Śukadeva Gosvāmī addresses Parīkṣit Mahārāja there and says, "The great soul King Bharata was so much attached to the service of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa that he very easily gave up his lordship over the earthly planet and his affection for his children, society, friends, royal opulence and beautiful wife. He was so very lucky that the goddess of fortune was pleased to offer him all kinds of material concessions, but he never accepted any of these material opulences." Śukadeva Gosvāmī praises this behavior of King Bharata very highly. He says, "Any person whose heart is attracted by the transcendental qualities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Madhusūdana, does not care even for that liberation which is aspired to by many great sages, what to speak of material opulences."
Luck
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 1
The process, however, includes several bodily features such as āsana, dhyāna, prāṇāyāma and meditation, and all of them are meant for concentrating upon the localized aspect of Vāsudeva represented as Paramātmā. Paramātmā realization is but partial realization of Vāsudeva, and if one is successful in that attempt, one realizes Vāsudeva in full. But by ill luck most yogīs are stranded by the powers of mysticism achieved through the bodily process. Ill-fated yogīs are given a chance in the next birth by being placed in the families of good learned brāhmaṇas or in the families of rich merchants in order to execute the unfinished task of Vāsudeva realization. If such fortunate brāhmaṇas and sons of rich men properly utilize the chance, they can easily realize Vāsudeva by good association with saintly persons. Unfortunately, such preferred persons are captivated again by material wealth and honor, and thus they practically forget the aim of life.
Less intelligent persons prepare plans to adjust to those calamities without knowing that the nature of this place is itself full of calamities. They have no information of the abode of the Lord, which is full of bliss and without trace of calamity. The duty of the sane person, therefore, is to be undisturbed by worldly calamities, which are sure to happen in all circumstances. Suffering all sorts of unavoidable misfortunes, one should make progress in spiritual realization because that is the mission of human life. The spirit soul is transcendental to all material calamities; therefore, the so-called calamities are called false. A man may see a tiger swallowing him in a dream, and he may cry for this calamity. Actually there is no tiger and there is no suffering; it is simply a case of dreams. In the same way, all calamities of life are said to be dreams. If someone is lucky enough to get in contact with the Lord by devotional service, it is all gain. Contact with the Lord by any one of the nine devotional services is always a forward step on the path going back to Godhead.
sThe Pāṇḍavas are most fortunate because with all good luck they were entirely dependent on the mercy of the Lord. In the material world, to be dependent on the mercy of someone else is the utmost sign of misfortune, but in the case of our transcendental relation with the Lord, it is the most fortunate case when we can live completely dependent on Him. The material disease is due to thinking of becoming independent of everything. But the cruel material nature does not allow us to become independent. The false attempt to become independent of the stringent laws of nature is known as material advancement of experimental knowledge. The whole material world is moving on this false attempt of becoming independent of the laws of nature. Beginning from Rāvaṇa, who wanted to prepare a direct staircase to the planets of heaven, down to the present age, they are trying to overcome the laws of nature.
There are certain particular marks on the feet of the Lord which distinguish the Lord from others. The marks of a flag, thunderbolt, and instrument to drive an elephant, umbrella, lotus, disc, etc., are on the bottom of the Lord's feet. These marks are impressed upon the soft dust of the land where the Lord traverses. The land of Hastināpura was thus marked while Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa was there with the Pāṇḍavas, and the kingdom of the Pāṇḍavas thus flourished by such auspicious signs. Kuntīdevī pointed out these distinguished features and was afraid of ill luck in the absence of the Lord.
Oh, it is our good luck that we have come again today under Your protection by Your presence, for Your Lordship rarely visits even the denizens of heaven. Now it is possible for us to look into Your smiling face, which is full of affectionate glances. We can now see Your transcendental form, full of all auspiciousness.
The last instruction of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā is that one should give up everything and should follow in the footsteps of the Lord alone. Less intelligent persons do not agree to this great instruction of the Lord, as ill luck would have it, but one who is actually intelligent catches up this sublime instruction and is immensely benefited. Foolish people do not know that association is the cause of acquiring qualities. Association with fire makes an object hot, even in the material sense. Therefore, association with the Supreme Personality of Godhead makes one qualified like the Lord. As we have discussed previously, one can achieve seventy-eight percent of the godly qualities by the Lord's intimate association. To follow the instructions of the Lord is to associate with the Lord. The Lord is not a material object whose presence one has to feel for such association. The Lord is present everywhere and at all times.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra is addressed herein as a kṛpaṇa because without any estimation of his material body he wants to live at any cost. Vidura is trying to open his eyes to see that he cannot live more than his term and that he must prepare for death. Since death is inevitable, why should he accept such a humiliating position for living? It is better to take the right path, even at the risk of death. Human life is meant for finishing all kinds of miseries of material existence, and life should be so regulated that one can achieve the desired goal. Dhṛtarāṣṭra, due to his wrong conception of life, had already spoiled eighty percent of his achieved energy, so it behooved him to utilize the remaining days of his miserly life for the ultimate good. Such a life is called miserly because one cannot properly utilize the assets of the human form of life. Only by good luck does such a miserly man meet a self-realized soul like Vidura and by his instruction gets rid of the nescience of material existence.
Therefore, one who has spoiled his life without such cultural activities is advised to leave home without knowledge of friends and relatives and, being thus freed from all obligations of family, society, country, etc., give up the body at some unknown destination so that others may not know where and how he has met his death. Dhīra means one who is not disturbed, even when there is sufficient provocation. One cannot give up a comfortable family life due to his affectionate relation with wife and children. Self-realization is obstructed by such undue affection for family, and if anyone is at all able to forget such a relation, he is called undisturbed, or dhīra. This is, however, the path of renunciation based on a frustrated life, but stabilization of such renunciation is possible only by association with bona fide saints and self-realized souls by which one can be engaged in the loving devotional service of the Lord. Sincere surrender unto the lotus feet of the Lord is possible by awakening the transcendental sense of service. This is made possible by association with pure devotees of the Lord. Dhṛtarāṣṭra was lucky enough to have a brother whose very association was a source of liberation for his frustrated life.
Only the foolish man, therefore, says that there is no God. Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira was being convinced of this naked truth because he was greatly overwhelmed by the sudden departure of his old uncles and aunt. Mahārāja Dhṛtarāṣṭra was placed in that position according to his past deeds; he had already suffered or enjoyed the benefits accrued to him in the past, but due to his good luck, somehow or other he had a good younger brother, Vidura, and by his instruction he left to achieve salvation by closing all accounts in the material world.
Ordinarily one cannot change the course of one's due happiness and distress by plan. Everyone has to accept them as they come under the subtle arrangement of kāla, or invincible time. There is no use trying to counteract them. The best thing is, therefore, that one should endeavor to achieve salvation, and this prerogative is given only to man because of his developed condition of mental activities and intelligence.
SB Canto 2
Our father encouraged us in all respects to observe all functions such as the Ratha-yātrā and Dola-yātrā ceremonies, and he used to spend money liberally for distributing prasāda to us children and our friends. Our spiritual master, who also took his birth in a Vaiṣṇava family, got all inspirations from his great Vaiṣṇava father, Ṭhākura Bhaktivinoda. That is the way of all lucky Vaiṣṇava families. The celebrated Mīrā Bāī was a staunch devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa as the great lifter of Govardhana Hill.
