget this. This is a very difficult place to find out. Now you know it. You have been here. With Monsignor Verrozano. That's nice. I will leave now for Africa, Bamako, Mali, for a meeting with Moslems. Bamako, be there for a few days, Bamako, Freetown, Bathurst, Conakry these cities of West Africa, French-speaking Africa.

Dhanañjaya: Some of our devotees are going to Lagos.

Cardinal Pignedoli: Ah, Lagos. Ah yeah. You are going, also you?

Dhanañjaya: No, not me. My godbrothers...

Cardinal Pignedoli: I have been there for three years, in Lagos, a big city. The majority are Moslems, sixty percent. And others are Christians or local religions. They are deeply religious people in Nigeria. Deeply religious. All believers, they say. Thank you. I am so happy. (end)

Morning Walk -- May 28, 1974, Rome:

Prabhupāda: Yes, and they will also give. Kṛṣṇa becomes the proprietor. Everyone is satisfied.

Dhanañjaya: Jaya. This is varṇāśrama institution.

Prabhupāda: Yes. This is above varṇāśrama. It is above varṇāśrama. Varṇāśrama there is give and take, but here there is no give and... Here is simply give, no take. That is above varṇāśrama.

Dhanañjaya: So the workers are giving to the devotees and the devotees are giving to Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: Yes. They become devotee, they will give to Kṛṣṇa. You also become devotees. Not that they become devotee and you exploit them very nicely. That is not.

Satsvarūpa: It is getting a little late. We should...

Prabhupāda: Which way we shall go?

Dhanañjaya: Just up here. (break)

Satsvarūpa: ...their nuts and bolts.

Prabhupāda: No, nuts, if there is demand, let this go on. Why shall I shut down. But we cannot run on this slaughterhouse... (end)

Room Conversation -- June 5, 1974, Geneva:

Swiss Man (2): (French)

Yogeśvara: He says this seems to be somewhat different from the traditional Hindu practice, since in the Manu-saṁhitā, for example, śūdras are not to be instructed.

Prabhupāda: Yes, but we do not keep him śūdra. A devotee is no longer śūdra. We are creating brāhmaṇas. Just like these Europeans and Americans. They, according to Manu-saṁhitā, they are mlecchas, yavanas. But we are not keeping them mlecchas and yavanas. Just like these European and American boys. They are accepting the Vedic regulatives principles: no illicit sex, no meat-eating, no intoxication, no gambling. So they are no more śūdras or caṇḍālas. They are brāhmaṇas.

Yogeśvara: (translates)

Prabhupāda: So it is said, guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13), according to quality and work. When one is educated in the quality of brāhmaṇa, Vaiṣṇava, and he works like a brāhmaṇa, he is no longer śūdra or caṇḍāla or yavana. He is brāhmaṇa or Vaiṣṇava.

Swiss Man (2): (French)

Yogeśvara: He says, in a sense we're something like the Buddhists because the Buddhists also don't take account of this, of the caste system.

Prabhupāda: No, no. Buddhist or anyone. Just like a person, when he is not educated in medical science he is not a medical man, but when he is properly educated in the medical science and he practices as a medical man, then he is a medical man. So you take it from Buddhism, or Hinduism; it doesn't matter. The thing is, consideration is, guṇa-karma. One must be qualified and he must work. Then he is elevated.

Morning Walk -- June 11, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: No, Kṛṣṇa... Of course, you cannot challenge Kṛṣṇa. But Kṛṣṇa, if He likes, He can reveal Himself to you. Therefore, you can know God. Just like Kṛṣṇa reveals. He comes and He... (aside:) Don't... He reveals Himself. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata (BG 4.7). So when man forgets, so He comes, reveals Himself. And He leaves behind Him the Bhagavad-gītā, knowledge about Him. So where is the difficulty? He comes when you forget Him, and He leaves behind Him the knowledge by which you can understand. Where is the difficulty?

Paramahaṁsa: There's a verse in the Bhāgavatam that says that one moment's association with a pure devotee is greater than liberation from the material world or than innumerable...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Paramahaṁsa: ...years of enjoyment on heavenly planets.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Paramahaṁsa: My question is: A pure devotee, when he comments Bhagavad-gītā, someone who never sees him physically, but he just comes in contact with his commentary, explanation, is this the same thing?

