So here also, the same word is used, that Kṛṣṇa says, sa eva ayam, "This yoga system, the Bhagavad-gītā yoga system which I am now speaking to you, is very old. How old you can imagine that I first spoke it to the sun-god." If you calculate only the age of Manu, it is about forty millions of years ago. To speak the minimum. So anyway, it is very, very old. Not that it is doctrine which is presented... Just like in the modern educational system somebody is presenting some doctrine, and he's getting the title "Doctor," some new thesis. It is not like that. There is nothing to be researched. Eternal knowledge has nothing to be researched. There is no question of research. It is already established. Otherwise there is no meaning of eternal. This knowledge of Bhagavad-gītā is eternal. It is not a product of modern research or doctrine. Purātanaḥ sa eva. Sa evāyaṁ mayā te adya. Adya means "today." "Today I am speaking on the battlefield." Yogaḥ proktaḥ purātanaḥ. "Why You are selecting me? Why You are selecting me and why this battlefield? You are speaking a philosophical doctrine and the science of God, and You are speaking to me. I am not a Vedantist, I am not even a brāhmaṇa, I am not even sannyāsī. Ordinary gṛhastha. Of course, I have got the privilege that I am Your friend. So much so. Otherwise, yoga system is not to be spoken to me. Why You are speaking to me?" This may be questioned. Why specifically it was spoken to Arjuna? The reply is, bhakto 'si. "The only qualification is that you are My devotee. That's all."
Minimum (Lectures)
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Therefore they are no more after money accumulation. They are after Kṛṣṇa. Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate. They can earn. They have dedicated their life. They're doing everything for me. They could earn in their country thousands of dollars. Thousands of doll... Any man can earn any day twenty-five dollars minimum. And twenty-five dollars means two hundred and fifty rupees per day. So they can get so much money. Why they have sacrificed everything? They have sacrificed their money. They have sacrificed their intoxication habit. They have sacrificed their illicit sex life. They have sacrificed their gambling life. Why? Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate. Because they have understood little trāyate mahato bhayāt.
Everyone is enjoying or suffering the resultant action of his karma. Sva-karma-phala-bhuk. But karmāṇi nirdahati kintu ca bhakti-bhājām (Bs. 5.54). But one who is in the devotional service, although he has to suffer the resultant action of his past karma, but that is reduced to the minimum. Karmāṇi nirdahati. Or practically no.
For whom? Bhakti-bhājām, those who are devotees, who are devotees. So who can understand Kṛṣṇa is not under the laws of any material nature? Only the bhaktas. Bhaktas can understand. Who can understand Kṛṣṇa? Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti (BG 18.55). Only the bhaktas can understand Him. Therefore Bhagavad-gītā was spoken to Arjuna, bhakto 'si, "You are My devotee." So Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa's name, Kṛṣṇa's form, Kṛṣṇa's attributes, Kṛṣṇa's pastimes, they can be understood by the bhaktas only, not the nondevotees.
You see? So jñāna-vijñāna. One should have knowledge perfectly, and it must be demonstrated. Demonstrated in practical field. Yes. But that means one who has actually felt himself that "I am not this body," then naturally his bodily necessities will be reduced to the minimum. Will be reduced to the minimum. That is practical. If I am going to increase the demands of my body and I am simply theoretically thinking that "I am not this body," oh, that is not required. Jñāna-vijñāna-tṛptātmā.
A man, a person, will be satisfied when there is jñāna, knowledge, and science side by side. Jñāna-vijñāna, practical knowledge. Kūṭastho vijitendriyaḥ. Then he's conquered over the senses.
Therefore we recommend, who is joining Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, that "You should give up this habit: illicit sex, intoxication, gambling and meat-eating." These four things will keep me in the lower status of life, and it will not allow me to advance in spiritual understanding. Therefore these things should be given up. And chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, minimum sixteen rounds.
In this way you see practically, these European, American boys and girls, they are improving. They are not material attached. They do not go anywhere. They always keep in the temple and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, busy in Kṛṣṇa's service from morning three o'clock, early in the morning, up to ten o'clock. And they are also young men. They must have desires. But bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt (SB 11.2.42). Bhakti is so nice that now they hate any other engagement. This illicit sex, meat-eating, and intoxication and gambling, they hate. You bribe them lakhs of rupees; they will not agree. Viraktir anyatra.
Prabhupāda: Not sixteen rounds. You can chant unlimitedly.
