So Vṛkodara, Bhīmasena, is advertised as voracious eater. But he can perform Herculean task also. Just like the elephant, it eats voraciously, but it gives service also. Similarly if we simply eat voraciously and we cannot give any service that is not good. We must eat sumptuously and give service also. In Bengali it is said that peṭe keli piṭhe soya (?). If one is given sufficient food in the belly, he can carry more burden on the back. So Bhīma-karma, his activities were very Herculean, very, very, difficult tasks he performed.
Elephant (BG Lectures)
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Lecture on BG 1.15 -- London, July 15, 1973:
" That is his higher intelligence. That is higher intelligence, that "Why shall I ask food from God? God is supplying food to the cats, dogs, ants, elephants, and I want little food, he will not supply me?
Lecture on BG 1.26-27 -- London, July 21, 1973:
What is this problem? Suppose you bring all my friends, my relatives, my sons, grandsons, my father-in-law, brother-in-law, friends, my animals... Because there were soldiers, senayor ubhayor api, there were animals also. Horses, elephants. They are also within the membership. According to Vedic conception, the animals, they are also members of your family. Because they are giving service. Not that one section of the members of my family I give protection, and the other section, I take everything from them and then cut throat. This is not civilization. You keep your sons, wife, daughters, cows, dogs, they are animals, asses, domestic animals, horses, elephants. If you are rich, you can keep elephants also. It does not mean... Either family-wise or state-wise, it does not mean that you give protection to some members and cut throat of the others.
Lecture on BG 1.44 -- London, July 31, 1973:
He thinks everyone svajana, the member of the same family. It does not matter if one has become ant or one has become elephant. The living spark, the soul, is the same dimension, either within the ant or in the elephant. This dimension of the soul we have several times discussed, 1/10,000th part of the top of the hair
Lecture on BG 1.44 -- London, July 31, 1973:
That is the dimension. In śāstra we get the dimension of the soul—very, very minute: 1/10,000th part of the top of the hair. Just imagine. So that portion is within the ant and within Brahma and within elephant. Therefore, one who is paṇḍita, one who knows what are these souls, spiritual sparks, part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, if he has got full knowledge, then his vision is
Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Pittsburgh, September 8, 1972:
So just try to understand, if the major portion of the living entities have no problem... Their necessities of life are being supplied by the supreme eternal, God. Just like an elephant. There are millions of elephants in African jungle.
Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Germany, June 18, 1974:
Simply a small quantity and big quantity. The ant's body is also made of the same ingredient, the elephant's body is also made of same ingredient, and this gigantic universe, so many planets, sun, moon and sky, that is also made of the same ingredients. It is only difference of big apartment and small apartment. That's all.
Lecture on BG 2.14 -- London, August 20, 1973:
The elephant is not going to the church for praying, "Give me food." He is supplied in the jungle food. A tiger is supplied food. Even ant is supplied food within the hole. Who is going to supply food there? How they are eating? How they are living? How they are begetting children? The same thing is there. Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithuna—everything is there in the ant, in the elephant.
Lecture on BG 2.15 -- Hyderabad, November 21, 1972:
At that time, you can feel that every living entity is exactly like you. It doesn't matter whether he is a learned brāhmaṇa, whether he's a dog, whether he is a caṇḍāla, whether he's an elephant.
Lecture on BG 2.15 -- London, August 21, 1973:
Protection of the... That... Tulasī dāsa has said that in the ocean, the waves of the ocean, if you put one elephant very powerful, very strong, the elephant will be washed away by the waves. But a small fish, a teeny fish, it is swimming against the waves. They take pleasure. The fish, when the waves are coming this way, the fish go in that way. Now see. You put against the waves an elephant. It will be washed away. Why elephant? Any strong thing you give. Even big, big ships, oh, it will be washed away.
Lecture on BG 2.30 -- London, August 31, 1973:
This is very important. Not that simply in human body the soul is there and not in other bodies. That is rascaldom. Sarvasya. In every body. Even within the ant, even within the elephant, even within the gigantic banyan tree or within the microbe.
