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Inner (Lectures, Conv. and Letters)

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.58-59 -- New York, April 27, 1966:

One who is forcibly refrained from material enjoyment, oh, that sort of forcibly material enjoyment cannot last. Cannot last. There are many examples. There was a great muni, great sage, whose name was Viśvāmitra Muni, Viśvāmitra. He was formerly a very powerful king. Now, in his later life he gave up everything and he wanted to be a transcendentalist and great meditator, great meditator in the yoga principle of life. He was a yogi, great yogi. Now, this Viśvāmitra was performing meditation in the forest very supremely. So the... Now, Indra, the King of heaven, he became frightened: "So, this man is performing so much penance. So he might come. He might ask from God and claim my seat. So just wake him, wake him. Just detach him from this purpose." So he had many beautiful women at his control, one of whose name was Menakā. So Menakā was ordered that "You go there and try to induce him to have your association." Because in this world our real bondage is this... Either for man or woman, this is the real bondage, the sex life. So the Menakā was sent to Viśvāmitra, and Viśvāmitra was meditating, but his eyes were closed. So that woman made some sound of his (her) bangles, and Viśvāmitra thought, "Oh, in front me, a very nice beautiful woman, very young." Now, that woman was sent for that purpose, so he became implicated in that woman, and a girl was born out of that combination. That girl's name is Śakuntalā. Perhaps... That's a famous name. There is a book of Śakuntalā. That is the daughter of that combination. Now, here is the example, that he was a great meditator, a great yogi. But the inner implications of enjoying sex life or material enjoyment, that did not go. That was by force. By force it was submerged. That sort of forcing, forcing our senses not to act, that will not be suitable. We have to see something more beautiful than this material life. Then we can be refrained, acting material; otherwise not. Otherwise it is not possible.

Lecture on BG 2.59-69 -- New York, April 29, 1966:

And because our mind is disturbed, because our mind is distributed in so many engagements, therefore the yogic process is a mechanical process by which we can, I mean to say, drag the mind from outside engagement to inner side and focus the same for perceiving or for realizing the Supersoul.

Lecture on BG 4.27 -- Bombay, April 16, 1974:

So the Patañjali system is explained in the purport that controlling the inner different kinds of, five kinds of, prāṇa-apāna-vāyu. That is a mechanical system. That is approved also.

Lecture on BG 7.1-3 -- Stockholm, September 10, 1973:

As you have got shirt and coat, the shirt is the inner covering, the coat is outer covering. Similarly, the body is made of earth, water, air, fire. This lump of matter is nothing but distribution of the material elements.

Lecture on BG 8.21-22 -- New York, November 19, 1966:

You don't have sex life. You don't, don't..." So many don't's. But he is forced to accept that don't, but inner side he feels, "Oh, if I get, I'll be happy." Inner side is want. But a spiritualist, inner side is strong. He's not impotent, but he'll don't like sex intercourse. Doesn't like. He hates. That is spiritual life. Inner side is strong enough. He can marry thrice, but he has got a detachment. That is spiritual life. Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate. Just like if you get something superior, naturally, you give up all inferior things.

Lecture on BG 9.1 -- Vrndavana, April 17, 1975:

Similarly, we are spirit soul. We are hankering after Kṛṣṇa. That is our inner desire. And what happiness we shall get with this society, friendship or love? This is not possible. That is not possible. There is some happiness, temporary happiness, very small quantity, so-called happiness. It will never satisfy you.

Lecture on BG 13.18 -- Bombay, October 12, 1973:

Even big, big sannyāsīs, they cannot... They are in a saffron dress but they Vairāgya... So far vairāgya is concerned, if you study their inner history, there is no vairāgya. They are attached to all kinds of material enjoyment. Simply a show-bottle dress. That will not help.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- New Vrindaban, September 5, 1972:

They enquire from the patient, "Do you feel like this? Do you feel like this?" If he says, "Yes," then it is confirmed. The inner things, how the pulse is beating, and the symptoms are confirmed, then the medicine is ready. Immediately take the medicine.

Lecture on SB 1.2.30 -- Vrndavana, November 9, 1972:

So those who are in the darkness of this material creation, they consider Kṛṣṇa as one of the human beings. As a great scholar says, when Kṛṣṇa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65), the scholar points out that "It is not to Kṛṣṇa. It is the..., it is up to the inner soul which is within Kṛṣṇa." There is no "within" and "without" Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa..., as we have got difference between within and without, Kṛṣṇa has no such difference.

Lecture on SB 1.8.25 -- Los Angeles, April 17, 1973:

Ultimate happiness. A man is working and thinking: "Let me work now very hard, and let me have some bank balance so when I shall get old, I shall enjoy life without any working." That is the inner intention of everyone. Nobody wants to work. As soon as he gets some money he wants to retire from work, and to become happy. But that is not possible. You cannot be happy in that way.

