So following His footsteps, we are preaching Caitanya Mahāprabhu's cult and giving sannyāsa for preaching. That is not unauthorized. One who criticizes this action, he does not know the principle of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Caitanya Mahāprabhu's principle is anyone who knows the science of Kṛṣṇa, he can become spiritual master. This is the principle. So from the very beginning, these two Gosvāmīs... They were not in the beginning Gosvāmīs. They were Sākara Mallika, Dabira Khāsa. But they were made Gosvāmīs. And Haridāsa Ṭhākura was made namācārya. Then go on. This is the new edition of Nectar of Devotion.
From the very beginning (Lectures, Other)
Lectures
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, October 19, 1972:
By following the rules and regulations, sato vṛtteḥ, always trying to be honest and sādhu-saṅga... (CC Madhya 22.83). The sādhu-saṅga is very important. Therefore we have created this internal society, International Society so that actually it is happening. People are coming to our society, in our centers, and after one week, automatically he takes a bag and beads and shaves himself. Automatically. Sādhu-saṅga is very... Association of sādhu. Solitary bhajana, executing devotional service in a solitary place, is not possible for the neophyte devotees. It is meant for the advanced devotees. If, from the very beginning, without executing the regulative principles, if one wants to execute devotional service in a solitary place, it will be simply disturbing, and he must fall down. There are so many examples, even in this Vṛndāvana. So we should not imitate. We must, vidhi-mārga. The regulative principles must be followed. Then when you are mature, then we can sit down in a solitary place. Otherwise it is not possible.
The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 5, 1973:
Everything is there, but we have become so fools that we take Bhagavad-gītā and comment in a different way so that people may not understand. He does not understand himself, and how he'll explain? Nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yoga-māyā-samāvṛtaḥ (BG 7.25). Because without becoming a devotee, nobody can understand Bhagavad-gītā. That's a fact. So they, one may be very good scholar, ABCD, but the ABCD knowledge is not sufficient to understand. Bhakto 'si priyo 'si me rahasyaṁ hy etad uttamam (BG 4.3). Simply by erudite scholarship you cannot understand. Then Kṛṣṇa would have selected somebody else who is scholarly advanced. But He was selecting Arjuna, although he was a soldier. He was not a Vedantist, he was not a brāhmaṇa, but he was ordinary soldier. Maybe royal family. Gṛhastha. But He selected him. Why? Bhakto 'si: because he was devotee. Therefore Bhagavad-gītā is to be understood by devotee from the very beginning.
The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 6, 1973:
So our request is, therefore, that try to understand this Kṛṣṇa philosophy and take to it seriously. Then your life will be successful. Otherwise you are simply wasting your time. This is our message. And if you want to talk, if you want to argue, then also we are prepared. We have prepared so many books for this purpose. Now this is the fact. If you accept it, it is good. Then the next question may be that "Why the people do not take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness? If it is so important, why they do not take to it?" That is also explained by Prahlāda Mahārāja. Matir na kṛṣṇe parato svato vā mitho 'bhipadyeta gṛha-vratānām. Gṛha-vratānām. Adānta-gobhir viśatāṁ tamisraṁ punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām (SB 7.5.30). So matir na kṛṣṇe. If one sticks to this principle, that "I shall be happy with this material body, I shall be happy within this material world, within my country, within my society," in this way, if one thinks, they are called gṛha-vrata. So for such persons, gṛha-vratānām, those who want to become happy within this bodily envelopment, they are... (break) Therefore from the beginning of life one has to be educated the value of life or approach a devotee.
The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 1, 1972:
Sometimes religion and God is conceived in that way, that is, "If we have some conception of God, then we shall be moral, we shall be peaceful. Otherwise, there is no need of presenting God in the society." There are so many different opinions, different philosophers, different religious system, according to the modes of nature. But actually every system must be targeted towards realization of Kṛṣṇa, or God. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyam (BG 15.15). That is Bhāgavata-dharma. Bhāgavata-dharma means realization of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Prahlāda Mahārāja recommended culture of this Bhāgavata-dharma from the very beginning of life: kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha (SB 7.6.1). That is the success of human form of life, to execute Bhāgavata-dharma. The, the process... And dharma, as we have several times explained, dharma means the codes of Bhagavān. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19).
The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 13, 1972:
He wanted that human beings, those who have taken birth as a human being in India, they should take the cause, the mission of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and spread all over the world. Janma sārthaka kari' karo paropakāra. The India is made for doing good to others. India is not meant for exploiting others. That is not India's mission. From the very beginning, from long, long distant place, people used to come here to learn spiritual advancement of life. It is said that Lord Jesus Christ also came here, and he lived here for twelve years. Similarly, many Chinese scholars and transcendentalists used to come. So India is a land of knowledge and culture, especially spiritual knowledge, since very, very long time. So especially those who are born in India, they should take advantage of the privilege.
The Nectar of Devotion -- Calcutta, January 27, 1973:
"Lord Kṛṣṇa, however, has explained in the Gītā that out of these four types of neophytes, the one who is very..., who is wise is very dear to Him because a wise man, if he is attached to Kṛṣṇa, is not seeking an exchange of material benefits. A wise man who becomes attached to Kṛṣṇa does not want any return from Him, neither in the form of relieving distress nor in gaining money. This means that from the very beginning the basic principle of attachment to Kṛṣṇa is, more or less, love. Furthermore, due to his wisdom and study of śāstra and scriptures, he can understand also that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead."
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.6 -- Mayapur, March 30, 1975:
Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Caitanya Mahāprabhu used to read Gītā-Govinda, Caṇḍīdāsa, amongst with His confidential devotees. The Gītā-Govinda, the loving affairs of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, it is not for the neophyte student. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu... You'll find Caitanya Mahāprabhu teaching... Generally, He was talking with Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, He was talking with Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī, He was talking with Rāmānanda Rāya—but the subject matter was not the same. When He was talking officially with the Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī, Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, there is no talk about Kṛṣṇa's pastimes with Rādhārāṇī. Simply on the basis of Vedānta He was talking. But when He was talking with Rāmaṇanda Rāya, He talked about Kṛṣṇa's pastimes with Rādhārāṇī. So we should be very careful that from the very beginning... Just like the professional Bhāgavata readers. The Bhāgavata reading means describing rasa-līlā. Whenever you find there is Bhāgavata reading, they are describing. I have seen one big Gosvāmī. He was professional Bhāgavata reader, and whenever... He would speak very nicely on rasa-līlā, and after describing rasa-līlā, Bhāgavata reading, he would come for recreation and smoke cigarette. I have seen it.
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.14 -- Mayapur, April 7, 1975:
So to get a material body is not at all pleasure. It is always miserable condition, from the very beginning and up to the point of death, simply miserable condition. This is intelligence, that the miserable condition means we accept this material body. Therefore, to be out of miserable condition means not to accept again this misery. That should be the aim and objective of life—not to accept. That we have repeatedly said. That can be achieved very easily, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). After giving up this body, we do not accept anymore material body, provided we become fully Kṛṣṇa conscious. At the time of death, if we simply remember Kṛṣṇa, yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajaty ante kalevaram (BG 8.6). That is the highest perfection of life, simply to remember Kṛṣṇa. That is also the statement in the... If we can consciously remember Kṛṣṇa: "Whatever was possible for me, I have tried to execute. Now this is the last day; You do whatever You like. That's all." But Kṛṣṇa is very kind. He will at once take you back to home, back to Godhead. Ante nārāyaṇa smṛti. This is the highest perfection of life.
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.15 -- Mayapur, April 8, 1975:
Now somebody may say that "These children do not understand English. What they are hearing? Simply they are wasting their time." No, they are not wasting their time. The vibration is surcharged with Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So even they simply hear, even though (they) do not understand English language, by simply hearing the vibration uttered by a Vaiṣṇava to a Vaiṣṇava, that will be effective. Śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ (SB 1.2.17). Simply hearing will do. Simply by hearing they will become pious. And the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, somehow or other, if one takes part in these discourses, he will be pious. Śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ. Paraṁ vijāyate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12), simply by hearing it is effective. So from the very beginning of our life, we should try to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. Not try, but we must. It is not, what is called, optional. It is compulsory. If you want to make your life successful, then this is compulsory, from the very beginning to become Kṛṣṇa conscious.
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.1 -- Atlanta, March 1, 1975:
Just like the vulture, they eat dead body. So dead body must be there. So they have no scarcity of dead bodies. They can find out dead body. They go three miles above to find out where is the dead body. So that is also sense gratification. So in this way there are classes, śuci and muci. Śuci is the first-class, cleansed internally and externally human being, and the muci means the low class, very unclean, eating the dead meat, cows and bulls. So Kṛṣṇa says, "Even one is fallen, he gets his birth in the family of śuci." Śucīnām. Just like in our society there are small children. You see their behavior. They are coming, offering flower, offering obeisances. That means they are not ordinary children. They have got the opportunity to take birth in the family of Vaiṣṇava, father Vaiṣṇava, mother Vaiṣṇava. And he is getting the opportunity of Kṛṣṇa consciousness from the very beginning of life. This is called śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe (BG 6.41).
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.7 -- Mayapur, March 9, 1974:
Just see the foolishness. Even from materialistic view, who is that god who can marry sixteen thousand wives? Is there any god, so-called rascal god? Is there any possibility? Kṛṣṇa showed, yes. Kṛṣṇa was attempted to be killed from the very childhood when He was three months old by Pūtanā. But He killed the Pūtanā rakṣasī, not He was killed. Similarly, Aghāsura, Bakāsura, this asura, that asura, simply from the beginning of His life, Kaṁsa and others, from the rogues, the asuras, they were making plan to kill Kṛṣṇa as soon as He is born. Kaṁsa, he was planning that "As soon as Kṛṣṇa is born..." He was trying to kill Kṛṣṇa's mother Devakī, but with argument of Vasudeva that "Don't do this. Your sister's son will kill you, but your sister will not kill you, so let the son be born. I shall bring it to you," Kaṁsa believed the honorable words of Vasudeva. Because he knew that "Vasudeva is very respectable, honorable man. He has promised the children, the child, will be brought to me," so he saved his sister.
