Arjuna was certainly, being an associate of Lord Kṛṣṇa, he was above all ignorance. But still, Arjuna was put into ignorance in the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra just to question about the problems of life to the Supreme Lord so that the Lord can explain them for the benefit of future generation of human being to chalk out the plan of his life and act in that way so that his life, his mission of human life, can be perfect.
Generation (Lectures)
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Lecture on BG 1.41-42 -- London, July 29, 1973:
The exact example of varṇa-saṅkara is the hippies at the present moment. All over the world, not only in the Western countries but in India also. So the population, hippie population means saṅkara population. So increase of such population means narakāyaiva, naraka, hellish, hellish condition of life in this life, also in the next life. At that time, to live, actually we have practically seen in recent years, especially in Calcutta, it has become a hellish life. The population, the younger generation, is so polluted, so contaminated, that you cannot safely walk in the street. Anywhere, the young boys they can encircle you and rob you. You cannot say on. The police cannot help, the government cannot help. So these unwanted children, without being trained up in the varṇāśrama system, they become the cause of hellish life in this life also after death. After death according to Vedic regulations, piṇḍa-udaka, piṇḍa, offering Viṣṇu prasāda and water at least once in a year it is required by the family members.
Lecture on BG 1.41-42 -- London, July 29, 1973:
His name was Sarpisirat. He was speaking in a, he was atheist number one, he was speaking that: "This piṇḍodaka, by offering piṇḍa, prasāda and water, it will go to my forefather. So just give me to eat downstairs whether I can eat upstairs?" This reasoning. But he does not know that how much there are different types of eating. They do not know there is eating in the subtle body also. The ghosts also, they eat. But the method is different. So even a big scientist speak like that, then how the ordinary people...? Yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhaḥ, lokas tad anuvartate (BG 3.21). If the so-called advanced in education they speak so irresponsibly, naturally, others will follow. Therefore, at the present moment, the whole generation is covered with ignorance and darkness. No clear knowledge. And without clear knowledge, whatever we do... Just like in darkness, whatever we act, that is simply embezzlement. That's all. It is not very correctly understood. Therefore we have no correct knowledge, no correct activities, and, and the result is narakayaiva. So you can read next verse.
Lecture on BG 2.4-5 -- London, August 5, 1973:
Then, after many prayers, after pacifying the Lord... He was very angry. Then when He was little pacified, he asked, "My dear Lord, I can ask You one, another benediction. that my father was very, very staunch enemy of You. That was the cause of his death. Now I ask You kindly excuse him and give him liberation." This is Vaiṣṇava son. He did not ask anything for himself. And although he knew that his father was the greatest enemy, still, he is asking his benediction, "This poor fellow may be liberated." So Lord Nṛsiṁha-deva guaranteed, said, "My dear Prahlāda, not only your father, but your father's father, his father, up to fourteen generations, all are liberated. Because you are born in this family." So anyone who has become a Vaiṣṇava, a devotee of the Lord, he is giving the greatest service to the family. Because in relationship with him, his father, mother, anyone, they will be liberated. Just like we have got experience, if a person dies in the fight immaturely, his family is taken care of by the government. Similarly, to become a devotee is the greatest qualification. He has got everything. Yatra yogeśvaro hariḥ yatra dhanur-dharaḥ pārthaḥ (BG 18.78). When there is Kṛṣṇa and when there is devotee, all victory, all glories are there. That is guaranteed.
Lecture on BG 2.7-11 -- New York, March 2, 1966:
So here is a perplexity. So kārpaṇya-doṣopahata-svabhāvaḥ, dharma-sammūḍha-cetāḥ: (BG 2.7) "Not only I am miserly, but I am deviating from my duty, dharma." Dharma. This dharma means, according to different position... Just like brāhmaṇa, the intellectual society; the kṣatriyas, the administrator society; the vaiśyas, the mercantile society; and the śūdras. Śūdras means the laborer class. So these four divisions are always. Now you can name in a different way. That doesn't matter. But in every society and for all time these divisions are there. So according to Vedic system, this system is observed by generation. So he was a kṣatriya. Now, kṣatriya's duty was to fight with the enemy, and he was not executing that, I mean to say, injunction. Therefore, he is conscious that dharma-sammūḍha-cetāḥ: (BG 2.7) "Oh, I am deviating from my religion also. It is the duty of kṣatriya. No. So I am now perplexed." So yac chreyaḥ syān niścitam: "Now You should kindly, definitely say." Now, here is a position: "I do not understand what is to be done. You kindly..." Yac chreyaḥ syān niścitam. Niścitam means definitely what is right. Brūhi tan me. Now Kṛṣṇa can say, "Well, I have already saying you that you should fight, but you are not carrying out the order." So he says that śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam (BG 2.7). So he accepted that "All right, whatever arguments we have done so far, let us forget that. Now I accept You as my spiritual master, not my friend."
Lecture on BG 2.13 -- New York, March 11, 1966:
So he is playing the part of a fool, but he was not a fool, but just to teach us. Unless he becomes a fool like us, why this Bhagavad-gītā will come?
The Bhagavad-gītā... Just like it is play. Kṛṣṇa is constant companion of Arjuna. So Arjuna cannot be put into that ignorance. It is for our benefit that by the will of the Lord Kṛṣṇa, Arjuna is put into that sort of ignorance. So he is asking Kṛṣṇa all these questions just like a foolish man, and Kṛṣṇa is giving instruction so that it is being recorded in the history of Mahābhārata for future generations. So here Arjuna, he was declining to fight, declining to fight, that "How can I fight with my grandfather?" You see? "He is respectable. He has brought me up since my father's death. And here is my teacher, Droṇācārya. He has taught me this military art. Whatever I am warrior, my expertness is due to him. And do you think, Kṛṣṇa, I shall kill them? No, I can fight with them. I can kill them, but it is not my duty." So Arjuna, and, says like that. But Kṛṣṇa says, "No. You must be dutiful. Never mind who is that, your grandfather or your teacher. No. When there is fight... You are a kṣatriya. A kṣatriya should not be..., has no other consideration in the fight. He must fight."
Lecture on BG 2.26 -- Los Angeles, December 6, 1968:
So he created so many sons, and they created so many sons. In this way the population of the whole universe has increased. So Manu is one of the sons. There are fourteen Manus in one day of Brahmā. These things I have discussed many times. And the mankind, they come from Manu. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam, vivasvān manave prāha (BG 4.1). Manu, this Manu, there are different Manus, fourteen Manus in one day. This present Manu under whom we are now living within this universe, he's the son of sun-god, Vivasvān. So he has got his different planet, as the sun has got different planet. So his son Ikṣvāku was given this earthly planet to rule over and from that generation, Mahārāja Ikṣvāku, Lord Rāmacandra appeared. In this way the kṣatriyas, they spread all over the world. I have several times said that most of the Europeans, they belong to the original kṣatriyas.
Lecture on BG 2.26 -- Los Angeles, December 6, 1968:
The Supreme Source cannot be unconscious. Why? Because we are conscious being. So we are also emanation from the Supreme Lord, the living entities. Some of the living entities are moving, some of the living entities, they do not move. Just like the trees, the hills, the mountains, they have got also their life. So they are not moving. We are moving. Man, human being, cats, dogs and ants, so many there are. So they are conscious. So, unless the Supreme Lord is conscious, the Supreme Source of all generation, wherefrom this consciousness can come? So the philosophy that the Supreme Source is void, how you can maintain? Wherefrom this consciousness comes? They say that consciousness is generated by the combination of matter. Up till now, no scientist has proved that, by combination of chemicals and matter, physical things, one can produce consciousness. So the Bhāgavata very nicely describes that the Supreme Source of everything, He is conscious. Conscious. Janmādy asya yataḥ anvayāt itarataś ca (SB 1.1.1).
Lecture on BG 3.6-10 -- Los Angeles, December 23, 1968:
Sudāmā: "One should therefore act very diligently under the expert guidance of a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa or under the direct instruction of Lord Kṛṣṇa, under whom Arjuna had the opportunity to work. Nothing should be performed for sense gratification, but everything should be done for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa. This practice will not only save one from the reactions of work but will also gradually rise one to the platform of the transcendental loving service of the Lord which alone can uplift one to the kingdom of God."
Verse number 10: "In the beginning of creation the Lord of all creatures sent forth generations of men and demigods along with sacrifices for Viṣṇu, and blessed them by saying 'Be thou happy by this yajña (sacrifice) because its performance will bestow upon you all desirable things (BG 3.10)."
Prabhupāda: Yes. In the creation, after creation, the yajña was also created and everyone, created being, was ordered to perform the yajñas. One cannot... Yajña-dāna-tapaḥ-kriyā na tyājyam. In the Bhagavad-gītā also you'll find that you may be a renouncer, sannyāsī. A renouncer, you have renounced this world. But the four things, yajña... Yajña means working for satisfaction of Viṣṇu, yajña. Dāna, charity. Yajña, dāna, tapaḥ. Tapaḥ means austerity, following the rules and regulation for spiritual upliftment. These things are not to be renounced. If somebody says, "Oh, I have renounced the world," that does not mean you can renounce the service of the Lord. No.
Lecture on BG 3.17-20 -- New York, May 27, 1966:
We have no taste for spiritual upliftment. That taste we have lost.
That is the stage of our present existence—forgetfulness. We do not know how our taste should be created, how our taste should be converted from material to spiritual. That we do not know. Therefore Lord is so kind, Kṛṣṇa, that He creates a battlefield for you so that you may be anxious to know, "Who is fighting with whom? Who is fighting with whom." Because we are always very much anxious to learn stories, so all these Purāṇas...
Just this morning we were discussing that all these... Strī-śūdra-dvijabandhūnāṁ trayī na śruti-gocarā (SB 1.4.25). Vyāsadeva is so kind that he could understand that the next generation before, I mean to say, five thousands years before, when he was thinking... We should always know that great thinkers, great, I mean to say, sages, ṛṣis, they are sitting in the secluded place, in a forest, not idly. They are always thinking how people should be benefited, how people should be benefited. Lokānāṁ hita-kāriṇau. Just like we sing daily about the Gosvāmīs.
Lecture on BG 3.21-25 -- New York, May 30, 1966:
Why? Because the population has become unwanted. And by increasing such population the natural sequence will be... There must be. There will be some disease, there will be some famine or there will be some war when the population will be vanquished. That is the law of nature. That is accepted in economics also, Malthusian theory. Perhaps most of you know that whenever there is unwanted population these three things will naturally, by nature's course will appear—famine, pestilence, and war—and the population will be finished. So there was some unwanted population at that time also for which Kṛṣṇa arranged the war, battlefield of war. Battlefield of war. So we have to follow. If we want very good population, very good generation, then we have to follow the principles of Bhagavad-gītā.
Lecture on BG 4.3 -- Bombay, March 23, 1974:
Not only human beings, the animals, the trees, the birds, the aquatics, the insects, everyone, all living entities. Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayo yāḥ: "In any species of life, as many forms are there," ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā, "I am their original father." Bīja-pradaḥ pitā, seed-giving father. So as father places the seeds within the womb of the mother, similarly the material nature is the mother and Kṛṣṇa is the father. The Kṛṣṇa impregnates the material nature, and we come out in different forms. Sveda-ja, pādapa-ja and jarāyu-ja, and aṇḍa-ja. Sveda-ja means by perspiration, through perspiration. Just like bed bugs. Bed bug... Because if you keep your bed nasty, do not keep it very clean, then by your perspiration, there is generation of these bed bugs. They are called sveda-ja, by perspiration. And aṇḍa-ja, through the eggs. Just like the birds, the living entity is coming through the eggs. That is called aṇḍa-ja. Sveda-ja, aṇḍa-ja, jarāyu-ja. Embryo. Just like we are coming from the embryo. Aṇḍa-ja, then jarāyu-ja. And pādapa-ja, coming from the seeds, the trees, plants. So within these four groups, all different living entities are coming.
Lecture on BG 4.7 -- Montreal, June 13, 1968:
For the government, both the departments are equal. Just try to understand. So the material energy is working in a different way, that does not mean that material energy is not liked by Kṛṣṇa. It has got the same importance as the spiritual energy. But the material energy is engaged in a thankless task for punishing the conditioned soul. Just like the police department. So for Kṛṣṇa, there is no difference between material energy and spiritual energy. For Kṛṣṇa it is all the same because He has got one energy. Just like electricity. Somewhere it is working for cooling purpose and somewhere it is working for heating purpose. But the generation of electric from the electric powerhouse, the energy is the same, electric. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa's energy is always spiritual. There is no difference His energy and He. But it is acting in a different way. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). Vividhaiva śrūyate. Parāsya śaktiḥ, the Supreme Lord, He has got energy. The energy is one. And similarly, He is, in some of the Purāṇas it is described that Durgā is also Rādhārāṇī. In the Brahma-saṁhitā you'll find it. Have you read it? Yes. So so far energy is concerned, it is always spiritual, but it is acting in a different way, in a different field of activities. It is clear? Not clear you say?