Indian man (8): No, minimum
Prabhupāda: Minimum because they cannot chant more than that, therefore minimum. Otherwise kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ (CC Adi 17.31). So you must have a fixed amount of kīrtana. That is called tapasya, that "We must finish at least this much, if not more." Saṅkhyā-pūrvaka-nāma-gāna-natibhiḥ. Saṅkhyā-pūrvaka. By numerical strength one should chant. That is called vow. This is the idea. So these Europeans, Americans, they cannot imitate Haridāsa Ṭhākura, who was chanting 300,000 times. So we do not advise to imitate. Really do something. One name is sufficient. If you can chant one name only, that is sufficient.
That is the difference between Kṛṣṇa consciousness man and ordinary man, karmī man. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that all these men, they are engaged. But the śāstra says, "No, no. You live with the minimum necessities. Don't increase your necessities unnecessarily." This is Vedic civilization. And the modern civilization is even increase your necessities—a machine for shaving your cheek. You see? Another machine, another attention diversion. More machine means more diversion of attention. I have to take care, more technician, more technologies. Simply if one razor can shave, can make my cheek very clean, where is the necessity? Formerly, at least we Indian know that go to a blacksmith and he prepares a razor, very nice razor. You pay him four annas, and it will last for your life and shave your cheek very nicely, daily or occasionally. But the modern civilization means that in everything there must be machine. That is the advancement of material... But the śāstra says, "What is the use of taking so much labor?" Kaṣṭān kāmān. Kaṣṭān means with so much labor.
This is spiritual life. The more you conquer over the necessities of this body. Our necessities, the created necessities, they are necessities of the body. The body requires to eat. The body requires rest. The body requires sex. The body requires defense. But the soul does not require. So more you become advanced in spiritual consciousness, the material necessities become minimum. Nidrāhāra-vihārakādi-vijitau **. That is possible. That is not story. There are many instances, and the more you become advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, spiritual life, these necessities of life, necessities of body... Because body is different from the spirit soul. The necessities of the body is material, and the necessities of the soul is spiritual. But unfortunately, although the spirit is there, we are so much absorbed in material consciousness, we do not understand what is spirit soul. We are simply busy in taking care of the body. So this is not very good condition.
All those who are interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness... Therefore we have given time, sixteen rounds. But you are not Haridāsa Ṭhākura that you'll be able to chant whole day and night. If without working, if you chant, that is, the highest state. That you cannot do. Then you sleep. That's all. So know that. The minimum quantity, sixteen rounds chant, and that will take not more than two hours. And other twenty-two hours, you be always busy in Kṛṣṇa's activities. That is required.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
It is not finished. If you have got time, if, if you haven't got to do anything else, you can continue, (laughter) sixteen hundred. It is not mechanical: "Now I have finished sixteen rounds, that's all." Why sixteen rounds? You chant sixteen hundred rounds. That is minimum, because you cannot concentrate your mind in chanting, you have no attachment for chanting, that is a, a regulative principle. You must. You must finish this. Otherwise, those who are actually attached to the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, that, that Haridāsa Ṭhākura, they are chanting whole day and night. But you cannot imitate that. Your mind is not fixed up. Therefore it is minimum sixteen rounds. Not that "Because minimum sixteen, I cannot chant more." Why not more? You can chant more, more.
"I have got only one tongue and two ears. What I shall chant?" He was thinking, "If I could get millions of tongues and trillions and ears, then I could relish something by chanting and hearing." This was the...
So we should not imitate, but at least we must be very careful to complete the sixteen rounds, the minimum. Nāma-gāne sadā ruciḥ. We have to increase our taste for singing and chanting. Nāma-gāne sadā ruciḥ prītis tat vasati tale(?). And we should increase our inclination to live in the place where Kṛṣṇa is living. Kṛṣṇa is living everywhere—that is, that is the vision of the higher devotees. Actually He's living, but still, because we are in the lower condition, we should know that here is Kṛṣṇa in the temple. Kṛṣṇa is everywhere, but for us, because we have no such vision to see Kṛṣṇa anywhere and everywhere, therefore we should come here in the temple and see Kṛṣṇa, "Here is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa has kindly appeared here in a manner in which I can see Him. That is Kṛṣṇa's mercy." That is temple.