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.91-2 -- Vrndavana, March 13, 1974:
Just like this child. She has taken birth having Vaiṣṇava father and mother. So she must have been a Vaiṣṇavī or a Vaiṣṇava in her previous life. Because this is an opportunity from the... All our children, those who are born of a Vaiṣṇava father, mother, they are very, very fortunate. From the very beginning of life, they are hearing Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. They are associating with Vaiṣṇava, chanting, dancing. Imitation or fact, it doesn't matter. So they are very, very fortunate children. Śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe yoga-bhraṣṭaḥ-sañjāyate (BG 6.41). So they are not ordinary children. They are... These children, they're always hankering after associating with devotees, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, coming to us. So they are not ordinary children. The bhakti-saṅge vāsa. This is the very good opportunity, bhakta-saṅge vāsa.
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.118-121 -- San Francisco, February 24, 1967:
Now, vyāsera sūtra means Vedānta-sūtra. Vedānta-sūtra begins from the very beginning, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Janmādy asya yataḥ means the source of all emanations. Now, this is clear, janmādy asya yataḥ, that "Brahman is that from which, from whom, everything emanates." That does not mean... Pariṇāma-vāda means by-product, by-product. Just like you... This is a tree, and this flower is the by-product. So suppose the flower is there and the flower becomes dried up and falls down. That does not mean the tree is lost. There are thousands and thousands of flowers are coming out, out of..., fruits and flowers, but the tree is there. Similarly, pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation). Although this material manifestation, this world, has emanated from Brahman, that Supreme Brahman, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, that does not mean he is lost. It is material conception.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.100-108 -- Bombay, November 9, 1975:
n this material world everyone is trying to become the chief man, everyone. Everyone is trying to become minister. Everyone is trying to become a Birla. Everyone is trying to become a big doctor or a big financier, everyone. This is the struggle for existence here. Everyone. At last, when failed in everything, then he thinks of him, "I am God." This is the disease, material disease. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu, in the very beginning He impresses that "You are not the master; you are the servant. If you don't serve Kṛṣṇa, then you'll serve māyā. That is your position." That is the position of everyone here in this material world. They are serving the māyā.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.100-108 -- Bombay, November 9, 1975:
Twenty-four hours, he is being kicked by the laws of nature. But the foolish man cannot understand. Therefore they have been called mūḍha. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ (BG 7.15). They... He does not come to the sense that "Where I am master? I am servant of the dictation of māyā, the rules and regulation of material nature. Where is my mastership?" This intelligence does not come. He is thinking still he is master, he can control the nature, he can control everything, he is God, he is this, he is that. That is the misconception. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu, in the very beginning of His instruction He is saying to Sanātana Gosvāmī that "You inquired from him what is your position," ke āmi, " 'What I am?' You are servant of Kṛṣṇa." This is the first impression.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.103 -- Washington, D.C., July 8, 1976:
Because we are changing our body, here is a chance, after many evolutionary process, many thousand and millions of years. We are going to the park. How many plants and creepers are there, how many animals, how many aquatics? We have to come through all these processes, evolutionary process. So here is a chance. Therefore for the human being it is advised that try to understand the goal of your life. Tad vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet samit-pāṇiḥ śrotriyam (MU 1.2.12). That is Vedic instruction. Must try. So from the very beginning, if children are not trained up to inquire about the goal of life, they are kept in darkness, simply eat, drink, be merry and enjoy, that is not civilization. They must be trained up. The opportunity must be given so that he can inquire more and more about the goal of life.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.330-335 -- New York, December 23, 1966:
Lord Caitanya's complexion not exactly white like you, but He was golden color, golden with yellowish tint, a very nice complexion, Lord Caitanya's. He is... Therefore His name is Gaurāṅga. Gaurāṅga means white complexion. Another name is Gaurasundara, "very beautiful." So kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇam (SB 11.5.32). Tviṣā, tviṣā means by complexion akṛṣṇa, not kṛṣṇa. Although He is Kṛṣṇa, His complexion is not kṛṣṇa. Then next? Kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam. He is always accompanied by His associates. You will see in the picture. There is Nityānanda Prabhu, there is Advaita Prabhu, there is Śrīvāsa, and always He was... From the beginning, when He was a child... Not child. When He was a boy, He started the saṅkīrtana movement. You see the picture: He is surrounded. And throughout whole, so long He lived, He was present on this world, that was... He was surrounded by this Hare Kṛṣṇa party. Sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam. This is the yugāvatāra of this age.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.353-354 -- New York, December 26, 1966:
This Bhīṣma was brahmacārī from the very beginning. And Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira performed Rājasūya-yajña. Rājasūya-yajña means one who performs that sacrifice in that assembly, all the princes of the world are invited, and they select him as the emperor of the world. That is called Rājasūya-yajña. So in that yajña, there were all princes present, and Kṛṣṇa was proposed to become the president of that assembly, although He was young man. So Kṛṣṇa had many... Not many, especially two, Śiśupāla and Dantavakra, they were very much against Kṛṣṇa. So they objected: "Oh, Kṛṣṇa cannot be... There are many others." He wanted that he become president. The protest meeting. At that time, Bhīṣma recommended that "Nobody is present here spotless character as Kṛṣṇa." He recommended like that. "Kṛṣṇa, when He was sixteen years old, He was surrounded by girls, but He had never sex desire. I am brahmacārī from my birth. I think I could not be such restrained personality as Kṛṣṇa." He recommended like that. That is mentioned in Mahābhārata. So this is character.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 22.14-20 -- New York, January 10, 1967:
So originally, as Lord Caitanya has explained in the very beginning, you may remember, that the constitutional position of the living entity is to serve. This point we have explained several times. So we cannot change that position. If you don't serve Kṛṣṇa, then you have to serve māyā. That position is there. So here in this material world we are rendering service to these—kāma, krodha, lobha. We are servant of lust, we are servant of anger, we are servant of avarice, we are servant of so many things. So kāmādīnāṁ katidhā na katidhā. And servant, when one becomes servant, he has to execute anything which the masters order. Suppose one is serving some big man, he says that "You do this. I want." Now, to satisfy him one has to act according to his desire, which he may not like. Suppose one says that "You go and tell this lie. It is required by me." Now, because I am in service... Even great personalities like Bhīṣma, such a great personality, he could not join with the Pāṇḍava's party because he became a servant of the Kurus. So servitude is such a thing. A servant means a dog's qualification.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 25.36-40 -- San Francisco, January 23, 1967:
If you act irresponsibly, without understanding yourself that you are not this material body, but you are spiritual body, then the result will be continuation of this material body one after another. Parābhavas tāvad abodha-jātaḥ. Therefore we are all abodha-jātaḥ, born ignorant. Because from the very beginning of our life we know that "I am this body." There is no education in the material world that we are not this body, we are soul. Although there are books of knowledge, just like Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, but nobody is interested. Therefore they are all mad. They are after the will-o'-the wisp, phantasmagoria, a wrong conception of life. Therefore all their activities are to be considered as defeat. Parābhavas, parābhavas tāvad abodha-jātaḥ. They are born ignorant, and they will continue to be ignorant, and they will be defeated by all their activities. Parābhavas tāvad abodha-jāto yāvan na jijñāsata ātma-tattvam. So long he is not awakened to inquire "What I am...?" Simply under madness he is going after this bodily sense enjoyment, but he does not know that he is not this body.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 25.40-50 -- San Francisco, January 24, 1967:
But Vedānta philosophy does not say that. Vedānta philosophy, from the very beginning it asserts that athāto brahma jijñāsā, "Now it is the time for discussing on the Absolute Truth." And what is that Absolute Truth? Janmādy asya yataḥ: (SB 1.1.1) "Absolute Truth is the summum bonum substance from which everything emanates."
- yei grantha-kartā cāhe sva-mata sthāpite
- śāstrera sahaja artha nahe tāṅhā haite
This is the secret of modern fashionable interpretation. If you want to establish... Suppose you have got some conviction, and if you want to establish it by evidence of an approved literature... An approved literature. Just like Gandhi. Gandhi wanted to establish nonviolence from Bhagavad-gītā. He was a... He is known to be a great student of Bhagavad-gītā, but he was not at all. His political theory was that he wanted to conquer over the enemies by nonviolence method.
Sri Isopanisad Lectures
Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 2-4 -- Los Angeles, May 6, 1970:
Again from the beginning. (devotees repeat) Again. (devotees repeat) This is very important verse. Evaṁ tvayi nānyathe..., nānyathā ato asti na karma lipyate nare. If you know it that everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa, in this way if you live for hundreds of years and do your duties, there will be no reaction. The very thing is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā: yajñārthāt karmaṇo 'nyatra loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ (BG 3.9). Except working for Kṛṣṇa, any work will bind you, good or bad. If you do good work, you'll have to enjoy, so-called enjoyment. And if you do bad work, then you have to suffer. But if you work for Kṛṣṇa, there is no such reaction. Na karma lipyate nare All right.
Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 2-4 -- Los Angeles, May 6, 1970:
Devotees: Asuryā nāma te loka...
Prabhupāda: The first word is asuryā. This y-ā. Asuryā.
Devotees:
- asuryā nāma te lokā
- andhena tamasāvṛtāḥ
- tāṁs te pretyābhigacchanti
- ye ke cātma-hano janāḥ
Prabhupāda: "The killer of the soul, whoever he may be, must enter into the planets known as the worlds of the faithless, full of darkness and ignorance." (Prabhupāda leads devotees in śloka) Now repeat again. Thank you. Again from the beginning. (devotees chant Invocation and verses 1-3) Thank you.
Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 8 -- Los Angeles, May 11, 1970:
(Prabhupāda and devotees chant Invocation and verses 1-7)
Prabhupāda: Again, from the beginning. (devotees repeat) Thank you very much. (break)
Apāpa-viddham (ISO 8). This is most important part of this verse. No sin can pollute Kṛṣṇa. There is nothing sinful for Kṛṣṇa. How it is? The example is given generally, just like the sun. There is no contamination for the sun. There is no possibility of the sun being contaminated, or the sun being dark. This is a material thing. So how Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord, He can be contaminated by any kind of sinful action? God is good. There cannot be any sinful action.
Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 9 -- Los Angeles, May 13, 1970:
The yoga system, the so-called yoga, not the real yoga system... The so-called yoga system, they are preaching, misleading people that "You meditate and you'll understand that you are God." By meditation, one becomes God. (chuckles) You see. So Kṛṣṇa never meditated. Neither He had any chance of meditation, because from the very beginning of His appearance, Kaṁsa was prepared to kill Him. Then He was transferred by His father to the house of Nanda-Yaśodā. There also, when He was sleeping, a baby, three-months-old baby, the Pūtanā demon attacked. So Kṛṣṇa had no chance to meditate to become God. He is God from the very beginning. That is God. God is God and dog is dog. That is the law of identity.
Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 9-10 -- Los Angeles, May 14, 1970:
Just like if you get one million dollars and you could not utilize it, simply you see that "Oh, I have got this bank balance," you are happy simply by seeing it, then you are kṛpaṇā. You do not know how to utilize. And one who has got one million dollars and utilizing it and making millions and millions dollars, he is intelligent. Similarly, this body is invaluable. One who is utilizing it for culture of spiritual knowledge, he is brāhmaṇa. That is the difference between brāhmaṇa and kṛpaṇā. And one who is utilizing this body like cats and dogs for sense gratification, he is miser. He does not know how to utilize one million dollars. Everyone does not know. But it is the duty of the father, duty of the state, duty of the teachers to educate from the very beginning. Bhāgavata says that one should not become a father, one should not become a mother, one should not become a teacher, one should not become a king unless they are able to elevate their dependents to this spiritual knowledge, which can save him from repeated birth and death.
Festival Lectures
Radhastami, Srimati Radharani's Appearance Day -- London, August 29, 1971:
This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is for understanding Kṛṣṇa. For understanding Kṛṣṇa, it requires little labor, austerity, penance. Tapasya brahmacāryeṇa śamena damena ca. Tapasya. One has to undergo tapasya; brahmacārya, celibacy. Tapasya. Brahmacārya means stopping sex life or controlling sex life. Brahmacārya. Therefore Vedic civilization is, from the very beginning, to train the boys to become brahmacārī, celibacy. Not that modern days, the schools, boys and girls, ten years, twelve years, they're enjoying. The brain is spoiled. They cannot understand higher things. The brain tissues are lost. So without becoming brahmacārī, nobody can understand spiritual life. Tapasya brahmacāryeṇa śamena damena ca. Śama means controlling the senses, controlling the mind; damena, controlling the senses; tyāgena; śaucena, cleanliness; tyāga, tyāga means charity. These are the processes for understanding oneself, self-realization. But in this age it is very difficult to undergo all these processes. Practically it is impossible. Therefore Lord Caitanya, Kṛṣṇa Himself, has made Himself easily available by one process:
- harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam
- kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā
- (CC Adi 17.21)
In this age, Kali-yuga... Kali-yuga is considered to be the most fallen age. We are thinking that we are making very much advance, but it is the most fallen age. Because people are becoming like animals. As the animals have no other interest than four principles of bodily necessities—eating, sleeping, mating and defending—so in this age people are interested with four principles of bodily want. They have no information of the soul, neither they are prepared to realize what is soul. That is the defect of this age.
Radhastami, Srimati Radharani's Appearance Day -- Bhagavad-gita 18.5 -- London, September 5, 1973:
So that is the conception of Kṛṣṇa. So unless you, from the very beginning you practice yajña, or if you are a gṛhastha, give in charity, and when you take sannyāsa, you undergo tapasya, how you will understand this philosophy? It is not possible. In the Kali-yuga, however, this yajña is not possible. As there are ritualistic yajña, sacrifice as recommended in the Vedas, that is not possible. It is very expensive. You have to acquire so much ghee and grains and so many other things. Feed so many, daily, people. It is very difficult task to perform the ritualistic yajña. Therefore Kṛṣṇa has made easy. What is that? Yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ. That is recommended in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam:
- kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ
- sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam
- yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair
- yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ
- (SB 11.5.32)
This is the process of performing yajñas. Yajña-dāna-tapaḥ. What is that yajña? Kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇam. Kṛṣṇa-varṇam. Varṇa means category. Just like brāhmaṇa-varṇa, cātur-varṇa. Varṇa means class. Cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). As Kṛṣṇa said. So kṛṣṇa-varṇam: in the category of Kṛṣṇa. So kṛṣṇa-varṇa. Or "One who is describing Kṛṣṇa," varṇayati. Kṛṣṇaṁ varṇayati iti kṛṣṇa, iti kṛṣṇa-varṇa. Either belonging to the category of Kṛṣṇa... He is not belonging to the category of the jīva soul. He belongs to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, kṛṣṇa-varṇa. Or chanting always the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣā akṛṣṇam.
Varaha-dvadasi, Lord Varaha's Appearance Day Lecture -- Bhuvanesvara, January 31, 1977:
Just like in the material world there is prohibition, "No sex life," because we are patient here, tuberculosis patient. If we enjoy sex life then we'll die. Die means... We are already dead because we have to accept this dead body. This body is dead. But so long I am within this body, simply it is moving. Just like motor car. Motor car is a lump of matter, but when the driver is acting, it is moving. Similarly this body... By māyā we are thinking that this body is living. It is not living. It is dead. From the very beginning it is dead. And when the soul will go away, it will appear its real identity-dead. Otherwise it is dead. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that "You are lamenting on this body? Oh, you are such a rascal." Nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ. Those who are learned, they do not care for this body, either dead or alive. It is dead matter. So why should you lament for the dead matter?
His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Appearance Day, Lecture -- Los Angeles, February 7, 1969:
Embryo cord. That embryo cord was like this. Yes. That means brāhmaṇa from the beginning. You see? So when he was a child... He appeared in February. Then... When the Ratha-yātrā takes place? In July. So February, March, April, May, June, July. So when he was six months old, the Ratha-yātrā festival was held. And by chance the big cart stopped in front of that house. That is generally in the Jagannātha car stops. Just like our car also stops somewhere. And you have some difficulty to push it again? That's nice. That also happens in Jagannātha Purī. It was stopped, and some people were... Caitanya Mahāprabhu used to push with His head. So that was wonderful. So anyway the car stopped, and mother of our Guru Mahārāja, the child Guru Mahārāja, so she took the opportunity, and because she was manager's wife, so everyone respected with the child. So she put the child on the leg of Jagannātha. And as there are so many garlands, one garland immediately fell on the child. Yes. Automatically. So in this way Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura could understand that "This child is not ordinary child," and he knew that "I prayed to Gaurasundara to send me somebody. So this boy, this child, is sent by Him." So he took care of him very carefully. And in this way his name was Bimala Prasāda, Bimala Prasāda Datta.
His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Appearance Day, SB 6.3.24 -- Gorakhpur, February 15, 1971:
So we are following the Brahma-sampradāya, the first, Svayambhū. Brahmā. Brahmā, then Nārada, from Nārada, Vyāsadeva. In this way, Madhvācārya, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, in this way. So today, because we are following the footsteps of Śrī Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Prabhupāda, so this is, today is his appearance day. So we should honor this tithi very respectfully and pray to Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī that "We are engaged in your service. So give us strength, give us intelligence. And we are being guided by your servant." So in this way we have to pray. And I think in the evening we shall distribute prasādam. Not at noon. In the evening there will be some, so many audience come. So they can be distributed prasādam, and some of the members who can come from Bhatikara, they can be also invited. So arrange for this. And at twelve o'clock, we offer puṣpāñjali. That puṣpāñjali mantra, it should be beginning... It should begin from the beginning. Not... You were singing, śrī-vārṣabhānavī-devī. There are two other lines. Why do you forget that?
Arrival Addresses and Talks
Arrival Lecture -- Dallas, March 3, 1975:
If we simply learn how to worship Kṛṣṇa, how to please Him, how to dress Him nicely, how to give Him nice foodstuff, how to decorate Him with ornaments and flowers, how to offer our respectful obeisances unto Him, how to chant His name, in this way, if we simply think, without any so-called education we become the perfect person within the universe. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It doesn't require A-B-C-D education. It requires simply change of consciousness. So if these children are being taught from the very beginning of their life... We had the opportunity of being trained up by our parents like this. So some way or other, they have come to... (break) Many saintly persons used to visit my father's house. My father was Vaiṣṇava. He was Vaiṣṇava, and he wanted me to become a Vaiṣṇava. Whenever some saintly person would come, he would ask him, "Please bless my son that he can become a servant of Rādhārāṇī." That was his prayer. He never prayed for anything.
Arrival Lecture -- Calcutta, March 20, 1975:
There are about more than hundred children in Dallas. They are rising early in the morning, attending maṅgala āratik, boys and girls not more than ten years, not more than five, six years. So that is very hopeful. In future they will become nice Vaiṣṇava. And many children are taking birth. They are very nice devotees. In last, in our Śrīpāda Atreya-rsi's small child, about six months old, as soon as I shout out, "Hare Kṛṣṇa," immediately he'll... He'll laugh. Very nice. There are many such children. So all these children, they are Vaiṣṇavas. Śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe yoga-bhraṣṭaḥ sanjāyate (BG 6.41). That is the... They are given chance to take birth in the family of Vaiṣṇava father and mother. From the very beginning of life, they are getting encouragement. We had such opportunity. Somehow or other, we have come to this stage. Similarly, these children, they are getting opportunity from the very beginning of their life. So on the whole, it is very hopeful that in the Western countries... Not only Western countries—especially Western countries—we have sown some seed, that a community, Vaiṣṇava community, is now established. That is very hopeful, a Vaiṣṇava community, and they are, in America, they are now addressed, "American Hindus," these American boys and girls. So by the grace of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, this much has been done, and they are improving more and more. They are serving Kṛṣṇa. Prāṇair arthair dhiyā vācā.