The life history of many such devotees is almost the same because there is always symmetry between the early lives of all great devotees of the Lord. According to Jīva Gosvāmī, Mahārāja Parīkṣit must have heard about the childhood pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa at Vṛndāvana, for he used to imitate the pastimes with his young playmates. According to Śrīdhara Svāmī, Mahārāja Parīkṣit used to imitate the worship of the family Deity by elderly members.
I wish you good luck. O Brahmā, you may ask from Me, the giver of all benediction, all that you may desire. You may know that the ultimate benediction, as the result of all penances, is to see Me by realization.
SB Canto 3
This demon, luckily for us, has come of his own accord to You, his death ordained by You; therefore, exhibiting Your ways, kill him in the duel and establish the worlds in peace.
Manu said that since he was advised and instructed by Kardama Muni, he was very much favored. He considered himself lucky to receive the message by aural reception. It is especially mentioned here that one should be very inquisitive to hear with open ears from the authorized source of the bona fide spiritual master. How is one to receive? One should receive the transcendental message by aural reception. The word karṇa-randhraiḥ means "through the holes of the ears." The favor of the spiritual master is not received through any other part of the body but the ears. This does not mean, however, that the spiritual master gives a particular type of mantra through the ears in exchange for some dollars and if the man meditates on that he achieves perfection and becomes God within six months. Such reception through the ears is bogus. The real fact is that a bona fide spiritual master knows the nature of a particular man and what sort of duties he can perform in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and he instructs him in that way.
SB Canto 4
As soon as they declare their independence of the supreme controller, they are immediately put into this material world to try their luck freely, as far as possible. When the material world is created for such misguided living entities, they create their own karma, fruitive activities, and take advantage of the time element, and thereby they create their own fortune or misfortune. Everyone is created, everyone is maintained, and everyone is ultimately killed. As far as these three things are concerned, the Lord is equal to everyone; it is according to one's karma that one suffers and enjoys. The living entity's higher or lower position, his suffering and enjoying, are due to his own karma. The exact word used in this connection is anīśāḥ, which means "dependent on their own karma." The example is given that the government gives everyone the facilities for governmental action and management, but by one's own choice one creates a situation which obliges him to exist under different types of consciousness.
Also, one who hears this narration three times will become very reputable if he is not recognized in society, and he will become a great scholar if he is illiterate. In other words, hearing of the narrations of Pṛthu Mahārāja is so auspicious that it drives away all bad luck.
In the material world, everyone wants some profit, some adoration and some reputation. By associating in different ways with the Supreme Personality of godhead or His devotee, one can very easily become opulent in every respect. Even if one is not known or recognized by society, he becomes very famous and important if he takes to devotional service and preaching. As far as education is concerned, one can become recognized in society as a great learned scholar simply by hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Bhagavad-gītā, wherein the pastimes of the Lord and His devotees are described. This material world is full of dangers at every step, but a devotee has no fear because devotional service is so auspicious that it automatically counteracts all kinds of bad luck. Since hearing about Pṛthu Mahārāja is one of the items of devotional service (śravaṇam), naturally hearing about him brings all good fortune.
The living entity resides within the body and struggles for existence with the limbs of the body, which are referred to here as citizens and friends. One can struggle alone with many soldiers for some time, but not for all time. The living entity within the body can struggle up to the limit of a hundred years with good luck, but after that it is not possible to prolong the struggle. Thus the living entity submits and falls victim. In this regard, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has sung: vṛddha kāla āola saba sukha bhāgala. When one becomes old, it becomes impossible to enjoy material happiness. Generally people think that religion and piety come at the end of life, and at this time one generally becomes meditative and takes to some so-called yogic process to relax in the name of meditation. Meditation, however, is simply a farce for those who have enjoyed life in sense gratification. As described in the Sixth Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, meditation (dhyāna, dhāraṇā) is a difficult subject matter that one has to learn from his very youth. To meditate, one must restrain himself from all kinds of sense gratification.
SB Canto 7
Saṅkīrtana means chanting of the holy name of the Lord. The Hare Kṛṣṇa movement is not a new movement as people sometimes mistakenly think. The Hare Kṛṣṇa movement is present in every millennium of Lord Brahmā's life, and the holy name is chanted in all the higher planetary systems, including Brahmaloka and Candraloka, not to speak of Gandharvaloka and Apsaroloka. The saṅkīrtana movement that was started in this world five hundred years ago by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is therefore not a new movement. Sometimes, because of our bad luck, this movement is stopped, but Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and His servants again start the movement for the benefit of the entire world or, indeed, the entire universe.
SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)
Raising his club, the reckless King of Karūṣa said to Lord Mukunda, "What luck! What luck—to have You come before me today!
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Nectar of Devotion
All the queens at Dvārakā were goddesses of fortune. It is said in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, First Canto, Eleventh Chapter, verse 33, that the goddesses of fortune are very fickle and restless, so no one can consistently captivate them. Thus one's luck will always change sometime. Yet the goddesses of fortune could not leave Kṛṣṇa for even a moment when they were residing with Him at Dvārakā. This means that Kṛṣṇa's attraction is ever fresh. Even the goddesses of fortune cannot leave His company.
Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead
As he was returning home with his royal friends, however, they advised him not to retire but to regain strength to fight again with Kṛṣṇa in the near future. The princely friends of Jarāsandha instructed him that ordinarily it would not have been possible for him to be defeated by the strength of the Yadu kings; the defeat he had experienced was simply due to his ill luck. The princely order encouraged King Jarāsandha. His fighting, they said, was certainly heroic; therefore, he should not take his defeat very seriously, since it was due only to his past misdeeds. After all, there was no fault in his fighting.
We may be put into various types of dangerous conditions by our family members, the Kurus, but I am confident that You remember us and always keep us safe and sound. Even ordinary devotees who simply think of You are always immune to all kinds of material danger, and what to speak of ourselves, who are personally remembered by You. So, my dear Kṛṣṇa, there is no question of bad luck; we are always in an auspicious position because of Your grace. But although You have bestowed a special favor on us, people should not mistakenly think that You are partial to some and inattentive to others. You make no such distinction. No one is Your favorite and no one is Your enemy. As the Supreme Personality of Godhead, You are equal to everyone, and everyone can take advantage of Your special protection. The fact is that although You are equal to everyone, You are especially inclined to the devotees who always think of You. The devotees are related to You by ties of love. As such, they cannot forget You even for a moment.
You are the ultimate destination of all liberated persons. Out of Your independent will only, You have descended to this earth by the use of Your own internal potency, yogamāyā, and to reestablish the Vedic principles of life You have appeared just like an ordinary human being. Since You are the Supreme Person, there cannot be any ill luck for one who has fully surrendered unto You.”
When Lord Kṛṣṇa was busy meeting various kinds of visitors and while they were engaged in offering prayers to the Lord, the female members of the Kuru dynasty and the Yadu dynasty took the opportunity to meet with one another and engage in talk of Lord Kṛṣṇa's transcendental pastimes. The first inquiry was made by Draupadī to the wives of Lord Kṛṣṇa. She addressed them: "My dear Rukmiṇī, Bhadrā, Jāmbavatī, Satyā, Satyabhāmā, Kālindī, Śaibyā (Mitravindā), Lakṣmaṇā, Rohiṇī and all other wives of Lord Kṛṣṇa, will you please let us know how Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, accepted you as His wives and married you in pursuance of the marriage ceremonies of ordinary human beings?"
