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Material desires (Conversations)

Conversations and Morning Walks

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Questions and Answers -- September 6, 1968, New York:

Prabhupāda: So this association is required. If you can make your Kṛṣṇa consciousness society perfectly Kṛṣṇa conscious, wherever you will go, they will become Kṛṣṇa conscious, simply by your presence. So you have to become perfect in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. There should be no adulteration. That adulteration means that knowledge and fruitive activities and material desires. If Kṛṣṇa consciousness is freed from these three kinds of contamination, then that is pure.

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- December 10, 1971, New Delhi:

Devotee: You said that if you have some material desire and you take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you get double benefit, that the material desire is fulfilled and also you get Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Devotee: But if you have that material desire, does that slow up your advancement?

Prabhupāda: By Kṛṣṇa consciousness it will vanish. But Kṛṣṇa is so kind, because you desire, He'll give you. He'll give you. Kṛṣṇa is so kind that "Oh, you wanted this? All right, you take!" That is the benefit of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You get both these things. You reject, "No, I asked for..." That is real pure devotion. "For this paltry happiness I requested Kṛṣṇa. What a fool I was." But Kṛṣṇa will give you because you desire.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with John Griesser (later initiated as Yadubara Dasa) -- March 10, 1972, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Ācārya, guru, he is completely surrendered to Kṛṣṇa. He has taken the shelter of Kṛṣṇa, being completely freed from all material affection. Brahmaṇy upaśamāśrayam. Everything... Everyone has got some material desire to fulfill, but a guru or ācārya has no such business. That is the symptom of ācārya. He has no more any material business.

Conversation with the GBC -- May 25, 1972, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: This is the biggest institution of spiritual activities so everyone of us should be spiritually strong. Otherwise, superficially if we want to manage, it will not be possible. (indistinct).

anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ
jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam
ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-
śīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā
(Brs. 1.1.11)

Ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-śīlanam, favorably. Otherwise, it will go to the category of anyābhilāṣitā, material desire-jñāna, karma, yoga, (indistinct). And bhakti is so pure that it has nothing to do with material activities or speculative, or mystic yoga, it has nothing to do.

Room Conversation -- June 14, 1972, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: One who is actually inquisitive to understand the highest benefit of life, he must approach a guru. Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ. Jijñāsu means inquisitive. Śreya—the highest benefit of life. Uttamam-highest. Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam. Ṣābde pare ca niṣṇātaṁ. What is the qualification of such a person? Ṣābde pare ca niṣṇātaṁ. He is completely well versed in the transcendental science. And what is the symptom that he is well versed? Brahmaṇy upaśamāśrayam. He has taken shelter of Brahma or Kṛṣṇa or God. Upāsanā-finishing all desires. These two things: he is a devotee and he has no more material desires. He must be well versed in the science, he must be a devotee, and he has no attraction for material things. These three things, if you can find, then he's perfect guru. Everything is there in the śāstra; therefore books should be consulted. If you have no books, those who are discussing books, you should approach them, you should hear them.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- December 2, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: What is the difference between karmīs, jñānīs, yogis and bhakta?

Hṛdayānanda: Karmī wants to enjoy the gross senses, the jñānī wants to enjoy the subtle mind, mental speculation, the yogi wants to manipulate the universe, mystic powers,...

Prabhupāda: Material power.

Hṛdayānanda: And a devotee has no material desires. (He wants) to serve Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: Yes. And unless one is factually desireless, he cannot be happy. The karmī, jñānī, yogi, they are all full of desires. Therefore they are unhappy. Karmīs are the lowest of the unhappies, jñānīs are little advanced, yogis are little more advanced, and the perfection is the bhakta, devotees.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 10, 1974, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: They forget Kṛṣṇa. When they go to worship some other demigod, they forget Kṛṣṇa, kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ (BG 7.20), because they have got so strong material desires that they forget Kṛṣṇa. That is harmful. Antavat tu phalaṁ teṣām (BG 7.23). They get some benefit out of the demigod, but that will not stay. Alpavat, er, antavat. Antavat tu phalaṁ teṣām. But if you take Kṛṣṇa, then it is not antavat, it will go on increasing. If you take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, it will never end. It will increase. Ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam, increasing. The ocean does not increase, but Kṛṣṇa consciousness is such a great ocean that it increases only. Ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam.

