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Hrsikesa (Conversations)

Conversations and Morning Walks

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 13, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Kīrtanānanda: You want to see?

Allen Ginsberg: No, don't take it down. I'll look. On my way out I'll read.

Prabhupāda: Hṛṣīkeśa, you can read loudly. We'll hear.

Hṛṣīkeśa: "Qualifications of devotee: 1) kind to everyone, 2) does not quarrel with anyone, 3) fixed in the Absolute Truth, 4) equal to everyone, 5) faultless, 6) charitable, 7) mild, 8) clean, 9) simple, 10) benevolent, 11) peaceful, 12) completely attached to Kṛṣṇa, 13) no material hankering, 14) meek, 15) steady, 16) self-controlled, 17) does not eat more than required, 18) sane, 19) respectful..." (laughter)

Prabhupāda: Not insane.

Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 13, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Prabhupāda: Not insane.

Hṛṣīkeśa: "...20) humble, 21) grave, 22) compassionate, 23) friendly, 24) poetic, 25) expert..."

Prabhupāda: Poetic.

Hṛṣīkeśa: "...25) expert, and 26) silent."

Prabhupāda: These are the qualities.

Allen Ginsberg: Whose list is that? Is that an old list or have you made that up for young Americans?"

Meeting with Devotees -- June 9, 1969, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Hayagrīva: Śyāma dāsī.

Prabhupāda: Śyāma dāsī, secretary. And who is treasurer?

Hayagrīva: Hṛṣīkeśa.

Prabhupāda: Hṛṣīkeśa. And what is Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja's position?

Hayagrīva: He is maṭha commander?

Devotee 1: Prime minister.

Śyāma: Advisor. Advisor?

Hayagrīva: General advisor, maṭha commander.

Meeting with Devotees -- June 9, 1969, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: Then in your absence this secretary will do or this maṭha command will do.

Hayagrīva: Beg pardon?

Prabhupāda: Maṭha command will be Hṛṣīkeśa.

Hayagrīva: Maṭha commander?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Now you want to stay here. You are not staying here?

Hayagrīva: I'll be staying here ...

Prabhupāda: Yes, that's all right.

Hayagrīva: ...permanently, temporarily at least, for a while.

Meeting with Devotees -- June 9, 1969, New Vrindaban:

Hayagrīva: So then Śyāma dāsī is our treasurer..., secretary.

Prabhupāda: Yes. And he is treasurer, Hṛṣīkeśa?

Hayagrīva: He's treasurer and temple commander.

Prabhupāda: No, what...? You president, she is secretary, and then? Treasurer?

Hayagrīva: He could be also vice president or temple... Well, there has to be a second charge, another person in charge.

Prabhupāda: That you select, who should be vice president.

Hayagrīva: Temple commander.

Meeting with Devotees -- June 9, 1969, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: No. Because you president, you can select out of all the workers...

Hayagrīva: Not many.

Prabhupāda: ...who will be nicely representing you. That's your trust.

Hṛṣīkeśa: There will be more workers. More will come. There are more people coming all the time, aren't they?

Hayagrīva: Well, if they'll stay on a permanent basis.

Devotee: Why not? It's such a nice place.

Hayagrīva: Yes, but I mean all this time we only... We don't have... Not many on a permanent basis.

Devotee: You won't be leaving until September. You won't be leaving until September?

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Dr. Karan Singh, -- November 25, 1971, Delhi:

Dr. Singh: It is the attitude with which one does it.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is the definition of bhakti. Bhakti means hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate (CC Madhya 19.170). Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ, that is bhakti. Now to serve Kṛṣṇa, Hṛṣīkeśa, that requires qualification. Just like you are king, if somebody wants to serve you as your secretary, he has to have specific qualifications. Not ordinary man. Similarly, bhakti means to serve Kṛṣṇa. So everyone can serve Kṛṣṇa provided he is qualified. And what is that qualification?