Arrival Conversation -- Los Angeles, June 20, 1975:
Naturally I want to love somebody. It is not unnatural. When that love is reposed to Kṛṣṇa, that is perfect. The Māyāvādīs, they are frustrated; therefore they want to make this love into zero. They cannot understand Kṛṣṇa's love with gopīs. They think it is another edition of this material... Oh, how are you, Hayagrīva prabhu? How are you? You look better. You are looking better, brighter than when I saw you in New Vrindaban last. You have got so much talents for serving Kṛṣṇa. Everyone has got. That I am speaking. We have to utilize it. From the very beginning I met you, I instructed to edit. That was the starting of our Back to Godhead. He is good typist also. You know that? (laughter) I think he is the best of all of our men. He can type very swiftly and correctly. I think in our group Hayagrīva prabhu and Satsvarūpa Mahārāja are very good typist. And Jayādvaita I think you are also, no?
Initiation Lectures
Initiation of Bali-mardana Dasa -- Montreal, July 29, 1968:
If you want to become scholars, then you have to associate with scholarly persons in the university. And if you want to be a thief, then you have to find out the association of the thieves. Similarly, if you want to be Kṛṣṇa conscious, then you have to find out persons who are Kṛṣṇa conscious. So firm conviction, then association. After association, the next stage is regulated life for following the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. This is called initiation. Or initiation from the very beginning. This is called dīkṣā. The Sanskrit term is called dīkṣā. Dīkṣā means... Di, divya-jñānam, transcendental knowledge, and kṣā, ikṣā. Ikṣā means darśana, to see, or kṣapayati, explain. That is called dīkṣā. Ādau śraddhā tato sādhu-saṅga. First faith, then association, then beginning of regulative principles. And if one follows, then the next promotion is to the stage of anartha-nivṛtti, disappearance of all misgivings. Just like in our association we don't allow four kinds of sinful activities: illicit sex life, nonvegetarian diet, intoxication, and gambling. So by following the regulative principles one becomes freed from all these sinful activities. He does not any more indulge in illicit sex life, he does not indulge in nonvegetarian diet, he does not indulge in intoxication and he does not indulge in gambling. That is called anartha-nivṛtti. Unless one is above these four kinds of anartha, or sinful activities, one cannot be fixed up.
Initiation of Hrsikesa Dasa and Marriage of Satsvarupa and Jadurani -- New York, September 5, 1968:
Brahmacārī means student, strictly observing life of celibacy, following the rules and regulations enunciated by the spiritual master under strict discipline. That is called brahmacārī. And next is that if a brahmacārī wants to get himself married, that is allowed. So when a brahmacārī is married, he is called gṛhastha, or householder. But because a brahmacārī is trained from the very beginning of his life renunciation of material enjoyment, he cannot be absorbed like ordinary man in family life. Ordinary man, they cannot give up the family life or association of woman even up to the end of life. But according to Vedic system, association of woman is allowed only for a certain period, during the youthful days only, just to beget nice children. Because from the age of twenty-five years old up to fifty years, one can beget nice children. Gṛhastha life, householder life, is meant for begetting nice children. If there are Kṛṣṇa conscious children in the society, there will be no disturbance. According to Vedic system, the population is divided into two divisions. Illegitimate sons are called varṇa-saṅkara. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that when the population becomes varṇa-saṅkara, the whole social situation becomes hellish.
Brahmana Initiation Lecture -- New Vrindaban, May 25, 1969:
Just like this boy. Automatically he is getting Vaiṣṇava culture, he is associating with the Vaiṣṇavas. So the son of a brāhmaṇa has the chance. A practical example, this boy: from the very beginning becoming a Vaiṣṇava, more than a brāhmaṇa, more than. Vaiṣṇava position is above the brāhmaṇas. Brahmā jānātīti brāhmaṇaḥ. But Vaiṣṇava, he penetrates the brahmajyoti. Just like you penetrate. If you are able to penetrate the sunshine and go to the sun and seek out the sun-god, if somebody is able, by going to the sun planet by sputnik, he is better than who is in the sunshine. Sunshine we can have by just little go up to the cloud. Say, about seven miles up, you get sunshine. But to go to the sun planet and enter into the..., that is very difficult job. That requires so many things.
Initiation Lecture and Ceremony -- New Vrindaban, September 4, 1972:
As you train the dog how to bite others, at night, so you can train the dog also how to become devotee. Therefore this is training. This child is being trained up from the beginning of his birth, in the association of devotees. So if it is possible for one child, many thousands and millions of children can be taught in the devotional... What is (indistinct)? But there is no chance; there is no chance. And the Bhāgavata says that if you cannot train your children to become free from birth and death, don't beget. Pitā na sa syāj jananī na sā syāt, na mocayed yaḥ samupeta-mṛtyum. That is called rascaldom. Don't beget child. Or, "Go enjoy sense gratification and use some contraceptive method." No. The (indistinct) should be that "I am a human being, so I must have a child who must be human being." What is that human being? Jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā. Here (indistinct) we have discussed last night. Tattva-jijñāsā. Everyone should be interested to enquire—athāto brahma jijñāsā, or tattva-jijñāsā, what is the aim of life, what is the absolute truth? So, children should be educated also from the very beginning.
Cornerstone Ceremonies
Cornerstone Laying -- Bombay, January 23, 1975:
So this is a great culture, Bhagavad-gītā as it is. So those responsible ladies and gentlemen are present here, make this center very successful and come here, study Bhagavad-gītā as it is without any foolish interpretation. I say foolish again and again because interpretation is not at all required. Everything is clear, from the very beginning.
Wedding Ceremonies
Paramananda & Satyabhama's Wedding -- Montreal, July 22, 1968:
How you can expect peace and prosperity in the society of cats and dogs? Therefore there is necessity. There is necessity to produce children of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, to train them from the very beginning. You will be all glad to know that some of our students, very small boys in San Francisco, they are being trained, and they are making wonderful progress. So there is no fault of these hippie boys and girls. They have not been trained. Not only here, every part of the world, the educational system is not very satisfactory. From the very beginning of their life they are allowed to mix freely, and they are allowed to enjoy sex life unrestricted. This is neither good for their health nor for education. So therefore we are getting now the result of education: communists and hippies. So people, those who are guardians of the society, should take serious note of it and make life very regulated.
General Lectures
Lecture at a School -- Montreal, June 11, 1968:
We forget that we are American, or we are Indian, we are child, we are youth, or man, or woman, because in the spiritual platform there is no such bodily distinction. So our request to all the guardians of the boys and girls present here, or the teachers, that they should teach from the very beginning this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or God consciousness. Otherwise the future of the world is not very bright. It is recommended in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. We are having our class in our temple: the instruction of Prahlāda Mahārāja. Prahlāda Mahārāja was a five-years-old boy, and he was agitating this Kṛṣṇa conscious movement in his school. The schoolteacher would not allow him to speak about God, but as soon as there was some recess and the child, the boy, five-years-old boy, he would take the opportunity, call his friends and speak on Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And he said, kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha (SB 7.6.1). The Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or God consciousness, should be taught from the very beginning of education. This is the greatest drawback of modern education, that not only in your country or any country they have completely neglected what is meant by God. And in India, they are especially... Now, as soon as there is any question of God, they see phobia: "Oh, this is all nonsense." They have become so clever.
Lecture Engagement -- Montreal, June 15, 1968:
In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said, parābhavas tāvad abodha-jātaḥ. Abodha-jātaḥ means one who is born fool. Every one of us is a born fool. Why? From the beginning of our life I know that "I am this body," although I am not this body. Therefore we are all born fools, everyone. And therefore, according to Vedic civilization, one has to take his second birth. One birth is made possible by conjugation of the father and mother. That birth is called animal birth. Janmanā jāyate śūdraḥ. Everyone, by birth, is śūdra, or the lowest class of man. And saṁskārād bhaved dvijaḥ: "By reformation, one becomes twice-born." And what is that reformation? By understanding oneself, "What I am." Saṁskārād bhaved dvijaḥ, veda-pathād bhaved vipraḥ: "And after twice, after his second birth, if he tries to understand the spiritual science, the science of God, then he is called vipra." Vipra means quite congnizant. And brahma jānātīti brāhmaṇaḥ: "And when he understands that he is Brahman, he is spirit soul, then he becomes a brāhmaṇa." Perhaps you have heard that in India the brāhmaṇas are called the topmost men of the society.
Lecture Engagement -- Montreal, June 15, 1968:
As an authority, minister of this Unitarian Church, in one place he has denied authority, and in another place he has quoted so many authorities. So many authorities he has quoted. Why? If you deny authority, then why you quote other authority? So you cannot defy authority. This is not possible. From the beginning of your life, when you were child, you asked your parents, "Mother, father, what is this?" Why? That is the beginning of life. You cannot go even a step without authority. You are governed by authority. You are running your car by authority—"Keep to the right." Why? Why don't you defy it? So authority we have to obey. But the difficulty is: who is authority? That we require to learn who is actually authority. So authority means who has no mistakes, who has no illusion, who does not cheat, and whose senses are perfect. That is authority. That is the definition of authority.
Lecture -- Seattle, September 30, 1968:
There are different stages of devotees, and gopīs are supposed to be on the highest platform. And amongst the gopīs, the supreme is Rādhārāṇī. Therefore nobody can surpass the love of Rādhārāṇī. Ramyā kācid upāsanā vrajavadhū-vargeṇa yā kalpitā, śrīmad-bhāgavatam amalaṁ purāṇam. Now to learn this, all this science of loving God, there must be some book, some authoritative literature. Yes. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, śrīmad-bhāgavatam amalaṁ purāṇam. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, it is spotless description of understanding how to love God. There is no other description. From the beginning it is teaching how to love God. Those who have studied Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the first verse in the First Canto is janmādy asya yataḥ, satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi (SB 1.1.1). The beginning is that "I am offering my unalloyed devotion unto the Supreme, from whom everything has emanated." Janmādy asya yataḥ. So it is a... You know, it is a great description. So Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. If you want to learn how to love God, or Kṛṣṇa, then study Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And to understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the preliminary study is Bhagavad-gītā.