Morning Walk -- January 11, 1974, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: The Māyāvādīs' position is like that. They want to become merged into the Supreme. But that is not possible. After some time... āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ (SB 10.2.32). They undergo very good auster..., severe austerities and reach the brahmajyoti, but there, everything being vacant, they cannot remain there. And they have no information of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore they again come down. Patanty adhaḥ. He wants enjoyment, but there is no enjoyment. Simply thinking, "I am Brahman." What is the enjoyment there? You think like a rascal Brahman. Yes, you are Brahman already. Why these sputnik wālās, they go...? (Laughter)

Devotee: Sputnik wālās.

Prabhupāda: They go very high and again come down? Here is... Why you are coming? You have gone so high. There is no shelter. There is no shelter. He must come down. Similarly, to become desireless, there is no shelter. So you must come to this desire, material desire.

Room Conversation -- March 16, 1974, Vrndavana:

Harikeśa: ...which I've always been afraid to ask, because I don't know if it's proper, but you being the external manifestation of Supersoul, if we are having questions, doubts, when, in your absence, if we are receiving indications, is there any possible way that someone who is so conditioned can have any understanding of proper action in your absence? In other words, if I am in your absence and I am in great doubt, and I am praying to Supersoul to please save me somehow, if I receive some action which I must do or some course of action becomes obvious, should I trust that, considering that you're communicating with me, or...?

Prabhupāda: That depends on purity. If one has become pure, without any material desire, then that is possible. But if there is some material desire, we cannot expect direct communication.

Harikeśa: So I have much material desire.

Prabhupāda: I do not say you or he. This is the process. This is the process.

Harikeśa: But in the meantime...

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Harikeśa: ...until we have reached the pure state...

Prabhupāda: In the meantime it is not possible...

Morning Walk -- April 6, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Uttama-śloka is Kṛṣṇa, who is worshiped by selected verses. So uttama-śloka-guṇānuvādā is executed by nivṛtta-tarsaiḥ. Nivṛtta-tarsaiḥ. Nivṛtti means ceasing; tṛṣṇa means material desires. Nivṛtti-tarṣair upagīyamānād. So this uttamaśloka-guṇanuvada, praising the Supreme, uttamaśloka, is done by the nivṛtta-tarsaiḥ. Nivṛtta-tarsaiḥ means one who has ceased material desires. He can chant. He can glorify.

Morning Walk Excerpts -- May 1, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: ...Vaiṣṇava kavi has sung,

viṣaya chāriyā, se rase mājīyā,
mukhe bala hari hari

Unless you are free from the material desires, you cannot enjoy what is the celestial or spiritual bliss in chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. If one has got material desires, he cannot enjoy.

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

Yogeśvara: "Under the influence of material desire, the entity is born sometimes as a demigod, sometimes as a man, sometimes as a beast, as a bird, as a worm, as an aquatic, as a saintly man, as a bug. This is going on. And in all cases the living entity thinks himself to be the master of his circumstances, yet he is under the influence of material nature."

Prabhupāda: So this is our... because we are developing a different consciousness... Different... Consciousness is one, but it is being colored under different circumstances. And therefore we have to accept a similar type of body. So if our consciousness is cleansed, then we do not undergo the circumstantial changes by different species of life. That is required. In the human form of life we can do that, not to associate with the modes of material nature, but associate with God. That we can do. And if we associate with God, then we become liberated from the clutches of māyā.

Morning Walk -- June 11, 1974, Paris:

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: Prabhupāda, in your spiritual master's commentary on Brahma-saṁhitā, he states that within the core of the heart there is some desire and that according to that desire, one takes a body in the next creation.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: So within the body of Mahā-Viṣṇu... Of course, material nature is not covering the con..., the sleeping souls, is it?

Prabhupāda: Why you bring Vi...? You are talking of living entities. Why do you bring Viṣṇu?

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: So the point then is that means one can have a conditioned desire or a material desire even without being in the material world.

Prabhupāda: He is already... That I have already explained. Suptottitha-nyāya. In the morning, as soon as you get up, you remember that you have to do so many things. That means it was already there.

Room Conversation with Mr. Deshimaru -- June 13, 1974, Paris:

Karandhara: Prabhupāda, the premise of Zen is that the cosmic force falls into misery when it develops an individual desire. So an individual, as long as he has desires and he wants things, then he's forced to suffer, to take on a body and to suffer. So the Zen satori is to give up all desire, not care one way or the other what happens.