Dr. Singh: Love of Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That qualification... Love of Kṛṣṇa is not so easy. We have to reach that point after many processes. Exactly in the same way, to become a secretary of the president, personal assistant, it is not very easy job. It requires some qualification. Similarly, to serve Kṛṣṇa, it requires some qualification.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Dr. Christian Hauser, Psychiatrist -- September 10, 1973, Stockholm:

Prabhupāda: I think you should adopt this means. A simple method. Don't charge anything. Simply ask him to do this. He'll be cured. (pause) Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). Nirmalam means completely cured. Mala means dirty things. And nirmala means just opposite, no dirty things. Nirmalam. Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate. When the senses are freed from all dirty things, then it can be engaged in the service of the Lord. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Dr. Hauser: One, one very normal problem that I meet very often in patients is the security to feel that one can believe in something, a security of... Always there is... Very often there is an ambivalence. "Should I believe? Should I not believe? I have a, a..." Swaying to and fro.

Room Conversation -- September 18, 1973, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: So when these dirty things are washed, then you become as Kṛṣṇa as you in spirit sense. So at the present moment, we are with... Covered means with upādhi. Upādhi. Just like your naked body and this body with shirt and coat. When you take away the shirt and coat, you become original body. Similarly, when you stop accepting this plastering process of body, material body, in different shapes, then you become mukta.

sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ
tat-paratvena nirmalam
hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-
sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate
(CC Madhya 19.170)

When you begin serving Kṛṣṇa in your original spiritual body, that is called bhakti. (break) ...educated person. If you like you can learn all the things. You read our books. You have got our books?

Guest (1): A few books I have got. Kṛṣṇa, I have got it.

Prabhupāda: So you are member?

Morning Walk -- December 7, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes, with senses, senses. That is... Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means that we have got relationship with God and senses, our senses. That is hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate (CC Madhya 19.170). When the senses are engaged with the Supreme, in relationship, that is called bhakti. It is a question of senses. It is not vague. We apply everything, we go with our senses. Just like the leg, we go, take our legs to the temple. We use our tongue for glorifying, for eating the prasādam. Every senses. That is bhakti. It is not sensuous, but engaging the senses in the service of the proprietor of the senses.

Karandhara: But they say that's a faith.

Prabhupāda: That's not faith, that's fact.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- March 16, 1974, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: It is not right that he says that. Sense gratification is wrong. You cannot gratify your senses. You have to enjoy your senses in the service of the Lord. That is perfection. Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate (CC Madhya 19.170). That is our only business. (break)

Devotee (lady): Thank you. I'm leaving. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...hot.

Devotee (lady): Yes. I'm just to make very hot. (break)

Harikeśa: ...to increase as we become more and more pure?

Prabhupāda: Everyone has got that intelligence, to understand and ... (end)

Morning Walk -- March 24, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: So the position is constitutionally I am servant, but at the present moment, being conditioned by the material nature, I am giving service to my senses. Hare Kṛṣṇa. But if I give service to the master of the senses, Hṛṣīkeśa... Because senses, they are not independent. They are also dependent. Suppose I am now moving my hands, but if the master of my hand, Kṛṣṇa, paralyzes it, no more moving. Neither I can renovate the moving capacity of my hand. Therefore I am not master. Although I am claiming I am master of my hand, master of my leg, but actually I am not. The master is different. Therefore Kṛṣṇa's another name is Hṛṣīkeśa, master of the senses. Therefore the service should be transferred. Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate (CC Madhya 19.170). We have engaged our senses for different purposes, but when we engage our senses for the service of the master of the senses, that is called bhakti.

Morning Walk -- April 5, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dr. Patel:

arjuna uvāca
sthāne hṛṣīkeśa tava prakīrtyā
jagat prahṛṣyaty anurajyate ca
rakṣāṁsi bhītāni diśo dravanti
sarve namasyanti ca siddha-saṅghāḥ
(break)

Girirāja: "O Hṛṣīkeśa, the world becomes joyful upon hearing Your name, and thus everyone becomes attached to You. Although the perfected beings offer You their respectful homage, the demons are afraid, and they flee here and there. All this is rightly done." (break)

Prabhupāda: Siddha, there is a Siddha-loka. So they can fly from one planet to another without any machine, siddha-saṅgāḥ. Means the aṣṭa-siddhi yogas, they have got naturally.