Renunciation Through Wisdom
The sad fact is that although Kṛṣṇa reveals the truth about Himself throughout the Bhagavad-gītā and other Vedic literatures, the luckless populace cannot regard Him as the Supreme Lord. In particular, the impersonalistic philosophers, who make tall claims of being bastions of religiosity, reduce the Supreme Lord to the level of a mediocre mortal and thereby accrue heavy sins. Such atheistic offenders can never approach the subject of God on their own merit. The Supreme Lord and His surrendered servitors have in various ways clarified and transmitted the knowledge of the Supreme Absolute, but those who offend the Supreme Lord and His devotees can never comprehend such topics.
According to the predominance of a particular mode, the yugas change from Satya to Tretā to Dvāpara to Kali. The jīvas in Kali-yuga are predominantly in the mode of ignorance, and with with the increase of this mode the threefold material miseries expand unlimitedly. Thus people today are afflicted by a short life-span, ill luck, warped intelligence, lethargy, disease, and many other sufferings.
Still, there is no reason to despise this age, for the most munificent incarnation of Godhead, Lord Caitanya, has appeared in Kali-yuga to shower His kindness upon the afflicted souls. The extent of the Supreme Lord's mercy is decidedly more generous in this age than in any other. In his play entitled Vidagdha-mādhava, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has described Lord Caitanya in this way:
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Why should we go to anyone else when Kṛṣṇa is there? When Kṛṣṇa's instruction is there in the shape of Bhagavad-gītā, why shall I read any nonsense book? That is my fault. Can anyone give better instruction than Kṛṣṇa for solving all the problems of the world? No. That is not possible. But still, we shall find out some imitation Kṛṣṇa. This is our ill luck, misfortune.
Therefore they are called duṣkṛtina. The word is used here, paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām (BG 4.8). Duṣkṛtām means miscreants. Kṛti, kṛti means.... This is explained in the Seventh Chapter more elaborately. Na māṁ prapadyante duṣkṛtino narādhamāḥ. Na māṁ prapadyante mūḍhāḥ duṣkṛtino narādhamāḥ (BG 7.15). Another place the word duṣkṛti is used. Duṣkṛti means.... Kṛti means meritorious. One who has got merit, nice merit. But it is employed for sinful activities. They are called duṣkṛti. And one who uses his merit for pious activities, he is called sukṛti. Catur-vidhā bhajante māṁ sukṛtino 'rjuna.
The disease is there. Then what advancement you have made? You are so proud. This is called māyā. He is in the same stage, miserable stage, but he is thinking that "I am advanced in knowledge. I am advanced in knowledge." This false pride. You see?
So the simple thing is that father has to surrender, er, the son has to surrender to the father. Simple thing. And the father, what kind of father? He is not ordinary father. He is Bhagavān. Bhagavān means possessing full power, full strength, full wealth, full knowledge. He's not ordinary father. He is not like material father, a poor father without any knowledge. But here is the father who is full of knowledge, full of opulence, and we have to surrender to such father. Don't you think yourself to be lucky to go to such a father and enjoy His property? Why you are so fools? This foolishness, why they are so much fools, that is described in the next verse.
Guest (2) (young woman): Śrīla Prabhupāda, most of us or some of us on earth are lucky enough to have...
Prabhupāda: That is already explained. According to past karma, you get different position. Sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu. Sad-asat, abominable life and pleasing life, that is due to our past association with different modes of material nature.
Guest (2): Some of us are lucky enough to have realized.
Prabhupāda: That is lucky or unlucky. That means according to our past association.
Guest (2): There is such injustice...
Prabhupāda: Just like if you... In this life also, if you are properly educated, then you get good position in the society, same as a lucky or a lucky position. But the lucky position was due to your personal association of being educated. It depends on you to get this lucky or unlucky position.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Prabhupāda: Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa seriously. The examples are there. Therefore Haridāsa Ṭhākura, he was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, and some envious person engaged some very beautiful prostitute to drag him. But she failed. Chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa is so strong. At mid of night beautiful prostitute, young, she went to entice him. But Haridāsa Ṭhākura said, "That's all right. Your proposal is very nice. Please sit down. Let me finish my rounds." (laughter) So she sat down, and morning, there was morning. So Haridāsa Ṭhākura said, "My dear girl, I am very sorry. I could not finish. So this night we shall finish." In this way, after three nights, the prostitute fell down on his feets, "Sir, I came with this purpose. I was induced by such and such person. So I am offender. Please excuse me and give me your favor." So Haridāsa said, "Yes, I knew that. But because you came to me, I wanted to do something good for you. And therefore I stayed here for three nights just to convert you. Now you are so lucky. So whatever you have got, you distribute it to the brāhmaṇas, and you take one cloth and sit down here before the Tulasī tree and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa." Hmm?
That is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā, śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe yoga-bhraṣṭo 'bhijāyate (BG 6.41). Yoga-bhraṣṭaḥ. Bhraṣṭaḥ means fallen, fallen. Suppose we are executing Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and some of our students are going away. So that is called bhraṣṭa, fallen. They could not continue. So one who could not continue by his ill luck, he is also not loser because he is... That slight Kṛṣṇa consciousness will help him to get another human form of body. That is guaranteed. Ordinary men, they do not know what kind of body they are going to get. They're in darkness. But it will be decided at the time of his death according to the mentality. God is so kind, whatever you want, He is giving you. Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham (BG 4.11).
Our spiritual master, who also took his birth in a Vaiṣṇava family, got all inspirations from his great Vaiṣṇava father Ṭhākura Bhaktivinoda. That is the way of all lucky Vaiṣṇava families. The celebrated Mira Bhai was a staunch devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa as the great lifter of Govardhana Hill. The life history of many such devotees is almost the same because there is always symmetry between the early lives of all great devotees of the Lord. According to Jīva Gosvāmī, Mahārāja Parīkṣit must have heard about the childhood pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana, for he used to imitate the pastimes with his young playmates.
According to Śrīdhara Svāmī, Mahārāja Parīkṣit used to imitate the worship of the family Deity by elderly members. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī also confirms the viewpoint of Jīva Gosvāmī. So accepting either of them, Mahārāja Parīkṣit was naturally inclined to Lord Kṛṣṇa from his very childhood, and he might have imitated either of the above-mentioned procedures, and all of them established his great devotion from his very childhood, a symptom of a mahā-bhāgavata.
Because the name of God and God is not different, so immediately he becomes in touch with God. As soon you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, immediately we are in touch. So He very much appreciated. Śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ. Puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ (SB 1.2.17). Śravaṇa means hearing, and kīrtana means chanting. So anyone who is chanting God's name and one who is hearing God's name, both of them are becoming purified, puṇya. Puṇya means piety. So simply by chanting... This is the example, that this man was addicted to so many sinful activities, and out of fear or out of his good luck, he chanted "Nārāyaṇa." Immediately the attendants of Nārāyaṇa has come to deliver him. And now there will be talk between the order carriers, attendants of Yamarāja and Viṣṇudūta, and that we shall discuss later on.
