Prabhupāda: Fifth scene, Lord Caitanya's mother, Śacīdevī, is sitting underneath a tree, a nim tree. It is called nim tree. And the little child on her lap and the visitors, so many visitors are coming, and they are offering some presentation. Somebody is offering gold necklace, somebody offering some bangles, some cloth, some money, and his father, he...what is called...Jagannātha Miśra. Jagannātha Miśra is there? Yes. Jagannātha Miśra, His father. He was, whatever money and clothes and gold and silver, they were coming, he was also distributing to poor men, some dancers. In India there is a system... What you call the eunuchs? Those who are neither male or female.
Gold (Conversations 1967 - 1975)
Conversations and Morning Walks
1967 Conversations and Morning Walks
1968 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Conversation -- March 25, 1968, San Francisco:
Prabhupāda: "...you, under the direction of Lord Śiva. I worshiped Lord Śiva very successfully, and I prayed from him some sources of my happiness. So he has directed me to see you, that you have got that thing. So please give me that." So Sanātana Gosvāmī said "Well, what can I give you? Oh, all right. Can you find out some stone in that garbage?" There were heaps of garbage, and the man searched out and found out a stone. "Sir, do you mean to say this stone?" "Yes." "So what is this?" "This is touchstone. You take it and touch it to iron. It will become gold." "Oh, you are very ... You're so... Now I shall become the richest man in the world. I shall take heaps of iron and touch with this stone, and it becomes gold." So he, with great joy, he went out and he tried that actually, touching the stone, iron is becoming gold. But he thought that, "Lord Śiva directed that Sanātana Gosvāmī has the greatest benediction, I do not think this stone is greatest benediction because it was placed with garbage." So he came back and appealed to Sanātana Gosvāmī that "Lord Śiva told me you have got something most valuable. I don't think this stone is most valuable. Otherwise, why would you keep it in the garbage? You must have something more valuable. So you must give me that because that because Lord Śiva directed me to receive from you." Then Sanātana Gosvāmī told him, "Would you like to take that?" "Yes, sir. I have come for that purpose." So he asked him, "First of all, throw away the stone in the Yamunā River." So he threw away the stone. "Sit down and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa."
Room Conversation -- March 25, 1968, San Francisco:
flute.
Prabhupāda: Wood? It can't be.(?)
Kṛṣṇa dāsa: No. I'd cast it in gold.
Prabhupāda: Oh. This ivory?
Kṛṣṇa dāsa: Yes, that's ivory.
Prabhupāda: So what do you want to do?
Kṛṣṇa dāsa: That would be on the head of the flute.
Prabhupāda: Flute? Oh, nice.
Kṛṣṇa dāsa: Oh, the lion's all right.
Prabhupāda: Very good. Generally, on the head of the flute is given the mouth of the shark. Shark fish. You have seen shark? Like that... But that is also good.
Room Conversation -- March 25, 1968, San Francisco:
Prabhupāda: Praṣṭhipāta, it is called in Bengali. They test gold. By rubbing on the stone, they can understand what is the value of the gold. In India they are simply keeping a stone like this, and you take something golden, and they will at once test by simply rubbing on it. So experienced. By the glazing of the gold they will understand what is the value of this. It is experience. But this stone is used.
Śyāmasundara: Marble?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Now, as soon as you get that church, all the gṛhasthas and brahmacārīs, they will have to bring money. (Laughter) Is that not right?
Devotees: Yes, Prabhupāda.
Room Conversation -- July 16, 1968, Montreal:
Prabhupāda: They sell their products. Just like in your country also, so many things are thrown away so that the manufacturer get chance to sell again. So everyone has got a particular type of profession. The potter, the washerman, and the florist, the grain dealer, the silver or gold dealer, the banker, and... Everything. And the priest, and the warrior. So even in India still, there is no difficulty for draftboard. There is a class, kṣatriya; they will be very glad to be recruited as soldier. They are very strong. Jat. They are called jat, Gurkha. They don't like any other occupation. Fighting they like. The Sikhs. The Sikhs they are jat class, and the Gurkha, oh, the whole British Empire was extended with the help of the Sikhs and the Gurkhas. The Britishers took these Gurkhas and the Sikhs to Burma, to Messopotamia.
Talk -- October 18, 1968, Seattle:
Prabhupāda: No, I am asking this girl. Why? Because your business is to cure your disease. It doesn't matter whether he is a Christian or a Hindu or a Muhammadan. It doesn't matter. Similarly, you have to seek love of God. Wherever it is available, you have to take it. That should be the point of view. It doesn't matter where it is available. One should be hankering after love of Godhead. Love of God. Gold, somebody is after purchasing gold. It doesn't matter where it is available. Similarly, it doesn't matter whether you develop love of Godhead from this scripture or that scripture. Your aim should be whether you are developing love of Godhead or developing love of non-God. That should be the test.
Room Conversation -- October 27, 1968, Montreal, With First Devotees Going to London On Evening of Their Departure:
Prabhupāda: (break) ...gold plate. What did he cost?
Guest: Twenty-dollars.
Prabhupāda: So I'll offer one day sweet rice to Kṛṣṇa in this pot. I have asked already Govinda dasi to make little sweet rice and offer to Kṛṣṇa. Then the pot will be used. Yes. (break) ...India still, amongst the Hindu family, whenever they use some new thing, household, they'll offer first of all to the Deity. Every family has got Deity. Every Hindu family, especially the high class, brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, they must have Nārāyaṇa-śilā. You know Nārāyaṇa-śilā? Śālagrāma.
1969 Conversations and Morning Walks
Conversation Before Lecture -- April 29, 1969, Brandeis University, Boston:
Miss Rose: Oh. Am I gonna dig gold?
Prabhupāda: Oh, you have no money?
Miss Rose: To buy a house? I wish I did. I'd take all of the disciples and put 'em all in one house.
Prabhupāda: Yes. You just make one down payment, and they will pay monthly.
Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 12, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:
Prabhupāda: No. Why not senses? This is Kṛṣṇa. This is Kṛṣṇa. But at the same time... This is the philosophy of Lord Caitanya. Acintya-bhedābheda, simultaneously one and different. That is very easy... Suppose this is gold. But this gold is not the gold mine. There is a difference. It is gold. Similarly, everything is Kṛṣṇa, but still is different from Kṛṣṇa. That is explained in Viṣṇu Purāṇa. Parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktiḥ sarvedam akhilaṁ jagat. Eka-sthānī sthitasyajñer jyotsnā vistāriṇī yathā, parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktiḥ sarvedam akhilaṁ jagat. The same example, that the sun. The sun is, sun-god is situated one place, but it is fiery. Blazing fire. Its heat and light is expanded. You see practically, the heat and light. So whatever this material existence is the sunlight, sunshine. Everything existing on sunshine. It is scientific. Your electricity, your this, that, whatever you take it is all sunshine. All these planets are moving, rotating on the sunshine. Heat. If heat is taken away immediately whole thing spoiled. Therefore everything is resting on the energy of the sunshine, but if you say that "Then let me find out the sun-god in the sunshine," that you will have to go there.
Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 13, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:
Prabhupāda: Yes. Very old.
Guest (1): Because I saw the date, the posture of Lord Buddha when he died in a place, in a village, and I saw Buddha 20 feet long, gold Buddha statue, just the way he lied when he was dead.
Allen Ginsberg: Pari nirvāṇa, yes.
Guest (1): Pari nirvāṇa pose, exactly. Twenty-two feet he was, long. And it was made just after his death.
Allen Ginsberg: What I had understood is that like the Jews and the Muslims, the original first few centuries of Buddhist meditation made use of a wheel for the dharma, or a parasol, or a bo tree as the image of Buddha, as at Sanchi. But no, but no...
Guest (1): So long Buddha was living. After that, when Buddha died, they started making his statue, I think.
Prabhupāda: yes. That is the archeological evidence. Archeological evidence is that Buddha's statues were original.
1970 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Conversation -- December 12, 1970, Indore:
Prabhupāda: Yes, why not? This man... It is to be very carefully tackled. This king is going to die very soon. And as soon as the king dies, the queen's position is very precarious, almost finished. So if she becomes our president, she'll continue to keep her honor and prestige. That's a fact. She's a good lady. We have no objection to make her the president of the local center. And she is American. She will be able to tackle these American boys and girls with motherly affection. And we shall keep her always in good respect so that throughout her life she shall be honored all over as she was, as she was honored with her husband. This is a fact. So you have to convince her. And I think if the other ladies who are..., her daughter-in-law and granddaughters, like that... Because her son is dead. He was the king. This old man being invalid, his son was king. And I think that middle-aged woman was there. You have marked this? She might be her daughter-in-law and the young girls might be grandchildren. One of them, one of the daughters, girl, was very beautiful. So it appears that she comes from the royal family. Rāja-kanyā King's daughters are very beautiful. That is fabulous in India, king's daughter, rāja-kanyā. In India if anybody gets a good dowry and a beautiful wife it is said, arddhe rajatva eka rāja-kanyā(?) Actually we have seen in..., when Devaki was married to Vasudeva, how much dowry. Can anyone imagine now? So many thousands of horses, chariots, elephants, maidservants, all decorated with gold ornaments.
1971 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Conversation with Dr. Weir of the Mensa Society -- September 5, 1971, London:
Prabhupāda: Hiraṇyakaśipu. Gold and women.
Śyāmasundara: Kaṁsa hated Kṛṣṇa and he wanted to kill him but all he could think about was Kṛṣṇa. So somehow or other it boils down that one somehow has to become Kṛṣṇa conscious under some process.
Dr. Weir: (indistinct) even other people, not using that name.
Śyāmasundara: (indistinct) It's God consciousness.
1972 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Conversation -- February 12, 1972, Madras:
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Guest: Money god is greater than Brahma and Śiva and Viṣṇu, just about, unfortunately. The people have made an idol of gold and silver and letter of paper, paper making the promises of government...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Guest: ...which are never kept. (laughter)
Prabhupāda: I was going to say, it is a fraud.
Guest: Fraud.
Prabhupāda: Māyā.
Guest: But that is...
Prabhupāda: It is māyā. I give you piece of paper and you think on thousand rupees. This is māyā.
Room Conversation -- April 1, 1972, Sydney:
Prabhupāda: Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura said, jaḍa-vidyā jato māyāra vaibhava tomāra bhajane bādhā, anitya soṁsāre moha janamiyā jībake karaye gādhā. Jaḍa-vidyā, this material advancement, jaḍa vidyā, they are simply stumbling blocks for advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The more one is enamored by this so-called material advancement, the more he is disqualified to advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Because time we have got limited. If we waste our time for so-called material advantages, then we spoil our time. We cannot utilize the time for Kṛṣṇa consciousness, which is the necessity of human life. Therefore, in the history of India there is opulence, but that opulence is of different kind. By nature they used to enjoy life—enough jewels, enough gold, enough silk, enough food, enough metals. You see? By natural product. They could find where there is a big hill of gold only. These are there. And actually gold is found in some mine within the material arrangement. Why there should not be any hill of gold? As there are hills of stone, and marble, why not gold? You do not know. Your utensils are only plastic. It is worth nothing. So that was their material advancement. Gold, silver, jewels, corals, sapphire, diamond. Just see Kṛṣṇa's palace described. Not these rascal chairs, cushions, but with ivory, gold. And the cushion is as soft as the foam of milk. (laughter) These things are description there. And the rooms are bedecked with jewels. You don't require this electric light at night. And outside these parijāta flowers. You have read all this?
Morning Walk -- June 29, 1972, San Diego:
Prabhupāda: Yes. (chuckles) That is their nonsense. Kṛṣṇa says different thing, but they have manufactured their own way. Is that a temple?
