My business (Lectures)

Expressions researched:
"I started my own factory, the business" |"I was doing business" |"my business" |"my medical business" |"my only business" |"my so-called business" |"on my word. And that is guru's business"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.26 -- Hyderabad, November 30, 1972:

People say so much about me, that I have done some wonderful thing. But I say that I am not a magician. I'm not a magician. My only credit is that I am presenting Kṛṣṇa as He is. That's all. I am not diluting Kṛṣṇa. That is not my business. And therefore, because it is pure, pure ghee, therefore everyone accepts. And if you place dalda, mixing with ghee some rascal thing, then nobody will accept. Therefore, so many swamis went before me in the Western countries, and they presented adulterated, and there was not a single person became a kṛṣṇa-bhakta. Now, by thousands they are becoming. Why? Because it is presented pure thing.

Lecture on BG 3.27 -- Melbourne, June 27, 1974:

Guest (5): Are you God?

Prabhupāda: I am servant of God.

Guest (5): But you're preaching the holy name of God?

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is my business.

Guest (5): But then, by your own words, you are God.

Prabhupāda: But that does not mean I am God, but I am equal to God. Or at least you should see like that. That is explained. A guru... That is explained.

sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstrair

uktas tathā bhāvyata eva sadbhiḥ

kintu prabhor yaḥ priya eva tasya

vande guroḥ śrī-caraṇāravindam

Guru's position is like this. What is that? Sākṣād-dhari. He is God. Sākṣād-dhari. How he is Hari, God? No, samasta-śāstraiḥ: "In all revealed scriptures it is explained that 'Guru, the servant of God, the son of God, the preacher, he is God.' " Sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstrair uktaḥ: "It is said." Tathā bhāvyata eva sadbhiḥ: "Those who are intelligent, they accept like that."

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Nairobi, October 27, 1975:

You are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. This designation, that 'You are Hindu,' 'You are Muslim,' 'You are Christian,' 'You are this'—these are all designations. Actually you are living being, part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore your main duty is to understand Kṛṣṇa." This is our preaching. We are not going to convert Hindu into Muslim, Muslim into Christian. No, that is not our... That is not our business. He may think that he is Christian, he is Hindu, he is Muslim, but we think that he is a spirit soul, part and parcel of God. That is stated in the...

vidyā-vinaya-sampanne

brāhmaṇe gavi hastini

śuni caiva śva-pāke ca

paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ

(BG 5.18)

If one is learned paṇḍita, he does not see Hindu, Muslim, Christian. I went to America, I did not go there to turn the Christian to become Hindu. No, I never said that. Did I say, any, anyone, that "You are Christian. You become a Hindu"? No, never I said. That is not my business.

Lecture on BG 16.5 -- Hawaii, January 31, 1975:

As we are servant of Kṛṣṇa, it is our duty to present the real thing. Now you accept, not accept. That is not my business. I can request you that you accept this principle and be liberated from these sufferings of material life. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi.

Lecture on BG 16.7 -- Hawaii, February 3, 1975:

It is practically experienced. I know that the ghost, if you go in a house ghostly haunted, if you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, they'll go away. They cannot tolerate. In my life there was several incidences like that. In my household life, I was doing business in Lucknow. So there was one house, very big house, worth thousands of rupees' rent, but it was ghostly haunted. So nobody would take that house. I took it at two hundred rupees, (laughter) and very big house. And I was... All the servants, they complained, "Sir, there is ghost." So I was chanting. He was living in several spots, especially on the gate side. So I could understand, but I would chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, and I was saved. Everyone was saved.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.2.10 -- Delhi, November 16, 1973:

So a brahmacārī is strictly prohibited not to see even one young woman. But what can be done? In the Western countries, the boys and girls, they mix very freely. And if I say, "My dear boys, you cannot see even a young girl," then finished. My business there is finished. Therefore I have to arrange according to the country, according to the circumstances, as far as possible. So gradually, they are coming to the perfectional stage. So we have to adopt deśa-kāla-pātra, according to time, according to... But we are keeping our principles as it is, but making arrangement according to the circumstances. That is required.

Lecture on SB 1.8.27 -- Los Angeles, April 19, 1973:

I got good opportunity for becoming very rich man in business. And some astrologer told me that: "You should have become like Birla." So there was some chances, very good chances. I was manager in a big chemical factory. I started my own factory, the business was very successful. But everything was dismantled. I was forced to come to this position to carry out my order of my Guru Mahārāja. Akiñcana-vittāya. When everything was finished, then I took Kṛṣṇa, that: "You are the only..." Therefore Kṛṣṇa is akiñcana-vitta. When one becomes finished of all his material opulences. And now I am realizing that I have not lost. I've gained. I've gained. That's a fact.

