Because the Lord comes as one of us and just like plays with us as a human being, therefore we need not consider that Lord is one of us. It is His omnipotency that He presents Himself with His real form before us and displays His pastimes, just the prototype of His abode. So that abode of Lord, there are innumerable planets also in that brahmajyoti. Just like we have got innumerable planets floating on the sun rays, similarly, in the brahmajyoti, which is emanating from the abode of the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇaloka, Goloka, ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis (Bs. 5.37), all those planets are spiritual planets. They are ānanda-cinmaya; they are not material planets.
Not Material (Lectures)
Expressions researched:
"nonmaterial"
|"nonmaterialistic"
|"not a material"
|"not actually material"
|"not material"
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Lecture on BG 1.13-14 -- London, July 14, 1973:
When Arjuna inquired from Him about His instruction to sun-god, Kṛṣṇa said, imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam (BG 4.1). This bhakti-yogam of as mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā... Bhagavad-gītā is bhakti-yogam, to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So this literature is also transcendental. Bhakti is also transcendental. Bhakti is not any activities of this material world. Janma karma me divyam (BG 4.9). So bhakti is activity in relationship with Kṛṣṇa. Therefore it is not material.
Lecture on BG 1.13-14 -- London, July 14, 1973:
So that means he refused to serve Kṛṣṇa. That is material condition. He was thinking in his own terms. He wanted to enjoy the family members, the so-called nephews, brothers, that "If they are killed, then what is the use of my, this kingdom?" (break) ...but people thinks that I get kingdom I enjoy myself. That is condition. But a liberated soul will take the kingdom, but it will be used for Kṛṣṇa's service. That is liberated, soul.
In this way we should try to understand, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa's name, Kṛṣṇa's fame, Kṛṣṇa's associates, Kṛṣṇa's activities, all divyam, transcendental. They are not material. Therefore it is mentioned here, divyau śaṅkhau pradadhmatuḥ (BG 1.14). Divyau śaṅkhau. The śaṅkha used by Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna, they are not ordinary śaṅkha. Thank you very much.
Lecture on BG 2.8 -- London, August 8, 1973:
So in this Kali-yuga, people are so much disturbed. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa has come in the form of His name, Hare Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa has come not personally, but by His name. But because Kṛṣṇa is absolute, there is no difference between His name and Himself. Abhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ (CC Madhya 17.133). Nāma-cintāmaṇi kṛṣṇa-caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ pūrṇaḥ śuddho nitya-muktaḥ. Name is full. As Kṛṣṇa is full, complete, similarly, Kṛṣṇa's name is also full, complete. Śuddha. It is not material things.
Lecture on BG 2.14 -- Mexico, February 14, 1975:
Girl devotee: (translating from Spanish) He wants to know exactly what is the form of the body. If spirit soul is nonmaterial, what is the form?
Prabhupāda: There is form. Just like this body is compared with the dress. Now, just like in your present material form you have got hand; therefore your coat has got hand. If you have got... You have got leg; therefore your pant has got leg. Therefore it is to be assumed that the spirit soul has got form, and it has developed into hands, legs, heads, everything. It is not formless; it has got form. But with our material eyes at the present, gross eyes, we cannot find it; therefore we say it has no form.
Lecture on BG 2.23 -- Hyderabad, November 27, 1972:
Sometimes when we cannot understand, the explanation is given: "It is not this." If I cannot express what it is, then we can express in a negative way that "It is not this." So what is that "not this"? The "not this" is that "It is not material." The spirit soul is not material. But we have got experience of material things. Then how to understand that it is the negative? That is explained in the next verse, that nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi. You cannot cut, the spirit soul by any weapon, knife, sword, or thistle. (pistol?) It is not possible. Nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi. The Māyāvāda philosophy says that "I am Brahman. Due to my illusion, I feel I am separated. Otherwise I am one." But Kṛṣṇa says that mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7). So does it mean that the, from the whole spirit, this fragment has been separated by cutting into piece? No. Nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi. It cannot be cut into pieces. Then? Then the answer is that the spirit soul fragment is eternal. Not that by māyā it has become separated. No. How it can be? Because it cannot be cut into pieces.
Lecture on BG 2.58-59 -- New York, April 27, 1966:
We are suffering. Now, this suffering, we have become so much accustomed to sufferings that we have taken it granted that these sufferings are nonmaterial. "Let us enjoy this material life. This suffering..." They don't care for suffering. You see? They want this material enjoyment, which is the cause of his bondage. It is cause of bondage. So they do not want... Just like there are some prisoners who do not like to get out of the prison life. They think it is better to remain in the prison because "I have no responsibility. If I go outside the prison, oh, I will have to search out some work.
Lecture on BG 4.2 -- Bombay, March 22, 1974:
There are many literatures written by great, great poets within two thousand, two hundred years, three hundred years, or, say, thousands of years. But they are being forgotten. But therefore the character of the Vedic knowledge, they are not material things. They're all spiritual. Why we are giving so much importance to the words of Kṛṣṇa? Because this language is absolute. Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's words, Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's language, or Kṛṣṇa's words, they are the same. Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's forms... We are worshiping Kṛṣṇa's form. That is also Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on BG 4.6 -- Bombay, March 26, 1974:
Apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parām. Parā-prakṛti and aparā-prakṛti. The aparā-prakṛti is this material energy. And the parā-prakṛti is spiritual energy. There are two kinds of prakṛti. So that spiritual... Because Kṛṣṇa is spiritual whole, so His spiritual energy, prakṛtiṁ svām, that internal potency, or the spiritual energy,... so His body is spiritual. His body is not material. Therefore avyayātmā, it is imperishable. These things are to be understood. Prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6). Again He says ātma-māyayā. He's not forced to take birth by the external energy. He appears by His own energy, internal energy, or spiritual energy. Therefore He's avyayātmā. Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san.
Lecture on BG 4.6 -- Bombay, March 26, 1974:
This was questioned by Parīkṣit Mahārāja. Parīkṣit Mahārāja, when He danced with the girls of Vrajabhūmi, rāsa dance, so Parīkṣit Mahārāja inquired from Śukadeva Gosvāmī that "Kṛṣṇa, who came to establish the principles of religion, how He danced with girls and wives of others?" That was explained that tejīyasāṁ na doṣāya (SB 10.33.29). Tejīyasāṁ na doṣāya. Kṛṣṇa danced with others' wife or sister or other girls. They were all girls. They came at mid of, midnight to dance with Him. But they were also not material. That is spiritual. It requires little brain to understand. So Parīkṣit Mahārāja... Śukadeva Gosvāmī explained that these things should not be considered by the conditioned souls. They should not even dream of this. It is a different thing. And if you think that Kṛṣṇa has a fault because He danced with others' wives, so he explained that tejīyasāṁ na doṣāya. Tejīyasām... The... A thing which is very, very powerful, he is not contaminated. That is the conclusion.
Lecture on BG 4.7 -- Montreal, June 13, 1968:
Similarly, in the spiritual world, the energy which is working, that is called yogamāyā. And in the material world, the energy which is working, that is called mahāmāyā. So Subhadrā is... Viṣṇu-śaktiḥ parā proktā (CC Madhya 6.154). Actually, Kṛṣṇa's energy is spiritual. That is not material.
Lecture on BG 4.9 -- Montreal, June 19, 1968:
To know the Absolute Truth is not possible by our present senses. That is also another fact. Because at the present moment we have got materially affected... Not material senses. Our sense are originally spiritual, but it is covered by material contamination. Therefore the process is to purify, to purify the coverings of our material existence. And that is also recommended—simply by service attitude. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ (Brs. 1.2.234). The whole thing depends on our surrendering process and engage ourselves in the service of the Lord. Then gradually, the Lord reveals to the devotee. That is the process.
Lecture on BG 4.10 -- Calcutta, September 23, 1974:
So Kṛṣṇa is sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Kṛṣṇa, His body is not material body. Those who are thinking Kṛṣṇa's body as material, they are called Māyāvādīs. But actually, Kṛṣṇa's body is not material. The evidence is that Kṛṣṇa knows past, present and future. In the material body that is not possible. Just like I had my previous body in my previous birth, but I don't remember. If somebody asks me, "What you were in your previous life?" it is very difficult. Because death means forgetfulness.
Lecture on BG 4.20-24 -- New York, August 9, 1966:
Now, brahmārpaṇam. Sacrifice for whom? For the Brahman. And Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Brahman. Therefore sacrifice for Kṛṣṇa is brahmārpaṇam, means, sacrificing for the Brahman, Supreme Brahman. Because Kṛṣṇa is described in the Tenth Chapter as the Parambrahman, the Supreme Brahman. Brahman means, we are also all Brahman. Because we are all fragmental parts and parcels of the Supreme Being, Kṛṣṇa, therefore we are also Brahman. Just like particles of gold is also gold, similarly, we are fragmental portions of Kṛṣṇa. Do not understand that as material fragments... We are not material fragment. But just because we have no other conception at the present moment except material understanding, therefore I am just trying... This is translated into English as "fragment," but not like that material fragment.
Lecture on BG 4.24 -- Bombay, April 13, 1974:
Pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation). That is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is expanding Himself just like the heat and light, but that does not mean Kṛṣṇa is finished. It is not material. Pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate. Kṛṣṇa is spread in so many ways by His energy, by His personal expansion. Advaitam acyutam anādir ananta-rūpam ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca (Bs. 5.33). He is not finished. This is material idea, that "If Brahman is spread everywhere, then where is the existence of Brahman in one place?" This is the Māyāvādī idea.
Just like you take a big paper, a newspaper, and tear it into pieces and throw all over, the original newspaper is finished. But Kṛṣṇa is not like that, that because Kṛṣṇa has spread by His energies, prakṛti—energy means prakṛti—that does not mean Kṛṣṇa is finished.
Lecture on BG 4.24 -- Bombay, April 13, 1974:
Chanting of Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, is Kṛṣṇa. Nāma cintāmaṇiḥ kṛṣṇaś caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ (CC Madhya 17.133). These are the statement of śāstra. Kṛṣṇa's name, cintāmaṇi, spiritual. It is not material. You cannot go on chanting any material name, "Mr. John Mr. John Mr. John." You will be tired. But you can go on chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa twenty-four hours; you will never be tired. That is the difference. But they do not understand. And the more you chant, you relish.
Lecture on BG 4.39-42 -- Los Angeles, January 14, 1969:
So Bhāgavata says either you become akāma... To desire to advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is no material desire. There(fore) it is called akāma. That is not material desire. And two other things, to desire for liberation and to desire for material opulence, that is material. So Bhāgavata says, akāmaḥ sarva-kāmo vā mokṣa-kāma udāra-dhīḥ: (SB 2.3.10) "If you are actually advanced with knowledge, either you desire material prosperity or you desire liberation from material bondage, or you desire to be engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you simply try to be engaged in devotional service of the Supreme Lord." If you want any material prosperity, that can also be achieved by devotional service. That is also explained. I think you will get it in the Fifth Chapter, that catur-vidhā bhajante māṁ sukṛtinaḥ arjuna. No, we have already discussed.