Devotee (1): Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda. It's a nice gold dome.
Prabhupāda: It appears as church. It is a church?
Devotee (1): Yes. I do not know what kind. Christian church. (break)
Ātreya Ṛṣi: Kṛṣṇa has endowed California with a lot of natural beauty.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Interview with the New York Times -- September 2, 1972, New Vrindaban:
Prabhupāda: If one gets a diamond, he possesses something valuable. But in this civilization you are simply making plastic plates and plastic cups. Indeed, in Japan I have seen pasteboard homes. And everyone is thinking that he is advanced. Formerly people used to have golden and silver utensils, but now they have plastic ones, and still they are very proud to be so materially advanced. What is your position? You have a bunch of paper and think, "I am a millionaire." What is the value of that paper? Is that not cheating? However, if we possess gold or diamonds worth a million dollars, that is actual wealth. But we are educated in such a way that we think we are millionaires by paper only. As soon as there is some catastrophe, millions of such dollars could not buy bread. This actually happened in Germany; millions of marks could not purchase one piece of bread. All this is going on in the name of advancement of civilization, and the real purpose of life, God consciousness, is missing. So every thoughtful man should come forward to understand this movement and take it seriously. Why are the people being misled? We just have to try to understand this philosophy, the basic principles of God consciousness.
Room Conversation with Kenneth Keating, U.S. Ambassador to India -- October 14, 1972, New Delhi:
Prabhupāda: Now you are claiming you are proprietor. Say after five hundred years or something somebody may come. The land is there, we come here for the time being and claim "It is my property." But actually who is the proprietor? Actually God is the proprietor. Therefore anything produced out of the land, that is also property of God. Just like if you have got a gold mine in your country. So I am not.... India will not go to claim that "It is my property." It is your property, because it is produced with your land. So if the whole land, whole sky, whole air, whole light, everything belongs to God, then where is your proprietorship? It is stated, bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ buddhiḥ mano eva (BG 7.4). Now, nobody can say "The sky is my property," but there must be some proprietor of the sky.
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Conversation -- March 17, 1973, Mayapur:
Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That will be (indistinct) to us, the land of gold and Golden Avatara (indistinct).
Prabhupāda: I am always (indistinct) to this, my American disciples that you are so much, I mean to say, taken care by God (?), this is... Your position is very good. Now you take to Kṛṣṇa Consciousness, and you become a perfect nation. That I preach always. By the grace of Kṛṣṇa, you have got everything. All material opulence. Now make it plus Kṛṣṇa. Then it will be very nice. Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa. So, these boys are trying, very sincerely and seriously, and I hope, even I do not live many more years, they will carry out this order.
Morning Walk -- April 30, 1973, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: Rascals, they are thinking it is advancement. And if he goes to sell the plastic plates, nobody will pay even cent. But one of those metal plate, if he's in difficulty, he can get some money. This is scientific advancement. Instead of gold coins, now there is papers: "I trust in God. We trust in God." Cheating, "We trust in God." Take hundred dollars. And what is this hundred dollars? It is paper. "We trust in God." By the name of God, I give you. And it is scientific. That's all.
Morning Walk -- April 30, 1973, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: Never use this china clay. Never. No respectable gentleman will use china clay. Still. So if a poor family is in need of money, immediately he can take one Benarsee sari, or some metal utensils to the pawn maker. He'll immediately offer some money. "Yes." So these are conveniences. Investment was in gold ornaments. Still we have seen that so many jewelry shop, silver dishes shop, ornament shop. Still. Every marriage, the father must give at least fifty tolās. I was not a rich man. Still I had to give to my daughter fifty tolās of gold during marriage. Fifty tolās. Two and a half tolās makes one ounce. So what is the value of fifty tolās?
Morning Walk -- April 30, 1973, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: Just see. So that is her stock. Strī-dhana. The husband cannot touch. Then it is criminal. So in case of need, she can convert the ornaments into money. Sometimes there is disagreement with the husband. So she has got some stock. The father gives some ornaments. The father-in-law gives some ornament. The relatives also, during marriage, they present some ornaments. So if he, if she gets hundred tolās of gold, that means at least five hundred...?
Karandhara: Almost five thousand.
Morning Walk -- May 14, 1973, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: Yes, like that...gold.
Devotee: Not cuff links. No those are...
Prabhupāda: Aha, cuffles.
Devotee: Oh, jaya. Do you like I buy from you?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Room Conversation with David Wynne, Sculptor -- July 9, 1973, London:
David Wynne: Yes. Well, Queen Elizabeth the First, a gold coin, very beautiful. And I said this was a work of art, and I showed them. It's a very beautiful thing. And I said, "I could do you one like that." So they... So I got the job. But he was very annoyed.
Śyāmasundara: East India Company, it says on here.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Śyāmasundara: So the coins were given out by the East India Company.
Prabhupāda: Yes. First of all the Britishers went there as East India Company to have trade connection.
Śyāmasundara: Disguise. So we should sell it for any price?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Formerly, people could purchase any amount of coins from the currency.
Room Conversation with David Wynne, Sculptor -- July 9, 1973, London:
Prabhupāda: Any amount of coins. In our childhood... Why our childhood? Even when we were young men, the Indians, generally, they like Guinea gold, British Guinea, what is called, pound?
Śyāmasundara: One pound, one shilling.
Prabhupāda: So in India it was available, any amount. You pay price and take. And they would melt it and make ornament, that Guinea gold. There was no restriction. You can purchase any amount.
Śyāmasundara: Why all of a sudden it changed?
Prabhupāda: But, they have lost all gold. There is no gold, simply paper. That's all. Simply blessing, "Yes, you'll get money." (laughter) But you'll never get. In the bank also, any amount of gold you can purchase. Bank was canvassing that "You take gold from us." I do not know where those gold gone. Nowhere, all over the world, you cannot purchase gold. Even in America.
Room Conversation with David Wynne, Sculptor -- July 9, 1973, London:
Prabhupāda: But you cannot get out with the gold.
Śyāmasundara: No, officially not.
Prabhupāda: Well? Then? Suppose you purchase gold there. If you want to take out, they will not allow.
Śyāmasundara: Not if they find it.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Śyāmasundara: Officially, no, they will not allow.
Prabhupāda: And these currency notes, the price, commodity, has gone so high due to this rascal currency. Because your enemy country, they print counterfeit and they overflood in the market. So how you can check it? You cannot check. I know, during wartime, a Chinese man was coming in Calcutta, and he had a purchasing agent who was my friend. So he would come, and he would give a list of goods, especially rare medicines, and he'll deposit with him bunch of notes, "You spend, purchase, and whatever..." That means all those notes were counterfeit.
Room Conversation with Sir Alistair Hardy -- July 21, 1973, London:
Prabhupāda: Hm, hm, hm. (Yes) No, not Los Angeles. New York.
Revatīnandana: Oh, this Gold, Martin... Some, his name was, in Los Angeles, Gold, Martin Gold.
Sir Alistair Hardy: (Break) ...Tagore thought of in India today. I've always admired Rabindranath Tagore's very much, his poetic writings. Do people in India think much of him today?
Prabhupāda: What about that?
Revatīnandana: Rabindranath Tagore.
Haṁsadūta : If his writings are highly considered by people in India?
Prabhupāda: No, not at all.
Room Conversation -- September 19, 1973, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Therefore one should be inquisitiveness that "I want to be happy. I am arranging for my happiness with so many material paraphernalia, but still I am not happy." This inquiry should be there. That is called jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam. And that is brahma-jijñāsā. So brahma-jijñāsā is not for everyone. Brahma-jijñāsā. And for brahma-jijñāsā one should make a guru, not for any material welfare. If I get some money, if some guru gives me some money, some gold, I think he is Bhagavān. Because I am attached to this gold and material things. That is not śreyas. But people like that. If somebody by miracles give you some money, some gold, they think, "Oh, here is God. Here is God, here is God." But that is not śreyas. And if gold is the standard of happiness, then... There are many persons, Birlas and others, they possess huge stock of gold. Does it mean that they will not die? They will not suffer from disease? But foolish persons, they think, "If I get some gold, then I'll be happy." And that is foolishness. Nothing material will make you happy. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, real happiness means to approach Him. Māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya (BG 9.32). No? What is that? Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ (BG 8.15).
Morning Walk -- December 2, 1973, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: Yes. And unless one is factually desireless, he cannot be happy. The karmī, jñānī, yogi, they are all full of desires. Therefore they are unhappy. Karmīs are the lowest of the unhappies, jñānīs are little advanced, yogis are little more advanced, and the perfection is the bhakta, devotees. Na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ kavitāṁ vā jagad-īśa kāmaye (Cc. Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4). This is bhakta. (break) ...siddhi-kāmī sakali aśānta. Bhukti means karmī, and mukti means jñānī. And siddhi, aṣṭa-siddhi, magic power, mystic power. That is called siddhi. Those who are practicing yoga, if they are actually yogis, they can have aṣṭa-siddhi. Aṇimā, laghimā. They can become smaller than the smallest, heavier than the heaviest. Mahimā, prāpti. They can get anything they like. A yogi can get... Suppose if you want a pomegranate from Kabul, he will get immediately. Yes. That is yogi. As if he is snatching from the tree, yes. Prāpti-siddhi, īśitā. They can force their influence upon anyone. Īśitā, vaśitā. Yogis can hypnotize you. As he will say, you will act. As he will say, you will act. These yogis do that. They take something nonsense, "Now take gold," and you will think it is gold. Just like magician do.
Morning Walk -- December 4, 1973, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: No, because it is material. But we can understand that there... Of course, that is no... That touchstone. The touchstone can create gold. So unlimitedly it can create gold. Touchstone. So, even in material experience we'll find there is certain things which creates unlimitedly, still it remains.
Morning Walk -- December 4, 1973, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: That you will have to learn, just like you have to go to school, there is injunction. But if you do not know what is school, go to a cow farmer(?), then that is your fault. If I say, "You go and purchase this from the market," suppose you have to purchase gold, but you go to a storefront, milk seller, how you will get the gold? That intelligence you must have, that where gold can be had. You must go to the person who is dealing really with gold. But if you do not know, then you will be cheated. That much knowledge you must have.
Morning Walk -- December 11, 1973, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: Insignificant tricks. So if gold is the standard of becoming God, then there is gold mine. So who has created the gold mine, I shall accept Him God. Why shall I you. If gold is the standard, why a little chaṭāka(?) of...? We are not so fools. You can make this trick for other fools, not to us.
Morning Walk -- December 13, 1973, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: Yes, because they are demons they cannot understand. Just like one Christian priest went to some quarters, mine, gold mine. So he was describing that "If you do not worship Lord Jesus Christ, you will go to hell." So they asked, "What is hell?" So when he began to describe—"It is always wet. It is dark. There is no sufficient air, so on, so on"—they could not understand what is hell because they are already in the hell, in the mine. They could not make any distinction that darkness is a very horrible thing. Similarly, these demons they cannot understand what is demonism. Āsuraṁ bhāvam āśritāḥ (BG 7.15). What is that āsura-bhāva? Not to accept God. This is āsura-bhāva. This is demonism. This is the basic principle of... Everyone is trying to deny God. Therefore they are demons. Who was telling that the medical man is considered to be first-class authority?
Devotee: That was Prajāpati.
Morning Walk -- December 18, 1973, Los Angeles:
Prajāpati: ...big gold letters over the whole front of the building where they were having inauguration of vice-president, "In God we Trust," big letters. So they are advertising for us already. For Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: Who is the vice-president?
Devotees: Gerald Ford.
Prabhupāda: Belonging to the Ford family?
Devotee: Not the people that make the cars, no. Different Ford.
Prajāpati: If we were there and we could make one speech in front of that assembled Congress and Senate, the main government of the United States, what were the main points we would stress?