Prabhupāda: That is also desire, to give up all desire.

Karandhara: Yes, it is.

Prabhupāda: That is also desire. (French)

Pṛthu Putra: He says that the person who is practicing without goal, without desire, without getting the satori without anything, then he is practicing the satori.

Prabhupāda: Where is the point of no desire? (chuckles)

Karandhara: No point. It's ambiguous. (French)

Pṛthu Putra: For himself it's just to practice zazen, to meditate on Zen.

Prabhupāda: That is also desire.

Pṛthu Putra: He says that's for sure. In the beginning when they are practicing zazen is always some material desire. We desire that, we desire that. We would like to know God or something like that. But by practicing zazen finally we just come to the point—we don't have any more desire, just by practicing zazen.

Prabhupāda: Then what is that position of no desire?

Karandhara: The real position is to eliminate the self. The only possible way that they can achieve no desire, no initiative, is to eliminate the self altogether, to make the self become eliminated and just be the cosmic one again without any self.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that will be done automatically. Why you practice so much?

Room Conversation with Mr. Deshimaru -- June 13, 1974, Paris:

Karandhara: Actually, Zen philosophy, they accept reincarnation, that the self keeps on taking bodies until he becomes selfless, and it's only in the human form that he can develop that selflessness.

Prabhupāda: Then they have to accept good work and bad work.

Karandhara: Yes, they do. They have a similar understanding of karma so far as the material self is concerned, and that the soul or the self takes on different forms until it becomes perfectly selfless. And then it merges back into the nondescript, the cosmic force. So I don't know if this young man's versed in Zen philosophy...

Prabhupāda: That is our definition, anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11). Śūnyam means, you have to give up all material desires.

Room Conversation with Mr. Deshimaru -- June 13, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: Ānukulyena kṛṣṇānu..., you have to desire to satisfy Kṛṣṇa.

Karandhara: Well, they come to the point of trying to give up all material desires. But at that point they say there's nothing, there's no self...

Prabhupāda: That is their ignorance, or they do not understand, or they do not try to explain because the followers will not understand. That is our also point, anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (CC Madhya 19.167), to become desireless. But after becoming desireless, what is it? Just like you become painless from the disease. That means painless means everything finished? Then let me enjoy this pain. After being painless means everything is finished. No. Painless means no material pain but spiritual life. That is painless.

Room Conversation with Mr. Deshimaru -- June 13, 1974, Paris:

Karandhara: Zen Buddhism or Buddhism goes as far as trying to obliterate the material ego.

Prabhupāda: No, it is clear as you said, as you said that unless he becomes desireless. That desire means material desire.

Karandhara: Yes. That's actually what they're speaking about when they say desire.

Prabhupāda: So they are not so advanced that there is spiritual desire. That they do not understand. But so far the material desirelessness, that is accepted by us also.

Room Conversation with Mr. Deshimaru -- June 13, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: It is something like this. Just like a child without education at home is simply doing mischief. So the parents want to make him mischievousless. But if the parent does not know that he should be given better engagement, otherwise it cannot be mischievousless, that he does not know. (French)

Pṛthu Putra: He says there is something beyond material desire and spiritual desire.

Karandhara: No, he doesn't understand the definition when we say spiritual then. He's confusing spiritual with something like esoteric. Spiritual is the opposite of material. And beyond material desire, that means beyond gross and subtle desire, when we say spiritual we mean transcendental, the opposite of material.

Prabhupāda: Purified, purified.

Yogeśvara: Purified desire. (French)

Bhagavān: Prabhupāda says spiritual means pure desire, not that it's opposite but it's pure desire. (French)

Yogeśvara: He says it's still a desire. It may be a pure desire, but...

Prabhupāda: Because he has no information what is spiritual desire, he thinks material desire is as good as spiritual desire.