Lecture on SB 1.8.29 -- Los Angeles, April 21, 1973:

He does not require deliverance, a sādhu, but because he is very much anxious to see the Supreme Lord eye to eye, that is his inner desire, therefore Kṛṣṇa comes. Not for deliverance. He's already delivered. He's already delivered from the material clutches. But to satisfy him, Kṛṣṇa is always...

Lecture on SB 7.7.19-20 -- Bombay, March 18, 1971:

...on the same platform by the paṇḍita, by the learned, because he does not see the outward coverings, he sees the inner soul, the characteristics of the soul as described. But the demons, they cannot see the inner soul. They cannot distinguish the characteristics of the soul. S

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 8, 1973:

So in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also, Vyāsadeva says, in the beginning, dharmaḥ projjhita kaitavo 'tra (SB 1.1.2). This dharma-artha-kāma-mokṣa, these are kaitava. Kaitava means phala visandi (?). I am approaching, I am trying to become a religious person, but my inner desire is how to make my economic position developed. This is my inner position, therefore it is called kaitava, cheating. So phala visandi. As Śrīdhara Swami says, that in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, phala visandi paryantaṁ nirasta.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 6.154 -- Gorakhpur, February 16, 1971:

All right. Don't mind. Just like Dr. Radhakrishnan says that... When the verse, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru, mām evaiṣyasi asaṁśayaḥ (BG 18.68), so Dr. Radhakrishnan says that this man-manā means, it is meaning the inner soul of Kṛṣṇa. You see? He does not know that there is no difference between Kṛṣṇa and His soul. His soul and body, the same.

Festival Lectures

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Appearance Day, Evening -- Gorakhpur, February 15, 1971:

Then there was some inner dictation that "This paper, Back to Godhead, I am publishing, people are taking." Some friend advised me that "Why don't you write some books? That will be nice." So then I began to translate Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

General Lectures

Lecture -- Seattle, September 30, 1968:

Young man: Well, like, my body is in a particular place and time and all of these, caste (?). If I have a job then I'm subordinate to my boss, but the real, my whole being, my real being, my inner being doesn't... I don't think that I am subordinate to my boss. I think that we would be more or less equal. In a temporary sense, we are...

Prabhupāda: Yes. This consciousness is very nice, that you are feeling dissatisfaction being subordinate to your boss. Is that not?

Lecture -- Bombay, November 2, 1970:

They have got different body according to their karma. Therefore paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ (BG 5.18). The paṇḍita does not see the outward dress. If we talk with you, I do not see what kind of dress you have got. I talk with you as gentleman. Similarly, a paṇḍita sees the inner soul. He does not see the outward dress, that "Here is a human being," or "Here is an American," "Here is an Indian," "Here is a brāhmaṇa" or "Here is a elephant" or "dog" or "caṇḍāla," "tree."

Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, January 14, 1973:

As if we talk with you, I do not see what kind of dress you have got, I talk with you as gentleman, similarly, a paṇḍita sees the inner soul. He does not see the outward dress, that "Here is a human being," or "Here is an American, here is an Indian, here is a brāhmaṇa," or "Here is an elephant" or "dog" or "caṇḍāla" or "tree." No. He sees only the spirit soul, the part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa.

Evening Lecture -- Bhuvanesvara, January 23, 1977:

One in million get a chance to get a real spiritual guide. There are so many in the name of spiritual guide. And he will false pray because his inner soul hankers and inner soul thinks that "This is my guru, and somehow I will accept whatever he says." And the ultimate aim and objective is to love God or to recite his name or surrender to Him.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz:

Śyāmasundara: He says the lowest type of monad is in matter, material forms, and then it proceeds up through higher monads, which are souls.

Prabhupāda: So we directly say (indistinct) Kṛṣṇa, that is (indistinct) spiritual.

Śyāmasundara: He says that each monad has an inner or mental activity, a spiritual life.

Prabhupāda: That is explained in everything, that as soon as we say there is Kṛṣṇa, so there is everything.

Philosophy Discussion on Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz:

Prabhupāda: Yes, to be means to be active. Without activity, what does it mean to be?

Śyāmasundara: He says that these monads change in their appearances because the inner desire impels it to pass from one phenomenal representation to another.

Prabhupāda: The monad does not change, but his mind has changed. But I do not know what this means, monads. He is complicating. He cannot express what is this monad.

Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:

Prabhupāda: Yes. If one is actually aware of God and His instructions, then the kingdom of God is within himself.

Hayagrīva: The Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone—that is one of his last books—he condemns prayer as an inner formal service to God, because God does not need information regarding the inner disposition of the person offering prayers. In other words, God does not need formal prayer to know what man needs. Such a prayer would be, "Give us this day our daily bread." However, Kant believes that it is good to teach children to pray so that in their early years they may accustom themselves to a life pleasing to God. So that prayer might add their...