Prabhupāda: Yes. You can associate with Kṛṣṇa by reading Bhagavad-gītā. And these saintly persons, they have given their explanations, comments. So where is the difficulty? Everyone is helping you.

Room Conversation with Monsieur Mesman, Chief of Law House of Paris -- June 11, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: He's dedicated disciple.

Yogeśvara: Does that mean he must give up his family, and come and live here?

Prabhupāda: No, he can live with his family. It is to take up the cause, not to give up the family. We don't believe in giving up. We believe in engaging them properly. That is our philosophy. (French)

Pṛthu-putra: He asks if the hundreds devotee are all in Paris or they are a little bit everywhere...

Yogeśvara: Explain there's travelling parties.

Bhagavān: No, we're centered in Paris, and they travel all over France. (French)

Pṛthu-putra: He asks if we have a school in France.

Prabhupāda: We have got a school in Dallas, America, but we are trying to open a school here, also. (French)

Yogeśvara: This school is for all ages or just for children?

Prabhupāda: No, all ages. Children means they learn Sanskrit and English. And they are taught our books. You show our books, all books. These are... Other books. We have got eighty books like this. So if a student reads all these eighty books, he becomes Doctor of Philosophy. Ph.D. Beginning from A,B,C,D, up to Ph.D., all, everything is there. (French)

Pṛthu-putra: He asks if you wrote all these books.

Yogeśvara: Did you write all these books?

Morning Walk -- June 13, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: So the activities of the materialistic man, then, no matter what he does, he will develop another material body for it. (indistinct) Is that right, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Hm? Yes.

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: And a devotee is acting, but he's not getting any mental impression? From his activities?

Prabhupāda: His mind is being... His mental expression is Kṛṣṇa. He's always thinking of Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Rāma. We have got some propensity to create. Just like this beautiful place. We have got creative energy. Therefore it is advised that nirbandhaḥ kṛṣṇa-sambandhe. Make it for Kṛṣṇa. You'll find in India, they have also created big, big temples, four flight, but for Kṛṣṇa. Then the energy spent for creating this park, in relationship with Kṛṣṇa will be utilized as service to Kṛṣṇa. And if it simply meant for sense gratification, then you are under the laws of nature, contaminated. Just like if a man is very powerful, he's creating this park, but he is contaminated with some infection, he, will he not suffer?

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: He must suffer.

Prabhupāda: Does it mean that because he has created this park, therefore contamination will not act upon him? Is it a fact? It must act. So after creating all these things, if you contaminate some infectious modes of material nature, then you have to accept the body of cats and dogs. Then what is your benefit? Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-sango 'sya sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu (BG 13.22). Kāraṇam, the reason for high and low grade birth is due to contamination with the modes of material nature. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Morning Walk -- June 13, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: That is contamination. If I be contaminated with the material nature, then I'll have to accept a body given by material nature.

Paramahaṁsa: But it's said that a devotee's supposed to be fearless.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Paramahaṁsa: It is said that a devotee is supposed to be fearless.

Prabhupāda: Fearless because devotee means one who has taken shelter of Kṛṣṇa. He's devotee. He's fearless. And one who has not taken shelter of Kṛṣṇa, how he can be fearless? Suppose there is epidemic disease, if you have got vaccination, then you can remain fearless. Otherwise, the epidemic will contaminate and then you'll have to suffer. So Kṛṣṇa is the vaccination to remain fearless.

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: You have used the example, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that just like a little child, when he's near his father, he knows he has nothing to worry about. His father will protect him.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa... Today, it is cold, eh? Where is our Karandhara?

Bhagavān: Karandhara Prabhu. He's here.

Prabhupāda: You are feeling very cold?

Karandhara: Not too cold, Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: I am feeling. Old man.

Morning Walk -- June 13, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: That is fall consciousness. Prahlāda Mahārāja said: "immediately..." Kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān (SB 7.6.1). No waste after. Our policy is that. Therefore we have opened Dallas, that immediately, from the very beginning of life let them understand Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Yogeśvara: Śrīla Prabhupāda if the devotee is fearless, how is it that Prahlāda was expressing his fearfulness of material nature?