Morning Walk -- April 12, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: "This business is useless, so stop it altogether." No. That is negation. If you stop... Just like a child, if you stop playing mischief, always doing, then he will be mad, psychologically. You must give him some engagement, better engagement, so that he will not commit any more mischief. So bhakti is a service, activity. If he is not engaged in activity, then he will become again a rascal. Because we are living entities. We are not dead stone. That is bhakti. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam, hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ (CC Madhya 19.170). Engage, hṛṣīka means the senses. The senses must be engaged. Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ. Now the senses are engaged for my sense gratification. So it should be purified, no more sense gratification. But the senses must have engagement. And how? That is in the service of the Lord. That is real activity. So bhakti is not that it is simply negation. There must be positive action. That is bhakti. (break)

Room Conversation with Irish Poet, Desmond O'Grady -- May 23, 1974, Rome:

Prabhupāda: We have to take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness because such consciousness will help us to be free from the contamination of these different types of material consciousness and save us from transmigrating from one body to another. So we accept this different association on account of our strong propensity for sense gratification. Therefore we have to purify the senses so that the senses may be engaged in the service of the master of the senses. Hṛṣīkena hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate.

sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ
tat-paratvena nirmalam
hṛṣīkena hṛṣīkeśa-
sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate
(CC Madhya 19.170)

Bhakti means to be free from all sorts of material designation. "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am Italian,"—these are all designations of the body. So we have to become free from these designations. And that is called nirmalam, purification.

Room Conversation with Irish Poet, Desmond O'Grady -- May 23, 1974, Rome:

Prabhupāda: So when one is free from the designations, then he becomes purified.

sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ
tat-paratvena nirmalam
hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa
sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate
(CC Madhya 19.170)

So when we become purified, our senses are purified, and when the purified senses are engaged in the service of the master of the senses, that is perfect life. That is nonduality, absolute.

Bhagavān: That can be experienced in the present.

Prabhupāda: Yes, by Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And practically, you are coming from different groups-Americans, Indians, Africans—but you don't think yourself as American or Indian or African.

Room Conversation with Professor Durckheim German Spiritual Writer -- June 19, 1974, Germany:

Prabhupāda: So our real business is how to become free from all these designations. Yes. Then we come to the real consciousness. That real consciousness is that "I am eternal. God is eternal. I am part and parcel of God. My duty is to serve God. And now I am serving also. I am not free from service, but I am serving under designation." Just like you went to fight, because you designated yourself that "I am German." This is an example, that "I must fight, give service to my country." Somebody is thinking, "Give service to my community" or "to my family." Or if there is nobody else, at least "to my dog." So this is going on. So we have to close all these designations and become pure and serve God. And that is self-realization.

sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ
tat-paratvena nirmalam
hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-
sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate
(CC Madhya 19.170)

Just like the Arjuna. Arjuna was put into the ba... You have read Bhagavad-gītā, I think, this Bhagavad-gītā?

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 7, 1975, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: But you are working blindly,... just like monkey, he is busy, but he does no value. You work under our direction, then it will be of value. (Chants japa.) Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate (CC Madhya 19.170). Senses are not to be abolished. They cannot be. It has to be purified. And then, when the senses are engaged in the service of the proprietor of the senses, then it will be perfect.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: So this body is temporary anyway, so aren't these senses temporary also?

Prabhupāda: No. Senses are there. The dog has senses, you have got also senses. Body may change, the senses will continue.

Conversation with Governor -- April 20, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: What is there? What is the purport?

Brahmānanda: "As stated in the Fifteenth Chapter, all living beings are fragmental parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord. As such, the Supreme Lord is the beginning of all living entities. It is confirmed in the Vedānta-sūtra-janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). The Supreme Lord is therefore the beginning of life of every living entity. And the Supreme Lord, by His two energies, His external energy and internal energy, is all-pervading. Therefore one should worship the Supreme Lord with His energies. Generally the Vaiṣṇava devotees worship the Supreme Lord with His internal energy. His external energy is a perverted reflection of the internal energy. The external energy is a background, but the Supreme Lord, by the expansion of His plenary portion as Paramātmā, is situated everywhere. He is the Supersoul of demigods, all human beings, all animals, everywhere. One should therefore know that as part and parcel of the Supreme Lord it is his duty to render service unto the Supreme. Everyone should be engaged in devotional service to the Lord in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is recommended in this verse. Everyone should think that he is engaged in a particular type of occupation by Hṛṣīkeśa, the master of the senses. And, by the result of the work in which he is engaged, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, should be worshiped."