Prabhupāda: That is religion: how to please God. That is not only restricted among the children, but authorized(?) to the children's father. One must know how to please God. That is real religion.

Philosophy Discussion on Hegel:

Śyāmasundara: Then he says that the idea in and for itself expresses itself as the absolute spirit.

Prabhupāda: That means he is speaking the imperfect perfect. He is speaking from material platform. He has no spiritual platform.

Śyāmasundara: He says the subjective mind deals with inner experience, the objective mind deals with outer experience but the absolute mind deals with both, it unites them.

Philosophy Discussion on John Stuart Mill:

Śyāmasundara: He says that there are two moral sanctions for our conduct: one is the internal sanction, or our own inner conscience...

Prabhupāda: These are all nonsense-inner conscience. These are all nonsense. He's a nonsense philosopher. What do you mean, inner conscience?

Philosophy Discussion on John Stuart Mill:

Prabhupāda: You will be aware as soon as you approach the higher authority. He'll give you order, "Do this," "Do not do this."

Śyāmasundara: Then my conscience tells me if I am doing it right or wrong, my inner conscience, it tells me...

Prabhupāda: Yes. That anyone can understand. Even a dog can understand. You see, if the dog is trying to enter the room, I say "Hut!" he can also, he has got conscience, "Oh, the master does not want me to enter." That conscience is there in cats and dogs. That is not very high consciousness. Real consciousness is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That discrimination is there.

Śyāmasundara: So my inner conscience tells me...

Philosophy Discussion on William James:

Śyāmasundara: And he says that the evidence for God's existence is found primarily in one's personal inner experience. One has an intuitive experience that God exists.

Prabhupāda: God exists. Just like we say always that God is supposed to be the supreme father. So as I know, even though I did not see my father, but still I know that I had father, or I have father. So if God is the supreme father, He must be there.

Philosophy Discussion on William James:

Prabhupāda: Yes. It is very simple logic. Because I am born of my father, my father is born of his father, his father is born of his father, go on, go on, and find out the supreme father. After all, there must have been a beginning of all the fathers. So how can I deny the supreme father?

Śyāmasundara: Unless I have the experience, inner experience of that...

Prabhupāda: This is inner experience. It is very simple. Because my father is, therefore I am born of him. He is born of his father, he is born of his father. Go on, that's it. That is, our śāstra says, ultimately you will come to Brahmā, the father of this universe. The Brahmā is also born of Nārāyaṇa, how you say, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, and the Garbhodakaśāyī, wherefrom He comes? Mahā-Viṣṇu, Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu.

Philosophy Discussion on William James:

Śyāmasundara: He makes a few comments about religion. He says that "The religious experience is unique, and it enables the individual to realize that the world he perceives is part of a spiritual universe which alone gives the sensory world value, and that man's proper goal is to unite himself with that higher universe. That prayer or inner communion with the universal spirit or God is the means whereby spiritual energy flows in and produces effects, psychological or material, occurring in the phenomenal world. And that religious faith imparts a new zest to life, taking the form either of lyrical enchantment or of appeal to earnestness and heroism, and that religion contributes some assurance of safety and peace and teaches love in human relationships."

Prabhupāda: That's nice.

Śyāmasundara: He says some nice things about...

Prabhupāda: That's nice.

Philosophy Discussion on William James:

Hayagrīva: James believes that the existence of many religions in the world is not regrettable but is necessary to the existence of different types of men. He says, "All men have, should have... Should all men have the same religion? Ought they to approve the same fruits and follow the same leadings? Are they so like in their inner needs that exactly the same religious incentives are required? Or are different functions allotted to different types of men, so that some may really be the better for a religion of consolation and reassurance whilst others are better for one of terror and reproof?" And he goes on to conclude that he thinks that difference...

Prabhupāda: This is religion. Therefore I was talking in this morning that accept God as the supreme father and the material nature is the mother and we living entities, in 8,400,000 forms, we are all sons of God. So everyone has got the right to live at the cost of the father. The father is the maintainer—that is natural—and we are maintained.

Philosophy Discussion on William James:

Hayagrīva: And he therefore concludes that mystical states cannot be sustained for long, except in rare instances. Half an hour or at most an hour or two seems to be the limit beyond which they fade into the light of common day. "Often, when faded, their quality can be but imperfectly reproduced in memory, but when they recur it is recognized, and from one recurrence to another it is susceptible of continuous development in what is felt as inner richness and importance."

Prabhupāda: Yes. That richness comes to perfection when one thinks of Kṛṣṇa constantly, without any cessation. That is recommended in the yogic chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā:

yoginām api sarveṣāṁ
mad-gata āntarātmanā
śraddhāvān bhajate
yo māṁ sa me bhak...
(BG 6.47)

Uh...

Hari-śauri: Yuktatamo mataḥ.