Prabhupāda: Yes. The main point is that "In God we trust," on this slogan... So the same point that, "What do you mean by God and what do you mean by trust? That you do not know." So you have to explain what is God and what is trust, thoroughly, from our books. Our point of propaganda should be that "It is very good that you write this slogan, 'In God we trust,' but nobody has got clear conception of God; neither they do not know what is the meaning of trust. Under the circumstances, so you have to learn it scientifically. And our propaganda is like that, to teach actually what is God and what is trust.
Morning Walk -- December 31, 1973, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: It is very simple. Don't accept paper currency. It must be gold or some metal worth. Just like one dollar, it must be worth one dollar metal. Then it is solved. But they want to cheat. How it can be solved? Because if I pay you one dollar, I must pay you value for one dollar. But it is the cheating process is going on, "I pay you one dollar, a piece of paper. That's all." So you accept cheating, and I also cheat. Government allows. So how the problem can be solved? It is cheating. But the government allows it as law. And you accept, I accept. Then how they can be solved, solution? This is the solution.
Morning Walk -- December 31, 1973, Los Angeles:
Bahulāśva: Real money is gold and silver.
Prabhupāda: Any... It must be value. According to the market price, it must be value. Whatever it may be. Gold is taken, because gold is the most valuable metal. A small piece of gold, it can carry two hundred dollars. But if I give you iron, then you have to bring another, what is called, bus, to carry it. (laughter) So therefore gold standard is accepted everywhere. There is a standard price of gold, so when I pay you money, it must be, carry the value in gold. That's all. Then there is no inflation. The people want to be cheated, and people cheat. That's all.
Bahulāśva: In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Prabhupāda, you say that Kali became gold standardized.
Prabhupāda: That is another point. That one who has gold, he can purchase these four kinds of sinful activities: meat-eating, gambling, intoxication, illicit sex. If you have money, you can get illicit sex from big, big quarters. Is it not?
Karandhara: Yes.
Morning Walk -- December 31, 1973, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: Yes. That's it. They are getting encouragement in their cheating business.
Bahulāśva: They won't let you have any gold.
Prabhupāda: Now they have made law that you cannot store gold?
Karandhara: That's been since 1933.
Prabhupāda: Just see.
Karandhara: Americans cannot own gold, store gold. Pretty soon they are going to pass the same law for silver.
Prabhupāda: Just see. Even they cannot have ornaments.
Morning Walk -- December 31, 1973, Los Angeles:
Jagajjīvana: Does that mean the same amount of gold is here?
Prabhupāda: No, larger scale... Suppose if you want to store, say, thousand kilos or a thousand bags of rice, so you have to pay me gold. But you have no such gold. Therefore large scale industry will be stopped. Just see.
Karandhara: Then the price of rice would go very low.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Then you get actual price and actual value. Goods are there, any part of the world you..., there is enough commodity. But these rascals, they are hoarding, and they are not giving in right time. So people are suffering.
Morning Walk -- December 31, 1973, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: Yes, because they can pay in this paper, the bank will advance. So as soon as you... You have to introduce this metal coins, value. The whole cheating scheme will fail.
Jagajjīvana: In the past there was a lot of gold on the planet. What has happened to it? There used to be a lot of gold on the planet?
Prabhupāda: Yes. They used as utensil, as household pots. Just like now you are advanced, using plastic, because you have become very advanced. So you are using plastic. They were using gold.
Jagajjīvana: So what has happened to that gold?
Prabhupāda: What happened? If you keep utensil at home, what happens? You eat nicely on the plate. That's all. Why you are concerned, what happening? It is in your store. That's all. And gold is such a metal, any part of the country, any part of the world you go, you get immediately value.
Karandhara: Yes. Whenever there is an economic depression, then gold remains valuable. Just like when the stock market crashed in 1929, if you had gold you could still purchase goods. No matter how bad the economy was, people would accept gold as barter, but not currency.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Indian economy was that if you have got extra money, you get gold ornament for your wife. So then your money is stocked there. Or purchase some utensils, silver utensils. That was Indian economy. This depositing in the bank and thinking that I am getting good interest, that is another cheating. It is another cheating. If things are not available, what will you get by getting interest? Therefore I am advising that purchase land and produce our own food. There will be no problem.
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Conversation -- February 6, 1974, Vrndavana:
Guru dāsa: Advanced means such and such a person has spent so many times in the business house, twenty-five years, he gets a gold watch. The only reason I may be more advanced is 'cause I get peace of mind, too, so I stay longer. (break)
Guest (2): We have got an appointment. We have got.... (break)
Guest (3): ...somewhere. Saturday they close at, by 3 or 3:30 so I want to go before that.
Prabhupāda: So, you can go before 3:30. There is no difficulty (laughter)
Guest (3): (Hindi)
Prabhupāda: (Sanskrit) (laughter)
Guest (3): (Sanskrit) bhijāyate.
Prabhupāda: So I have seen this instrument. Destiny is very strong. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur deha upapattaye (SB 3.31.1). Therefore śāstra says that you try for that thing which was not possible in many other lives. In each life everyone gets father, mother, son, and the father's duty to son, son, that is going on. When you take birth as demigod-Indra, Candra, Varuṇa—or as human being or as animal the care-taking business is there. Even the small ant during rainy season, when there is so much flood, they take the eggs on the head—you have seen the red ant?—and finding out some place. The care-taking is there. Even the birds, a sparrow. So when their, the season for laying down eggs, they bring some straws, and keep like that to make a nest for taking care of the eggs. So this taking care by the father and mother, beginning from the ant up to the Indra, Candra devas, that is there.
Room Conversation -- February 13, 1974, Vrndavana:
Dr. Kapoor: Ami vedante(?) gold medalist. I am gold medalist in Vaiṣṇava śāstra. (Hindi)
Prabhupāda: (Hindi)
Dr. Kapoor: If you let me, I wish to give life.
Prabhupāda: (Hindi)
Dr. Kapoor: sixty, about sixty. I want to give my life for this religion.
Prabhupāda: Oh, that's (indistinct).
Dr. Kapoor: Prabhupāda, let's meet.
Prabhupāda: Oh, you remain with us.
Morning Walk -- February 23, 1974, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: No, kuhakam means illusion, magic. Something magician showing. So much money. Just like your this, one bābā, what is...? Satya...? He creates some gold.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Satya Sai.
Dr. Patel: (Hindi) A magician in Gujarat, some Muslim magician. He would ask, not ask for a (indistinct)
Guest (3): He would not...? He would not...?
Dr. Patel: (Hindi)
Indian (3): Mama Chel.
Dr. Patel: Mama Chel. There was one man called Mama Chel. And when the ticket taker comes and asks for a ticket he would say, "All right, take this," and there would be a heap of tickets, railway tickets.
Prabhupāda: Oh. So a magician can do...
Dr. Patel: A magician he was. He would stop that train. Stand behind and stop the train. Stop. He must, people must have got some siddhis by...
Prabhupāda: Ah, the yogic siddhi, aṣṭa-siddhi, aṇimā-laghimā...
Dr. Patel: No, but that, this aṇimā-laghimā, you get, the sāttvika fellows. But these, these people who are...
Prabhupāda: No, no. Anyone can get. It is a practice mechanical.
Morning Walk -- March 7, 1974, Mayapura:
Prabhupāda: No, no. The thing is, unless the people are Kṛṣṇa conscious, either this board or that board, that will not help. First of all, people should know what is the aim of life, what is culture, how the human activity should be directed. The people should know first of all this. Otherwise, changing from frying pan to the fire, it is useless. That is going on. That change, revolution, is going on. Just like the Russian people, they changed the Czarist government into communist government, revolution, but still, they're unhappy. They're trying to change by another revolution. This is going on. Punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām (SB 7.5.30). This is described in the śāstra as "chewing the chewed." Or the same simple philosophy: "This side of stool is better than that side." So he keeps the whole thing, stool. "This side, the dry side, is better and the moist side, wet side, is bad." This is no philosophy. It, it must not be stool. It must be gold. Then it is all right, this side or that side. That philosophy, that the dry side of stool is better than the wet side, this will not help. So first, first of all, human society must know what is the aim of life. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum (SB 7.5.31). We are part and parcel of God, Kṛṣṇa, Viṣṇu. We are suffering on account of our relationship with God. This is the cause of our suffering. Then we have to make plan how to revive our lost relationship with God. Then the... Everything is there in the Vedic literature. All directions are there. So we have to... Just like when we are in danger, we consult some learned man or physician or a lawyer, similarly we have to consult the Vedic culture, how perfect it is. This way?
Room Conversation -- March 16, 1974, Vrndavana:
Guest: Cheating, yeah, tells him that forest leaves are made out of gold to keep the child from crying.
Prabhupāda: Yes. So the father's cheating is not cheating, but from external point of view it is cheating. You want something, I give something. That is cheating. But that cheating is good for you. When father cheats the child, it is good for the child, but it is cheating. Therefore cheating is not always bad.
Guest: Yes. A great Buddhist saint once said the same thing. He says that "All the scriptures and everything, it means just this, is that it's pretending that forest..."
Prabhupāda: Good, good lessons for...
Guest: "...leaves are made out of gold to keep children from crying," meaning that you have to arrive at truth from your own self, your own understanding. Nobody can, you know, no blind following, as you yourself say. I remember correctly that you used to preach and say, uh, that uh, you shouldn't accept anything blindly.
Prabhupāda: That, in the Bhāgavata it is said, sammohāya sura-dviṣām (SB 1.3.24). Lord Buddha appeared for cheating or bewildering the atheistic person. They do not believe in the (indistinct). They did not, did not believe in God, but God is there. Lord Buddha himself is God. Just like if I say I don't want (indistinct), but you come in a different place. So (indistinct) is there, but I am thinking it is not (indistinct). Similarly, God is there—Buddha—but they are thinking that they don't believe in God. This is cheating. God is there. They are worshiping Lord Buddha exactly as we worship Kṛṣṇa. Then is it not the same? Then how do they say they don't believe in God? They are made to believe in God in a different way. That is cheating, and it is good for them. That is written in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, sammohāya sura-dviṣām (SB 1.3.24). (break) They're Australian.
Morning Walk -- April 2, 1974, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Yes. Rascal, he thinks that because "I can make like this, little gold, therefore I have become God." The rascal does not think that "I am making, say, two grains or five grains of gold, but one who has made gold mines, millions, so he will be God or I will be God?" The rascal does not think that. And other rascals follow, "Oh, here is God. Here is God. He is creating gold." You see? Therefore mūḍha.
Morning Walk -- April 4, 1974, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Here Kṛṣṇa is addressed, "Yogeśvara," because the yogic power, that is estimated very much important by the ordinary class of men. So He is the master of all yogic power. Just like here, that gold maker?
Girirāja: Sai Baba?
Prabhupāda: Sai Baba. He is showing little yogic aiśvarya. But people are, because they do not know, they are not aware of Kṛṣṇa, they are taking him as God. You see?
Girirāja: (reads rest of synonyms for this verse) "Translation: If you think that I am able to behold Your cosmic form, O my Lord, O master of all mystic power, then kindly show me that universal self."
Prabhupāda: Now, here is the description of how God manifests. So unless one reads Bhagavad-gītā carefully, they will be misled by this avatāra, that avatāra, that avatāra. You see?
Morning Walk -- April 10, 1974, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Anna-vastra, anna-vastra-dhana. Charity means to give in charity anna and vastra and cows. (break) ...give in charity some paper, one hundred rupees. (laughs) Another cheating. And he is also satisfied, "One hundred rupees." What is this one hundred? It is a paper, a piece of paper. (break) ...earned, black market, white market. Because when one does business, he has to do it, but it should be purified. I have seen the Marwaris, they do that. Although when earning money, they don't care, they do anything, but they give in charity. (break) ...purify the body by taking bath, similarly, the wealth is purified by the charity process, giving it to the brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas. Just like Rūpa Gosvāmī. He accumulated much wealth. He brought in a big boat, all gold coins.