Room Conversation with Mr. & Mrs. Wax, Writer and Editing Manager of Playboy Magazine -- July 5, 1975, Chicago:

Prabhupāda: So our business is, spiritual master's business is, how to help the disciple to transfer the attachment. It is not that we are creating an, it, artificially, no. The attachment quality is there. But it is being mixed up with material things. And if you purify this material contamination, then the attachment become pure, and that is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Just like the water falls from the sky. It is distilled water. And as soon as it is in touch with the ground it becomes muddy, dirty. Again that water, if you distill, again it becomes distilled water, as good as the rain water, original. Therefore bhakti means sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam (CC Madhya 19.170). All the dirty things of designation should be cleansed. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam. When the mind is cleansed, nirmalam, without any dirty thing, then you can begin bhakti immediately, Kṛṣṇa conscious. Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate (CC Madhya 19.170). So bhakti means cleansing process. Originally, distilled water from the sky, in touch with the ground, it is muddy. You filter it or distill it; it becomes original. The consciousness is there, but it has become muddy. You cleanse it; it is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore we say, "Don't do this. Don't do this."

Room Conversations -- July 26, 1975, Laguna Beach:

Satsvarūpa: Purport. "Two persons, one in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and the other in material consciousness, working on the same level, may appear to be working on the same platform, but there is a wide gulf of difference in their respective positions. The person in material consciousness is convinced by false ego that he is the doer of everything. He does not know that the mechanism of the body is produced by material nature, which works under the supervision of the Supreme Lord. The materialistic person has no knowledge that ultimately he is under the control of Kṛṣṇa. The person in false ego takes all credit for doing everything independently, and that is the symptom of his nescience. He does not know that this gross and subtle body is the creation of material nature, under the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and as such his bodily and mental activities should be engaged in the service of Kṛṣṇa, in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The ignorant man forgets that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is known as Hṛṣīkeśa, or the master of the senses of the material body, for due to his long misuse of the senses in sense gratification, he is factually bewildered by the false ego, which makes him forget his eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa."

Prabhupāda: So this is false ego, to think of oneself as free. You are professor of economics?

Morning Walk -- November 2, 1975, Nairobi:

Harikeśa: They let him stay in that body and then he went to Hṛṣīkeśa and performed devotional service and then became perfect.

Prabhupāda: No, he was already perfect, but to increase his desire—"How shall I go Vaikuṇṭha?"—another time he had to go. He was a perfect; otherwise how he was saved from the Yamadutas?

Harikeśa: So if a devotee dies and remembers Kṛṣṇa, although he is not perfect...

Prabhupāda: Unless he is perfect, he cannot remember Kṛṣṇa. That is not possible. That is not possible. That is theory only. He must be perfect. Somehow or other, he fallen, so Kṛṣṇa gives him the chance. That is special concession for devotee. Some way or other, you become devotee. Even if you cannot finish the whole job, if you fall down, still, there is guarantee that you get your birth in a very good society. That is the prerogative.

Jñāna: What about like Mahārāja Bhārata?

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walks -- January 22-23, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: My guru mahārāja used to say—I think I have explained many times—that "Don't try to see God. Do in such a way that God will see you." Similarly, don't try to advise God, but follow the advice of God. That is our way. Because Bhagavān... (Bengali) This is also command. (Bengali) Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ. If you are fully engaged in the service, then He will come: "Please see Me." Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (Brs. 1.2.234). And if we want to see God with our these blunt eyes, it is not possible. Na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ. This said... Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). (Bengali) Or in the material world if our mind is always disturbed for sense gratification it is not possible. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi. Even you cannot understand what is this chanting, śrī-kṛṣṇa... Because God worship begins from the chanting of name, therefore it is said, ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi. Nāma, līlā, form. Begins from nāma. So na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ. If you keep your senses blunt, then it is not possible. Purify. And what is that? Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate (CC Madhya 19.170). Hṛṣīka means senses. When you engage all your senses in the service of the Lord, then you become nirmala. Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate. Tat-paratvena nirmalam.

Morning Walk -- April 15, 1976, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: Indriyāṇi pramāthīni haranti prasabhaṁ manaḥ.

Prabhupāda: Yes, if your indriyas are engaged in Kṛṣṇa's activities, they are no more pramāthīni; they are controlled. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam, hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanam (CC Madhya 19.170). When your indriyas are purified, then it will be only engaged in hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanam. That is bhakti.

Dr. Patel: Rasa-varjaṁ raso 'py asya paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate (BG 2.59).

