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Few devotees

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta

CC Adi-lila

CC Adi 10.85, Purport:

In Vṛndāvana he established the Rādhā-Dāmodara temple, where, after retirement, we had the opportunity to live from 1962 until 1965, when we decided to come to the United States of America. When Jīva Gosvāmī was still present, Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī compiled his famous Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Later, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī inspired Śrīnivāsa Ācārya, Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura and Duḥkhī Kṛṣṇadāsa to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness in Bengal. Jīva Gosvāmī was informed that all the manuscripts that had been collected from Vṛndāvana and sent to Bengal for preaching purposes were plundered near Viṣṇupura, in Bengal, but later he received the information that the books had been recovered. Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī awarded the designation Kavirāja to Rāmacandra Sena, a disciple of Śrīnivāsa Ācārya's, and to Rāmacandra's younger brother Govinda. While Jīva Gosvāmī was alive, Śrīmatī Jāhnavā-devī, the pleasure potency of Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu, went to Vṛndāvana with a few devotees. Jīva Gosvāmī was very kind to the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas, the Vaiṣṇavas from Bengal. Whoever went to Vṛndāvana he provided with a residence and prasādam. His disciple Kṛṣṇadāsa Adhikārī listed all the books of the Gosvāmīs in his diary.

Lectures

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 3.25.8 -- Bombay, November 8, 1974:

When you will be devotee, lover of God, then, by that ointment, your eyes will be cleared and you will be seeing God. Now, here is God. Kṛṣṇa. Here is God. Why the people in Bombay, those (who are) challenging, "Can you show me God?" they do not come here? Because they have no love. A few devotees here, they understand that here is God. They can see here is God. But the rascals, they cannot see God. So even though he has got eyes, he cannot see God. Nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yogamāyā-samāvṛtaḥ (BG 7.25).

So to see God you have to make your eyes cleansed. Just like with cataractic eyes you cannot see anything. Everything is dark. But if you have operation, the cataract is taken away, then you can see. Similarly, with these eyes, these material eyes, you cannot see God. Not only you see God, you cannot understand Him although His name is there. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi. Nāmādi.

Lecture on SB 3.25.30 -- Bombay, November 30, 1974:

Govinda-viraheṇa me. Śūnyāyitaṁ jagat sarvaṁ govinda-viraheṇa me. This is kṛṣṇa-prema: without Kṛṣṇa, one should see everything vacant. This is Rādhārāṇī's prema.

But that is not possible for ordinary human being. It might be possible for Caitanya Mahāprabhu and few devotees. Just like His immediate disciples, the Six Gosvāmīs, they were also following the same principle. In the Vṛndāvana the Six Gosvāmīs used to live. But they were seeking Kṛṣṇa, becoming mad.

Departure Talks

Departure Conversation -- Los Angeles, June 27, 1975:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Rāmeśvara: It is very basic. But this will be the cover of the Antya-līlā, volume two. It is a scene of all of the devotees at a big feast, and Lord Nityānanda is there, and Lord Caitanya is invisible except to a few devotees.

Prabhupāda: Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī's feast.

Rāmeśvara: Yes. So the questions they have are: While Lord Nityānanda is inducing all the devotees to chant, can some of the devotees be paying their daṇḍavats to Lord Nityānanda at that time? And the other question is: Although Lord Caitanya cannot be seen, except for a few devotees...

Prabhupāda: No, only Nityānanda.

Conversations and Morning Walks

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 12, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Allen Ginsberg: Well, the orthodox Jews have a very heavy, complicated, moment by moment ritual daily existence in that, for that same purpose. It was to keep them conscious of their religious nature. And that has maintained a small group of Jews over the centuries as an integral unit, but has tended to disappear in the later generations now simply because modern life does not allow that much Kṛṣṇa consciousness or Jewish consciousness or religious consciousness and attention, act by act throughout the day. So my question is how far can total Kṛṣṇa devotion, act by act all day, spread? How many people can that encompass in a place like America? Or are you intending only to get a few devotees, like several hundred or a thousand who will be solid and permanent.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes. That is my program. Because Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not possible for everyone. Because in the Bhagavad-gītā we learn, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante (BG 7.19). After many, many births one can come to this. So it is not possible that a mass of people, a large quantity of people will be able to grasp it. You see? Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). Another place it is said in the Bhagavad-gītā, manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu (BG 7.3).

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- October 9, 1975, Durban:

Indian man: Yes. It's in Reservoir Hills. Well, it's not far from place where we are living, Reservoir Hills. They've got a big āśrama there. They've got a resident swami there, Swami Sahajananda, and they've got a printing press and quarters, their living quarters and all, and they've got a few devotees living there.