Philosophy Discussion on Soren Aabye Kierkegaard:

Śyāmasundara: He says that you will know yourself when you begin choosing yourself. And when you begin making choices and examining them, you find the right choice for you, and you will begin to know yourself. That this passionate, inner awareness when one becomes engaged in life, in doing things actively, and making decisions...

Prabhupāda: So this choice, when you know yourself, so how you can know yourself unless you go to somebody who knows things as they are? Just like people know that "I am this body." But this kind of knowing is animal knowing. This kind of knowing, that "I am this body," yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13). If one understands that "I am this body," then he is no better than an ass. The animals, the ass, the ass also thinks, "I am this body," and you also think that you are body, then what is the difference between you and the ass? And what is the value of the philosophy of an ass if you are in the bodily concept of life?

Philosophy Discussion on Arthur Schopenhauer:

Hayagrīva: He sees the pleasure of the world as ultimately frustrating. Eternal becoming endless flux characterizes the revelation of the inner nature of will. Finally, the same thing shows itself in human endeavors and desires, which always delude us by presenting their satisfaction as the final end of will. As soon as we attain to them, they no longer appear the same. Therefore they soon grow stale or forgotten, and though not ultimately disowned, are yet always thrown aside as vanished illusions.

Prabhupāda: So this is going on. He is getting, therefore, different types of body.

Hayagrīva: He says we go..., there's a constant transition from desire to satisfaction and from satisfaction to a new desire, a rapid course of which is called happiness, and the slow course sorrow, and does not sink into that stagnation that shows itself in fearful boredom that paralyzes life. So it's this flux from desire to satisfaction that characterizes the will's activities in the phenomenal world. But for Schopenhauer, outside of all of this flux there is only..., the only solution is nirvāṇa or extinction.

Philosophy Discussion on Edmund Husserl:

Śyāmasundara: Today we are discussing one German philosopher named Edmund Husserl, and he started a school of philosophy known as phenomenology. The definition of phenomenology is "a descriptive analysis of inner experience or subjective processes, or the intuitive study of essences." So the idea behind this philosophy is that to find out the essences of things, to describe the data of our consciousness without any bias or prejudice or..., ignoring all theories and scientific facts, everything, but simply looking at a thing or a phenomenon and trying to understand what it is by analyzing our inward or intuitive knowledge of things.

Prabhupāda: That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness-real consciousness. Just like at the present moment I am thinking "Indian"; you are thinking "American." But if you introspect, you are American or I am Indian, so if you go on researching, you'll come to conclusion that "I am Kṛṣṇa's." That is real platform, when one understands that "I am part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa."

Philosophy Discussion on Carl Gustav Jung:

Prabhupāda: All right. (break)

Śyāmasundara: So today we'll finish that psychologist Jung, Carl Jung. As we were discussing before, his idea is that there is a collective unconscious, there is an unconscious state of mind and there is a conscious state of mind. The inner, the working between these two, conscious and unconscious, determines the personality of the living entity. The behavior of the living entity is determined by the interaction between his unconscious and his conscious...

Prabhupāda: That is called, in Sanskrit, (indistinct), (indistinct) and suṣupti. When you are fully conscious, that is called (indistinct). And (indistinct), dreaming, that (indistinct). And another state, suṣupti, no consciousness. That is (indistinct). It is called... Operation?

Philosophy Discussion on Carl Gustav Jung:

Hayagrīva: Because a favorable environment merely strengthens the dangerous tendency to expect everything to originate from outside,...

Prabhupāda: No, everything originates from inside, from the soul.

Hayagrīva: He says, "There must be a deep-seated change in the inner man." He also sees that modern man needs a guru, or someone, he says, "to explain religion to man. Whereas the man of today can easily think and understand all the 'so-called truths' dished out to him by the State, his understanding of religion is made considerably more difficult owing to the lack of explanations. Do you understand what you are reading?" And he said, "How can I, unless someone guides me?"

Philosophy Discussion on B. F. Skinner:

Śyāmasundara: This program, because Skinner himself believes in Judeo-Christian ethics combined with a scientific tradition. But he fails to answer how it is possible to accept those ethics without accepting something like an inner person with an autonomous concept. In other words, he says we can program society to be good to your neighbor, to love one another, to be honest, upright, like that. But he is still not sure how it would be possible without accepting a free will.

Prabhupāda: The defect is that these programs are being forwarded by some rascal. Therefore they are defective. If they would have been forwarded by perfect man, then you would have actual (indistinct). Now one rascal is forwarding some program, another rascal next time (indistinct) this is true. So this is going on in Western world. Because according to Bhāgavata we belong to the category of dogs, hogs, camels.

Philosophy Discussion on Karl Marx:

Śyāmasundara: He says that this is purely the nature of matter, that there are always two conflicting properties, and that this inner impulse, this inner pulsation of opposite forces, will cause history to take leaps like you just said, from one revolution to another. But the Communist revolution he calls the final revolution because it is the perfect answer.