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dr. Patel: Unless you have complete, I mean, God consciousness, paraṁ dṛṣṭvā, till then, the rasa does not go, the very sting of your indriyas. So it becomes sort of a vicious circle, sir, and it becomes very difficult to vacate from that.

Morning Walk -- April 15, 1976, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: Unless you have complete, I mean, God consciousness, paraṁ dṛṣṭvā, till then, the rasa does not go, the very sting of your indriyas. So it becomes sort of a vicious circle, sir, and it becomes very difficult to vacate from that.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate (CC Madhya 19.170).

Dr. Patel: By bhakti you can break.

Prabhupāda: Bhakti means when you engage all your senses in the service of Hṛṣīkeśa. That is bhakti. But that we cannot. We say, "Oh, I have got this duty, I have got that duty," not cent percent engaged.

Dr. Patel: Ananya-bhakti.

Morning Walk -- April 26, 1976, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Zero, they are śūnyavādī, zero, and nirviśeṣavādī. The same thing. But we are not śūnyavādī. Whole is not zero. The anxiety.... You cannot become anxiety-less. That is artificial. If you artificially become anxiety-less, then artificially you can remain anxiety-less for some time. Again you fall down. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Falls down. But the anxiety should be purified. That is wanted. Not anxiety-less. You are living being. You cannot be anxiety.... That means you are dead. A living being has no anxiety—that means he is dead. That is not the ideal. The anxiety should be purified from material contamination, and it should be only for Kṛṣṇa. Then it is perfect. Here the anxiety with some designation, "I am the father of this family," this is my anxiety, how to maintain them. "I am the leader of this nation." That is my anxiety. So all these anxieties are material, upādhi. I am neither father nor leader. I am servant of Kṛṣṇa. I have created artificial anxieties. So therefore I have to become free from this artificial anxiety. And nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa. And when he is pure servant of Kṛṣṇa, he's always anxious how to serve Kṛṣṇa. This is the.... The anxiety is there, and now it is purified. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170), completely fresh. And then with that senses, hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktiḥ. This is bhakti. Mad-bhaktim labhate.

Room Conversation with George Gullen, President of Wayne State University -- June 15, 1976, Detroit:

Hari-śauri: Purport. "While discussing the subject of this body and the owner of the body, the soul and the Supersoul, we shall find three different topics of study: the Lord, the living entity, and matter. In every field of activities, in every body, there are two souls: the individual soul and the Supersoul. Because the Supersoul is the plenary expansion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa says, 'I am also the knower, but I am not the individual owner of the body. I am the superknower. I am present in every body as the Paramātmā, or Supersoul.' One who studies the subject matter of the field of activity and the knower of the field very minutely, in terms of this Bhagavad-gītā, can attain to knowledge. The Lord says: 'I am the knower of the field of activities in every individual body.' The individual may be the knower of his own body, but he is not in knowledge of other bodies. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is present as the Supersoul in all bodies, knows everything about all bodies. He knows all the different bodies of all the various species of life. A citizen may know everything about his patch of land, but the king knows not only his palace but all the properties possessed by the individual citizens. Similarly, one may be the proprietor of the body individually, but the Supreme Lord is the proprietor of all bodies. The king is the original proprietor of the kingdom, and the citizen is the secondary proprietor. Similarly, the Supreme Lord is the supreme proprietor of all bodies. The body consists of senses. The Supreme Lord is Hṛṣīkeśa, which means controller of the senses. He is the original controller of the senses, just as the king is the original controller of all the activities of the state, and the citizens are secondary controllers. The Lord also says, 'I am also the knower.' This means that He is the superknower; the individual soul knows only his particular body. In the Vedic literature, it is also stated..."

Prabhupāda: Just like pains and pleasure. You know your bodily pains and pleasure, I know my body. But I do not know your bodily pains, neither you know mine. But God knows everyone's pains and pleasures. That is the difference between God and individual soul.

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

Indian man: Yes, like painting, or music, or literature, poetry, like that. Because the problem is that they, if one devotes oneself to these things, they are full-time things, they take all your energy and time. And so...