Lecture on BG 4.39-42 -- Los Angeles, January 14, 1969:
They are not necessary for a person who is advanced. But in the preliminary stage we have such necessities. This creates atmosphere, but at the same time, these varieties are not, I mean to say, material varieties. They are spiritual varieties. The place where we are trying to approach, Vaikuṇṭha, there the inhabitants are like this. They have got this tilaka, they have got... Of course, we haven't got four hands, but they have got four hands. There are two hands also. And they are dressed like this. So these things are not material varieties as much as chanting is not material vibration.
Lecture on BG 5.3-7 -- New York, August 26, 1966:
In those days also, they were married at the age of twelve years, thirteen years. But Kṛṣṇa was only sixteen years. So... But He was playing flute. His playing flute was so nice that even at night, when He was playing flute, all those girls, they'll leave their husband and father and mother and everything; they'll come at once to Kṛṣṇa. So this is an example how they don't care for anything but Kṛṣṇa. So that is the life. Therefore... Of course, that is not material association. That can be understood when one is a little advanced in the science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the love between the gopīs and Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on BG 6.11-21 -- New York, September 7, 1966:
In the unlimited. Yoginaḥ anante and satyānande, that is real happiness. Satyānande cid-ātmani. And that is spiritual. That is not material. Iti rāma, this is the meaning of Rāma. Hare Rāma. We described, this Rāma means to enjoy in the spiritual life. That is called Rāma.
It is all pleasure. Kṛṣṇa is also pleasure. Rāma is also pleasure. Because we are all hunting after pleasure. But we do not know where to find out the pleasure. The pleasure is in spiritual life. That is real pleasure. We haven't got to sacrifice pleasure, but we have to enjoy it properly. Just like diseased man, he cannot enjoy life.
Lecture on BG 6.40-42 -- New York, September 16, 1966:
Woman: You say you worship the deity photograph of someone who has gone. But the photograph of a spiritual teacher can be very helpful to teach them to love him because the photograph of a spiritual teacher is not material value, but it symbolizes the truth from which the, he has come.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Those who are spiritually advanced, their photograph and ordinary photograph is different. Just like here is statue of Kṛṣṇa. He's not different from Kṛṣṇa. The original person Kṛṣṇa and this statue of Kṛṣṇa is the same. Similarly, a spiritually perfect person and his photograph is the same.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- San Francisco, March 17, 1968:
Do you think we are simply wasting our time with this process? Why lifetime? Within a second you can do. It is spiritual process. It is not material process that it requires so much time. No. It requires simply the spiritual technique, to know how you can develop Kṛṣṇa attachment. As soon as you are cent percent attached with Kṛṣṇa, your business is finished. Ārādhito yadi haris tapasā tataḥ kim. The whole formula is that you have to develop your attachment for Kṛṣṇa. So if you have developed such attachment for Kṛṣṇa, then your business is finished. No more. That's all right. And nārādhito yadi haris tapasā tataḥ kim. And if you cannot develop fully Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then all your labor is waste of time.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- San Francisco, March 17, 1968:
The whole business is how to develop attachment for Kṛṣṇa. If you have developed that attachment within a second, oh, then the business is finished within a second. And if you cannot develop that attachment for years, then it is very difficult. The only test is how you have developed your attachment for Kṛṣṇa. If you are serious about it, it can be done within a second. If you are not serious about it, it cannot be done in many lives. So that depends on your serious nature. Kṛṣṇa is not a material thing that it requires one particular time or... No. The only thing is mayy āsakta-manāḥ. You have to develop your full attachment for Kṛṣṇa. That you can test, whether you have full attachment for Kṛṣṇa. Then it is..., the business is finished.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- San Francisco, March 26, 1968:
Girl: If you want, if you want to go to other... (rattling sound) ...if you want to encourage us to enter into (indistinct), spiritually, not material world, is it necessary to live in a (indistinct) that's free of grief... (rattling sound) ...or change?
Prabhupāda: If you want to transfer yourself to other planets, yes. Kṛṣṇa consciousness means transferring yourself to other planets. The ultimate perfection or success is go back to Godhead, back to home. So when Kṛṣṇa consciousness will be perfect, you'll be transferred from this planet, or from this material world, to the spiritual world, and you'll talk with Kṛṣṇa just (as) you are talking with me.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Los Angeles, March 12, 1970:
Devotee: Purport: "In the first six chapters of the Bhagavad-gītā, the living entity has been described as nonmaterial spirit soul who is capable of elevating himself to self-realization by different types of yogas. At the end of the Sixth Chapter it has been clearly stated that the steady concentration of the mind upon Kṛṣṇa, or in other words, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is the highest form of all yoga. By concentrating one's mind upon Kṛṣṇa one is able to know the Absolute Truth completely, but not otherwise. The impersonal brahma-jyotir or localized Paramātmā is not perfect knowledge of the Absolute Truth, because it is partial."
Prabhupāda: Yes. Impersonal... Just like sunshine and the sun disc and the inhabitants of the sun globe. In one sense, they are one unit. You cannot separate sunshine from the sun disc or the sun disc from the inhabitants or the predominating deity of sun planet. They are all in light, but still there is difference. Sunshine is coming within your room. Although the sun disc and the sunshine is not different, still, when you realize what is sunshine, that does not mean you realize what is the sun disc. This is very practical. To understand what is sunshine does not mean to understand what is sun disc. You can have some idea: "The sun disc is also light, and it has got heat. It is illuminating." These ideas you can get, but not exactly what is the temperature of that sun disc, how you can live there. There are so many things to learn. Therefore, impersonal Brahman, understanding of impersonal Brahman, is not perfect knowledge.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Durban, October 9, 1975:
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. This is the test of bhakti: virakti, detachment from all these nonsense things. And unless you are purified, you cannot understand God.
Lecture on BG 7.1-2 -- Bombay, March 28, 1971:
If you constantly see Kṛṣṇa's form, śyāmasundaram acintya-guṇa-svarūpam Acintya-guṇa-svarūpam. Kṛṣṇa is acintya-guṇa-svarūpam; therefore He is nirguṇa. Generally, guṇa means these material qualities: sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. But when we speak of nirguṇa, that means we transcend the guṇas of this material world. Guṇamayī mama māyā. We transcend the guṇas or qualities of māyā. This is called nirguṇa. But Kṛṣṇa is acintya-guṇa-svarūpam. Because Kṛṣṇa does not possess these material qualities, therefore it is acintya, inconceivable by us. But He has that guṇa. He has guṇa. His guṇas are not material qualities. Just like even the leader of the impersonalist school, Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya, he said, nārāyaṇaḥ paraḥ avyaktāt. Nārāyaṇa is transcendental, para. Bhagavad-gītā also, paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nyaḥ (BG 8.20).
Lecture on BG 7.1-3 -- Ahmedabad, December 14, 1972:
Now, the reservoir of brahma-sukha, Kṛṣṇa, Para-brahman, when He enjoys, does it mean this is material thing? This is not material thing. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitā... There, that is the expansion of His spiritual bliss. Rādhā kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir hlādinī śaktir asmāt. That is the existence of Kṛṣṇa's hlādinī-śakti. So first of all we have to understand Kṛṣṇa; then, in course of understanding Kṛṣṇa, we shall understand His samvit-śakti, hlādinī-śakti. So these things are not subject matter for studying in our conditioned life. It is for the liberated soul. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu, you'll find in the teachings of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He only once discussed about the love affairs of Kṛṣṇa with gopīs, or Rādhārāṇī, gopīs, with Rāmānanda Rāya.
Lecture on BG 7.2 -- Hyderabad, April 28, 1974 :
Wherever there is a living entity, these four things are there. It doesn't matter whether he is human being or a small microbe. These things are there. Nitya-siddha. Similarly, kṛṣṇa-bhakti, love of Kṛṣṇa, that is also natural. It is not artificial. Nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-bhakti. But somehow or other, by our association with this material nature, we have forgotten. We are not material nature. That is the first education of Kṛṣṇa consciousness or spiritual knowledge. We are spiritual, and Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godead, He is also complete spirit. He is not material. Even the impersonalist, Śaṅkarācārya, he has described about Nārāyaṇa in his commentary on Bhagavad-gītā, nārāyaṇaḥ paraḥ avyaktāt. Nārāyaṇa, the Personality of Godhead, is not anything of this material world.
Lecture on BG 7.2 -- San Francisco, September 11, 1968:
Paramātmā is also personal. Everything is personal. Paramātmā is described as four-handed Nārāyaṇa with śaṇkha, cakra, gadā, padma, with, I mean to say, ornaments. That is the feature of Paramātmā. You have seen the Viṣṇu-mūrti. That is Paramātmā. This voidness is an imagination, voidness. Actually God or Paramātmā or Kṛṣṇa, They are all sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ, transcendental forms. They are not material forms.
Lecture on BG 7.4 -- Bombay, February 19, 1974:
If the soul is not there, if the child is dead, no more development. No more development. No dead child develops a body. Everyone knows. Therefore these material elements come from the spirit soul, not that spirit soul comes from the material elements. This is not. This is wrong theory. If it comes from the material combination, then why you cannot produce a living entity in the laboratory? In the laboratory, no, that is not... A material... Because... Material creation is there because I wanted a, such a circumstances, atmosphere, and anumantā, the Supreme Lord, He's the supreme sanction giver—He gives me opportunity to enter into a certain type of mother's body, and the material grows.
Lecture on BG 7.4 -- Vrndavana, August 10, 1974:
Just like this temple is constructed. If somebody says, "Yes, it is very nicely constructed, but it is all false," shall I be happy? No. And actually, why it is false? It is not false. It is Kṛṣṇa's energy, the bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ. What is this temple? This temple is combination of this bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ (BG 7.4). Tejo-vāri-mṛdāṁ vinimayaḥ. This brick, what is this brick? Brick means you take earth, mix with water and put into the fire—it becomes brick. And there is air. So it is Kṛṣṇa's energy. It is not material. It is Kṛṣṇa's energy. Because the philosophy is that Kṛṣṇa's energy should be used for Kṛṣṇa's purpose. Then it is spiritual. That is our philosophy.