Room Conversation -- June 20, 1974, Germany:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Just like if you contaminate some disease, then you must develop that disease. Similarly, if your mind is contaminated with some material designation, then you have to.... By nature's law. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya (BG 13.22). Because mind associated with a particular type of the modes of material nature, (indistinct). There are three qualities—sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa and mixed up. At first mixing it becomes nine and again mixing up it becomes 81. Each quality there are thousands and thousands of varieties and that means by mixing up these qualities there are 8,400,000 species of life. So, it is by the God's law, nature's law, they take account of the particular color and award the quality. It is not man-made law. That there may some mistake. There is no mistake. If you have contaminated this disease, whether small pox or whatever or (indistinct), you must develop. Therefore desireless. Desireless means material desires. Material desires begins with this designation. Just like the child, he has got a childish body and he plays like a child. The same child when he'll get a youthful body (indistinct). The soul is the same but on account of the type of the body, he is acting. This is material.

Room Conversations -- September 10, 1974, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: But if you remain diseased, then just like I have got this disease, no appetite. First-class things are being made—nothing is giving me any taste. Disease is there. Therefore, if you want to taste what is God, then you first of all try to cure your disease. Our disease, material disease is the lusty desire. Lusty desire is so strong that you will find it is existing amongst the so-called religionists performing religious rituals. But the same disease is there, that "If I execute the rituals, then I shall be promoted to the heavenly kingdom (indistinct)." Similarly, the so-called monist philosophers, meditation, this, that, the disease is there: "I shall become God." Similarly, the yogis, they can perform so many gymnastics, but the disease is there. The disease is cured when he is a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa-bhakta niṣkāma, ataeva 'śānta' (CC Madhya 19.149). By kṛṣṇa-bhakti, you cure the disease. Hṛd-rogaḥ kāmam apahinoty acireṇa dhīraḥ. This is the only... Unless you have cured your material disease, you have to remain in this material world in any form and fulfill your material desire. The ant is also trying and Lord Brahmā is also trying.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Sanskrit Professor, other Guests and Disciples -- February 12, 1975, Mexico:

Prabhupāda: That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, that in the society women, working class, and the mercantile class, they are, according to Vedic scripture, they are less intelligent, women, working class and mercantile men. Just like mercant..., they are after money, that's all. And śūdra, they want, after job. And women means they are after fulfilling their material desires. They have no other idea, that there is Brahmān, one should know Brahmān... They do not care to know.

Room Conversation with Canadian Ambassador to Iran -- March 13, 1975, Iran:

Prabhupāda: God's law, nature's law, they take account of the particular color and awards the body accordingly. It is not man-made law, that there may be some mistake. There is no mistake. If you have contaminated this disease, either smallpox or cholera or this or that, you must develop that disease. Therefore we should be desireless. Desireless means material desire. That material desire begins with the designation. That... The child, he has got a childish body, and he plays like a child. The same child, when he will get a youthful body, he will do like that. The soul is the same. But on account of different type of body he is acting differently. That is practical. A small child, in the childhood he will talk like nonsense. People will enjoy it. But the same child, when he is grown up and he talks like nonsense, people will call him nonsense, rascal. Why? The body has changed. The circumstance has changed. This is the real education, that we are changing body, and according to our bodily situation we are acting differently.

Morning Walk -- April 2, 1975, Mayapur:

Pañcadraviḍa: One devotee was talking with a Māyāvādī sannyāsī, famous sannyāsī. So he said that "Your desire to attain mukti, that is a material desire."

Prabhupāda: No, we don't want mukti.

Pañcadraviḍa: Yes. So...

Prabhupāda: Mukti flatters me: "Please accept me." We don't want mukti.

Pañcadraviḍa: So the devotee went on, "To want to become one with the Lord, that is material desire." So the Māyāvādī, he answered, he said, "No, to want to remain separate from the Lord and enjoy rasa, or exchange, with Him, that is also material desire. Because you want to stay two, God and you, so you can be separate just so you can enjoy an exchange. That is also a desire."

Prabhupāda: Therefore, because you have no brain, therefore you cannot understand the rasas with Kṛṣṇa. That is spiritual; that is not material. Ānanda-rasa. Ananda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhiḥ (Bs. 5.37). That is the Vedic statement.

Morning Walk -- May 11, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: If you actually do not want suffering, then you have to practice all these things so that you can go to the spiritual world. That is the aim of life. And for going to the spiritual world, you have to be completely, cent percent free from all material desires. And so long you will have material desires, you have to accept one material body. Nature is so kind, or the law of nature is so perfect. As long as you will have a little pinch of material desire, then you will have to accept. That's all. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgaḥ asya sad-asad... And that material life means you may become a grass or you may become a demigod like Brahmā. That will depend on your desire. But you will have to accept.