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Yogeśvara: If the devotee is fearless, how is it Prahlāda was expressing his fearfulness of the material nature?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Even you are fearless, you should not be fool. Because, if you know that "There is danger, I must be very careful," that is intelligence. That is not fearfulness. Besides that, a devotee like Prahlāda, he's fearless, but he's fearful for others. That is stated. Just like the mother. She knows that she'll not catch fire, she'll not fall down in the water, but she is always anxious to see her child that the child may not fall into the water, may not catch fire. She's working in her own way, but always fearful of the child. Similarly, a Vaiṣṇava, he's not fearless for himself, but because he's sympathetic, because he knows that all these rascals, they are wrongly wasting their time, therefore he's anxious, fearful. Para-duḥkha-duḥkhī. They are unhappy by seeing others unhappy. For themselves, there is no unhappiness. That is their grace. And Vaiṣṇava is fearless, even if he's sent to hell, he's not unhappy. Because wherever he goes, he'll chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. So actually he has no fear, fearfulness. He is only unhappy... Just like we are talking. Others may think that we are criticizing, but we are actually talking. Suppose this, one who has manufactured this big park and he has, next life, he has become contaminated, the dog's life, then what is the use? How you can guarantee that you are not going to be a dog? It is under the management of material nature, maram (?), very powerful. Just like even a big man like Napoleon, he's also under the control of material nature. As soon as the time is... "Get out." "No, I want to finish this arch." "No, sir, you get out." Then where is your powerfulness? That they do not know. For the temporary power, they become puffed up and go to hell. That's all. But they have no conception of hell. These are primitive ideas.

Morning Walk -- June 13, 1974, Paris:

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: Kṛṣṇa says that there's no one more dear to Me than...

Prabhupāda: Goṣṭhyānandī and bhajanānandī. Bhajanānandī means they are interested for their own welfare, and goṣṭhyānandī, he wants to see that more devotees are there. That is the difference.

Paramahaṁsa: Actually, Prahlāda Mahārāja said that he's not feeling any anxiety for himself...

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes, yes.

Paramahaṁsa: He's feeling anxiety that they're not taking to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Prabhupāda: They're... And, on account of his being so, taking the risk, he is immediately very dear to Kṛṣṇa. That is declared in the Bhagavad-gītā, na ca tasmān manuṣyeṣu kaścin me priya-kṛttamaḥ (BG 18.69). "Anyone who is trying to broadcast My message, My glory, he immediately, there is no more dearer than him anyone." So one should take this risk.

Paramahaṁsa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, yesterday you said that Kṛṣṇa appreciates the devotee when he accepts voluntary adversity.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Paramahaṁsa: Yesterday, you said that Kṛṣṇa appreciates when a devotee accepts voluntary adversity.

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: Like the kings who gave up everything to live an ascetic life.

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

Prabhupāda: No, we say the soul goes away from this body. Just like if I am sitting here, I can go away from this room, so similarly, the soul is within the body, he goes away, and therefore the body is dead.

Devotee: That's our explanation, but what is his explanation of death? If the soul and the body are the same then what is the cause of death.

Prabhupāda: That he does not know, he cannot explain.

Devotee: Is it that the soul gets old, and then because the soul dies, then the rest of the body doesn't work? (French)

Prabhupāda: (aside:) Take it. Make arrangement within. (French) (end)

Room Conversation with Professor Oliver La Combe Director of the Sorbonne University -- June 14, 1974, Paris:

Devotee: But more and more the people, especially in America, they are seeing how these politicians are cheating. Because every year, in every campaign, the same politician is saying, "I will do this, I will do that," and when he gets into office, he never does anything. But maybe now this time, when our Kṛṣṇa conscious devotees are running and they are showing the people what rascals... Just like Balavanta on TV, he was saying "How can these people be leader, when they are themselves permitting slaughter, drinking, smoking, having illicit sex life."

Prabhupāda: That is a fact. That is a fact. But why the leader? The public also drinks. They also encourage slaughterhouse. So if you say to the public that they cannot be leader, then there is no leader. They cannot find out any leader. The public will understand that "I also eat meat, I also drink, do the same thing. Why the leader should be something, saintly person? After all, he is our leader. So we are of the same character. So why the leader should be something different?" They cannot understand it.