So we have to make ourselves purified before we can approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So these are sinful activities: illicit sex life and meat-eating, unnecessarily killing the animals. Why should you kill animals? If God has given you so many nice foodstuffs—varieties of fruit, varieties of grain, sufficient milk—why should you take to this obnoxious foodstuff? But it is ill luck, unfortunate. By ill association you have learned all this nonsense. So therefore one has to give up these nonsense habits. That is called tapasya. Tapo divyam (SB 5.5.1).
Why tapasya? Divyam: for spiritual realization. Why it is necessary? Tapo divyaṁ yena śuddhyet sattva. Your existence will be purified because... Just like in diseased condition we cannot relish very palatable foodstuff. A man, jaundice, suffering from jaundice, if you give him something just like candy, sugar candy, he'll taste it as bitter because he is suffering from jaundice. But sugar candy is not bitter.
Prabhupāda: Father says, "Don't do it. But if you do it, do it at your risk."
Indian man (3): But if Kṛṣṇa is guiding us...
Prabhupāda: But you don't accept Kṛṣṇa's guidance. That is the difficulty. Just like you are taking the guidance of Americans. You are elderly man, educated man, you prefer to take guidance from the Americans, not from Kṛṣṇa. So what can be done? That is Kṛṣṇa's ill luck and your misfortune. What can be done? All right. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
The sahajiyās, they immediately try to understand the love affairs of Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī. That is sahajiyism. Here we have to take instruction from Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura. First of all we have to take the mercy of Rūpa-Raghunātha, Gosvāmīs. Then if there is, our luck is good, then we can understand what is Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa prema. You, it is not a thing to be understood by the common man in the bazaar, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, in spite of hearing Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa līlā for many, many years, they remain in the same position, not a single step forward, what to..., to understand Kṛṣṇa? Because they do not try to understand Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa through the channel chalked out by Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Gosvāmīs. We must know. Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa is not ordinary. Rādhā kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir hlādinī śakti. This is the manifestation of the ahlādinī śakti of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa does not enjoy any material thing. The gopīs and Rādhārāṇī, they are not these ordinary girls.
'The great soul of King Bhārata was so much attached to the service of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa that he very easily gave up his lordship over the earthly planet and his affection for his children, society, friends, royal opulence and beautiful wife. He was so very lucky that the goddess of fortune was pleased to offer him all kinds of material concessions, but he never accepted any of these material opulences.' Śukadeva Gosvāmī eulogizes this behavior of King Bhārata very highly. He says, 'Any person whose heart is attracted by the transcendental qualities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Madhusūdana, not to speak of material opulences, does not care even for that liberation which is aspired to by many great sages.' "
Festival Lectures
One of them, he advised me also. First meeting, perhaps you know, he asked me to preach. So at that time I was young man, only twenty-five years old, and I was also householder. So I should have joined and executed his desire immediately, but due to my ill luck I could not immediately execute his order, but it was in my heart that it is to be done. So better late than never, I executed his order at the age of seventy years, not at the age of twenty-five. So actually I wasted so much time, I can understand that. From twenty... The message was there when I was twenty-five years old, but I began at the age of seventy years. But I did not forget the message. Otherwise, how could I do? That was, that is a fact. I was simply finding out the opportunity, how to do it. So anyway, although I began very late, at the age of seventy years, so by the help of my disciples this movement is gaining ground and is spreading all over the world. So therefore I have to thank you. It is all due to you. It is not my credit, but it is your credit that you are helping me in executing the order of my Guru Mahārāja.
Arrival Addresses and Talks
I want one student who follows my instruction. I don't want millions. Ekaś candras tamo hanti na ca tara-sahasrasaḥ. If there is one moon in the sky, that is sufficient for illumination. There is no need of millions of stars. So my position is that I want to see that at least one disciple has become pure devotee. Of course, I have got many sincere and pure devotees. That is my good luck. But I would have been satisfied if I could find out one only. There is no need of so-called millions of stars.
So therefore the process is there, and it is very simple, and if we understand the all instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā and then we study Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam... Or even if you don't study, Caitanya Mahāprabhu has given very simple method.
Philosophy Discussions
Prabhupāda: But he does not know what is that enjoyable life. He cannot define, definitely, what is that enjoyable life. He is simply hankering after it. That is natural. But he does not know definitely what is that enjoyable life.
Hayagrīva: As close as he comes to a definition of it, he says, "We simply arrange a world in which serious conflicts occur as seldom as possible, or, with a little luck, not at all."
Prabhupāda: What does it mean? Hm?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He's trying to make an ideal arrangement where no conflicts come about.
Prabhupāda: That is materially impossible.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1969 Conversations and Morning Walks
Gargamuni: He mentioned to me that he's married and that he has a child in India. And he asked, "Oh, were you married?" And I said, "No. My wife was taken away." And he came over and he hugged me. "Oh," he said, "you are so lucky." (laughter) He hugged me. He said, "Oh, you are so lucky."
Prabhupāda: (chuckling) There is a Tulasī das poetry, din ka ḍākinī rat ka bhāginī gargara bhāginī cuṣe. Bhāginī. Tulasī das had very good, beautiful wife, and he was very much attached to her. So the system is that after the girl is staying with her husband... Because young girls, very minor age, they were married, say, ten years, nine years, twelve years. But they're allowed to live with husband, say, after thirteen years or fourteen years, when she has attained puberty. So the system is six months father house and six months husband. In this way, going and coming. But when she is elderly she can remain continually with her ...but in the beginning... Because after all, she is girl, so she cannot tolerate the separation from father and mother. So six months here, six months... So Tulasī das, as soon as the, his father-in-law will come to take his daughter, he won't allow. He won't allow.
Hayagrīva: That's the usual. That's in all the dictionaries.
Lady: Only the Indian people are lucky that still they are holding it tight. That's all. Now other people have forgotten. But it's all universal.
Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa said in the Bhagavad-gītā that "I am the father of everyone." Sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya (BG 14.4). Not only human being. All animals, trees, plants. So Kṛṣṇa is universal.
Allen Ginsberg: Now, for instance, in America many of the black people are tending toward Allah and toward Muhammadanism.
Prabhupāda: That is another thing. Somebody is inclined to some thing, somebody is inclined to some thing. That is going on, and it will go on till the end of the creation. (laughing)
Allen Ginsberg: I would like to go and live for a while and to stay. I liked it when I was there. It would be a good place to live.
Hayagrīva: You're going next year?
Allen Ginsberg: I think pretty soon I'm going to be going back. Yeah. I have to stabilize the farm I'm on.
Hayagrīva: Good luck.
Allen Ginsberg: Hare Kṛṣṇa.
1971 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Therefore, when everything was done by Him and Arjuna declined to fight, therefore Kṛṣṇa called him foolish, it is foolishness. Therefore He taught him Bhagavad-gītā. And when he came to his Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he took up the opportunity. He said plainly that "Arjuna, you fight or don't fight, these people are not going back home. That is already settled up." Nimitta-mātraṁ bhava savyasācin. So this plan was made by Kṛṣṇa, and there was no other alternative.
Dr. Singh: Arjuna was very lucky to have Kṛṣṇa there to tell him what the plan was.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Dr. Singh: Arjuna.
Prabhupāda: So everyone can become happy like Arjuna if he becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious, that's all. I was studying your book.
Dr. Singh: My book? Where did you see my book, Swamiji?