Morning Walk -- October 3, 1975, Mauritius:

Prabhupāda: ...that I shall be happy in this material world, he'll not be able to take Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Cyavana: The slightest tinge of a material desire will force him to take another body. Is that it?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Kṛṣṇa will give him full advantage of enjoying this material world. Unless he is disgusted, he cannot.

Morning Walk -- October 28, 1975, Nairobi:

Prabhupāda: Ārtaḥ means distressed, and arthārthī means those who are in need of money. So they are arto 'rthārthī, and better than the rogues and ruffians, but their Kṛṣṇa consciousness, chanting Kṛṣṇa, means they want to get some money and to get out of some distress. That is ninety-nine percent people. And some of them are jñānī. They want to learn about Kṛṣṇa very seriously, not to fulfill their material desires. They are called jñānī. Jñānī and jijñāsu, inquisitive. So in jnani, those who are after knowledge, and inquisitive, they are better than this arta and arthārthī. But devotee is transcendental to all of them.

Morning Walk -- December 10, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: When you fully understand, that is your Kṛṣṇa... That is Kṛṣṇa conscious. (break) So long you think that "I can also become like Kṛṣṇa," then you are not Kṛṣṇa conscious.

Viśāla: In other words, if you still have material desires you can't be fully Kṛṣṇa conscious.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is the beginning of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11). Make all your material desires zero.

Morning Walk -- December 10, 1975, Vrndavana:

Harikeśa: What if a person doesn't desire material enjoyment, but still, there is so much dirt?

Prabhupāda: Hm? Who is that person who has no material desires?

Harikeśa: A person really wants to be Kṛṣṇa conscious, but somehow or another, so much dirts gets in the way.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Dirt means it is not yet zero. I said that all material desires should be made zero. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11).

Harikeśa: As soon as the desires completely change, then everything else is purified.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Morning Walk -- December 12, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: The mind and the senses; with these things he is struggling for existence. Otherwise he is part and parcel of Krs..., mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhutaḥ jīva-loka sanātana (BG 15.7). He is eternal but because he is influenced by the mind, desires, and the senses, sense enjoyment, he is struggling. This is it, a struggle. So when he is too much fatigued, Kṛṣṇa comes and gives you good counsel. "You rascal give up these all desires. Surrender to Me, I give you protection." But he'll not do that. And if he agrees then anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11), all material desires, zero. Then bhakti begins. And if you have got a little pinch of material desires, then you have to accept different types of body. It will create, naturally.

Morning Walk -- December 23, 1975, Bombay:

Kīrtanānanda: Therefore everything is situated on desire.

Prabhupāda: Huh? Yes. We are desiring to enjoy the sense enjoyment of this material world, then you remain impure. So long you shall desire sense enjoy.... Therefore bhakti means anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11), make zero all your desires, material desires. Desire cannot be zero. Purīfy your desires. Desire how to serve Kṛṣṇa. Then it is pure.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 8, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: The Māyāvādī philosophers, they take the Absolute Truth void, so they have no good desires, again they come to material desires.

Morning Walk -- May 3, 1976, Fiji:

Prabhupāda: Nirvāṇa, nirvāṇa means that you give up all material desires. Not that "But he did not say anything more than that." Because it was meant for the fourth-class men, so he did not say. He simply asked that you finish this material desire.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Is that not misleading?

Prabhupāda: It is not misleading. It is truth, but the truth as much as you can understand. It is not misleading because Lord Buddha knew that "This rascal will not understand more than this." So he did not say further knowledge.

Morning Walk -- June 3, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Chanting is purifying all material desires. It will take, gradually. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). If you are chanting without any offense, then your heart will be cleansed of all material contamination.

Morning Walk -- June 3, 1976, Los Angeles:

Bharadvāja: So pulling out the weeds means avoiding the offenses in chanting the holy name.

Prabhupāda: Yes. So long we'll have material desires, we'll have to accept a material body and fulfill the desires.

Morning Walk -- June 3, 1976, Los Angeles:

Rāmeśvara: He says that māyā keeps making him full of material desires.

Prabhupāda: Yes, māyā must keep you, must keep you, must keep you because you are not surrendering fully.