Lecture on BG 4.13-14 -- New York, August 1, 1966:
Keśava, Kṛṣṇa, appeared just like a fish. He appeared Himself in the fish community. Oh, but that does not mean that He was fish. If you say, if you think that, taking a fish, "Oh, it is the generation of Kṛṣṇa..." Of course, everything is Kṛṣṇa, from another point of view.
So similarly, Kṛṣṇa... Because in the previous verse we have discussed. Simply by knowing the transcendental nature of Kṛṣṇa, one becomes liberated. How you can understand Kṛṣṇa? By His transcendental nature. That is being described in this verse. Tasya kartāram api. Tasya kartāram api māṁ viddhi: "Although I have established these divisions of the human society into four classes, so I am not one of them." This has to be understood. Means as soon as we make it a mistake that "Oh, Kṛṣṇa, He appeared in the royal family of Vasudeva, so He belonged to the kṣatriya community, or the administrative class," no. Then you can understand the transcendental nature of Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on BG 4.19 -- Bombay, April 8, 1974:
All the karmīs. In Bombay there are so many karmīs, working very, very hard. If you want to see him, "No, sir, no, I have no time." What you are doing? "Working." What are you eating? "Four cāpāṭis. That's all." Why four cāpāṭis you are working so hard? "No, for my next generation. Or for my son, for my grandson, for my this, for my that, and..." This is called mūḍha. Therefore it is said, jñānāgni-dagdha-karmāṇam. When one understands by knowledge that "I am uselessly working this. I am uselessly working. What is the benefit of this work?" But he has no knowledge. He does not know that everything, what he is building in this life, after death, everything will be taken away. Mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham (BG 10.34). Kṛṣṇa will take away. All your skyscraper building, bank balance, nice family, car and everything—all lost.
Lecture on BG 6.13-15 -- Los Angeles, February 16, 1969:
So cessation of material existence does not mean void. Because I am not void. I am spirit soul. If I was void, how my development of this body has taken place? I am not void. I am the seed. Just like you sow a seed on the ground, it grows into large tree or plant. Similarly the seed is given by the father in the womb of the mother and it grows like a tree. And this body is that. Where is voidness? Ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā (BG 14.4). In the Fourteenth Chapter you'll see that originally the seed was given by Kṛṣṇa in the womb of this material nature and so many living entities are coming out. You cannot argue against it because actually the generation is the same process as in our practical life we see the father gives the seed in the womb of the mother and the mother, I mean to say, nourishes the child to grow body. So there is no question of void. If the seed would have been void, how this nice body has developed?
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Fiji, May 24, 1975:
And the result is that thousands of the foreign country youths, they are becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious. The proof is there. The proof is there. And all over the world, in Europe, America, Canada, Australia and Japan, even in Moscow and Africa, everywhere, we are not failure. That is Kṛṣṇa's grace. Because we are presenting Kṛṣṇa as it is, Bhagavad-gītā as it is, it is being accepted. Before me, many swamis went to the Western countries. They also talked about Bhagavad-gītā and other Vedic literature. But not a single person could be converted to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, not a single person throughout the whole history, background. But since 1967, we are presenting Bhagavad-gītā as it is; thousands of young generation, they are taking to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is the result.
Lecture on BG 7.3 -- Bombay, March 29, 1971:
They are my gurus. I am not their guru, (applause) because they are helping me in executing my Guru Mahārāja's order. So it is very nice combination that somebody is going to Australia, somebody is going to Fiji Island, somebody is going to Hong Kong, somebody is going to Czechoslovakia. And we are also negotiating to go to Russia also. There is chance of going to China also. We are attempting. We have already sent two boys to Pakistan—one in Dacca and one in Karachi. (applause)
So these boys, these American boys, are helping me. I am very sorry that no Indians are coming forward for this... Of course, there are some, but very few. They should come forward, younger generation of India, they should join this movement and spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over the world. That is Indian's business.
Lecture on BG 9.4 -- Melbourne, April 23, 1976:
Not only Western world, everywhere. Therefore they are called "old fools." (laughter) Because they require time to forget what they have learned. Young men, they are receptive. Therefore, for education, younger age is recommended. There is a history in... One father and one daughter, they both appeared for B.A. examination. The father failed and the daughter passed. Younger generation, they can receive very nicely. Older generation, it is little difficult. Therefore it is recommended by Prahlāda Mahārāja,
- kaumāra ācaret prājño
- dharmān bhāgavatān iha
- durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma
- tad apy adhruvam arthadam
- (SB 7.6.1)
He recommended, "My dear friends..." Prahlāda Mahārāja was five years old boy and he was preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness in his classroom. When the teachers are out he would preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness. When friends would request, "My dear Prahlāda, just play. This is tiffin hour," so he said, "No, no, no, no. My dear friends," kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha. "Immediately. We are now young boys. This is the time to learn." Kaumāra. Kaumāra means between five to ten years.
Lecture on BG 9.4 -- Melbourne, April 23, 1976:
"My dear Prahlāda, just play. This is tiffin hour," so he said, "No, no, no, no. My dear friends," kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha. "Immediately. We are now young boys. This is the time to learn." Kaumāra. Kaumāra means between five to ten years. This is the time. Dharmān bhāgavatān iha. Why? Now durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma: "Don't think that your life is guaranteed. We can die at any moment. Better understand the science of God in this early age." This is Prahlāda Mahārāja's recommendation. So this bhāgavata-dharma, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, should be learned from the very beginning. Then it will be solid. By nature's way younger generation, they capture very nicely. Yes. This question was asked by many gentlemen to me, that "Why younger generation attracted?" Because they are receptive. This is the age. So don't waste time. From the very beginning of life, when we can talk, when we can walk, learn Kṛṣṇa consciousness, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Life will be successful.
Lecture on BG 10.1 -- New York, December 30, 1966:
"Nobody knows Me." Lord says, Lord Kṛṣṇa says, "Nobody knows Me." Na me viduḥ sura-gaṇāḥ. Sura-gaṇāḥ means the demigods, those who are in the higher planets, they are called demigods. Sura-gaṇāḥ. Na me viduḥ sura-gaṇāḥ prabhavam (BG 10.2). "My influence, or My activities, My power, My extensions, everything, prabhavam, na maharṣayaḥ." Maharṣayaḥ means great sages. Mahā-ṛṣayaḥ. Mahā means great. Ṛṣi means sages. They also do not know. What they do not know? Now ahaṁ hi, aham ādir hi devānām (BG 10.2). "I am the original person of all demigods and maharṣīṇāṁ ca sarvaśaḥ, I am the original person of all the ṛṣis."
Now suppose we had some forefather, ten generations before. So we do not know many things about him. We may hear something by paramparā or in the family history that our tenth, tenth generation before there was one forefather. So even we do not know. So from Kṛṣṇa, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, so many generations... In the beginning of this creation, the first beginning, Brahmā was created. Brahmā. So millions and millions and years before Brahmā was created. So what do we know about Brahmā and the demigods? So practically we do not know anything about God. It is not possible. Our teeny brain cannot approach such extensive, I mean to say, foremost platform where we can understand God.
Lecture on BG 13.5 -- Paris, August 13, 1973:
That's a fact. This wine, woman and meat-eating, that is not giving them any more satisfaction. But because they have no other alternative, what they can do? Punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām (SB 7.5.30), chewing the chewed, that's all. It is already chewed, it is already tasted, but there is no other alternative; therefore they are tasting the same thing this way and that way.
So their time is now athāto brahma jijñāsā. Therefore from India, any rascal comes as yogi and sādhu and avatāra—they go. They are hankering after. We see practically this younger generation. They ask me sometimes that "Why so many younger, younger generation come to you?" Yes, they are frustrated. They are no more interested to live like their fathers and grandfathers. That is become... That has become hackneyed. The same things, same gambling, same meat-eating, same woman-huntering, and same intoxication—that has finished.
So when one has finished his material enjoyment, then the next question is brahma-saukhya. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. They try to inquire about the Absolute Truth. That is natural sequence. Therefore the Vedānta-sūtra, the first aphorism is athāto brahma jijñāsā. Yes, that is natural.
Lecture on BG 16.2-7 -- Bombay, April 8, 1971:
Therefore it is the duty of everyone to train everyone. Just like the parents. They should train their children to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. The state should encourage how people can become Kṛṣṇa conscious. Then automatically all the good qualities will come. Now, actually, in the United States the government is realizing the importance of our movement because the government has failed to stop this intoxication habit, LSD. In the Western countries, the younger generation are becoming too much addicted to this intoxication, LSD habit, and it has become a problem to the government and they have established so many institutions to stop this habit, but they have failed. But they are seeing wonderful result amongst our camp, that simply coming to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they have given all intoxication. It is practical. They have given up. So some of the institutions, government, they are inviting us, that "How you can help?" So we say that "Our process is simple. We cannot take any other process. Our process is that if anyone wants to be cured from this bad habit, then let him come, live with us. That's all. Sit down here. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. See the ārati, and take prasādam."
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Lecture on SB 1.1.1 -- London, August 6, 1971:
Now, what is that source of emanation? What is the nature? One has to accept the cause and effect. As we have got experience, in everything there is a cause and the effect. So the supreme cause, supreme cause means who has no more cause-sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1). I am caused by my father, my father is caused by his father. His father, his father..., go on making research, who is the ultimate father. When you come... There must be some ultimate father. Just like I have my father, my father has got father, his father... We can see up to two, three generation upwards, and beyond that, we cannot see. That does not mean that the great-grandfather had no father. There must have been some father. Is it very unreasonable? Anyone can understand. Although I cannot see with my limited potency, but with my knowledge, reasonable knowledge, I can understand that either he may be great-grandfather or above that, above that, he must have some father.
Lecture on SB 1.1.3 -- London, August 20, 1971:
Similarly, when there is allowance for sex life or drinking or meat-eating or even gambling, that is not encouraging; that is minimizing the tendency under discipline.
But so far we are concerned, we are above this discipline. A Vaiṣṇava is transcendental. He hasn't got to train under this discipline. Because he takes shelter of Kṛṣṇa directly, he's given immediately all protection. Kṛṣṇa says ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi: (BG 18.66) "I shall give you all protection from sinful life." Therefore, it is practical experience in USA the government is spending millions of dollars for stopping this intoxication habit amongst the younger generation. But the wonderful thing is they inquire also from us that as soon as they come to our movement, immediately gives up. Why? That is the special prerogative of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ. If one becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious, then all the good qualities of the demigods will automatically manifest in Him. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇā manorathenāsati dhāvato bahiḥ (SB 5.18.12). On the contrary, those who are not Kṛṣṇa conscious, they have no good qualification. Harāv abhaktasya. They are simply hovering on the mental platform, and therefore they fall down.
Lecture on SB 1.1.5-6 -- London, August 23, 1971:
Yes, gosvāmī or svāmī, the same meaning. One who has been able to control his senses... Generally, everyone is controlled by the senses. When one becomes controller of the senses, then he's gosvāmī. So generally, we give this designation to the sannyāsīs because sannyāsa means who has fully control of the senses. One should not accept sannyāsa whimsically. One must know about himself, how far he can control the senses. Therefore, generally, sannyāsa is not accepted until one is sixty years old. But in this age there is no guarantee whether we are going to live up to sixty years old age. So sometimes younger generation also offered sannyāsa. Because Caitanya Mahāprabhu accepted at the age of twenty-four years. We are not, of course, imitating Caitanya Mahāprabhu. But for executing Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission, if we are sincerely working for Him, then we can take sannyāsa at an early age. Then... But when one is actually a sannyāsa, a sannyāsī, master of the senses, he can be addressed as gosvāmī or svāmī. Yes?