Prabhupāda: How many?

Indian man: Well, they've got about four permanently living and then you get others coming during the day and helping the...

Devotee (2): Śrīla Prabhupāda, they have a very big printing press there.

Prabhupāda: Printing press. Big... More than ours?

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 25, 1976, Delhi:

Prabhupāda: Not for walk. At least we shall hold morning class or not?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, yes, Prabhupāda, please. A few devotees are staying at the hotel here.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: There is a program tonight if you'd rather.... There is a program this evening, going out, the Rotary Club. So if you would rather just give class this evening.

Prabhupāda: No, no, regularly we hold morning class anywhere. So.... So that morning class is not going to be held here?

Morning Walk -- June 5, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: He's collected all these bad.

Rāmeśvara: "Lying and cheating," he says.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: A few devotees who have joined him, who left and have joined him, they have given him this inside information, so he tries.... Actually, though, no strong devotee can be changed by him. He only gets the very new men. So now he's written a book.

Prabhupāda: About us?

Rāmeśvara: About his experiences of kidnapping our students and others.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What is the book called?

Rāmeśvara: It's called Let My Children Go.

Conversation in Airport and Car -- June 21, 1976, Toronto:

Kīrtanānanda: Altogether about an hour and half. About forty-five minutes more.

Prabhupāda: What is being done with Hayagrīva's house?

Kīrtanānanda: I bought that from him. There are a few devotees there right now.

Prabhupāda: No, the other house.

Kīrtanānanda: Which one? The original farm?

Prabhupāda: No, not original.

Kīrtanānanda: That's the one I'm talking about.

Prabhupāda: Tulasī?

Room Conversation -- July 2, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Pradyumna: Kava daka?

Prabhupāda: Kava dava adakanam. As all our Godbrothers are doing. They have got a little temple, and a few devotees go and beg rice and cook it and eat and sleep, that's all.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Like being dead almost.

Prabhupāda: No fighting spirit. Ṭhākura dekhiya (indistinct). Just make a Deity, show. Our Tīrtha Mahārāja is doing that. His whole idea was, that "I have now captured the birthplace of Caitanya Mahāprabhu by high-court favor. Now I have got everything. People will come and they'll pay something, and that will be my income for my family." As the caste gosvāmīs do in Navadvīpa and other... A means of livelihood.

Conversation with Prof. Saligram and Dr. Sukla -- July 5, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: It is not for ordinary. Cāṇḍīdāsa, Vidyāpati. Caitanya Mahāprabhu used to discuss Jayadeva's books, Vidyāpati's books, very confidentially amongst a few devotees. Not publicly.

Dr. Sukla: So you think they might be misused.

Prabhupāda: Yes, they are being misused. They take Kṛṣṇa as debauch. They do not understand. Therefore the Kṛṣṇa's līlā with the gopīs, they are described in the Tenth Canto. That is also middle of Tenth Canto, and nine cantos required to understand Kṛṣṇa, beginning with janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). So that is the Absolute Truth. These things should be discussed in the beginning.

Evening Darsana -- August 9, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: No, if you can, in a separate house, if you can follow the principles, you can install.

Nandarāṇī: I remember in Delhi when they had only a few devotees, they were having three aratiks a day, a very simple program for Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: They can do that, simple, three.

Nandarāṇī: Can it be three, can it be simple?

Prabhupāda: Maṅgala āratik, bhoga āratika and sundara āratik, that's all.

Nandarāṇī: And changing Their clothes every day?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Every day.

Room Conversation About Mayapura Construction -- August 19, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: He's fixed up. That's nice. Let him translate in Orissa and, if possible, in Hindi. And give him few devotees. Then he'll be encouraged.

Jayapatākā: I think he has got two or three devotees now. This man himself is a pretty capable worker. He's somewhat like Prabhu Swarupa, only a little older, little more mature. He's about forty-five or so. He's been able to collect about, what I can see, about fifty thousand rupees for one nātha-mandira. And he has a couple thousand people. I heard from the Gauḍīya Maṭha. They say they have big utsavas there. Every year two three thousand people come.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation -- September 5, 1976, Vrndavana:

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: No, this is wrong. I'll tell you what the facts are. In every temple there are certain key positions for some devotee. In no temple we are trying to keep more than necessary. Sometimes they come and he preaches to them and he gives them money. If he is the temple president... Like in Bombay Haṁsadūta came, he had a fight with Girirāja. Girirāja was ready to write such a strong letter to you. He gave money to few devotees...

Prabhupāda: The temple establishment, that has to be maintained.