Lecture -- Seattle, October 9, 1968:
Why they avoid Kṛṣṇa consciousness? Just like our friend Allen Ginsberg, he says, "Swamijī is very conservative." And so many friends, they ask me, "Swamijī, why you impose these rules?" You see? The people are so unable. Their inability is so strong that these four principles only... You want sex life? All right. We say that you get yourself married. But that is also difficult. Intoxication? Nobody has learned smoking from the beginning of his life. It is simply by association. So if you associate with us, you'll forget smoking, drinking. It was learned by association, you can forget it by association. No child used to eat meat from the very birth. It was milk. So this is all artificial, the so-called conventions of human society. Natural life does not allow all these things. So by good or bad association you have acquired so many artificial, I mean to say, habits. So simply by association you can forget also. Then you come to the pure life. And God is pure.
Class in Los Angeles -- Los Angeles, November 15, 1968:
But our student, hundreds of students who are coming to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they are giving up very easily. They don't feel any inconvenience. This is spṛśaty anarthāpagamo yad-arthaḥ. Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the first test is that in the beginning, from the very beginning, all misgivings will go on. Will go on. Our student can twenty-four hours sit down before a Deity and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Bring any student of any yoga society, let him sit down for five hours. He'll fail. They are so restless. Simply official fifteen minutes, half an hour, by closing the eyes and murmuring something, meditation. These boys are twenty-four hours engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Lecture Excerpt -- Los Angeles, February 9, 1969:
Because Kṛṣṇa has accepted to become a chariot driver of Arjuna. Pārtha means Arjuna, and sārathi means chariot driver. So Kṛṣṇa's name became Pārtha-sārathi. Kṛṣṇa used to steal butter from the stock of His mother's butter stock; therefore Kṛṣṇa's name is Mākhana-cora. So in this way Kṛṣṇa's name are varieties. Kṛṣṇa has unlimited number of activities, and according to such activity He has got unlimited names. But the primary name which is applicable in all circumstances is "Kṛṣṇa." Kṛṣṇa means "all-attractive." Kṛṣṇa attracts everyone. Otherwise how you're attracted? If Kṛṣṇa is not all-attractive... From the beginning of your life you never heard of Kṛṣṇa, neither you knew about Kṛṣṇa. Why you are attracted? Huh? So Kṛṣṇa is all-attractive. That is the perfect name of God, "Kṛṣṇa." Otherwise, Kṛṣṇa has got many names, sahasra nāme, thousands of names.
Srila Prabhupada and Disciples Speak -- New York, April 9, 1969:
So there was torrents of rain, heavy rain, for seven days in Vṛndāvana, and Kṛṣṇa took up that Govardhana Hill on the little finger of His left hand and kept it for seven days in this way. (referring to picture?) Where is that Govardhana Hill? Is that Govardhana Hill? No. Inside, yes. No, no. No, there is no need. Yes. So Kṛṣṇa is so powerful that even when He was seven years old He could raise the hill, Govardhana Hill, on the top of His little finger, left hand, like this. So we worship such kind of God. Yes. Who can... (chuckles) We don't want petty gods. You see. We want God like that. Yes. When He was on the lap of His mother and the Pūtanā came to kill Him by sucking her breast, so Kṛṣṇa sucked her breast and life both. This is Kṛṣṇa. God is not made, manufactured, that by meditation one becomes God. "First of all he was dog; now he has become God." It is not like that. God is God from the very beginning, always God. Whether He is a small baby or He's young man or... God never becomes old man.
Lecture -- New York, April 16, 1969:
So Parīkṣit Mahārāja, therefore, when he was preparing... Because he was emperor, many great sages, saintly persons, many great kings and emperors assembled there, because everyone knew that "He is going to die within seven days." So he had some notice that "My dear sir, you'll die within seven days." But we can die any moment because there is no notice. Even if I stepping down on the street I may die. There may be some accident. Even if we are sitting here, there may be some accident; we may immediately die. So we have no notice. So we should be more careful and cautious than Parīkṣit Mahārāja, who had seven days notice at least, that at least he was not going to die within seven days. So he was preparing. At that time he was asking all saintly persons there that "What is my duty? Now I am going to die. What is my duty?" So in that way... Because he was from the very beginning Kṛṣṇa conscious and devotee of Kṛṣṇa, so he also questioned, "Whether I shall simply remember Kṛṣṇa?"
Lecture -- New York, April 16, 1969:
You are, from the beginning of your life, you are given advantage by your parents, by your family, to develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Because Mahārāja Parīkṣit, when he was in the womb of his mother the other side of the Kuru dynasty, they released atom bomb to kill him, and Kṛṣṇa saved him. And after his birth, the boy was playing with Kṛṣṇa statue. So he is from the very beginning Kṛṣṇa conscious. So Śukadeva Gosvāmī is advising, "My dear king, you are not this type of man, because as soon as you have heard you are sure that you are going to die, immediately you have come out from your home and all attachment of your kingdom, wife and children. So your business is," he advises, tasmād bhārata sarvātmā bhagavān īśvaro hariḥ. "Therefore you have asked me what is your duty. Now I give you to understand that this is your duty." What is that? "Bhārata..." He's addressing Mahārāja Parīkṣit as Bhārata. Bhārata means he belongs to the dynasty of Mahārāja Bhārata, under whose name this planet was known as Bhāratavarṣa. So he's also descendant of that dynasty. He's addressed as Bhārata.
Conway Hall Lecture -- London, September 15, 1969:
So this transmigration of the soul is very simple subject. Any sensible man can understand. And in the Bhagavad-gītā, in the very beginning of the instruction, Kṛṣṇa says,
- dehino 'smin yathā dehe
- kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
- tathā dehāntara-prāptir
- dhīras tatra na muhyati
- (BG 2.13)
Dhīra, those who are sober, intelligent, they are not bewildered when a living entity changes his body. So change of body is going on in every moment, in every second, imperceptibly. Medical science also accepts that in every second we are changing our blood corpuscles. That is a fact. We are changing body every moment. And the final change is called death. But actually, there is no death. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). You accept another body.
Pandal Lecture at Cross Maidan -- Bombay, March 26, 1971:
So Kṛṣṇa gives the sanction. That is one sanction. But there is another sanction, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. That is sanction for the devotees. Teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam (BG 10.10). Teṣām. "For those who are twenty-four hours engaged in My service." Satata-yukta. Satata means always, without any deviation. Simply in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, thinking everything in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He is seeing one flower. You'll be surprised... This little girl, the other day we were walking in hanging gardens, and this little girl, as soon as she saw some flower, immediately she expressed her opinion that these flowers should be taken and made into garland for Kṛṣṇa. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. She is being taught from the very beginning of her life how to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. So it is not difficult. It depends only on training. Even in this old age, and especially in this age this method is very simple. Simply we have to agree to accept it. That's all. Otherwise Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the simplest form of self-realization and advancement in spiritual life.
Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, April 11, 1971:
Just like we have got so many European and American boys and girls. How they have come to this platform? How they have given up their old habits? Naturally these boys and girls were taught from the beginning of their life so many things which is not accepted in Vedic civilization, but they have now given up. There is no illicit sex life amongst our students. There is no meat-eating, there is no intoxication, including coffee and tea and cigarette, and there is no gambling. And they are practiced to Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra chanting not only as you have seen some of the samples. We have got fifty-two branches. In every branch we have got not less than twenty-five up to hundred. So this is the brahma-bhūtaḥ stage. It is not story, but it is fact. How it is obtained? It is obtained by Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Lecture at Boys' School -- Sydney, May 12, 1971:
So our, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is not a sectarian movement. We are trying to bring back people to God consciousness. Because unless one comes to God consciousness, he cannot be happy. That's a fact. He becomes careless, and without abiding by the laws of God, he becomes criminal, subjected to so many troubles inflicted by the laws of nature. So these things should be taught from the beginning. It is said in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, kaumāram ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha. In every schools and colleges these codes of God should be taught to the children. Then in future they will be godly or God conscious and their life will be peaceful. And because this is not taught in the schools and colleges... I have got experience by traveling in the Western countries.
Lecture at Boys' School -- Sydney, May 12, 1971:
In every schools and colleges the God consciousness should be taught. Never mind whether through Bible or Koran or through Bhagavad-gītā. Everywhere there is knowledge of God consciousness. That teaching should be introduced in every schools and colleges so that children, from the very beginning, may understand what is God, how great he is, how we are related with God, and how we have to live. So our, this movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is teaching that thing. Don't think that it is a sectarian religion. We are making people God conscious. It doesn't matter whichever religion you may belong. We want to see whether you are actually God conscious. Our Bhāgavata says, sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje (SB 1.2.6), that "That religious system is first class wherein God consciousness or love of God is taught." That is first-class religion. It doesn't matter whether it is Christian religion or Hindu religion or Muhammadan religion. If by following the principles of religion one becomes advanced in God consciousness, that is first-class religion. That is our motto, and we are preaching all over the world. So I do not see some of your teachers here. I request them to make the students from the very beginning God consciousness. Then their future life is very peaceful, prosperous and hopeful.
Lecture -- Paris, June 26, 1971:
It is concluded by learned scholars that this change of body is taking place every moment, but the soul is there from the beginning of the life. And when this body is no longer persistable, the soul changes to another body. That is called transmigration of the soul. That is a fact. But the modern civilization does not deal with this subject matter. They are under wrong impression that the body is self. I have talked with many scholars, and they are also under the same impression that with the end of the body, everything is finished. But actual fact is different. We can remember our childhood body. We can remember our boyhood body. Although those bodies are not present, I, the spirit soul, the occupier of the body or the proprietor of the body, I am present.