Prabhupāda: Yes. I can take it in this sense. If the Communist idea is spiritualized. So long the Communist idea will remain materialized, it is not final. We have got Communistic idea. Just like we believe... They believe that the state is the owner; we believe God is the owner. So this state is a small state, Russian state.

Philosophy Discussion on The Evolutionists Thomas Huxley, Henri Bergson, and Samuel Alexander:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Śyāmasundara: And then the second function of the mind is enjoyment, where there is a mental awareness of an inner, physiological activity as a result of the contemplation.

Prabhupāda: Yes. There are so many examples. Just like one man dreams some woman and there is nocturnal discharges. Mind creates like that and there is physical action actually. Mind creates a dream, a tiger, and there is physical action. He is crying loudly, "Here is a tiger. Here is a tiger." Actually, there is no tiger.

Philosophy Discussion on Johann Gottlieb Fichte:

Prabhupāda: Then what is immoral? Everyone will say this is morality. Just like we say, following the Vedic scripture, we say kṛṣi-go-rakṣya-vāṇijyam (BG 18.44), go-rakṣya, to give protection to the cows. So according to the scripture we would say it is morality, and somebody will say no, killing a cow in some religious place, mosque or synagogue, this is morality. So which one is morality?

Hayagrīva: Well he, following Kant, he emphasized inner reality...

Prabhupāda: He may, he may follow Kant and I may follow Kṛṣṇa, but if there is contradiction, then which one is morality? How it will be decided, and who will decide? He may follow somebody.

Conversations and Morning Walks

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 17, 1971, Allahabad:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Guest (1): But inner form may be...

Prabhupāda: What is that inner form? You are inner form. Your outer, your coat, is not thinking. Your shirt is not thinking. What you mean by outward, inward? Inward you are. Outward your coat and shirt. Do you think your coat and shirt is thinking? You are thinking.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 20, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Rice. And vṛścika means scorpion. The scorpions enter within the heaps of rice and lay their eggs. And by heat of the rice, they, another baby vṛścika come out. And when they're coming out of the, that taṇḍula, rice, the rascals are thinking that the rice is begetting the vṛścika. They do not know the inner secrecy that another vṛścika, scorpion, has laid down the eggs within the rice, and by the fermentation of the heat of the rice, the eggs are fructified and the living entities coming out. Taṇḍula-vṛścika-nyāya. (pause)

Morning Walk -- April 21, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: But they do not know the inner meaning...

Prabhupāda: No, inner meaning is there. But they would not explain that. Simply the dark side, they would explain. And prove that the Indian civilization was very crude and primitive. It has no enlightenment. That was British propaganda. Even during national movement, they bribed one American woman, and she wrote a book: "Mother India." Do you know that?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: No, I, no...

Room Conversation with Father Tanner and other guests -- July 11, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: But that one... First of all one. Just like we say that "My identity is that I am eternal servant of God." This is my identity.

Father Tanner: Well, this is the inner being, but then it finds expression in me...

Prabhupāda: Now, as servant of God, I may have many activities. But my identity is that I am eternal servant of God. This is our identity. So if I love myself, because I am eternal servant of God, therefore, if I actually I love myself, I must always engage myself in the service of the Lord. This is love.

Father Tanner: But there must, in your self, there must be times when you're angry, times when you're...

Morning Walk -- August 30, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: Therefore, in the Bhagavad-gītā, it is clearly said bhaktyā mām abhijānāti (BG 18.55). Simply through devotional service one can understand Me. Others will misunderstand. (break)

David Lawrence: Yes, one doesn't become concerned with these what really are the superficials of an inner state. You accept and appreciate the validity of bhakti.

Prabhupāda: What is this?

Śyāmasundara: It's a sentry post for watchguards.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Room Conversation with Indian Ambassador -- September 5, 1973, Stockholm:

Ambassador: Probably, as far as moral conduct is concerned, but more than that, how is it possible, you know? For the inner man in the spiritual mind, each individual can conceive his own philosophy, but the external conduct, the, the, what is called...?

Prabhupāda: No, no. External conduct means on religious principle.

Ambassador: This is what I was...

Prabhupāda: Yes. Harāv abhaktasya kuto... I... You can, you can...

Ambassador: Yes.

Room Conversation with Latin Professor -- December 9, 1973, Los Angeles:

Professor: For me, and I suppose, for so many others, the difficulty is getting from the intellectual willingness to accept the notion of God and even to get beyond a kind of fleeting intuition from time to time that there is something beyond the humanistic world conception to a real inner understanding of that reality. And I suppose that is what your work is all about, to...

Prabhupāda: Yes. God is... God is beyond our intellectual platform. (door opens) Come on. Hare Kṛṣṇa. So Professor, give him some seat. He'll stand?

Morning Walk -- December 19, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Anyway, close or open...

Devotee: Inner light.