Lecture on BG 2.30 -- London, August 31, 1973:
Within the first-class learned brāhmaṇa, there is the soul, the same quality soul. Vidyā-vinaya-sampanne brāhmaṇe gavi, in the cow, hastini, in the elephant, śuni—śuni means the dog—caṇḍāla, the lowest kind of human being, everywhere the soul is there.
Lecture on BG 2.46-47 -- New York, March 28, 1966:
The difference between animal society and human society is that a human being, whoever he may be, he can, if he is taught, if he is given training, if he is educated, he can understand his real position, that he is not this body, but he is pure consciousness; he is spirit soul. But in the animal society, however a big animal may be, either he may be a lion or a tiger or an elephant or any other big animal, he cannot be taught about the constitution of the soul, although he has got the soul also.
Lecture on BG 2.51-55 -- New York, April 12, 1966:
We are engaged in some, in some sort of activities. Nobody is free from activities. Even a ant, an ant, it is also engaged in activity. And the elephant. Ant is the most, I mean to..., according to our vision, the ant is very small and the elephant is very big. But everyone, beginning from the ant up to the elephant, so far our experience is concerned... There are other big animals also.
Lecture on BG 3.11-19 -- Los Angeles, December 27, 1968:
We are manufacturing these theories for our own satisfaction, sense satisfaction. There is no question of starvation in the law of God. Elephant eats hundred pounds at a time. Who is supplying foodstuff? There are millions of elephants in the African jungle, in Indian jungles. They require one hundred pounds at a time to eat. Who is supplying food? So there is no question of starvation in the kingdom of God. Starvation is for the so-called civilized men.
Lecture on BG 4.11 -- New York, July 27, 1966:
If you go to the forest there are societies of different animals: elephant society, tiger society, deer society, jackal society, wolf society. Even in the birds, you'll find, the birds of the same feather flock together. This is the natural way. You'll find that all the pigeons, they flock together, not the crows and the pigeons flock together. The ducks, they flock together. Similarly, this is the natural way, and there... In every group there is a leader.
Lecture on BG 4.11 -- Bombay, March 31, 1974:
As the sons have got right to enjoy the property of the father, similarly, we, all living entities, not only human beings, but trees, planets, animals, everyone, all living entities, sarva-yoniṣu, they are all sons of God, or Kṛṣṇa, and everyone has got right to live at the cost of Kṛṣṇa. And He's also feeding everyone. Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. All the necessities of life is being supplied by Kṛṣṇa. In Africa there are millions of elephants. They are also supplied food, at a time, forty kilos. And the ant is also, within the hole of your room... (break) ...according to law.
Lecture on BG 4.11-12 -- New York, July 28, 1966:
Unlimited. And a small. Just like in the material world also, you will find unlimited atomic existence, similarly, in the spiritual also, there are unlimited spiritual atoms. And one of the atoms is myself and yourself or the ant or the elephant. Everyone is containing that atomic portion of spiritual energy. And from that atomic spiritual energy develops this material body, from that spiritual.
The matter cannot develop. Matter cannot develop. That you have got experience. A dead body does not develop. A living body develops. A child, when it comes out of the mother's womb, if the child is dead, oh, there is no further development, however you can keep the child in a very antiseptic way preserved. No. There is no development. Therefore it is concluded that the supreme spirit, Kṛṣṇa, from Him everything has come out. Everything has come out. Any stage you take, that is Kṛṣṇa.
And whenever I surrender... Because my position is to surrender. I am spiritual, that atom, however big body I can develop. I can develop the body like an elephant, but the elephant is conducted under the direction of a man. You know? Such a big animal is controlled by a small boy of human being. So everyone is under control. We cannot deny that. So we have to... We are under control of different dimensions of that spiritual energy covered by material energy.
Lecture on BG 4.13 -- Bombay, April 2, 1974:
Vidyā-vinaya, brāhmaṇe, a learned brāhmaṇa; gavi, a cow; hastini, an elephant; śuni, śuni means caṇḍāla, er, śuni means dog; and śva-pāke, those who are dog-eaters, caṇḍāla. Paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ. How is that, paṇḍita has become mad that he is seeing the brāhmaṇa, learned brāhmaṇa, and a caṇḍāla and a cow, everything on the same platform? How?