Pandal Lecture -- Delhi, November 12, 1971:
This Kṛṣṇa Consciousness Movement is to be learned from the very childhood. So far personally we are concerned, my father taught me this Kṛṣṇa consciousness from the very childhood. My father was a great Vaiṣṇava, and I had the opportunity of taking birth in that family. So he gave me lessons of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness from the very beginning of my life. He gave me mṛdaṅga. He engaged a teacher for learning mṛdaṅga playing. Sometimes my mother was irritated. But somehow or other, I got the inspiration from my father worshiping a small Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Deity. So Prahlāda Mahārāja says, kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha (SB 7.6.1). Actually the students, the children, should be given chance to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. That is the duty of the state, that is the duty of the parents, that is the duty of the guru, that is the duty of kinsmen. That is the instruction given in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Pandal Lecture -- Delhi, November 12, 1971:
I am very pleased, I have seen practically in this Delhi that the Muslim children are given instruction of Koran from very early age. Actually, this should be done for everyone. I am very pleased. Not I am pleased, I may please or not, but that is the way of life. A human child should be given instruction about Kṛṣṇa consciousness from the very beginning, and that was our Vedic system, brahmacārī. Brahmacārī should go to the house of the teacher or spiritual master at the age of five years old, and he should remain there for twenty years to understand the value of life. And the brahmacārī would accept any kind of menial work for satisfying the spiritual master. It is stated that nīcayeva, just like menial servant.
Pandal Lecture -- Delhi, November 12, 1971:
When Sudāmā Vipra met Him when He was king in Dvārakā, so friendly talks, Kṛṣṇa reminded Sudāmā Vipra, "My dear Sudāmā, do you remember that one day we went to the forest to collect fuels, and there was heavy rain and we could not come out. And then we stayed the overnight on the top of the tree. Then next day Guru Mahārāja came and he took our..., rescued us. Do you remember that?" Sudāmā Vipra said, "Yes, I remember." So even Lord Kṛṣṇa, what to speak of others. This was the system, to teach from the very beginning of life this Bhāgavatam.
Pandal Lecture -- November 14, 1971, Delhi:
Prahlāda Mahārāja, he could not get to cultivate Kṛṣṇa consciousness because he was born in atheist family, guarded, well guarded, and father was always alert that "My son may not chant Hare Kṛṣṇa." But he was taking opportunity in the school. So he was five-years-old boy, and his class fellows also of the same age. So he used to induce them, "My dear friends, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa." We have got a little girl, perhaps you have all seen, Sarasvatī, she was admitted in a school in Bombay. And because there was no Hare Kṛṣṇa chanting, she began to cry, "No, I shall not be in this school." Practical. There was (indistinct), she was organizing all the children to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. But they began something else, so she said, "No, I am not going to this school." So śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe yoga-bhraṣṭo sañjāyate (BG 6.41). This child must be executing devotional service in her past life. Therefore, she has got the opportunity, a Vaiṣṇava father and Vaiṣṇavī mother. And from the very beginning of her life she is becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious.
Pandal Lecture -- Delhi, November 20, 1971:
I am getting thousands of letter from Western countries, from my disciples, how much transcendental feeling they are enjoying. So I do not wish to take much of your time. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness should be injected from the very beginning of life, from childhood. So here our Honorable High Commissioner of Canada is present, His Excellency. So I request that you have come to our country, please try to understand this philosophy. And so far I have traveled in your country... I have traveled in Canada also; as you have already mentioned, we have got five branches—in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Hamilton, and Ottawa. So the boys are struggling, they are distributing literature, the books, and I am getting very encouraging report, many young men they are coming. It is a very scientific movement. So I would request you to inform your government to give these boys who are struggling to inject this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement in your country all facility. Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Pandal Lecture -- Delhi, November 20, 1971:
Because in our country, it is a different thing; at least we have got the Vedic culture at home if it is not in the schools. But in other countries, because there is no bhāgavata-dharma culture, the students, although they are provided with ample opportunity for education, the nicest educational system, nice building, nice facilities, everything nice, unfortunately the products are coming out frustrated, confused young men, and some of them are called hippies. They are educated. They are coming from very nice aristocratic family. In Western countries, in comparison to our country, every home is aristocratic. At least their standard of living is so high. So what we call aristocratic, that is a common affair. So this mishappening is going on all over the Western countries. Some of them are joining us, but this is the problem. The Prahlāda Mahārāja recommends, kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha (SB 7.6.1). This is very, very important message. We should be careful to educate our sons, our boys, with bhāgavata-dharma from the very beginning of life. That was the Vedic system. Therefore, in the first twenty-five years of life, the children were sent to gurukula for learning this bhāgavata-dharma.
Lecture at Caitanya Matha -- Visakhapatnam, February 19, 1972:
Anyone who has understood Kṛṣṇa rightly, in truth, he is Kṛṣṇa conscious, he is budhā, he's actually in knowledge, bhāva-samanvitāḥ. Kṛṣṇa is so great. Kṛṣṇa's great power is so great. Generally people take Kṛṣṇa very slightly. "Oh, Kṛṣṇa danced with the gopīs." They do not know what is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore they go to hell by hearing from unauthorized sources, this Kṛṣṇa's rasa-līlā. They go to hell. We have to face so many questions sometimes, "Why Kṛṣṇa did like this?" Because due to this professional Bhāgavata readers, when they read Bhāgavata, they immediately open the rasa-līlā chapter. Because they have no other knowledge, they cannot explain. Bhāgavata begins from the very beginning, janmādy asya yataḥ anvayād itarataś ca arthe (SB 1.1.1). They have no brain to explain all these intricate verses in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, what is Kṛṣṇa, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). They jump over to the spiritual rasa-līlā, and people misunderstand.
Town Hall Lecture -- Auckland, April 14, 1972:
You just worship Govinda, personal Govinda." Bhaja govindam, three times. Three times means he is giving stress. Bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ mūḍha-mate: three times. Prāpte sannihite kāle marane: "When your death will be near, at the point of your death," na hi na hi rakṣati ḍukṛñ-karaṇe. Ḍukṛñ-karaṇe means a grammatical jugglery, that "This word should be interpreted like this. This word should be interpreted like this." So, "This fight of interpretation will not save you. Better from the very beginning you worship Govinda. That will save you." This is his instruction. Bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ mūḍha-mate. And so far we are concerned, Vaiṣṇavas, we all accept govinda, ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi, Govinda, the Supreme Person, the original Personality Godhead, govindam.
Town Hall Lecture -- Auckland, April 14, 1972:
Just like our children. These boys and girls who are married, they have got children. They are getting chance from the very beginning. The Śyāmasundara's daughter, Sarasvatī, she is wonderful girl. She is a child, but she never goes outside the spiritual consciousness. She makes her ārati. There are many boys. There is one boy, "D.D.D.," I call him. He is always engaged in making ārati, in worshiping Jagannātha. His father sent him some toys. He did not take it. So I asked him, "Why you are not taking the toys?" And he said, "It is māyā." (laughs) So you can train your children from the very beginning and make his life... That is the duty of father and mother. The Vedic injunction is: one should not become a father, one should not become a mother, unless they can help the child from the imminent danger of death. So who can save? Unless one is Kṛṣṇa conscious, nobody can escape the cycle of birth and death. Nobody can. This is the only process if you want to stop. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). After giving up this body, there is no more birth in the material world. You get immediately transferred to the spiritual world, and you get your eternal, blissful, knowledge life.
Lecture -- Los Angeles, May 18, 1972:
So, these are the attractive features. Here in this material world, if one man is very rich, he is attractive. Just like in your country, there are rich men, Rockefeller, Ford. They are very attractive, on account of their richness. So aiśvaryasya sama... Still... They do not possess all the wealth, riches of the world; still, they are attractive. So how much God will be attractive because He's the possessor of all the riches? Similarly, aiśvaryasya samagrasya, vīryasya, strength. Kṛṣṇa, when He was present, from the beginning of His birth He had to fight. When he was only three months old... He was lying down on the lap of His mother. There was a Pūtanā demon. She wanted to kill Kṛṣṇa, but she was killed. So that is God. God is from the very beginning God. Not that by some meditation, by mystic power, one becomes God. Kṛṣṇa was not that type of God. Kṛṣṇa was God from the very beginning of His appearance. Vīryasya.
Lecture -- London, July 12, 1972:
Prahlāda Mahārāja canvassing to his friends, little friends, "My dear friends, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa." And they were replying, "Prahlāda, why you are insisting us to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa? Let us play. We shall see Hare Kṛṣṇa at the time of death." But he was insisting, "My dear friends, no." Kaumāra ācaret prājño. "This Kṛṣṇa consciousness should be studied, should be understood from the very beginning of boyhood, kaumāra." Kaumāra means boyhood. From... Boyhood means from the age of five years. As education begins at the age of five years, similarly, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or bhāgavata-dharma, should be taught to the children as soon as the child is five years old. That is his instruction.
Arrival -- Dallas, May 19, 1973:
Prahlāda Mahārāja said, "My dear friends, Kṛṣṇa consciousness should be learned from the very beginning of life, kaumāra." The learning should be beginning between five years old to ten years old, between this time. This Bhāgavata-dharma especially, first thing is, the children from the very beginning of their life should be given instruction on religious principles of life. What are the religious principles? Religious principle means to understand what is God. That is religious principle. It doesn't matter whether you are Christian or Hindu or Muslim or any... There are many hundreds and thousands patterns of religious system, but according to our Bhāgavata school, we accept that religion as first class which teaches how to love God. That is religion. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje (SB 1.2.6). That system of religion is first class wherein the followers are given lessons how to love God. Unfortunately, at the present moment there is no question of how to teach them for loving God. They deny the existence of God. This is the present situation.