Rāmeśvara: Then he says that "As long as I have all these material urges, I cannot control them. The māyā is insurmountable."

Prabhupāda: No. Māyā is not.... What māyā is? Punishing, that's all.

Hari-śauri: The desire is ours; it's simply either Kṛṣṇa or māyā.

Prabhupāda: Therefore you have to rectify your desires. That is bhakti.

Morning Walk -- June 8, 1976, Los Angeles:

Rāmeśvara: Sometimes devotees argue that "Dhruva Mahārāja, he had a material desire, and still he became perfect. So I can keep my material desires."

Prabhupāda: No, when he gave up material desires, svāmin kṛtārtho 'smi varān na yāce, "I don't want anything," then he became liberated. So long he had material desires, he was not liberated. When he refused to possess anything material, svāmin kṛtārtho 'smi varān na yāce, then he became liberated.

Morning Walk -- June 13, 1976, Detroit:

Devotee (2): A devotee is sometimes subject to hankering or lamentation. That is material though, isn't it?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Devotee (2): In other words, if, at that moment, if he desires something other than Kṛṣṇa, that's a material desire.

Prabhupāda: Then he has to learn it. So long one is not competent in that position, he's subjected, he may fall down.

Morning Walk -- June 18, 1976, Toronto:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: ...that even persons who come to Kṛṣṇa with material desires, although...

Prabhupāda: They are pious.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: So is it to be understood that a very simple person who has all kinds of material desires, if he approaches God...?

Prabhupāda: Because he has approached God, therefore he's pious. Even though he has got material desires. Akāmaḥ sarva-kāmo vā mokṣa-kāma (SB 2.3.10). One day, he'll become devotee. Just like Dhruva Mahārāja. He went to search God for some material benefit, but when he became perfect, he became pure devotee.

Garden Conversation -- June 22, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Kulādri: What if one has material desire? How does he gain the desire for spiritual knowledge?

Prabhupāda: That means you are cats and dogs. The dog has no inquisitiveness. Therefore you are no better than the dog. The dog never comes to a spiritual master, "Give me some knowledge." Therefore you are as good as the dog. That is your qualification.

Garden Conversation -- June 22, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: "Under the influence of material desire, the entity is born sometimes as a demigod."

Prabhupāda: This is material desire, to try to become master. This is the root cause of material life. Go on.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: "Under the influence of material desire the entity is born sometimes as a demigod, sometimes as a man, sometimes as a beast, as a bird, as a worm, as an aquatic, as a saintly man, as a bug. This is going on. And in all circumstances the living entity thinks himself to be the master of his circumstances, yet he is under the..."

Prabhupāda: Even in the stool, the worms in the stool, he's also thinking "I have got so much stool to eat." This same mastership. "I am the monarch of all I survey. I have got so much stool." And you just take the worm from the stool, put it here: "No, no, no, here is my enjoyment."

Garden Conversation -- June 22, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: "One has to rise therefore above the three material modes and become situated in the transcendental position. This is called Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Unless one is situated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, his material consciousness will oblige him to transfer from one body to another because he has material desire since time immemorial, but he has to change that conception."

Prabhupāda: That is material desire, how to become master. From different types, he's trying to become master. Just like in the morning the dogs are barking. He's also master, thinking "Why you are coming here?" Whatever little power he's got, he's asserting his mastership: "Don't come here." The same mentality.

Room Conversation With Scientists -- July 6, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: The contamination of material desires. But when one develops spiritual desire, then he becomes more simple.

Prabhupāda: Karma-bandha. That is described in the Bhagavad-gītā, yajñārthāt karmaṇaḥ anyatra karma-bandhanaḥ (BG 3.9), to become entangled.

Room Conversation -- July 7, 1976, Baltimore:

Rūpānuga: I have see in our society that if the preaching is strong amongst the leaders and there's serious chanting, leaders see that everyone is chanting and happily engaged, that there is no disturbance. If the preaching is weak, there is sexual disturbance.

Prabhupāda: Then the material desire becomes prominent.

Morning Walk -- August 14, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: And it is very pleasing to the ear and the heart. Mana, śrotra, śrotra means...

Dr. Patel: Ears and mind.