Prabhupāda: Oh. Inner light, not outward light. Then he is not absolute. He is relative. He is relative. He is not absolute. So God is absolute. But you are relative. Therefore you are not God.

Morning Walk -- December 19, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa, he does not accept Kṛṣṇa. That is rejected. Now we are talking about him. If he is light, why does he use electric light? If he says, "The inner light," then you are relative. You see only inner side, not outside. Therefore you are relative. Therefore you are not God. God is absolute. Antar-bahiḥ. One has to see light inside and outside.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 9, 1974, Mayapura:

Guest (5): Yes, yes, yes. I am ready to do that.

Prabhupāda: Well, then you are welcome immediately.

Guest (5): And that is my desire, all, inner desire.

Prabhupāda: Āpani ācari prabhu jīve śikhāilā. If you show example how to keep the temple neat and clean, then these foreigners also will learn from you. (break) ...those who are earning money, they should... But we are giving them books. So our books are worth about three thousand rupees. But we are simply collecting eleven hundred.

Morning Walk -- April 1, 1974, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: Adhyātma? Bodily and mentally?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Chandobhai: Mentally. Spiritually... Inner existence.

Prabhupāda: No. Adhyātmam. Adhyātma. Ātma means body, mind and the soul, but here adhyātma means the body and the mind. That is material nature. The body and mind is made of material nature. (break) ...creation.

Chandobhai: Creation, yes.

Morning Walk -- April 7, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Therefore, at the present moment, bhogaiśvarya-prasaktānām tayāpahṛta-cetasām (BG 2.44). Demons, they are too much attached to material enjoyment, bhoga and aiśvarya. So they cannot take to it. Therefore our general principle is to perform saṅkīrtana, not to talk philosophy. When one is interested, then he can talk philosophy. Otherwise this talk should be amongst inner circles, with the students and the teacher, those who are submissive. Otherwise it should be avoided. It will create misunderstanding.

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

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is self-realization.

Professor Durckheim: So this marked me very much. It's the very beginning of my inner way, these four years of World War.

Prabhupāda: There is a verse. Nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve na kutaścana bibhyati (SB 6.17.28). If one is God realized soul, he is not afraid of anything. Svargāpavarga-narakeṣv api tulyārtha-darśinaḥ.

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

Professor Durckheim: The progress of self-realization is a sequence of experiences, isn't it, of inner experiences?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Professor Durckheim: The progress of self-realization is a progress of inner experiences.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

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

Professor Durckheim: Yes, but this is a very good example because the dream of the tiger comes very often. And it always means that you are pursued by some of your inner instincts, yourself. So you discover in the image of the tiger something which is not right in yourself.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that experience is also material. That is not spiritual experience. That experience is going on continually so long we are materially attached. Because in the material world we are constantly changing our body. Your experience in childhood is different from the experience at this time.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Carol Cameron -- May 9, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: Yes. You cannot understand the principles of life and morality, Jesus Christ's instruction that "Thou shall not kill." So how you become philosopher?

Carol: How is the love to be understood? Between people or through inner sort of communication with a higher self?

Gaṇeśa: Śrīla Prabhupāda said that you could not understand the simple instruction, so where is the question of understanding philosophy? Not love. Philosophy.

Room Conversation with Yogi Bhajan -- June 7, 1975, Honolulu:
Yogi Bhajan: That's it. Also there is a fundamental message in that, that as God created everyone, God created all of us, and in Sikh dharma God, whatever we want to call it, ultimate reality, beyond sunya-samadha, the truth, and Lord Kṛṣṇa in His incarnation taught, Lord Rāma taught. And what our problem at this time at the humanity is: the humanity is divided in many forms. And it is the inner hatred which people want to expel (spell?) out.

Prabhupāda: Therefore I say that every, at least, religious sect... I don't say others, nonreligious or agnostic. There are Christian, Mohammedan, Hindu, Sikhs, or any religious system, they have accepted that there is God, Supreme Truth.

Morning Walk -- September 26, 1975, Ahmedabad:

Prabhupāda: Caitanya Mahāprabhu, when He entered Jagannātha temple, He immediately fainted: "Oh, here is my Lord." So it is the question of seeing.

Indian man (6): But what is our inner things? How we know it? In our classical music, actually Lord Kṛṣṇa is the main figure in all... In even Muslim classical music, they also pray Lord Kṛṣṇa.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- June 10, 1976, Los Angeles:

Richard: Okay, I would say happiness is the pursuit of, to you, what makes your life work, worthwhile.

Prabhupāda: We are not working, we are not interested in working.

Richard: Well, when I say work, I mean what gives you an inner respect for yourself, um, yeah, I think it all boils down to self-respect, an appreciation of...

Prabhupāda: What is this self-respect?

Room Conversation -- July 10, 1976, New York:

Bali-mardana: What if they say it is not excellent?