Prabhupāda: (indistinct)
1972 Conversations and Morning Walks
Śyāmasundara: They say, "Well, it's my luck," or "My bad luck."
Prabhupāda: Yes. They say. So this "luck," as soon as you say, "luck" there must be somebody who is giving you the luck, good luck or bad luck.
Śyāmasundara: One man may desire something very badly, and his whole life long he will not get it. He will always say, "I am so unlucky."
Prabhupāda: Because he is not fit to get it, so God does not supply it. So we do not take anything as chance. We take everything as plan. But because God's omnipotency is so subtle, we cannot see how things happen. Therefore we say "It is a chance, chance of physical arrangement." Just like in the airport, as soon as I step on the door it becomes opened. It is not chance. A child will see it is a chance: "Oh, how it is? I wanted to go and the door is already open." He takes it a chance. That is poor fund of knowledge. There is arrangement, nice arrangement, electrical arrangement. So to a poor fund of knowledge it becomes a chance, and to the sober mind it is not chance; it is arranged by higher authority.
Guest (2): Thank you very much Your Holiness. Good luck.
Prabhupāda: So, religion, very simple—I am talking with that man over there—religion means the laws of God. Simple definition. And one who follows the laws of God, he is religious. It doesn't matter whether he is Christian, whether he is Hindu, whether he is Muslim. It doesn't matter. Take, for example, your Christian religion. Lord Jesus Christ says "Thou shalt not kill", but I think cent percent of the Christian people, they are very much engaged in killing. So there are, I mean, disobeying the laws of God. Don't you think? What is..., what is the value? And if you disobey the laws of God, then what is your religion? It is simply show. God says, or God's representative, God's son, Jesus Christ says, that "Thou shalt not kill," but the whole Christian world, the killing art is very much favored. Maintaining slaughterhouse, shooting in sports, and creating (indistinct), and so many things, simply killing. And any film shown, when it is killing film as is very much popular. Shooting film is very popular. I see in your park the soldiers killing. This, this park I was passing. What is that park?
Prabhupāda: No. These Europeans, Americans, if they take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they'll be more happy. That is assured. From all angles of vision-their family life, their political life, their social life, their cultural life, their religious life, their philosophical life, their scientific life—everything will be perfect. Now you have to teach them. I can give you the ideas how they'll be happy. The rascals, they do not know why, what is your specialness, and just to teach you this. My only ambition is that you are... (aside:) Oh, there is no water. You are supposed to be the most intelligent persons. (Prabhupāda drinks) So if you take, others will take. That is going on. So I have no distinction between East and West. They're thinking that East is conquering West by culture. That is their enviousness. (laughter) That is, they are afraid. Because the Britishers, they kept Indian culture suppressed so long because... (break) ...the kṣatriya, kings, in special cases. Not for public. Among the kṣatriyas. And among the vaiśyas, one day in a year, when they were allocated(?), to try one's luck. One day they'll bet.
Prabhupāda: Yes, śaraṇāgati. Just like Arjuna. Arjuna was hesitating to fight but when he surrendered to Kṛṣṇa he fought.
Guest (2): He was lucky. Lord Kṛṣṇa was right there with him.
Prabhupāda: So Lord Kṛṣṇa's instruction is there. That is Lord Kṛṣṇa. There is no difference between Lord Kṛṣṇa and His instruction. He is absolute. Just like these boys. They are serving Kṛṣṇa. Lord Kṛṣṇa is not present. Lord Kṛṣṇa is present but you do not know how He is present. Lord Kṛṣṇa is present by His name, Hare Kṛṣṇa. This Kṛṣṇa and the person Kṛṣṇa is not different. That you do not know. You are thinking Kṛṣṇa is gone, but Kṛṣṇa is present by His instruction, by His name, by His form, by His quality, by His pastime, because He is absolute. Kṛṣṇa is never absent. Simply we have to see, we have to make our eyes to see Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is always present. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti (Bs. 5.38). Those who are saintly person, they are seeing twenty-four hours, every minute, Kṛṣṇa. Hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti. How? Premāñjana-cchurita. When there is love of Kṛṣṇa. Just like ordinarily, if you love somebody, you will find him everywhere. So you have to develop your love for Kṛṣṇa; then Kṛṣṇa will be seen. Svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ. Just like sun.
Prabhupāda: So, so you have come to Vṛndāvana, and just go on with bhajana, Rūpa Gosvāmī's place, and we are trying to construct a temple.
Dr. Kapoor: Yes. You are very lucky in almost getting I think that big building on the bank of the Yamunā. (indistinct) Kuṭir. It's a huge thing. A huge thing.
Prabhupāda: Yes. (conversation in Hindi for a few minutes) Rādhārāṇī asked him that he must do. She is also pakka baniya. (laughter) Without the order of Rādhārāṇī,... He has got... But when he says Rādhārāṇī, Rādhārāṇī is asking, then he cannot refuse. Thank you very much. Ācchā? So prasādam. Give them prasādam. Is there any prasādam?
Gurudāsa: Oh yes.
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: So you returned. That's nice.
Guest (3): ...and I got out of it. I was lucky, really, you know.
Prabhupāda: (Hindi)
Guest (1): (Hindi)
Guest (3): So I was very lucky, really.
Prabhupāda: (Hindi)
Guest (1): (Hindi conversation for some time) (break)
Prabhupāda: ...otherwise, in his preaching, he never stressed.
Guest (1): He is lucky.
Prabhupāda: Yes, lucky.
Guest (9): He is lucky. For some of them, half of them, they go here, half of them go there.
Prabhupāda: He has good wife, good children, all favorable for Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He does not...
Guest (8): This is Prabhupāda's mercy really.
Guest (1): No, but, that I'm saying...
Guest (8): We have been living fourteen years in this country. They were brought up here, and they never touched tea. They were brought up here, school education and all that, fourteen years...
Prabhupāda: Yes, in England, in London.
Guest (1): He is lucky person.
Prabhupāda: I am coming, yes. (break) ...dehaṁ punar janma naiti. Such person, those who are fully absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, such person, after giving up this body, does not accept any more material body. He goes back to Kṛṣṇa. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9). "He comes to Me." So you cannot go to Kṛṣṇa unless you have your spiritual body. Because the spiritual world and Kṛṣṇa, they are all spiritual. So you cannot enter into fire unless you are fire. So you have to revive your spiritual body, spiritual consciousness. Then, after giving up this body, you enter the spiritual world. So Lord Buddha did not speak anything about the spiritual world, but his philosophy said that "Dismantle this material existence." Nirvāṇa. Nobody has preached that "You become happy here," either Lord Buddha or Lord Christ or Kṛṣṇa or anybody, Śaṅkara. Nobody. But modern materialistic people, they are thinking that "We can become happy by adjustment of our material condition." That is not possible.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Trivikrama: Once I was driving a taxi, and a woman got in the cab, and she said, "I hope my goddamn luck is better tonight." She was going to a church. (laughter) She was going to a church to play bingo, and she was speaking like that.
Śrutakīrti: There's the word "logos," "logo." "Logos" is here. It means "word, or second person of a trinity."
Prabhupāda: No, no. "Logy."
Śrutakīrti: "Logy" is not here.
Pañcadraviḍa: Logic.
Prabhupāda: Logic.