Lecture on BG 7.5 -- Bombay, February 20, 1974:
They are thinking like that. No. It is not that. The material energy is being pushed forward by the spiritual energy. Jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho (BG 7.5). Jīva, living force. Jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho. And because the spiritual force is there, the material world is working. This is the conclusion. Not that the material force is working independently. Apareyam itas tu anyām. Anya means it is different. It is not material energy. Anyām, completely. Prakṛti. But it is prakṛti, not puruṣa. Puruṣa means the worker. Puruṣa is Kṛṣṇa. Puruṣa is Kṛṣṇa. As it will be admitted by Arjuna after hearing Bhagavad-gītā, puruṣaṁ śāśvatam. Paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān, puruṣam (BG 10.12). "You are puruṣa." Puruṣa means enjoyer, and prakṛti means enjoyed.
Lecture on BG 7.7 -- Bombay, February 22, 1974:
The saṅkīrtana movement is not manufactured in this material world. It is released from Vaikuṇṭha, the spiritual world. Golokera prema-dhana... Otherwise why we are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa...? It is not material sound. Any material sound, you chant thrice, you'll be tired. But you go on chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra twenty-four hours, you'll never be tired. Therefore it is not a sound of this material world; it is a sound of the spiritual world. Golokera prema-dhana, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, rati nā janmilo kene tāy. "I am not attracted to this." This is the lamentation of Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, a Vaiṣṇava. Saṁsāra-biṣānale, dibā-niśi hiyā jvale. "In this material existence, this eating, sleeping, mating and defending, with this business, always my heart is burning." Saṁsāra-biṣānale, dibā-niśi hiyā jvale, juṛāite nā kainu upāya. "I did not make any means to get out of this." Golokera prema-dhana. Therefore indirectly he is giving hint that human life is meant for worshiping Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa and chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra.
Lecture on BG 9.2 -- New York, November 22, 1966:
That is called rāja-vidyā. If I do not know what I am, what is my position, then if I am in mistaken about my situation, then all activities, what I am doing, they are all mistaken. They are all illusion. Therefore this position, rāja-vidyā, means one should know himself, what he is, and act accordingly. Simply by knowing that "I am not this material body," that is not sufficient. You must act accordingly, that you are not material; you are spiritual. That spiritual activity is called Kṛṣ..., act in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and that is called rāja-vidyā, the king of all education.
Lecture on BG 9.24-26 -- New York, December 12, 1966:
So there are different kinds of living entities and different kinds of comforts. They are highly intelligent, more intelligent than the human being. Therefore they are called demigods, almost God. So here Kṛṣṇa says, "Those who are trying to worship the demigods, they'll go to the planets of the demigods." Yānti deva-vratā devān pitṟn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ (BG 9.25). Pitṛ-vratāḥ. There is a form of worship of the forefathers. So there is a particular planet. The worshiper of the forefathers, they go there. Pitṟn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ. And bhūtejyā yānti. Bhūtāni yānti bhūtejyā. And those who are materialistic, those who want to worship these earthly things in this material..., not material world, everywhere, but bhūtejyā, especially material worship, so bhūtejyā, those who are worshiper of material elements, they go to... They remain in the material platform. Yānti mad-yājino 'pi mām: (BG 9.25) "And those who are worshiping Me, Lord, they will come to Me."
Lecture on BG 10.3 -- New York, January 2, 1967:
You will find some date in the history that the New York City was started four hundred years or five hundred years. So we have got, we are very much fond of history. That means finding out the date of birth of everything. So this is the nature. So "He is unborn" means that spiritual nature is not like this material nature. At once we can understand. Spiritual nature is born and... Material nature is born, and spiritual nature is not born. This is the distinction. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is not material, He is spiritual. Because He says unborn, therefore He is not material. Immediately you have to understand.
Lecture on BG 13.1-3 -- Durban, October 13, 1975:
Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke. This body, according to Ayurvedic system of medicine, this body is made of three elements—kapha, pitta, vāyu: mucus, bile, and cough. So anyway, so tri-dhātuke... This body, is made of material elements. I am spirit soul; I am not material element. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi: "I am spirit soul." This is knowledge. But if one does not take this knowledge, he remains with the bodily concept of life, "I finger," not "my finger," then he is in ignorance. "I head," not "my head." Nobody says, "I head." Everyone says "My head." But find out who is "I." This is knowledge.
Lecture on BG 13.15 -- Bombay, October 9, 1973:
In the Vedānta-sūtra it is said that the Absolute Truth is the origin of everything. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). So without a thing being existing in the Absolute Truth, how that can be manifested in this relative truth? This world is relative truth. So there is everything, but only one has to understand what is that everything. That everything is spiritual and this is material. When it is said that He's Sarvendriya-vivarjitam, that means He has no material senses. He has got senses. He has got eyes, He has got hands, legs, everything, but they are not material.
Lecture on BG 13.15 -- Bombay, October 9, 1973:
Just like Kṛṣṇa says, "I have got My body. But My body is not like your body. My body is different." That body is described, sarvataḥ pāṇi-pādaṁ tat. He has got such a body—it is expanded—that everywhere He has got His eyes and legs and hands and all other senses. In the next verse it is confirmed, sarvendriya-guṇābhāsam. He can see. Therefore He has got the eyes, guṇābhāsa, the origin of seeing power. But sarvendriya-vivarjitam. But He has no these material senses. When it is said sarvendriya-vivarjitam, "devoid of all senses," that means He's devoid of..., He has nothing to do with these material senses. He has got senses. He has got eyes, He has got ears, legs, everything. But they are not material. They are spiritual, but we cannot see spiritual.
Lecture on BG 13.18 -- Bombay, October 12, 1973:
Actually He is knowledge, and He is the object of knowledge, jñeyam, and one should try to understand Kṛṣṇa. Jñānaṁ jñeyaṁ jñāna-gamyam. And He is in everyone's heart. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). Simply we have to know the process how to know Him. That is explained already, We have discussed. Amānitvam adambhitvam ahiṁsā kṣāntir ārjavam (BG 13.8), ācāryopāsanam, indriya, vinigrahaḥ, bhakti-yoga... Māṁ ca yo 'vyabhicāreṇa bhakti-yogena... (BG 14.26). These things are already discussed. So human life is meant for understanding this. Athāto brahma-jijñā... These are all Brahman subject. They are not material subject matter. Tattva-vastu. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam (SB 1.2.11).
Lecture on BG 16.11-12 -- Hawaii, February 7, 1975:
Anything you do in the material world, there will be cintā, anxiety.
Just like in our, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, the movement, all the activities, they are not material. They're all spiritual. But still, because it is being enacted in the material world, we have also so much anxiety because we are in the material world, although that anxiety also bhakti. That is nothing else. That is not material. When we are anxious how to protect a property, how to push on this movement, how people will take it, what line of action we shall take, this is also anxiety, but that anxiety is for Kṛṣṇa.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Lecture on SB 1.1.2 -- London, August 18, 1971:
Yes. Spiritual master..., Kṛṣṇa is not limited. It is not material. You can associate with Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual master in any circumstance, provided you want two things. Just like we can associate with Kṛṣṇa immediately if we take Bhagavad-gītā as it is. He is not different from Bhagavad-gītā. Nāma-rūpe kali-kāle kṛṣṇa-avatāra. Kṛṣṇa is incarnated in His name in this age. You associate with Kṛṣṇa's name, immediately associate with Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on SB 1.2.5 -- Montreal, August 2, 1968:
If you want to serve God with some motive... Motiveless, ahaitukī, no cause. Ahaituky apratihatā. Apratihatā means it cannot be checked. If you want to render service to God, it cannot be checked at any circumstance. Nobody can say that "Because I am poor, I cannot serve God." No. God can be served both by the poor and the rich without any difficulty, because it is not material affair.
Lecture on SB 1.2.5 -- Edinburgh, July 17, 1972:
Everything is Kṛṣṇa's energy. Kṛṣṇa is spiritual, so His energy is also spiritual. But in the spiritual energy there is the possibility of forgetting Kṛṣṇa. That is called material energy. So if we remember Kṛṣṇa, that is not material energy. A man, stone, wood, brick and constructs a big, high skyscraper building; that is material energy. But the same stone, same wood, same cement, you construct a very nice temple of Kṛṣṇa, that is spiritual energy. Now, the question is how the woods and stones which is matter, becomes spiritual. Is not that the question? We say one man is constructing big skyscraper building with woods and stones, we say this is materialism.
Lecture on SB 1.2.7 -- Delhi, November 13, 1973:
Because everyone is working under the wrong impression that "I am this body," therefore he is ajñāna. He does not know that "I am not this body." As soon as he comes to the understanding that "I am not this body; I am spirit soul," then jñāna, immediately he will inquire, "Then what is the activities of the spirit soul? So far I have worked for the interest of my this body, but I have done nothing with the interest of my spirit, as I am. I am spirit soul." That is bhakti-yoga. The activities of the spirit soul, the activities of Brahman, is bhakti-yoga. Bhakti-yoga is not material activities. Bhakti-yoga is spiritual, pure spiritual activities.
Lecture on SB 1.2.17 -- San Francisco, March 25, 1967:
Spirit is described... We have already discussed on this point that the spirit is eternal. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre: (BG 2.20) "Even after the destruction of this body, the consciousness is not destroyed." That continues. Rather, consciousness transferred to another type of body makes me again alive to the material conception of life. And that is also described in the Bhagavad-gītā. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajaty ante kalevaram (BG 8.6). At the time of death, if our consciousness is pure, then it is sure that next life is not material.
Lecture on SB 1.2.30 -- Vrndavana, November 9, 1972:
That means above this creation. Nārāyaṇa, or Kṛṣṇa, is not one of the product of this creation. Just like our existence: we are one of the products of this creation. So Nārāyaṇa, or Kṛṣṇa, is not one of the products of this material creation; therefore it is to be understood that Kṛṣṇa's body is not material. But the Māyāvādī philosophers, they think like that, that Kṛṣṇa is God, but He has accepted a material body. This is Māyāvādī philosophy. But how Kṛṣṇa can accept a material body, because He existed before the material creation? Another consideration is that even if He accepts a material body, that is not material for Him. That is also spiritual. It appears to us as material, but that is spiritual. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). He has got multi-energies, and because He is spirit, complete spirit, therefore His energies are also spiritual. Sakti-śaktimator abhedaḥ. There cannot be any distinction between the powerful and the power.
Lecture on SB 1.3.1-3 -- San Francisco, March 28, 1968:
He spoke, "Let there be creation." "He spoke" means He's a person; otherwise how He can speak? But His personality is not material, because when He spoke there was no material creation.
Therefore the persons with less intelligence, they cannot understand that God's body is not matter. They think that anything has got a body is matter; but that is not the case. The real thing is that God has got body, but not material body. And it is confirmed in the Brahma-saṁhitā that īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). His body is eternal, full of bliss and full of knowledge. Just opposite.
