Listen (Lectures)

Expressions researched:
"listen" |"listened" |"listener" |"listeners" |"listening" |"listenings" |"listens"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.39 -- London, September 12, 1973:

Pradyumna: (leads chanting, etc.)

Translation: "Thus far I have declared to you the analytical knowledge of sāṅkhya philosophy. Now listen to the knowledge of yoga whereby one works without fruitive result. O son of Pṛthā, when you act by such intelligence, you can free yourself from the bondage of works."

Prabhupāda:

eṣā te 'bhihitā sāṅkhye

buddhir yoge tv imāṁ śṛṇu

buddhyā yukto yayā pārtha

karma-bandhaṁ prahāsyasi

(BG 2.39)

Karma-bandham. You act something, and there is reaction. That is called karma-bandha. We can understand very easily. Whatever you act, there is reaction. Good act or bad act... There are two things. So if while in this body we act piously, then our future is very good. If we act impiously, then our future is not very good. So actually we should act piously, not impiously. That is human life. We should know what kind of action we should do. In the Sixteenth Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā you'll find pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca na vidur āsura-janāḥ: (BG 16.7) "Those who are asuras, they do not know what kind of action should be done and what kind of action should not be done." Not that "Anything I like at my whims..." That is not... At least for human being, he should not do. Even in the state laws, if you act whimsically, whatever you like, you'll be liable to so many difficulties, and what to speak of spiritual life?

Lecture on BG 2.40-45 -- Los Angeles, December 13, 1968:

Prabhupāda: Yes, somebody read.

Devotee: "Thus far I have declared to you the analytical knowledge of sāṅkhya philosophy. Now listen to the knowledge of yoga, whereby one works without fruitive result."

Prabhupāda: Which one this is reading? Second Chapter?

Devotee: Yes. Text 39.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Devotee: "O son of Pṛthā, when you act by such intelligence you can free yourself from the bondage of works (BG 2.39)." Verse 40:" In this endeavor there is no loss or diminution, and a little advancement on this path can protect one from the most dangerous type of fear (BG 2.40)." Purport: "Activity in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or acting for the benefit of Kṛṣṇa without expectation of sense gratification is the highest transcendental quality of work. Even a small beginning of such activity finds no impediment, nor can that small beginning be lost at any stage. Any work begun..."

Prabhupāda: Is the purport going on?

Lecture on BG 3.27 -- Madras, January 1, 1976:

We are preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over the world, and we are getting good response because we are preaching Bhagavad-gītā as it is. This book is... Here it is written, Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. We do not make any false interpretation so that the reader also spoil and the listener is also spoiled.

So, so many people, sometimes they come forward to give me some credit that I have done very wonderful thing. So I reply that "I do not know how to do something wonderful. I cannot manufacture gold, I cannot show any jugglery, but if there is any credit, then the only credit is I don't adulterate. That's all. The pure milk, I don't show my expert service by adding water in it. That I do not do. So we present Bhagavad-gītā as it is. In the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord. In the, all the Vedic literature, Kṛṣṇa is accepted as the Supreme Lord, person, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ

sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ

anādir ādir govindaḥ

sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam

(Bs. 5.1)

In the Vedānta-sūtra it is inquired, athāto brahma jijñāsā. What is Brahman? This human life is meant for understanding Brahman. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. This is real education. So that Para-brahman... We are Brahman, but Kṛṣṇa is Para-brahman. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). He is the supreme nitya, eternal. Kṛṣṇa is also eternal; we are also eternal. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). So Kṛṣṇa is... (break) ...not a dead stone and we are also living being. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām. And where is the difference between Kṛṣṇa and me? The difference is eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. Kṛṣṇa maintains all these plural number. He is singular number. Nityo nityānām. He is singular number. Then this singular number or plural number, what is the difference? Difference is that Kṛṣṇa is the maintainer and we are the maintained. Kṛṣṇa is the predominator; we are predominated. This is difference.

Lecture on BG 4.15 -- Bombay, April 4, 1974:

Now, follow pūrvataraiḥ. Now, we are listening Bhagavad-gītā. So Bhagavad-gītā was first heard by the Vivasvān, the sun-god. So giving aside sun-god, we can take at least Arjuna. Pūrvataraiḥ, mahadbhiḥ. Arjuna is mahat, mahat. Sa mahātmā su-dur... Because he knows Kṛṣṇa. Śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam (BG 2.7). He surrendered to Kṛṣṇa for solution of the problem, whether he was to fight or not to fight. So Kṛṣṇa instructed directly and Kṛṣṇa certified him, bhakto 'si me priyo 'si: (BG 4.3) "You are my dear friend. You are My devotee. Therefore I shall talk to you the mystery." Rahasyam etad uttamam, Bhagavad-gītā. So take the lesson from Arjuna, how he acted, how he understood Bhagavad-gītā. Then pūrvataraiḥ. You don't have to go very long, long before. You take the symbolical representation of Kṛṣṇa, Arjuna. So how did he understood? How he did understand Kṛṣṇa? He understood Kṛṣṇa: paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12). So you understand like that.

Lecture on BG 4.23 -- Bombay, April 12, 1974:

These are the bhakti-yoga. You have to hear about Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Hearing, hearing, hearing, hearing, you can become mukta.

Just like Mahārāja Parīkṣit. He simply listened about Kṛṣṇa, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. At the last stage of his life, he listened from Śukadeva Gosvāmī, simply Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and he became liberated. Śrī-viṣṇoḥ śravaṇe parīkṣit. The śrī-viṣṇoḥ śravaṇe, about Lord Kṛṣṇa or Lord Viṣṇu. Parīkṣit Mahārāja became liberated. Abhavad vaiyāsakiḥ kīrtane. And vaiyāsaki, the son of Vyāsadeva, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, he simply narrated the topics of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. He became liberated.

There are nine items of bhakti-yoga.

śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ

smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam

arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ

sakhyam ātma-nivedanam

(SB 7.5.23)

So if you can execute all the items, that is very good. If not, some of them, at least one.

This chance is being given by the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We invite people all over the world, "Please come and join with this chanting, Hare Kṛṣṇa." Actually, whatever development has been made, it is only by this process. We don't impose any, I mean to say, regulation in the beginning. No. "Please come and sit down and hear about Kṛṣṇa." Śravaṇam. If you simply continue, if you do not do anything, I guarantee that if you simply come here and hear about Kṛṣṇa, you will be liberated. If you do not do anything, if you kindly come here and hear about Kṛṣṇa. Here or anywhere, śravaṇam.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- San Diego, July 1, 1972:

So one has gone twenty steps, one has gone fifty steps, one has gone seventy-five steps, one has gone full hundred steps. So one who has gone twenty-five steps, he cannot be compared with one who has gone one hundred steps. Similarly, the yoga system is just like a staircase for going to the spiritual world. So one who has taken to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he's on the top, topmost yoga system. Go on.

Pradyumna: "The Lord therefore says to Arjuna, tac chṛṇu, or 'Hear from Me.' No one can be a greater authority than Kṛṣṇa, and therefore, by hearing from Him..."

Prabhupāda: There... Here is another point. We have to learn by listening from somebody. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). We approach guru for hearing from him the truth. Just like child listens from the parents and he learns to speak, he learns to know what is what. The father says, "This is dish"; the child also says, "This is dish." The father says, "This is spoon"; the child also says, "This is spoon." So he learns by hearing. "Mother language" means if the child is handed over to some other person whose mother, whose language is different from the mother, he'll learn, from the very beginning he'll learn that language.

Lecture on BG 7.2 -- Nairobi, October 28, 1975:

Prabhupāda: He will go to Kṛṣṇa, because spiritual master is also going to Kṛṣṇa. (laughter) Now these questions should be on the subject matter which we have discussed. Don't bring outside question. Then there..., it will be no end. This is not the process. When we invite question—on the subject matter which we have spoken. Anyway, any other question?

Indian man (2): Śrīla Prabhupāda, in Back to Godhead, on page five, it is said that Śrī Vallabhācāryajī, a devotee to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, wrote commentary on Śrīmad-Bhāgavata, and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu rejected his commentary, and then He said that He is not prepared to listen to his commentary, and he gives certain other comments.

Prabhupāda: Not certain other comment. The Vallabhācārya, he brought his Subodhinī-ṭīkā, and he was great admirer of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and he said that "I have written one commentary which is far better than the comments given by Śrīdhara Svāmī." So that was disapproved by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. If you disapprove previous ācārya or if you become more intelligent than previous ācārya, then you are not ācārya. This is... This was Caitanya Mahāprabhu's... He disapproved. Our process is evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). We cannot disregard. Śrīdhara is the original commentator of Bhāgavata. If you say that "I am better than Śrīdhara Svāmī," then you immediately become rejected. If I say... Just like there are some people, they create some avatāra, and they say, "This avatāra is better than Kṛṣṇa"—immediately rejected. Immediately. He must know his value. This was... Caitanya Mahāprabhu said svāmī, Śrīdhara Svāmī, so he also sarcastically remarked, svāmī nā māne yei jana veśyāra bhitare tāre kariye gaṇana. Svāmī means husband also. So if some woman says that "I don't care for my husband," Caitanya Mahāprabhu, "Then he's a prostitute. She is a prostitute." This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu. You cannot disregard svāmī. Not that... They were very friendly, so you can take it as friendly, jokingly, that "You are so proud that you are disregarding Śrīdhara Svāmī. Then you are no better than prostitute."

Lecture on BG 9.4 -- Melbourne, April 22, 1976:

Guest (2) (man): Does God speak to me, within me, whether I listen or not?

Prabhupāda: God will speak just like you are speaking face to face if you are qualified.

Guest (2): Not in terms of words or even sound within me but does...

Prabhupāda: Sound is speaking. Speaking is sound. There is no difference. When you speak there is sound.

Guest (2): Is the feeling of God within me whether I...

Prabhupāda: God is within and without, both. Not only within. That is... That I was... I want to explain, mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ jagad avyakta-mūrtinā (BG 9.4). "I am everywhere." God is not only within, but without. But we have to see Him. We must have the eyes to see Him. God is everywhere. Mayā tatam idaṁ sarvam. Everywhere. God is everywhere. So we have to qualify ourself how to talk with God, how to see God. Otherwise God is present everywhere.

Guest (3) (girl): How does one surrender to Kṛṣṇa?

Prabhupāda: Surrender to Kṛṣṇa whatever you possess. What you possess? You possess your body, you possess your mind, and, it may be, you possess a home, wife, children, or husband, children. This is our possession. So when we surrender, "My dear Lord, whatever I have got... I have got this body, I have got little mind, speculation, and some, a home or husband, wife, children—everything surrendered to You." Mānasa deho geho, jo kichu mora. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says. We don't possess much. We possess whatever God has given us, little. So anyway, "Whatever we possess, everything is surrendered to You without and reservation." That is surrender.

Lecture on BG 9.4 -- Melbourne, April 23, 1976:

You are already performing Hare Kṛṣṇa chant, very easy thing. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam (SB 7.5.23). That is the best education, to hear about God, to chant about God, to think about God, to worship God. In this way there are nine processes recommended. You are following that, at least trying to follow. Then, when you are perfect, then you'll go. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). No more material body. You follow strictly the devotional process. There are nine different ways. But if you simply hear about God, then you also become perfect. Any one of them... You take nine of them, eight of them, seven of them, six of them, five of them—at least one you take, and you'll be perfect. One must take. Just like Mahārāja Parīkṣit, he took only one. He listened to Śukadeva Gosvāmī. He became perfect. Śukadeva Gosvāmī, he simply chanted; he became perfect.

śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ

smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam

arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ

sakhyam (ātma-nivedanam)

(SB 7.5.23)

Arjuna, he simply took Kṛṣṇa as a best friend; he became perfect. That is Bhagavad-gītā. He has accepted Kṛṣṇa as the best friend: "Kṛṣṇa, although I am talking with You as friend, but I know what you are. So I am perplexed. Kindly give me lesson." Śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam: (BG 2.7) "My dear Kṛṣṇa, I am surrendering unto you. I accept you as my spiritual master. Kindly teach me." So he became perfect by making Kṛṣṇa his friend. So nine processes. Any process you take and do it perfectly; then you become perfect. So we are opening different centers all over the world. At least if they come and hear about Kṛṣṇa they'll become perfect, without doing anything, simply by hearing, hearing. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam. It is very easy. It is not at all difficult. Where is the difficulty? God has given us ear, and if we simply hear, listen what Kṛṣṇa says, we become perfect.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.1.3 -- London, August 20, 1971:

Thus the subject matter is appealing to all classes of persons, including those who seek liberation and those who seek to become one with the Supreme Whole. In Sanskrit the parrot is also known as śuka. When a ripened fruit is cut by the red beaks of such birds, its sweet flavor is enhanced. The Vedic fruit which is mature and ripe in knowledge is spoken through the lips of Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī, who is compared to the parrot not for his ability to recite the Bhāgavatam exactly as he heard it from his learned father, but for his ability to present the work in a manner that would appeal to all classes of men. The subject matter is so presented through the lips of Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī that any sincere listener that hears submissively can at once relish transcendental tastes which are distinct from the perverted tastes of the material world. The ripened fruit is not dropped all of a sudden from the highest planet of Kṛṣṇaloka. Rather, it has come down carefully through the chain of disciplic succession without change or disturbance. Foolish people who are not in the transcendental disciplic succession commit great blunders by trying to understand the highest transcendental rasa known as the rāsa dance without following in the footsteps of Śukadeva Gosvāmī, who presents this fruit very carefully by stages of transcendental realization. One should be intelligent to know the position of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by considering personalities like Śukadeva Gosvāmī, who deals with the subject so carefully. This process of disciplic succession of the Bhāgavata school suggests that in the future also Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam has to be understood from a person who is factually a representative of Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī. A professional man who makes a business out of reciting the Bhāgavatam illegally is certainly not a representative of Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Such a man's business is only to earn his livelihood. Therefore one should refrain from hearing the lectures of such professional men. Such men usually go to the most confidential part of the literature without undergoing the gradual process of understanding this grave subject."