Lecture on BG 4.13 -- Johannesburg, October 19, 1975:
They go to any tree. What the bird will eat? Four, five small fruit. But there are innumerable fruits in one tree and there are innumerable trees. Similarly, take any animal, even the elephant. In Africa there are so many elephants, millions of elephants. They eat at a time forty kilograms. And who is supplying food? They have no business. They have no profession. How they are eating
Lecture on BG 4.14-19 -- New York, August 3, 1966:
So paṇḍita means that one who is learned and gentle. So another paṇḍita sees vidyā-vinaya-sampanne, a brāhmaṇa, learned and gentle, vidyā-vinaya-sampanne brāhmaṇe gavi, and a cow, vidyā-vinaya-sampanne gavi ha..., and an elephant, and śva-pāke... Śva-pāke ca śuni ca. Śva-pāke means there is a class of men who eats dogs. They are counted amongst the lower class in India. Śva-pāke ca śuni. Śuni means dog. So dog also, not taken very good animal in the society. But a paṇḍita—either a dog, either a cow, either an elephant, either
Lecture on BG 4.19 -- New York, August 5, 1966:
Kṛṣṇa-bhakti nitya-siddha sādhya kabhu naya. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness is an eternal fact. It is nothing that by this organization we are imposing upon you something extra. No. It is within you. It is within every living entity. Any living entity—never mind whether he is human being or animal... When Lord Caitanya was singing this Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, He was passing through jungles, forests, and the tigers, the elephants, the stags, and all, I mean to, forest animals, they joined. They joined.
Lecture on BG 4.22 -- Bombay, April 11, 1974:
But you will be surprised that we have to spend not less than $80,000 per month, but Kṛṣṇa is supplying. Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. Why Kṛṣṇa will not supply? If Kṛṣṇa is supplying to the elephant in the forest, and those who have dedicated their life to Kṛṣṇa, they will not be supplied with the necessities? Why not?
Viśvāsa pālana. This is called faith. One should know, "If Kṛṣṇa is supplying food to the elephants in the jungle and to the ants in the hole of my room, what we have done that He will not supply food?
Lecture on BG 4.34 -- Questions & Answers -- August 14, 1968, New York:
" So he went to the forest. He went to the forest, and he was asking the tiger, "Oh, you are God?" The elephant, "You are God?"
Lecture on BG 4.34-38 -- New York, August 17, 1966:
We can use them as much as we like.
Just like the elephant is eating hundred pounds. Oh, God is supplying. "Yes. Come on. Take hundred pounds." But he's not stocking. He's eating both times, hundred pounds in the morning, hundred pounds in the evening. He's supplied. Nature supplies. Come on. You know, gorilla. They are very big animals. And where gorillas are prominent in the African jungle, there is a tree which produces a nut which is stronger than the iron bullet. And the gorilla uses those as peas and chew it nicely. So there is food supply there even for the gorilla, for the elephant, and for the ant also. The ant requires one grain of sugar. And he's also struggling. So here is a struggle. But the supply is there. Supply is there. Supply is already fixed up.
So your struggle should be—human form of life—the struggle should be how to realize yourself, how to go to, to go back to Godhead, back to Kṛṣṇa. That should be your struggle, not for economic development. The economic solution is there. If it is there for the elephant, for the ant, why not for you?
Lecture on BG 4.39-5.3 -- New York, August 24, 1966:
Just like the roaring of a lion drives away the big elephants from the forest—whenever there is roaring of a lion, even the big animals like elephants, they go away—similarly, this vibration of transcendental sound will cleanse the elephants of dirtiness in the mind. We have accumulated dirtiness in our mind after many, many births, and that is a huge garbage. So this transcendental sound is just like the roaring of lion, and it will clear all the garbages accumulated.