Devotee: Therefore we must cheat.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Suppose I am thief and somebody accuses you that "He is a thief." So I don't take it seriously because I know, "I am also thief." Means these appeal, that does not appeal because "It is folly to be wise where ignorance is bliss." If everyone is thief, if you point out somebody that "He is thief, he cannot be trusted," then he knows that "I am also thief. It is not a big problem. I am also thief." Unless the whole public is sinless, he cannot appreciate a sinless leader. Care care mastado bhāi (?). This is natural. If I am thief, so what is the use of accusing you by other, "He is also thief." You'll take that "We all are thieves, all cousin brothers; so why this man should be only accused?"

Room Conversation with devotees about Twelfth Canto Kali-yuga, and Conversation with Guest -- June 15, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: No, no. I said...

Devotee: Two or four?

Prabhupāda: Two or four.

Devotee: Is there some reason behind this?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Three is offered to the enemy. If I offer something, three, that means "You are my enemy."

Devotee: So how many sticks of incense? Two?

Prabhupāda: There is no such...

Yogeśvara: Now, one thing is that we accept Buddha as incarnation of Kṛṣṇa on reference from Vedas, but Buddha denied the value of the Vedas.

Prabhupāda: That is... When we pray, offer pray, it is stated that that is his, one of the qualifications. Sada... Nindasi. Nindasi yajña-vidher. The animal sacrifice is recommended... Some of the sacrifices or all of them... So that animal sacrifice was not meant for eating. Just to give them new, rejuvenated life by the Vedic mantras, to test that whether Vedic mantras are being chanted properly. And because at the Kali-yuga there is no such expert brāhmaṇa, all sacrifices are forbidden. So later on, as they deteriorated, they began to offer sacrifices, and if anyone wants to stop it, they will say, "Oh, it is recommended in the Vedas." Just like these rascals, Christian: "Oh, Christ ate fish. Therefore we must maintain slaughterhouse." Just see how rascal they are. Supposing Christ ate somewhere fish. Therefore they would maintain regularly slaughterhouse of cows. This is their brain.

Morning Walk -- June 19, 1974, Germany:

Mādhavānanda: Then as soon as one begins to understand who he is, the transmigration stops.

Prabhupāda: Yes. What is that understanding? His understanding is that "I am eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa. So let me surrender to Kṛṣṇa as He wants and serve Him." This is life. As soon as he is on this platform, then he is out of illusion. And if he is perfect, then just after giving up this body he goes to Kṛṣṇa. This is the process. If he does not fall from this transcendental service of Kṛṣṇa, then immediately after death he is transferred. Just like we are transferred from this gross body to subtle body, similarly, after death a devotee is transferred immediately to the Kṛṣṇa, where Kṛṣṇa is there, either within this material world or... They are first of all given chance to go to Kṛṣṇa. In any brahmāṇḍa there is Kṛṣṇa. Nitya-līlā is going on. So he is born there. Then actually plays with Kṛṣṇa, dance with Kṛṣṇa, talks with Kṛṣṇa. Apprenticeship. This is also apprenticeship here. So is there any difficulty of perception?

Satsvarūpa: No.

Prabhupāda: Why you said that "I have no perception?" There is perception, every day, every night. How you can say there is no perception? The perception is so strong, sometimes one dreaming some horrible position, he cannot more sleep. The sleep breaks. So why there is no perception? He is so much troubled that breaks. He immediately comes to the safe side of this gross body.

Devotee (1): Yes, takes shelter.

Room Conversation with Reverend Gordon Powell, Head of Scots Church -- June 28, 1974, Melbourne:

Satsvarūpa: "Purport: Birth, death, old age and diseases affect this material body, but not the spiritual body. There is no birth, death, old age and disease for the spiritual body, so one who attains a spiritual body, becomes one of the associates of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and engages in eternal devotional service, is really liberated. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi: I am spirit. It is said that one should understand that he is Brahman—spirit soul. This Brahman conception of life is also in devotional service, as described in this verse. The pure devotees are transcendentally situated on the Brahman platform, and they know everything about transcendental and material activities."

Reverend Powell: "Transcendental" means spiritual, does it?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Reverend Powell: As opposed to material. And...

Prabhupāda: So they are always engaged in transcendental devotional service.

Reverend Powell: Always.

Prabhupāda: Always. Then they'll be freed from birth, death, old age and disease.

Reverend Powell: And... Were the papers correct in reporting you as... Well, they reported opposite things that... But you, of course, hold to transmigration, I gather. And this is... Death really doesn't happen. It's a change of form. Is that it?