Lecture on SB 1.1.5-6 -- London, August 23, 1971:

Pradyumna: "The gosvāmīs do not deliver lectures of the Bhāgavatam capriciously. Rather, they execute their services most carefully, following their predecessors, who delivered the spiritual message unbroken to them. Those who listen to the Bhāgavatam may put questions to the speaker in order to elicit the clear meaning, but this should not be done in a challenging spirit. One must submit questions with a great regard for the speaker and the subject matter. This is also the way recommended in the Bhagavad-gītā. One must learn the transcendental subject by submissive aural reception from the right sources. Therefore these sages addressed the speaker Sūta Gosvāmī with great respect."

Prabhupāda: The next verse.

Pradyumna: (leads chanting)

ṛṣaya ūcuḥ

tvayā khalu purāṇāni

setihāsāni cānagha

ākhyātāny apy adhītāni

dharma-śāstrāṇi yāny uta

(SB 1.1.6)

Prabhupāda: This purāṇāni setihāsāni... These Purāṇas... You know, first of all, there is the Veda. Originally, the Veda, Atharva-veda. That is divided now into four: Sāma, Yajur, Atharva, Ṛg. Then all the Vedic instructions are what is called skimmed, concentrated in the Vedānta-sūtra, in one. The Upaniṣads, there are 108 Upaniṣads, and many others. So all the knowledge is concentrated in the Vedānta-sūtra, or Vedānta philosophy. Then again, it is explained for common men by purāṇāni, by Purāṇas. Just like this Purāṇa, this Bhāgavata-Purāṇa. Bhāgavata is also Purāṇa. Purāṇa means old, old history, Purāṇa. And itihāsa means history. But Vedic civilization was concerned with historical evidences which are very, very important. At the present moment, present age, they write history chronologically. One period may be important, one period may not be important, but they write all the history. The Vedic way of writing history was not like that. If you go on writing history... Suppose for millions years of history you write, then where you'll keep the records? It is not possible. Every day so many things are happening, or every year. So that was not the process.

Lecture on SB 1.1.9 -- Auckland, February 20, 1973:

So we can, at least we have to transcend the rajas-tamo guṇa. Tadā rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ kāma-lobhādayaś ca ye (SB 1.2.19). Rajas-tamo, the quality of passion and ignorance, mean the symptoms of these qualities is kāma and lobha, lust and greediness. So long there is lust and greediness... Lust for sex, lust for opposite sex, this is called lust. And greediness—to eat more, more than you can digest. When these two things are there, lust and greediness, that means you are now being conducted by the ignorance and passion. I am.... When there is prominence of goodness then we can understand what is what, what is God, what I am, what is this world. That is knowledge. And above this, transcendental, not only knowledge but practical application of knowledge in life. That is called śuddha-sattva, practical application. Only theoretically know, "Yes, there is God.... (break) ...when you engage yourself in the service of the Lord, that is śuddha-sattva. So here the question is that puṁsām ekāntataḥ śreyas tan naḥ śaṁsitum arhasi. "Now we are very much eager to hear from you, to listen from you, kindly let us know what is the easiest method to achieve the highest goal of life." This is the question. So next verse. Read. Oh, purport. Hm.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Mauritius, October 5, 1975:

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Indian man (2): Or are they stories? (?)

Prabhupāda: Yes. Because it is given by Vyāsadeva, therefore it is also authority.

Indian man (2): We have all listened to you very attentively.

Prabhupāda: Rāmāyaṇa, Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, that is also authority.

Indian man (2): We have listened to you very attentively and I have no doubt that the audience have learned much which is, could be practiced to help us in some way to realize what we are and to realize God. Now, if God Himself comes to teach to someone in this world, and if he has learned from God directly and he is satisfied that he has learned, that he has understood, can he, a few minutes afterwards, forget that he has received instruction from God and can he depart in a very ridiculous way from God, from what God has taught him in person?

Prabhupāda: Ridiculous way? What is that "ridiculous"?

Indian man (2): If I have read...

Prabhupāda: No, no. First of all correct yourself. What is that "ridiculous way"?

Indian man (2): If after receiving good education you act contrary to that education.

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Mauritius, October 5, 1975:

Indian man (2): "When there is unrighteousness, I come in this world to reinstate dharma."

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is the...

Indian man (2): And He has not come now. There is no unrighteousness in this world?

Prabhupāda: He has come, but you have no eyes to see. You require the eyes to see.

English man: Sir, I have listened to your talk with very great interest. You're very clear and very lucid. But you're also very dogmatic, I feel. Is there any area of doubt in your own philosophy, or are you quite certain in every field?

Prabhupāda: What is that dogmatic?

English man: Dogmatic? You are very... When you have a question put to you, you are very clear what the answer shall be. (devotees chuckle) Have you any doubts yourself that have not appeared to us?

Prabhupāda: So you answer. You are American?

English man: I am Scottish.

Prabhupāda: Scottish, England. In Scotland we have got also. Edinburgh, we have got our temple.

English man: But you are very... You seem very... Your philosophy seems very clear cut.

Prabhupāda: Thank you very much. (laughter)

English man: Are you well satisfied with that, that there is no area of doubt?

Lecture on SB 1.2.7 -- New Vrindaban, September 5, 1972:

Just like example is Mahārāja Parīkṣit. Mahārāja Parīkṣit, he had only seven days time of his life—that is the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. He simply heard, he listened carefully about Kṛṣṇa and he became perfect. He simply listened, he had no other business. Similarly Śukadeva Gosvāmī, he simply described, chanted about Kṛṣṇa, he became perfect. Prahlāda Mahārāja, he was being punished and chastised by his father in so many ways but he was simply remembering Kṛṣṇa. He became perfect. Hanumān, he was not even a man, he was animal, but his only business was to serve Lord Rāmacandra at any risk. He jumped over the ocean. He did not know any Vedānta philosophy, he was an animal. But he dedicated his life to serve Lord Rāmacandra. He took the risk of jumping over the sea. So in this way there are nine different process of bhakti-yoga. You can utilize all of them or you can utilize some of them, but if you stick to one only even, then your life will be successful. How life will be successful? That is also stated here, janayaty āśu vairāgyaṁ jñānaṁ ca yad ahaitukam (SB 1.2.7). By bhakti-yoga process, your original knowledge will be revived.

What is that original knowledge? Original knowledge is that God is the Supreme Father, I am His eternal son, or eternal servant, as you... Son is always servant because son, real son is obedient and servant is also obedient. And as we have got distinction here, servant and son, in the absolute world there is no such distinction. A son is as good as the servant and servant is as good as the son. That is absolute world. Don't think "Why shall I become a servant?" No, whatever you like, you can become, but in relationship with God, everything is one. There is no such distinction. So janayaty āś..., this is jñāna, this is knowledge. That God is great, I am very insignificant small, my business is to serve. This is jñāna, this is knowledge. This is knowledge. If simply we can understand this little philosophy, that God is great, I am very small. We have got experience here. Just like the government is great and we are small so whatever the order is government, the government wants somebody, "Come and join this draft department," you have to join, do it. Because you are small. So we can see in our practical life, the great puts the little into his service. Nūnaṁ mahatāṁ tatra.

Just like we are powerful human being, we are killing so many animals because they are weak.

Lecture on SB 1.7.7 -- Vrndavana, September 6, 1976:

A cat and dog cannot take advantage of the sādhu, śāstra and guru. Only the human being can accept it. Therefore here it is said, yasyāṁ vai śrūyamāṇāyām. Yasyāṁ vai śrūyamāṇāyāṁ kṛṣṇe parama-pūruṣe (SB 1.7.7). The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, sātvata-saṁhitām, given by Vyāsadeva... Not given by Vyāsadeva. Vyāsadeva is simply delivering what he has received from his guru, caitya-guru. He is delivering that knowledge. Vedic knowledge he is delivering, and he has written this book. Lokasyājānataḥ. People are all rascals.

So the advantage we must take. What is that advantage? Yasyāṁ vai śrūyamāṇāyām. If you simply hear, that's all. Just like you are hearing. If you kindly come here and listen the instruction of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, you become perfect. Simply by hearing. You haven't got to make any gymnastic or any physical labor. Simply come into the temple. Man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ. Simply see the Deity. Naturally you will think of Deity: "Oh, how nicely the Lord is dressed." That is thinking. Man-manāḥ. Immediately thinking. The temple is constructed after spending so much money. Why? To give you chance of thinking. Because there is the beginning. It is not the money is wasted. Rascals are thinking that "Unnecessarily they have spent so much money." No. Paropakāra, giving chances to the rascal people to come here and see the Deity and think of Kṛṣṇa, this is wanted. If he simply thinks, "Oh, how Kṛṣṇa is nicely dressed," that is thinking. Man-manāḥ. And if you offer little obeisances, māṁ namaskuru, then you still make further progress.

Lecture on SB 1.7.13-14 -- Vrndavana, September 12, 1976:

Unless one is dead, the fighting will go on. So what is the use? Nobody will be victorious. The fighting will go on. Better stop."

But they remained silent. Silent means they did not like the idea. Because Bhīma had many old grudges against Duryodhana, because when Draupadī was being insulted, they had to sit down silent, no protest. There were so many incidences-rivalry, insult and counterinsult. So they took the opportunity of feeding the old grudge by fighting. Everyone was determined, "I must kill." Duryodhana was determined to kill Bhīma, and Bhīma was determined to kill. So when they did not listen to the instruction of Baladeva, then Baladeva left the place. He went to Dvārakā, back. Of course, Kṛṣṇa was there, because Kṛṣṇa was to give hint to Bhīma how to kill Duryodhana. So Duryodhana, by the blessings of his mother, his whole body became iron-like solid. So by beating by the Bhīma, it was not easy. So the story is that Gāndhārī, the mother of Duryodhana, she was great chaste woman. Because her husband was blind, she used to remain as blind woman covering the eyes. But she had some power. Chaste woman, anyone who sticks to the regulative principles, he gets a power, spiritual or material. He gets power. A brahmacārī gets power if he follows brahmacarya. Everyone, if we follow the prescribed rules and regulations, automatically you become powerful.

Lecture on SB 1.15.27 -- New York, March 6, 1975:

So still, if we understand that this life is meant for understanding Kṛṣṇa or to advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, if this much we understand, then also, our life is successful. But we do not take it seriously. We do not take it seriously. That is the difficulty. Actually, as Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, that viṣaya-biṣānale, dibā-niśi hiyā jwale, juṛāite nā koinu upāy, "My heart is always burning on account of this material condition of life, and I did not make any means to get out of this entanglement"... So everyone should be intelligent. Intelligent person will admit that his heart is always burning. That's a fact. Now, if we want to get out of it, then, as Caitanya Mahāprabhu advises, all the ācāryas advises, and here Arjuna also... Arjuna directly listened to Kṛṣṇa, and he says, "This is my practical experience, that when I..." He was a politician, a fighter. He had so many anxieties. So he used to remember the instruction given by Kṛṣṇa directly to him.

So that instruction and when we read Bhagavad-gītā, that instruction, these two instructions, they are not different. Don't think that "Kṛṣṇa was present before Arjuna, but in my presence there is no Kṛṣṇa. Simply I have got this book." But you should know that the book and the instruction there in the Bhagavad-gītā and Kṛṣṇa, they are absolute, one. There is no difference. We can take advantage of Kṛṣṇa's presence by reading Bhagavad-gītā.

I have narrated several times the story of a brāhmaṇa in South India. He was illiterate, and he was reading Bhagavad-gītā. So his friends, village friends, they knew that "This man is illiterate. How he can read Bhagavad-gītā?" So they were criticizing. "Hello, brāhmaṇa. How you are reading Bhagavad-gītā?" So he did not say anything because he knew that "These friends are criticizing me because I am illiterate. He knows." So when Caitanya Mahāprabhu came there, Caitanya Mahāprabhu was attracted. He was illiterate, and he was reading Bhagavad-gītā, and Caitanya Mahāprabhu was attracted. Just see. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu inquired, "My dear brāhmaṇa, what you are reading?"

Lecture on SB 1.15.30 -- Los Angeles, December 8, 1973:

One who has received a little fraction of mercy of the Supreme, he can understand. Others, na cānya eko 'pi ciraṁ vicinvan. Others, they may go on speculating for millions of years. It is not possible to understand. So Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. Therefore we are presenting because we are presenting Bhagavad-gītā as it was understood by Arjuna. We do not go to Dr. Radhakrishnan, this scholar, that scholar, this rascal, that ra... No. We do not go. That is not our business. That is paramparā.