Lecture on BG 5.7-13 -- New York, August 27, 1966:
You can take foodstuff as much as you require for your maintenance of the body. Now if you take more, then you'll be in trouble, and if you take less, then you'll be in trouble. You have to take exactly what is prescribed for you. Just like the elephant. Elephant is taking hundred pounds daily, twice. Once at a time he takes hundred pounds or more than that. And the ant takes only one grain. Now if the ant thinks that "I shall also take hundred pounds," oh, it is impossible for him. It is impossible. (chuckling) And if the elephant thinks, "All right, the ant is taking one grain. I shall take." No. That is not. The system is that in God's kingdom, in God's creation, for everybody, there is sufficient food. You take as much as you require. That is the natural way. In the nature's way you'll find, beginning from the ant to the elephant, they will not take more, they will not take less. If to the elephant you give two hundred pounds foodstuff, he'll take only a hundred pounds as he requires.
Lecture on BG 5.14-22 -- New York, August 28, 1966:
A learned brāhmaṇa, a learned intelligent man, who is very advanced with material academical knowledge, vidyā-vinaya-sampanne, and he is very gentle and cultured, such a intelligent man, vidyā-vinaya-sampanne brāhmaṇe gavi, a cow, hastini, an elephant, and śuni... śuni... śuni means a dog.
Lecture on BG 5.14-22 -- New York, August 28, 1966:
Just a person in transcendental position, he sees equally the intelligent man and the dog equal. Intelligent man and the dog equally. A brāhmaṇa, a dog, a cow, an elephant, and a dog-eater.
Lecture on BG 5.26-29 -- Los Angeles, February 12, 1969:
So if I am smaller than the grass, that's a fact. I am still smaller, smaller, I do not know how smaller but I am thinking of this body. An elephant is thinking that "I am so big," or a man is thinking, "I am so big," ant is thinking, "I am so small." This smallness, bigness is due to this body. Therefore in Bhagavad-gītā you will find, paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ (BG 5.18). One who is learned he does not see the small body or big body. He sees the particle of soul, spirit soul, therefore sama-darśinaḥ. He knows that the small particle of spirit is there in the ant and in the elephant. Therefore he sees the elephant and the ant on the same level, on spiritual vision, not on this external vision. This is called self-realization.
Lecture on BG 5.26-29 -- Los Angeles, February 12, 1969:
Who is going to supply them? So therefore He is real well-wisher of all living entities. Why not for you?
Therefore those who are actually saintly person they simply depend on Kṛṣṇa. Why? If Kṛṣṇa is supplying food to the elephant, beginning from the elephant to the ant, why not to me?
Lecture on BG 6.16-24 -- Los Angeles, February 17, 1969:
Therefore here it is said, "There is no possibility of one's becoming a yogi," if you try to become immediately Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī by imitating, you'll fail. Whatever progress you have made that will be finished. No. Not that. You eat. But don't eat more. That's all. Eating more is no good. You eat. If you are elephant you eat hundred pounds, but if you are ant you eat one grain. Don't eat hundred pounds imitating the elephant. You see? God has given food to the elephant and to the ant. But if you are actually elephant then you eat like elephant. But if you are ant, don't eat like elephant, then you'll be in trouble.
Lecture on BG 6.40-42 -- New York, September 16, 1966:
Vināśa means when we are in the whirlpool of this material transmigration of soul from one body to another and we do not know where we are going. Either we are going, I am going to become an elephant or I'm going to become an ant, I do not know.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- San Diego, July 1, 1972:
To execute this twenty-four-hours' meditation one has to be, become, has to become, has to become very humble. Because so many people will criticize. Just like last night our Ātreya Ṛṣi was speaking that some of his fellow officer was criticizing him. So we have to tolerate. Just like when the elephant passes, many dogs bark. So we do not care for these dogs barking. As elephant, we must go on gravely. You see.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Durban, October 9, 1975:
We should understand, because the animals lower than human being, they do not go to church or to temple to ask for daily bread, but they get their bread. The elephants, they eat at a time 40 kg in this African forest, but they are getting their daily food twice.
Lecture on BG 7.1-3 -- London, August 4, 1971:
They have no other inquiries, "What is the perfection?" That means that is not possible in that body. In that animal body, cat's and dog's or hog's or elephant, very big body, or tiger, very powerful body, but they cannot inquire what is the perfection of life. That inquiry is possible in the human form of life.