It cannot be finished, but at least, to some extent it will be finished by sixty books. And what is that subject matter? Kṛṣṇa. That's all. People cannot imagine that about God, sixty books can be written. There is no, I mean to say, system of religion where you can find... Not only... Sixty is the minimum. Sixty books of four hundred pages can be written simply on God. So there is possible... If we divert our attention to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we can chant Kṛṣṇa—Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare. Kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya (SB 12.3.51). We can read about Kṛṣṇa whole life, such big literature. Whole life. If you read twenty-four hours daily—that you cannot—still, you have to devote your whole life to finish this literature.
That is the process. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau (Brs. 1.2.234).
So anyone who will stop chanting, he will be a victim of māyā. Always remember it. Therefore we insist, "Please do not forget to chant at least sixteen rounds." That is minimum. The maximum is 300,000. (laughter) As Haridāsa Ṭhākura used to do, three hundred..., not impractical. But you, we cannot do that. Even we cannot complete sixteen rounds. We are so unfortunate. But that does not mean because we are unfortunate, we shall give it up. Try, try, try your best. Then life will become perfect.
So satyaṁ śaucaṁ dayā kṣāntis tyāgaḥ santoṣa ārjavam. These are the qualities. Now, these qualities, we have to explain one after another, it will take time. So three qualities: satyam, to become truthful... They say, "This truthful is a qualification of ass." Some big politician some years ago, he visited India.
Prabhupāda: Hm. How many rounds you will chant?
Raghu-nandana: Sixteen rounds a day.
Prabhupāda: Minimum, minimum. So your name is Raghu-nandana dāsa. Raghu-nandana is Lord Rāmacandra's another name.
Devotee: Cassandria?
Prabhupāda: What is her name?
Devotee: Kasamapriyā dāsī?
Prabhupāda: Kusuma.
Devotee: Kusuma-priyā dāsī.
Prabhupāda: So you know the rules and regulations?
So don't collect more than ... What you require, you collect. Or similarly, āhāra means eating. Don't eat more than necessity. Actually, we have to come to the point of nil, eating, sleeping, mating and defending. And that is not possible because we have got this body. But minimum. So atyāhāraḥ prayāsaḥ, and too much unnecessary spoiling energy.
We should not take great risk so that we have to work for it very seriously. We must accept something which can be easily done. Atyāhāraḥ prayāsaḥ, prajalpa. And prajalpa means talking nonsense. As soon as ... This is the nature of the living entity in conditioned state. Just like as soon as the crows, they gather together, caw caw caw caw ... (Laughter) The frogs ... Any living entity, as soon as they will gather, they will talk all nonsense. Don't do that. We have got great assembly, we have got facility for mixing, but if you take advantage of this assembly and talk all nonsense—what is politics, what is this, what is that ... Prajalpa.
That is very simple. We observe strictly the regulative principles and chant sixteen rounds minimum. That will save us. But if we become inattentive to these principles, then there is chance of being pricked by the thorns. There are so many thorns all over. Or the same example. Kṣurasya dhārā. You shave, make your face very cleansed, but little inattention, immediately produce blood. We should be very careful. Go on.
We don't require much furniture, neither large amount of gorgeous dress. So tapasya required. If we want advancement in spiritual life, we must accept some sort of tapasya. In the Kali-yuga we cannot accept such severe type of tapasya as in the cold, we go underneath, under water, sometimes drowning or sometimes up to this, and then meditate or chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. That is not possible. The minimum. So tapasya must be there.
So we should note it by this verse that some sort of tapasya must be done if we are serious about God realization. That is wanted. And then the first realization is jyoti, brahma-jyotir. Generally, the Māyāvādī transcendentalists, they think that this realization of brahma-jyotir is all in all. The yogis, they think that realization of sarva-guhāvāsam, sarva-bhūta-guhāvāsam... Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). God is there in everyone's heart. This is accepted in all śāstra. In the Bhagavad-gītā says, here also it is said, sarva-bhūta-guhāvāsam.
Nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā. Regularly hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. These two processes recommended by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Chant your rounds regularly. Make a fixed-up... We have fixed up only minimum. Haridāsa Ṭhākura was chanting 300,000 times, and we have made sixteen times. And still, etādṛśī tava kṛpā bhagavan mamāpi durdaivam īdṛśam ihājani nā... "I could not perform even sixteen rounds. Such unfortunate I am." You see? Etādṛśī tava kṛpā... We have mini..., minimized, the lowest number, the easiest process... Caitanya Mahāprabhu says read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Don't talk nonsense; don't waste your time. Then you become purified. Vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhā man-mayā mām upāśritāḥ (BG 4.10). Kṛṣṇa says...