Śrutakīrti: Logic is here. "Scheme of or trustees (?) on, science of reasoning..."
Prabhupāda: That... That...
Śrutakīrti: "...chain of reasoning, arguments, logical..."
Director: Well, I certainly wish you luck.
Prabhupāda: Hmm?
Director: I wish you luck.
Prabhupāda: Hm, thank you.
Director: As a public servant that you reform society as your life. To carry out the instrument of...
Prabhupāda: So kindly cooperate with us. This is... Try to learn the philosophy, and you will be surprised how nice philosophy it is.
Director: I'm quite sure.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Lucky we come early.
Sudāmā: Just like the monkeys.
Revatīnandana: Oh, it was in Laguna that they repealed it.
Prabhupāda: But why, then, the lavatory they have made distinction for woman and for men?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Now in the colleges there's no more distinction.
Jayatīrtha: Co-educational bathrooms.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: One bathroom. One residence, one bathroom...
Revatīnandana: The boys and girls live in the same residence on the same floors and use the same bathrooms. Practically there is no restriction on the association. They're not married.
Prabhupāda: ...is interested in God throughout the whole world, cent percent. We are simply canvassing, "Here is God. Take to God." This is our position. And still, some of you are cooperating with me. That is good fortune. Otherwise nobody is interested in God, nobody. They have no idea of God. They are not interested in God. Still, we are predominant, or people know us as Hare Kṛṣṇa people. This is our good luck. Nobody... My Guru Mahārāja used to say, "There is no scarcity of anything in this world. Only scarcity is Kṛṣṇa consciousness." He used to say like that.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: There's a way to go down here, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: What is that?
Prabhupāda: But you have, I mean to say, curbed down. This rascal civilization, they could not take the Western civilization, and they lost their own civilization. This is India's bad luck. The Britishers did not teach them how to take up the Western culture, but they killed the Eastern culture. You understand?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes.
Prabhupāda: You have no position. You cannot take the Western culture properly, and you have lost your own culture. This is India's bad luck. They never taught Indians how to become actually Westernized. No. They were not giving them sufficient education. They were very much against higher education in the beginning. They wanted some clerks to conduct their activities, mercantile and government, some third-class, fourth-class men. Educated means ABCD, that's all. "They may know ABCD and take fifty, sixty rupees salary, and go home outside the town and come in daily passenger train, and work hard here and simply get your money so that you can maintain yourself." Nothing more. No education, no money, no industry. They were not taught properly.
Prabhupāda: Artho 'rhati. I am distressed, I have no money, or I am suffering from some disease; you'll find all these. So all of them go to the sādhus only for this purpose. Sir, I am suffering from some disease, so without going to the doctor, and saving so much money, let me pay hundred rupees to the sādhu and he'll give me his blessings. So I will save thousands of rupees, for curing the disease. For this purpose they go to sādhu. Nobody goes to sādhu for going back to home back to godhead. It is only (material) proposition. Otherwise the so-called yogis, sādhus, swamis, they are making good luck business simply by promising that you'll get this material power. This Mahesh Yogi he says that, what is his philosophy?
Harikesa: He says that if you renounce now, you can enjoy later. That if you take some austerity now, like meditation, abstaining from certain things, that later on you can enjoy sex life unlimitedly, have clear intelligence unlimtedly, and ultimately become the...
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Well, you were lucky. You are sometimes not disappointed. But generally you are disappointed. So we are teaching that "You take Kṛṣṇa's plan. You'll be happy. Don't make your own plan. You'll never be happy." This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Brian Singer: Is Kṛṣṇa cons..., the Kṛṣṇa movement, is it still growing?
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Devotee (2): Is the Kṛṣṇa movement still growing?
Prabhupāda: What do you think?
Brian Singer: In numbers. Yeah. I think yes, but I don't know.
Prabhupāda: In Las Vegas there are many gambling casinos. So when he was about to depart on the plane, one of his friends gave him a five dollar bill and told him that "In order that your gambling to be fortunate, the first good person you see there, you give this five dollar bill to him, and it will automatically bring you good luck." So the man went to Las Vegas, and when he got out at the airport, one of our devotees approached him, and this gentleman happens to be a lawyer who's fighting against us to keep us out of the New York airport, he's representing the airline company. So he didn't know it was one of our devotees because they were in the regular clothes, civilian clothes. So the devotee said, "Please, we're doing good work, educating people, you kindly give a donation." So the man thought: "Well, my friend gave me this," he gave him five dollars, and naturally, the devotee gave him a book. So the man didn't look at it, but he went into the taxi, the lawyer, and then when he looked he realized-(laughter) he was supporting the enemy.
Hari-śauri: I was thinking yesterday that must be one of the problems, that these people have not read your earlier books, the earlier cantos of the Bhāgavatam. Because it says, you express quite clearly to avoid the...
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We were lucky because when we joined all that we had were your Bhāgavatams from India, those original Bhāgavatams.
Prabhupāda: (break) ...otherwise...
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Otherwise, what shall we do?
Prabhupāda: Otherwise, they are finished.
Dhṛṣṭadyumna: One big lawyer, he is fighting us for not going to the airports. He is working for the airlines. So he was going on a pleasure trip to Las Vegas from New York. So his friend gave him five dollars and said, "When you come to a good charity, give this—it will give you good luck." So he took the five dollars, got on the plane, went to Las Vegas, gets off the plane, goes into the terminal, and a young man comes up to him, says, "We are doing very good work. Please give a donation." He said, "Oh, my friend has given me five dollars, so here is a good cause." Gives the five dollars to the boy, he said: "Oh, here, take this book also." So he, "All right." He goes and sits in the car, opens the book, he said, "Oh, no! It is the Hare Kṛṣṇas! I have been tricked." This story was told by Tamāla Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja's parents. Their friend was the lawyer. So Kṛṣṇa is benedicting everyone, even the enemies. (break)
Mādhavānanda: Sometimes the karmī salesmen, they stand around to watch us distribute books. Because they are so amazed at our techniques of sale and distribution, they want to learn.
Jayādvaita: They become very respectful. They don't know anything about our philosophy, but they see how nicely we...
Prabhupāda: Good salesmen.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We're very lucky, we rented a garage one block away which can house four buses and twenty vans. Only one block away from it, its very unusual. Otherwise...
Prabhupāda: You have taken the whole garage?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, otherwise it's not possible to get parking space in New York. See the "Hare Kṛṣṇa" now, Prabhupāda, on the side of the building?
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Jayānanda, maybe you should park on the right side. We can walk across the street rather than getting out.
Rāmeśvara: Yes, good idea.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: They think if someone dies in their sleep, they are very lucky.
Prabhupāda: It is dangerous to die here.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Not as dangerous as in Africa. I saw one movie, and there's one tribe, that when a man becomes very old...
Prabhupāda: Yes, I've heard of that.
Hari-śauri: They throw him on the roof, and then eat him.
Prabhupāda: That is a feast.
Guest: We are lucky souls that we are surrendered souls.
Prabhupāda: (Bengali) Whatever is done it is by single man's effort. If all our actual leaders, they take up, then India will be glorified. They'll feel... Yes, they're expecting. Outside India, people, they expect that there is something better knowledge in India. Therefore as soon as some swamis or yogi goes there, they come. But they cheat. These rascals, I shall say that, they do not know anything, and they go there for teaching yoga. Bogus.