Arrival -- Dallas, May 19, 1973:
So Prahlāda Mahārāja says, dharmān: "People, children should be taught from the very beginning of their life about dharma, religion." What is that religion? Religion means to accept God as the supreme authority. That's all. The sum and substance. And try to love Him. Just like very, if you have got a very wealthy friend or very learned friend or beautiful friend, you try to love him. You want to make friendship with him. So God means He is the most richest, most powerful, most learned, most beautiful. In this way, there is no comparison of God's opulence. So why should we not be attracted with God? If some rich man in your quarter attracts the attention of the neighbor, neighborers... If God is the richest man... He is not man; He is God. But He looks like man. He... Just like we see Kṛṣṇa here, He has got also two hands and two legs. That is His original form. If He likes, He can expand thousands of hands and thousands of legs, as it was exhibited to Arjuna in His virāṭ-puruṣa form. But the original form is Kṛṣṇa, ādi-puruṣam. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta... Although He can expand Himself in many millions of forms, but His original form is Kṛṣṇa.
Arrival -- Dallas, May 19, 1973:
So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is directly connecting people with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and especially these children are required to learn this Kṛṣṇa consciousness from the very beginning of their life. Because this human form of life is the only chance to understand God. You cannot understand God in any other form, in the form of a dog, in the form of a cat, or even the form of a demigod. Demigods, they are very rich, opulent, so sometimes they forget. Out of very much being affluent, people forget Kṛṣṇa. Therefore the demigods also sometimes forget. And what to speak of the animals. So this human form of life is the only chance to understand God. Therefore if children are not given lesson about God... There is no guarantee that we will live one hundred years. There is no guarantee. Anyone, at any moment, can pass away. Therefore, before the next death comes, one must be fully Kṛṣṇa conscious. That is the highest achievement of life.
Lecture at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan -- Bombay, October 18, 1973:
Prahlāda Mahārāja said, kaumāraṁ ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha. Kaumāra, from the very beginning of childhood, one should be taught about dharma, especially bhāgavata-dharma, the relationship with God. Similarly, in other place it is said,
- sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo
- yato bhaktir adhokṣaje
- ahaituky apratihatā
- yenātmā suprasīdati
- (SB 1.2.6)
Yena ātmā suprasīdati. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo (SB 1.2.6), highest type of religious system, yato bhaktir adhokṣaje, by which one can learn how to love God—that is dharma. Anything else, that is not dharma. That is paśu-dharma. Nandajī has invented a very nice word, mānava-dharma. So mānava-dharma means what is the distinction between mānava and paśu.
Sunday Feast Lecture -- Atlanta, March 2, 1975:
Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu. Sad-asad life, there are different varieties of life, 8,400,000 varieties of forms. So why there are different forms of life, different standard of life? Why? The answer is in the Bhagavad-gītā. Kāraṇam, the reason, is guṇa-saṅgaḥ, his particular infection with a particular quality of material nature. This is going on perpetually. "Perpetually" means we do not know when this process of life began and when it will be ended; therefore it is perpetual. So our this privilege, to possess a human form of life, is great advantage in this sense, that we can study all these things—what is the living entity, how he is being infected and how he is taking different types of bodies, and account of the body, the standard of life, nice or bad, is going on. Therefore Kṛṣṇa, in the very beginning of His teaching of the Bhagavad-gītā, He is trying to impress that "I am not this body, or we are not this body. I am the owner or occupier of the body." This is the first instruction.
Lecture on Science of Krsna -- Hyderabad, April 14, 1975:
Acchedyo 'yam, you cannot cut into pieces, spirit. And it is further explained that these fragmental parts eternally, from the very beginning. Kṛṣṇa also says in the Bhagavad-gītā, "My dear Arjuna, you, Me and all these soldiers and kings who have assembled there, they existed like this in the past, they're existing in the same way, and they'll continue to exist like that." There is no question of becoming one. Past, present, future, always we are distinct. So how they can be one sanātana? We are part and parcel sanātana, eternally. But in quality we are one. In quality we are one. Kṛṣṇa is eternal. We are eternal. Kṛṣṇa is spirit. We are spirit. Kṛṣṇa is also person. We are also person. In this way, we are one but He is the great, and we are servants. This is actual position. And if we claim that after being freed from māyā, we shall become one with the Supreme, that is called Māyāvāda. We eternally, we are separate. Dvaitavāda. That is Madhvācārya's philosophy, dvaitavāda. So if you consider very cool-headed, then Vaiṣṇava philosophy is the best, not this Māyāvāda philosophy.
Speech to Devotees -- Vrndavana, April 7, 1976:
Simple thing. We don't require to be very learned scholar, M.A., Ph.D. If you simply follow what Kṛṣṇa has said in the Bhagavad-gītā... If you do not go very deep into Kṛṣṇa consciousness, which is described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam especially, and if you simply read the Bhagavad-gītā... We are presenting, therefore, Bhagavad-gītā as it is, without any adulteration. They give me so much credit that "You have done wonderful, miracle," and I do not know how to play any miracle. Our Dipa Mahārāja knows me from the very beginning. I do not know how to play magic. I do not know. But only magic is that I don't adulterate. That's all. I don't adulterate. I say simple thing. Kṛṣṇa said, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya (BG 7.7). So Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord, Absolute Truth, that's all. What difficulty you have? Kṛṣṇa says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat (BG 7.7). And He says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65). Four things: "Always think of Me..." So I am teaching them, "Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. You'll think of Him." So man-manā. And who can chant Hare Kṛṣṇa unless he is a devotee? Ordinary man cannot chant. He has no taste. But these boys, they are taking my word very seriously.
Evening Lecture -- Bhuvanesvara, January 19, 1977:
So we take them according to Bhagavad-gītā. So Bhagavān, Kṛṣṇa... Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). That is the verdict of the śāstra, and Kṛṣṇa personally, when He was present before us, He said, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya: (BG 7.7) "Nobody is greater authority than Me." In the Vedānta-sūtra it is said, athāto brahma jijñāsā. Now, this life, this human form of life, is meant for making inquiry about the Supreme. That Brahman, the Supreme... Brahman means bṛhatvad bṛhannatvad, the greatest which includes everything. That is Brahman. Just like we are, we living entities, we are Brahman. Because I am the spirit soul, I am within this body; therefore everything is complete. So in the Bhagavad-gītā this brahma-jijñāsā, "What is Brahman?" if you are inquisitive, the answer is in the very beginning of the Bhagavad-gītā.
Lecture -- Bhuvanesvara, January 21, 1977:
Just like a student is admitted in the school for learning ABCD, and if he follows the rules and regulations and continues his studies regularly, then one day he would be able to pass M.A. examination, so from the very beginning we have to execute these processes because our life is impure at the present moment, and we have to purify this life.
Evening Lecture -- Bhuvanesvara, January 23, 1977:
In whatever occupation you are, remain there. There is no need of changing. But nāmāśraya kari. If you remain a gṛhastha, what is your loss if you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra? And if there is gain, why don't you take it? Simple thing. And Kṛṣṇa also says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru, mām evaiṣyasi asaṁśayaḥ (BG 18.65). These four things will get you back to home, back to Godhead. What is that? Simply think of Kṛṣṇa. But if from the very beginning you want to understand the meaning of Kṛṣṇa—"Kṛṣṇa is nirākāra. He has no hand, He has no leg"—then how you'll think of Kṛṣṇa? You have to give up all this nonsense idea. Then wherever you live, you will be perfect by Kṛṣṇa consciousness. (break) ...Kali-yuga the special advantage is that people cannot become very much advanced in spiritual life, but for Kali-yuga there is a special concession. Kalau nāsty nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā. Harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma iva kevalam (CC Adi 17.21). And Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also, it is confirmed, kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅga paraṁ vrajet (SB 12.3.51). So you remain gṛhastha. It is now difficult to give up gṛhastha life. But don't be merged into this black hole. Don't make black hole tragedy. Be alive, take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and you'll be happy.
General Lecture -- (location & date unknown):
So naturally we accept Kṛṣṇa on the basis of Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is natural. But, everyone, of course, has to accept Bhagavad-gītā and Vedānta-sūtra if he, I mean to say, presents himself as Vedic or Hindu. Hindu is the name, the modern name. Actually the Vedic name is the original name, or varṇāśrama-dharma. That is the original name. So, apart from Vaiṣṇavas, even Śaṅkarācārya, who is impersonalist, who is Brahmavadi, he also accepts Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Those who have read Śaṅkarācārya's commentary on the Bhagavad-gītā, they must have seen it in the very beginning: sa bhagavān svayaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ. He begins his commentary, nārāyaṇaḥ paraḥ avyaktat: "Nārāyaṇa is beyond this material creation." And then he says, "That Nārāyaṇa is svayaṁ bhagavān, Kṛṣṇa." Kṛṣṇa. Sa bhagavān svayaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ. And he has specifically mentioned that "He has appeared as the son of Devaki and Vasudeva." Beside that, he has written many songs and prayers about Kṛṣṇa.
Philosophy Discussions
Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:
Hayagrīva: ...it was extremely difficult for Bryan to maintain any kind of prosecution with these...
Prabhupāda: But because both, we say that both of them are ignorant about the beginning. So if both of them are ignorant, so either you say six thousand, seven thousand, or six million, this is all imagination. It is not fact. But the six thousand or seven thousand, that is not the fact-millions and millions of years. But the fact is this, that God created this cosmic manifestation, and He impregnated the living entities to appear in different types of body according to the soul's desire. That I have already explained. The soul... "Man proposes; God disposes." Not only human form of life but all the animal forms of life, they are also from the very beginning. Not like Darwin's theory that there was no human form of life in the beginning. That is a wrong theory. All the forms of life were there, and the, actually the body is external; within the body there is the soul. So the body is created by material nature and the soul is part and parcel of God. This is the real idea. So how they can refute this idea if they have no idea about the beginning of life?