And what was their next adoption? Now, tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śreṇīṁ sadā tuccha-vat bhūtvā dīna-gaṇeśakau karuṇayā kaupīna-kanthāśritau. Kaupīna, a, simply a loincloth and underwear, kaupīna-kanthāśritau, and one quilt. That's all. Minimum. Minimum necessities of the body. But how they lived? They were so big men. How they adopted such life and lived? Because if a man, rich man, adopts immediately renunciation, that affects his material condition of life. That we have seen. Just like in Bengal, C.R. Das, he had fifty thousand rupees' income in those days, and he gave up everything and joined Gandhi's movement. He died within one year, because he could not tolerate. So without spiritual engagement, one cannot give up this material engagement. That is the real fact. One must... Tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati... They gave up this material enjoyment. That's all right. How they lived?
One has to undergo tapasya. Just like if you are diseased you have to undergo some tapasya. Just like first of all you go to a medical man. Immediately he charges ten rupees, twenty rupees. In our country. In your country it is more. No doctor charges less than ten dollars. Ten dollars means in our exchange it is ninety rupees. So who can pay ninety rupees in this country? That is the minimum charge. Then there is medicine. So you have to pay it because you have got disease. And you have to earn this money with hard labor. So to cure your disease you have to undergo some penances, some austerities. This is an ordinary... And according to the gravity of the disease you have to pay more, which you may not have. You have to gather, you have to borrow, you have to beg. So these tribulations are called tapasya. So just for curing our ordinary disease we have to pay to the doctor, pay for the medicine, and then we have to starve also.
Just like according to Vedic system there are brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, and sannyāsa—four divisions of the society. Brahmacārī, vānaprastha. Brahmacārī means student life, vānaprastha means retired life, and sannyāsa means renounced life. For them the minimum necessities of life is prescribed. And they should be automatically minimum because they are ordered to beg from door to door and live. The brahmacārī is meant for begging. Now, no beggar can live very luxuriantly. That is not possible. It is not possible. So if a beggar goes somebody's house, "Mother, give me some alms," so it is not that one is awarding some hundred thousands of rupees or dollars. So naturally, they have minimized their... Only little luxury or, I mean to say, high standard of life is allowed to the gṛhasthas, according to Vedic system, and the three other sections of the society, they should minimize. Why minimize? Because the idea is not to waste time unnecessarily.
Unless we control the base qualities, namely the modes of ignorance and passion, you cannot be happy. It is not possible. Tato rājas-tamo-bhāvāḥ. Rājas tamo-bhāvāḥ means kāma and lobhā. So long I have lusty desire and so long I have greediness to acquire more and more and more, to enjoy senses more and more That is greediness. One should be satisfied, the minimum possible.
Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca sāmānyam etat paśubhir narāṇām. Āhāra means eating. Āhāra, nidrā, sleeping, and fearing, and sense enjoyment. These are required, but not for increasing but decreasing. Just like when a person is diseased he should not eat as he likes. Because he is diseased, doctor prescribes that "You take little barley water or glucose, no solid food, if you want to be cured." Similarly, these things are necessity so long this body is there.
There are three guṇas—sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. If you remain in the lower platforms, tamo-guṇa, rajo-guṇa... Tamo-guṇa, rajo-guṇa means, as I have already explained, greediness and lust, desires. That is tamo-guṇa, rajo-guṇa. Tato rājas-tamo-bhava kāma-lobhādayaś ca ye. What is that rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa? Now, kama, lusty desires, and greediness, not satisfied with the minimum necessities of life, want to increase more and more, more and more. That is called greediness. The Vedic civilization teaches that "Be satisfied with the minimum necessities of life. Don't increase unnecessary necessities of life, and then you have to work for it very hard like hogs and dogs." That's all. Then you have to work very... Modern world, they have increased their unnecessary necessities of life, and therefore you'll find how hard working. In European and American cities we have seen how people are working very hard, beginning from morning at five o'clock till four o'clock next night, for sense gratification. So this is not civilization.