Prabhupāda: Devotion means to engage your energy and time for Kṛṣṇa. Anyway you do that, that is utilized. Sarvopādhi-vinir... tat-paratvena. Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa sevanam (CC Madhya 19.170). So if you can serve Kṛṣṇa by your hand, by painting about Kṛṣṇa, that is service. If you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, if you hear the chanting, that is also service. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇu, about Lord Viṣṇu, Kṛṣṇa. That is the beginning. Kṛṣṇa is the reservoir of pleasure, ānandamayo 'byāsāt. So these things are producing ānanda. If it is in connection with Kṛṣṇa, then it is service. (aside:) So, Pālikā, you can take these fruits, cut into pieces and distribute it.

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

Prabhupāda: (indistinct) everyone. (indistinct)

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: But that everything should be done in relationship to Kṛṣṇa. Then everything will become purified. Hṛṣīkeśa hṛṣīkeṇa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate. When the senses are engaged for Kṛṣṇa's satisfaction, then they're no longer... The senses are compared to the sharp teeth of (indistinct). (indistinct) sharp teeth are naturally very dangerous. But when engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service, the shark teeth, they're broken. So they can't feel any trouble. Although we are using the senses which is the cause of bondage, these senses employed in Kṛṣṇa's service, they no longer become a source of bondage, but of liberation.

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

Prabhupāda: So when you engage yourself in soul's activities, then gradually your intelligence, mind, senses, become spiritualized, or original. Then material activities stop. At the present moment without (indistinct) spiritually (indistinct) we are acting on the platform of gross senses. But if we begin our activities from the opposite side, from soul side, then everything becomes spiritualized. But the question of giving up the senses, no, it has to be purified. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). Senses (indistinct) it should be purified. At the present moment, on account of material conception of life everything is polluted with material ideas. So when it will be spiritualised, that is perfect. But instead of working uselessly, if we use our legs for going to the temple then it is spiritualized work. And instead of going to the cinema, if we go and see Deity then it is spiritual eyes. Instead of going to the restaurant, hotel, if we take prasādam, so then you spiritualize your tongue. Instead of talking nonsense, if you talk about Kṛṣṇa, then it is properly utilizing the tongue. In this way we have to practice. Nirbandhe kṛṣṇa sambandhe yukta-vairāgyam ucyate. Somebody is trying to stop sense activity. That is not possible. The sense activity should be cleansed. That is wanted. Otherwise how would he say hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa sevanam (CC Madhya 19.170).

Evening Darsana -- July 6, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: What is the purport?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: "While discussing the subject of this body and the owner of the body, the soul and the Supersoul, we shall find three different topics of study: the Lord, the living entity, and matter. In every field of activities, in every body, there are two souls: the individual soul and the Supersoul. Because the Supersoul is the plenary expansion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa says, 'I am also the knower, but I am not the individual owner of the body. I am the superknower. I am present in every body as the Paramātmā, or Supersoul.' One who studies the subject matter of the field of activity and the knower of the field very minutely, in terms of this Bhagavad-gītā, can attain to knowledge. The Lord says: 'I am the knower of the field of activities in every individual body.' The individual may be the knower of his own body, but he is not in knowledge of other bodies. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is present as the Supersoul in all bodies, knows everything about all bodies. He knows all the different bodies of all the various species of life. A citizen may know everything about his patch of land, but the king knows not only his palace but all the properties possessed by the individual citizens. Similarly, one may be the proprietor of the body individually, but the Supreme Lord is the proprietor of all bodies. The king is the original proprietor of the kingdom, and the citizen is the secondary proprietor. Similarly, the Supreme Lord is the supreme proprietor of all bodies. The body consists of the senses. The Supreme Lord is Hṛṣīkeśa, which means controller of the senses.

Conversation with George Harrison -- July 26, 1976, London:

Prabhupāda: You like that preparation? Yes.

George Harrison: We used to have this with milk at Hrsikesa. Every day they'd leave outside of the door. It's good. Do you, Mukunda, break even with all the costs, running cost? Do you do okay with all this food, fruit and stuff?

Mukunda: Oh, yes. More than even. We have about thirteen hundred life members in the Indian community. And then when they come on the weekends they bring food, they bring these hundred pound donations, money in the box.

George Harrison: At one time you just had the Godhead and incense.