So Arjuna here says, bhagavatā, "What I heard from that personality, Supreme Personality of Godhead, Bhagavān." Bhagavān means full of six opulences. I've described it many times. So here is the direct hearer, listener. He says bhagavatā. How you can say that Kṛṣṇa is not Bhagavān-ordinary person? How you can say? One who heard the message, he says directly. This is called paramparā system. This is called paramparā. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). So if we understand Bhagavad-gītā, as Kṛṣṇa..., as Arjuna understood. that is perfect. That is Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. And if you try to understand Bhagavad-gītā as some rascal commentator says, then you are reading somebody else; rubbish. There's no meaning. You're simply wasting your time. He may be such scholar, such big politician, like this. In our country, big politician, they have commented; big, big yogis, they have commented; big, big scholars they have... They're all useless. Take it: useless. If you read such commentary of Bhagavad-gītā, it is simply waste of time. If you actually want to study Bhagavad-gītā, then as Arjuna understands. Arjuna directly listened from Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on SB 1.15.41 -- Los Angeles, December 19, 1973:

He can understand that "This living entity is now serious. He wants to hear about God." So this inquisitiveness is very good. My Guru Mahārāja accepted me as a disciple because he saw in the beginning I was very inquisitive to hear him. So in the beginning, when many gentleman... I was one of them, was introduced to my Guru Mahārāja, that "They are to be initiated. They want to be initiated, to become your disciple." So when my turn came, he immediately said, "Yes, I will accept this boy as disciple because he is very inquisitive to hear." That was my recommendation. And actually, I was very inquisitive. I could not follow what Guru Mahārāja was speaking, but still, I was asking others, that "When Guru Mahārāja will speak? I will hear." I could not follow. He was speaking in a very high philosophical term. So at that time I had no capacity to under... Still, I wanted to hear him, I understand or not understand.

So this is very good qualification. So those who are coming here to listen about God, they are very fortunate. Kṛṣṇa will help them. Śravaṇam. The beginning of bhakti-yoga is started from the practice of śravaṇam, aural reception, ear. Therefore the mantra is given through the ear, initiation mantra. Then kīrtanam.

Lecture on SB 1.16.7 -- Los Angeles, January 4, 1974:

That is his advice, Prahlāda Mahārāja. He was talking with his classfriend, five years old. So he was teaching them that "Just become Kṛṣṇa conscious. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa." Nārada taught him. He listened from Nārada. So he was convinced that this is the only business, how to make advancement in Kṛṣṇa consciousness by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra.

So he was Hiraṇyakaśipu's son. He did not appoint any teacher to teach him about Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But when he was in the womb of his mother, Nārada Muni advised the mother about Kṛṣṇa consciousness. She had to live for some time at the care of Nārada Muni when her husband was out being defeated by the demigods, the Hiraṇyakaśipu. So the woman's anxiety was when her husband will come back. And at that time the child was within the womb, and she begged a benediction from Nārada, "Sir, kindly arrange in that way, that as long as my husband does not come back, I may not give birth to this child." Nārada Muni said, "All right, it will be." So Nārada Muni was giving her advice about Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But her mind was absent, but the child within the womb, he was hearing. He was hearing. This is stated in the Bhāgavatam. You will find that when Prahlāda Mahārāja was asked this question by his friend, "My dear Prahlāda, we are also being taught by the same teacher. You are also being taught by the same teacher. You are a prince. You cannot go out. Wherefrom you have learned all this nice instruction?" So he replied that "This instruction was given by Nārada. So it was given to my mother, but as woman she has forgotten, and I remember."

Lecture on SB 2.1.1 -- Vrndavana, March 16, 1974:

Don't neglect it. Therefore it is advised, durlabha mānava-janama sat-saṅge taraha e bhava-sindhu re. E bhava-sindhu. This is the ocean, this is the ocean of nescience, ignorance. What is that? Bhava. Bhava-sindhu means take birth again and again. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). This is very botheration. And there is no guarantee what kind of... Therefore Parīkṣit Mahārāja... He's also devotee. He's going to Vaikuṇṭha. There was no doubt about it. Still, for our lesson, he inquired from Śukadeva Gosvāmī that "What is my duty now, now I am going to die?" This is intelligence.

So Parīkṣit Mahārāja had a notice of death for seven days, but we do not know what is the notice. We can die immediately. So how much for us it is necessary to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Parīkṣit Mahārāja had some time. This Bhāgavata-saptāha is imitated under Parīkṣit Mahārāja's... Parīkṣit Mahārāja had only seven days' time, so he might have listened to the Bhāgavata lesson for seven days. But for us, it is not that we observe a Bhāgavata-saptāha and finish our business. No. Our business is nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā.

Lecture on SB 2.1.2 -- Vrndavana, March 17, 1974:

The difficulty is that these, these materialistic persons, in different forms, they are accepted as the leaders. They are accepted as leader, as politician, as sociologist, as philosopher, mental speculator, or so-called incarnation of God, and magician, yogis, so many things. They are leading the whole society at the present moment. Therefore people are in chaotic condition.

So for them Śukadeva Gosvāmī says that they have many subject matter to hear. Śrotavyādīni... Nṛṇām, śrotavyādīni rājendra (SB 2.1.2). The Parīkṣit Mahārāja is addressed here as rājendra, the best of the kings. Rājendra, rāja, he was king, rāja. But indra means the best. Best of the... Because he was listening Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam at the point of his death, therefore he's addressed especially, rājendra, "Because you are best of the kings." Generally, people are not interested. Or course, in those days, everyone was interested. But he was the most interested-rājendra. Śrotavyādīni rājendra nṛṇām (SB 2.1.2). Nṛṇām means ordinary human beings, mostly engaged in the bodily concept of life or mental speculation, nṛṇām. Nṛṇāṁ santi sahasraśaḥ, they have got hundreds and thousands of subject matters because they are not conversant with the ātma-tattva. But those who are interested in real ātma-tattva, they are busy in understanding... Not understanding. Busy in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

So that, our aim is how to become fully Kṛṣṇa conscious. And to become fully Kṛṣṇa conscious, the examples are the Gosvāmīs. Just like śrī-rūpa sanātana bhaṭṭa-raghunātha, śrī-jīva gopāla-bhaṭṭa dāsa-raghunātha gosvāmīs. We are followers of the Gosvāmīs. But these Gosvāmīs are not these titular gosvāmīs. You should understand. The titular gosvāmīs are different. They are making a profession of gosvāmī. Real gosvāmī means the six Gosvāmīs. How one can become interested in ātma-tattva, that example is given by the six Gosvāmīs, śrī-rūpa sanātana bhaṭṭa-raghunātha, śrī-jīva gopāla-bhaṭṭa dāsa-raghunātha. When we speak that these gosvāmīs, who are indulging in all sinful activities, that does not mean the Gosvāmīs... Gosvāmīs cannot take in sinful activities, take part in sin... That is not possible.

Lecture on SB 2.3.18-19 -- Bombay, March 23, 1977, At Cross Maidan Pandal:

"Men who are like dogs, hogs, camels and asses praise those men who never listen to the transcendental pastimes of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the deliverer from evils." Purport by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Śrīla Prabhupāda. The general mass of people, unless they are trained systematically for a higher standard of life in spiritual values, are no better than animals, and in this verse they have particularly been put on the level of dogs, hogs, camels and asses. Modern university education practically prepares one to acquire a doggish mentality with which to accept the service of a greater master. After finishing a so-called education, the so-called educated persons move like dogs from door to door with applications for some service, and mostly they are driven away, informed of no vacancy. As dogs are negligible animals and serve the master faithfully for bits of bread, a man serves a master faithfully without sufficient rewards.

Persons who have no discrimination in the matter of foodstuff and who eat all sorts of rubbish are compared to hogs. Hogs are very much attached to eating stools. So stool is a kind of foodstuff for a particular type of animal. And even stones are eatables for a particular type of animal or bird. But the human being is not meant for eating everything and anything; he is meant to eat grains, vegetables, fruits, milk, sugar, etc. Animal food is not meant for the human being. For chewing solid food, the human being has a particular type of teeth meant for cutting fruits and vegetables. The human being is endowed with two canine teeth as a concession for persons who will eat animal food at any cost. It is known to everyone that one man's food is another man's poison. Human beings are expected to accept the remnants of food offered to Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and the Lord accepts foodstuff from the categories of leaves, flowers, fruits, etc. (BG 9.26). As prescribed by Vedic scriptures, no animal food is offered to the Lord. Therefore, a human being is meant to eat a particular type of food. He should not imitate the animals to derive so-called vitamin values. Therefore, a person who has no discrimination in regard to eating is compared to a hog.

Lecture on SB 2.3.19 -- Los Angeles, June 14, 1972:

Pradyumna: (leads chanting, etc.)

śva-viḍ-varāhoṣṭra-kharaiḥ

saṁstutaḥ puruṣaḥ paśuḥ

na yat-karṇa-pathopeto

jātu nāma gadāgrajaḥ

(SB 2.3.19)

Translation: "Men who are like dogs, hogs, camels and asses praise those men who never listen to the transcendental pastimes of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the deliverer from evils."

Prabhupāda: So one who does not listen to the glories of the Lord... Because the human life... This life is meant for learning how to engage our senses in the service of the Lord. That is the mission of human life. In other lives the senses are engaged for sense gratification. And in the human life, when we have got developed consciousness, at that time the senses are meant for being engaged in the service of the Lord. So ear is the most important sense because our spiritual enlightenment begins from this sense. Hearing. Na yat-karṇa-pathopetaḥ. Karṇa-patha means aural reception. So one has to go to hear from the realized person, guru, spiritual master. That is the meaning. Śruti. Śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham (MU 1.2.12). One has to approach a spiritual master, śrotriyam, who has also heard from a spiritual master. This... Our knowledge is by hearing, śruti.

Lecture on SB 2.3.20 -- Los Angeles, June 16, 1972:

Pradyumna: (leads chanting, etc.)

bile batorukrama-vikramān ye

na śṛṇvataḥ karṇa-puṭe narasya

jihvāsatī dārdurikeva sūta

na copagāyaty urugāya-gāthāḥ

(SB 2.3.20)

(Prabhupāda corrects pronunciation several times during chanting of verse.)

Translation: "One who has not listened to the messages about the prowess and marvelous acts of the Personality of Godhead and has not sung or chanted loudly the worthy songs about the Lord is to be considered to possess earholes like that of the snakes and a tongue like that of the frogs."

Prabhupāda: So the impersonalists or the voidists, so where is their God? So there is no God for them. Impersonal. So there is no activity. What they will hear and where they will chant? If you have no activity, then what shall I hear about you? If you are a dead stone, then what can I hear? Simply one, "A big stone." That's all. So they have no this opportunity. These impersonalists, they are so unfortunate that they cannot hear. As soon as there is some activity of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they will say, "It is māyā." That is called Māyāvāda. "These are ... our activities, māyā, and therefore God's activities are also māyā." A poor fund of knowledge or rascaldom. "Because I cannot do this, therefore God cannot do this. I am pleased in this way; therefore God can be ... Permanent, they are identical." Big, big sannyāsī explained like that. "When I am pleased, God is pleased. When I am dissatisfied, God is dissatisfied." So roundabout way, their philosophy is to satisfy one's own sense gratification.

That's all. The Māyāvāda philosophy means, impersonalist means, the same material condition. The material condition means everyone is busy in sense gratification. And ... therefore they cannot understand. And when there is a question of sense gratification ... Just like, "We are dancing here, ball dance. So this is material māyā. Therefore Kṛṣṇa's dance with the gopīs, that is also māyā." This is Māyāvāda symptom. The example can be given like this: Just like a patient, since his birth, he is sick, and he is lying in the hospital, cannot walk freely or cannot eat nice things. All bitter medicine, injections, always suffering. So if he is informed that "After your cure, you shall be able to eat nice rasagullā, sandeśa," he cannot believe it. He says, "Again eating? Oh, it is horrible." Because he has got bad experience of eating in sick condition, he thinks that eating in healthy condition is also the same. This is Māyāvāda. He has no experience what is healthy eating.

Lecture on SB 2.3.20 -- Los Angeles, June 16, 1972:

If you become pure devotee, this jñāna to defeat this Māyāvāda philosophy will be revealed unto you. Kṛṣṇa is within you. As soon as "He's ... Oh, he is very sincere. He's doing seriously," He will give you all intelligence. Buddhi-yogaṁ dadāmi tam. But if you are in doubt, "Oh, whether Kṛṣṇa is person or not?" then Kṛṣṇa will not give you intelligence. That is the difficulty. He does not talk with nonsense. He talks, but not with the nonsense. So when you are above the nonsensical platform by sincere service, then Kṛṣṇa will talk with you from within. (aside:) Sit down properly. So the fact is that "One who has not listened to the messages about the prowess and the marvelous acts of the Personality of Godhead ..." Now, they have got ... These Māyāvādīs, they have got their ears, but they cannot hear about the activities of the Lord. They'll reject, "Oh, this is all māyā. Let us meditate." So their, these earholes is compared with the snake holes.

When you go, walk on the paddy field, you will find so many holes. Have you got experience? There are so many holes. Even on the beach, you will find so many holes. But especially in the agricultural field there are holes, because the paddy ... The rats and mouse, they come to eat the paddies, and they make hole to live there. And the snakes take advantage. They enter the hole and eat the rat and mouse and live peacefully. So these holes, because there are snakes, nobody utilizes it, that hole. Similarly, when these earholes are not receptive of the message of Kṛṣṇa, it like that, it is not being utilized properly. Similarly, you have got tongue, but you cannot chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jihvāsatī dārdurikeva. It is just like the tongue of the frogs. The frogs ... You have got experience during rainy season. They use their tongue very nicely. They sing ka-ka-kan, ka-ka-kan, ka-ka-kan.. (laughter) Yes. But what is the result of singing?