Prabhupāda: Yes. As soon as the..., everyone dies, so a devotee, after death, in his transcendental form, he goes, back to home, back to Godhead.

Room Conversation -- June 28, 1974, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Yes. So... Just like if you have got your child on your lap, if some friends come and takes your child and pats him and kisses him, then you become pleased, immediately. "Oh, this gentleman loves my child so much." Similarly, if a Vaiṣṇava, a devotee, is respected, then Kṛṣṇa is more pleased. Therefore it is called, yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ **. The respectful to guru makes easier to receive mercy from God. Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ **. What is the meaning?

Satsvarūpa: "By the mercy of the spiritual master, one gets the blessings of Kṛṣṇa."

Prabhupāda: Yes. Because Kṛṣṇa is immediately pleased. "Oh, he's obedient and respectful to My devotee." It is in the same way, "Oh, he loves my child so much. He loves my dog." Dog is not qualified. But because the gentleman's dog is loved, the gentleman is pleased. This is counteractive. Similarly, a pure devotee, representative of God, if he is offered respect, that respect goes to God.

Satsvarūpa: Prabhupāda, you said that we should respect everyone as a devotee, but then also you teach that...

Prabhupāda: No, no. By qualification, a Vaiṣṇava respects everyone.

Satsvarūpa: But then there's also a teaching not to respect a nondevotee even if he's a big man. We may formally offer him respect, but if...

Morning Walk -- June 29, 1974, Melbourne:

Madhudviṣa: Sometimes a question is arisen that devotees are working hard to serve Kṛṣṇa, but sometimes they don't feel that they are working in love and devotion. They are doing the work, but sometimes...

Prabhupāda: Yes, in the beginning there is no love. Let him work on the direction of God's representative. (break) Therefore it has been warned, arcye viṣṇau śilā-dhīr guruṣu nara-matir vaiṣṇave jāti-buddhiḥ. The Deity of Viṣṇu, if one thinks, "This is made of stone; this is made of wood; this is made of metal," and spiritual master as ordinary human being, these are hellish considerations. Arcye viṣṇau śilā-dhīr guruṣu nara-matiḥ. Guruṣu means the spiritual master. Nara-matiḥ, a ordinary human being. And vaiṣṇave jāti-buddhiḥ. And Vaiṣṇava, a devotee—"Oh, he is brāhmaṇa Vaiṣṇava. He is European Vaiṣṇava. He is this Vaiṣṇava, that..." No. These are forbidden. Vaiṣṇava is Vaiṣṇava. Spiritual master... They are all transcendental. In... of course, in this country you are introducing new, but in India... Just like we had been at Tirupati, Tirumala. Many thousands of people were coming, and their daily collection is not less than 100,000 rupees. And do you think these people are coming to offer these 100,000 rupees daily to a stone? And the ācāryas established this temple for bluffing these people? Does it mean, their collecting? They do not know the science, rascals. And therefore simply... Sinful life cannot help. Vinā paśughnāt (SB 10.1.4). That is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that "One who is killer of animal, he cannot understand the spiritual science." Vinā paśughnāt (SB 10.1.4). This is the statement. Paśughna means the animal killer. Therefore the first prohibition is stop this animal killing. Otherwise, this dull brain will not be able to understand. They are not fit for understanding. Mūḍha, mūḍha. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ (BG 7.15).

Room Conversation with Bishop Kelly -- June 29, 1974, Melbourne:

Satsvarūpa: In this verse the word buddhi-yogam is very significant. We may remember that in the Second Chapter the Lord, instructing Arjuna, said that He had spoken to him of many things and that He would instruct him in the way of buddhi-yoga. Now buddhi-yoga is explained. Buddhi-yogam itself is action in Kṛṣṇa consciousness; that is the highest intelligence. Buddhi means intelligence, and yogam means mystic activities or mystic elevation. When one tries to go back home, back to Godhead, and takes fully to Kṛṣṇa consciousness in devotional service, his action is called buddhi-yogam. In other words, buddhi-yogam is the process by which one gets out of the entanglement of this material world. The ultimate goal of progress is Kṛṣṇa. People do not know this; therefore the association of devotees and a bona fide spiritual master are important. One should know that the goal is Kṛṣṇa, and when the goal is assigned, then the path is slowly but progressively traversed, and the ultimate goal is achieved.