Lecture on SB 1.16.10 -- Los Angeles, January 7, 1974:

In our childhood we have seen, our family also. If one wanted to eat meat, then he would do it hundred miles away secretly. Nobody will know. Or he will go to some rascal hotel. That was the system. Now they are keeping chickens, everyone's roof. This is the advancement, Kali's advancement. And government is giving license, "Yes, you manufacture liquor." Because it is a great profit for government. I know. I had also license to keep in my medical business, this rectified spirit. Rectified spirit means pure alcohol, from which whiskey is made. Absolute alcohol. So I know that the cost of rectified spirit, distilled by the government, was one rupee per gallon. One rupee per gallon. But the same rectified spirit, when turned into liquor by some process, not any very difficult process, just making it coloring or flavoring... The real thing is the rectified spirit. The government would charge sixty rupees per gallon. The cost, it is one rupee. And they would sixty charge rupees. Because government knew it or know it that when a man becomes drunkard, he will drink at any cost. At any cost.

Lecture on SB 2.9.10 -- Tokyo, April 26, 1972:

So I have protested this false God consciousness in all my purports. That is my business, to punish all these rascals. You see? I become very much angry, anyone says before me, "I am God, he is God, everyone..." I cannot control myself. (laughter) Yes. I am so obstinate enemy of these rascals. I want to kick them on their face, but it is incivility. It becomes... But I want to kick them. It will be my pleasure. Never mind I go to hell.

Lecture on SB 3.25.10 -- Bombay, November 10, 1974:

Human life is meant for tapasya. Tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyet sattvam, śuddhyet (SB 5.5.1). You have to purify your existence. Now our existence is not purified. We get this contaminated body and change it; again another contaminated body, another... Just like one man is suffering from disease: one contamination, then another contamination, another... This is not life. You purify yourself. And that purification begins when you accept the life of austerities, tapaḥ, tapasya. Tapasya means voluntarily accepting some... This is not inconvenience. Just like in our society it is enjoined, the students, they should voluntarily accept the principle: no illicit sex life, no meat-eating, no fish-eating, no, nothing of the sort, no intoxication, and no gambling. This is tapasya. Especially for these European and American students, they are, from the beginning of their life, they are accustomed to these habits. But they have voluntarily given up on my word. And that is guru's business. So to purify so that he may be saved from this illusion—he must be purified—so this little inconvenience for higher happiness, that is desired, that is required.

Lecture on SB 6.3.16-17 -- Gorakhpur, February 10, 1971:

Prabhupāda: I am not Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa-dūta. My Guru Mahārāja is Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa...

Revatīnandana: Well, we would say that you were.

Prabhupāda: No, no, no. My Guru Mahārāja is Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa-dūta. I am simply trying to carry his order. That's all. I am not Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa-dūta.

Revatīnandana: But we have become your followers.

Prabhupāda: That is your duty. Dāsānudāsa. That is the process.

Revatīnandana: Somebody else might become a follower of a devotee of Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa.

Prabhupāda: It is not that I am directly connected with Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu. I am directly connected with my spiritual master, and my business is to carry out his order. That's all. If I can do that well, that is my purpose. That's all.

Festival Lectures

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Disappearance Day, Lecture -- Los Angeles, December 13, 1973:

Prabhupāda: So at that time we had some talks, and of course I was defeated by his argument, my argument. (laughter) And then, when we came out, we were offered prasādam, very nice treatment, the Gauḍīya Matha. And when I came out on the street, this my friend asked me, "What is your opinion of this sādhu?" Then I said that "Here is the right person who has taken up Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's message, and now it will be distributed."

Devotees: Jaya!

Prabhupāda: So I was at that time a fool, but I opined like this. And I accepted him as my spiritual master immediately. Not officially, but in my heart. That was in 1922. Then, in 1923, I left Calcutta on my business tour. And I made my headquarter at Allahabad. Allahabad is about five hundred miles from Calcutta. So I was thinking that "I met a very nice saintly person." That was my thinking always.

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Disappearance Day, Lecture -- Los Angeles, December 13, 1973:

So in this way, gradually, I became attached to these Gauḍīya Matha activities, and by the grace of Kṛṣṇa, my business also was not going very well. (laughter) (laughs) Yes. Kṛṣṇa says yasyāham anughṛṇāmi hariṣye tad-dhanaṁ śanaiḥ. If somebody wants to be actually devotee of Kṛṣṇa, at the same time, keeps his material attachment, then Kṛṣṇa's business is He takes away everything material, so that cent percent he becomes, I mean to say, dependent on Kṛṣṇa. So that actually happened to my life. I was obliged to come to this movement to take up this very seriously. And I was dreaming that "Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura is calling me, 'Please come out with me!' " (pause) So I was sometimes horrified, "Oh, what is this? I have give up my family life? Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura is calling me? I have to take sannyāsa?" Oh, I was horrified. But I saw several times, calling me. So anyway, it is by his grace I was forced to give up my family life, my so-called business life. And he brought me some way or other in preaching his gospel.