Lecture on SB 1.3.21 -- Los Angeles, September 26, 1972:
So everything is there Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. That is the topmost knowledge. That is transcendental knowledge. That is not material knowledge. Material knowledge, if you write some book, it has no meaning, because it is defective. But Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is not ordinary knowledge. It is transcendental knowledge. There is no defect. Our this mundane brain is defective. We can't... Just like our scientist, Svarūpa Dāmodara. He was speaking that they make experiment in the laboratory according to formula, but still, there is some mistake. Still, there is some mistake. Practically, scientific advancement, scientific knowledge means to find out mistakes.
Lecture on SB 1.5.22 -- Vrndavana, August 3, 1974:
So they interpret that unless you become physically strong, you cannot make any spiritual advancement. So...? But in the Western countries we have seen, so many people physically very strong, stout and strong. Practically everyone. But what is their self..., advancement in self-realization? So these things are going on. So bala means spiritual strength, not material strength. Nāyam ātmā bala-hīnena labhyaḥ. That means one must be spiritually strong. And that spiritually strong means to have good faith in Kṛṣṇa and guru. That is spiritual strength. Therefore Baladeva means guru, spiritual strength.
Lecture on SB 1.5.32 -- Vrndavana, August 13, 1974:
They become purified. On the... Actually, they are eternal associates of Kṛṣṇa, the gopīs. They are not ordinary women. There are all description in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. They were dancing in their spiritual body, not in the material body. They were dancing in their spiritual body. Their material body was lying down with their husband. These are, these descriptions are there in the Bhāgavatam. So gopīs' līlā is not material. So there was no question of contamination. But materially this kind of activities, to dance at dead of night with young girl, that is not permitted. With other's wife. You can dance with your own wife, but you cannot do that. That is sinful.
Lecture on SB 1.7.6 -- Hyderabad, August 18, 1976:
So that is liberated stage. So when one has come to the liberated stage, from there he can begin mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām (BG 18.54). Bhakti means the activities of the liberated stage. That is not material things. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is little difficult to understand because these activities are for the persons who have already attained mokṣa.
Lecture on SB 1.7.7 -- Vrndavana, September 6, 1976:
So how one can understand Vāsudeva? Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān (BG 7.19). After many, many births. Because we are—all living entities in this material world—we are all rascals. We must know it. All rascals. Abodha-jataḥ. Everyone who is born in this material world, either he may be... Even Lord Brahmā, and down to the small insect. Anyone who has come to this material world... Because we are not material. We are spiritual identity. Na jāyate na mriyate vā. Never takes birth, never dies. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). This is the identification given by Lord Kṛṣṇa. But we are so foolish and rascals we never question that "My position is na jāyate na mriyate vā. I never take birth, never I die. Then why I am afraid of death and why I am actually undergoing birth and death? I am born, everyone knows. I come out from my mother. Therefore jāyate. So why I have taken birth? And again everyone knows, 'As sure as death,' mriyate vā. So why this discrepancy?" This is human being. The cats and dog, they cannot question these things.
Lecture on SB 1.7.9 Excerpt -- Vrndavana, September 8, 1976:
So how Caitanya Mahāprabhu was a great scholar—He is great in everything—but to make a show at least, He showed His scholarship in explaining this ātmārāma verse. Sa vai nivṛtti-nirataḥ sarvatropekṣako muniḥ. Nivṛtti means one who has ceased all material activities. He has practically nothing to do with this material world and still it is said, kasya vā bṛhatīm etām. And still, he went out and preached Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam when Parikṣit Mahārāja was going to die. So this is the question: how the ātmārāma becomes interested in other activities? He is ātmārāma, he is already satisfied. So these activities are not material activities. Nivṛtti-nirataḥ, we have to stop this material world, material activities.
Lecture on SB 1.7.10 -- Vrndavana, September 9, 1976:
At least, as we get information of Vṛndāvana from the śāstras, from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, how spontaneously the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana—the gopīs and the cowherds boys and the birds, beasts, the calves, the animals, the trees, everyone, even the flies, the bees, the insect, even the dust, the grass—everyone is..., they are all cinmaya, spiritual. They are not material. But they are attracted to Kṛṣṇa in different varieties.
Lecture on SB 1.7.11 -- Vrndavana, September 10, 1976:
So a pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa is also addressed Bhagavān. Pure devotee. Not that a magician. A pure devotee. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11). Bhagavān bādarāyaṇiḥ adhyagān mahād ākhyānam. This is mahād ākhyānam. It is not ordinary ākhyānam. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Amalaṁ purāṇam. He was liberated person, but being to hear about Kṛṣṇa more and more, this is not material; this is spiritual. Mahad ākhyānaṁ nityaṁ viṣṇu-jana-priyaḥ. Nityam. Bhāgavata is not for a saptāha. Bhāgavata is meant for nityam.
Lecture on SB 1.7.19 -- Vrndavana, September 16, 1976:
So this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is completely spiritual. If you chant it, spiritually enlightened, then surely it will act. Paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam. It will act. Therefore chanting is so important.
Chanting is not... Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura said this sound vibration is not this material sound. Kṛṣṇa is not material sound. It is Kṛṣṇa, spiritual. Abhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ. There is no difference between Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and His holy name, Kṛṣṇa. There is no difference.
Lecture on SB 1.7.19 -- Vrndavana, September 16, 1976:
And Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura therefore says that this holy name of Kṛṣṇa is imported from Goloka Vṛndāvana. It is not material sound. Golokera prema-dhana hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana. It is not ordinary sound. Don't take it as ordinary. Śabde-sāmānya buddhir hari-nāmni. That is nārakī-buddhi. Just like to consider the Deity as made of stone. Arcye viṣṇau śilā-dhīr guruṣu nara-matiḥ, to consider guru as ordinary human being. Similarly, to think śabde-sāmānya buddhiḥ, the holy name of the Lord as ordinary sound vibration, that this... That is nārakī.
Lecture on SB 1.7.20-21 -- Vrndavana, September 17, 1976:
So this was spoken by Dr. Ghosh, a personal experience. The mantra has got so much power. But not that you purchase the mantra and chant. That will not. You have to make it perfect. There is process, how to become perfect in chanting the mantra. Similarly... It is an ordinary, material mantra. This spiritual mantra... I have already explained. This Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is spiritual mantra. It is not material.
Lecture on SB 1.7.34-35 -- Vrndavana, September 28, 1976:
So we should not become brahma-bandhu. We should become actually brāhmaṇa. And brahma jānāti iti brāhmaṇaḥ. One who knows Brahman, he is brāhmaṇa. And one who knows Para-brahman, he is Vaiṣṇava. Brahman and Para-brahman. So Kṛṣṇa is Para-brahman. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān puruṣaṁ śāśvataṁ divyam (BG 10.12). So to realize Brahman realization... That is also spiritual. That is not material. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. That is spiritual.
Lecture on SB 1.7.40 -- Vrndavana, October 1, 1976:
Everything to the right point. Not a single farthing should be wasted. A Vaiṣṇava must be dakṣa, expert in everything. This is no excuse, that "I have become a devotee. Therefore I am callous to all material things." What material things? Nirbandhaḥ kṛṣṇa-sambandhe yuktaṁ vairāgyam ucyate. Anything in relationship with Kṛṣṇa, that is not material; that is spiritual. I have several times explained that this temple, don't think it is ordinary building. It is Vaikuṇṭha. Cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu. Kṛṣṇa has His house, prakara-sadmasu. Cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu. Sadma. Sadma means house.
Lecture on SB 1.8.18 -- New York, April 10, 1973:
Therefore Kṛṣṇa, when He is prakṛteḥ param, He is beyond this material nature. His body, His activities, His pastimes, His name, His form, everything, it is not material. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9). If everyone simply tries to understand Kṛṣṇa as He is in truth, then he becomes liberated, simply by understanding Kṛṣṇa. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. You try to understand Kṛṣṇa not by speculation, but as Kṛṣṇa says, as God says, or as a Kṛṣṇa devotee says. Just like Kuntī. Kuntī is a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. She said that "You are prakṛteḥ param." She is authority.
Lecture on SB 1.8.18 -- Mayapura, September 28, 1974:
So Kṛṣṇa is the only puruṣa. Prakṛteḥ param. So prakṛteḥ param. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is not a puruṣa like us. We are within the prakṛti. We are within the prakṛti. He is beyond the prakṛti. Therefore His body is not material. He's not within the prakṛti. But the rascals, they cannot understand this. They think that "Kṛṣṇa is like us." Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11). So because they are mūḍhas, they think that "Kṛṣṇa is like us, Kṛṣṇa has a body like us," but that is actually not the fact. Here Kuntī says, authority says, prakṛteḥ param. Prakṛteḥ param, alakṣyam. The prakṛteḥ param. Suppose something beyond our vision. Just like we are sitting down this house. We cannot see what is going on upstairs. Alakṣyam. So if Kṛṣṇa is a person beyond this material creation, how we can see Him? Alakṣyam. Alakṣyaṁ sarva-bhūtānām (SB 1.8.18). Still, He is in everyone's heart. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61).
Lecture on SB 1.8.20 -- Mayapura, September 30, 1974:
They cannot understand, because they are not muni. The muni means very thoughtful. And how one can become perfect muni? That is also said here. Amalātmanām. Amala. Mala means dirty things, and amala, amala means just the opposite. No. Amala, "a" means "no." His heart is cleansed of all dirty things. Such men. Amalātmanām. So these are the qualifications. Paramahaṁsa, one must be only spiritually interested like the swan. He is interested only to drink the milk, not the water. Similarly, one must become paramahaṁsa. One must be interested with spiritual advancement of life, not material. Reject. Reject it.
Lecture on SB 1.8.23 -- Mayapura, October 3, 1974:
Now Kṛṣṇa's activities... Because we have to know Kṛṣṇa... Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, janma karma me divyam (BG 4.9). His birth and His activities, both of them are transcendental, not material, because He is puruṣaṁ prakṛteḥ param. He is the person beyond this material nature who is not a created being of this material nature. That we should understand. Puruṣaṁ prakṛteḥ param. The original creator.
That means Kṛṣṇa existed before the creation. Because He existed before the creation, therefore His activities, His form, His qualities, they're not material. Prakṛteḥ param. But He comes upon this earth or in this material world. His activities are to save the devotees and to kill the demons, simultaneous. That we have already explained.
Lecture on SB 1.8.30 -- Mayapura, October 10, 1974:
Just like you have got gold mine under your feet. So you have to take it by working, by digging. You cannot say, "Now I have got the gold mine. Now sit down tightly." No. That is not material nature. But Kṛṣṇa has nothing to do. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. That is the Vedic instruction. That is akartuḥ. He has nothing to do. Why He has nothing to do? Now, because He has got many energies. Just like nowadays, by electronics, one man is sitting... We have seen the pilot. He's sitting in his place. He's simply pushing on the button, and the whole, big gigantic 747 is flying in the sky. We see the pilot is sitting there. He's doing nothing, but he's doing everything.