Haṁsadūta: That I understand. Prabhupāda, I understand that.

Room Conversation -- October 4, 1976, Vrndavana:

Haṁsadūta: All the anxiety is how to get some fruit to maintain their body nicely. Very few devotees can actually accept engagement and maintain good health and a good consciousness because the change for Western people for India is so extraordinary that it disturbs their mind, and consequently their body is disturbed and then all they think about is how to maintain their body.

Akṣayānanda: They're used to eating large quantities of food. Here it cannot be done.

Haṁsadūta: And if I ask them... They're used to eating huge amounts of very rich foods.

Prabhupāda: Where?

Room Conversation -- October 4, 1976, Vrndavana:

Haṁsadūta: And then they require money for medicine. I have spent so much money on medicine. Now I have stopped it. I tell them, "First you fast for three days, and if you don't get better I'll give you some money for medicine." But they are constantly running to this hospital, getting this pill and that pill. All these pills are useless. The real problem is they are just overeating. And of course when they overeat they want to sleep. Because India is hot. And when they sleep then they get dysentery. And when they get dysentery they can't engage. And in this way they run into a cycle which is very difficult to break. Only very few devotees are able to maintain themselves in India for any length of time. I see a nice strong man comes and I look at him and I see him eat and I say, "Within a week this man is going to be sick." And sure enough, he's sick. He's laying down, he's got fever, he's got dysentery, he's going to the hospital. In this way we have so many people like that.

Akṣayānanda: They become so weak that they can't work anyway.

Hari-śauri: So they just become a liability.

Haṁsadūta: I had one devotee, his name was Rad... (break) ...you know and you know. He does nothing at all. He's always sick. But at prasādam he eats more than any other man. I told him, "Prabhu, you're a doctor. You should know that if you eat so much food you can't digest, you're going to be sick." He says, "No, I'm so weak I require food. I have to, I can't get any strength." So I asked him, "At least, sit down in the temple and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa." He said "I can't..."

Prabhupāda: I have seen. Some of them eat so much I am surprised.

Room Conversation -- December 7, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: So go. Go.

Mahāṁśa: So if you want, we could get one bus and few devotees can go on that.

Haṁsadūta: But where is this place?

Mahāṁśa: Kathinagar. It's in Andhra Pradesh, Visakhapatnam near Waisac.

Haṁsadūta: You have to make a program that on the way... Not that we drive one thousand miles to go to one program. That's not practical. Every fifty miles or so there should be some program.

Mahāṁśa: That's what I mean. That whole course is... Andhra course is the richest area in Andhra Pradesh.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- February 18, 1977, Mayapura:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And they know all of the devotees' parents' names. Because the few devotees who do become deprogrammed, they give them all the names they know. And they have some informers within our temple also. All of our parents have told us that the deprogrammers contacted them.

Prabhupāda: They're organized.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, they're highly organized. They have regular newsletters.

Prabhupāda: (aside:) Yes, one spoon more. Take. (break) Very strong opposition. (chuckling) This combination in your country is costly.

Room Conversation -- October 18, 1977, Vrndavana:

Hṛdayānanda: Always more or less warm. Tropical, subtropical. Always nice fruits. Perhaps some day, in a Kṛṣṇa conscious world, we'll have to bring many people there, because there's so much unused land, all very green, lots of rivers, very nice, warm, and no one lives there. Thousands of miles of very nice land, and no one is using it. We are sending a few devotees back to Argentina, and we're going to try and see what can be done there. We are hopeful that even though our movement was kicked out there, still, there are many, many people who are chanting sixteen rounds or building altars in their homes and offering their food to Kṛṣṇa. And even since the government's kicked out all the different groups, including ourselves, just by your books circulating, many people are becoming devotees and leaving the country to go to other temples. So actually we're still making devotees there just from the books that were distributed. And now we're investigating to try to again get legal permission, also perhaps establish something like some type of restaurant or farm community there. (break)

Prabhupāda: What news?

Correspondence

1977 Correspondence

Letter to VARIOUS -- Unknown Place Unknown Date:

The following are letters from His Divine Grace to particular devotees, these are to be considered the last of such letters, from now on all the letters will be answered by the GBC, thus leaving His Divine Grace to translate. Unless there happens to be any specific questions that cannot be answered by the GBC, then only will Prabhupada be disturbed, it is hoped that all devotees will read these very carefully. All Presidents should distribute these letters to all devotees, instead of hiding them in the files, which usually happens in most cases, thus very few devotees are actually aware of what is really going on in our Society.

Page Title:Few devotees
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:21 of Jan, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=1, OB=0, Lec=3, Con=15, Let=1
No. of Quotes:20