Lecture on BG 7.4-5 -- Bombay, March 30, 1971:
We can again study. Just like your body, my body, although it is gigantic... Just like elephant's body... Or there are many other animals.
Lecture on BG 7.8-14 -- New York, October 2, 1966:
Just like an elephant is very strong. And more than elephant, the gorilla is still more strong. That strength, wherefrom..., wherefrom he gets strength? Now, suppose I am a human being. I cannot get such strength by my own endeavor, but I can get strength ten thousand times more than the elephant if Kṛṣṇa favors. Therefore strength. Just like Bhīma. Bhīma had strength ten thousand times than an elephant.
Lecture on BG 7.9-10 -- Bombay, February 24, 1974:
' you say that 'He was pulling one elephant from the hole of a nail,' " what is called?
Lecture on BG 7.9-10 -- Bombay, February 24, 1974:
Needle. So when he met the brāhmaṇa he said... And he inquired, "What Nārāyaṇa was doing when you met Him?" "I saw that He was pulling one elephant through the hole of a needle." So he immediately said, "All right, sir, namaskāra. Your, all these big, big stories we cannot believe, that an elephant is being drawn through the hole of a needle." And the same question was raised by the cobbler, and he, Nārada Muni replied in the same way. And he began to cry, "Oh, my Lord is so powerful. He can do anything." So Nārada Muni inquired that "How do you believe that the elephant is being drawn through the hole of a needle?"
Lecture on BG 7.11-12 -- Bombay, February 25, 1974:
You cannot stop his death simply by making him fat like elephant.
Lecture on BG 7.15-18 -- New York, October 9, 1966:
The elephant, "You are God?
Lecture on BG 9.2-5 -- New York, November 23, 1966:
If they inquire that 'What Kṛṣṇa, or Nārāyaṇa, was doing in the, in His abode,' so just explain that He was taking one elephant from the holes of a," I mean to say, what is called...?
Lecture on BG 9.2-5 -- New York, November 23, 1966:
Needle. Yes. "Through the hole of a needle, He's pulling an elephant this side and this side." "All right." So when he again approached the brāhmaṇa, the brāhmaṇa said, "Oh, you have seen Lord?" "Yes." "So what was the Lord doing?" "He was doing this: through the point of a needle He was pushing one elephant this way and that way." "Oh, therefore I have no faith in your... I, I, I have got all respect for your garb, but we don't believe all this nonsense." Then Nārada could understand, "Oh, this man has no faith. He simply reads book. That's all." And when he went to the cobbler, he also asked, "Oh, you have seen? What Nārāyaṇa was doing?" He also said that "He was doing like this..." Oh, he began to cry, "Oh, my Lord is wonderful. He can do anything." So Nārada inquired, "So do you believe that Lord can push one elephant through the holes of a needle?" "Oh, why not? I must believe." "Then what is your reason?" "Oh, my reason? I am sitting under this banyan tree, and so many fruits are falling daily, and in each fruit there are thousands of seeds, and each seed there is a tree. If in a small seed there can be big tree like that, is it very impossible to accept that Kṛṣṇa is putting one elephant through the, I mean, the holes of a needle?
Lecture on BG 13.2 -- Melbourne, April 4, 1972:
Actually, nobody is dying out of starvation, nobody, not even an animal, not even a bird, dying of starvation, not a beast. God is supplying everyone's food. Eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. He is supplying food to the elephant. In Africa there are millions of elephants. They take food, at a time, forty kilos. But they are also being supplied with food. But who is supplying food? We have not arranged food for the elephants, or we have not arranged any food for the ant within our room, but they are being fed by the laws of nature, by God's arrangement.
Lecture on BG 13.3 -- Paris, August 11, 1973:
He is...
In Africa, there are millions of elephants. Kṛṣṇa is supplying food, yes. There are gorillas, Kṛṣṇa is supplying food. Why you are anxious for a morsel of bread? Will not supply Kṛṣṇa? He's perfect, He can supply huge quantity of food to the elephant and a particular type of food to the gorillas. You know? We have read in a book that in Africa where the gorillas live, there are trees.