Morning Walk -- April 29, 1974, Hyderabad:
Prabhupāda: That is, means rascal. He does not see Kṛṣṇa's wonderful. If you want to see wonderful things, why don't you see the more wonderful things? But they are foolish; they are captivated with small wonderful things. That means less intelligent. Just like small children, they will be amazed by seeing small wonderful things, but his father will not be. What is the amazement, wonderful thing, Sai Baba has done? If he is creator of gold, then why he is doing business of incense? You know that? He has a big incense business exactly like us. He can create gold? Why there is incense business? (break) Caitanya Mahāprabhu used to give to His mother some gold when there was need of money. "Mother, I got this gold. So you can utilize it." The mother would think that "We are poor men, we have no gold. Wherefrom this boy brings gold?" So he (she) was doubtful because he (she) was thinking, "My son is mad, sometimes crazy." So he (she) would go, "Is it real gold? Just see." Then. "Yes, it is real gold." "Hm, how He got it?" You see. (break) ...many yogis, they make such gold for meeting their expenditures. Yes. Still in India they know how to make gold from copper. Yes. The process is they will drink mercury at night, and in the morning they will urine on the copper coins. And then, after some hours, the copper coins taken and put into the fire, it becomes gold. And it is scientific that some molecules of mercury, if mixed with copper, it is gold. Gold is combination of mercury and copper. But the people cannot mix it. They have tried. That is called alchemist. They tried to mix it. Because they do not know the process, as soon as mercury is put into fire, it immediately goes out. You melt copper, and in hot copper, if you put mercury, it will not melt together. Immediately it will throw away. So some of the yogis, they know. They digest copper, er, mercury, and it comes in the form, urine. And then the copper is put there. There is an interaction, and then put into fire. It becomes gold.
Morning Walk -- April 29, 1974, Hyderabad:
Prabhupāda: You first of all eat mercury then. (laughter) You'll be finished. (break) ...no scarcity. Why should we go to imitate the rascals? We have got enough gold. Kṛṣṇa is supplying gold whenever we require. (break) ...artha-prayojanam. Whatever you need, Kṛṣṇa will supply, if you actually remain dependent on Kṛṣṇa. There are so many literatures of different groups, but who is selling so much? Forty thousand, fifty thousand daily? Unless Kṛṣṇa is helping us. In the history no religion book have sold thirty thousand, forty thousand daily. There is no history. So why don't you see this wonderful thing? All the money that I have brought from USA, India, it is all book fund. Nobody has given. George has given. That is not in cash. And he gave that two lakhs. That was spent for Kṛṣṇa Book. So wherefrom the cash is coming?
Gargamuni: Sales of books.
Morning Walk -- April 29, 1974, Hyderabad:
Prabhupāda: No, he has sold some, but still lying in the store. He published only one thousand copies. Our Nectar of Devotion, the translation of the same book, is selling like hotcakes. Yes. In the university, Temple University, they have made a textbook. And everywhere they like it, Nectar of Devotion. I think... What is our edition at the present moment? Fourth or Fifth edition. And we don't publish less than ten thousand copies. So we have to depend on Kṛṣṇa sincerely. Serve Him, everything, what is required, that will come, some way or other. That is miracle. Why should we try to cheat others, that "I can manufacture gold"? This rascal, if he can manufacture gold, then why he is doing himself business? That is simply jugglery. Even the magicians, they can do. They create so much money. But he is a poor man. Why he remains poor? And everyone thinks of us, that we have got unlimited wealth. You know that?
Gargamuni: Yes. In Māyāpur, when I bring over the karatālas, they are very heavy, two hundred sets of karatālas. So the boatmen say, "Sona, sona." They are thinking it is gold, the karatālas.
Morning Walk -- May 24, 1974, Rome:
Prabhupāda: Well, then you have to give me definition of God. What is God? If you know God, then you can say that "Kṛṣṇa is not God." Otherwise, how you can say He is not God? I give you a piece of gold: If you say, "It is not gold," then you show me what is gold. Otherwise, you are talking nonsense. If you do not know the things as it is, how you can say, "It is not this"? If you know the positive, then you can say the negative.
Morning Walk at Villa Borghese -- May 25, 1974, Rome:
Atreya Ṛṣi: That's inflation.
Prabhupāda: That's all. Because I did not earn this money, I have printed. I am prepared to twenty rupees. So he says, "Why shall I pay ten rupees? I must wait for the customer, for twenty rupees, and hoard it." Even there is sufficient stock, he will not sell. Therefore the other man, who is honest, he is suffering. This is going on. So to stop this inflation, the government must stop this paper currency. Then the inflation... There will be no more inflation. But that they will not do. They want to cheat people. "In God I trust. Take this paper and you be satisfied that you have got thousand dollars." That's all. This cheating is going on. Why should you pay me paper? Give me real dollar, in gold. That they have none. They haven't got. That's all. They will employ laborers and cheat them by paying these papers, and this rascal will think that "I am getting more money." That's all.
Morning Walk -- May 30, 1974, Rome:
Prabhupāda: No, this is the..., that you do it. If they do not do it, then who will come? This declaration is there, that "If you do this, then you can be interested." But if you do not, then you go on with your own business. A similar... The same things Kṛṣṇa, sarva-dharmān parit... mām ekam. Kṛṣṇa is demanding that you do it, "Surrender unto Me." The śāstra also says, "Surrender unto the representative of Kṛṣṇa," mahīyasām. But if they do not do, what can be done? Just see this sparrow. The sex is always accompanying, any time ready. The pigeons, any time ready. Viṣayaḥ khalu sarvataḥ syāt. That is the only attachment for this material world, viṣaya. Whole world is fighting for this viṣaya. "I must have nice eating, I must have nice sleeping, I must have very good sex, and I should be defended by bank balance, by military soldiers, by police force, by atomic weapons." This is going on. Defense. Rascal does not understand that "In spite of all these things, I will have to change the body, and the same thing will be available again, in a different way." This intoxication, cigarettes. The ant, the small ant, they are very fond of intoxication. You know that? As soon as there is information, "On the top of the skyscraper building, there is a grain of sugar," they will go. (laughing) Because sugar contains intoxication. The wine is made from sugar, molasses. It has got the intoxication. You keep a grain of sugar there, and there will be hundreds and thousands... (laughter) Gold rush. Study. You see what is the difference of this civilization and the ant civilization, dog civilization, cat civilization. No difference. It is in the simply formation only.
Room Conversation with Biochemist, Dr. Sallaz -- June 4, 1974, Geneva:
Prabhupāda: Anyway, tin and copper and mercury; if you can mix, it will become gold.
Dr. Sallaz: I'm sure it is possible, from what we have seen and made. But it is not of great interest to make gold.
Prabhupāda: No, we are interested. (laughter) We want gold for spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Nobody is paying us. We are simply selling our books. That's all. Nobody paying us, no government, no..., that "You take so many million dollars for spreading Kṛṣṇa..." Nobody. Therefore we require some gold. So biology, what is the basic principle of biology?
Yogeśvara: Do you understand his question?
Dr. Sallaz: Yes. Le principe, c'est la vie, life. And what is life? It is energy, speaking in European language.
Prabhupāda: Life, what is his life?
Yogeśvara: He says it is energy, life is energy.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Room Conversation with Biochemist, Dr. Sallaz -- June 4, 1974, Geneva:
Prabhupāda: No, if you are searching after truth... Suppose if you are searching after gold. And if I give you gold, why don't you accept it? (French)
Yogeśvara: Apparently his position is that by their research, they have discovered the truth.
Prabhupāda: What is that truth? (French)
Yogeśvara: He says it's the same truth that we are following.
Prabhupāda: Well, same truth, this is vague. But what is the tangible presentation of the truth.
Room Conversation with Robert Gouiran, Nuclear Physicist from European Center for Nuclear Research -- June 5, 1974, Geneva:
Prabhupāda: Yes. So we are samples of God, small particles. Just like gold, big gold mine and a small particle of gold. Both of them are gold. Composition is the same. So we, the small particle of God, we are trying to create here so many things. The creating energy is there. Because we are a small particle of God, very small, so we have got so much energy, and we are planning so many things. Because on account of that creative energy. So you can just imagine how much creative energy has got the Supreme Lord, of whom we are little samples. We are little sample only, part and parcel, very small particle. So we are creating by our mind... Manaḥ ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi. By our senses and mind, we are so many things planning. You are also working in the laboratory with that senses and mind. But you are the creative energy. So the struggle is that we are planning to become happy within this material world. That is described here: manaḥ ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati (BG 15.7). Karṣati is simply struggling. That's all.
Morning Walk -- June 14, 1974, Paris:
Prabhupāda: But that will come gradually. If you follow the process. That is described by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in the Śikṣāṣṭakam, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). The first step will be cleansing of the heart. And in the heart there is God, already. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). The Lord is situated in everyone's heart. So actually yoga system is to find out the Lord within the heart. That is meditation. Lord is there already: simply we have to find it out. That, that if, if you are informed that within this park there is one hundred weight of gold is lying there. Now you have to find out. But the indication is there. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). The Lord, the Supreme Lord, is situated in everyone's heart. Now find him out. That is yoga system.
Room Conversation with Pater Emmanuel (A Benedictine Monk) -- June 22, 1974, Germany:
Prabhupāda: So we offer Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa wants: "Give me this foodstuff," so we offer the foodstuff to Kṛṣṇa, and we take it. Therefore, if for killing this patraṁ puṣpam there is sin, that is Kṛṣṇa's sin, not my sin. (German) But Kṛṣṇa, God, apāpa-viddham, sinful reaction cannot take place to Him. Apāpa-viddham. Pāpa means sinful. Just like the sun is powerful. It can absorb urine, but you cannot drink urine. (German) So the injunction is tejīyasāṁ na doṣāya (SB 10.33.29). One who is very powerful... Just like a king. He orders, "Kill this man. Murder." He commits murder regularly, chopped up. But he is not under the law, being hanged, because he is very powerful. But an ordinary man, if he commits murder, he will be hanged. When there is fight the commander in chief says, "You kill them," and the soldier kills and he gets gold medal. But the same soldier, when he kills a single person at home, he is hanged. Therefore this injunction, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam (BG 9.26), "This vegetables give Me. I shall eat, and you take the prasādam." So we are not sinful.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Morning Walk -- February 3, 1975, Hawaii:
Prabhupāda: Yes, done grand style because I strictly follow the instruction of my Guru Mahārāja, that's all. Otherwise I have no strength. I have not played any magic. Did I? Any gold manufacturing? (laughter) Still, I have got better disciples than the gold-manufacturing guru.
Yaśodānandana: Before you came, many gurus came, but they did not make any pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: How they can? He is not pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa. How he can do? Kṛṣṇa-śakti vinā nāhe nāma pracāra: "Without being empowered by Kṛṣṇa nobody can turn a person to become devotee of Kṛṣṇa." It is not... Artificially, you cannot make. He may make show of gold manufacturing, but he cannot make a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. That is not possible.