When a person knows the goal of life but is addicted to the fruits of activities, he is acting in karma-yoga. When he knows that the goal is Kṛṣṇa, but he takes pleasure in mental speculations to understand Kṛṣṇa, he is acting in jñāna-yoga. And when he knows the goal and seeks Kṛṣṇa completely in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and devotional service, he is acting in bhakti-yoga, or buddhi-yoga, which is the complete yoga. This complete yoga is the highest perfectional stage of life.

A person may have a bona fide spiritual master and may be attached to a spiritual organization, but still, if he is not intelligent enough to make progress, then Kṛṣṇa from within gives him instructions so that he may ultimately come to Him without difficulty. The qualification is that a person always engage himself in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and with love and devotion render all kinds of services. He should perform some sort of work for Kṛṣṇa, and that work should be with love. If a devotee is intelligent enough, he will make progress on the path of self-realization. If one is sincere and devoted to the activities of devotional service, the Lord gives him a chance to make progress and ultimately attain to Him.

Prabhupāda: So one must be engaged in devotional service, practical. So these our boys and disciples, they are always...

Room Conversation -- August 12, 1975, Paris (with French translator):

Bhagavān: ...that all over the world there are actually devotees of Kṛṣṇa and that they are just waiting for the saṅkīrtana parties to pick them up.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-bhakti. Kṛṣṇa-bhakti is there in everywhere.

French Devotee: Are you coming back in September?

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Bhagavān: The devotees want to know if you're coming back.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Bhagavān: Many people are still talking about that engagement you had in that big hall last year. They're still talking about that engagement. It was very successful.

Devotee(1): Many devotees joined afterward.

French Devotee: In the street we still see pictures of this.

Bhagavān: (to guest) You have read any books of ours?

Woman: (indistinct)

Room Conversations -- September 11, 1974, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa says that "You and Me and all these soldiers, we existed before, we are existing now, and we shall exist in this way in the future." Where does He say that "We shall be mixed up"? He never says. And these rascals, they have got so many parties, the same thing. Where do you get this idea? There is sayujya-mukti, but Kṛṣṇa never says that "You take it." All this Ramakrishna Mission, all these, this (indistinct), he gives the example that rivers come from different sources, but when it comes to the ocean it is mixed up. Why don't you see within the water? Within the water there are big, big fishes, they do not mix up with the water. They see superficially the water. This is going on. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānās (SB 7.5.31). Our philosophy is "Come. Come here, play with Kṛṣṇa as cowherd boy. Come here, dance with Kṛṣṇa as gopī. Come here, accept Kṛṣṇa as your son, Kṛṣṇa will accept you as His mother." There will be always two, and enjoy, any way. Even as enemy, demon displaying part of enemy, Kṛṣṇa killing, that is also pastime too. That is also enjoyment. Just like sometimes we fight, friend to friend, to enjoy life, because fighting is enjoyment. You become enemy of Kṛṣṇa purposefully, and to fight with Him, that is giving pleasure to Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is enjoying, and He also becomes so staunch enemy. So this is also transcendental pleasure. Just like Bhīṣma. He is piercing the body of Kṛṣṇa, and He is coming with cakra. That is a pleasure. Kṛṣṇa is enjoying being pierced by His devotee. And devotee is enjoying, "Now Kṛṣṇa is coming to kill me." So any way you can deal with Kṛṣṇa and enjoy transcendental pleasure, either as enemy or as friend or as son or as lover, as master, as a servant—any way. Kṛṣṇa is prepared to deal with you any way, in twelve rasas, akhila-rasāmṛta-sindhu. Raso vai saḥ, in the Vedas, He is the reservoir of all pleasure, transcendental. (Sanskrit) When we exchange rasa, transcendental mellow, (Sanskrit), then we get transcendental bliss. As the materialist has centered around the sex, this way or that way, similarly the transcendentalists, they are..., their center is Kṛṣṇa. That is the difference. So if you want to enjoy life making Kṛṣṇa as the center, that is eternal happiness. And this life means it is not eternal. Now you enjoy sex as human being, next as dog, next as monkey, next as flies, next as this, next as that. The center is sex, but you have to change according to your mental condition at the time of death in different body. That is not eternal. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). You accept one type of body, enjoy sex according to that body, then you can accept another body. Sex life is there. As human being, sex life; and as a dog, there is sex life; as a fly, sex life. Fly also enjoys sex life. You have seen?