Guest: Bogus, bogus. So many bogus people are going.
Prabhupāda: They do not know what is yoga.
Prabhupāda: Very good. Very good. Thank you.
Dr. Ramachandra: It's our luck that I could meet you. You are a great leader of, religious leader, you see, international. And you belong to order of the Caitanya Maṭha.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Dr. Ramachandra: It's a great bhakti movement. So any services I am prepared to give for the āśrama, with your...
Prabhupāda: (aside:) So keep this card. The Dr. Ramachandra is ready.
Dr. Ramachandra: I am on telephone also.
Prabhupāda: So any help you want, we'll give. It is very nice.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Best thing is... This is the formula given by every big personality. The Rūpa Gosvāmī, he is authorized person for bhakti-mārga. He says, ādau śraddhā tato sādhu-saṅga.
Guest (2): We are so lucky. We are writing the letter... We wrote here that "From distant land of Orissa, Guruji... This is... Your literature has tempted us, and perhaps it is your intention that we should go upon..., with Nitai Gaura..."
Prabhupāda: Just like our this Kṛṣṇa book, from the very beginning, or Bhagavad-gītā. You try...
Prabhupāda: In taxi in the beginning, I saw, "Three hund..., three thousand dollar." So (laughs)... And "Three thousand yen." So I did not know. I have got... They changed. Not dishonest. Honest or dishonest, I did not know. Whatever they took and returned, that's all. But I know they are not dishonest. They are nice people, hard worker, honest. But Japanese... This Tojo attempted that "This is the time for expanding with German help." Bad luck. They could not do. They wanted to keep China under their control. That also failed. They fought with the Russians in the beginning, when we were children, to expand-failed. This time they wanted to occupy Hawaii.
Dr. Sharma: No, no. He was in Hyderabad, Joint Commissioner for Religious Improvements, Mr. K. Gopalan. He asked me. He is my brother. He is my eldest brother. He has asked me to see you personally. I have been sincerely endeavoring to see you for quite some time, but I did not have the fortune to see you. Today I am lucky.
Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. So I am also. So all these ministers, they invited me. They are in Hyderabad. I was in the house of Mr. Raju, the Endowment Minister. So they were very friendly. In Hyderabad, all the big, big government commissioners, the chief minister, they came in the opening ceremony of our temple. So it is fortunate that you were in Russia. So our humble attempt is to distribute the sublime knowledge of India. This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission.
Prabhupāda: No. We are going.
Mr. Dwivedi: My... Their good luck in taking Your Holiness over there.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Instead of the mouse going to the hill, let the hill go.
Mr. Dwivedi: (laughing) Hill go to the mouse.
Prabhupāda: Thank you very much. Prasādam?
Upendra: Yes, Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: That is the misfortune of human society. The other thing...
Mr. Dwivedi: This also happens by good luck. As Rāmāyaṇa says, vinā hari-kṛpā na mile sat-saṅga. (Hindi)
Kārttikeya: No, that's not... You should not worry about a poor people then. You should worry about Kṛṣṇa only. You should serve Him. You should become His devotee.
Prabhupāda: There are... Poor people, so far concerned, that... Are we not taking care of the poor people? That is automatically taken. Who is poor? A man who is poor in knowledge, he is poor.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, that barrister. We have to take very good care to make the gurukula bona fide and genuine. It's really lucky you got that Dr. Sharma. Clearly he's the best. I mean, he's already been principal of big schools.
Prabhupāda: Human activity should be guided toward Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then it is human. Otherwise it is animal. Take minimum demand, be happy, and make progress. That is the platform of progress. Very little... (too faint) The same shape, (too faint) they are improving to make straighter, topless, bottomless, in this way and that way, miniskirt. They are arranging. The thing is the same, but they want to change the taste in different way. No knowledge. That means (too faint). Sex, you require under... You'll get it between husband and wife. There is no difficulty. What is the use of that? Daily pregnancy, daily... Three days divorce. Actually I saw in Chicago, within three weeks, three divorce.
Prabhupāda: Huh? Yes. That is real happiness. You should know what is happiness. Whatever we're getting, that is sufficient if... Simply to keep your status quo nicely. That's all. This is secret of happiness. I must not be poverty-stricken, neither I shall hanker after becoming very, very so-called rich. That is happiness. That arrangement is there. Your present position will never be disturbed, you'll improve, and you get, after seven years, 2,500 rupees per month. What do you want more? This is simply idea, that "My father has got so much property for me." And even if your father leaves so much property for you, if you have no luck to enjoy it, you'll be Harendranatha Singh. That you have seen, that your maternal uncles, what they have done? They're all rich men's son. My father-in-law left sufficient property. But what did they do? Simply drunk and die. Where is happiness? Is that happiness, do you think? Now still they are suffering, his family.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But the planes were on strike. The planes were not going either. In Bombay no planes were leaving. We were lucky to get the first-class train.
Hari-śauri: The road is very bad though, anyway. It wouldn't have been passable, not for Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It would have taken three to four hours to go by car from Delhi in this condition. And bumpy. The train journey was not so bad, I think, not so bad. The weather was nice.
Prabhupāda: (indistinct) (break) ...water for drinking?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Upendra Prabhu? Is there a drink for Prabhupāda?
Hari-śauri: Mung jal is ready.
Prabhupāda: Any time. If by parikrama, even I die, that is good luck. Do you follow?
Hari-śauri: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Instead of dying on the road, jerking of train, aeroplane, why not here?
Hari-śauri: Vṛndāvana is the best place.
Prabhupāda: So arrange like that. It doesn't matter. Which leaves his time with kīrtana, even I may die or live, it does not matter.
Hari-śauri: For us it matters, Śrīla Prabhupāda. For us it matters.
Prabhupāda: That... No... What can be done? If Kṛṣṇa desires...
Prabhupāda: Very good idea. If I die then, it will be a great luck.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And if you live it will be also great luck.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Jīvo vā māro vā.
Trivikrama: For us it will be greater luck if you live.
Prabhupāda: Yes, I want also. What is that?
Bhavānanda: He was trying... The... (break)
Prabhupāda: ...parikrama was liven to them. Eh?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What, Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Trivikrama: This parikrama is very enthusiastic.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. (break)
Prabhupāda: ...krama you can increase.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Where is Vrindavan? I spoke with him for about two hours this afternoon, going over all of the points again, and, er, I explained everything to him. He said that he personally has very bad luck, very unlucky person. He said, "My only possible hope is my father."
Prabhupāda: To guide him.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. I told him, "You're right. Actually Prabhupāda is... All of us were in the same position. We're all unlucky. Our only hope is Śrīla Prabhupāda." I said, "As long as you keep remembering that, then you'll be all right." (break)
Prabhupāda: Hm. Submissive, we can guide him.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He's not getting business. He told me he's having bad luck, he cannot get a new business.
Prabhupāda: Oh, so if he has to do business, he has to pay cash and he'll give fifty percent.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: If he was getting the business, he would have paid your BBT some money.
Prabhupāda: Hm.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In over a year he has paid two or three thousand rupees. That's not business. He's taking 800 rupees a month for so long for travel expenses, and he's paid maybe two or three thousand rupees total. I mean it's crazy business.