Room Conversation with Sanskrit Professor, other Guests and Disciples -- February 12, 1975, Mexico:
Prabhupāda: Sai Baba, he also says, "I am Bhagavān." Therefore he's bogus. How you can say yourself that you are Bhagavān, God? What is your power? What you have shown? And this is cheap. Now, supposing Sai Baba is God. So people accept him God, why? Because he shows some jugglery. He creates little gold. Is it not? So if, by creating gold, he is God, then there is bigger God who has created gold mine. Why shall I go to this tiny god? I must go to the big God who has created gold mine. This is common sense. But foolish people, they have no common sense even. Therefore it is called mūḍhā. Mūḍhā nābhijānāti mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam. Tribhir guṇamayair bhāvair mohita, mūḍhā nābhijānāti. Everything is there in the Bhagavad-gītā. Just like mostly people take: "The nature is all in all." The scientist, they take nature. But nature is matter. So where is our experience—the matter is working automatically? Where is our experience? Hm? Matter... Does matter work automatically? What is your opinion?
Hanumān: It's a chain of reaction.
Room Conversation with Sanskrit Professor, other Guests and Disciples -- February 12, 1975, Mexico:
Prabhupāda: No, dharma is duty, varṇāśrama-dharma. That is also given up. That means the only duty becomes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He said, sarva-dharmān parityajya. In the beginning He said that dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya. Yes. Yuge yuge sambhavāmi. Now, He said that "I appear to reestablish the principle of religion." So at the last stage He said, sarva-dharmān parityajya. That means the so-called dharmas, or religion, which is going on in the world, they are not real. And the Bhāgavata therefore says, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra (SB 1.1.2), that "All kinds of pretending religion is rejected here." Pretending religion, what is that? Pretending... Just like gold. Gold is gold. If the gold is in the hand of some Hindu, then will it be called Hindu gold? Similarly, religion means obedience to God.
Room Conversation with Sanskrit Professor, other Guests and Disciples -- February 12, 1975, Mexico:
Prabhupāda: It is already successful. Genuine thing is always success. Gold is gold. If somebody is fortunate, he can purchase gold, but gold remains gold. If somebody purchases and somebody does not, it doesn't matter. Gold is gold. So future, gold future is always the same as it is at present—if it is gold. If it is something glittering, that is another thing.
Room Conversation with Sanskrit Professor, other Guests and Disciples -- February 12, 1975, Mexico:
Prabhupāda: God has all the qualities that you can conceive. It is generally not... Bhaga(?), it is taken as six, six opulences. Bhaga means opulence, and vān means possessing. Bhagavat. Bhagavat-śabda. Bhaga means opulence, and vat means one who possesses. And the first word in bhagavat-śabda is bhagavān. This bhaga means six kinds of opulences: riches, then fame, then bodily strength, influence, knowledge, beauty, and renunciation. These are opulences. If one is very rich, people are attracted. If one is very reputed, people are attracted. If one is very strong, people are attracted. Influential-attracted. If one is very beautiful, man or woman, he is also attractive. If one is very wise, he's attractive. And one who is renounced, he's also attra... So Kṛṣṇa has got all these qualification in full. That is the definition of God. Anyone who possesses all these qualities in fullness, not partially, that is God. This is the definition of God. Not that "I can produce one ounce of gold," but if he can produce all the mines of gold, he is God. Not cheap God. In that way everyone is God.
Morning Walk -- February 21, 1975, Caracas:
Prabhupāda: University education is simply to learn some art, materialistic art. It is not education. Education is different. Education is brahma-vidyā, self-realization. Therefore in politics the so-called leader, because there is no standard, they change government, revolution. Why? From nature's study we can see one tree is producing a particular type of fruit and flower. There is no revolution. It is standard. But these people, because they have no standard, they change every moment, every year. Nature's way—the sun is rising from the eastern side—that is standard. (chuckles) These rascals, they will say, "Let the sun rise from the north." It is childish, simply childish. "Eastern philosophers, Western..." What is this philosophy? Philosophy is philosophy. Why they talk of Eastern, Western?" Eastern sun, Western sun." Sun is always Eastern, never Western. How one can say, "Western sun?" (break) Just see. It is in the water, but the water is not over it. If the water increases, it also increases. See? There is no water on the leaf. Here you see. The water must be always down. (break) ...falling from the top of the Sumeru Hill, a big tree, and the juice, after falling down, turns into a river of mango juice. And the blackberries, they are just like the body of elephant and small seed. They also turn into river, Jambu-nada. And the both sides of the river, being moistened by the juice and dried by air and interacted by the sunshine, it becomes gold. And that gold is used for the denizens of heaven for their ornaments, helmets, bracelet, belt. Where is gold here? Paper. They cannot make even gold coins. They are reducing into poverty. In our childhood we have seen gold coin currency, silver coin. And now there is no such thing. Plastic. Paper and plastic. This is their advancement. Yes, it is a nice garden.
Morning Walk -- February 21, 1975, Caracas:
Devotee: Hiraṇyākṣa was taking the gold from the earth. Now they are taking the oil. So the weight, the oil makes weight in some parts of the globe, no? So when they take it and they put it some place else or they convert it in the earth, the earth is losing weights in some parts. That is no going to cause...
Prabhupāda: I think I have explained this. Instead of contemplating what will happen to this world, you have got a short duration of life, say fifty, sixty years. You chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and go back to home, back to Godhead. Don't consider what will happen to this world. The nature will take care of it. You don't puzzle your brain with these thoughts. You utilize whatever time you have got in your possession and go back to home, back to Godhead. (break) You cannot check it. Best thing is that you mold your life and go back to home, back to Godhead. "Oil in your own machine." Instead of thinking what will happen... They will happen. Because people will go on with their rascal civilization, natural consequences will be there. You better take advantage of whatever time you have got and become fully Kṛṣṇa conscious and go back to home. (break) ...and we are thinking, "You are crazy. You are losing the opportunity of life." Therefore I wrote that "Who is Crazy?" They have got this opportunity, human form of life, to make a solution of all problems, but they do not care for it. They are simply allured, the temporary happiness of this body, and the body will finish within some years. That they do not take care. They think it is all in all, body.
Morning Walk -- February 21, 1975, Caracas:
Prabhupāda: That's all. You cannot produce petrol. Just like gold is already there, manufactured by God. You can make only different types of ornaments, that's all. Everything. This metal covering of this body, you have not produced this metal. They are like the carpenter. The carpenter has not produced the wood nor the metal instrument nor himself, but he is working. This body is also not produced by him. That is also made by Kṛṣṇa. His intelligence is also made by Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is giving the body. Kṛṣṇa is giving the intelligence. Kṛṣṇa is giving the wood. Kṛṣṇa is giving the instrument. Now, if you produce some furniture, to whom it will belong? To the carpenter or to the supplier of everything? Who will enjoy it? Who will enjoy it? If the carpenter claims that "I have done it," that is foolishness. You have done it as a worker, and you have been supplied with everything, your intelligence, your food, your instrument, your ingredient. Therefore the supplier should be the proprietor, not the carpenter. That is real philosophy.
Room Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- February 28, 1975, Atlanta:
Prabhupāda: He asked him, that rascal chemist, that "If I give you the chemicals, can you manufacture life?" That time he said, "No, that I cannot say." Why do you say like that? In the beginning, in New York, that store front, the Satsvarūpa is with..., and Hayagrīva and... And you chant simply. You were also there. So this chanting is proving efficient. That is Vedic knowledge. It is not theory. Our, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is not theory or mental speculation. It is a fact. So therefore it is said,
guru-mukha-padma-vākya, cittete koriyā aikya,
- ār nā koriho mane āśā **
So whatever little success I have got, it is only for this reason. My Guru Mahārāja said that "You go and preach whatever you learned in English language." That's all. So I came here with this faith, that "My Guru Mahārāja said. I must be successful." I did not show any jugglery to you, gold-making jugglery. Where is my gold? I came with forty rupees first.
Room Conversation with Bernard Manischewitz -- March 5, 1975, New York:
Prabhupāda: Now, Radhakrishnan says "Not to Kṛṣṇa." So there are so many wrong directions by big, big men, taking Bhagavad-gītā. This is going on. And we are poor fellows. We are neither big scholar nor politician. We simply teach our disciple the same thing in Kṛṣṇa's service. Kṛṣṇa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto; we are teaching, "You just become devotee of Kṛṣṇa." That's all. No addition, no interpretation. And people are coming. And for the last two hundred years the so-called scholars and politicians published their books, and it is widely read, and not a single devotee of Kṛṣṇa. Not a single. Just see practically. We have no magic. We don't play any magic, prepare gold or jugglery. We simply say that you become devotee of Kṛṣṇa, and these young men have become devotee of Kṛṣṇa.
Morning Walk -- March 11, 1975, London:
Prabhupāda: No, he was the emperor of the whole world. But the jungle part... Somebody... The whole world was known as Bhāratavarṣa, this planet, nine varṣas: Bhārata-varṣa, Ketumāla-varṣa, Ilāvṛta-varṣa... the whole universal situation is mentioned, where different lands are there. (break)
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: ...ages, Śrīla Prabhupāda, did the people, in order to get valuable minerals and gold and things like that, did they mine underneath the ground?
Prabhupāda: No. There was no need of coal. And the jewelries and stones were received from the sea-pearls, valuable stones from the hills.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: So they didn't dig deep holes underneath the ground?
Prabhupāda: No. There was no need. The richest persons' property were ivory, gold, marble, valuable jewels, pearls, silk. This was luxury, not plastic. Now they have advanced, they have got plastic, no gold, no silver. Paper money and plastic utensils. This is advancement.
Morning Walk -- March 11, 1975, London:
Prabhupāda: Ivory, yes. There is a current proverb, "Dead elephant, one lakh rupees." Mara hati lakṣa na:(?) "Elephant, alive or dead, one lakh of rupees." On account of ivory. When the elephant is dead, it is put into a hole and covered. And after sometimes you find all the ivory. The bones and the teeth are very, very valuable. Formerly big, big kings, they used to manufacture their furniture of ivory and gold and silk pad. This is luxury. And the rooms bedecked with jewel. No electricity, no lamp. This is description of Kṛṣṇa's sixteen thousand palace. Who has got now? Sixteen thousand wives and sixteen thousand palace of marble and furniture ivory and gold. Where is there now? Therefore Kṛṣṇa is the richest. Aiśvaryasya samāgrasya.
Morning Walk -- March 13, 1975, Iran:
Prabhupāda: Oh. Very nice.
Atreya Ṛṣi: The inside is full of gold.
Prabhupāda: Heaps? Some... Huh? Full of gold.
Atreya Ṛṣi: Gold, yes. (laughter)
Prabhupāda: So in Iran there is gold mine? No.
Atreya Ṛṣi: There is some, yes. Iran has the richest copper mines, oil, richest oil, the second in the world, the...
Prabhupāda: Who is the first?
Atreya Ṛṣi: Saudia Arabia. But we have gas, natural gas, the richest. It's so easy to take out this oil and gas. So easy, like..., easier than gold.
Prabhupāda: Yes. And it is more valuable than gold.
Morning Walk -- April 1, 1975, Mayapur:
Prabhupāda: Gold. So have you created gold? How is your money? The gold is already there. You have stolen. You are thief. You are not laborer, but you are rascal, thief. You'll be punished for this policy. Is gold your property?
Devotee (1): But they say that if the whole world follows our example, then the society will be finished.
Prabhupāda: Nobody follows. We do not follow... There are so many... Why they are struggle? Why they struggle? Why do you fight? Because you are all thieves—you want to steal God's gold-therefore you fight. Why do you fight? Why you declare war from one nation to another? Because you are all thieves and you want to steal God's gold. Therefore there is fight. Why do you claim, "This is America, my land"? Is it your land? Have your forefathers created this? Why you falsely claim like that? What is the answer? You have stolen from another party, Red Indians, and you are now claiming, "We are the proprietor." You are thieves. You are not even gentlemen. What do you think?
Morning Walk -- April 1, 1975, Mayapur:
Pañcadraviḍa: But they say... They say, "God is up in heaven. What does He need with gold?"