Due to our past habits our mind is disturbed. We cannot concentrate. Therefore we have fixed up the minimum. We cannot imitate Haridāsa Ṭhākura. That is not possible. If somebody imitates Haridāsa Ṭhākura... We can see this chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and smoking bidi. We can understand what is the position. The offense is going on. Therefore we should try to avoid the ten kinds of offenses. Of course, in the beginning the offenses will continue. But chanting, chanting, chanting, chanting, as soon as we become purified Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇam (CC Antya 20.12). By chanting, chanting, chanting repeatedly, when our, the core of heart will be cleansed, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam, then immediately bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇam, this mahā-vimoha... This is mahā... This is bhava-mahā-dāvāgni. They do not know that what kind of position we are now passing through. Kṛṣṇa says the same thing, mṛtyu saṁsāra vartmani. Mām aprāpya nivartante mṛtyu saṁsāra vartmani (BG 9.3).
Anyone who is fully, constantly, twenty-four hours engaged, avyabhicāriṇi... Avyabhicāriṇi, without any stoppage. Therefore I want that in our temple there should be program that we are always engaged in devotional service, twenty-four hours. But because we have got this material body we require a little rest, the minimum rest, as minimum as possible. Because the sleeping means waste of time. We are supposed to be engaged twenty-four hours in the service of the Lord, but as it is not possible, we have to sleep, take little rest, so that should be the minimum. Because the whole period sleeping means waste. So all these Gosvāmīs, they used to sleep not more than two hours. That was also not possible in some day. They were so busy in writing books and other...
So this should be minimized, and we should be engaged twenty-four hours. If we remain engaged in that way... We have got so many engagement.
Along with chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, we are asking our disciples, "No illicit sex, no meat-eating, no intoxication, no gambling." If you save yourself from these four pillars of sinful activities and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra—not very much, only sixteen rounds minimum—then you are saved from the hellish condition of life for which Parīkṣit Mahārāja was so disturbed and he was asking, "How to save these people from this hellish condition of life?"
So this will be described more and more. The book is there, Bhāgavata. You can read. We are... We have published so many Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam edition, nicely explained in English. So they are being accepted even educated circle, school, college, and big, big professors. So you also try to read this Bhāgavatam, and don't commit sinful activities, the four things, and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.
So in this way Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, one of the six Gosvāmīs, very important devotee, he used to live. He used to eat every alternate day, not daily. One day starving, and the next day, a little butter. But he was observing his regulative principles, taking thrice daily bath and offering daṇḍavat, what is called? Counting, numerical. Just like we count twenty-five rounds minimum, so Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī was also chanting by counting. Similarly, he was offering daṇḍavat. You offer daṇḍavat, the same way. That is also counting. Saṅkhyā-pūrvaka-nāma-gāna-natibhiḥ. Saṅkhyā-pūrvaka, keeping a strength, a numerical strength, just like we are advised at least sixteen rounds. So these things were going on. Not that because he was taking little butter alternate day, he lost his strength. No. The strength was all right. So the fasting means if you don't feel weak, then you fast. Not that you imitate Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī. That is not possible in the beginning. But it is possible if you practice, if you practice.
Without being unalloyed devotee it is very difficult. It will be tiresome. But we shall practice. Abhyāsa-yoga-yuktena (BG 8.8).
Immediately we cannot be first-class devotee. We cannot imitate Haridāsa Ṭhākura. That is not possible. But minimum. Saṅkhyā-pūrvaka-nāma-gāna-natibhiḥ. We have to practice. Certain numerical strength we must maintain. And we have made it, therefore... Some of our so-called devotees, they criticize me that I have limited only sixteen rounds. No, why sixteen rounds? You can make three hundred rounds, but minimum, minimum sixteen rounds, because we are not accustomed to devote much time. We must be busy always. But to sit down in one place and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra continuously, that is not possible for any conditioned soul—unless he is liberated. So don't try to imitate. My Guru Mahārāja has strictly forbidden, "Don't try to imitate big personalities like Haridāsa Ṭhākura, Rūpa Gosvāmī." He used to say, rūpa gosvāmī ke mogha vāñchā (?).
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
This is the way. Utsāhān dhairyāt tat-tat-karma-pravartanāt. You must execute the duties.
Just like we have asked our students to finish sixteen rounds chanting minimum. Sixteen rounds is nothing. In Vṛndāvana there are many devotees, they chant 120 rounds. Like that. So sixteen rounds is the minimum. Because I know in the Western countries it is difficult job to finish sixty-four rounds or 120 rounds, like that. Minimum sixteen rounds. That must be finished. Tat-tat-karma-pravartanāt. This is the direction. Observing the regulative principles. In this way, we must be abiding by the direction of the spiritual master and the śāstra. Then rest assured. Success is guaranteed. Go on reading, next.