Lecture on SB 1.8.43 -- Mayapura, October 23, 1974:
There are three kinds of men: akāma... Akāma means one who has no desire. Desire there is—not material desire. Desire you cannot kill. Desire must be there. We have to simply transfer the quality of the desire. Instead of desiring material opulence, we have to desire the favor of Kṛṣṇa. That is spiritual.
Lecture on SB 1.8.47 -- Los Angeles, May 9, 1973:
So this sneha-moha, this so-called material affection, it is due to prākṛtena ātmanā. When we consider this body, "I am this body," then this sneha-moha, this illusion of affection, comes. Ātmanā. This ātma-śabda can be used in terms of this body, in terms of the mind, and in terms of the spirit soul. Therefore, distinctly it has been differentiated: prākṛtena ātmanā. Prākṛta means this body is prākṛta. This is not aprākṛta. But the soul is aprākṛta. Aprākṛta means not material, and prākṛta means material. So those who are absorbed in this material concept of life, they become in this way delusioned or illusioned. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ. So the others, they considered that "The Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira's this illusion is due to his conception of this body." This we have to avoid.
Lecture on SB 1.9.49 -- Mayapura, June 15, 1973:
So it is kalpa-taru, nigama-kalpa-taru; the Vedic knowledge is just like kalpa-taru. Kalpa-taru means desire tree. Anything you want from that tree... Just like here in this material world we can get mangoes from the mango tree, pineapple from the pineapple tree. If we ask the pineapple tree, "Give me mango," that is not possible. But in the spiritual world there are trees. That is described in the Brahma-saṁhitā. Cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam (Bs. 5.29). That is kalpa-vṛkṣa. You can get from any tree whatever you like. That is spiritual. So nigama-kalpa-taru. The kalpa-taru, the Vedas. The very word, referred, kalpa-taru, means it is not material. It is coming from the spiritual world, Veda. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo vedānta-kṛd vedānta-vid ca aham.
Lecture on SB 1.10.4 -- London, November 25, 1973:
So dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa (SB 4.8.41, Cc. Ādi 1.90). Dharma means to stay in one's constitutional position. That is dharma. Artha means keeping oneself in one's constitutional position to get livelihood, artha. Without artha, livelihood, kāma, the sense gratification, or fulfilling the needs of life...That is kāma. Just like devotees, they have also got kāma. We are trying to become devotee. This is also one kind of kāma, but this is spiritual kāma. It is not material. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has described, kāma kṛṣṇa-karmārpaṇe. Because there is kāma, and when the kāma is not fulfilled... Generally, materially, kāma means lust, desire. So if our kāma, lust or desire, is not fulfilled, the next position is krodha. Kāma krodha lobha moha mada mātsarya bhaya. These are different associates, one after another. If your desire is not fulfilled, then you become angry. Then after becoming angry, you become very greedy. Then you become bewildered, then become illusioned, then you become fearful.
Lecture on SB 1.15.27 -- New York, March 6, 1975:
This is the remedy. Golokera prema-dhana, this hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, this sound vibration, it is not material. Suppose if I would have advised my disciples that "You chant 'Mr. John, Mr. John, Mr. John,' " this movement would not have spread. (laughter) How long one can chant this "Mr. John, Mr. John"? Therefore it is the proof, that all over the world, we have got about hundred centers. Everywhere, hundred, two hundred, three hundred disciples are there. They're chanting, dancing, with Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Why? Because it is not material sound vibration. This is the proof. Don't think that Hare Kṛṣṇa chanting and chanting the name of Mr. John is the same, no. This is the proof. You can go on chanting twenty-four hours, Still, you will not feel tired.
Lecture on SB 1.15.27 -- New York, March 6, 1975:
This life, human life, it is not cats' and dogs' life. It is human life. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. One can realize the Absolute Truth if he is inquisitive. Brahma-jijñāsā. Just like you are advancing by inquiring. Jijñāsā. Jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam. Jijñāsuḥ. This is human life. Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam (SB 11.3.21). Uttama means which is not material, which is beyond material... Ut-tama . Ud-gata-tama yasmāt. Tama means darkness. Here they are so-called scholars, big big professor, scientist, and... but they are in the darkness, tama. Tama means darkness. They do not know what they are. Ask any scientist, any philosopher, "What you are?" He will say, "I am this body. I am Indian. I am American. I am white. I am black. I am this. I am that. I am Christian. I am Hindu." He will say. But all these designation is outward, external. Eho bāhya, āge kaha āra. But everyone is going on, big, big man, identifying himself with this body. So they are all fools, tama, in darkness.
Lecture on SB 1.16.26-30 -- Hawaii, January 23, 1974:
The godly qualities are there. Just like a small particle of the spark, it is carbon. When it comes out of the fire, then it is extinguished. But if you put again to the fire, it is carbon, again bright, brightened. Similarly, we are part and parcel of God, but if we fall down from the association of God, then we become..., appearing like material. But we are not material. It appears that extinguished. This is simultaneously... Acintya-bhedābheda-tattva. We are simultaneously one and different. As part and parcel in quality, we are one; but in quantity God is great, we are small particle.
Lecture on SB 2.1.1 -- Paris, June 9, 1974:
Our, this Bhāgavata system, or Vedic system, is not research work. It is not research work. Nowadays it is a fashion that... Just like the Theosophists. They're searching out God. Since the beginning, they're searching out. And so many leaders came and gone, but they are searching out. And they will go on searching out for lives together. But it is not a thing to be searched out. It is not ordinary thing, not material thing.
Lecture on SB 2.1.1-5 -- Melbourne, June 26, 1974:
So kṛṣṇa-praśna, inquiry about Kṛṣṇa, and to understand Kṛṣṇa means on the spiritual platform, ātmavit. That is not material body, material platform. Material platform means "I am this body; you are this body. So Kṛṣṇa is also like us. Kṛṣṇa has a material body, and He is like me." Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhāḥ (BG 9.11). Kṛṣṇa should not be considered as ordinary being. We are worshiping Kṛṣṇa in this temple, not an ordinary being. But Kṛṣṇa is so kind. He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān. He is greater than the greatest and still, He can become smaller than the smallest. That is his greatness.
Lecture on SB 2.1.3 -- Delhi, November 6, 1973:
Kṛṣṇa praśna, and Kṛṣṇa answer. So answer is śrotavya. So śrotavyādi, we are hearing so many answers. Just like you go to the market. We question and answer. There are so many questions, so many answers. But this Kṛṣṇa question and Kṛṣṇa answer, śrotavyādiṣu yaḥ paraḥ. Paraḥ means superior or transcendental. This is not material things. Nārāyaṇaḥ paraḥ avyaktāt. Anything about Nārāyaṇa, that is not of this material world. That is of the spiritual world. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa question and Kṛṣṇa answer, they are not material things.
Lecture on SB 2.1.5 -- Los Angeles, August 13, 1972:
So the question is that a liberated person is never attracted with anything which is material. That is the sign of liberated person. But he was attracted by the pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa. That means the pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa are not material activities. Otherwise how a liberated person can be attracted? For example, Lord Caitanya. Lord Caitanya, He took sannyāsa. He was very... Sannyāsī. For a sannyāsī to talk with women, to mix with women, is very restricted. So he was very much careful about Him, about this matter. Even some of the women who were wives of His disciples and devotees, they could not come near Caitanya Mahāprabhu. They would offer their obeisances from a distant place. They were not forbidden, but that was the system. But this Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He took pleasure in hearing about the gopīs. Just try to understand. So therefore gopīs' pastime with Kṛṣṇa, they are not material. They are spiritual.
Lecture on SB 2.1.5 -- Los Angeles, August 13, 1972:
So the study is that God said, "Let there be creation." So there was creation. Now this word existed before the creation, because "Let there be creation" means when God is speaking there was no creation. And the creation means this material world. Therefore this vibration is not material. So when God is saying, "Let there be creation," then He's a person. Therefore His personality is also transcendental, spiritual. Otherwise how He speaks? These things are there in the Vedic literature. Sa aikṣata: "He glanced over, and there was creation." And Bhagavad-gītā also it is said that mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10).
Lecture on SB 3.22.21 -- Tehran, August 10, 1976:
So things are to be adjusted as it is prescribed by great authorities. In Bhakti-rasāmṛta you'll find the regulative principles. That is called Vaiṣṇava-smṛti. So here we cannot live without working, and still we have to become always Kṛṣṇa conscious. This art, to understand and to practice, is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Then in spite of my being engaged in so many so-called material things Because a devotee has nothing to do with material things. Even if he works for maintenance of the body, that is not material. Just like Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, who was magistrate. But it is not for a magistrate to write so many books—siddhānta-pūrṇam. So he was in a different transcendental platform. So that is possible. The mind may be absorbed in Kṛṣṇa's thought, satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ (BG 9.14), tuṣyanti ca ramanti ca. That is possible by practice. Here Kardama Muni is a living example. And there are mahy other examples, that we can remain fully Kṛṣṇa conscious in spite of being engaged in so-called material activities. That is possible.
Lecture on SB 3.25.4 -- Bombay, November 4, 1974:
Therefore the shastric injunction is, Vedic injunction, that tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). If you want to know transcendental knowledge, tad-vijñāna... Tad-vijñā... It is also vijñāna. Actually, human life is meant for understanding tad-vijñāna. Tad-vijñāna means transcendental knowledge, not material knowledge, bodily. Bodily... Even a medical practitioner, he does not know, he has no knowledge of the spirit soul. He simply studies the mechanical arrangement of the body. The body's a big machine made by nature. It is called yantra.
Lecture on SB 3.25.5-6 -- Bombay, November 5, 1974:
The vision is the same mountain. But on account of my different position, I see hazy cloud or something green or something animated. But the final stage is the varieties. A mountain, there are so many trees, so many animals, so many men, so many houses—varieties.
So the Absolute Truth is not without varieties. That is spiritual variety. That is not material variety. But the Māyāvādīs, they think that... Because they are seeing the Absolute Truth from distant place, far away, they think that in the Absolute Truth there is no variety. As soon as there are varieties, it is material. That is their misunderstanding.
Lecture on SB 3.25.29 -- Bombay, November 29, 1974:
After realizing samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu, this principle, then you will have to enter into the devotional service, parā-bhakti. Parā-bhakti means transcendental. Bhakti means parā. Bhakti does not mean material. Material, it looks like material activities, but it is not material activities. Just like the example can be given just like a man, a boy is flying kite. He is, what is called, the reel? So sometimes he brings down the kite and sometimes he allows the kite to go. There are two kind of playing. So similarly, the one kind of activity means you are becoming free from the resultant action of activities, and one kind of activity is you are becoming entangled.