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Pañcadraviḍa: They say, "God is up in heaven. What does He need with gold?"
Prabhupāda: "God is up in heaven"? What is that?
Pañcadraviḍa: Well, they say God...
Prabhupāda: Because the master is in heaven, or in some other place, therefore we shall steal?
Tripurāri: They say, "God gave us the land to do what we want with."
Prabhupāda: No. God did not give you the land. How do you think it is given to you?
Tripurāri: They say, "God put us here..."
Prabhupāda: God... God has given to every living entity. You can say like that. Just like father. Father gives to all sons, not that a particular son. Why do you claim? Why do you slaughter the cows? They have got right. So, so many faults there are. But they are not reasonable.
Conversation with Devotees on Theology -- April 1, 1975, Mayapur:
Prabhupāda: But that is not God. Just like gold. Gold is everywhere gold. Because it is in Christian country, you cannot say, "It is Christian gold." And because it is in Muslim country, you cannot say, "It is Muslim gold." Gold is the world standard of money. The same gold, dispatched from America, can be accepted in India. Dispatched from India, it can be accepted in Palestine because it is gold. Everyone who knows what is gold, he'll accept it. So God should be like that. And therefore the name Kṛṣṇa, "all-attractive"... When there is gold, either you be Christian, Muslim, Hindu—"Oh, here is a lump of gold. Can I possess it?" That is attraction. So as gold is all-attractive, similarly, God must be all-attractive. And that word is used as Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa means all-attractive. One who knows gold, he'll be attracted. Doesn't matter whether he's Hindu or Muslim, Christian, poor, rich man, black, white. It doesn't matter. Here is gold, and everyone... Just like in your country there was gold rush. Eh? In California? From all different parts of the world they came. So gold is gold for everyone. So now one should try to understand or check what is gold. That is required.
Conversation with Devotees on Theology -- April 1, 1975, Mayapur:
Prabhupāda: No, let me finish this. If you do not accept Kṛṣṇa is the name of God,... I have explained what is the idea of Kṛṣṇa. The Kṛṣṇa means all-attractive. The example is given: Just like gold. Gold is attractive to everyone—to the educated, the uneducated, to the black, to the white, man, woman, everyone. One who knows God, er, one who knows gold-gold is attractive. Similarly, God is all-attractive. There cannot be that "It is black gold," "It is white gold," "It is Christian gold," "It is Hindu gold." No. Gold is gold. So we present Kṛṣṇa that "Here is God, all-attractive." Now you say, "No, He's not God." Then you present your God.
Morning Walk -- May 7, 1975, Perth:
Prabhupāda: Nobody can. I have seen in Los Angeles. (pause) The water is not very clean. (ducks quacking) We are afraid of water; they're enjoying. (pause) Here we have got gold, copper, somewhere in the mines, but in the sky there are millions of miles land of copper, gold.
Amogha: Do you mean other planets, Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Big, big planets, millions of miles.
Morning Walk -- May 10, 1975, Perth:
Prabhupāda: Because you have plundered them for the last two thousand years. You rascals, rogues, you have plundered. You have taken all their money, all their jewels, all their gold, and made British Museum. (laughter) It is due to you. (noise in background) What is the dog? Some dog?
Amogha: Oh, that is the siren. You mean the siren?
Prabhupāda: No, no. Some bird.
Room Conversation with Ganesa dasa's Mother and Sister -- May 14, 1975, Perth:
Prabhupāda: God is the Supreme Truth. So Supreme Truth cannot be Hebrew truth, Christian truth, Hindu truth. Truth is truth. Just like gold. Because gold is found in America, nobody says, "It is American gold." It is gold. So similarly, God is one. He is for Hebrew, He is for Hindu, He is for Muslim, He is for everyone. Simply we have to know what is God. So if you try to understand through Hebrew religion, that's all right. But if you come to know what is God, that is all right. Otherwise useless. If you cannot understand what is God, then Hebrew, Hindu, Muslim, Christian, these different names, they are useless. And if you understand God, then whatever method it is, it is all good.
Morning Walk -- May 16, 1975, Perth:
Prabhupāda: He never attempted. He simply bluffed, that's all. So demons' proposals are like that. Therefore it is a common say in, hearsay in the, in India, that rāvaṇe sarge sini(?): "The proposal is just like Rāvaṇa proposed to make a staircase to the heavenly planets." He was also very much advanced materially, very prosperous materially. Gold was very common thing. He brought gold from Brazil through the subway. His brother was king there, in southern America.
Morning Walk -- May 16, 1975, Perth:
Devotee (1): They had very much gold. And the Spanish, they came and plundered the gold.
Prabhupāda: The aborigines here, they have got any religion?
Devotee (1): Where?
Prabhupāda: Here in Australia.
Devotee (1): Well, they mostly worship ghosts and spirits, I think. Trees.
Prabhupāda: Bhūtejyā.
Devotee (1): Yes.
Prabhupāda: So there is religion. Yānti bhūtāni bhūtejyā. What is this "UJV"?
Amogha: That is the license plate.
Prabhupāda: That's all right. What is the... Generally, the city's name are there.
Room Conversation with Jesuit -- May 19, 1975, Melbourne:
Prabhupāda: Not imitation, actually we have got. Just like, another example, gold and a particle of gold, a small fragmentary, that will be called gold, but not the gold equal to the mine.
Jesuit: No.
Prabhupāda: Therefore the philosophy is acintya-bhedābheda, inconceivable one and different simultaneously. One in quality, but different in quantity. God's power... I have got some creative power, and God has got creative power. So the creative power is there. But God has created millions of the planets that floating in the air and we have created a 747 airplane, we want to take more credit than God. That is our foolishness.
Room Conversation with Journalist -- May 19, 1975, Melbourne:
Prabhupāda: Well, we are speaking of religion. There is no question of "other religion," "your religion," "my religion." We are speaking of God. God is God. Just like gold is gold. Because it is in the hand of a Christian, you cannot say that "It is Christian gold." The gold is gold.
Journalist: But do you accept the validity of other religion?
Prabhupāda: Validity... Any religion which is seeking after God, that is valid. If any religion does not obey God, does not know God, that is cheating. That is not religion.
Morning Walk -- May 20, 1975, Melbourne:
Devotee (1): We can see, Śrīla Prabhupāda, by the distribution of wealth and minerals in each loka, in each planet, it is meant to be governed by one ruler. One place there is gold, one place grain to grow. Is this true?
Prabhupāda: No. Everywhere there is everything, maybe proportionately in different quantities.
Hari-śauri: Is that governing that Brahmā does in the universe, he does that in relationship with all the other demigods like they are departmental heads? So he is not personally directing every single thing.
Prabhupāda: Yes, he is given in charge. Just like we have got different GBC's for different jobs. Similarly, they are doing their duty nicely. All these planets are the different residential quarter of different demigods. They are controlling the whole universal affairs. In comparison to them, this human being is nothing. We are controlled; we are not controller. That they do not realize. The modern civilization they do not realize, although they are being controlled they do not recognize it. That is the defect.
Morning Walk -- June 10, 1975, Honolulu:
Ambarīṣa: They have a gold Jesus deity.
Siddha-svarūpa: They do. They worship Jesus. But they clearly accept that one, that the person is separate from his body, the soul is different than the body, that we are not flesh, that we are spirit.
Ambarīṣa: They have very strict disciplines too.
Siddha-svarūpa: And they accept that God is a person, that Jesus is the son of the Supreme Person. They even use the word, "Supreme Person, Supreme Personality." So in that way they are in conflict with...
Prabhupāda: That God is separate from Jesus?
Morning Walk -- June 25, 1975, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: That is my question. (break) Just like in India, for higher technological knowledge, they come to foreign countries. So for knowledge, we can take it from anywhere. There should not be sectarianism, "Oh, why shall I take knowledge from here and there?" Wherever knowledge is available, we should take it. That is the real position of seeker of knowledge. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says, nīcād apy uttamā vidyā strī-ratnaṁ duṣkulād api. He says, viṣād apy amṛtaṁ grāhyam. Viṣa, viṣa means poison. "In the pot of poison, if there is little nectar in, take it." Viṣād apy amṛtaṁ grāhyam. Poison is not to be touched, but if there is little nectar in, take it. And amedhyād api kāñcanam: "And in a filthy place there is gold. Take it." Not that gold has been polluted because it is in the filthy place. If there is gold in the filthy place, don't hesitate. Take it. And nīcād apy uttamā vidyā. Generally, people used to take education from brāhmaṇa.
Morning Walk -- July 5, 1975, Chicago:
Prabhupāda: Six million?
Jagadīśa: To rebuild it because of all the onyx, marble. There is $100,000 worth of gold leafing work throughout the house.
Brahmānanda: What was it used as?
Jagadīśa: It was the Fisher Mansion. Fisher, you know, "Body by Fisher." And the man was a little eccentric. It's a Moorish style.
Prabhupāda: Now it is not raining. We can go.
Press Conference -- July 9, 1975, Chicago:
Prabhupāda: That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama (BG 15.6). Anyone who goes to that eternal nature, he hasn't got to come back again to this material nature. The material nature has been explained as duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). Material nature is full of miserable condition. And the most miserable condition is explained as janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi: (BG 13.9) birth, death, old age and disease. So we living entities, we are eternal, part and parcel of God. God is eternal and we are also eternal. Just like gold and little portion of gold. Both of them are gold, but the big gold and the small gold, that is different. Similarly, we being part and parcel of God, qualitatively we are one; quantitatively we are different. Although we are different, still, in the spiritual world we can enjoy the same facilities in cooperation with God.
Conversation with Professor Hopkins -- July 13, 1975, Philadelphia:
Prabhupāda: Yes. Now God... Ask any religious system "What is God?" he cannot... What is God? They cannot explain. And we are saying, "Here is God, Kṛṣṇa." So which is better? If you search after gold and you do not know what is gold... Eh? And if you... If some authorized friend gives, "Here is gold. You take it." That is easier.
Prof. Hopkins: So the strength and the value is in knowing...
Prabhupāda: Oh yes.
Prof. Hopkins: Knowing what gold is.
Prabhupāda: That is the only business of human being, to know the Absolute Truth, God. That is the only business. Otherwise what is the difference between cats and dogs and human being? They do not care to know what is God. So if human being also in the same status, doesn't care to know what is God, then what is the difference between dogs and human being?
Morning Walk -- July 17, 1975, San Francisco:
Prabhupāda: Yes. (laughter) Kṛṣṇa married sixteen thousand wives, and each wife he gave big palaces made of marble, furniture ivory, and silk and gold, and then again He expanded Himself into sixteen thousand forms, not that one wife is crying for sixteen thousand days, no. Ready (indistinct). And that is Kṛṣṇa. That was also just to give them protection. When they were all kidnapped by Jarāsandha... No? Bhaumāsura. So when they were released, so asked them, "Go home." So in India, if a girl is kidnapped and she lives outside home for three days, nobody will marry her. That system is still now. So they said that "You are asking to go home but we will not be accepted." "Then what do you want?" "Now You marry us." "All right, come on." (laughter) Wholesale, sixteen thousand wives. This is Kṛṣṇa. We are not captivated by Kṛṣṇa, a Guruji Mahārāja. We know what is Kṛṣṇa. Then we accept He is God. He has proved Himself that He is God. Our Kṛṣṇa is not going to marry a society girl secretary. He is not so cheap.
Morning Walk -- July 19, 1975, San Francisco:
Prabhupāda: There are also sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. Sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa is working throughout the universe. (break) ...was attempt to manufacture gold by combination of metals. They are not doing that?
Jayatīrtha: No, I don't think they're doing that.
Prabhupāda: Why?