Prabhupāda: Ears and mind. Nivṛtta-tarṣair upagīyamānāt. This chanting is properly done by a person who has fully satisfied his material desires, satiated, no more. Nivṛtta-tarṣaiḥ. Tṛṣṇa. Nivṛtta. No more material desire.

Room Conversation -- August 16, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: If actually one is pure bhakta, then everything material finished. That is real bhakta. Now I have got some bhakti and some material desire also. That is not bhakti. That is markaṭa-vairāgya. That does not mean that I shall stop bhakti. No, you take bhakti to the principle, to the regulative principle, then automatically vairāgya will come. The vairāgya is not coming, that means you have not been a pure bhakta. That is adulteration.

Morning Walk -- August 30, 1976, Delhi:

Prabhupāda: There are impurities. That impurities, you cannot cleanse it simply by washing. You have to put into the fire. When it is melted then automatically all the dirty things are gone. His natural position is part and parcel of God, to render service to God. So unless he takes up that thing, there is no question of desirelessness. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is demanding, "Surrender." And as soon as he surrenders, then material desires become vanquished.

Room Conversation with Life Member, Mr. Malhotra -- December 22, 1976, Poona:

Prabhupāda: Guru is completely in awareness of all the Vedic knowledge. That is guru. Not a loafer class. (laughter) Śrotriyam. One who has heard perfectly Vedas from his guru. And what is the symptom that he has heard from the authority or the...? Brahma-niṣṭham. Brahmaṇy upaśamāśrayam. The symptom is that he has completely taken shelter of the Supreme Brahman, rejecting or finishing all material desires. No more material desires. Brahmaṇy upaśamāśrayam. He has taken shelter of Brahman, upaśama, rejecting, no more hankering after anything material.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

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

Prabhupāda: A sannyāsī... A sannyāsī means he has ceased all material desire. There is no material desire. And the concentrated material enjoyment is sex. So if one could not control his sex life, then how he is swami? He's cheater.

Room Conversation -- January 28, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Our bhakti line is anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11). We should be completely zero of our material desires.

Room Conversation -- February 2, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Auṣadha means medicine, and pathya means diet. So in order to cure him from these material desires we shall give him medicine, hari-nāma, and diet, prasāda.

Conversation on Roof -- February 14, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: This material world means so long we'll have a pinch of material desire, we'll have to take birth. Kṛṣṇa will give us full facility to satisfy our senses in various ways. Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham (BG 4.11). Full facilities. "Enjoy. But if you want my advice, then sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ... (BG 18.66)." That is Kṛṣṇa's advice.

Conversation on Roof -- February 14, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Your material desires, eating, sleeping, mating-fulfill it like a gentleman and save time and make spiritual advancement. This is to be introduced. Why you are inventing so strenuous work and spoil time, valuable time of human life? This we want to preach. Save time, be spiritually advanced, and other necessities, make it gentlemanly short-cut. If you save time, you can read all these literatures, understand what is value of life.

Talk About Varnasrama, S.B. 2.1.1-5 -- June 28, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: And if nice children are there in the society, they will become responsible men. Then there will be no disturbance in the society. Everything will go on smoothly. Brāhmaṇa is acting as brāhmaṇa; kṣatriya is acting as... They are both... No quarrel. No animosity. Everyone is cooperating with one another. The whole society becomes peaceful. Family becomes peaceful. The man personally becomes peaceful. Then he will be able to make progress. Kutaḥ śānti ayuktasya. If you are not peaceful, how you can attain? Or if you are not a devotee, you cannot be peaceful. Or if you are not peaceful, you cannot become devotee. But if you can become devotee, you become peaceful. So I have studied practically. Vedic way of simple life is the best. And unless you adopt the Vedic way of simple life, you'll be implicated, material desires.

Room Conversation -- October 18, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: I want association of Vaiṣṇava. You are all pure Vaiṣṇavas. You have sacrificed everything, material comforts, for Kṛṣṇa's sake. That is Vaiṣṇava. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11). You have no other desire. You Europeans, Americans, you are born amongst material desires. And when you become free from material desires... Therefore you are all Vaiṣṇava, anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (CC Madhya 19.167). So you are so merciful.

Page Title:Material desires (Conversations)
Compiler:Archana, Rishab, Visnu Murti
Created:23 of Dec, 2008
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=54, Let=0
No. of Quotes:54