Lecture on SB 1.1.9 -- Auckland, February 20, 1973:
Just like a child, for him preyas means he wants to play, he doesn't want to go to school and, but his śreyas means he must go to school, must be educated so that his future life may be secure. That is called śreyas. So our life, this human form of life, should be used for śreyas. It is said, puṁsām ekāntataḥ śreyas. We should not be attracted by the preyas. Preyas. But modern education is so nasty that they encourage preyas. Especially in the, not in this country, everywhere. That boys and girls are not checked, rather encouraged, encouraged in the matter of immature sex life. Preyas. They want it, "All right, do it, take tablets and enjoy." This is dangerous. For this reason, the generation are becoming degraded, because they are not aiming at the śreyas. They are simply aiming at the preyas, immediate pleasing thing. They do not know that immature sex life spoils the brain, spoils strength. Everything is spoiled. In student life, brahmacārī system is very nice. If he keeps brahmacārī without any sex life, then his brain becomes very potent. He can remember, memory becomes very sharp, bodily sense becomes very solid. In this way his life becomes very solid for future śreyas. But that is not being taught at the present moment. But here the ṛṣis, the great sages, they are asking, puṁsām ekāntataḥ śreyas. Tan naḥ śaṁsitum arhasi, "Kindly describe what we should accept." This is called inquiry. Everyone should be inquisitive for the ultimate benefit of life. What is that ultimate benefit of life? The ultimate benefit of life is to stop this repetition of birth and death, old age and disease. That is ultimate benefit of life. But they do not know. Then?
Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- New Vrindaban, September 5, 1972:
Everyone is seeking satisfaction, atyantikṣu. Everyone is struggling for existence for the ultimate happiness. But in this material world, although they are thinking by possessing material wealth they will be satisfied, but that is not the fact. For example in your country, you have got sufficient material opulence than other countries but still there is no satisfaction. So in spite of all good arrangement for material enjoyment, enough food, enough..., nice apartment, motor cars, roads, and very good arrangement for freedom in sex, and good arrangement for defence also—everything is complete—but still, people are dissatisfied, confused, and younger generation, they are turning to hippies, protest, or dissatisfied because they are not happy. I have several times cited the example that in Los Angeles, when I was taking my morning walk in Beverly Hills, many hippies were coming out from a very respectable house. It appeared that his father, he has a very nice car also, but the dress was hippie. So there is a protest against the so-called material arrangement, they do not like.
Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Vrndavana, October 17, 1972:
That is not service. I want water now. You must give me water. That is service.
Therefore my Guru Mahārāja did not approve the parties... They are called gaurāṅga-nāgarī. They accept Caitanya Mahāprabhu as Kṛṣṇa. Caitanya Mahāprabhu is Kṛṣṇa, but they pose Him, "Kṛṣṇa is enjoying with gopīs." No, that is called gaurāṅga-nāgarī-bhāva. No. Kṛṣṇa has appeared now as devotee. So you must help Him how He can become a best devotee. Not that pose Him into Kṛṣṇa position. When Caitanya Mahāprabhu came in Vṛndāvana, so many people called Him, "You are Kṛṣṇa. You are Viṣṇu." He was doing this, "Don't say like this, don't say like this," to warn future generation who would like to become Kṛṣṇa's avatāra, so-called avatāra.
So... So these are siddhāntas, that one should be simply serving, engaged in the service of the Lord-favorably. Not unfavorably. What He wants. So in this age... Not only in this age, in all the ages, Kṛṣṇa wants that all these bewildered living entities who have come here to enjoy material happiness, they should be given the information that this is not very nice plan for the living entities, to enjoy material enjoyment.
Lecture on SB 1.2.7 -- New Vrindaban, September 5, 1972:
We are chanting for Kṛṣṇa. So we have renounced... The same things are there in the material life, publishing book or going to the press, typing, or microphone, or dancing, chanting, these are... But they are not for Kṛṣṇa, that is for sense gratification.
So vairāgya means no more working for sense gratification, that is vairāgya. That is renouncement. Only for working Kṛṣṇa, for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa, that is called vairāgya. And to attain this vairāgya, renouncement, one requires sufficient knowledge. That is called jñāna. So this knowledge and renouncement-two things required in human life. Just like in your country, some of the younger generation, they have renounced. That's a good qualification, but they have no knowledge. Renouncement and knowledge must be combined. Then your life is successful. Simply renouncement, you cannot stay. You renounce, again accept. Again accept. So these two things can be achieved very easily, that formula is given here, vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ, janayaty āśu (SB 1.2.7). Āśu means very quick. Just like these American, European boys, especially I have mentioned.
Lecture on SB 1.2.8 -- Bombay, December 26, 1972:
Na tasya dharmaikāntasya kāmo lābhāyo hi smṛtaḥ. Kāmaḥ means sense gratification. It should be properly utilized, if you have got money, that you should be properly utilized, not for sense gratification-wine, women, and hotel, and cinema. No. Then by your artha you are going to hell. Artha, everything.
Cāṇakya Paṇḍita, the great politician, he says... He was not a..., he was a religious brāhmaṇa, but he was not for salvation—he was more or less politician—still he says, san-nimitte varaṁ tyāge vināśe niyate sati. San-nimit, if you have got some money, it will be spent up. In your life or your next life, your son's life, it will be spent up. Vināśe niyate sati, that is the nature's way. Suppose you earn crores of rupees. It will not stay after one generation, after two generations. It will not stay, because in this material world, Lakṣmī, the goddess of fortune, is called cañcalā. She does not remain at one place. We have got experience. Today one man is very rich; next generation is no longer rich. That is also nationwise applicable. Just like we have seen British Empire. While I was in London I was thinking that "These Britishers brought money from all parts of the world, by business or all other means."
Lecture on SB 1.2.10 -- Vrndavana, October 21, 1972:
Our only business is how to develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness, how to know Kṛṣṇa. And if you simply in truth, if we try to understand Kṛṣṇa, our all problems are solved. Especially this problem, this repetition of birth and death. This is solved. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). And that is the main problem.
So our request is that everyone may take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement without any hesitation. This is authorized movement and approved movement, and people are accepting all over the world. Unfortunately, in India, they are lacking. I must admit that as the younger generation from other countries, they're enthusiastically join, or joining, our Indian youths are not joining in that way. But we require so many preachers, so many young men, to preach all over the world this sublime movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. People are accepting. Even in Africa, who are supposed to be uncivilized, they are also accepting. Everywhere. There is no impediment.
Lecture on SB 1.2.10 -- Vrndavana, October 21, 1972:
So anyone can go and preach this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement very easily and people will take it. Recently I'm coming from Manila, Philippines. There also, they're dog-eaters. But still they took part in Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, chanted, and we were very much encouraged. In the last meeting... We held our meeting in the hotel, big hall, very nice hall, and all young men came, and they chanted and danced with us, purchased our books, and here are... The organizer is Sudāmā-vipra Ma..., Gosvāmī Mahārāja is present here. He has gone there only six months, and within six months, he has organized so nicely that wherever we go, the young generation, especially, they chant, "Hare Kṛṣṇa!"
So the purport is that this Hare Kṛṣṇa movement has got great potency. Everywhere, all over the world. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma. (CB Antya-khaṇḍa 4.126) He did not say in vain. There was meaning. Simply we have to take the opportunity, the blessings of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and try our best. The people will be happy, and we shall be happy. That is the meaning of jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā nārtho yaś ceha karmabhiḥ.
Lecture on SB 1.2.15 -- Vrndavana, October 26, 1972:
So therefore, as soon as we find out a person, he has no knowledge of Kṛṣṇa, we put him either of these categories: mūḍhāḥ, duṣkṛtinaḥ, narādhamāḥ, māyayā apahṛta-jñānāḥ. These are their qualifications. Therefore it is said here, chindanti kovidāḥ, he is neither of these rascals: miscreants, mūḍhāḥ, narādhamāḥ, and māyayā apahṛta-jñānāḥ. Kovida, very intelligent. Kovidās tasya ko na kuryāt kathā-ratim. Anyone who has understand that simply by hearing about Kṛṣṇa, talking about Kṛṣṇa, working for Kṛṣṇa, one can become released from this entanglement, who will not accept it? For example, just see in the Western countries; all the younger generation, they are so much addicted to intoxication. And the government is spending millions of dollars, how to stop it. But they have become animals. But just see how wonderful is this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Anyone who is coming to us, immediately, by our restriction... Because as soon as he is initiated, he is made to promise no illicit sex, no meat-eating, no intoxication, no gambling. From that very date he gives up everything. And here are so many samples attending.(?)
Lecture on SB 1.2.17 -- San Francisco, March 25, 1967:
And eighty, eighty million, eight million, there are other species of life. But Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord, claims that all of them, never mind, either he is bird or beast or man or a snake or whatever he may..., god, or semi-god, demigod, anything, whatever... "There are different forms, but apart from the forms, real identity is that all of them, they are My sons. I am actually bīja-pradaḥ pitā, seed-giving father." Just like the father gives the seed, and the mother receives the seed, and the body is formed according to the mother's body. And when the body is completely formed, it comes out, either from cats, either from dog, either from man, or anything. That is the process of generation. The father gives the seed, and it takes, emulsified, two kinds of secretion within the womb of the mother, and in the first night the body is formed like a pea. Then gradually it develops. There are certain holes, the nine holes. They first of all come out, nine holes. We have got nine holes, two eyes, one mouth, two ears, and penis, and so many things. So when they are fully developed, they come out. And according to their last karma, or action, they get this body and enjoy, or suffer. That is the process of birth and death which is going on. And after finishing this life, again dies, again enters into the moth..., womb of the mother, again gets another type of body, again comes out. This is going on. This is going on.
Lecture on SB 1.2.19 -- Vrndavana, October 30, 1972:
So everyone, even in this age, the advanced materialistic persons, they seek after peace, peacefulness of ātmā, or self. Take for example that in Western countries the younger generation, coming from very rich family, rich nation, but they have given up the standard of living as it is observed by their fathers or grandfathers. They do not like it. Because they do not like it. Because they are not satisfied. Yayātmā suprasīdati. There is no satisfaction of ātmā. Therefore they have given up.
Lecture on SB 1.2.27 -- Vrndavana, November 7, 1972:
Stop that. Śrī means beauty, aiśvarya means riches, opulence, and praja means progeny, sons, grandsons, great-grandsons. In Bengal there is a proverb, nāti nāti sagye bhati(?): "If one can see grandson of the grandson, his life is successful." His door to heaven is open now. Nāti means grandson, and nāti's nāti, grandson. That means six generations. So people like this—good family and full of beautiful women and very good bank balance, motorcars—then life is successful. Śriyaiśvarya-prajepsavaḥ. But who are after this śriyaiśvarya-prajepsavaḥ? That is explained: rajas-tamaḥ-prakṛtayaḥ. Rajas-tamaḥ-prakṛtayaḥ, those who are influenced by the modes of passion and ignorance.
Lecture on SB 1.2.27 -- Vrndavana, November 7, 1972:
They're always friend. Suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām (BG 5.29). Paramahaṁsa means suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām, "friend for everyone." Not for this human society or this society. A paramahaṁsa is friend for everyone. Paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satām. They are satām, Vaiṣṇava. Vāstavam atra vedyam atra tāpa-trayonmūlanaṁ śivadam. These things are mentioned.
So those who are envious of Kṛṣṇa, they take to the worship of other demigods. Śriyaiśvarya-prajepsavaḥ. Because to quickly attain achievement or achieve perfection in these three things, beauty, opulence, and good generation. So Bhāgavata says that "Even though you are very much anxious to get all these things," śriyaiśvarya-prajā, "still, we recommend that you worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead."
Lecture on SB 1.3.27 -- Los Angeles, October 2, 1972:
So prajāpati, the beginning there was only Lord Brahmā. The whole planetary system was to be populated. Therefore first of all Brahmā, and then the seven ṛṣis, then the Kumāras, then Rudras. In this way... Manus. Then Manu's son, his son, his son. In this way the... (aside:) What is that sound? The whole universe is populated. It is not the rascal Darwin's theory that "There was no human being. It came out of a stone, the life." The first is the most intelligent person, Lord Brahmā.
So they are called prajāpati. Prajā means generation. Pati means master, husband. So all these prajāpatis, as we learn from Bhagavad-gītā... Manur ikṣvākave 'bravīt. Vivasvān manave prāha. Vivasvān, sun-god, he spoke to his son Manu, Vaivasvata Manu. Imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam (BG 4.1). Kṛṣṇa said that "First of all I told to Vivasvān, the sun-god, and then he described, he handed over the knowledge to his son, Vivasvān, Vaivasvata Manu." This is the age of Vaivasvata Manu. So in one day there are fourteen Manus, in one day of Brahmā. So in one month how many?
Lecture on SB 1.3.27 -- Los Angeles, October 2, 1972:
One from the sun-god and one from the moon-god. Two families, kṣatriyas. Royal order. So Manu is from the sun, and the descendants, sūrya-vaṁśa, they are from Manu. Manur ikṣvākave 'bravīt. Manu, his son was Ikṣvāku. Mahārāja Ikṣvāku, king. He was the king of this planet, the original forefather of Lord Rāmacandra's dynasty. Mahārāja... Lord Rāmacandra appeared in the family of Manu. And similarly... Sūrya-vaṁśa. Similarly, Lord Kṛṣṇa also appeared in yadu-vaṁśa.