Jayatīrtha: They think that that's foolishness. They think that it's a legendary thing.
Sudāmā: Alchemy is not looked upon as very intelligent.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Scientific.
Sudāmā: They've replaced it now with science, higher truth of science.
Prabhupāda: No, it is not legend. If you can mix copper, tin and mercury—this is stated in the śāstra—you can make gold. It is not legend. The particular metals to be combined, that is stated: copper, tin and mercury. You mix, and there will be gold.
Morning Walk -- July 19, 1975, San Francisco:
Prabhupāda: No. They make gold, some of the yogis.
Brahmānanda: Yogis. You once said they swallow some mercury and then they...
Prabhupāda: Yes. They swallow mercury overnight, and they pass urine on the copper, and then the copper is put into the fire. It becomes gold. There is same combination, mercury, copper.
Paramahaṁsa: The only difficulty is that mercury is certain death if you eat it.
Prabhupāda: So therefore you must know how to eat. (laughter)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But why don't they... I'm sure the scientists could figure out an easier way than having to swallow it.
Prabhupāda: But in Kaviraji, they make some medicine which is gold added by this process, makaradhvaja. Makaradhvaja, the medicine which is combination of tin and mercury, and it looks like gold.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So we could become rich if we do this, our movement.
Prabhupāda: Yes, everyone will do, and there will be no rich men.
Morning Walk -- July 19, 1975, San Francisco:
Prabhupāda: I can give you suggestion. This example is given by Sanātana Gosvāmī.
- yathā kāñcanatāṁ yāti
- kaṁsyaṁ rāsa-vidhānataḥ
- tathā dīkṣā-vidhānena
- dvijatvaṁ jāyate nṛnāṁ
This is the definition, that "As kaṁsya, the bell metal, by manipulating with mercury, it becomes gold, similarly, a person by the process of dīkṣā, initiation, be becomes a brāhmaṇa. This is the example he has given. Yathā kāñcanataṁ yāti. Kāñcanatam means gold. Rāsa-vidhānataḥ, by process of mercury manipulation. Why he has not taken other metal? This is in the śāstra. And the scientists—I do not know—they say that some, what is called, molecules? Some molecules added with mercury, it can be turned into gold.
Morning Walk -- July 19, 1975, San Francisco:
Prabhupāda: No, you add mercury, then give. The kāvirājī medicines, they mix mercury and sulphur, and then tin, and some other medicine, that make makaradhvaja, and it looks like gold. Svarṇa-sindhura, the name is svarṇa-sindhura, "vermillion of gold." That is a medicine. It looks like gold. The some medicine, they mix mercury and sulphuric acid first of all, and then with some other thing. Mercury cannot be directly heated. It must be mixed with sulphuric acid.
Morning Walk -- July 19, 1975, San Francisco:
Paramahaṁsa: In the British historical museum in London, I have seen there's a plate about this large, and half of it is pure gold, and the other half is lead. And they found this. They can't explain. It's just a straight line where they separate, and they can't explain how it was produced. So they're experimenting now to try to change lead because there's only, what is it, one proton or electron in the atom? Different. There's only like one proton difference between lead and gold. (break)
Prabhupāda: ...the sky there are many big, big planets where the millions of miles made of gold. Just like desert, there is gold desert.
Morning Walk -- July 19, 1975, San Francisco:
Paramahaṁsa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, in what śāstra is that recipe given for gold?
Prabhupāda: In the Hari-bhakti-vilāsa. Not recipe. The comparison is there in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa. Perhaps purposefully the recipe is not given so that you can take and misuse this. (laughter) And forget chanting. Because as soon as you get gold, then you are no more interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the infection of gold.
Paramahaṁsa: But I have gold.
Prabhupāda: No, you have gold. (laughs)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Not great quantities.
Paramahaṁsa: Originally when I came to the movement I asked you this, remember? And you gave lectures on the subject, and I asked you about it. And you asked me for what purpose I wanted it.
Prabhupāda: No, no, I don't wonder you. But the gold has got such infection that if one... That is the whole world, that as soon as one has gold, he is no more interested with God. That is the infection. "Ah!" He will say, "This is meant for the poor class of men who has no gold. I have gold. I am God." You know that Kali-yuga. He was punished, that "You get out." Then he said that "Where shall I go? Everywhere is your kingdom." Then Parīkṣit Mahārāja said that "You go here, in the brothel, in the..., these four things." Striyaḥ śūna-pānā dyutāḥ yatra pāpāś catur-vidhāḥ: "Illicit sex, and slaughterhouse, and liquor shop, and gambling." Then he requested that "Instead of going so many places, you give me some place where one place will be sufficient." Then he said, "You go where there is gold. Then you get everything." Striyaḥ śūna-pānā dyutāḥ yatra pāpāś catur-vidhāḥ. Formerly, especially in Bengal, the gold merchants are taken as—that is artificial, of course—the low class because they are rich, and they indulge in these four kinds of prohibition. Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Morning Walk -- July 21, 1975, San Francisco:
Bahulāśva: Just like in the old days when they would get a gold coin, they would bite it with their teeth to see if it was real gold, make a test. (break)
Baradrāj: ...false, they must also conclude that there's something true. Because that is relative. (break)
Paramahaṁsa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, the basis for scientific rejection of religious dogma is that in the Medieval era in...
Prabhupāda: Religious..., not dogma. Just like in Christian religion it is said that "God created this." So this is a fact, but it is not properly explained. And neither the followers understood how to explain, third-class men. So therefore they should accept, that's all. They should accept. Just like one thing, sweetmeat. A child is tasting. So if the child wants how it is made, so he has no power to understand. Therefore he should be simply ordered, "You simply eat. That's all." So in the Bible it is like that. And therefore it is strictly ordered that "You should follow." The things are there but they are not explained because they were third-class men. Otherwise why the commandment was, "Thou shalt not kill," and they killed first of all Jesus Christ? So what class of men they were? All third-class, fourth-class men.
Morning Walk -- August 6, 1975, Detroit:
Brahmānanda: Even in Chicago the one, the woman who wrote the article, the 34-ounce? She said how "You looked at your gold watch." That was in the article, such an important thing.
Prabhupāda: Nityānanda Prabhu used to decorate Himself with very costly ornaments. Your teeth does not look very clean. Why?
Harikeśa: They never get white. They are yellow all the time.
Prabhupāda: You washed daily?
Harikeśa: Every day.
Ambarīṣa: Did you try baking soda?
Harikeśa: Yes.
Satsvarūpa: The karmīs are also envious that we are very happy, that we are looking forward to a next life. They... Because they don't have that faith...
Prabhupāda: They have no hope.
Morning Walk -- October 5, 1975, Mauritius:
Prabhupāda: That is stated in the śāstra. Kṛṣṇa says, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26). Patram means vegetable, leaves; puṣpam, flower. In this way, whatever He says, you collect and offer to Him and take prasādam. Then you are not responsible. And if you collect for yourself even patram without offering to Kṛṣṇa, if you take, you are responsible for killing. It doesn't matter whether you kill a big animal or a small plant. You are responsible. Just like a soldier. He kills hundreds and thousands of men and he is given gold medal. And as soon as he kills one man for his sense gratification he is hanged. Eh? Is it not? He can say, "I have killed so many men. At that time I was not hanged. I was given gold medal. How is that? (laughter) I have killed only one man. I am going to be hanged?" That is law. You cannot do anything on your own account, sense gratification.
Room Conversation with Bill Faill (reporter) -- October 8, 1975, Durban:
Prabhupāda: Where is Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa? Kṛṣṇa means God. The word Kṛṣṇa means all-attractive. So unless one is all-attractive, he cannot be God. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness means God consciousness. Our position, we all living entities, we are all small particles, equal in quality with God—small, just like gold and a small particle of gold.
Morning Walk -- October 16, 1975, Johannesburg:
Prabhupāda: Why? This is the country possessing gold mine, and why they are...? And you said that it is difficult to become poor here.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes. You have to try hard to become poor man here.
Prabhupāda: Yes. And still there is suicide. Why? Every man is rich man, and why he is committing suicide? Hm? Can you reply?
Devotee (1): They lack central happiness?
Prabhupāda: Yes. There is no happiness. (pause) Nobody can remain lazy, because he will be hungry. So how he will remain lazy? He'll have to go somewhere, begging food, and he'll say, "First of all work. Then get your food." He'll work. So there is no question of remaining lazy. Just like the hippies. They do not work, but when they do not get food from anywhere, they go and work. Is it not? So he will be obliged to work.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: That is the incentive, then.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Morning Walk -- October 16, 1975, Johannesburg:
Prabhupāda: Money is not required. You require things. Just like instead of money, you are getting papers. Money means gold. Where is gold? You are cheated. Money means gold. So instead of possessing gold, you are possessing some paper, written there, "hundred dollars." And you are such a fool, you are satisfied. You are being cheated. Bank's check and currency notes, you keep it in your..., "Oh, here is my money." Is that money? Just see.
Devotee (3): They only do that to make it easier for them, because they've got so much money that they can't carry it...
Prabhupāda: That's all right, but actually it is not money. You are befooled. You are such a fool that you accept a piece of paper as money. Therefore I say you are rascal. That is my business. If I say "Government, give me gold," and government has passed law, "No, you cannot possess gold," that means cheating. How I shall keep gold, that is my business. First of all you give me gold. It is due to me. But you are giving me paper. That means cheating is begun from you.
Morning Walk -- October 16, 1975, Johannesburg:
Harikeśa: How will the government decide what my gold is and what his gold is? How does the gold get distributed?
Prabhupāda: Gold coins. Formerly there was gold coins. We have seen in our childhood gold coins, silver coins. There was no paper.
Harikeśa: But you have to do something to get it.
Prabhupāda: Yes. I will have to do something. That is another thing. But why you are cheating me? Instead of gold, you are giving me paper. Formerly... You have seen in Kṛṣṇa book that one fruit man came, and Kṛṣṇa was taking some grain. It was falling down. So that was the... A fruit man come, and you give him a packet of grain. Then whatever exchange is possible, the fruit man gives you fruit. That's all.
Morning Walk -- October 16, 1975, Johannesburg:
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Maybe somebody is only producing gold or gold plates, or somebody is producing something that isn't food. So he would give that to the government.
Prabhupāda: Well, gold plates, that is not a necessary thing. He can eat on plantain leaf, natural production. That is luxury. So when people live simple life, the luxuries will no more be required.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Let's say the government is building some wells or some roads. They could feed the people who are doing that, śūdras who are doing that.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Śūdras, that "You dig this well and take your food." That's all. Work will go on. At the present moment I require one scissor. I can go to the blacksmith and pay him some grain. He will give me. Now they are producing, Krupp Company in Germany, millions of razor, millions of scissors. Now they will have to find market, where to sell. And as soon as goes to sell in India, the British government—"No, no. You cannot sell." Then he becomes angry: "Oh, all right." He declares war.
Morning Walk -- October 16, 1975, Johannesburg:
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Gold coins.
Prabhupāda: Yes, gold, silver, whatever you want. That was the... Now this is stopped. You can not ask now gold coins and silver coins. Whatever government will give you, you have to accept. Where is honesty?
Devotee (2): Śrīla Prabhupāda, in South Africa they have a coin called the Krugerrand. And one rand is worth one hundred cents, one rand of paper money. But one rand gold is worth about seventy-eight rand.
Prabhupāda: Just see.
Morning Walk -- October 18, 1975, Johannesburg:
Prabhupāda: Because they are rākṣasas. They are eating meat and drinking wine and illicit sex. Rākṣasa civilization. Hiraṇyakaśipu means... Hiraṇya means gold, and kaśipu means soft bed. To learn, this is rākṣasa civilization. They are searching after soft bed and gold mine, hiraṇya.