Lecture on SB 3.25.44 -- Bombay, December 12, 1974:

So bhakti-yoga begins with hearing, śravaṇam, śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam. And if you have heard from the right source and if you are convinced, then automatically you will try to perform kīrtana. Kīrtana means glorifying. If you have attained like... Or to preach. Anyone who has listened from right person, authority, about Bhagavad-gītā or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, about Kṛṣṇa or about Rāma, he would like to preach that. That is automatic, glorifying. That preaching is equal. That is called kīrtana. Kīrtana... Simply preaching, glorifying, or speaking about the Lord, that is also kīrtana. And performing kīrtana as we do here in the temple, with mṛdaṅga and karatāla, chanting, that is also kīrtana. Śukadeva Gosvāmī explained the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to Parīkṣit Mahārāja. So... And Parīkṣit Mahārāja simply listened to him carefully. This is śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam. The Parīkṣit Mahārāja is hearing, and Śukadeva Gosvāmī is performing kīrtana, describing all the glories of the Lord. That is kīrtana. So śrī-viṣṇoḥ śravaṇe parīkṣit, how one devotee became liberated by performing one item only. There are nine items of devotional service:

Lecture on SB 3.25.44 -- Bombay, December 12, 1974:

So Parīkṣit Mahārāja simply listened, śravaṇam. He did not do other things. Still, he was liberated. And Śukadeva Gosvāmī, he simply chanted or described the glories of the Lord. He also became liberated. Śrī-viṣṇoḥ śravaṇe parīkṣid abhavad vaiyāsakiḥ kīrtane. Similarly, śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇam. Pṛthu, Pṛthu Mahārāja, he was simply remembering. No, pṛthuḥ pūjane. And pāda-sevanam. Lakṣmī-devī, She simply gave massage to the Viṣṇu's lotus feet. And Arjuna, simply he made friendship. And Hanumānjī, he simply served the order of Lord Rāmacandra. Dāsyaṁ sakhyam ātma-nivedanam. Ātma-nivedanam, offering everything. Bali Mahārāja, whatever he had, he gave to Vāmanadeva everything. Whatever he possessed, even his body, he gave to Vāmana. Sarvātma-snapane, abhavad bali... Bali Mahārāja. So there are different examples.

So if you simply... At the present moment in this Kali-yuga, if you simply hear about Kṛṣṇa, śravaṇam, you don't require any education. You don't require to be a Ph.D. and M.S.C. God has given you the ear. You go to a person, realized soul, and hear from him. Simply hear from him. That is recommended in this age, because people are very, very fallen. They have no education. They have no inclination how to make perfect life. They do not know what is perfection of life. They think, "If I can eat sumptuously, that is perfection of life." Udaraṁ bharita.

Lecture on SB 3.26.30 -- Bombay, January 7, 1975:

Māyā-mohita. Nābhijānāti mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam. Tribhir guṇamayair bhāvaiḥ. Nābhijānāti, they cannot understand. Mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam. So Kṛṣṇa says, therefore, "Preach this cult amongst the devotees." He never said that "Preach this cult amongst the karmīs, amongst the jñānīs, amongst the yogis." Because they are very unfortunate, they cannot understand Kṛṣṇa. Māyāvādi-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa (CC Madhya 6.169). One who comes in touch with the Māyāvādī... Māyāvādī means one who thinks Kṛṣṇa is also in māyā. That is called Māyāvādī. "Kṛṣṇa's body is also māyā." They are called Māyāvādī.

So Caitanya Mahāprabhu warns that māyāvādi-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa. Anyone who listens to the commentary of the Māyāvādī philosopher, then his fate is doomed. He is finished. He will never be able to understand bhakti philosophy. It is so poisonous. Therefore Sanātana Gosvāmī has warned not to hear from avaiṣṇava about Kṛṣṇa. There is a very famous Bhāgavata reader in Bombay. He is a pakka avaiṣṇava. But he is going on, and he is infusing poison—means those who are hearing him, they will never be able to understand what is Kṛṣṇa. They will never be able. It is so poisonous. Therefore Sanātana Gosvāmī says, avaiṣṇava-mukhodgīrṇaṁ pūtaṁ hari-kathāmṛtam, śravaṇaṁ na kartavyam: "Avaiṣṇava, who is not Vaiṣṇava, who is not devotee, if he speaks about Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, nonsense..." He will speak nonsense. So it is not good. Avaiṣṇava-mukhodgīrṇaṁ pūtaṁ hari-kathāmṛtam, śravaṇaṁ na kartavyam: "You should never hear." On principle you should avoid hearing from such rascals. This is the injunction of Sanātana Gosvāmī. "Why? He is speaking Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Why one should not hear? Bhagavad-gītā is very nice." That's all right. He gives the example, sarpocchiṣṭaṁ payo yathā. Milk... Everyone knows milk is very good food. But if it is touched by the lip of a serpent, then it is finished. Then it is finished. He will die. If you take such milk, then your destiny is to death.

Lecture on SB 3.26.46 -- Bombay, January 21, 1975:

As Kaṁsa was thinking how to kill Him, that is not bhakti. Bhakti means ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam (CC Madhya 19.167). Anukūla. Anukūla means favorable. If you think of Kṛṣṇa in various ways favorably—how to serve Kṛṣṇa, how to decorate Kṛṣṇa, how to give Kṛṣṇa a nice place for residential quarter, temple, how to preach Kṛṣṇa's glories—in this way, if you think, that is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā. That is first-class bhakti, how to serve Kṛṣṇa. Just like Arjuna he changed his all decision. (microphone rattling) (aside:) You can take it that side. Arjuna was thinking not to fight, but when he heard very minutely, listened Kṛṣṇa's instruction, he changed his decision. "No, Kṛṣṇa wants it. Kṛṣṇa wants this fight, so I shall do this." This is kṛṣṇānuśīlanam, cultivating Kṛṣṇa consciousness, not his decision. His decision was not to fight. A Vaiṣṇava does not want to kill anybody. That is natural tendency. Suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām: (SB 3.25.21) "A Vaiṣṇava is friend of everyone." So Arjuna was Vaiṣṇava, a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. Naturally, he was not inclined to kill and gain the fight. So he declined, that "I will not fight." But after hearing Bhagavad-gītā, he decided that "Kṛṣṇa wants to fight. He wants me..." Nimitta-mātraṁ bhava savyasācin. "He says so far that 'These people who have assembled here, they are already killed. That is My plan. You simply take the credit of becoming victorious over them.' "

So this is kṛṣṇānuśīlanam. Even though I have got one decision in my life, but if I understand that Kṛṣṇa wants me to do something contrary, I shall be ready to perform this. That is kṛṣṇānuśīlanam. Ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā (CC Madhya 19.167). If you favorably serve Kṛṣṇa, that is bhaktir uttamā, first-class bhakti. Unfavorably, as Kaṁsa was thinking, that how to kill Kṛṣṇa... He got also salvation because always thinking of Kṛṣṇa, but not the salvation of the devotees. The devotee's salvation is different from the salvation of the nondevotees, jñānīs. Jñānīs... We have already explained there are three features of the Absolute Truth.

Lecture on SB 3.28.1 -- Honolulu, June 1, 1975:

I know better than him." No. Son or anyone, anyone, if he knows the science of Kṛṣṇa he becomes guru. This is the Vedic system. It doesn't matter. Caitanya Mahāprabhu approved this. Caitanya Mahāprabhu was born in a very respectable brāhmaṇa family. He was very advanced learned scholar, and after all He took sannyāsa. So when He was discussing with Rāmānanda Rāya Rāmānanda Rāya was a gṛhastha, householder and governor of Madras, means politician. A householder, politician, and he was born not in brāhmaṇa family; in kāraṇa, kāyastha family. They are considered as śūdras. So he had no position to instruct Caitanya Mahāprabhu. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu gave him the place of instructor and He took the position of a listener. Just see Caitanya Mahāprabhu's pastimes. He gave him the position of instructor and He took the position of student, listener.

So Rāmānanda Rāya was feeling a little agitation, that "How is that? I am a gṛhastha, householder, not even born in high family, brāhmaṇa family. And I am engaged in politics, I am governor, and He is a sannyāsī, renounced order of life. How is that that He is asking question and I am replying? The question is enquired by the student, and the answer is given by the spiritual master. So how is that?" He was feeling little agitation. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu immediately encouraged him, "Don't hesitate." This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's example. He is teaching everything by His personal example. His purpose was that in this Kali-yuga the distinction between brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra will be almost finished. Then who will instruct? Because the instructor's position is brāhmaṇa. One must be brāhmaṇa. Brāhmaṇa's business is paṭhan pāṭhan yajan yājan dāna pratigraha. A brāhmaṇa should be personally very highly learned scholar. Therefore brāhmaṇa is called paṇḍita. Even in India, still a brāhmaṇa is addressed, "paṇḍitji."

Lecture on SB 5.5.1 -- Delhi, November 28, 1975:

That is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Bhagavāt. Bhagavān. The word Bhagavāt and... Bhāgavata is also in relationship with Bhagavāt or Bhagavān. So every śloka of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is full of spiritual information. If we take advantage of this great Vedic literature, then we become fully aware of Bhagavān and the devotees of Bhagavān. Therefore it is named Bhāgavatam. But this Bhāgavatam has to be studied from the very beginning and take the lessons from live bhāgavata. There are two kinds of Bhāgavatam—one, this grantha bhāgavatam, and the other is a person bhāgavatam. Caitanya Mahāprabhu advised that if you want to understand Bhāgavatam, then you must approach a person whose life is Bhāgavatam. He said, bhāgavata para-giya bhāgavata sthane, that "If we learn, listen, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from the person bhāgavatam, then it is very easy to understand the spiritual knowledge given in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam."

So here Ṛṣabhadeva... Ṛṣabhadeva was the father of Mahārāja Bhārata, under whose name this land is called Bhāratavar\ sa. Bhāratavarṣa is derived from the name of Mahārāja Bhārata. So his father, Ṛṣabhadeva, He is accepted as incarnation of Kṛṣṇa. So He is giving instruction to His sons before retiring. In our Vedic culture there is compulsory retirement. There is compulsory retirement. That is Vedic civilization, varṇāśrama-dharma. What is going on... As we are going on in the name of Hindus, but Hindu is not mentioned in the Vedic literature. In the Vedic literature the principles or the institute followed by the inhabitants of Bhāratavarṣa is called varṇāśrama-dharma. That is real occupation.

Lecture on SB 5.5.1 -- Bombay, December 25, 1976:

We are not subjected to take birth because we are part and parcel of God, spirit soul. And na jāyate na mriyate vā: we do not die. How we are seeing... Every day we are dying. My father die, my brother die, my neighbor die. How is that? Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). This is our position. We do not die, even the body is destroyed. So where is that knowledge throughout the whole world? There is no such... There is no university, no school, no college to impart this knowledge, that na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20), this simple word. This is fact. And who is speaking? The Supreme Personality of Godhead. He accepted. Arjuna accepted. Arjuna listened to Kṛṣṇa about Bhagavad-gītā, and he understood that "Here is the Supreme Person." Not only that, he admitted that "Not that I'm Your friend." Just like it has become a fashion if I like somebody I make him God. Kṛṣṇa is not that type of God, by meditation or by votes. He is God. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). Just like when He was only three months old on the lap of His mother, the Pūtanā came to kill Him. But He killed that Pūtanā rākṣasī. He was that time also God, when three months old. And He had not to undergo the austerities of meditation. He had no time. So from the very beginning up to the time of His departure from this world, He is God. That is God. God is not manufactured. God is always God. Neither God falls down. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is addressed in the Bhagavad-gītā as Acyuta. Cyuta means falling down, and Kṛṣṇa is acyuta.

Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- London, September 17, 1969:

Devotee: Prabhupāda, I'm a devotee. So far myself, I got into a situation where I have to, where I work, where there are many people who are not devotees, but they are (indistinct) the minute they wouldn't listen I would tolerate māyā. (indistinct) Sometimes I thought that it is necessary to go out and...

Prabhupāda: Well, preaching work should be done in company. You..., alone you cannot make preaching work. It is not possible. You haven't got so much strength that alone you can do. Therefore whenever we send our preaching party, they go in company, in combination. Six, seven, eight..., at least two. That is the process. And so far mixing with other people, that I have already explained just now, that to talk with a person is not mixing. You see? Mixing means, intimate mixing, there are six symptoms. When you eat, when you call him to eat, when you give, when you take, when you talk your heart, when you hear his heart. These are called intimate mixing. Otherwise, simply talking or dealing, that is not mixing. That is not mixing. So you can mix with ordinary people in that way. As far as your business is concerned, as it is necessary, but not intimately. And do your own business, chanting, and following the rules and regulations. That's all. It is simple thing. Just like doctors. They also mix with infected persons, but they do not become infected. You see. So preaching is like that. Unless you preach among the fallen souls, then where is the question of preaching? So you should not become fallen. (laughs) You should deliver the fallen. That should be your strength. But if you are less powerful, then you will become fallen. So your power is, your strength is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, strong Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then you will be powerful. You'll not fall. So we should be careful. All right. So little chanting? (devotees offer obeisances) Mukunda has not come back? Why he is so late? Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nobody has come back from London? You are coming from the temple, Uttamaśloka? You are coming from the temple, Jim? Oh, you are living here. All right.

Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Johannesburg, October 22, 1975:

Prabhupāda: God cannot be all. God is one. God means He has no equal, He has no..., nobody above Him. That is God, asamaurdhva. Nobody is more than God; nobody is equal to God. Therefore God is one.

Guest (5): If we assume that the Vedic scriptures are the, well, the realizations of realized souls and that these come from God, we have to work with the assumption that these literatures are actually telling us about God. And if we have to read the literatures and experience these truths, it is not necessarily truth as such, but maybe the condition that we have been rendered to by listening to.(?)