So these families, dynasties, are very, very old. Every... According to Vedic system, any family—brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, those who are higher caste—they must give at least seven generations account. Otherwise he is not a respectable family. Seven generations. His father, his father, his father, his father, his father, like that. When there is marriage, then there is check corroboration. The bride's party and the bridegrooms party, they should narrate their seventh generation. If within their seventh generation it, what is called, collide, becomes the one man, then there will be no marriage, because it becomes the same family.
Lecture on SB 1.3.27 -- Los Angeles, October 2, 1972:
So there are many different philosophical views of the Absolute Truth, how He is one with the energies and the separated expansion. So here it is explained that kalāḥ sarve harer eva. Everyone is expansion from Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But those who are prominent, they are called prajāpatis. Prajāpatis means directly expanding. These Kumāras, they were also offered to become prajāpati, but they refused their father's request. So "We are not going to marry and beget children." So Brahmā was angry. So when he was angry, then Lord Śiva, Rudra, from his eyes generated. In higher circle the generation can be produced from any part of the body. But we cannot understand. We simply know one part wherefrom the generation comes. No. In higher circle... Just like many living entities came out from Brahmā's nostril, eyes, ear. Just like Lord Brahmā himself came out from the navel of Viṣṇu. This requires specific power. Not that we have got some stereotyped ideas. Therefore we sometimes find difficulty to understand the description of the Vedas and the Purāṇas. They do not believe.
Lecture on SB 1.7.45-46 -- Vrndavana, October 5, 1976:
Then, tad dharmajña mahā-bhāga bhavadbhir gauravaṁ kulam. One should act in such a way that it should be glorified in the family. The family consideration is very important in Vedic culture. A family does not mean that only a husband, wife, or a few children. No. Family means the generation. That is Vedic conception. So if something is wrong done by any member of the family, that becomes a scar to the whole family. So she is, from family-wise, she is warning that "Do not do anything which will be a discredit to the whole Pāṇḍava family." Vṛjinaṁ nārhati prāptuṁ pūjyaṁ vandyam abhīkṣṇaśaḥ. So the guru and the guru's family, they do not require to be chastised or punished. It has been misused in so many ways. In Bengal... Just like they say nityānanda-vaṁśa. Coming from Nityānanda. So Nityānanda had one son, Vīrabhadra. But Vīrabhadra did not marry. So there is no dynasty by semina. By nityānanda-vaṁśa means by disciplic succession. So sometimes extra advantage was taken as nityānanda-vaṁśa. But people have got respect for such thing, dynasty. So not only it is now, from time immemorial, guru, guru's dynasty... Even in Mohammedan religion there is such sentiment, Mohammed and his dynasty, Hussain, they are taken very respectfully. So considering all points, the guru's respect must be maintained. This is the sum and substance of the instruction. But there is other opposite instruction also.
Lecture on SB 1.8.22 -- Los Angeles, April 14, 1973:
As soon as you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, immediately you understand Kṛṣṇa. As soon as you see the lotus flower, if you hear this verse... This Sanskrit verse is meant for understanding ourself. It is not for simply selling our books. Every one of you... We are repeating this verse again and again so that you are expected to chant these mantras. Not that the book is kept... "I'm very learned scholar." What kind of learned scholar? "If I find the book, then I can speak." That is not scholarship. You must chant.
Therefore we are teaching in our Dallas children simply to learn Sanskrit. We have nothing to do anything else. They are not going to be technologists, or servant of everyone. No. We want some generation who can preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So if they learn simply English and Sanskrit, they will be able to read this book, and that is sufficient. We don't want anything. All informations are there. Throughout the whole world, whatever knowledge is there, in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, everything is there.
Lecture on SB 1.8.22 -- Los Angeles, April 14, 1973:
We don't want anything. All informations are there. Throughout the whole world, whatever knowledge is there, in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, everything is there. There is literature, there is poetry, there is philosophy, there is religion, there is love of Godhead, there is astronomy. Everything is there. Śrīmad-bhāgavatam amalaṁ purāṇam. Vidyā bhāgavatāvadhiḥ. If one simply reads this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, his education is the topmost. Vidyā bhāgavatāvadhiḥ. There is something topmost, ultimate. So for education, vidyā, this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. If one studies Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, he is well versed in every subject matter.
So we want to create a new generation in your country so that in the future there'll be fluent speaker in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and preach all over the country, and your country will be saved. This is our program. We have come here not to exploit your country, but to give you something substantial. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. So read Bhāgavatam, pronounce the verses very nicely. Therefore we're repeating. You hear the records and try to repeat. Simply by chanting the mantra, you'll be purified. Simply by chant... Even you do not understand a single word of it, simply if you chant, this vibration has got such power.
Lecture on SB 1.8.39 -- Los Angeles, May 1, 1973:
Practically anyone can appreciate that this... You are all boys and girls. When you were outside this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, just think over, your beauty was there, but, at the present moment, because you are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you look very, very beautiful. That's a fact. Nobody can deny. You compare with other boys and girls and the boys and girls here. Anyone... In your country, they have given you the name "bright-faced." Do you know? The newspapers... Yes. In Philadelphia, one lady was inquiring that "Are you Americans?" Perhaps you know all these things. So actually your countrymen, those who are sober, they are seeing that "How these boys and girls are becoming so nice and jolly, beautiful." Because at the present moment in your country all young generation mostly they are confused, hopeless. We see every day-morose, black-faced. Why? Because they're missing the point. There is no aim of life. But these devotees, Krsnized, they look so beautiful. Why? Because Kṛṣṇa is there. That's all. It is a fact. Any sane man will admit.
Lecture on SB 1.8.46 -- Mayapura, October 26, 1974:
One should be aware of the Battle of Kurukṣetra very nicely. It was dharma-yuddha. Dharma-kṣetre kuru-kṣetre samavetā yuyutsavaḥ (BG 1.1). Why they settled up that the fighting should take place in the dharma-kṣetra? They are to fight, yuyutsavaḥ. It was settled they will fight, but why they selected the dharma-kṣetra? This is Vedic system. Even up to date, in villages, not in the cities... In the cities, as soon as there is some misunderstanding between you and me, we go to the court, either criminal court or civil court, to settle up, and it takes years to settle up the business. It goes on. I have seen for generation. One generation passed another generation; the fighting is going on in the court. But if people are Kṛṣṇa conscious, it could be settled within few minutes. Still among the villagers the system is current in India: when there is some fighting, they go to a saintly person or in a temple to settle up. Just like when Sanātana Gosvāmī was there in Vṛndāvana, so in that area, whenever there was some fighting between two parties, they would come to Sanātana Gosvāmī: bābā, ap isko phars lakharji.(?) Bābā means saintly person.
Lecture on SB 1.8.51 -- Los Angeles, May 13, 1973:
Practically, I'll say, in our childhood age, my sisters were married between nine to twelve years. My eldest sister was married when she was nine years old, before my birth. She is the eldest. And my second sister was married at the age of twelve, twelve years. And my third sister was married at the age of 11 years. So by the (indistinct) 12 years, the marriage must be finished. That was the duty of the father. I remember, because my second sister was going twelve years, my mother said to my father that "I shall go to the river and commit suicide. The daughter is not married." (laughter) You see. The father was very sorry, "Yes, I am trying. What can I do?" (laughter) And then next generation, when my... I was also married man, you know. I was married when my wife was only eleven years old. And at the age of fourteen years she gave birth to first child. And next generation, when my eldest daughter was married at the age of sixteen years—it is little increased—but I was also very much upset that the daughter is sixteen years old.
Lecture on SB 1.9.2 -- Los Angeles, May 16, 1973:
Ah, prabhavaḥ pralayas tathā. In this world there two things, prabhava and pralaya. Prabhava means generation, generating, and pralaya means annihilation. Two things. Everything, whatever you take, it is generated at a certain point and it will end at a certain point. So Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ kṛtsnasya jagataḥ prabhavaḥ pralayas tathā. That is the ultimate cause. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). We don't take simply generation. Generation, maintenance and annihilation, three things. Just this body is born at a certain date, it remains for a certain period, and then it is annihilated. So everything material means it has a beginning, it is born or it is manufactured at a certain point, it keeps for some time, then it will be destroyed. Therefore the Vedānta-sūtra says, janmādy asya yataḥ. Janma-sthiti-pralaya (SB 1.1.1).
Lecture on SB 1.16.19 -- Hawaii, January 15, 1974:
So this chapter is on the subject matter, "How Parīkṣit Received the Age of Kali." We are studying this chapter at the present moment. In Los Angeles we were studying, and again, after that, we are presenting. So Kali-yuga is not very good age, simply faults. We have several times discussed that in this age, people's duration of life, mercifulness, bodily strength and so many things, eight kinds of things, will be reduced. The age is reducing; the bodily strength is also reducing. Now you American generation, you are not as strong as your father or grandfather. You can understand that. You are not so luxuriantly grown up, bodily growth. There are so many reasons, but this is the symptom of age of Kali. And they're described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, foretold, five thousand years ago, what will happen in this Kali-yuga. That is all explained in the Twelfth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, third, fourth chapter. So simply full of faults. Social life, political life, religious life—everything has been described there. And one thing I can see very practical, that in this age, lāvaṇyaṁ keśa-dhāraṇam. It is stated there that people will think that by keeping long hairs they will become very beautiful. That is stated there. Dāmpatye ratim eva hi. Husband and wife's relation will depend on the strength of sex. These are described there. Svīkāra eva codvāhe. Marriage will be performed simply by agreement.
Lecture on SB 2.1.2-5 -- Montreal, October 23, 1968:
I want to stop death. I want to stop disease. And I want to stop old age. These are the activities, material activities, struggling against. And I am thinking that "These soldiers, or this, my body, or my wife, my children, will protect me," dehāpatya-kalatrādiṣv ātma-sainyeṣv asatsv api (SB 2.1.4), although I am experiencing every day that they are asat, they will not exist. How do I know they will not exist? My father has died. My elderly, my mother has died, my grandfather has died. Therefore I will also die. And my next generation, he will also die. My wife also will die. So everybody will die. Asatsv api. They know by experience that they will not exist, but still, their business has become to struggle for existence. Dehāpatya-kalatrādiṣu. These are very important subject matter. Try to understand. We know that nobody will exist. I want to exist. That is my intention. I do not wish to die. I want to exist, but I know also that all these, my soldiers, including my, this stout and strong body, it will also not exist. Dehāpatya-kalatrādiṣu, teṣāṁ pramattaḥ.
Lecture on SB 2.1.3 -- Delhi, November 6, 1973:
Therefore one who is inquisitive about ātma-tattva, one who is inquisitive about Kṛṣṇa and such praśna, such inquiries as Parīkṣit Mahārāja did before Śukadeva Gosvāmī... He welcomed it immediately. Varīyān eṣa te praśnaḥ: (SB 2.1.1) "Oh, you have questioned very nicely about Kṛṣṇa." Loka-hitaṁ nṛpa: "Oh it is not only good for you; it is good for all the people of the world."
So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is not a sectarian movement. It is good for all human being because as soon as there is question of Kṛṣṇa, people will hear. Actually, it is happening all over the world. Especially the younger generation, why they are taking interest? Because loka-hitam. They are understanding that it is beneficial. Every student, every disciple, they write me letter how much they are feeling grateful, that "We have got something. Prabhupāda, you have given us something." Of course, I have not given. It is not my property. I have simply informed them, "Here is Kṛṣṇa, and the life's business is to become a devotee." Kṛṣṇa said, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65). This is your business. So anyone who becomes engaged in this loka-hitam, beneficial to the human society, he will be happy. But he has to control over these things:
Lecture on SB 2.1.3 -- Vrndavana, March 18, 1974:
"What is the aim of your life?" Nobody... Nobody will be able to say. Any householder, any businessman, ask. They will simply say that "It is my duty to earn money. It is my duty to maintain my children, to give them education, to give them good opportunity for prospective life. And if I have got little more money, then I can give in charity to the poor man, daridra-nārāyaṇa. And..." These are their program. But nobody knows the necessity of, I mean to say, liberating the soul which is conditioned by this material covering. Nobody knows. That you will find. Nobody knows. Big, big professors, big, big... They simply say that "Yes ..." If you ask, "Why you are constructing some big, big scheme?" "Oh, for the future generations. That's all." They will reply. Nobody will reply, nobody knows about the necessity of the soul. That is the important point. Apaśyatām ātma-tattvam (SB 2.1.2). Nobody knows. Nobody has any vision of the ātma-tattva. Simply they are talking superfluously. This is the defect.