Mukunda: Yes, now it's all public support.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 4, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Extracted the fangs. The fangs if they are taken away, it may do like useless. Similarly, for a devotee the indriyas are dangerous. But because devotee, hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa. they have engaged their indriyas in the service of the Lord, the fangs are taken out. Durdāntendriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī protkhāta-daṁṣṭrāyate viśvaṁ pūrṇa-sukhāyate. The whole universe for them is very happy. Everyone is it is very unhappy. For them it is very happy. Because he does not see anything which is not suitable for Kṛṣṇa's service. Viśvaṁ pūrṇa-sukhāyate. Kaivalyaṁ narakāyate tridaśa-pūrākāśa-puṣpāyate durdānta indriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī protkhāta-daṁṣṭrāyate viśvaṁ pūrṇa-sukhāyate vidhi-mahendrādiś ca kīṭāyate(Caitanya-candrāmṛta 5). And the post of vidhi, means Brahmā and Mahendra... What is this? Kīṭāyate. It is just like...

Dr. Patel: Bug.

Room Conversation with Ratan Singh Rajda M.P. 'Nationalism and Cheating' -- April 15, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: And this designation can be moved, removed at any moment. Indira Gandhi, no more prime minis... Designation finished. So sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam (CC Madhya 19.170), when one become free all designation, tat-paratvena nirmalam, simply by Kṛṣṇa consciousness he becomes purified. Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhakti... Then bhakti begins.

brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā
na śocati na kāṅkṣati
samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu
mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām
(BG 18.54)

This is the preliminary condition. So it means as soon as they have become devotee, they have no more designation. This conception is not there: "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim"—no.

Mr. Rajda: Right. Very good.

Prabhupāda: Finished. Nirmala. So... So you are giving note?

Room Conversation with Ram Jethmalani (Parliament Member) -- April 16, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Many. One professor, Dr. Amja,(?) he is my disciple, I gave him name Rāma-rañjana. They are Muslim. It is philosophy, science. It is not meant for a particular caste or creed or nation. No. Rather, to accept this creed or accept this process, one is required first to give up this designation. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). That is nirmala. So long we are covered by this material body, we are not nirmala; we are polluted. So one has to give up this designation, bodily concept of life. Tanu-māninā. These words are given. Tanu-māninā. So long one is continuing in the bodily concept of life, it is sinful life, in comparison. This we have to give up, in order to come to the transcendental position. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam. Nirmala (CC Madhya 19.170).

Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate. When we become nirmala, in our original, pure spiritual life, then bhakti begins.

Room Conversation -- October 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Bhavānanda: He was there two weeks back.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Anybody met him?

Bhavānanda: Jayapatākā Mahārāja went over, but he was out that time. That Hṛṣīkeśa Mahārāja in Caitanya Maṭha was also there. All favorable and helpful. That big nagara-saṅkīrtana on Pūrṇimā, that was very successful. It healed a lot of misunderstandings between the temples.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Everyone could see also that there was so much support.

Bhavānanda: Oh, yes.

Prabhupāda: Floodwater entered our new house? No.

Visit From Allopathic Doctor -- October 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Bhavānanda: ...exactly where he stands. He told us that he's living in the middle of all this. He's completely surrounded by them. He is opportunist. Hṛṣīkeśa Mahārāja from Caitanya Maṭha, they are giving us support. But Saranga Babu is saying that...

Indian man: (Bengali)

Bhavānanda: President, Caitanya Maṭha. (break)

Harikeśa: ...praised Īśopaniṣad. This Yugoslavian professor is very famous.

Prabhupāda: Famous?

Harikeśa: We made it very scholarly, because I remember last time you said it should be very scholarly. We printed ten thousand copies of this.

Prabhupāda: Selling?

Room Conversation -- October 21, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: We restrict the tongue practicing. Anything can be done by practice. So if we take kṛṣṇa-prasādam, the tongue is restricted, locked to some limited... Then our all other senses become controlled. And spiritual life means sense control. We are not going to kill the senses. The yogis, they artificially want to stop the activities of the senses, but that is not possible. Senses are there. Life means senses. Aprākṛta, prākṛta. And when senses are engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service, that is aprākṛta, transcendental. That is described, sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam (CC Madhya 19.170). Our senses are now upādhi—"I am Indian," "I am American," "I am this," "I am that." Senses are there, everywhere, but it is designated. So we have to free the senses from this material designation. And when the designations are washed away, at..., with that senses, hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate (CC Madhya 19.170). Purified senses without any designation, when we engage in the service of Kṛṣṇa, that is called bhakti.

Page Title:Hrsikesa (Conversations)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:26 of Jun, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=38, Let=0
No. of Quotes:38