Prabhupāda: In the Vedic literature the father, the teacher, the king, they are advised to look upon them as God. This is for the common person. But when he is advanced, then he goes above, that there is God above father, above king, above teacher. So according to the stages, there are different literatures in the Vedic knowledge. Sometimes demigods are also accepted. So they have also got power, but... Controller, they are also controller, but the ultimate controller is fixed up—īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). "The supreme controller is Kṛṣṇa." That is the verdict of the Vedas. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat: (BG 7.7) "There is no more superior controller or person than Me." So that is Absolute. Everywhere you will find. Suppose if you accept me God, but I am controlled by somebody else. So I am not absolute God. But if you can find out somebody—he is not only controller, but he is not controlled by anyone—then he is absolute. That is Kṛṣṇa. Yes. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. (end)

Lecture on SB 5.5.10-13 -- Vrndavana, November 1, 1976:

Pradyumna: "O My sons, you should accept a highly elevated paramahaṁsa, a spiritually advanced spiritual master. In this way, you should place your faith and love in Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. You should detest sense gratification and tolerate the duality of pleasure and pain, which are like the seasonal changes of summer and winter. Try to realize the miserable condition of living entities, who are miserable even in the higher planetary systems. Philosophically inquire about the truth. Then undergo all kinds of austerities and penances for the sake of devotional service. Give up the endeavor for sense enjoyment and engage in the service of the Lord. Listen to discussions about the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and always associate with devotees. Chant about and glorify the Supreme Lord, and look upon everyone equally on the spiritual platform. Give up enmity and subdue anger and lamentation. Abandon identifying the self with the body and the home, and practice reading the revealed scriptures. Live in a secluded place and practice the process by which you can completely control your life air, mind and senses. Have full faith in the revealed scriptures, the Vedic literatures, and always observe celibacy. Perform your prescribed duties and avoid unnecessary talks. Always thinking of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, acquire knowledge from the right source. Thus practicing bhakti-yoga, you will patiently and enthusiastically be elevated in knowledge and will be able to give up the false ego."

Prabhupāda:

haṁse gurau mayi bhaktyānuvṛtyā

vitṛṣṇayā dvandva-titikṣayā ca

sarvatra jantor vyasanāvagatyā

jijñāsayā tapasehā-nivṛttyā

(SB 5.5.10)

So this is called regulative principle. In the previous verse, it was recommended that karmānubaddho dṛḍha āślatheta. This attachment, karmānubaddha, for this material world, everyone is busy—we have discussed many times—from morning till late at night, and night also, they are busy. Big, big factories, they are working day and night, one shift, other shift. That has become the criterion of civilization. Formerly it was less, because this ugra-karma... These factories means ugra-karma, unnecessarily severe, hard work. Unnecessarily. We have seen in Detroit, they are manufacturing one Ford, manufacturing Ford, simply wheels of the motorcar. Huge stock wheels. And somebody is manufacturing tire, huge stock of tire, and they are giving estimate: "Up till now, so many millions of tire we have manufactured." Well, you know all this. It is in your country.

Lecture on SB 5.5.19 -- Vrndavana, November 7, 1976:

Therefore we have to hear from the authorities, from Kṛṣṇa, that there is soul; there is ātmā; there is transmigration. And everything, what is spoken in the śāstra, they are fact, but we do not consult śāstra. We become scientists. We become philosophers. With gross understanding, dull understanding, poor understanding, how you can understand yourself and God? So there is no question of self-realization by your gross understanding. You have to understand by hearing. Therefore to get real knowledge is not by the eyes and senses but by the ear. Therefore Vedic knowledge is called śruti. You have to receive knowledge—śruti. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). Why? The guru means who is fully aware of the śruti, śrotriyam, one who has perfectly listened to his guru. Śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham. And by hearing only, he has become brahma-niṣṭham, without any doubt: "Yes, there is God. Yes." We have to approach such person who has perfectly listened to his... Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). So by śruti, by hearing oral reception. Just like there is practical example. Suppose you are sleeping, and somebody is coming to do you some harm, to kill you. But another person is warning you, "Please get up! Get up! Somebody is coming to kill you." But it will act, because while other senses are practically dead, the ear is working. By hearing, you can get up. This is practical.

So at the present moment we are sleeping, sleeping in the darkness. Therefore to get knowledge we have to use our ears. Śravaṇam. Therefore to enter into the devotional service one has to use this ear, śravaṇam. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda... And śravaṇam about whom? Śravaṇam about Viṣṇu, śravaṇaṁ kīrta..., śravaṇam. They say that "You can hear anything." No.

Lecture on SB 5.5.27 -- Vrndavana, November 14, 1976:

So long one is not conscious, he's as good as the stone or the wood. Therefore sometimes Vaiṣṇava poets say that amāra lid pasanta bolo na, pasan hole bolo yato(?). We have created such a strong heart of material existence that it does not respond even after suffering so much. This is our position.

So Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means to bring him to the right position of consciousness. Consciousness we have got. The more it is covered, dull, it cannot respond. But it can be brought into the proper existence, and the process is hearing, hearing. Go on hearing, hearing. Kṛṣṇa has given us one chance, this ear. If we properly use it... Therefore Vedic knowledge is to be heard, hearing. Listen. It is therefore called śruti. The Vedic instruction has to be gotten from the right person through aural reception.

śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ

puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ

hṛdy antaḥ stho hy abhadrāṇi

vidhunoti suhṛt satām

(SB 1.2.17)

So this is the process, that we should engage our ear to receive the knowledge, Vedic knowledge, very attentively. And therefore we have to approach to the proper person and inquire and hear. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam. Tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā (BG 4.34). Not to hear like animal, but paripraśnena sevaya. Then our knowledge will be developed. This is the process.

Lecture on SB 5.5.30 -- Vrndavana, November 17, 1976:

Kīrtanīya. This preaching means kīrtana, not that simply with mṛdaṅga we can have musical kīrtana. No. Preaching is also kīrtana. Abhavad vaiyāsaki-kīrtane. Vaiyāsaki, the son of Vyāsadeva, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, he simply described Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and became perfect. Abhavad vaiyāsaki-kīrtane. Śrī-viṣṇu-śravaṇe parīkṣit. Parīkṣit Mahārāja simply listened; he became perfect. And Śukadeva Gosvāmī simply described. That is also kīrtana. So this is also kīrtana. As Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī teaching us, he sādhavaḥ sakalam eva vihāya dūrād caitanya-candra-caraṇe kurutānurāgam: "You are sādhu, best person, noble, but this is my request." This is humbleness. If you say, "Oh, you are a karmī, you are a mūḍha..." Actually he's a mūḍha, but don't... In the beginning, if you say, then there will be no opportunity to speak. He is a mūḍha, that there is no... Working like hogs and dogs day and night for sense gratification, certainly he is mūḍha, karmī. Similarly, jñānī, they are simply speculating. That logic, kākā-taliya nyāya: "Whether the crow first of all sat down on the palm fruit; then the palm fruit fell down? Or the palm fruit fell down; therefore the crow could not sit on the palm fruit?" Logic. One paṇḍita said, "No, no. First of all, the palm fruit fell down, and the crow wanted to sit down on it, so he could not." Now another paṇḍita says, "No, no. The palm fruit was there, and because the crow sat down on it, it fell down." Now this is logic. They are wasting time speculating. Kākā-taliya nyāya. Kupa-manduka-nyāya. There are.

Lecture on SB 5.6.7 -- Vrndavana, November 29, 1976:

If one is surcharged with electricity, if you touch him, then you will be also electrified. Evaṁ paramparā prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo (BG 4.2). Kṛṣṇa, five thousand years ago He spoke Bhagavad-gītā. How we can hear Him? Yes, you can hear Him by paramparā system. Kṛṣṇa says repeatedly that "I am this, I am this," and Arjuna understands Him, "Yes, You are this." Sarvam etān ṛtaṁ manye yad vadasi keśava. Then he understands. He is directly understanding. And you take the version of Arjuna. Arjuna says, paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma (BG 10.12). Why you, rascal, interpret in a different way, rascal? What right you have got? "My Kṛṣṇa is like that. My Kṛṣṇa..." What right you hve got? Kṛṣṇa says like this; one who listen to Kṛṣṇa about Kṛṣṇa, he says like that. You rascal, why do you interpret in a different way? This is going on.

So be careful of these rascals. Māyāvādī-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva nāśa (CC Madhya 6.169). Then you'll never be able to understand Kṛṣṇa. Yogamāyā-samāvṛtaḥ. We should take the instruction of the śāstra that Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's soul, there are... Ekam evādvitiyaḥ. He is one, without any second. Bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśi..., niṣevataḥ syāt īśad apetasya. Īśad apetasya. So the more we forget Kṛṣṇa, then we are in the material stage. Material stage means bhayam, always fearful. "Why shall I accept Kṛṣṇa as human being, as a person? Oh, it is... It is not. How He can be a person? How a person can produce such a vast sky?" He says, bhūmir āpo analo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir eva: (BG 7.4) "Yes, I have produced the sky." But these rascals will not believe how a person can do it. They'll comment in their own way. So avoid this.

Here Ṛṣabhadeva says about the Personality of Godhead. Accept them; believe them; take it. You understand or not understand, take it for granted. Then you will be able to make advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Lecture on SB 6.1.13-14 -- Los Angeles, June 26, 1975:

Nava-yauvanaṁ ca. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca (Bs. 5.33). He is the oldest person because He has created everything, but He will never look old. You will never see Kṛṣṇa's picture as old man. These are the definition of God. God, nobody can be richer than Him, nobody can be stronger than Him, nobody can be more beautiful than Him, and nobody wiser than Him even. That proof we can see: Bhagavad-gītā was spoken five thousand years ago, and still Bhagavad-gītā is worshiped as the best book of knowledge. This is the proof. So God does not depend on anyone's proof. But if you want to prove whether He is God, you can get. That you can get.

Therefore we should accept Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme God. It is stated in all śāstras, and Arjuna also, who listened Bhagavad-gītā from Kṛṣṇa, he also accepted. After hearing Bhagavad-gītā, he said, paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān, puruṣaṁ śāśvatam ādyam (BG 10.12). So our process is to follow the predecessor. The Arjuna, he accepted. Not only Arjuna. "Arjuna may be His friend. He might have accepted his friend as God." No. Kṛṣṇa is accepted by the greatest learned scholar, Vyāsadeva, and greatest saintly person, Nārada. That is Vyāsadeva writes in his Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that "I have given description of different incarnation of God." He has given so many incarnation. At last, he concludes that "Although Kṛṣṇa came as incarnation, but He is not incarnation. He is the incarnate. From Him, all incarnations come." Ete cāṁśa-kalāḥ puṁsaḥ kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). As soon as you say "incarnation," the next question will be, "Whose incarnation?" That Vyāsadeva explains, that Kṛṣṇa's incarnation Kṛṣṇa is not incarnation. Kṛṣṇa is personally the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the statement of Vyāsadeva, the most learned. He is accepted the most, actually. Who can be more learned than Vyāsadeva in this material world? Nobody. You can see his writing, Bhāgavatam, how exalted, scholarly. Nobody can write such verses at the present moment. It is not possible. Each and every word is full of meaning and so nicely set up. Therefor

Lecture on SB 6.1.15 -- Auckland, February 22, 1973:

Simply by executing devotional service And there are nine different types of devotional services, out of which, even if you accept one, your life is successful. This is called kevalayā bhaktyā. Just like Parīkṣit Mahārāja. At the last stage of his life he was cursed by a brāhmaṇa boy to die within seven days. So within seven days he had to prepare himself for the next birth. So he was little perplexed, and all the great saintly persons, sages—because he was emperor of the world—so they came. They consulted. It was decided that "You hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam the seven days." That is The Śukadeva Gosvāmī spoke, and he, listened from Śukadeva, and he became perfect within seven days. Therefore in India they observe this Bhagavat-saptāha. That is simply official. Actually, nobody hears very seriously.

So śravaṇam is so perfect also. Parīkṣit Mahārāja attained perfection simply by hearing seven days. Similarly, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, he also attained perfection by speaking seven days to Parīkṣit Mahārāja. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇam (SB 7.5.23). Prahlāda Mahārāja, he was put into so many difficulties by his atheist father, Hiraṇyakaśipu, but he was simply remembering Nārāyaṇa, Kṛṣṇa. Because he was a child, five years old, how he can fight with his father? His father was the greatest demon, powerful, and he was against the child. So he used to simply think of Kṛṣṇa, smaraṇam. Pāda-sevanam: Lakṣmī, goddess of fortune, she simply engaged herself in massaging the lotus feet of Viṣṇu. Pāda-sevanam. Arcanam: Pṛthu Mahārāja, he engaged himself in the arcana. Vandanaṁ. Dāsyam: Hanumān. Akrūra, Akrūra, he simply offered prayers to Kṛṣṇa. Akrūra came to Kṛṣṇa Balarāma to take Them to Mathurā. So he got salvation simply by offering prayers. Vandanaṁ dāsyam. Hanumān, he simply offered his bodily service to Lord Rāmacandra. He got perfection. So śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam, arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ sakhyam... Arjuna. Arjuna simply kept friendship with Kṛṣṇa. He got perfection. Sakhyam.

Lecture on SB 6.1.22 -- Indore, December 13, 1970:

Guest (3): Because Kurukṣetra is to be taken as a particular place.