Lecture on SB 2.1.5 -- Delhi, November 8, 1973:
We have also come from God. We are also claimed as sons of God. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayo yāḥ (BG 14.4). There are 8,400,000 species of life, and they have got forms. They are sons of God. So where is our experience that a son who has got a form, his father is impersonal, no form? Where you have got this experience? If the son has got form and the father is formless, how it can be? What is the reason? Where is the argument? But they are concluding like that. I am the son of my father, so my father has got a form. I have got a form. His father has got form. His father has got form. Even if we do not see the tenth generation, up to, whether it was form or formless, but it is supposed that he must have a form. So similarly, if you ultimately go to the supreme father, then how it is formless? No. Formless is not the actual realization of God. That is the beginning. That may be beginning. To realize the energy of God, that is formless. Just like the sun. The sunshine is formless, but the sun globe is not formless, or the person, the predominating Deity within the sunglobe, he is not formless. The sunshine is formless. So this formless realization... Just like the sun. Sun is also light. Sun is also heat. The sunshine is also light, sunshine is also heat. But this heat and light, energy of the sun, they are not actually the sun. It is only the energy.
Lecture on SB 2.3.1-3 -- Los Angeles, May 22, 1972:
Therefore they are all hṛta-jñānāḥ. Anyone who is impeded by this kāmas, they are less interested (intelligent).
Kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ (BG 7.20). Hṛta-jñāna means one who has lost intelligence. They are captivated by this kind of lusty things. Yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tuccham (SB 7.9.45). Prajā-kāmaḥ, those who want children, great-grandchildren... In Bengali there is a proverb, nāti nāti svarge vati(?). Nāti means grandson, and grandson's grandson. Therefore, "I am living, my son is living, my grandson is living, his son is living, his son is living," in this way, up to seventh generation, if one sees, then immediately he goes to heaven. These are the conception of the materialistic person, that "If I can see a grandson of a grandson, then my life is successful." (laughter) And he's working hard for that purpose. They are called prajā-kāmaḥ. Prajā means many sons in the family. That is considered very aristocrat. Prajā-kāmaḥ prajāpatīn. Devīṁ māyāṁ tu śrī-kāmaḥ. Śrī means beauty. If you want to become very beautiful, either man or woman, then you worship Durgā. Sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktiḥ.
Lecture on SB 2.3.14-15 -- Los Angeles, May 31, 1972:
"Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa." (laughter) Make Vaikuṇṭha. That is my request. Teach from the very beginning of life. Just like, bāla-krīḍa. Bāla-krīḍanakaiḥ krīḍan. By playing, he's becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious. So in our Dallas you go. Make all these, save all these children, those who have come to your shelter. It is the duty of the father and mother.
It is the duty of guardian to save the dependents from the impending danger of death, repeated birth and death. So if you cannot save these children, then it is useless. Save them. So we have got our center in Dallas. All children should go, and the advanced girls, they should go there and take care. Just produce a new generation, just like Parīkṣit Mahārāja. Produce a new generation. Bāla-krīḍanakaiḥ, from the very childhood, thinking of Kṛṣṇa, playing of Kṛṣṇa, eating of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa... Then he cannot become otherwise. Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja, he was child, five-years-old child, he was teaching his class fellows. So they refused that "Prahlāda, why you are bothering with this? When we shall get old, we shall think of this Kṛṣṇa." "No," he insisted. "No. Kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha, durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma... (SB 7.6.1). You cannot get again such opportunity. So you immediately begin. Immediately you try to become Kṛṣṇa conscious." All right, kīrtana. (devotees offer obeisances) (end)
Lecture on SB 2.9.11 -- Tokyo, April 27, 1972:
Yes. Supeśasaḥ means this. Just like we are old man. Now it has become slackened. But when I was young it was very tight. This is called supeśasaḥ, muscles very tight. Supeśasaḥ means young, all young. Suvarcasaḥ, and luster. When a man is young, there is some luster, attractive luster. This is nature's gift. A woman becomes... A girl becomes full of youth, lustrous. A man, a boy becomes... Attraction. Without attraction, there cannot be sex. And without sex, there will be stopped of generation. So by nature these things are there. So śāstra makes some adjustments. The natural attractions are there, but they know what is the meaning of this attraction. Therefore, according to Vedic rules, the boy is selected by the father, the girl is selected by the father. They are given in marriage so that that natural attraction can be utilized for generating good population, not prostitution. You see? Therefore early marriage, selection by the parents, these are recommended. That is called marriage. Now the boys and girls are loitering in the street, and they are mixing freely and having all business.
Lecture on SB 3.25.9 -- Bombay, November 9, 1974:
That is not possible. I think there was a news in the newspaper, Free Press Journal, that the faith in personal God is diminishing. That means they are becoming more foolish. The faith in personal God is diminishing, percentage diminishing. That means people are becoming more and more foolish. That is natural. This is Kali-yuga. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ (SB 1.1.10). The more this age of Kali will increase, people will diminish in their bodily strength, in their memory, in their mercifulness, in so many ways. Eight kinds of diminishing, decreasing. Actually, we find, even in Western countries, the present generation, they are not as strong as their father or grandfather. Bodily strength decreasing. Memory is decreasing. There is no mercifulness. Now, at the present moment, if somebody is being killed and you are passing, nobody takes care. "Let him be killed." Because dayā, mercifulness, is diminishing. The duration of life diminishing. The bodily stature diminishing. The memory diminishing. Everything is diminishing.
Lecture on SB 3.25.14 -- Bombay, November 14, 1974:
Once begun, it will continue. Even if you fall down, then you are given chance again. What is that? Śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe yoga-bhraṣṭo 'bhijāyate (BG 6.41). Very nice family, brāhmaṇa family. Brāhmaṇa family means Vaiṣṇava family. Brāhmaṇa-vaiṣṇava, brāhmaṇa-paṇḍita. Brāhmaṇa means he must be learned and he must be a Vaiṣṇava. Oṁ tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padaṁ sadā paśyanti sūrayaḥ. Viṣṇu. Therefore in every brāhmaṇa house there is viṣṇu-pūjā, Viṣṇu-śālagrāma. Still. From descent, I mean to say, generation, it is coming down. Brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, they are supposed to worship Lord Viṣṇu. Not only brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra... Śūdra also. Varṇāśramācāravatā puruṣeṇa paraḥ pumān viṣṇur ārādhyate (CC Madhya 8.58). This is statement of Viṣṇu Purāṇa. Varṇāśrama, the execution of duty in the institution of varṇa and āśrama, four varṇas and four āśramas, what is the meaning? The meaning is viṣṇur ārādhyate, Viṣṇu becomes very pleased. That is varṇāśrama-dharma. If you execute as a pakka brāhmaṇa, that means Viṣṇu will be pleased. If you execute your duties as a perfect kṣatriya, then Viṣṇu will be pleased. If you execute your duty as a perfect vaiśya, then Viṣṇu will be pleased. And if you execute your duties as a perfect śūdra, Viṣṇu will be pleased. The purpose is to please Viṣṇu.
Lecture on SB 3.25.28 -- Bombay, November 28, 1974:
If one is interested to know that science, then it is necessary to approach Just like Arjuna was busy, perturbed that he has to fight with his relatives, the other side, and they will be killed. And he was presenting so many problems that, If I kill my brothers, my sister-in-laws will become widow and they will be polluted, and there will be varṇa-saṅkara generation, then the whole world will be hell. In this way he was thinking, the immediate material problems, but when, after arguing with Kṛṣṇa, he could not find out any solution, then Arjuna submitted to Kṛṣṇa, śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam (BG 2.7). "My dear Kṛṣṇa, now I don't want to talk with you as friend, because friendly talk, the talking will be very much, but there will be no benefit." Generally we do so. We talk with some person, some friend, without any duty, just to waste time. That is not the way. If you go and talk with some person, then you must derive some benefit. Gain should be there, otherwise simply waste of time. And it is the injunction of the śāstra that, unless one is submissive, the superior man should not talk, tad viddhi praṇipātena (BG 4.34), unless one is submissive he will not be able to accept the sublime instruction.
Lecture on SB 3.25.44 -- Bombay, December 12, 1974:
This is business." Vaṇik. Sa vai vaṇik: "This is mercantile man's... But I am Your eternal servant. I do not expect any reward from You." But that Prahlāda Mahārāja, later on he asked Nṛsiṁha-deva, "My dear Lord, one thing I may ask from You." "What is that?" "Now, my father was atheist number one, and he has committed so many offenses at Your lotus feet. Now he is killed. So I want that he may be excused and given liberation." So he was already liberated. Still, as affection son, he was anxious to know, "Whether my father will be liberated or not?" So this was confirmed by the Lord: "Not only your father, his father's father, his father, his father, up to fourteen generations, everyone is liberated—because a Vaiṣṇava son like you is born in this family."
Lecture on SB 3.25.44 -- Bombay, December 12, 1974:
"Whether my father will be liberated or not?" So this was confirmed by the Lord: "Not only your father, his father's father, his father, his father, up to fourteen generations, everyone is liberated—because a Vaiṣṇava son like you is born in this family."
So my point is: by serving the Supreme Lord, one gives the best service to the family, because if one becomes a Vaiṣṇava, pure Vaiṣṇava, the whole family, up to fourteen generations, they become liberated. Therefore tīvreṇa bhakti-yogena. We should not divert our attention for any other service. We should simply concentrate for rendering service to the Supreme Lord. This is the conclusion. Tīvreṇa bhakti-yogena mano mayy arpitam. Mayi, "unto Me, the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa." This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Always thinking of Kṛṣṇa, mayi. That will help. Tīvreṇa bhakti-yogena. Always... That is also advised in Bhagavad-gītā: man-manā, mad-bh... Man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ. Your mind should be engaged always in Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa or Rāma, which form ever you like-Viṣṇu form, or Lord Viṣṇu, Nārāyaṇa, Kapiladeva. There are innumerable forms of God. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam (Bs. 5.33). So Rāma, Nṛsiṁha, Varāha, Kṛṣṇa, Kapiladeva, Balarāma—there are so many forms. So any one of Them, whichever you like... Everyone is... Just like Hanumān. He liked Rāmacandra forms, and Arjuna liked Kṛṣṇa's form. But there is no difference between Rāma and Kṛṣṇa. Rāmādi-mūrtiṣu kalā-niyamena tiṣṭhan nānāvatāram akarod bhuvaneṣu kintu (Bs. 5.39).
Lecture on SB 3.26.19 -- Bombay, December 28, 1974:
And he is thinking that he is enjoying. Just like the pig. He is also thinking he is enjoying stool. He is also thinking. Similarly, you will find also, human society. They are eating different types of foodstuff. "One man's poison... One man's food is another man's poison." Suppose one man is eating something. Another man will say, "Eh! What he is eating?" But he is also enjoying. He is also.
So this is going on. Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham (BG 4.11). And they are worshiping also different types of deities. Śrī-aiśvarya-prajepsavaḥ. Generally, in the material world they are after śrī, śrī, meaning beauty; aiśvarya, opulence, money; śriyaḥ, aiśvarya, and prajā, children, or good generation, dynasty, family. They want to create family. In the Western world there is "lord" family. In this, our Eastern, there are many big, big families. So śrī-aiśvarya-prajepsavaḥ. The materialistic, they are after this. They want to see very beautiful woman in the family, the man's wife, his son's wife, his grandson's wife, very beautifully dressed, ornamented. Śrī, that is called śrī, beauty. And they must have money to enjoy. Śriyaḥ aiśvarya, and prajā. So they are after the worshiping of demigods.
Lecture on SB 6.1.11 -- New York, July 25, 1971:
Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Very simple and easy. You are seeing practically. You boys and girls who are participating in this movement... We have got sixty branches all over the world. Outside India... India, we have got four branches only. But fifty-six branches are outside the world, outside India. And they're all foreigners. Four years, or three years ago, they did not know who is Kṛṣṇa. Now they are chanting, dancing, enjoying Kṛṣṇa conscious life. This is practical proof how Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is effective. Before me, from India, many swamis came, but actually they could not induce the Westerners, especially the young generation, to any Indian cultural movement except this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. That's a fact, historical.
So my request to you all, those who are present here: try to understand the philosophy. You're educated, grown-up boys and girls, gentlemen, ladies. We have got books, immense literature, big, big voluminous book. If you want to understand this philosophy through books, we are not in scarcity. We can supply you volumes of books. These books, some of them are demonstrated, but, if you do not like to take so much trouble to read over the book, then simply come and chant and dance with us and take prasādam, go home happy.
Lecture on SB 6.1.41-42 -- Surat, December 23, 1970:
You simply understand that the whole material creation is existing in one fourth of My energy." So that is understanding of Bhagavad-gītā. We have to understand what is Kṛṣṇa.