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Disappearance Day, Lecture -- Hyderabad, December 10, 1976:

So anyway, from 1922 to 1933 practically I was not initiated, but I got the impression of preaching Caitanya Mahāprabhu's cult. That I was thinking. And that was the initiation by my Guru Mahārāja. Then officially I was initiated in 1933 because in 1923 I left Calcutta. I started my business at Allahabad. So I was always thinking of my Guru Mahārāja, that "I met a very nice sādhu." Although I was doing business, I never forgot him.

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Appearance Day, Lecture -- Los Angeles, February 7, 1969:

So in 1922, when I saw my Guru Mahārāja and when I was convinced about his argument and mode of presentation, I was so much struck with wonder. I could understand that "Here is the proper person who can give real religious idea." That I appreciated at that time. And at that time I thought, "This great personality is asking me to preach. I would have immediately joined, but now I am married. It will be injustice." Of course, I thought like that, in that way. Of course, Guru Mahārāja did not say anything, that "You give up your family life." No, never said. He simply gave the idea. So I thought that "It would have been better if I was not married." Anyway, then, 1923, I left Calcutta on my business, and I established my headquarter at Allahabad. So all the days I was thinking of this, "Oh, I saw a very nice saintly person. But I am now off from Calcutta." So I was thinking like that. Practically he initiated me because I was thinking of..., always.

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Appearance Day, Lecture -- Los Angeles, February 7, 1969:

Then, in 1928, there was a big fair which is called Kumbhamelā. At that time I was doing business in Allahabad. My business was very flourishing. It was well-known drug shop. So the persons who went to organize our Gauḍīya Maṭha's camp in that fair, somebody has told that "Here is a Bengali gentleman's business. You can go, and he is very religious man. He will help." So all the disciples of Guru Mahārāja, they approached my shop, my store, drug store. And because I was thinking of them, so I thought, "Oh, here is the men." You see? You see? I was very glad—"So they have come again"—because I was separated from them in 1923, and again I saw them in 1928 after five years, and I was thinking of Guru Mahārāja simply in this way, "Oh, I met a very nice saintly person. Very nice saintly person. If I can see him again?" Like that. So in this way, with my help, the Allahabad center of Gauḍīya Maṭha was established. Then I was initiated in 1933. In 1933.

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

So that was in 1922. Then, in 1923, I left Calcutta on business account, and I started my business at Allahabad. But I was always thinking of my Guru Mahārāja, although I was that time not initiated. But the impression was there. I was thinking, "I met a very nice saintly person." So in this way, I passed from 1923 to 1928, I think. Then during Kumbhamelā... (child making noise) Stop that noise he's making. In 1928 my Guru Mahārāja, along with other disciples, came to Allahabad for starting their branch there. So some gentlemen known to me might have told them that "The proprietor of such and such business, Prayāga Pharmacy, he's a very nice gentleman. He can help you in so many ways." So they came to me, and I saw the same saintly persons whom I met 1922. I was very glad to receive. In this way, my connection was more intimate with my Guru Mahārāja. And in 1936, or 1933, I was initiated officially, although I was initiated 1922. But officially, I was initiated in 1933, although from 1922 to 1933 I was always thinking of His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Mahārāja.

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Appearance Day, Lecture -- Mayapur, February 21, 1976:

So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is now in your hand. Of course, in 1922 Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, he wanted me to do something in this connection. He wanted from his, all his disciples. Especially he stressed many times that "You do this. Whatever you have learned, you try to expand in English language." And in 1933, when he was in Rādhā-kunḍa, I was at that time Bombay in connection with my business life. So I came to see him, and one friend wanted to give some land in Bombay for starting Bombay Gauḍīya Maṭha. He's my friend. So that's a long story, but I wish to narrate this, the Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī's mission.

General Lectures

General Lecture -- (location & date unknown):

So you may question, "What you are? What is your position?" Our... My position is that, that under the supreme order of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in disciplic succession, I am just trying to preach this kṛṣṇa-kathā. That's all. I am not manufacturing anything. Don't think that I have manufactured something new, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. No. That is not my business. My business is just like the peon. The orderly. The message from Caitanya Mahāprabhu as it is, I am delivering. That's all. And it is being effected because I am not adulterating in the kṛṣṇa-kathā. Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja; (BG 18.66) I also say the same thing, that "You become a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. You surrender to Kṛṣṇa." So there is no doubt that I am really representing the interests of Kṛṣṇa because I am not adulterating. I am not misinterpreting the words of Kṛṣṇa. And it is being effective.