Prabhupāda: Not taken. It is still there. Why do you interpret that this is body? Is it not rascaldom? No devotee, no ācārya has done this, but these modern so-called scholars and leaders, they have done it. Are they not rascals? What do you think? Eh?

Guest (3): No, rascals... My representative (?) orders that "The people listen to me..."

Prabhupāda: So, why they should say? Now, you are a lawyer.

Guest (3): We do not know (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: And why do they...? What is the difficulty? Dharma-kṣetra kuru-kṣetra, is that a very difficult Sanskrit? Now, there is no question. Even in... If you do not understand Sanskrit, what is the difficulty to understand dharma-kṣetra? Is it not a Hindi word? Kurukṣetra is a name of place. So what is the difficulty? Why do you interpret that Kurukṣetra means this body? This rascaldom has killed the whole spiritual atmosphere of India. They are responsible, these rascal politicians, the rascal scholars, so-called. Actually if we want good of the people, these rascals should be disclosed and people should come back. We should... Therefore we are presenting Bhagavad-gītā as it is. Why we should interpret? You know, you, as a lawyer. When there is legal point, if it is not clear, one lawyer is trying to extract some meaning and the other lawyer is extract... It is... After all, the judges (indistinct) give the judgment. So this interpretation between the two lawyers are there when the subject matter is not very clear. Is it not?

Lecture on SB 6.1.23 -- Chicago, July 7, 1975:

In the fire there are worms. They are called agni-po(?). Where is the scientist? But we get this information from the śāstra. Agni-po(?), worms within the fire. And Kṛṣṇa says, above all—this is also Kṛṣṇa's statement—imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam (BG 4.1). There is kingdom. There is city. There is population. Otherwise, how Kṛṣṇa went there long, long ago, forty millions of years, and He instructed this Bhagavad-gītā to the sun-god? Vivasvān, his name, is also there. Not fictitious. This is the paramparā system. Imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam (BG 4.1).

So we have got picture in our Bhagavad-gītā. The sun-god is listening. The sun-god, there is sun-god. Just like here we have got a god, Ford or Nixon, similarly, in every planet there is a god. Therefore it is described, yānti deva-vratā devān (BG 9.25). All these gods, they are demigods. They are not God. God is one. So deva. That... If you try to go to the sun planet, moon planet, or any other planet, millions and trillions of planet, you can go. Higher planetary system, lower planetary system, that you can go. That is... The description is there in the śāstras. They are going to the moon. Of course, I have several times... They have never gone, but anyway... You can go to the moon planet. How you can go, the description is there. So moon planet is not vacant. That is counted amongst the heavenly planets. If anyone can go there, he can live there for ten thousands of years. Ten thousand of years means according to the demigods' years. Their duration and our duration is: our one day, our six months, their one day. That is admitted by scientists that you go higher, the relative time is different. Just like when the Russians first of all sent that sputnik, in one hour, twenty-five minutes, they surrounded all over the world. Now it is relative. You have got a speedy vehicle.

Lecture on SB 6.1.51 -- Detroit, August 4, 1975:

That is jñānī. But a jñānī does not know that "I get out from this entanglement. Then where I stay?" That they do not know. So that information is given by Kṛṣṇa, that "Give up this, and take up Me," negative and positive, both. Sarva-dharmān parityajya: (BG 18.66) "Give up this nonsense desires." Then? What to do? Now, mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja: "Come to Me, under Me." This is required. Ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu. Mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja. That is not varietyless, that "I surrender unto You; then business finished." No. Śaraṇaṁ vraja means ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam: (CC Madhya 19.167) what Kṛṣṇa says, you do that. Just like Arjuna. Arjuna was not willing to fight, but when he listened Bhagavad-gītā from Kṛṣṇa, then he agreed to fight.

So our first business is that if we want to stop this repetition of birth and death—and sometimes we are very happy, sometimes we are very unhappy, sometimes we are in fearfulness, sometimes in so many other calamities—then our first business is that we shall stop all these material desires. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11). To stop means... The desire cannot be stopped. Because we are living entities, life, we are not dead stone, that desires will be stopped. No. Desires are to be purified. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). Desires to purified... Everyone is working under some impure consciousness, just like nationalism: "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am Englishman," "I am German." This desire is polluted, because I am spirit soul, part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. What is the benefit, my identifying with America or India or...? This is called purification of the desire. Everyone is working under national, and they are fighting with one another because the desire is impure.

Lecture on SB 6.2.1 -- Vrndavana, September 5, 1975:

Because people are sleeping under misguidance, and they are becoming candidate for being carried away by the Yamadūta. This is the position of the whole world, Yamadūta. Palaye barā kathā naya yo māche piche.(?) Yamāduta will not excuse you, however you may be very proud of becoming independent. This is not possible. To save the human civilization, the rascal civilization, that "There is no life after death, and you go on enjoying as much as you like," this wrong civilization is killing civilization. So you save them. You save them. Otherwise the Yamadūta is there.

Evaṁ te bhagavad-dūtā yamadūtābhibhāṣitam, upadhārya. They listened to the words of Yamadūta very carefully, upadhārya, not that haphazardously they heard, no. Their reason, their everything, that "This man was like this, and he must be carried to Yamarāja for punishment..." Why punishment? No, to make him purified, it is said. Punishment required. This is nature's law. Just like if you have infected some disease, the punishment is you must suffer for it. The punishment is good. If you have infected some disease, and when you suffer, that means you become purified from the disease. Suffering is not bad, to become purified. Therefore when a devotee suffers, he does not take it illy. He thinks that "I am being purified. I am being purified."

Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- Madras, January 2, 1976:

So we have to learn from the ācāryas, not any common man or any self-made ācārya. No. That will not do. Just like we... Sometimes in the court we give some judgment from the other court and that is taken very seriously because it is authority. We cannot manufacture judgment. Similarly, ācāryopāsanaṁ, in the Bhagavad-gītā it is recommended. We have to go to the ācāryas. Ācāryavān puruṣo veda: "One who has accepted ācārya in the disciplic succession, he knows the things." So all the ācāryas, they accept Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Nārada, he accepts, Vyāsadeva, he accepts, and Arjuna also accepts, who personally listened to Kṛṣṇa, Bhagavad-gītā. And Lord Brahmā. Yesterday somebody questioned that "Whether there was the name of Kṛṣṇa before Dvāpara-yuga?" No, there was. In the śāstras there are Kṛṣṇa. In the Vedas, in Atharva Veda and others, Kṛṣṇa name is there. And in the Brahma-saṁhitā—Lord Brahmā, he wrote Brahma-saṁhitā—it is clearly explained there, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1), anādir ādiḥ. Anādir ādir govindaḥ sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1). And Kṛṣṇa also says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya (BG 7.7). Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo (BG 10.8). Sarvasya means including all the devatās, all the living entities, everything. And the Vedānta says, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). So Kṛṣṇa is the absolute Supreme Person, īśvaraḥ paramam, from Lord Brahma. He is the distributor of Vedic knowledge, and Kṛṣṇa says also, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyam (BG 15.15). This is ultimate goal.

Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- Madras, January 2, 1976:

So they are different devotees who have accepted one of them. Just like śrī-viṣṇu-śravaṇe parīkṣit. Parīkṣit Mahārāja, he simply heard, listened from Śukadeva Gosvāmī the bhāgavata-dharma. He simply heard. He did not do anything else. Simply by hearing. And abhavad vaiyāsakiḥ kīrtane. Vaiyāsaki, the son of Vyāsadeva, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, he simply explained bhāgavata. So both of them got the same goal of life, liberation. And liberation means muktir hitvā anyathā rūpaṁ svarūpeṇa avasthitiḥ. This is called mukti.

In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said. Mukti means... Just like a person has fallen sick. He cannot walk. He cannot go to his office or... So many disadvantages. But when he is cured of the sickness or fever, he again comes to his normal life. Similarly, when we come to our normal life, that is called mukti. Mukti does not mean, "Now I have got two hands; I'll get four hands or two heads or five heads," not like that. Simply to come to our normal condition. That is the definition of bhakti also. Real mukti means to be situated in bhakti. That is mukti. Mukti... Simply to understand that "I am Brahman," that is not mukti. That is mukti... That is like convalescent stage. Just like a man has no fever but he is not cured. There may be relapse again. There is possibility of relapse, typhoid fever. So the brahmānubhūti, Brahman realization, ahaṁ brahmāsmi, it is mukti but it is not very secure position. One may fall down again. That is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukti-māninaḥ. Vimukti-māninaḥ. They think they are Brahma-līna. They think that they have become mukta. But actually they are not muktas. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninaḥ. He is thinking like that. Why? Aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). His intelligence is not yet purified. As soon as it is purified, then it is bhakti.

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 7, 1973:

There are nine different processes. So you can adopt either all the nine processes, as Ambarīṣa Mahārāja accepted all the nine processes: Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane (SB 9.4.18). So we can do that. Or eight. Or seven. Or six. Or five. Or four. At least one. At least one. Some way or other, become connected with Kṛṣṇa. Just like śrī-viṣṇoḥ śravaṇe parīkṣit. Parīkṣit Mahārāja, he simply listened about Kṛṣṇa. That's all. At the last stage of his life, he was given seven days' life, that "After seven days, you'll die." So he took the full opportunity of seven days, and he simply listened to Parīkṣit Mahārāja. That's all. Uh, to Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Śrī-viṣṇoḥ śravaṇe parīkṣid abhavad vaiyāsakiḥ kīrtane. And Śukadeva Gosvāmī, he simply narrated about Kṛṣṇa, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is Kṛṣṇa-kathā. Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission is, yāre dekha, yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṇa upadeśa. This is the mission.

āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra ei deśa

yāre dekha tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa'-upadeśa

(CC Madhya 7.128)

So the Caitanya Mahāprabhu is so kind that He wants to send gurus all over the world.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 8.128 -- Bhuvanesvara, January 24, 1977:

Prabhupāda: Yes. That prārabdha. That is the... But God is not...

Guest (5): This is not argument. I have no equal.(?)

Prabhupāda: God is not under the laws of karma.

Guest (5): Swami, I want to know from swami.

Hari-śauri: If you want to know, then listen! If you want to know, listen. Don't speak!

Guest (5): All are waves and bubbles of the same sea. We are the bubbles and waves of the same sea, same Paraṁbrahman, this ātmā, Himself... (quotes Sanskrit) Oṁ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ... (break)

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa says ca, this word. Ksetrajñaṁ ca means "I am also kṣetrajña." Therefore He is different from the ordinary kṣetrajña. First of all try to understand this. Ca means different, another. And the difference is that sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata, whereas the individual kṣetrajña is within the body. That's all. (break) ...there is no advaitavāda. There may be advaitavāda philosophy, but in Bhagavad-gītā there is no adva itavāda. It is dvaitavāda. Otherwise why Kṛṣṇa said, sarva-dharmān partiyajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ: "You śaraṇaṁ vraja. You are different from Me"? Kṛṣṇa says. Otherwise why Kṛṣṇa asked that "You surrender"? That you and I, different. That is dvaitavāda.

Guest (5): Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66), that can I understood, all arguments.

Prabhupāda: No. You can understand anything, but that is not the thing. We have to take it as it is. We are therefore presenting Bhagavad-gītā as God is commanding you, that "You surrender." So you are different from God.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.100 -- Washington, D.C., July 5, 1976:

Prabhupāda: And those who are dviṣat, atheist, upekṣā, don't go there, save yourself. These are the four things. So when one is not open to hear, then don't bother yourself. That requires very strong preacher to convince the atheist class, provided he is reasonable also. If he's stubborn, obstinate, then it is also very difficult. But preaching is meant, innocent, that one who is actually sincere but he does not know what is God, what is my relationship with God, there is necessity of preaching. Not to the envious or those who are already advanced, or to God. This is the... Hmm. Bālīya. (indistinct)

Indian man: Prabhupāda, you are giving a very simple process, which is... I can confirm by (indistinct) ...it is not (indistinct) Indians coming? Why? They are exposed to Kṛṣṇa from their birth; still they are not interested. Nobody wants to listen.

Prabhupāda: Because they have become bara-sab. Especially in the foreign countries, they become bara-sab. So that is the misfortune of India. They are giving up their culture and being misguided. So if they actually feel that they must maintain their own culture, then it is not difficult.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.101 -- Washington, D.C., July 6, 1976:

So Sanātana Gosvāmī is begging. You know Sanātana Gosvāmī, he was instructed by Caitanya Mahāprabhu for two months. And he was given responsibility to go to Vṛndāvana and develop Vṛndāvana. Before Sanātana Gosvāmī went there it was field. Because Kṛṣṇa's līlā was there, for five thousand years it became a vacant field only. Nobody knew where is Vṛndāvana. It is Sanātana Gosvāmī, he went there and he excavated. He constructed the first temple in Vṛndāvana, Madana-Mohana temple. You have seen who have gone to Vṛndāvana. So these responsibilities he took after listening Him continually for two months. This is Sanātana śikṣā we are studying. This is required. This is required. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, the perfect meditation, perfect yogi is he who always thinks of Kṛṣṇa.

yoginām api sarveṣāṁ

mad-gatenāntarātmanā

śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṁ

sa me yuktatamo mataḥ

(BG 6.47)

He is first-class yogi. Who? "Who is always thinking of Me," Kṛṣṇa says. Always thinking of Kṛṣṇa. Always thinking "How I shall preach Kṛṣṇa's words, Kṛṣṇa's message?" The Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission and Kṛṣṇa's mission is the same. Only the difference is that Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He's ordering. Because He's God, He has the position to order you, everyone. Everyone is servant, and He is the supreme master; therefore He is ordering, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). So you give up all other occupational duties, simply engage yourself to serve Him. This is His order. But people misunderstood it because they are not trained up. Therefore Kṛṣṇa again came as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu to distribute Kṛṣṇa.