So here it is also said that yena svadhāmni bhāvāḥ. The svadhāmni bhāvāḥ. This goodness, this passion, this mode, they are also represented in the spiritual world. They are also represented in the spiritual world, svadhāmni bhāvāḥ, but a perverted reflection is represented here only. Everything is there. Otherwise, there cannot be any creation. The Vedānta says, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Everything, whatever we see, it has got a source of generation, and that is Brahman, Absolute Truth. So these guṇas, these material guṇas, they are also generated from the Absolute Truth. That is explained in Bhagavad-gītā also. But here everything is perverted reflection. Therefore we see in a different way it is represented. Guṇa-nāma-kriyā-rūpair vibhāvyante yathā-tatham. And those qualities, guṇa-nāma, guṇa-nāma-kriyā-rūpaiḥ, when the qualities begin to act, they are represented in different varieties, these qualities.
Lecture on SB 6.1.56-62 -- Surat, January 3, 1971, at Adubhai Patel's House:
"Those who are devotees of Lord Viṣṇu, they are sura." Asuras tad-viparyayaḥ: "And those who are not Viṣṇu bhaktas, they are asuras." Just like Rāvaṇa was very great devotee of Lord Śiva; still, he was a asura. Hiraṇyakaśipu, he was a great devotee of Lord Brahmā, but he was considered asura. So anyone who is not devotee of Lord Viṣṇu, he is asura. That is the verdict. Asuras tad-viparyayaḥ. And this piṇḍa-dāna is offered oblations to the Viṣṇu. So if any man becomes a Vaiṣṇava, he is offering oblations to Viṣṇu every moment, so his forefathers are delivered without any trouble. Without any trouble. If one's son becomes a Vaiṣṇava in the family, he can deliver fourteen generations, up and down. That is the verdict. Not only verdict, this is the version in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Lecture on SB 7.5.1, Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, January 12, 1973:
There are three methods in understanding Vedas, and their language, their process, is very difficult. Therefore Vyāsadeva, considering the immediate inauguration of Kali-yuga... Because Vyāsadeva appeared at the end of Dvāpara-yuga. So before writing these Vedas, Vyāsadeva, by Vyāsadeva, there was no written scripture. Therefore these Vedas are called śrutis. People learn it simply by hearing, śruti. Śrotram. Śrotriyam. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham (MU 1.2.12). Śrotriyam means the guru must be (an) expert who has heard from his bona fide spiritual master. That's śrotriyam, not śaukram. Śaukram means generation by semina. And śrotriyam, generation by hearing from the bona fide spiritual master. Śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham. After hearing, one must be firmly fixed up in brahma-jñāna. Brahma-niṣṭham. This is called śrotriyam.
Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- New York, April 9, 1969:
Therefore he is called Svayambhuḥ. And next is Nārada. Svayambhūr nāradaḥ. Nārada is born out of Brahmā. Svayambhūr nāradaḥ and śambhuḥ. Śambhuḥ is also born of Brahmā. Śambhuḥ means Lord Śiva. So he is also one of the ācāryas. Svayambhūr nāradaḥ śambhuḥ kumāraḥ kapilo manuḥ (SB 6.3.20). Kumāraḥ means...
These Kumāras, they are also sons of Brahmā, but they are called Kumāras, brahmacārīs. When they were born... Because Brahmā wanted at that time to create living entities to fulfill the whole universe, so he wanted so many sons and grandsons. So he requested his four Kumāra sons, "My dear boys, you get yourself married and increase generation." But the Kumāras, they said, "My dear father, we are not going to marry. We are not going to be entangled in this material way of life. We shall remain as brahmacārīs and cultivate Kṛṣṇa consciousness." Oh, the father was very angry. Oh, you are refusing my order? So when he became angry... Angry means that is Rudra. So from that anger Lord Śiva was born. Therefore he is called Rudra. And he was Rudra, his name was Rudra because he was crying from the very beginning of his birth. So anyway, Rudra is also one of the authorities, Rudra, or Lord Śiva.
Lecture on SB 7.6.3 -- Montreal, June 16, 1968:
So, so far the symptoms of this age are concerned, it will gradually deteriorate, gradually. We have got experience also, practical. Things are moving very rapidly toward worst, not towards best. Things are moving very rapidly. This is the symptom of this age. So our program is that they are trying to adjust things. Things cannot be adjusted unless we stand on the spiritual platform, because the actual necessity is spiritual demand. The best example is your country. Materially, you are so much advanced. No other country can be compared. But a section of younger generation, they feel frustrated, confused. Why? They are brought up very nicely. The government system is very nice. They can get education. Everything is complete. But still, they are not happy. They are finding something else which will make them happy. Why? This is spiritual demand. Just like this child cannot express what is the trouble. May be some ant is there within the bedding, and it is cutting on his delicate body, but he cannot express what is the actual trouble. Cries, expression of difficulty.
Lecture on SB 7.9.9 -- Montreal, July 4, 1968:
Yes. Kṛṣṇa is bluish. Kṛṣṇa's color is the sky. When you see the clear sky, bluish sky, are you not very happy? "Oh, today is very nice day, blue sky." Especially in this country, when the sky is always overcast with cloud. So why you appreciate the color of the sky so much? That is Kṛṣṇa's color. Kṛṣṇa's body, there is a ray, brahma-jyotir. That brahma-jyotir is reflected in the sky. That brahma-jyotir is outside this material sky, but that is being reflected. Therefore the sky's color, it appears bluish. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi koṭiṣv aśeṣa-vasudādhi vibhūti-bhinnam (Bs. 5.40). It is stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā, "On account of distribution of the rays of His body, the brahma-jyotir, there are generation of innumerable universes." So all these universes—this is one of the universes—they are in that brahma-jyotir, and that brahma-jyotir is being reflected in the sky, and sky is so beautiful. So how much beautiful is Kṛṣṇa, just we can imagine. Just like the sunshine.
Lecture on SB 7.9.10 -- Montreal, July 12, 1968:
So Prahlāda Mahārāja says that this person who is very much proud of his intelligence, his aristocracy, his wealth, his education, he can become proud, but by that prideness he cannot purify himself. But this person, even if he is born in the family of a dog-eater, because he has engaged his everything, mind, words, and body, in the service of the Lord, he can purify not only himself, but his whole family. That is the prerogative of a devotee. If there is a pure, sincere devotee in a family, then that family, up to seven generation up and down, they are also liberated. That information we have got in the Vedic scripture. So Prahlāda Mahārāja says that proud man who is simply proud of his qualification of this body, he cannot even purify himself, and what to speak of purifying his family. But this man who is born even in the family of a dog-eater, but because he has engaged himself fully and solely in the service of the Lord, he not only purifies himself, but he purifies his whole family. Sa-kulam. This very word is prāṇaṁ punāti sa-kulaṁ na tu bhūrimānaḥ. Yata bhakti-hīnasya trai-guṇa garbhayoḥ(?) bhavanti.
Lecture on SB 7.12.2 -- Bombay, April 13, 1976:
If you become a devotee of Kṛṣṇa... Just like in our institution they are being trained up as devotee, so to rise early in the morning is automatically there. There is no separate training. Because he is devotee, he has to rise early in the morning for offering maṅgala-āratika, and you have got our order that everyone must attend the maṅgala-ārati. That is automatically brahmacārī. Eh? Sāyaṁ prātar upāsita. And what is the upāsana? The first guru. Guru, agni, arka—means sun—and then God. Therefore you see in our Deity room there is picture of guru first of all. First of all your guru, then his guru, then his guru—at least four, five generation, because the spiritual knowledge is received through the paramparā. I have received from my guru; you are receiving from your guru; and my guru received from his guru; he received his guru. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). Ādau gurvāśrayam. You cannot learn to become a perfect human being without accepting guru. Then you remain a rascal. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). That is the Vedic injunction.
Lecture on SB 7.12.4 -- Bombay, April 15, 1976:
There are so many divisions of caṇḍālas. Pañcama. They are called pañcama. So the whole thing is topsy-turvied. We have given up our own culture and imitating the foreigners and the Western country. That also we cannot do very properly because we are meant for different purpose in India. In India, one who has taken birth in India, it is understood that in his previous birth he tried to cultivate spiritual culture; therefore he has been given the opportunity to take birth in India. India is so fortunate. But as soon as he takes birth, the rascal leader spoils him, the rascal father spoils him, the rascal teacher spoils him. So what can they do, the poor younger generation? They are being taught that "The spiritual culture is useless. Because we are so much spiritually inclined, the foreigners came and they ruled over us. Now give up all this nonsense. Become technologist." This is going on.
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 11, 1972:
This is the fact. Yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-suhkhaṁ hi tuccham. Here, the happiness, the so-called happiness is maithuna, maithunādi. Maithunādi means here happiness begins from maithuna, sex intercourse. Generally, people..., a man marries. The purpose is to satisfy sex desire. Then he begets children. Then again, when the children are grown up, they, the daughter is married with another boy and the boy is married with another daughter, another girl. That is also the same purpose: sex. Then again, grandchildren. In this way, this material happiness—śriyaiśvarya-prajepsavaḥ. The other day we discussed. Śrī means beauty, aiśvarya means wealth, and prajā means generation. So generally, people, they like it—good family, good bank balance and good wife, good daughter, daughter-in-law. If one family is consisting of beautiful women and riches and grea..., many children, he is supposed to be successful. He's supposed to be most successful man. So śāstra says, "What is this success? This success is beginning with sex intercourse. That's all. And maintaining them."
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 6.254 -- Los Angeles, January 8, 1968:
Just like citizen, good citizen. Good citizen means who abides by the law of the state. It doesn't matter what he is. Similarly anyone, either he may be a Christian or may be Muhammadan or may be Hindu, that doesn't matter. Anyone who accepts the Supreme Lord, God, and abides by the laws of God, or laws of nature, he's called religionist or an advanced human being. But Kṛṣṇa says, "Either advanced or not advanced, that doesn't matter. It is a kind of dress only. But I am the father." Ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā (BG 14.4). Just like father is the seed-giving agent into the womb of the mother, and then the child, baby, comes out... Without the combination of father and mother, there is no possibility of generation. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa says that "In all species of life, the living entities, I am the seed-giving father, and this material nature is the mother." Nobody can deny. Because our this body... Just like the child's body is made by the mother. Father gives the opportunity to develop the body, and the mother supplies the ingredients for developing the body, similarly, God impregnates, God impregnates material nature with the living entity, and they come out in different forms: aquatics, birds, beasts, animals, trees, plants, vegetables, so many. And Kṛṣṇa says that "I am the father of all of them."
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 6.254 -- Los Angeles, January 8, 1968:
I am not your son," oh, that is son's prerogative. He may deny it if he doesn't believe his mother. Now what is the proof that one man is my father? The mother is the proof. There is no other source of understanding who is my father. If a boy wants to understand, "Who is my father?" the only authority is the mother. Mother will say, "My dear boy, my dear child, here is your father." You have to accept. If you say, "I don't accept. I must have proof that he is my father." How it is possible? It is not possible. Similarly, the Vedic literature is to be considered the mother and Vedic literature says, janmādy asya yataḥ: (SB 1.1.1) "The Supreme Absolute Truth is that who is the source of all generation, all emanations." And what is that source? Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that "I am the father." So if you believe scriptures, Vedic literatures, if you believe Bhagavad-gītā, then you have to accept Kṛṣṇa as the supreme father because the mother... Vedic literature is considered to be the mother. She gives evidence that Kṛṣṇa is the father. Just like mother gives evidence who is your father, similarly, the Vedic literatures is compared to a mother, and the Vedic literature says that Kṛṣṇa is the father. In your Christian literature, Bible, Jesus Christ is accepted as the son of God. He presented himself as son of God. And here Kṛṣṇa says that "I am the father." So there is no contradiction. The son of God also says about God, and the father also says about the God, Himself. The son of God says that "You surrender unto God," and God says, "You surrender unto Me." Then where there is contradiction? There is no contradiction.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.358-359 -- New York, December 29, 1966:
The Supreme Source cannot be unconscious. Why? Because we are conscious being. So we are also emanation from the Supreme Lord, the living entities. Some of the living entities are moving, some of the living entities, they do not move. Just like the trees, the hills, the mountains, they have got also their life. So they are not moving. We are moving. Man, human being, cats, dogs and ants, so many there are. So they are conscious. So, unless the Supreme Lord is conscious, the Supreme Source of all generation, wherefrom this consciousness can come? So the philosophy that the Supreme Source is void, how you can maintain? Wherefrom this consciousness comes? They say that consciousness is generated by the combination of matter. Up till now, no scientist has proved that, by combination of chemicals and matter, physical things, one can produce consciousness. So the Bhāgavata very nicely describes that the Supreme Source of everything, He is conscious. Conscious. Janmādy asya yataḥ anvayāt itarataś ca (SB 1.1.1).