Arrival Addresses and Talks
Next branch was opened at San Francisco, then at Montreal, then at Boston, Buffalo. In this way now we have sixty-five branches all over the world, and each branch there are maximum two hundred devotees like these, and minimum twenty-five devotees at least. And each branch... At Los Angeles we are spending $20,000 per month, which is in Indian exchange two lakhs of rupees. Similarly, we are spending $10,000 in New York. In this way we have to spend seven lakhs of rupees per month for maintaining all these men, and we have got big, big publication like this. When I went to the Western country I brought only three volumes of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in the temple of our Sri Kṛṣṇa Sharma. He gave me shelter there, and I was publishing these books, and actually Lallaji also contributed something for my publication. So in this way I went there with three books. Now we have got over three dozen books, all beautifully published.
Initiation Lectures
So these ten kinds of offenses should be avoided and at least sixteen rounds you must chant. All the Gosvāmīs in Vṛndāvana, they had a limited, not limited, a number, fixed, that "So many times I shall chant." So we are offering only minimum of sixteen rounds. That, it will take, sixteen rounds, it will take about, utmost, three hours. So you should... Out of twenty-four hours, you should engage at least three hours for chanting. So then this is the beginning of initiation, and those who have chanted at least for one year, then the next initiation is to offer him Gāyatrī mantra. Some of the students, boys and girls, will be offered this Gāyatrī mantra. And when the Gāyatrī mantra is offered men, they are offered also sacred thread, and girls, they are not offered sacred thread. If their husband is a brāhmaṇa, she automatically becomes brāhmaṇa because wife is considered to be the half, better half. She is the better portion.
Prabhupāda: And how many rounds you will chant?
Cheryl: Sixteen.
Prabhupāda: Minimum, yes. What is your name?
Cheryl: Cheryl.
Śyāmasundara: Satyavatī.
Prabhupāda: Satyavatī dāsī. Satyavatī dāsī was one of the queens of Kṛṣṇa. Bow down. (japa) What it is you have got? Do you know rules?
Girl Devotee (5): No meat-eating, no illicit sex, no gambling, no intoxicants.
Prabhupāda: What is your name?
Prabhupāda: Sanaka dāsa. Know rules and regulations? What is that?
Sanaka: No meat-eating, no illicit sex, no gambling and no intoxication.
Prabhupāda: That's good. And how many rounds?
Sanaka: Minimum of sixteen.
Prabhupāda: Yes, minimum. Now get them promised. You sit down here and ask him to... "I, such and such..."
Śyāmasundara: Henceforward from this day...
Prabhupāda: Let him promise. You promise, "I..."
Śyāmasundara: You, Sanaka dāsa...
Prabhupāda: Say, "I, Sanaka dāsa..."
Prabhupāda: How many rounds you'll chant?
Lois: Sixteen.
Prabhupāda: Minimum, yes? So, what is?
Śyāmasundara: Vṛndāvaneśvarī.
Prabhupāda: So your name is Vṛndāvaneśvarī dāsī. Vṛndāvaneśvarī is another name of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī.
Śyāmasundara: Sherry?
Prabhupāda: (japa) Hm. Thank you. So what are the rules?
Prabhupāda: That's all. How many rounds you will chant?
Sherry: At least sixteen.
Prabhupāda: Minimum. So your name is Śikhaṇḍī dāsī. Śikhaṇḍī is another name of Arjuna.
Śyāmasundara: Gail?
Prabhupāda: (japa) So what are the rules?
Gail: No meat-eating, no meat, fish or eggs, no illicit sex ...
Prabhupāda: So you're Satyadevī dāsī. Satyabhāmā was one of the wives of Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Then?
Devotee: Sixteen.
Prabhupāda: Minimum. Your spiritual name-Jñānasindhu dāsa. Jñānasindhu was one of the ācāryas in our disciplic succession.
(to next devotee) What are the rules and regulation? (devotee answers) Thank you. Akṣobhya. He was also one of the ācāryas in our disciplic succession. Come on. You want to speak? No. (end)
Prabhupāda: And how many rounds?
Theresa: Sixteen.
Prabhupāda: That is the minimum. Yes, come on.