Prabhupāda: Hm.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Young and... We're pretty lucky, as far as I can see, with that Damodar Prasad Shastri. He seems to be in his own category from all the kavirājas I've ever seen. He really seems different than that.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: He's also Kṛṣṇa conscious.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He really is a little Kṛṣṇa conscious.
Prabhupāda: Who?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That... The kavirāja that we brought from Calcutta. He's... The thing I liked about him also is I felt that he was the kind of person who I... Somehow I felt that in your childhood or something, that your family would have engaged some such a Marwari... You always said how the Mulliks' house was located amongst many Marwari community people.
Lokanātha: There's not cold so far. Lucky I came today. It's good climate.
Haṁsadūta: At night it's a little chilly and in the day it's very pleasant and warm.
Prabhupāda: No, other parts of India.
Lokanātha: Are not. As we go towards the Himalaya it gets cold otherwise up to Delhi and Chandigarh same climate as it is here now. As soon as we go out into the mountains, it's very cold. Shivering. As we came to the place, wherever we went the same climate. Same as Vṛndāvana. It's a good climate.
Prabhupāda: So you come at four, have kīrtana (?). (break) I wish that you GBC manage very nicely and consider I am dead and let me try to travel all the tīrthasthāna. Without any responsibility. If I become recovered from this malady I shall come back and then I shall die in, what is it when the dead body is there, let them bring to Māyāpura and Vṛndāvana.
Correspondence
1947 to 1965 Correspondence
In reply to Srimati Suluxmona's letter, I am sending herewith one letter for her which may be delivered to her. I came here to improve my lot but I see that my bad luck is impossible to be improved. For the last two years approximately I have met expenses from this business to the extent of Rs 600/- month. Calcutta, Allahabad, Ranchi High-Court & Ry Journey altogether five different items of expenses have been so far met. But all of a sudden my sister opponent firms have designed to remove me from this place. By their trick the Drug Controller has suspended my business for the last one and a half month with the result that about Rs 1000/- has been locked up & sealed and I have been put to shame by my servants. I require immediately Rs 300/- to meet the establishment charges without which I am much humiliated.
Some time the Lord speaks through innocent child and I take this honour as sent by Lord Jesus through an innocent child free from all formalities of the current society. Lord Jesus preached the message of God and I have taken up the same mission, and it would be a good luck for me if I can follow the foot prints of Lord Jesus who preached the message of God in spite of all persecution. Lord Jesus is a living example how one has to suffer in this material world simply for the matter of preaching the message of God. In Bhagavatam also there is another example like Lord Jesus. He is Prahlada Maharaja a boy of five years old but because he was a great devotee of God and preaching the message of God among his little class mates, his atheist father tried to kill him. So the atheist class of men are always inimical to the devotees of God even though such devotee happens to be the atheist's son like Prahlada.
I proposed for starting the restaurant with a view that you may become one of richest family in America. One can become rich only by trying his luck in business. It is not possible by serving other. One should have independent source of income that is possible only if one is engaged in business or in land lordship. If you can invest $20,000/- in a property in New York which is worth $100,000/-, you can have at least $1000/- per month as the rent of the house. So that in 15 years time you become the proprietor of good house in New York which would fetch you $1000/- rent per month. That is my next proposal. I think you can invest $20000/- some way or other and if you can please do it immediately because that is chance also.
1967 Correspondence
We follow Lord Caitanya's footprints to achieve very quick result. I would advise you also to follow the principle. Krishna means the most attractive reservoir of Pleasure. Who does not want such pleasure? Therefore we want Krishna and nothing more.
Hope you will understand me right. May Krishna give you all peace of mind. You are so lucky that you have got a nice boy like Janis as descendant of your good family. He will render you greatest service to your family by his becoming Krishna conscious,
1968 Correspondence
So far as you writing you are lonely I think that there is no need for this. Such sentiments of wishing for me to be there is nice but a girl is meant for living with her husband and not her father, such girl is very lucky who can live with her husband. And you have specially nice, beautiful husband and not only that but he is devotee also so you are very fortunate. So continue to faithfully help your husband in executing the mission of his life to spread Krishna Consciousness and surely Krishna will bless you and grant you all happiness. This is my blessing upon the both of you.
I think also that it is good sign that Krishna is delaying to give us a nice London temple because when it finally will come it may be the most ideal temple for our purposes. So none of you be discouraged but go on with your engagements and everything will come automatically very nice.
1969 Correspondence
"I am going to write to Sivananda in Germany requesting them to pay my passage, and in exchange, I will bring them goods as you have outlined, and perhaps some things to sell, and of course I am anxious to contribute to the progress of their center, and perhaps I will find better luck with my visa affairs in Germany which are still troubling me here in India."
During my Guru Maharaja's days, thousands of Rupees were being dispatched from Calcutta to London, but the new Indian government being independent, they are prohibiting to send some Murtis and mrdangas. So it is all our bad luck that these things are happening. Anyway, for the future I have arranged like this: Sriman Acyutananda Brahmacari is collecting some mrdangas and karatalas in exchange for our magazine, Back To Godhead. The price of one year subscription to Back To Godhead is $5.00, and in exchange of such one year subscription he is accepting a mrdanga and a few pair of karatalas. He has already collected a few mrdangas, and very soon he will have to dispatch them to our various centers. So please let me know whether or not you shall be able to get sanction from the Reserve Bank of India for this exchange policy of accepting goods of the value of one year's subscription. I hope the above is clear and you will do the needful.
Now everything should be revised and presented in the scholarly way. That means throughout Krishna should be spelled Krsna, Visnu should be spelled Visnu and Caitanya should be spelled Caitanya, etc. I think this will clear the whole thing and there will be no more Maya impediment. I am sorry the NOD manuscript has not yet reached. This is another ill luck that the Post Office has not delivered. So whatever you have got finish it. If the manuscript does not reach, then we will will have to rewrite it again. If there is such need, I shall send you the duplicate. If it does reach, however, please inform me immediately. Your idea that our books should be read by scholars is quite appropriate. Without following the diacritic marks according to scholars they will think it inefficient.
I wont be there while he is there, so there is no need of arranging for such engagement. Regarding Dyal Nitai, he was not fixed up from the very beginning, so let him try his luck elsewhere if he wishes. But if he has little bit of Krishna Consciousness he cannot cope with any one else. That is a fact. But if he is not pure from the very beginning, then he may slip away. But from the very beginning he had tendencies like that, so even if he came back don’t rely on him, neither give him any responsible work. The tests you have sent to me are nice, and the Hare Krishna Mantra leaflet is also nice. The only thing is that on the leaflet the type is very small, so people may have trouble to read it. I thing you may send one copy to Woomapati, because he may like to have some for his Paris center. I have received one letter from Janardan a few days ago, and he is coming to see me here.
1972 Correspondence
So distribution of literature is our real preaching. Now if you cannot handle the matter nicely, that is your fault. But the success of your preaching will be substantiated by how many books are sold. Anything you want to sell, you have to a little canvass, so he gives some money for the service of Krsna. That is his good luck and he gets the chance to read some transcendental knowledge. But if you only irritate and he goes away, that is your less intelligence.
| Page Title: | Luck |
| Compiler: | Mayapur, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 10 of Oct, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=19, CC=0, OB=7, Lec=14, Con=40, Let=10 |
| No. of Quotes: | 90 |