Lecture on SB 3.25.35 -- Bombay, December 4, 1974:
So rūpāṇi divyāni vara-pradāni. Divyāni. Divya means divine. Divyāni. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, janma karma ca me divyam (BG 4.9). Divyam. They are not material things. One has to see. So if you say, as it is said, sākaṁ vācaṁ spṛhaṇīyāṁ vadanti, spṛhaṇīyām, very favorably you talk... Suppose if I say, "You have no eyes. You are blind," this is not favorable. So the nondevotees, Māyāvādīs, they say that God has no eyes. So it is indirectly saying, "God is blind." So if I say, "You are blind. You nonsense, you are blind," is it favorably talking? Most unfavorable. Directly insulting. So those who are talking about God, nirākāra—no eyes, no leg, no head, no tail, nothing, nirākāra—they are simply blaspheming, not spṛhaṇīyām. God does not want to hear such nonsense things. Therefore it is said, sākaṁ vācaṁ spṛhaṇīyāṁ vadanti. You cannot say that "Kṛṣṇa is blind. Kṛṣṇa is lame. Kṛṣṇa has no hands. Kṛṣṇa has no nothing, nothing." Indirectly saying, "Kṛṣṇa has..., does not exist." This kind of addressing Kṛṣṇa, nirākāra, is not favorable talking with Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on SB 3.25.35 -- Bombay, December 4, 1974:
Anything imagination is not fact. It must be factual. And the factual information you get from the Vedas. Not only you get the Vedas, when Kṛṣṇa was present on this earth He exhibited His rūpa, His form, His activities, His līlā. Everything He exhibited so kindly. So you have to think of this kṛṣṇa-līlā, Kṛṣṇa's form, Kṛṣṇa's activities. Janma karma ca me divyam (BG 4.9). They are divine. They are not material, because Kṛṣṇa has got divine body, sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). But to favor us, because devotees are always anxious to see, therefore He comes.
Lecture on SB 3.26.4 -- Bombay, December 16, 1974:
So Kṛṣṇa, yadṛcchayaivopagatām abhyapadyata līlayā. Kṛṣṇa is līlā, and our coming here is not līlā. We are forced. We are forced. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa dehopapattaye (SB 3.31.1). Kṛṣṇa's body is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1). Kṛṣṇa's body is not material. Even if we think it is material, still, it is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. Just like one can argue that "Here is Kṛṣṇa's form. It is made of stone. How it is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha?" But if you know the nature of Kṛṣṇa, even He appears as stone, still He is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. How? Because the stone is also energy of Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on SB 3.26.28 -- Bombay, January 5, 1975:
Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam (Bs. 5.33). Advaita. Advaita is one, not that because He has expanded Himself into many forms, therefore He has got many, He has become many. No. He is one still. Pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam eva avaśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation). That is absolute knowledge, that the Supreme Lord, if He expands Himself into supreme for..., er, unlimited forms, unlimited supreme forms, still He remains supreme. It is not material; material is supreme. If you take one lakh of rupees, if you take one lakh of rupees, then it becomes zero. But in the spiritual world the Absolute means you take the Supreme, the Supreme may expand Himself into many millions of Supreme form; still, the original Supreme remains. Pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam eva avaśiṣyate. These things are spiritual understanding.
Lecture on SB 3.26.29 -- Bombay, January 6, 1975:
Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhiḥ. All the expansion, Kṛṣṇa—Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and the gopīs—they are expansion of ānanda-cinmaya-rasa; they are not material. They are all ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ (Bs. 5.37). They are also Kṛṣṇa's. Everything is Kṛṣṇa, separated and personal. So these are personal expansion. We are also Kṛṣṇa's. We are separated now in this material... Therefore we have forgotten Kṛṣṇa.
So ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ. Kṛṣṇa is enjoying, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1), by expanding His ānanda-cinmaya-rasa, transcendental bliss and spiritual, cinmaya, not material. And so unless we do not know the difference between the material and spiritual, we should not try to understand Kṛṣṇa's pleasure potency. If we try to understand Kṛṣṇa's pleasure potencies, then we will misunderstand that "Kṛṣṇa is also like us. He is enjoying amongst the young girls. Let us imitate it." That is falldown. Yes. That is called sahajiyā. But Kṛṣṇa's this enjoyment is not material. They are all spiritual.
Lecture on SB 3.26.29 -- Bombay, January 6, 1975:
He is enjoying amongst the young girls. Let us imitate it." That is falldown. Yes. That is called sahajiyā. But Kṛṣṇa's this enjoyment is not material. They are all spiritual. They are explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that when the gopīs came to Kṛṣṇa, they came in their spiritual body. The material body was lying down with their husband. The husband could not know that "My wife has gone to Kṛṣṇa." These are explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
So this is all spiritual. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa. Rasa, rasa means mellow, the juice. There is juice, but that is not material juice. Material juice is different.
Lecture on SB 3.26.47 -- Bombay, January 22, 1975:
Therefore Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has described this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, "not of this material sky." Golokera prema-dhana, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana. Hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, this is not a material sound. And in the Vedānta it is stated, śabdād anāvṛtti. By chanting the spiritual sound... The impersonalists, they chant oṁkāra. Praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu. All Vedic mantras are preceded by the spiritual oṁkāra. That oṁkāra... Kṛṣṇa says, akṣarāṇām akāro 'smi. Vedeṣu, praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu, A, U, M, These are described in the Bhagavad-gītā.
Lecture on SB 3.28.18 -- Nairobi, October 27, 1975:
When Kṛṣṇa was dancing, all the gopīs, they left their material body by the side of the husband, but they went to dance. That is spiritual body. That is not material body. So don't indulge in such a way, that "Kṛṣṇa's dancing and our dancing is the same." Then you will be mistaken. That will be offense.
Lecture on SB 5.5.1-2 -- Paris, August 12, 1973:
Prabhupāda: So God, because existing, His name was also existing. Therefore, His name is not material name. Because God was existing, His name was existing. So God was existing before creation, therefore His name, His form, is not material.
Jyotirmayī: (If the) name of God is not material, how is it possible to pronounce it materially, with our material tongue?
Prabhupāda: Yes, it is possible, when you are purified.
Lecture on SB 5.5.1-2 -- Paris, August 12, 1973:
Prabhupāda: That he cannot know, God, by living here. You are trying to know so many things, why don't you try to know God? Material life means one who does not know God, one who does not serve God. These are the two things. So if you know God and if you serve God, that is not material life. So if you try to know God, and if you serve God, that is not material life. (break)
Guest: ...to know the will of God.
Prabhupāda: You want to know? That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66), you give up all other occupation, simply surrender unto Him. That's all. This is the way.
Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Hyderabad, April 12, 1975:
So where is formlessness? There is no question of formlessness. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). When there is such question, formlessness means that is not material form. But there is form. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1), vigraha means form. But that is sat-cid-ānanda, eternal, full of bliss, and full of knowledge. This is not this form. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritaḥ, paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto: (BG 9.11) "These rascals, they do not know what I am. Therefore he's thinking that My form and his form is the same." Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā, unless one is mūḍha, he cannot say that God is formless. God has form.
Lecture on SB 5.5.3 -- Hyderabad, April 15, 1975:
What did, does He mean by nirguṇa? That let him explain first of all. What is nirguṇa? What does he mean by nirguṇa? Nirguṇaṁ guṇa-bhoktṛ ca. He is, Kṛṣṇa is described, nirguṇaṁ guṇa-bhoktṛ ca. He is nirguṇa, at the same time enjoyer of guṇas. What is that enjoyer of guṇa and nirguṇa? Can you explain? Nirguṇa means one who does not live under the condition of material guṇas, sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. Transcendental. That is called nirguṇa. But nirguṇa does not mean that He has no transcendental qualities. Just like Kṛṣṇa is bhakta-vatsala. That is His guṇa, but that is not material guṇa. That is spiritual guṇa. Kṛṣṇa is nirguṇa means, He is not controlled by the material qualities, but He has got innumerable spiritual qualities. That is called guṇavati. So unless we understand the distinction between matter and spirit, we cannot understand what is the meaning of nirguṇa. That is not possible.
Lecture on SB 5.5.19 -- Vrndavana, November 7, 1976:
Pradyumna: "My transcendental body, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1), looks exactly like a human form, but it is not a material human body. It is inconceivable. I am not forced by nature to accept a particular type of body; I take on a body by My own sweet will. My heart is also spiritual, and I always think of the welfare of My devotees. Therefore within My heart can be found the process of devotional service, which is meant for the devotees. Far from My heart have I abandoned irreligion, or adharma, and nondevotional activities. They do not appeal to Me. Due to all these transcendental qualities, people generally pray to Me as Ṛṣabhādeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the best of all living entities."
Prabhupāda:
- idaṁ śarīraṁ mama durvibhāvyaṁ
- sattvaṁ hi me hṛdayaṁ yatra dharmaḥ
- pṛṣṭhe kṛto me yad adharma ārād
- ato hi māṁ ṛṣabhaṁ prāhur āryāḥ
- (SB 5.5.19)
So, God, whether impersonal or personal, that we cannot conclude by our speculation. It is not possible. Durvibhāvyam. Durvibhāvyam means beyond your conception, beyond your speculation. But He says that idaṁ śarīram. He has got His body;He is not impersonal. He comes sometimes as incarnation. We can see Kṛṣṇa with two hands, two legs, one head. Veṇuṁ kvaṇantam aravinda dalāyatākṣaṁ barhāvataṁsam asitāmbuda-sundarāṅgam (Bs. 5.30). This is described in the Vedic literature. He has two hands and He is playing on flute.
Lecture on SB 5.5.24 -- Vrndavana, November 11, 1976:
That is spiritual platform, vasudeva. Then Vasudeva will beget Kṛṣṇa. Sattvaṁ viśuddhaṁ vasudeva-śabditam. So if we purify our existence, another Kṛṣṇa comes or Kṛṣṇa's devotees come. They come in śuddha-sattva. Sattvaṁ paramaṁ pavitram. Then naturally there is śamo damo titikṣa ārjavaṁ jñānaṁ vijñānaṁ āstikyam (BG 18.42). Naturally there is brāhmaṇa behavior. And when one becomes brāhmaṇa, pure, no material contamination, then bhakti appears, after becoming brāhmaṇa or brahma-bhūtaḥ, not material platform. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54). In the material platform, jīva-bhūtaḥ. But in the spiritual platform, brahma-bhūtaḥ.
Lecture on SB 5.5.31 -- Vrndavana, November 18, 1976:
So God's body is not material. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said, prākṛta kariyā māne viṣṇu-kalevara aparādha nāhi ara inhāra para. Anyone considering the body of Viṣṇu or Viṣṇu-tattva, Kṛṣṇa, Ṛṣabhadeva... They are not material body. A further description will be there—even the stool and urine also transcendental.