Brahmānanda: Taraṇī dāsī.
Prabhupāda: Tariṇī dāsī. You can deliver everyone. Come on. Next.
Brahmānanda: Cindy.
Prabhupāda: What are the rules and regulations?
Cindy: No meat-eating, no illicit sex, no intoxication, no gambling.
Prabhupāda: And now many rounds will you chant?
Prabhupāda: Huh?
Raja Lakṣmī dāsī: Sixteen.
Prabhupāda: Thank you. Minimum. (laughter)
Devotees: Hari bol!
Prabhupāda: Hm.
Devotee (2): The next initiate is Bhaktin Eleanor... (break)
Bhaktin Eleanor: No intoxication. No illicit sex. No meat-eating. No gambling or speculation.
Prabhupāda: Thank you. What is the name?
Prabhupāda: What are the rules?
Bhaktin Sue: No illicit sex. No meat-eating. No gambling and no intoxication.
Prabhupāda: How many rounds will you chant?
Bhaktin Sue: Minimum sixteen.
Prabhupāda: Thank you. What is her name?
Devotee (2): Bhaktin Sue's name is Guṇavati dāsī.
Devotees: Hari bol!
Prabhupāda: Full of good qualities. Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ (SB 5.18.12). Anyone who is pure devotee of the Lord, all good qualities...(break ) (end)
Prabhupāda: And chanting?
Steve: Sixteen rounds per day.
Prabhupāda: Minimum.
Pradyumna: Sthiti-kartā dāsa.
Prabhupāda: Your spiritual name, Sthiti-kartā dāsa.
Devotees: Jaya, Haribol. (another devotee offers obeisances)
Devotee: All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: Līlā-kīrtana dāsa. (another devotee offers obeisances) What are the rules?
Devotee: No illicit sex life, no intoxication, no gambling, no meat-eating, and minimum sixteen rounds.
Prabhupāda: Thank you.
Pradyumna: Devideva dāsa.
Prabhupāda: Devideva dāsa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. What are the rules and regulations?
Devotee: No illicit sex, no intoxication, no gambling, no meat-eating, chanting minimum sixteen rounds of Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: And meat-eating. Meat, fish, eggs, they should be given up. And gambling, dyūta, pāna dyūta (SB 1.17.38), that should be given up. And avaidha stri-saṅgi should be given up. In this way, if you become cleansed, then... Just like if we get dry wood, then the fire ignites very easily. If we get moist wood, then it takes some time. So voluntarily we should give up these sinful activities. Then spiritual advancement of life will be very quick. And those who are being first-initiated, they must chant at least sixteen rounds. Saṅkhyā-pūrvaka-nāma-gāna-natibhiḥ. The Gosvāmīs, they showed us the way. Saṅkhyā-pūrvaka. So many rounds we must chant, at least. Haridas Ṭhākura was chanting three hundred thousand times. We cannot do that. That is not possible. So we have made a minimum, sixteen rounds. So those who are being initiated, they must chant at least sixteen rounds. If they can increase, it is better. But not less than that. Saṅkhyā-pūrvaka-nāma-gāna-natibhiḥ. So these things should be observed, and always pray to Kṛṣṇa, that "Kṛṣṇa, I have taken shelter of You. Kindly guide me." And He is prepared to guide.
General Lectures
Prabhupāda: It comes and goes. It does not matter. Let me do my duty." That is advice of Kṛṣṇa. A devotee is not disturbed by the material condition. Tat te 'nukampāṁ su-samīkṣamāṇo (SB 10.14.8). If there is some reverse condition of life, a devotee thinks, "It is also grace of the Lord because I am minimizing. With minimum trouble, I am minimizing the effects of my past misdeeds." They think like that. So persons who are not devotees, they do not know that only Kṛṣṇa, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He can get me relieved from these material clutches. There is no other way. Hariṁ vinā na mṛtiṁ taranti. We cannot get relief from these clutches of material world unless we surrender unto Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa therefore says very clearly, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ (BG 18.66). That is the ultimate end of this Kṛṣṇa philosophy, Bhagavad-gītā. We have to ultimately surrender to Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise, there is no escape. But those who are miscreants, those who are mūḍhas or narādhamas, they do not do it.