Prabhupāda: Nobody says. (laughter) But the ceremony is made. The social system in India is that "If I do not accept your food, then I do not take you within my inner circle. You remain outside."

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's a great offense if you offer someone prasādam and they refuse.

Conversation After Interview with Religious Editor, Associated Press -- July 16, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is there. Why they think Eastern, Western, Jewish, and...? We are talking of the human being. That is the misunderstanding going on, that this is Hindu religion, Eastern religion. Kṛṣṇa begins from the word dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). Find out this. The rascals are taking Hindu, Muslim, Christian. Dehe, the body, and the inner force of the body, He's beginning His teaching. Where is the question of Hindu, Muslim, Christian and Jewish? Still they are misunderstanding, "This is Hindu."

Morning Walk -- August 12, 1976, Tehran:

Hari-śauri: So we should all aim towards leaving the cities. If everyone becomes sāttvika...

Prabhupāda: That tendency is there, why these bungalows are here? They do not like to live in the city. They are paying so high rent. Why? The inner tendency is to live like this, with trees, with lawn. (to passerby:) Hare Kṛṣṇa, thank you.

Room Conversation with U.N. Doctor -- September 29, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Nirākāra means He has no material ākāra. That is nirākāra. Ākāra means we have got... Just like I have conception of you. So this ākāra is your material ākāra. It is not your real ākāra. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). The real person is within the body, but we have no connection with the real body. We see this outward... Just like seeing his dress, his... That's all.

Doctor: How to find the...? How to get to the ātman, the inner body?

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is the first instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā, that first of all, try to understand what is the person. So because we have no eyes to see, indirectly dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāram... (BG 2.13). Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Antavanta ime dehā nityasyoktāḥ śarīriṇaḥ (BG 2.18). So many things. Nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ. So many indirect way because we cannot directly perceive.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation with Yogi Amrit Desai of Kripalu Ashram (PA USA) -- January 2, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Therefore it is cheating. They have no siddhi.

Yogi Amrit Desai: My gurudeva, he reached nirvikalpa-samādhi seven years ago. Now he is going into divine body. The inner changes are happening, he says. And in pure body... The Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He said every five hundred years one yogi achieves that pure body. Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Santa-jñānesvara, (?) They are lines who reached that spot.

Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Rāmeśvara: I think so.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Rāmeśvara: Then number three—this is very significant—"A substantial number of Americans have developed an interest in the inner, or spiritual, life." They make a distinction between religion and spiritual.

Prabhupāda: Actually religion means spiritual.

Rāmeśvara: But they say religion means going to church once a week. That's their religion.

Prabhupāda: Oh, that's...

Room Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- January 30, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: So do that. He'll do.

Gargamuni: So I can give the names.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Okay. Give me the names and passport numbers so that we can get the inner pass.

Prabhupāda: So immediately do it.

Gargamuni: Yes. And you can say, "Five, plus one by plane." 'Cause even if we go, we have to bring books, and you cannot bring so many books on the plane.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Oh, no.

Morning Room Conversation -- February 16, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: In our college days we read one book. That was our textbook. It is a story, that a boy was meant for church and he fell in love with a girl. That is the psychology. Cloister and the Hearth. What is the cloister?

Hari-śauri: Inner sanctuary.

Prabhupāda: And hearth? Home.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Home.

Room Conversations -- February 20, 1977, Mayapura:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, it's actually more prominent than The Statesman, I think. Yeah. There's no mention. There's no mention in these other papers.

Prabhupāda: So you are also coming to Bombay?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda. I'm also thinking to go to Delhi to make that inner pass for possible visit to Manipur.

Prabhupāda: That may be suspended for the time.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Oh. So shall I...?

Prabhupāda: We have to do so many things always.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: But at the same time traveling may not be so...

Prabhupāda: Fruitful.

Conversations -- April 19, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Everything is spoiled. They have given so much coverage, and everything has been farce. Because, don't mind, you wanted to become famous—that is the intention-therefore it has become a farce. The inner intention was that you want to be famous. Frankly. Therefore it has become farce. Everything ludicrous, farce. And "In three years they will build this temple and, and..." You have read that article?

Discussion about Bhu-mandala -- July 5, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So far that hasn't been said, but that's... You can say that Bhārata-varṣa is a petal of the lotus. But I think if you look at the Bhāgavatam, it may... I'd have to see it, what it says. There's a statement that it may be the inner portion of the lotus. I don't know...(break) And what we do, it has to agree with the Bhāgavatam.

Prabhupāda: Lotus petal... There are so many petals. You are conditioned with one petal.

Correspondence

1947 to 1965 Correspondence

Letter to Brothers -- Allahabad 1 January, 1955:
1st form No-1.