Sri Isopanisad Lectures
Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 10 -- Los Angeles, May 15, 1970:
Then how to know my father? By hearing from the authority, mother. That's all. Simple thing. Similarly, things which are beyond our experimental knowledge you should not try to understand by your imperfect senses. That is not possible. If you cannot know your material father by experimental knowledge, how you can know the Supreme Father by experimental knowledge? The original father... The father of the father, father, father, you go on searching father, and the original father is Kṛṣṇa. So if you cannot understand your material father, the next generation, by experimental knowledge, how you can know God, or Kṛṣṇa, by experimental knowledge? Can you answer this, anyone?
Festival Lectures
Nrsimha-caturdasi Lord Nrsimhadeva's Appearance Day -- Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.5.22-34 -- Los Angeles, May 27, 1972:
We are trying to satisfy our hankering in so many ways in material life. Actually we are hankering after Kṛṣṇa. Just like a small child, it is crying. It cannot express, but it is wanting the mother's breast feeding. So you cannot stop him crying unless it is transferred to the mother. Similarly, actually we love Kṛṣṇa. That is a fact. Because we love Kṛṣṇa... Therefore you, who did not hear even the name of Kṛṣṇa, say, four or five years ago, why you after so much Kṛṣṇa? This is the proof, that actually we are after Kṛṣṇa. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is being accepted in Western countries by the younger generation. Why? Because every one of us, we love Kṛṣṇa. But it is now covered by māyā. We have to simply take out the covering, māyā; then we are Kṛṣṇa conscious.
Nrsimha-caturdasi Lord Nrsimhadeva's Appearance Day -- Bombay, May 5, 1974:
"My dear Prahlāda, whatever you like, you can ask." He never asked anything. But he was so kind. That is the example of a Vaiṣṇava son in the family. Despite so much troubles given by his father, still, he begged from Narasiṁhadeva, "My Lord, my father has committed so many offenses. Kindly give him liberation." He did not ask anything for himself. So Narahari, Nṛsiṁha-deva, immediately said, "Why do you speak of your father? Your father's father, his father, fourteen generations—all liberated because a son like you is in this family." So this is the benefit. If a son becomes a pure Vaiṣṇava, devotee, he can deliver fourteen generation. That is a special prerogative because he is born in a certain family. So what we can give service to the family, nation, materially? If we become devotee, we can give best service to the nation, to the family, to the humanity. That is the philosophy.
Ratha-yatra -- San Francisco, July 5, 1970:
And if you go there, then you haven't got to come back in this material world, which is called duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). It is the place of miseries as well as temporary. Even if we accept this place, miserable place, you will not be allowed to live here for long. You will have to quit this stage. Therefore it is called aśāśvatam. This is our position. In the Bhagavad-gītā, the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself says that this is duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam. So the human form of life should endeavor how to get out of it.
In this country especially, in all other countries also, the younger generation are not very satisfied. In your country, they say that the frustrated community, the confused community, the hippies. But I have got all sympathy for these frustrated community, everywhere. They should be frustrated. In the Vedānta-sūtra it is said that athāto brahma jijñāsā. This human form of life should feel frustration.
His Divine Grace Srila Sac-cid-ananda Bhaktivinoda Thakura's Appearance Day, Lecture -- London, September 3, 1971:
There are two kinds of genealogical tables, one by the semina-father, his son, his son, like that. That is material genealogical table. And there is one spiritual genealogical table, disciplic succession. Just like Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa, the original father, Supreme Personality of Godhead, He spoke the Vedic knowledge to Brahma, Lord Brahma. He spoke to Nārada. Nārada spoke to Vyāsa. Vyāsa spoke to Madhvācārya. So in this disciplic succession, Lord Caitanya, from Lord Caitanya, the six Gosvāmīs, and similarly, coming down, down, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, then Gaurakiśora dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja, then my spiritual master, then we are, next generation, my disciples.
Govardhana Puja Lecture -- New York, November 4, 1966:
He says, "My dear boy, we should not give up this paramparā." Parampara means coming from disciplic succession or from generation. My father did it, my father's fathers did it. So every religious ceremony, and according to Vedic rituals, they are from paramparā, family or society-wise or community-wise. In every country there is. So he says that "This paramparā, this successive generation, we have been doing this, and we should not give it up." He understood the Kṛṣṇa's purpose, that "He is asking. He is very intelligent boy, so He is asking me all these questions just to forbid me." That He's just... "Like father like son." The father was also intelligent.
Arrival Addresses and Talks
Arrival Lecture -- Gainesville, July 29, 1971:
"I am not a merchant, Sir, that by giving You some service I'll take some return. Please excuse me." Nṛsiṁha-deva was very much satisfied: "Here is a pure devotee." But the same pure devotee requested the Lord, "My Lord, my father was atheist, and he has committed so many offenses, so I beg that my father may be liberated." And Nṛsiṁha-deva said, "Your father is already liberated because you are the, his son. In spite of all his offenses, he is liberated, because you are his son. Not only your father, but your father's father, his father up to seven generations, they are all liberated." So if Vaiṣṇava appears in a family, he liberates not only his father, but his father, his father, his father, his father, in that way. But that is the best service to the family, to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. Actually, it has happened. One of my students, Kārttikeya, his mother was so much fond of society that usually when he wanted to see his mother, mother says "Sit down. I am going to the dancing party." That was the relationship. Still, because he, this boy, is Kṛṣṇa conscious, he was talking of Kṛṣṇa to his mother many times. So at the time of death the mother asked the son, "Where is your Kṛṣṇa? He is here?"
Arrival Lecture -- Los Angeles, May 18, 1972:
Lord Caitanya desired that "In all the towns, in as many towns and villages as there are on the surface of the globe, My name will be broadcast." He is Kṛṣṇa Himself, svayaṁ kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa caitanya-nāmine, simply changing His name as Kṛṣṇa Caitanya. So His prediction will never go in vain. That's a fact. So my plan was that "I shall go to America. America is the leading country of the world. If I can convince (the) younger generation of America, they will take up." I am old man. I came here at the age of seventy years; now I am seventy-six. So my warning is already there. In nineteen hundred and seventy-one, I had a severe heart attack. You know, all. So the mission of Caitanya Mahāprabhu is now in your hands. You are American boys and girls, very intelligent and graced by Kṛṣṇa. You are not poverty-stricken. You have enough resources, prestige. Everything materially, you are all well-equipped. If you kindly take this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement seriously, your country will be saved, and the whole world will be saved.
Arrival Lecture -- Los Angeles, May 18, 1972:
It is so universal. And it is open; there is no secrecy. It is not that "I shall give you some secret mantra, and give me some money, I go away." It is open.
So I especially appeal to the Americans, whose boys and girls are helping me so much, please take this philosophy, try to understand this philosophy. Make your life successful—your country and the whole world. You are helping other parts of the world who are not very much developed with money, resources. That is a very good idea. But in your country you do not see how the younger generation are going astray, how they're baffled and confused. You should take care of this. The flower of your country, they are becoming hopeless, confused. Try to save them. And this is the only remedy, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that can save your country and the whole world.
Arrival Lecture -- Paris, July 20, 1972:
This saṅkīrtana movement was started by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu five hundred years ago for mitigating the sufferings of the people of the world. He predicted that in every village, in every town on the surface of the globe, let this saṅkīrtana movement be spread out and people will be happy and they'll find Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. That was His prediction. Actually this is happening now. So our simple method—we go everywhere all over the world, chant this Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, and we attract people, especially younger generation, boys and girls. Sometimes the newspaper reporters they ask me, "Why these young men and young women they are very much attracted with this movement?" I replied, "That is the success of the movement, because younger generation, they are the flowers, the future hope of the country, of the world. If they take this movement seriously then the whole world will be happy." Vedic civilization desires that everyone be happy. Sarve sukhino bhavantu. Vedic civilization is not animal civilization, exploiting others... Giving something to others. Sometimes the people, they think that India comes to the foreign country to take qualification for earning livelihood. Actually they come here when... One of my Godbrothers long ago, he came to England Lady Willingdon challenged the preacher that "In your country the people come here, they take some degree and go to back to their country and become big man.
Initiation Lectures
Initiation of Hrsikesa Dasa and Marriage of Satsvarupa and Jadurani -- New York, September 5, 1968:
That is the idea of gṛhastha life. And many devotees... There are twelve selected personalities who are considered to be the authority of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Out of twelve authorities, seven authorities were all gṛhasthas, householders. Caitanya Mahāprabhu's associates, Nityānanda Prabhu, Advaita Prabhu, Gadādhara, and Śrīvāsa, and Caitanya Mahāprabhu Himself, they were all householders. So it is not that simply sannyāsī or brahmacārī can realize Kṛṣṇa consciousness and not the householders. No.
So in our association we welcome this sort of marriage between trained brahmacārī and brahmacāriṇī so that we can welcome nice children for future Kṛṣṇa conscious generation. That is our viewpoint. So... And initiation... Initiation means to begin spiritual life. According to Vedic culture, there are two births. One birth is from the gṛhastha parents, father and mother, and the other birth is between the spiritual master and Vedas. The Vedic knowledge is considered mother, and the spiritual master is considered the father. And by the help of the spiritual master, when one gets into transcendental knowledge, that is called second birth. So janmanā jāyate śūdraḥ:
Wedding Ceremonies
Wedding of Syama dasi and Hayagriva -- Los Angeles, December 25, 1968:
"I am happy," or "We are happy," they are under illusion, māyā. That is called māyā. Actually, there is no happiness, because the Supreme Personality of Godhead says it is a place of misery. How you can make it comfortable place?
So this is one side. Another side, that some way or other, since I have begun this movement in this country, generally, the youngsters, they come to me. Maybe to some other reasons. But my disciples up to date, they're all from twenty to thirty years old. Those who are thirty, thirty-two years, they're old. They're amongst the elder generation. But I see the boys and girls, they come to me as friends. But according to our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, we do not allow boys and girls living without any marriage bondage. Illicit sex life we don't allow. We prohibit four things: illicit sex life, intoxication, and meat-eating and gambling. Those who become our student, we prohibit first of all these four things. And if we find some of the girls and some of the boys, they are strictly following, and if they are agreeable, then we arrange for their marriage.
General Lectures
Speech to Indian Audience -- Montreal, July 28, 1968:
Recently, you know, some yogi came, and he simply bluffed so many people that "If you pay me thirty-five dollars, I will give you one personal mantra, and you will be in transcendental life," or so many things. So thousands and thousands of European boys and girls, as well as in America, they flocked together, but later on, they were frustrated. That means while the Indian youths are coming to the Western countries for advancement of technological knowledge, the Western boys and girls, they are hankering after spiritual life. This I have very particularly studied. I am here, not in Canada, in America. I came here in 1965, and I am studying the mind of the younger generation especially. They are hankering after something, spiritual enlightenment, not only in America, also in Europe. And they expect something from India because... It is a fact. I have read one book written by one Chinese gentleman. That book is recommended in the New York University for study. That Chinese gentleman is very learned man. He has given comparative studies of all religion and philosophies, but he recommends that "If you want to study religion as it is, then you have to go to India." So our Indian spiritual culture is still adored and worshiped by the learned section of every part of the world.
Lecture -- Seattle, October 4, 1968:
So you go on finding out what is the cause of this, what is the cause of this, what is the cause of this, then you'll find Kṛṣṇa. Sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam. And Vedānta says, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). You cannot say something has sprang automatically. That is foolishness. Everything has a source of generation. Everything. That is intelligence. Don't say... Just like in modern science says that "There was a chunk and there was creation—perhaps." That is also "perhaps," you see. So this kind of knowledge is useless. You must find out. If I ask the scientist, "What is the cause of this chunk?" they cannot reply. So find out the cause, and you'll find that... If I cannot find, then we have to follow... Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186), we have to follow the authorized ācāryas. If you be Christian, just follow Jesus Christ. He says, "There is God." Then you accept there is God. He says that "God created this. He said that 'Let there be creation,' and there was creation." So we accept this, "Yes. God created." Here also in the Bhagavad-gītā God says, Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo (BG 10.8), "I am the origin." So God is the origin of creation. Sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam: (Bs. 5.1) He is the cause of all causes.
Lecture -- London, September 14, 1969:
Of course, so long we have got this material body, we have to take rest, but this rest is also not required, because in the spiritual world there is no such fatigue. Everyone is always active. So that is perfectional stage. Bhavantam evānucaran nirantaraḥ praśānta-niḥśeṣa-mano-rathāntaraḥ. And how one can be pacified fully? When he does not manufacture the fulfillment of desire. We manufacture. The whole material world is going on by manufacturing ideas. The so-called scientists, the so-called philosophers, poets, they are manufacturing ideas that "We shall be happy in this way, in that way." So this will not help us, this manufacturing. I may be satisfied by some manufactured ideas. Just like in U.S.A. especially, the frustrated, confused younger generation, they are manufacturing ideas that "We shall be happy in this way." But that is not possible. You cannot be happy. So long you manufacture ideas, you may be pacified for some time, but it will not exist. Therefore you have to stop this manufacturing process, that "I shall be happy in this way." No. That is called free of anxieties.