Lecture on SB 5.5.34 -- Vrndavana, November 21, 1976:
I am alive. Therefore if we engage our indriyas in the service of Kṛṣṇa, then this material..., not This is not material activities. To engage the senses in the matter of serving Kṛṣṇa, these are not material activities. These are all spiritual activities. And the difference between the Māyāvāda philosophy and Vaiṣṇava philosophy, that the Māyāvāda philosophy, they want to stop activities. They think stopping of all activities is perfection, śūnyam, śūnyavādi. Nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi. Simply stop material. But what is the positive engagement? That they do not know. That is the difference. Positive engagement means serving Kṛṣṇa. That positive engagement means, engagement means, acting means, the employment of the senses.
So when we employ our senses in the positive activities, that is liberation. That is liberation. Just like a diseased man and a healthy man, what is the difference? The difference is that a healthy man is engaged in healthy activities, and the diseased man is engaged in diseased activities. The diseased man is also lying down, and the healthy man is also lying down. There is vast of difference. The diseased man is also eating, and the healthy man is eating. There is vast difference. So these activities, devotional activities, are not material activities.
Lecture on SB 6.1.9 -- Honolulu, May 10, 1976:
The injunction is that tad viddhi, if you want to understand transcendental subject matter, not material, spiritual... Spiritual is completely unknown to us because we do not know what is spiritual. We are identifying with this body. You do not know even that "I am spirit soul." So where is the possibility of spiritual understanding? One cannot see himself, what he is. He is thinking, "I am this body," exactly like the dog. The dog is thinking, "I am dog." So if I think, "I am American," "I am Indian," where is the difference? There is no difference. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13). If one thinks that "I am this body," then he's no better than sa eva go-kharaḥ. The animals, they also think like that, "I am this body."
Lecture on SB 6.1.10 -- Los Angeles, June 23, 1975:
Therefore they cannot understand this movement. It is completely spiritual movement. It is not material movement. Therefore they sometimes mistake that "Your people are weak in health. They are becoming this and that. They do not eat meat, so vitality is less." Then "We are not concerned with the vitality. We are concerned with the spiritual life." Therefore they sometimes misunderstand. So anyway, people may understand or misunderstand—it doesn't matter. You go on with your kīrtana and make guarantee that there is no material life.
Thank you very much.
Lecture on SB 6.1.12 -- Los Angeles, June 25, 1975:
Just like if we go to a friend, so what is our inquiry? "You are happy with your family, with your children?" Because they have a family. But here is a saintly man. So what should we inquire? Inquire, the inquiry is aihiṣṭhaṁ yat tam punar-janme-jayāya: "My dear Viśvāmitra Muni, brāhmaṇa, I know that you are all trying to get release from repetition of birth and death." Why he has gone to the forest? He has gone to the forest for executing austerity, so that next life may be not material but spiritual life.
Lecture on SB 6.1.18 -- Denver, July 1, 1975:
They purchase prasādam. And if you go there, one thousand men—because there are pilgrims, they are coming, there is no—you will get immediately ready prasādam, purchased from the the market, the Jagannātha Purī, still. And there is no such thing as infection. I am taking your prasādam remnants. Whatever you left, I am... He is taking. Even if you are outcaste, if you are not brāhmaṇa, still there is. Because prasāda is transcendental. It is not material thing. So one must have faith that it is not material. It cannot be infected by any material things. In this way prasāda should be taken. It is called prasāda-sevā, not "prasāda enjoyment." Sevā means giving service. Prasāda is as good as Kṛṣṇa; therefore prasāda should be respected as good as Kṛṣṇa. As soon as one gets prasādam, immediately he touches on the head because it is Kṛṣṇa, absolute. In this way we have to be trained up as it is prescribed in the śāstras.
Lecture on SB 6.1.27-34 -- Surat, December 17, 1970:
By chanting the holy name of Nārāyaṇa, you immediately contact with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Nāma cintāmaṇiḥ kṛṣṇaś caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ (CC Madhya 17.133). Nāma, the Lord's name, is not material; it is spiritual. The sound is Brahman, śabda-brahma. Vedic sounds, they are śabda-brahma. They are not material sound. So nāma cintāmaṇiḥ, spiritual. Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's name, there is no difference. Nāma cintāmaṇiḥ kṛṣṇaś caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ (CC Madhya 17.133). Rasa, the transcendental mellows. Every one of us is searching after some mellow, some pleasure from everything. Kṛṣṇa is the reservoir of all pleasures, rasa-vigraha, fully personified. Wherever there is Kṛṣṇa, there is rasa, a transcendental mellow, enjoyment, relishable. Very Kṛṣṇa presence.
Lecture on SB 6.1.44 -- Los Angeles, July 25, 1975:
They accuse us. But they do not know that we do not distinguish matter and spirit. Anything which is used for Kṛṣṇa, that is spirit. This house, if you use for making a club, dancing club, that is material. And if this house is used for chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and dancing, that is spiritual. That is the difference, because actually everything is emanation from the supreme spirit soul, Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says bhūmir āpo 'nalaḥ vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca, apareyam. What you say material, that is also expansion of the energy of Kṛṣṇa. So actually it is not material. But when you use it for other purposes than Kṛṣṇa, that is material. You should know this philosophy very nicely.
Lecture on SB 7.5.1, Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, January 12, 1973:
Our defect is... Just like I have already explained that we are gold because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is the big gold, we are simply small particle of gold. That is the difference. But gold is always valuable, may be a small particle or big. So our position is transcendental. Our position is not material. But we have been captured by the material nature because we wanted to disobey the orders of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa bhuliya jīva bhoga vāñchā... And because we disobeyed or we did not like to serve Kṛṣṇa, therefore we have been sent into this material world.
Lecture on SB 7.6.7 -- Vrndavana, December 9, 1975:
It is not so easy to understand the loving affairs of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. It is meant for the most advanced spiritually. That is not ordinary thing. Not only the loving affairs of Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī, but everything... They are not material. They are all spiritual. It has nothing to do.
Lecture on SB 7.6.9-17 -- San Francisco, March 31, 1969:
Mahārāja Parīkṣit was cursed by a brāhmaṇa that he would die within seven days. So he simply heard this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam for seven days very seriously, and he was fully conscious of Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, he described also the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to Mahārāja Parīkṣit for seven days only. He also became fully Kṛṣṇa conscious. So it is a thing which is not material. In material calculation one has to wait. But here, as it is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhagavad-gītā, ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham (BG 4.11). According to the degree of surrender, Kṛṣṇa consciousness becomes revealed. The degree is in my hand. If I surrender fully, immediately, then Kṛṣṇa consciousness is aroused immediately.
Lecture on SB 7.9.10-11 -- Montreal, July 14, 1968:
A real Kṛṣṇa conscious person does not become Kṛṣṇa conscious for any other purpose. That Kṛṣṇa consciousness is his purpose. That is the end. That is the means. It is not a means to achieve some thing else. Bhakti is such thing. Therefore bhakti is transcendental. It is not material, that... In the material world, in exchange of something you get something else, but in the spiritual world the endeavor and the achievement the same thing. So actually, a person who is in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he has no such desire. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11).
Lecture on SB 7.9.22 -- Mayapur, February 29, 1976:
That is in this material world. So when Kṛṣṇa comes, He does not become affected or, rather, infected with these guṇas. Nirguṇa... That is nirguṇa. Nirguṇa guṇa-bhoktā ca. He's bhoktā. He's bhoktā or nirguṇa. Nirguṇa means spiritual guṇa, not material guṇa. When it is said, nirguṇa, "nirguṇa" means without any material quality. That is nirguṇa.
Lecture on SB 7.9.34 -- Mayapur, March 12, 1976:
They have no realization of the spiritual platform. Therefore you'll find all these great scientists, philosophers, they are simply concocting with mind. The mind has no value. With mind you cannot reach spiritual platform, because it is material. With material instrument you cannot go to the spiritual platform. It is not possible. God can be understood. God is all-spirit, and He can be understood by spiritual method, not material method. Material method means up to the standard of mental speculation and mental concoction. That is not the way. Mano-rathena āsato dhāvato bahiḥ.
Lecture on SB 7.9.49 -- Vrndavana, April 4, 1976:
So in this material world there is ādi, ādy-anta, beginning and ending. But Kṛṣṇa has no beginning or end. The material... Therefore Kṛṣṇa is not material. Urugāya. Kṛṣṇa is urugāya. Uru means He is exalted with nice, many, many ślokas, gāya. Gāya means songs, poetry. Uru. We cannot imagine. Uru-gāya. Just like in the Brahma-saṁhitā: yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ (Bs. 5.48). Loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ. So this jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ, mean Brahmā... Jagad-aṇḍa. Āṇḍa means egglike, egg-shaped, this Brahmāṇḍa or this universe. And there are jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ, plural number. So in each universe there is a chief living entity.
Lecture on SB 7.9.55 -- Vrndavana, April 10, 1976:
This is our philosophy. This microphone is Kṛṣṇa's. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1). So when it is used for Kṛṣṇa it is not material; it is spiritual.
- prāpañcikatayā buddhyā
- hari-sambandhi-vastunaḥ
- mumukṣubhiḥ parityāgo
- phalgu-vairāgyaṁ kathyate
So anything which can be used for Kṛṣṇa's service, that is not material; that is spiritual. So we must use it.
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, October 21, 1972:
I have several times explained that many persons on the platform of liberation also falls down. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). One who does not take shelter of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, even he is raised to the platform of liberation, there is chance of fall down. Āruhya kṛcchṛena paraṁ padam. Paraṁ padam means liberation, not material platform, but paraṁ padam. spiritual platform. Spiritual platform means liberation. So unless one is attached to... Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ (SB 10.2.32), why they fall down? Anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ. One who neglects to worship the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, even he is on the liberation platform, mukti, there is chance of falling down. And there are many examples.
The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 10, 1973:
If our workers are feeling tired, then that means he's working materially. And if he's feeling enthused, more and more, that is his, he's working spiritually. Ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam. That is the spiritual test. Rāmante yoginaḥ anante satyānande cid-ātmani (CC Madhya 9.29). That is cid-ātmani, that is spiritual, not material. So here, we are trying to enjoy material. So how we can be happy? That is not possible. Materially we cannot be happy, therefore Bhagavad-gītā gives us indication, sukham ātyantikaṁ yat tad atīndriya grāhyam (BG 6.21). If you want happiness, happiness is our prerogative. Every individual soul, happiness. Because Kṛṣṇa is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, eternal, blissful, ānanda. Ānanda, blissful. Cit, knowledge and sat, eternal. That is Kṛṣṇa. Sat-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ.