Festival Lectures

Janmastami Lord Sri Krsna's Appearance Day -- Montreal, August 16, 1968:

I am offering my repeated, humble obeisances unto my spiritual preceptor, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. Please try to understand that everything that we are learning here in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is received through the ears. And unless one does not listen submissively, one cannot hear transcendental message. This is the opening of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. It states that at the reading of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavata, the forest of Naimiśāraṇya, many sages were present, and it was so quiet that the dropping of a pin could be heard on the sand. So the science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness must be received submissively. Our spiritual preceptor has brought Kṛṣṇa consciousness to the Western world, in the hopes that the people here will sincerely take to this process of practicing bhakti-yoga, or the yoga of devotional service and love unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. This is not a sect. This is for people of the world who understand one premise, that "I am not this body; I am pure spirit soul," that this body is simply a dress. Just like you wear clothes. But what is it that keeps you alive that is eternal? This is spirit soul. This is so simple that even a child at the age of five years can understand this. If it's from a bona fide source, he can understand this.

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Appearance Day, Lecture -- Atlanta, March 2, 1975:

He is seeing. I never feel that I am alone. Of course, when I came to your country without any friend, without any means... Practically, just like a vagabond I came. But I had full faith that "My Guru Mahārāja is with me." I never lost this faith, and that is fact. There are two words, vāṇī and vapuḥ. Vānī means words, and vapuḥ means this physical body. So vāṇī is more important than the vapuḥ. Vapuḥ will be finished. This is material body. It will be finished. That is the nature. But if we keep to the vāṇī, to the words of spiritual master, then we remain very fixed up. It doesn't matter. Just like Bhagavad-gītā. It was spoken five thousand years ago. But if you keep to the words of Kṛṣṇa, then it is always fresh and guiding. Not that because Arjuna personally listened to Kṛṣṇa about the instruction of Bhagavad-gītā, therefore he knew it. That is not the fact. If you accept Bhagavad-gītā as it is, then you should know that Kṛṣṇa is present before you in His words in the Bhagavad-gītā. This is called spiritual realization. It is not mundane historical incidences. If we keep...

evaṁ paramparā-prāptam

imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ

sa kāleneha (mahatā)

yogo naṣṭaḥ parantapa

(BG 4.2)

If you don't keep in touch with the original link, then it will be lost. And if you keep touch with the original link, then you are directly hearing Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's representative, spiritual master, if you keep always intact, in link with the words and instruction of the superior authorities, then you are always fresh. This is spiritual understanding. Na jāyate na mrīyate vā kadācit nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ purāṇo (BG 2.20).

Jagannatha Deities Installation Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.13-14 -- San Francisco, March 23, 1967:

Prabhupāda: Therefore you have to hear. First thing is śrotavyaḥ. You have to hear. Unless you hear, how can you speak? We are, therefore, giving you facility to hear. You hear, and then you can speak. Then you can think. We are giving all facilities: to hear, to speak, to think, to worship. This is the Society's work. Unless you hear, how can you speak? The first, I mean, task is given, śrotavyaḥ kīrtitavyaś ca dhyeyaḥ pūjyaś ca nityadā. These are the process. You have to hear, and hearing you have to repeat, chant. And then you have to think. You have to worship. These are the processes. Yes.

Upendra: Swamiji, so we can hear, but do we speak? We listen for a long time, or do we...?

Prabhupāda: No. Why? Suppose you hear two lines. Oh, you repeat that two lines. Now, anything... Suppose leaving aside everything, now hear Hare Kṛṣṇa. Oh, you can chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. What is the difficulty there? śrotavyaḥ kīrtitavyaś ca. You have to hear and chant. So if you cannot remember on the topics which are, mean to say, speaking from Bhagavad-gītā or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, then you can at least remember this, "Hare Kṛṣṇa." Therefore it is the easiest process. You hear Hare Kṛṣṇa and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Then other things will come automatically. Now, this is possible for everyone. Even the child can repeat Hare Kṛṣṇa. What is the difficulty? You hear Kṛṣṇa and you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. We are not giving you very difficult or troublesome task. Then everything will follow. We are giving you everything. But if you feel in the beginning to be difficult, then you can do this. This is very nice. Hare Kṛṣṇa. We are doing that actually. Somebody is speaking and hearing and you are chanting. This process will help you.

Arrival Addresses and Talks

Arrival Talk in Room -- Mayapur, March 23, 1975:

Jayatīrtha: Yes, he's first class.

Prabhupāda: Yes. And he works very hard. That is his qualification. What is the news of our Karandhara prabhu? He's not coming?

Jayatīrtha: He came. The week before we left, he came three times to the temple, twice for the evening āratik and once for the Sunday feast. He came and listened to the lecture. So he is doing a little better. (break)

Rāmeśvara: Scientific Basis?

Prabhupāda: Yes?

Rāmeśvara: It is being printed now in America.

Prabhupāda: Oh, you wanted to bring it?

Rāmeśvara: We may print it in India also.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Rāmeśvara: But to get it in the selling right away we printed it in America.

Prabhupāda: You have brought some book? You have brought some books?

Rāmeśvara: Not too many of those, because they're still printing.

Prabhupāda: All right.

General Lectures

Lecture at a School -- Montreal, June 11, 1968:

Prabhupāda: So first of all you have to chant? All right. Please join with us and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Yes?

Yamunā: Swamijī, may I say something before we chant?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Yamunā: I want everybody to listen very carefully. This is a new song that... It would be very nice if you should learn how to sing and learn how to sing it very well. And the only way you can do it is by listening very carefully, everybody, So give your attention to these words: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. Now, if everybody will do this, and stand up, close your eyes very tight, put your hands up in the air and sing this song, so you really learn the words, and you can go home and teach it to your brothers and sisters and your mother and your father, and tell them what you learned today. You have to say you learned something. So if you teach them this song, that would be very nice. But you must learn it by listening. So listen to the words. Then get up, close your eyes and just sing. And you'll find it's a very nice song. But unless you try it, you won't learn it. Just like all the other songs you learn in your class. So try it. So I'm going to say the words, and then you say the words after me. We're going to practice it once. Okay. (with children repeating) Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. Okay. Now we're going to clap our hands too. (break)

Devotee: Do you want this? It's pineapple.

Prabhupāda: Distribute prasāda. What is this?

Lecture -- Seattle, October 2, 1968:

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Young man (2): Sitting alone quietly.

Prabhupāda: Sitting alone quiet. Is it possible? Do you think it is possible?

Young man (2): If you listen to your own mind.

Prabhupāda: Then mind is always acting.

Young man (2): It chatters to you.

Prabhupāda: How can you sit, silent mind? Mind is always acting. Is there any experience that mind is not acting when you sit silently? When you sleep, the mind is acting. You are dreaming. This is the action of mind. So when do you find that your mind is silent?

Young man (2): That's what I was trying to ask you.

Prabhupāda: Yes. So therefore mind is never silent. You have to engage your mind to something. That is meditation.

Young man (2): What do you engage it to?

Lecture to College Students -- Seattle, October 20, 1968, Introduction by Tamala Krsna:

He finds out all the varieties of birds, where they fly to, where they nest. He gets all the details about birds. Similarly, for those who are interested in finding out all the details about how God is great, how He is mighty, that is "What does He look like?" "What does He do?" "Who is He?"—you go through the Vedic scriptures. This is not to say that the Bible is nonsense. The Bible is the Absolute Truth. It is Absolute Truth that Lord Jesus taught. But look at the people to whom he taught. They crucified him for teaching about God. He could not teach as great a depth as he would have liked to. He could teach only to the audience that was listening, and yet they still crucified him. These Vedic scriptures, the Bhagavad-gītā which our spiritual master speaks from, is also the Absolute Truth, but it is in all its variegatedness, all its detail. And there's such a need to hear a man like our spiritual master, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, speak. He is a pure devotee, pure lover of the Lord. That is the qualification for one who can teach about God. He must be one hundred percent engaged in glorifying the Lord, that his every action, every word, must be spent on account of the Supreme Lord. Nothing else.

I had an article sent to us by some Godbrothers from New York. It's really a pertinent article. Very interesting. It's from the Daily News, a big New York newspaper. The heading reads, "Drive and aid(?) retreat for priests who drink." It goes on to say, "Right now there are 5,000 alcoholic priests in the U.S., and the number is growing, according to a spokesman for Guesthouse, a sanatorium dedicated to preventing priests from wrecking their lives." These are the holy men. Now I'm not to say that all priests are like this. That's not at all what I'm trying to get at. But the point is that so many spiritual men in this age are not spiritual men at all. They're cheaters, they're deceivers.

Lecture Excerpt -- Boston, May 5, 1969:

Prabhupāda: What is your idea?

Indian man (1): I want your idea.

Prabhupāda: First of all I want your idea. (laughter)

Indian man (1): I'm here to listen to you.

Prabhupāda: Then you listen. We are listening that you come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and that is perfection.

Indian man (1): You are a giving a truth, a side, already handed out to me, that you have to be Kṛṣṇa conscious.

Prabhupāda: Because you are not Kṛṣṇa conscious... Because you are not Kṛṣṇa conscious, therefore we have to teach you that you become Kṛṣṇa conscious and you become happy.

Indian man (1): That's a given truth you are giving to me.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Indian man (1): Well, how do you know?

Prabhupāda: How do you know it is not truth?

Indian man (1): I don't know. I haven't found out.

Prabhupāda: Therefore you take it truth because we accept the truth from Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture at Christian Monastery -- Melbourne, April 6, 1972:

Hanumān: So we thank you very much for your kindness to receive our spiritual master(?), and we will request you to come and visit us. We have a temple, 14 Bernard Street in (indistinct). You're always welcome. We are... There is not many place you go in town, you go in some street, go in a store, they will ask you some money. They will give you some service but they will ask you some money. But you can come at 14 Bernard St., you can come, eat with us, and pass the day with us, talk with us. We are your servant. So you are most welcome. Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Guest: We would like to thank Swami Prabhupāda for his kindness and extreme gentleness in coming to us. We've listened with respect to the words of life (indistinct) warmed my heart, anyway, and gave me hope for a family of human brothers to which we belong. I think we are closer to one another now, to the devotees of the temple. It's very beautiful coming here tonight, and I certainly feel that this little meeting, the human brothers under a (indistinct), of particular inspiration or coming in contact with a God whom we're all reaching out for but who has many faces. Thank you very much.

Prabhupāda: Thank you. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (end)

Lecture -- Jakarta, March 2, 1973:

Prabhupāda: Acchā.

Guest: (indistinct) five o'clock.

Prabhupāda: Five o'clock. (indistinct) (break)

Devotee (2): ..., Prabhupāda. They listened too. I was watching. They were all listening very carefully.

Prabhupāda: Harer nāma harer nāma (CC Adi 17.21).

Devotee (2): You like those gongs?

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Devotee (2): You like those gongs.

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. Very nice.

Devotee (1): This type of temple and culture is prominent in that island of Bali. Many, many people. Here there are just a few, in Jakarta.

Prabhupāda: So we have to introduce this here. And if they give place, immediately take it.

Devotee (1): We have it. We'll take. It's very close to the man's house who built this temple, the man who was speaking in Indonesian. He gave us the house. Over a month ago they offered it to us.

Public Lecture -- Konigstein, Germany, June 19, 1974:

Prabhupāda: But that is your statement. But the Bible statement, Bhagavad-gītā statement is different. Why shall I take you as authority?

Jyotirmayī: (translating) He says that God means freedom, and God will not be...

Prabhupāda: How do you know it? First of all let me know how you know it about God that He is freedom or this or that. How you know it?

Jyotirmayī: (translating) "Because everyone has inside him knowledge of God, and one just has to listen within himself and he will know."

Prabhupāda: So I have got my own knowledge of God as you have got. Why you disagree with me?

Jyotirmayī: (translating) He says but he doesn't sit on a throne and he doesn't ask people to pay obeisances in front of him.

Prabhupāda: So if you want to hear me, I can get down from the throne. (big applause and yells) (some man makes an announcement in French) (general talk in French and many people yelling things out from the audience)

Jyotirmayī: He is saying two things. He is saying that when one wants to understand, he must act as a student.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is good, very good. (people still yelling) Now let us chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Chant. (end)

La Trobe University Lecture -- Melbourne, July 1, 1974:

Madhudviṣa: Sir, listen, we'll have questions and answers in just a minute if you'd like to be patient.

Man (1): Knives...

Madhudviṣa: If you'd like to be patient for a second, we'll have questions and answers and we can ask about the philosophy that we're talking about. (more yelling from audience) The people that want to listen in an orderly fashion are waiting to hear the meeting continue, and those who want to ask questions can please have respect for them and let us continue with the lecture, and then we'll have questions and answers afterwards.

Prabhupāda: What is this?

Madhudviṣa: They are simply talking about violence.

Prabhupāda: They are not prepared to hear. So let them question and answer.

Madhudviṣa: So our spiritual...

Prabhupāda: You can answer.