Lecture -- Bombay, March 18, 1972:
The society must be divided into four classes of orders. There must be intelligent class of men, who are called brāhmaṇas. They must give spiritual education to society. Not that everyone should remain laborer and work hard day and night like hogs and dogs for sense gratification. It is a very dangerous civilization. You cannot expect any peace and prosperity in this type of civilization. Therefore this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is very, very essential, very, very essential. I am very glad to inform you that this movement is being especially received in the Western countries by the younger generation. I am very much hopeful. I am old man of seventy-six years age. Now, I can pass away at any moment, but I am confident that my disciples, who are mostly Europeans and Americans, they will continue this movement, and I wish there will be considerable change on the face of the globe.
Lecture at Auckland University -- Auckland, April 17, 1972:
I was just talking this morning our Swami Hanumān Goswāmī. He was speaking that at the present moment there is a movement amongst the younger section to commit suicide. Why? Why younger section are feeling such frustration and confused in spite of so much educational institution? In your Western country there is no question of poverty. You are all well-to-do, especially... I have extensively traveled over America and Europe, especially America. They are very opulent. I have traveled in Australia and come to your country, New Zealand. So far material necessities are concerned, you are all well-to-do. So why this question of frustration as Swami Goswami Hanuman Prasāda was thinking? Now the younger generation are after suicide. I do not know if this is fact. There is some dearth. So many things are. So actually, there is no cause of frustration. There is very good news for jubilation. That is this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Don't be frustrated. Try to understand this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, how it is scientific, how it is authorized, how it is old, and how it is accepted by great ācāryas, great stalwart learned scholars, and how it is treated by the learned section of all over the world. So our request is that younger section may not feel confused and frustration. There is very nice hope.
Lecture at Bharata Chamber of Commerce 'Culture and Business' -- Calcutta, January 30, 1973:
Prabhupāda: (break) ...immoral(?) generation means godlessness. It is said in the śāstra, yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā sarvaiḥ guṇaiḥ tatra samāsate surāḥ. If you have unflinching faith in the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then all the good qualities of demigods will develop unto you. It is not story. It is fact. Just like these European and American students. They, in their previous life, before becoming Kṛṣṇa consciousness, according to our standard, they were all immoral. Our, in India, illicit sex life still, it is admitted, if it is not followed, to have sex relation with other's wife or other woman except one's wife, that is called immoral or sinful. So in Western countries these things are not immoral or sinful. It is very daily affair. But now, because they have come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they have given up all these things. No illicit sex life. Unless one is married, he must remain brahmacārī or vānaprastha or sannyāsī. Only gṛhastha, duly married wife, he can have sex. This is morality. And you should not kill the animals unnecessarily. That is immoral. You are already intoxicated by the influence of māyā. You should not be more intoxicated. This is immoral. You should not indulge in gambling. These are immoral. So as soon as you become Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then all these immoralities vanish immediately. That is the only. Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā, sarvaiḥ guṇaiḥ tatra samāsate su..., harāv abhaktsya kuto mahad-guṇā. One who is not Kṛṣṇa..., he cannot have any good quality or any morality. That is the decision of the śāstra. So if you want to revive the morality of the society, you must take up this Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then everything will come.
Guest (1): Sir, this..., why we did not have a world with universal brotherhood, universal love?
Lecture at Indo-American Society 'East and West' -- Calcutta, January 31, 1973:
As soon as the spirit soul goes out of this body, it is nothing but bones, flesh and urine and stool and it has to be thrown away. In every society, as soon as the man is dead... So, while he was living, he was acting so nicely, so intelligently. Now as soon as the soul is gone, immediately everything is gone. So do you think it is a combination of bones and flesh? Any sane man will accept it? If you say that something is wanting for giving impetus of birth of life in this body, therefore the body's called dead, that is not a fact. Because after this body's dead, after the soul is gone out of the body, innumerable microbes will come out, decomposition. You cannot say the ingredients which give impetus to generation of life, that is lacking. It is not lacking. Because it is not lacking, therefore millions of other microbes are coming out. That is not a fact, that this is the ingredient of life substance. There are so many arguments.
City Hall Lecture -- Durban, October 7, 1975:
You may not go outside, but wherever you are staying," āmāra ājñāya, "by My order," guru hañā, "you must become a guru"—by the order of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. "Then? I have no education. How can I become a guru? How can I instruct?" Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, "Yes, that I know. But you take My order." Āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra ei deśa (CC Madhya 7.128). "Then what shall I do?" Yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṇa-upadeśa: "You become guru. You haven't got to manufacture anything, any philosophy. You simply instruct whatever is spoken by Kṛṣṇa. That's all. You become a guru." So our request is that you are so many Indians living in this foreign country for generations. So take this instruction of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Because you are coming from India, therefore it is special request to you that "By the order of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, every one of you become a guru." And what shall you have to do? Āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra ei deśa (CC Madhya 7.128). Ei deśa. This South Africa, you are staying here. So you preach as a guru. And what shall you preach? Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṇa upadeśa (CC Madhya 7.128). You haven't got to do anything. The instruction of Kṛṣṇa is there in the Bhagavad-gītā. Don't distort it, but put it as it is. That's your duty. If you do simply this thing... Because in the Bhagavad-gītā it is clearly said that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead... Kṛṣṇa says Himself that mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya (BG 7.7).
Subha Vilasa Home Engagement -- Toronto, June 19, 1976:
The external potency means you're forced. We have no choice. We're forced to undergo repetition of birth and death. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9). Nobody likes to grow old, but this youthful age, soon it will become old age. And nobody likes to die. So present-day civilization is blindly going on. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānās: (SB 7.5.31) the blind leading the blind. People are thinking that "My parents did it. Their parents did it. Generations have done it. So also we engage blindly in materialistic way of life and everything will be okay." But the result is that everyone is simply suffering, and after this lifetime they also have to suffer the consequences of this present life's activities blindly, not knowing that they're responsible for their activities.
So we have a choice now whether to follow a representative of God, Kṛṣṇa, who can bring us to the internal potency of the Lord. This internal potency is not dry. It is the origin of bliss, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1). It is not impersonal, void, lifeless, without any happiness. It is what everyone is actually looking for, simply pervertedly within this material world. So this opportunity is here.
Philosophy Discussions
Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:
Prabhupāda: So different forms, just like human beings, formerly they were very tall, and they are reducing their stature, and at the end of Kali-yuga they will be stature like this. So this is not change of the species. This is changing, just like your father is taller than you, is he not? Is he not taller?
Śyāmasundara: No. I'm taller than he is. But they say because our generation got better foodstuffs than our parents.
Prabhupāda: So therefore, according to circumstances, the stature is changing. It is not the species. It is the same human, but formerly the human being was taller, stouter; now they are reducing in strength, in stature, in memory, in duration of life, span of life, in mercy. That is stated in Bhāgavatam. They do not change every species.
Atreya Ṛṣi: This changing of human size also may be a scientific thing, scientifically because of our conditions, because of our state of consciousness and because of the conditions...
Prabhupāda: Yes. Under certain conditions, changing.
Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:
Hayagrīva: This is Darwin. Darwin's conception of evolution rests on the contention that there is a real genetic change from generation to generation. In other words, Darwin rejects the platonic igos. Igos is the Greek for idea, type or essence. There is no human igos, human type or essence. There are no fixed species. This is in contradistinction to the platonic idea that the species exist in essence or, as Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā, bījam, "I am the seed of all existences." Darwin would not recognize any bījam, or seed, particular type for any species. Rather, he sees shifting, evolving physical forms constantly changing.
Prabhupāda: The different forms are already there. Just like the form of monkeys also there, the form of man is also there, other animals, other birds, beasts. So he has no clear conception how the evolution is taking place, neither he has any idea about whose evolution. He simply takes account of the body. A body never evolves. It is the soul within the body—he evolves, transmigrates from one body to another. Just we see that a child becomes a boy. The..., if the child is dead, it no more evolves. So it is the soul that is concerned. The soul is within the body, and he desires and evolves. That is Vedic conception and that is life. For example, if a man is within an apartment, the man desires to change the apartment to another apartment, it does not mean that the apartment evolves, but the man desires a change, and he goes to different apartment. That is (indistinct). So Darwin has no such conception. He has described the idea of evolution from the Vedas in his own way.
Philosophy Discussion on Arthur Schopenhauer:
Hayagrīva: As to the identity of life and death, he says, "The wisest of all philosophies, the Indian, expresses this by giving to the very God that symbolizes destruction, death, by giving, I say to Śiva, as an attribute not only the necklace of skulls but also the liṅgam, the symbol of generation, which appears here as the counterpart of death, thus signifying that generation and death are essentially correlatives which reciprocally neutralize and annul each other." So it's not death that is the solution.
Prabhupāda: Then what is?
Hayagrīva: What dies will be born again.
Prabhupāda: So what is the solution?
Hayagrīva: The solution is the annihilation of the will to live.
Prabhupāda: How it is possible? So long the living entity is alive, he, he will will, some sort of willing. So that means the willing party, the living being, he is eternal, and the willing, this activity, has to be purified. Then his life will be happy. Willing cannot be stopped, because he is eternal. But he is wrongly willing; therefore he is unhappy. When he will come to the position of willing rightly, then he will be happy.
Philosophy Discussion on Carl Gustav Jung:
Śyāmasundara: He says that there are two kinds of subconscious state. The first one is the personal unconscious, or those personal items which are highly individual from one's previous childhood, from his infantile history, certain things occurred, they were repressed, and so on. These are stored in our own unconscious state and they are aroused into consciousness in dreams and through psychoanalysis. But he also posits another type of unconscious, or subconscious, state called the collective unconscious. He says that evolution has predetermined the human brain to react in terms of basic principles derived from the experience of many generations. In other words, that my ancestors had left impressions in my brain from the time of my birth, how to react according to their experiences. Is this true, that there is a collective experience which is passed on?
Prabhupāda: Yes. That experience we say paramparā. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam (BG 4.2). That is cultivated.
Revatīnandana: He would be more..., he would say there is a German mentality, Russian mentality, English mentality, (indistinct) cultural.
Śyāmasundara: No, no, no. He says that these archetypal tendencies are tendencies to react in a certain manner originating from the remote past, which are true for all humans whether they are primitive savages or whether they are modern men. Just like, well, any tendency...
Philosophy Discussion on Carl Gustav Jung:
Śyāmasundara: Just like when we investigate different folklores, different mythologies all over the world, we find certain symbols which are the same. For instance the swastika, we find that in the Indian mythology and you find it in Māyā or Inca, western Indians' mythologies as well. And different symbols which are common to man all over the globe, whether they are primitive or whether they are advanced, he says that these are archetypal images which for thousands of generations have been passed on in men's consciousness. So that we are composed not only of our own individual thoughts and ingredients but also the ingredients of our ancestors. Is this a fact?
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is called tradition. That is called tradition. But that is not paramparā. Paramparā is different. Paramparā means we get the right knowledge from the supreme. It is not something ac..., what is called? What he is speaking?
Śyāmasundara: Acquired. Archetypal. Means the original type.
Prabhupāda: My acquired knowledge can be changed by understanding from superior. Just like generally we have got bodily concept of life, but Kṛṣṇa says, "No. You are not this body." So this knowledge is not coming to me from tradition, but I learn it from great authorities like Kṛṣṇa.
Philosophy Discussion on Thomas Aquinas:
Hayagrīva: But he goes on to argue, "The inordinate emission of semen is repugnant to the good of nature, which is the conservation of the species. Hence, after the sin of murder, whereby human nature already in actual existence is destroyed, this sort of sin seems to hold a second place whereby the generation of human nature is precluded." Well how, people today would ask, how could the argument of the generation or the, the conservation of the species still hold, since there's so many human beings, since there are almost four billion human beings on this earth, how could this argument still hold that, uh...?
Prabhupāda: That, what is that argument?
Hayagrīva: That sex is only to beget children, for propagation of the species, and any other use is...
Prabhupāda: Sinful.
Hayagrīva: ...sinful.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That we recommend in our, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness: no illicit sex. Illicit sex means not producing..., not for producing children but for enjoyment. That is sinful. And...
| Page Title: | Generation (Lectures) |
| Compiler: | Mayapur, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 01 of Oct, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=103, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 103 |