Hayagrīva: It was very difficult on the basis of the Bible. The Vedas date the creation back, oh...
Prabhupāda: That it is a question of time, and it is the beginning.
Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:
Hayagrīva: So, so much... It's the end of Darwin. (break) ...Thomas, Thomas Henry...
Prabhupāda: In that case, all defect is that nobody could ascertain the beginning of life, but here is the solution. The beginning of life is from the very beginning of creation.
Hayagrīva: Simultaneous creation.
Philosophy Discussion on John Stuart Mill:
Hayagrīva: But the power over man, he says, is due to early training.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that I have already said, that there are two authorities, one God the master authority and God's representative is the master author..., is the servant authority. So it is the duty of the servant authority to preach the instruction of God. That will make the human society happy, and this instruction should be taught from the very beginning of life. That is said in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by Prahlāda Mahārāja. Prahlāda Mahārāja was teaching God consciousness when he was five years old only and he was teaching amongst the class friend. The class friends wanted to play in the tiffin hour and Prahlāda Mahārāja asked them to sit down and to learn God consciousness. So the class friend protested, "My dear friend, why you are insisting now? We are now children, let us play." That Prahlāda Mahārāja protested, "No, no, you should not waste your time playing because this God consciousness should be learned from the very beginning of life." Kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha (SB 7.6.1). From the very childhood Kṛṣṇa consciousness should be learned. Why from the, so early, that durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma tad apy adhruvam arthadam. He says that this human form of life you have got after many, many millions of births so we should not misuse this opportunity. We do not know when we shall meet next death, but if before meeting the next death we make our life perfect in Kṛṣṇa consciousness that is the special boon to this human form of life. We should utilize it.
Philosophy Discussion on Soren Aabye Kierkegaard:
Devotee: Even if you commit sinful activities all your life, if he is there at your deathbed then you can be saved from your sins.
Prabhupāda: That is quite possible, you see, because he can remind you. But at the time of death, when everything is stopped, the functions of the body, kapha, pitta, vāyu, therefore Kulaśekhara says that "Let me die immediately." Actually, natural death means I will be encumbered with so many things, natural disturbance of this body, the disturbance, they'll be choked up, and cough, mucus, so many things. So unless one is practiced, it is not possible. Therefore practice is required from the very beginning-austerity, penance, brahmacārī, celibacy, like that. These things have to be practiced.
Philosophy Discussion on Arthur Schopenhauer:
Hayagrīva: No. But an old man can see the course of life, can see life in its entirety, the ages...
Prabhupāda: As far as different, old men have got different experience. We have seen in Western countries old men, they still follow the path of sense gratification. So where is his experience? Unless there is training, simply to become old man is not sufficient. Training is required. Old man, actual old man should take renunciation. That is Vedic plan. At the end of life one should become a sannyāsa and completely devote his time and energy to understand and serve God. So unless there is training from the very beginning as brahmacārī, simply by age one is not mature. That is not correct.
Philosophy Discussion on Sigmund Freud:
Prabhupāda: Our process is not repression. We don't repress. Therefore we give facility, that "You have got sex impulse. All right, you have it, but with your wife, legalized wife."
Śyāmasundara: He thinks more in terms from the very beginning of birth there is sex impulse.
Prabhupāda: That is admitted. We say that as soon as there is an embodied living being, he must have hunger, he must have sex impulse. (indistinct), we find in the animals these impulses are there, so why so much philosophy? They are already there. What is the use of philosophizing?
Philosophy Discussion on Sigmund Freud:
Prabhupāda: Therefore our prescription is that in the beginning of life, teach him brahmācārya restraint, and when he is grown up, he is above twenty, get him married. In the beginning he will learn how to restrain. If you teach your child to become saintly, he retains his semina, his brain becomes strong, he can understand things, because wasting your semina means less intelligence. So from the beginning, if he is brahmacārī, if he stops misuse of semina, then he becomes intelligent and strong and fully grown. For want of education, everything is being stunted-brain, bodily growth, and everything. So after he is trained as a brahmacārī, if he thinks that still he will have sex enjoyment, all right, he can be married. But because he will have strength of body and brain, he will beget a child, immediately there will be male child. This is practical remedy. And because he has been trained from boyhood to renounce this material way of enjoyment, when he is fifty years old, naturally his first-born child must be twenty-five years old, so he can retire from sex life. (indistinct), because household life means a license for sex life. That is all. It is not required. But one who cannot restrain, he is given a license, "All right, you have sex life by marriage," as I explained in the beginning. So that is real program. That will save the society. Not by (indistinct) or some (indistinct) and this and that. They cannot find out the root disease. But if you give him all indulgence, then he will study the (indistinct). You should take information from the standard knowledge. That's what we have discussed (indistinct) sex impulse is already there. So from the very beginning you have to restrain. Otherwise you will be implicated.
Philosophy Discussion on Sigmund Freud:
Devotee: Is doing it from the beginning necessarily always going to work? For instance in Nairobi, (indistinct) he came with his wife and two children, and his son was so frightened, he never liked to leave the house at night because he thought when he left the house at night, when he returned the house wouldn't be there, and you were saying that that was recalled from his previous life, that he was bringing that... (break) ...simple desires?
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is continued from the previous birth. As soon as the seed is there, we are getting so many impressions, there are seeds, so many impressions. So therefore Lord Caitanya said that we are getting so many seeds, every moment, so one who is fortunate, he gets the seed of bhakti by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa and guru. Guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja (CC Madhya 19.151). The bīja is there, that seed, and if he nourishes that seed by watering, (indistinct), then it grows, he becomes a devotee. Everything is seed. Either bhakti or sinful life or anything—it grows (indistinct). So brahmacārī means from the very beginning sowing the seed of goodness, and if one becomes a devotee, then automatically other things are lost.
Philosophy Discussion on Sigmund Freud:
Prabhupāda: That is brahmacārī. That is recommended in the Vedic culture, that from the very beginning of his life, divert his attention for spiritual activities, he, he will forget about sex life. That is the experience. Not only a trained-up child, even a grown-up person, if he takes Kṛṣṇa consciousness seriously, he also forgets sex life. So that is possible by training, one can forget sex life. That, that is experience of Yamunacārya. He expressing, yad-avadhi mama cetaḥ kṛṣṇa-pādāravinde. He says that "Since my, my mind and attention has been diverted to Kṛṣṇa consciousness activities, as soon as I thing of sex life, I spite on it." That is possible. It is simply question of training. And if one indulges in sex life without any restriction, the physical problem is there. He will be impotent. He will not be able to, even though he has got sex organs, he will not be able to use it. That is nature's way of punishing. There are so many impotent person. So it is a question of training. So the Vedic training is to train the small child, from the very beginning of his life, how to avoid sex life. That cannot be artificially done, but there is a process of training. By accepting that training one can remain without sex life throughout the whole life. That is possible.
Philosophy Discussion on B. F. Skinner:
Devotee: So he says social environment in the highest essence that has to lead to controlling nature.
Prabhupāda: Here the thing is that these are all childish suppositions. The real thing is that he should be educated. He should be educated. This should be done. He should be educated from the very beginning that "You are not this body." This is the beginning of real religion. He is talking this way and that. Education is required. Without education these things cannot be taught—by rewarding, by this way, by that way, by machine... It is all nonsense, everything. The first education is that every children should be taught from the very beginning that "You are not this body," and he should be taught the nature of the soul. Then he will come to the Supreme Soul. Then he will gradually come to the relationship between the Supreme Soul and the individual soul. And when he develops love for the Supreme Soul he will not violate the order of the Supreme. So that is our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.
Philosophy Discussion on Plato:
Prabhupāda: So the serving position is already there, and when the servant wants to become master, that is māyā. Because this word māyā means actually he is serving and he is thinking that he is master. That is māyā. Māyā means what is not fact. So by meditation, when he actually becomes a realized soul, he will understand that "Oh, I am servant. So why I am serving māyā? Let me serve Kṛṣṇa." That is perfection. So if his guide, spiritual master, engages him from the very beginning to serve God, then he becomes quickly perfect, because he is servant and he has to serve Kṛṣṇa. That is his perfection. He is falsely thinking that he is master. That is māyā. Here also they are simply serving. Just like President Nixon. He thought himself, "I am the master of America." But actually he is not. The master is the public. As soon as the public wanted "You come down immediately," he had to do that. So if the president of big state, he is under the false impression that although he is serving he is thinking master, then what to speak of others? Everyone is serving, but he is thinking master. So perfect knowledge is there that when he comes to the platform that "God is the supreme master, He is great, and we are servant." That is perfection of life.
Philosophy Discussion on George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel:
Hayagrīva: But does the history of man necessarily make any sense? He saw it as progressing, as man, here again is evolution...
Prabhupāda: As soon as there is creation there is history, from the very beginning, that this is the point of creation and it will go on, history, until it is ended. Just like as soon as you are born, your horoscope is made, the history. Now throughout your whole life there are so many activities, and after, we also believe next life the history continues. But superficially we make history from the beginning to the end of this body, that's all. But God is not subject to such rule that "God is created at a certain point and He is ended at a certain point." Then where is the question of history? There is no history. History is for the small things. For me there is past, present, future. For God there is no such thing as past, present, future. So where is the history? History means past, present, future.
Philosophy Discussion on Thomas Henry Huxley:
Prabhupāda: That is the beginning of another nonsense. Everyone speaks in his own language. What does he..., what he means by speak?
Hayagrīva: But isn't speech, which is the articulation of the intellect, the primary difference between man and the animals in the sense that is it not through words that one can come to understand God?
Prabhupāda: That is another thing, but the animal has a, his own language, as the human being has his own language. So why does he say that? When he speaks, he speaks from the very beginning in his own language.
Hayagrīva: Well he, he, he mentions speech as being "Intelligible, rational speech..."
Prabhupāda: They have got rational speech.
| Page Title: | From the very beginning (Lectures, Other) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, Serene |
| Created: | 22 of Aug, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=93, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 93 |