La Trobe University Lecture -- Melbourne, July 1, 1974:

Madhudviṣa: Our spiritual master has traveled about ten thousand miles to come and speak to you. We did have... We've not come here to bribe anyone to come and listen to him. We have rented this hall. We have rented this hall here and we have invited people cordially to come and listen as representatives of the intelligentsia of Australia. Now if the intelligentsia of Australia cannot sit for half an hour and listen to a gentleman speak about love of God, it does not speak very well for you. We are simply not asking for disturbance. We are not asking for violence. We will meet violence with violence. We are not artificially pacifists. We are asking you to listen like gentlemen. We have come here in good will. We have come here not to cause any disturbance. So we ask you please to have that much respect for our spiritual master. Now at this time, if there is any question about Kṛṣṇa consciousness philosophy... Not about fighting. We can go on the street and fight. We can solve everything out there. We have come here to speak about spiritual matters. If you want to hear about spiritual matters, let's speak together like brothers and sisters. Let's not cause a disturbance. I have an ego; you have an ego. If you do something to flip off my ego, I may get mad. If I do something to flip out your ego, you get mad. So we'll go out into the street and settle it like cats and dogs? No. We're not here at this university to act like that. We're supposed to have raised above that platform. So please, we ask you to present sober questions to our spiritual master. Yes, sir?

Young man (2): I'm a Christian. I follow Jesus. What is your spiritual master in relation to Jesus, and do you see Jesus as just another prophet like...

Madhudviṣa: The question was, this man is a follower of Lord Jesus Christ, and he would like to know what our opinion is of Jesus Christ.

Prabhupāda: We respect Jesus Christ as you do. Because he is the representative of God, son of God, and we are also speaking of God, so we respect him with our greatest veneration.

Sunday Feast Lecture -- Atlanta, March 2, 1975:

Prabhupāda: That is another thing, but... (laughter) God has got His two hands and two legs, one head, like human being, but that hands and legs and head may not be exactly like us. But He has got the image.

Woman: I have never seen Him. I do not know.

Prabhupāda: Then why you are speaking? You do not know. Don't talk. (laughter) Then you learn. If you do not know, then you learn who knows. Don't talk.

Woman: I'll listen to you.

Prabhupāda: That is the defect of the modern civilization. One does not know, and he wants to teach. (laughter)

Woman: I want to teach only to understand.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. To understand the God is... We are worshiping the God's image. He has got the two hands, two legs, like us. But His hands and legs are not like our hands and legs. Just like Kṛṣṇa says, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati, tad aham aśnāmi. God hand is so expansive, universal, that although He is in His kingdom, in His abode, when you offer something to God, He takes. He can expand His hand in that way. Not only one devotee but at the simultaneously many millions of devotees are offering Him and taking, He is taking. That is His hand. And my hand? Only three feet, that's all. So there is God's hand, but that hand is not like my hand. This is understanding. He can expand His hand millions and trillions of miles. That is His hand. That is explained in the Vedic literature. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). God is vigraha, is form, exactly like our form. But His form is sat cit ānanda. Sat means eternal, and cit means full of knowledge, and ānanda means bliss. So our body, this hand, this leg, this body, is not sac-cid-ānanda. It is not eternal; it will be finished. But God's body will never be finished. That is the difference. He has got His body, and I have got my body.

Departure Talks

Departure Lecture -- London, March 12, 1975:

So because these activities, devotional activities, are on the spiritual platform, all of them are Absolute. It is not that if you are hearing but you are not chanting, then your result will be little less than the other who is hearing and chanting. No. It is Absolute Truth. Just like if you taste a sugar candy, lump of sugar candy, from any side you taste, the sweetness is there. There is no difference, that if you taste this side, then it is more sweet than the other side. Kṛṣṇa is complete Absolute Truth. So any side. If you become expert in hearing, that is as good as one is engaged in other eight processes or nine processes. That is stated in the śāstra. Just like Parīkṣit Mahārāja. He simply listened. He did not do any other process. Śrī-viṣṇu-śravaṇe parīkṣit. They got liberation simply by executing one of the nine different processes. So śrī-viṣṇoḥ śravaṇe parīkṣid abhavad vaiyāsakiḥ kīrtane. Parīkṣit Mahārāja got liberation simply by hearing. And Śukadeva Gosvāmī, he got liberation simply by chanting. And similarly, Prahlāda Mahārāja, he got liberation simply by memorizing, smaraṇe; Lakṣmījī, simply by serving the lotus feet of Nārāyaṇa. So Kṛṣṇa consciousness is in the absolute platform. There is no relativity. In the temple worship, as there are so many different duties—one is worshiping directly the Deity, decorating the Deity, and the other is washing the temple—it does not mean that the one who is cleansing the Deity, he is less important than the person who is in the temple room, Deity room. No. Because it is absolute. The Deity... As the Deity is important, similarly, the floor of the temple is also important, same importance, because absolute. So in executing our devotional service we are engaged in different duties. Somebody is cooking. Somebody is decorating the Deity. Somebody is cleansing the floor. Somebody is going to sell books. Somebody is doing something. Everything—nirbandhe kṛṣṇa sambandhe, in relationship with Kṛṣṇa. Because the relationship is there with Kṛṣṇa, then every activity which you are doing, that is complete. There is no such material distinction.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Prabhupāda: Yes. You and your brother may be of the same type of body; there may not be a different, same type of consciousness.

Śyāmasundara: But you just said, for instance, the industrialist and farmers are two different species of men, but there could be a Negro industrialist...

Prabhupāda: I already said that. Why don't you listen? Species, definition of the scientists is different from ours. We say class.

Śyāmasundara: I'm trying to understand, because you said class but then you also said bodies. Negro bodies are different from white Caucasian bodies.

Prabhupāda: Maybe difference of bodies. But that does not...; therefore our classification on the basis of soul. The soul is equal. In spite of different types of body, the soul is one. There is no change of the soul. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that he does not see the species or the class or definition. He sees one: paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ (BG 5.18). Paṇḍita, one who sees to the (indistinct), the soul, he does not find any difference of these species or (indistinct). This is our point.

Karandhara: So Darwin and similar material scientists, they have no information of the soul, but yet they're...

Prabhupāda: There they're missing the whole point.

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: The so-called modern increased living taught by people who have the ideas of these things. The result is they are always led by people who think like that. Because like Śrīla Prabhupāda said on some of the letters, "The blind men leading the blind."

Prabhupāda: They accept blind men leading them.

Karandhara: They say the empiric mind just, you cannot accept revelation, that revelation isn't experimental to our limited knowledge, or to our knowledge. The hard-core scientist doesn't want to listen to revelation or what he considers theoretical spiritual knowledge, because he can't examine it or experiment with it himself; therefore he considers it a waste of time. If he can't see it or understand it with his mind, he doesn't think that it has any bearing or importance.

Prabhupāda: So scientific brain means ultimately becoming a fool. He'll talk all nonsense. Once he is recognized scientist, then he can talk all nonsense, and the people accept it as scientific truth.

Śyāmasundara: They say that our planet, along with all of the other stars and bodies in this universe, is about five billion years old. They have calculated in several ways. One of the ways they have calculated the age of our oceans to be five billion, and the age of our oldest rocks, along with the way that the stars are distributing themselves, that they must be five billion years old. (break) Could you repeat that, Śrīla Prabhupāda? I want to record it.

Philosophy Discussion on Henri Bergson:

Prabhupāda: Cerebral mechanism, that is a machine. Just like this microphone is a machine. It helps speaking loudly. It has nothing..., machine has nothing to do with the voice, but it helps the voice louder so we can listen, so far the machine is concerned. Actually the voice is different. Therefore our Vedic śāstra is called voice, śruti. So if the śruti, the voice, vibration of this voice is proper, then the machine can help us to understand that. But if there is no voice, what is the use of the machine? Just like dead body: the same brain is there, what is the use? The same ear is there. So it is not the brain that helps; it is the voice, it is the instruction which helps. Therefore we take instruction of Kṛṣṇa. So that is the Kṛṣṇa's point. Kṛṣṇa says, yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati (BG 4.7). When people becomes rascal, without any God consciousness, and the so-called demonic leaders keep the society in darkness, dharmasya glānir bhavati, at that time, to stop these demons talking nonsense, and to raise the devotees who are interested, Kṛṣṇa comes. That is Kṛṣṇa's coming. Then He leaves behind Him instruction of Bhagavad-gītā so that His devotees can preach for the benefit of the society. So it is not the brain; it is the voice, the instruction, which is important. So a human being has got this nice machine and he can take. But if the leaders are blind, they do not know what is the use of this brain, then it is useless. (break)

Philosophy Discussion on Henri Bergson:

Prabhupāda: That is childish.

Hayagrīva: But...

Prabhupāda: They cannot go.

Hayagrīva: By use of, what is this radio, what do they call it? By radio waves they try to listen to messages from outer space.

Prabhupāda: That's all right, but what benefit we will get? Suppose it is not very important thing. If you hear how the persons in other plant are talking, so what benefit we will get?

Hayagrīva: Is this isolation a characteristic only of the lower and middle planetary systems? In the higher planetary system, systems, is there so much isolation?

Prabhupāda: Isolation is always there. Even in this world there is isolation, even in animals. The birds, the crows, they remain together, and the swans remain together. So there is isolation between the swan and the crows. So this isolation will continue because everyone is under different modes of material nature. There are three modes of material nature. Multiply three by three, it becomes nine. Nine by nine, then it becomes eighty-one. So, prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni (BG 3.27). So according to the association of different qualities the isolation is there, but when they come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, spiritual platform, so there is no more isolation. When everyone is engaged in the service of the Lord, there is no isolation.

Philosophy Discussion on John Stuart Mill:

Prabhupāda: (indistinct) done?

Śyāmasundara: Yes. They've done some.

Prabhupāda: Let's see how they're doing.

Śyāmasundara: Well, they're going to... Whatever they cannot understand, they're leaving blanks, and I'll listen later and fill it in.

Prabhupāda: Hm. Yes.

Śyāmasundara: We were discussing last time these utilitarians. Their philosophy is that the greatest good for the greatest number of people, and that that should be followed, that law, and that that means the greatest pleasure for the greatest number.

Prabhupāda: Greatest good for the greatest number of people. So that means even if the people are fools and rascals. Does it mean so? Now some of the fools and rascals, they, just like at the present moment, they'll want, "Give us LSD." Then LSD is first-class thing? Is that philosophy?

Śyāmasundara: Well, according to some...

Philosophy Discussion on Martin Heidegger:

Devotee: What do I think?

Prabhupāda: Yes. You are understanding what I am speaking?

Devotee: Hm. Actually I am sort of in awe of (indistinct), but I enjoy listening. (indistinct)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He said he was being in awe of being with you, but he wasn't listening to the words.

Prabhupāda: Thank you. All right. Then, this is the idea of existence. Therefore the philosophy is that I shall not be very much interested what I am going to become in this life. My philosophy should be that as I am eternally existing, what is my eternal occupation. That is philosophy.

Śyāmasundara: But he is talking about..., a man defines himself in this world without any knowledge, previous knowledge, and he has... All his knowledge is that he has observed that other living bodies die, or living entities die, so he has the anxiety...

Prabhupāda: No. That knowledge is not perfect. Everyone has knowledge that I existed as like this. Then he becomes... It is common sense. So how he existed as a child, as a baby, as a young man, everyone can see. Any old man can see. So it does not require any high knowledge.

Philosophy Discussion on B. F. Skinner:

Prabhupāda: How you can change the social environment?

Śyāmasundara: Those rewards are quantitative. Just like the pigeon gets a certain number of kernels of corn.

Atreya Ṛṣi: (indistinct)

Śyāmasundara: But how do you know? You don't know what he said. Listen to what he said. He said that each time that a criminal avoids doing bad, he is given some advantage, some material advantage.

Devotee: So we understand that material advantage isn't satisfying.

Śyāmasundara: That is the difference between the pigeons and the man. The pigeons are satisfied with a few kernels of corn. They don't want more than they can eat. But a man wants more and more and more.

Devotee: In the Bhagavad-gītā Arjuna asks the same question.

Prabhupāda: So this is the important point, that what you are thinking rewarding, that is not. He will think it is insignificant. So what (indistinct). If you give me five dollars, if I steal I will get twenty-five dollars. Why shall I accept your reward?

Śyāmasundara: So what about if I don't steal, my friends will like me. If I do steal, my friends will hate me.

Prabhupāda: But if you have got for friends only thieves, then who will object? "Oh, you are very

Philosophy Discussion on Johann Gottlieb Fichte:

Hayagrīva: Getting back to conscience, that was..., we said was vague, he says, "This voice of my conscience announces to me precisely what I ought to do and what leave undone, in every particular situation of life. It accompanies me, if I but will listen to it with attention, through all the events of my life, and never refuses me my reward when I am called upon to act. To listen to it, to obey it honestly..."

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Hayagrīva: "...and unob..."

Prabhupāda: So that means he wants to listen somebody's dictation. That is, as soon as you say "listen," then somebody is speaking, you listen. So that is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). God is situated in everyone's heart, and He is dictating. Even He is dictating to the thief that "You are going to steal. It is not good. If you are arrested you will be punished." That dictation is there, but he disobeys the dictation and he steals, commits sin. That is sin. So the dictator is there, we admit that. Kṛṣṇa, or God, is there within the heart, and He is giving dictation, but you disobey. But if we accept that dictation, then you become devotee. Dictation is already there; otherwise this thief is going to steal at night? Dictation is there that "You don't go at the daytime. You will be captured and be punished." "All right, I shall go at night, when everyone is sleep." So dictation is there. Dictation is there in two ways—from the heart and from the representative. God's representative, saintly person, spiritual master, is dictating, "My dear boy, do not do this; you do this." Outside dictation. And inside dictation. But he is disobeying. Regularly he is disobeying. Then how he can be happy?