The circular letter addressing as "Dear Brother" to be sent along with the Prospectus by book Post 2nd letter on receipt of the reply of the 1st circular letter. (For inner members who are willing to live with us for spiritual upliftment)

Letter to Brothers -- Allahabad 1 January, 1955:

I am very much glad that you are willing to live with us. As already informed we have no restriction for admitting inner members, so far nationality, caste and creed are concerned. But the inner members will have to abide by the following rules, which are necessary as basic principles for spiritual upliftment. The inner members will not have

Letter to Brothers -- Allahabad 1 January, 1955:

(3) He must be satisfied with "Prasadam" which will be served to him & must be strictly vegetarian. No inner member shall be allowed to eat fish, meat, eggs, onions, etc.

Letter to Brothers -- Allahabad 1 January, 1955:

(4) the inner member shall not indulge in unnecessary indoor or outdoor games, sporting or gambling habit. The nominal boarding charges is Rs 25/-. No charges for lodging.

Letter to Brothers -- Allahabad 1 January, 1955:

(5) the inner member must enroll himself as regular member in the A. B. or C. Category. Members with voting power will have to pay the scheduled monthly subscriptions The lowest rate of subscription is Rs 10/- per month. Any one unable to pay the membership fee may apply for free membership or lesser subscription for consideration of the Board of Executive members. The executive committee can decide on it.

Letter to Brothers -- Allahabad 1 January, 1955:

(6) The inner member is requested to rise early in the morning before sun-rise and finish his morning duties for inner & make cleanliness. And after finishing such duties, he will have attend to "Mangalaratric" service to be held in the temple of "Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu & Radha Govinda".

Letter to Brothers -- Allahabad 1 January, 1955:

(7) The inner members will be served with Prasadam after "Mangalaratric" (mostly some milk-preparation)

Letter to Brothers -- Allahabad 1 January, 1955:

(9) After this a cup of milk along with other foodstuff will be served to the inner members as break fast.

1967 Correspondence

Letter to Brahmananda -- San Francisco 10 February, 1967:

Some of them writes as follows: "Your Holiness: You have brought great beauty and harmony to our community through your love and devotion. Many souls have found their inner peace in your teachings of the Krishna Consciousness" I could have immediately distributed many records in these meetings by practical demonstration of the records.

Letter to Brahmananda -- Long Branch, NJ 14 June, 1967:

I am sure you can do this because all of you are determined to propagate this message to the world at large. I am sure you can do this because all of you who have come to me are sincere soul and you have understood the inner force of Krishna Consciousness. Please try to propagate this new movement combinedly.

Letter to Brahmananda -- Long Branch, NJ 14 June, 1967:

In the mean time you can make your decision. Even in my absence there will be no stoppage of activities, will go on nicely by regular exchange of correspondence and there will be no difficulty. At last I may inform you that if I get my permanent visa and if Rabbi Newman agrees to give us the house then I may not return to India—that is my inner wish.

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Upendra -- Allston, Mass 1 June, 1968:

The example of Naradaji, that when he realized Krishna in his previous life, that life and next life, there is no difference. The example is given sometimes in the coconut skin when it is dried up, the fruit within the covering of coconut is hard. And if the coconut is shaken, it is found that the coconut fruit is moving within. Because it has dried up and broken away from the inner walls of the coconut skin. So it has nothing to do with the outer skin, even though it appears that it is within that skin.

Letter to Rupanuga -- Los Angeles 20 December, 1968:

On the outside layer there are these three kinds of planets, on the middle layers there are the three kinds of planets and on the inner-most layer there are found these three kinds of planets. Above these layers, in the center, is the Brahmaloka where Lord Brahma, the creator is residing. So the earth planet and the moon planet are both on the same layer but the earth is middle planet and the moon is heavenly planet.

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Mukunda -- Los Angeles 28 June, 1969:

Your explanation regarding my P.S. is very much engladdening to me, and I am so proud of having beautiful disciples like you who understand the inner meaning of my mission. Actually, I want the people of the whole world to come to God consciousness and be happy. Without God, there is no question of happiness, and without God, there are no good qualities in a person.

1970 Correspondence

Letter to Sudama -- Los Angeles 8 January, 1970:

That is a fact, this plan of Sankirtana is the only way, the only way for our success. Sankirtana, Love Feast and selling BTG, they are our primary engagements and next Temple worship. Temple worship is needed for the inner section. In the beginning, Sankirtana is more important for drawing the attention of the people in general. Last night, I went to see our men chanting in Hollywood Boulevard, and I saw it was so fine and satisfactory.

Letter to Acyutananda -- Bombay 14 November, 1970:

When my Guru Maharaja Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami Prabhupada introduced this system, it was protested even by His inner circle of Godbrothers or friends. Of course He had actually no Godbrothers, but there were many disciples of Bhaktivinode Thakura who were considered as Godbrothers who protested against this action of my Guru Maharaja, but He didn't care for it.

Page Title:Inner (Lectures, Conv. and Letters)
Compiler:Rishab, JayaNitaiGaura
Created:18 of May, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=39, Con=30, Let=16
No. of Quotes:85