Prabhupāda: So they are very much envious of these British people, and therefore they started two big wars, world war. So if we collect more... Now the British Empire is finished. So if we collect more, if you want to acquire more, then other becomes jealous. And in this way, our jealousies increase, and that is the cause of war, that is the cause of fight. But if you are satisfied with your minimum or maximum needs, nobody will be jealous. Just like an elephant is eating forty kilos of foodstuff at a time. We cannot eat even one-fourth kilo, but we are not envious of the elephant because we know he needs to eat so much. Neither the elephant is envious to us. So whatever you need you can collect, you can eat—but don't take more. Then according to the God's law, you become criminal, you are punishable. That is God's law. (break) It is a common sense. You eat; I eat. It is a common philosophy. So I must eat what I need and you must eat what you need. That's not a very big philosophical problem. Everyone knows what you eat.
Departure Talks
Prabhupāda: Therefore I wish that all of you who have come to join this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement live very carefully so that māyā may not snatch you from the hand of Kṛṣṇa. We can keep ourself very steady simply by following the regulative principles and chanting, minimum, sixteen rounds. Then we are safe. So you have got some information about the perfection of life. Don't misuse it. Try to keep it very steadily, and your life will be successful. This movement does not stop anything for comfortable life, but it makes regulated. So if we follow the regulative principles and chant sixteen rounds, that is our safe position. I think this instruction you will follow. That is my desire.
Philosophy Discussions
Prabhupāda: But how many Socrates will you find? Then again he comes to the minimum. You cannot find Socrates on the street, loitering.
Śyāmasundara: But he says that that standard of pleasure...
Prabhupāda: Then where is the question of maximum men? A Socrates you will find in millions, one.
Śyāmasundara: But he says that that standard of pleasure that Socrates...
Prabhupāda: Then there is no question of maximum people. The number of Socrates is not maximum. That is minimum. That is minimum. If you come to the question of quality, the quality philosophy, quality understanding, that is for the minimum. Just like Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye: (BG 7.3) "Out of millions and millions of persons, one person is trying to become perfect." And yatatām api siddhānāṁ kaścid vetthi māṁ tattvataḥ: (BG 7.3) "Out of millions of such perfect men, one may understand Me, Kṛṣṇa." That is not quantity, that is quality. That is quality.
Śyāmasundara: He says that the highest quality pleasure, such as Socrates would enjoy, the high intelligence...
Prabhupāda: That is not for mass of men, not for the greatest number of men. That is the minimum. That philosophy is understood by minimum number.
Śyāmasundara: But he says that this standard should be applied to all men, that all men should be trained to find pleasure in this standard.
Prabhupāda: That is another thing. That means quality pleasure should be introduced to the... What, at the beginning you said maximum pleasure?
Śyāmasundara: Maximum number. He wants to find out something that will give them maximum pleasure. The purpose of government, politics, social and ethical life is to provide the greatest pleasure for the greatest number. Now to...
Prabhupāda: Twinkling. But they cannot drive away darkness. That is not possible. Glowworms. As soon as you come to the quality, that is the lowest number, minimum.
Śyāmasundara: He is trying to find out the standard of pleasure that is most desirable.
Prabhupāda: That he does not know. That he has to learn from us. He may be a big philosopher in the Western countries, but our utility of pleasure he does not know. Our pleasure is... (break) ...incessant. It will not stop. That is the standard of high-class pleasure. That is quality. Here in the material world we have got experience, we get pleasure, but that is transient. Just like ordinary men, they understand sex pleasure is the highest pleasure. Actually, on sex pleasure the whole material world is existing. But how long this sex pleasure can remain? A few minutes. So our philosophy is we don't want that few minutes' pleasure. We want pleasure which will continue perpetually. Nityānanda. Nitya. Nitya means eternal. Ānanda means bliss. Satyānanda, real pleasure. Satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi (SB 1.1.1).
Hayagrīva: It appears that Schopenhauer recommends about eight hours of sleep a night, and Kṛṣṇa says not too much or too little. But what is recommended in terms of sleep, just concretely?
Prabhupāda: Sleep should be avoided, but that is not possible. Therefore it should be adjusted to the minimum. Just like Gosvāmīs, they are sleeping not less, not more than two hours. Even we hear about some karmī, just like Napoleon, he was also not sleeping. He was taking rest on the back of the horse. I do not know whether it is so.
Hayagrīva: Yes.
Prabhupāda: But I know about Gandhi. He was sleeping when he is parking his car, because he was so busy.
| Page Title: | Minimum (Lectures) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 26 of Feb, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=49, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 49 |