Morning Walk -- October 26, 1975, Mauritius:
Prabhupāda: That is wanted. But if you do not know what is God's name, then what you will chant? What you will chant? Then you chant Kṛṣṇa. We know it is God's name. Take. Take to our principle. If there is no medical college, come to our medical college. You are welcome. Why you are envious? You have no medical college; at the same time, you are envious of my medical college. Why? Why this nonsense? If you want to learn medical science—you have no medical science, college-come here. This is our proposal. Why you are envious? That means rascal. "Our gold." Gold is "our gold," everyone's gold? "Our gold." What do you mean, "our gold"? Gold is always gold, either in your hand or in my hand. In your hand it is not Christian gold and in my hand it is not Hindu gold. Gold is gold.
Morning Walk -- November 1, 1975, Nairobi:
Prabhupāda: Will is given to you. Living being means there is will—thinking, feeling and willing. Don't question if you do not know. Everything comes from God. What is the use of "Where will comes?" Janmādya asya yataḥ. Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvam... (BG 10.8). Everything is coming from Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa has got will; you have got will. Why do you ask? This is foolishness. Kṛṣṇa has got independence; you have got independence. You are a small Kṛṣṇa. A particle of gold is also gold. Everything is there. All chemical composition is there. It has come from Kṛṣṇa. Why you are asking wherefrom it comes?
Jñāna: All living beings are independent, but some choose to serve and some choose to disbelieve.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is use of independence. Otherwise what is the meaning of independence? The meaning of independence is: "If I like, I can do. If I do not like, I do not do." That is independence. That means independence. If you are stereotyped, forced to do, that is not independence. Independence means if you like, you can do it, if not—you don't like-don't do it. That is independence. So misused independence means ignorance. He does not know that "If I infect this virus of this disease I'll suffer." But he does not know, ignorance. So he infects and he suffers.
Morning Walk -- November 11, 1975, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: And in our list the plants are there. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Sthāvara means plants. There are jalaja, aquatics, and sthāvara means plant. All living entities, different forms... Bhagavad-gītā says, sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya (BG 14.4). As many forms are there of the living entities. But what are these forms? Forms means the spirit soul is one, and he is covered by these material elements. That is form. So either your form or my form, but the ingredients are the same, bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ (BG 7.4). (break) The soul is the same, and the ingredients of the body are the same. That is explained in Iśo..., ekatvam anupaśyate. Just like from gold, take from the mine—you make earring or this finger ring, the ingredients are the same. The forms may be different. (break) Apollo airship, thousands of technologists and scientists were engaged to make this Apollo, and it burst out. So they have no foreseeing power that it will burst out. At that time they began to pray to God.
Morning Walk -- November 14, 1975, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) Goldsmith, they take a stone, black stone. Do you know? And they rub the gold on the stone, and they can immediately say whether it is gold or not. So our, that stone, is Kṛṣṇa. If anyone knows Kṛṣṇa, then it is gold. (laughter)
Devotee (3): Haribol! Jaya Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: Otherwise it is bogus.
Indian man (5): It is very good.
Prabhupāda: Ah, yes. Formerly these goldsmith boys, their father simply taught how to test gold. And as soon as he learns, he opens a shop and he earns thousands and thousands of rupees. No education.
Morning Walk -- November 14, 1975, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: This is Indian old fashion. They simply know how to test jewels and gold. That's all. One knowledge makes him rich.
- vyavasāyātmikā buddhir
- ekeha kuru-nandana
- bahu-śākhā hy anantāś ca
- buddhayo 'vyavasāyinām
- (BG 2.41)
Avyavasāyinām bahu-śākha. And vyavasāyayinām-one. From practical point of view, from business point of view also, I started this Kṛṣṇa conscious business with forty rupees. Now we have forty crores. Who has got such business success? (laughter) Bring anyone. Within ten years. And here is Ambarīṣa Mahārāja. He is ready to give us any money, any amount of money, Ambarīṣa Mahārāja, yes, whole Ford Company. (laughter) So who has got this business? Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya. I think there is no such history in the world, to begin business with forty rupees, and within ten years it becomes forty crores. One cannot imagine even.
Morning Walk -- November 16, 1975, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: You are taking yogurt? Give him kicheri and yogurt.
Harikesa: He won't eat yogurt. Ambarisa: No, I eat it with that śādhisav, gold(?), mixed in it.
Prabhupāda: No, no. Take yogurt with black pepper and salt. Yes.
Ambarisa: Oh, okay.
Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya. Very good. What is your name?
Indian child: Kīrtana.
Morning Walk -- November 20, 1975, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Yes. Two rupees, nowadays forty rupees at least. Twenty times. Just like ghee. You can... Ghee or gold. Gold standard. So in our childhood, I have seen our mother used to purchase gold for ornaments-twenty rupees.
Dr. Patel: Eighteen, twenty rupees.
Yaśomatīnandana: Now it is six hundred. Six?
Dr. Patel: Seven hundred.
Yaśomatīnandana: Thirty-five times.
Dr. Patel: When I was married, gold was at nineteen rupees and fifty paisa.
Prabhupāda: No. No, no.
Dr. Patel: In 1930.
Morning Walk -- November 20, 1975, Bombay:
Dr. Patel: And the lowest was in 1930. Then it rose. Then in 1935 it was thirty rupees and in 1940 it was thirty-eight, and 1950 it was fifty rupees. And 1956 we bought at the rate of fifty-six rupees. I still remember that because we have been buying gold every year.
Indian man (2): 1959 or '60 the price was ninety-six rupees.
Dr. Patel: Then suddenly it rose. Now, because Americans are buying gold, the gold standard has been left out. They have taken, cornered the gold of the whole world. But I have heard that the Russians have got some gold mountains on the surface. They can take out gold very easily from there. Here you have to dig up deep down.
Prabhupāda: No, in South Africa there is gold. In the city there are so many gold mines in South Africa.
Dr. Patel: Yes. South Africa is today supplying more than half of the world gold. Our mines are getting exhausted in Kolar(?) and all this, Mysore State. America, they have not been able to search out gold anywhere. Perhaps in South America they may be having some gold mines, but they have not made any survey. But the Russians, they say there are very huge mountains, gold on the surface.
Yaśomatīnandana: Sumeru is made of gold, Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Morning Walk -- November 20, 1975, Bombay:
Nanda-kumāra: In South America one man went up the Amazon River and he found a place where he could pick gold nuggets up out of the water.
Dr. Patel: Gold nuggets are there in the rivers, so many, in Africa.
Prabhupāda: Gold?
Dr. Patel: Gold nuggets. Because gold never get, I mean, oxidized. It is always in (unclear). So nuggets, they are available in big rivers even in Africa. Because when they come through the mountain, you know.
Prabhupāda: There is one river in India also, Suvarna-rekha, between Orissa and Bengal.
Dr. Patel: The sand is of the...
Prabhupāda: Yes. There you can find gold.
Brahmānanda: The city of Johannesburg is built on a gold reef, a reef of gold. There's so much gold there, and to dig it up they will have to break the city streets. They have deliberately built the city on top of the gold.
Dr. Patel: That South Africa is in the belt of Brazil more or less. And Brazil is very difficult place to search about this because they are all jungle, no? Brazil and south of Brazil. (break)
Prabhupāda: ...Russians do not utilize the gold...
Dr. Patel: They think gold has got no value so far as value... Because it is a stamping metal. Otherwise what use it can be made of? So far as the society is concerned, iron is more important than gold, to tell the truth.
Prabhupāda: So let them exchange.
Morning Walk -- November 30, 1975, Delhi:
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Previously the governments all over the world would guarantee that for behind every currency there was certain amount of gold.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: So if you went and gave that...
Prabhupāda: Forty percent.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: But now it's no more. Now if you go with that currency the government won't give you gold. They've reduced the gold backing behind the currency now. Every day they're reducing because when they want money they just print more notes.
Prabhupāda: And you cannot hold gold also. That is illegal. Somehow or other, even if you secure gold, you cannot keep it.
Morning Walk -- November 30, 1975, Delhi:
Ambarīṣa: Now in the United States you can buy gold. They made it legal.
Harikeśa: But limited quantity.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: No.
Prabhupāda: They do not believe in the transmigration of the soul and they are "Awake." Just see these rascals. They have no preliminary knowledge even, and they are writing books, Awake.
Morning Walk -- December 16, 1975, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Oh, bolo(?).
Dr. Patel: She also stood first. My son also stood first and got the gold medal. She also got the same, by your grace!
Prabhupāda: (laughs) By Kṛṣṇa's grace.
Dr. Patel: This is unique perfomance in Bombay, that no doctor's two children have got first like this.
Prabhupāda: Hm. All of them, M.D.?
Dr. Patel: M.D. Very distinguished, first class. I was very much pleased... (break)
Prabhupāda: ...one is animal. So animal means ferocious. Dharmeṇa yena pasave samānaḥ. They're as good as animal. You cannot expect any good behavior from animals. This is going on. They want to keep the whole population animal, and they're making big, big plans-United Nations, this, that.
Morning Walk -- December 26, 1975, Sanand:
Devotee (1): It is prohibited to buy gold at that temple.
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Devotee: You cannot buy gold. Government has prohibited.
Prabhupāda: Because you are rascal, your government is rascal-democracy. What is the government? Government means your replica. So why do you blame the government? You are fools, rascals; you send other fools and rascals and suffer consequence. (break) ...tea, growing tobacco, growing jute, and no grains. And grain for the animal, so that animal, as soon as it becomes fatty, send it to the slaughterhouse, and then finish business. Smoke, eat meat, drink, and be happy. So much land, but it is producing tobacco, which we are prohibiting, "No smoking." (break) Vegetable is utilized. (Hindi) These crops. (Hindi) (break) ...nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām.
Conversation on Roof -- December 26, 1975, Sanand:
Prabhupāda: Then he remains the same animal, cats and dogs. There is no advancement. Therefore you see despite so many rascal philosophers in the Western countries, they simply fight and bomb and cheat and politics, diplomacy. The same—on the surface of the coconut, not inside. So you have to prove that "All of you are rascals. You do not know where to get pleasure." They're missing that point. All rascals, they're putting new philosophy, thesis. So what is the value of that thesis? He does not know. It requires expert. Just like somebody has told: "In this land, there is gold." So somebody's digging here, somebody's digging there, somebody's digging there. And they are, do not find gold, and struggling. But one expert, what is called, soil expert?
Harikeśa: Geologist.
Conversation on Roof -- December 26, 1975, Sanand:
Prabhupāda: He can say: "Here is gold. You dig here. Here is the gold mine." Then you get gold mine. And one who is not expert, simply he has understood that "In this area, there is gold mine," and they are simply fighting; everyone has come to take the gold. But without expert knowledge, they're simply fighting. They do not find gold. That is the position. So expert knowledge is Kṛṣṇa. He therefore begins: dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā (BG 2.13). Within this body, the living force, that is the soul. Because that soul is there, it is changing body, different. Try to understand that active principle. And where is that understanding? They simply putting different theses. They do not, neither do they know antithesis or synthesis. So our.... We know the thesis, antithesis and synthesis, that this soul, living entity, is within this body. Now the body is important so long the soul is there. Otherwise, body is a lump of matter. So the soul is suffering. He's seeking after enjoyment, but he's suffering. So therefore.... The most prominent suffering is death. That he cannot avoid. Or he's not.... The so-called materialistic scientists, they have not been able, neither they do know, who is the sufferer or enjoyer. They take this body. The same fiber platform. So actually they are rascals. What is the value of the thesis, antithesis?
| Page Title: | Gold (Conversations 1967 - 1975) |
| Compiler: | Rishab, Mayapur |
| Created: | 24 of May, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=119, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 119 |