Lecture on BG 13.4 -- Hyderabad, April 20, 1974:
"This dog is also a spirit soul; this learned brāhmaṇa is also a spirit soul; this elephant is also a spirit soul." Paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ.
Lecture on BG 13.4 -- Miami, February 27, 1975:
Those who are learned, they see that "Here is a learned brāhmaṇa, and here is a dog, and here is a hog, and he is a dog-eater. There is an elephant. There is a cow. So they are in different dresses only, and the real occupier of the dress, or the body..."
Lecture on BG 13.4 -- Miami, February 27, 1975:
Therefore those who are fully Kṛṣṇa conscious or fully advanced in spiritual consciousness, they do not make any difference between an insect and a elephant because he knows very well that the same spirit soul is there within the elephant and within insect, within the microbe, because the dimension of the spirit soul is very small. You cannot imagine. It is one ten-thousandth part of the tip of the hair. Keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadhā kalpita (CC Madhya 19.140), everything is there. So such minute particle is so powerful that it is managing the body of the elephant and it is managing the body of the ant.
You will find even an ant. He has got all the propensities, just like human being. You can study how they are struggling, how they have organized their society, how they are eating, how they are sleeping, how they are begetting children. Everything is there in every life. The four principles of bodily demands, namely eating. sleeping, sex and defense, you will find in the insect, smallest insect, like full stop. I sometimes see at night. They wander on the page of the book, very small. But they have got all the propensities. All the propensities. You can study. Anyone, minute study, you can see. So these things are there everywhere, even to the ant or even to the elephant or to the demigod or any Brahmā or in everything.
Lecture on BG 13.6-7 -- Montreal, October 25, 1968:
That small particle of soul is within the ant and within the elephant. It is a bodily expansion only that we are, we appear..., the elephant appears to be the biggest animal, and the ant or the germ appears to be the smallest. But actually, these are bodily expansions. The soul as it is is really smaller than the grass or straw on the street.
So Vedic aphorism says that ahaṁ brahmāsmi. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. So ahaṁ brahmāsmi sometimes mistakenly is understood that "I am the Supreme God." Ahaṁ brahmāsmi means "I am Brahman." Brahman means spirit. "I am spirit soul." This conception, this identification, is right. This is the right identification. As soon as I think that "I am elephant" or "I am ant," that is not my identification. That is my misidentification. My real identification is that "I am neither ant nor elephant, but I am spirit soul.
Lecture on BG 13.6-7 -- Bombay, September 29, 1973:
We are only four hundred thousand species, forms. But out of eight million four hundred thousand species, the eight millions forms of life, birds, beasts, they are taking (taken) care. There is no economic development program. They are eating very nicely. In Africa there are millions of elephants. They are eating very nicely.
Lecture on BG 13.17 -- Bombay, October 11, 1973:
And actually, God is feeding us. You will find in Africa, there are millions of elephants.
Lecture on BG 16.7 -- Hyderabad, December 15, 1976:
When the cow is dead the skin is valuable, the hoof is valuable, the horn is valuable, the bones are valuable. Everything is valuable. Just like elephant. Dead or alive, it is one lakh of rupees. The price is the same. That is the... Because elephant is very costly, everyone knows. You cannot... One lakh of rupees. Unless one is king or a big zamindar he cannot purchase elephant, neither he can keep. And if the elephant is dead, that is also one lakh of rupees because it contains the ivory bones, very, very costly. So there are animals; either dead or alive, the price is the same. Similarly, cow, dead or alive, the price is the same.
Lecture on BG 16.11-12 -- Hawaii, February 7, 1975:
You'll find so many sparrows, so many other birds, beast, even elephants. So they are getting their food, they are getting their sleeping accommodation, they have facility for sex life and they know how to defend.
Lecture on BG 18.41 -- Stockholm, September 7, 1973:
Everyone has got soul. Even the ant has got soul, or the elephant has got soul, what to speak of other animals.
| Page Title: | Elephant (BG Lectures) |
| Compiler: | Rishab, Gayatri, Visnu Murti |
| Created: | 31 of Dec, 2010 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=55, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 55 |