The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, October 29, 1972:
Pradyumna: "The cultivation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not material. The Lord has generally three energies, namely, the external energy, the internal energy, and the marginal energy. The living entities are called marginal energy and the material cosmic manifestation is the action of the external or material energy. Then..."
Prabhupāda: So parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). The Supreme Absolute Truth, Personality of Godhead, has got innumerable, multi-energies. Out of that, learned scholars, devotees, they have divided the whole energy into three, external, internal, and marginal. So the living entities, they are production of the marginal energy. The living entity is energy, prakṛti. Not the puruṣa. Puruṣa is Kṛṣṇa. We are all prakṛtis, all living entities. Prakṛti means predominated, and puruṣa means predominator. Just like we see, ordinarily, husband and wife, the husband is predominator and the wife is predominated. Although there is no difference between husband and wife. They are one, divided into two. Similarly, prakṛti and puruṣa, they are one. They are not two.
The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, October 30, 1972:
Everyone is trying to please Kṛṣṇa. The birds, the beasts, the trees, the land, the water, the cowherd boys, the gopīs, Kṛṣṇa's father, mother, elderly people—everyone—the central point is Kṛṣṇa. That is Vṛndāvana. So we can have Vṛndāvana anywhere and everywhere. Vṛndāvana is not that limited. It is not material. As Kṛṣṇa is not limited... Kṛṣṇa says in the Brahma-saṁhitā, goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ (Bs. 5.37). Just like Kṛṣṇa says that patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati, tad aham aśnāmi (BG 9.26). Now, one can say that "Kṛṣṇa is far, far away in the Goloka Vṛndāvana. How He will eat?" That is material conception.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.6 -- Mayapur, March 30, 1975:
We have got experience in our present life that intense love... Still there is feeling of separation. All these things are there in the spiritual world. Only perverted reflection of those spiritual feelings are manifested here in this material world. Therefore it is called perverted reflection. But everything is there, but they are not material. We should always understand that. Kṛṣṇa is perfect, Rādhārāṇī is perfect, and They are always constantly accompanied. Then why there is separation? And still, there is separation. So these are very high-grade understanding.
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.16 -- Mayapur, April 9, 1975:
Everything form, but that form is different from this form. That form is sat-cid-ānanda form—eternal, full of bliss, full of knowledge. This is not this material form. When we speak of formless, that means without any material form. Formless does not mean Kṛṣṇa and His expansion, they are formless. They are not of material form. Aprakṛta, not material. Here everything is prakṛta. It is not, neither, eternal nor blissful nor full of knowledge. It is temporary, full of ignorance and always miserable, this form.
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.16 -- Mayapur, April 9, 1975:
So in this way there is the description of the spiritual world. You just have a glimpse of the spiritual world, how they are perpetually enjoying blissful life with full knowledge. That is described here. Dīvyad-vṛndāraṇya-kalpa-drumādhah-śrīmad ratnāgāra-siṁhāsana-sthau. There the siṁhāsana, the throne, that is also spiritual. That is not material. Everything spiritual.
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.5 -- Mayapur, March 7, 1974:
When Kṛṣṇa wants to enjoy... The enjoyer... Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram (BG 5.29). He's enjoyer. So when He wants to enjoy, that is not material enjoyment. That is spiritual, superior energy, not material energy. Because Kṛṣṇa is the supreme, therefore He enjoys the superior energy. So Kṛṣṇa's... The Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa līlā is not material. One who understands Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa līlā as material, they are misled. Kṛṣṇa cannot enjoy anything material. He's supreme pleasure... If you say that "We are seeing daily that you are offering prasāda, the vegetable, rice. They are all material," no, they are not material. This is real understanding. How it is not material? That is acintya, inconceivable. Kṛṣṇa can turn material into spiritual and spiritual into material. That is Kṛṣṇa's inconceivable power, acintya-śakti. Unless you accept acintya-śakti of Kṛṣṇa, you cannot understand Kṛṣṇa. Acintya-śakti.
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.5 -- Mayapur, March 7, 1974:
He does not accept this mayic body. Etad īśanam īśasya. That is the, I mean to say, power, omnipotency of Kṛṣṇa. Even He accepts this material body, it does not mean that He is material. Just like we see the Deity, the Deity, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Deity, in our front. Everyone will say, "Oh, this is a Deity made of brass, material." But no, it is not material. You have to study in that way. Arcye viṣṇu śilā-dhīr guruṣu nara-matiḥ. These are nārakī buddhi. Vaiṣṇave jāti-buddhiḥ. The Deity as material, śiladhiḥ, considering as metal or stone or wood, and guruṣu nara-matiḥ, and guru as ordinary human being. Vaiṣṇave jāti-buddhiḥ: a Vaiṣṇava, to consider, "Here is American Vaiṣṇava and here is a brāhmaṇa vaiṣṇava." No, Vaiṣṇava is Vaiṣṇava. This is absolute.
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.8 -- Vrndavana, March 15, 1974:
So Kṛṣṇa's pastimes in Vṛndāvana with the cowherds boys and with the gopīs, they are all spiritual. They are not material. But Kṛṣṇa manifests, exhibits the līlā, coming here personally so that you may hear about Kṛṣṇa and you may be attracted: "So how I can go and play with Kṛṣṇa? How I can go and dance with Kṛṣṇa?" Or "How I can become a, in paternal affection with Kṛṣṇa? How I can become a tree, a grass, in Vṛndāvana, so that Kṛṣṇa may trample over me?" This is called Kṛṣṇa-prema. So Kṛṣṇa practically demonstrates, for the facility of the conditioned soul.
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.109-114 -- San Francisco, February 20, 1967:
Prabhupāda: No. That is also spiritual. That is not material.
Bhaktijana: What's left, then?
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Bhaktijana: What's left when Kṛṣṇa takes...?
Prabhupāda: That is spiritual. Unless it is spiritual... Just like... First try to understand how it is spiritual. Of course, in our gross vision, we see, "Oh, we offer this capati to Kṛṣṇa, and Swamijī said namo brahmaṇya devāya, and it becomes spiritual." Yes. It becomes spiritual. How? That we have to understand by the result. Phalena paricīyate. If you eat this spiritual food, you'll get spiritual strength. That is practical. Just like I'll give you another example: milk. You take more milk preparation, you get diarrhea. You go to a physician, he'll say, "Yes. Today you take only yogurt mixed with little salt and black pepper." Cured, diarrhea cured. Now, you can say, "The same milk?" But it is treated. Therefore it cures. You can say, "Oh, the same milk? Yogurt is also milk." But it is treated. Therefore it cures. So you'll find that your material disease is being cured by spiritual foodstuff. That is practical. Therefore it is spiritual.
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.113-17 -- San Francisco, February 22, 1967:
This is in the Ṛg-veda. I am sorry. This version, tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padaṁ sadā paśyanti sūrayaḥ, this version is from Ṛg-veda. Then again, in the Praśna Upaniṣad, there is another statement, sa īkṣāñcakre: "He glanced over, glanced over." "Glanced over" means when He glanced over, then the creation began, this material creation. Therefore it should be understanding, it should be understood that this glancing is not material because before His glancing there was no material creation. So our glancing and His glancing is different. Our glancing—we are seeing with these material eyes. As soon as these material eyes will be taken away, we cannot see. We are blind. But He... Here is the statement, īkṣāñcakre: "He saw." "He saw" means He saw with His spiritual eyes. Otherwise where is the material creation, that He can have material eyes? So these things are to be considered.
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.119 -- Gorakhpur, February 17, 1971:
So those who are merging into the Supreme Absolute, the jñānīs... Their ultimate goal is to merge into the Absolute Truth in His impersonal feature. That's all right; you can do so. That is also not this material; that is also spiritual. That is not material. If you want to merge... Generally, people think that is the ultimate goal. But that is not the ultimate goal. In the Īśopaniṣad you'll find that it is said that "Please wind up Your effulgence so that I can see the actual face." The same example that the sunshine is light. There is no doubt about it. This is different from darkness. This material world is darkness. Tamasi mā jyotir gamaḥ. The jyoti, the brahma-jyotir... It is recommended in the Vedas that you try to approach the jyoti; don't remain in this darkness of material world. That is the injunction of Vedas. And the whole process of emancipation is to, how to approach that Brahman effulgence.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 6.149-50 -- Gorakhpur, February 13, 1971:
"Anyone who offers Me anything," patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam (BG 9.26), "with devotion," bhaktyā... The very word is bhaktyā. That means Kṛṣṇa is transcendental person, and the Vedic mantra confirms. When the Vedic mantra says, apāṇi-pāda, "no hands, no legs," that is not imperson. "Person, but His hands and legs are not like us," that is apāṇi-pāda. Caitanya Mahāprabhu explains that. Apāṇi-pāda śruti varje prākṛta pāṇi-caraṇa: "When the Vedic mantra says that 'The Absolute Truth has no legs and no hands,' that means that the Personality of Godhead's hands and legs are not material." That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's explanation.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 6.149-50 -- Gorakhpur, February 13, 1971:
The Vedic mantra also it is said, nayam ātmā pravacanena labhyaḥ: "You cannot realize the ātmā, you cannot be self-realized, simply by talking. You may be very big speaker, nice speaker, but that is not the process—simply by speaking very nicely you can understand the Absolute Truth." Nayam ātmā pravacanena labhya na medhayā: "Neither you can understand the Absolute Truth because you have got a very nice brain, a great scientist." Then Sir Isaac Newton would have discovered what is God, or Professor Einstein or Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose, they could have understand. No, they cannot. Because they have very nice, finer tissues of the brain, it does not mean. It is a different process. It is a... To understand God or Kṛṣṇa, it is not material process.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 6.151-154 -- Gorakhpur, February 14, 1971:
In the beginning, the Veda says that the Supreme Personality of Godhead has no..., not personality. Brahma. He is person, of course. We say personality, but this personality is not material personality. Sighram cale evam sakala-vasta grahana kare: "He walks very quickly and He can accept whatever is offered to Him." So these very statements in the Vedas confirm that He has hands and legs, but not hands and legs like us. Apakrta. That we cannot understand. Aprakṛta. Prakṛta and aprakṛta. Prakṛta means things which are created, and aprakṛta means which are never created, sanātana. That we cannot understand.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 6.151-154 -- Gorakhpur, February 14, 1971:
The discussion was going with Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, a follower of the Śaṅkarite philosophy. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu has given Vedic evidences that the Supreme Personality of Godhead has His form, transcendental form, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, but His form is not material. That is the opinion of Śaṅkarācārya. Nārāyaṇa para avyaktāt: "Nārāyaṇa, He is transcendental to this creation." So in... With reference to this material creation, He is impersonal. But when we speak of the spiritual world, He is a person, sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Ṣaḍ-aiśvarya pūrṇa, pūrṇānanda vigraha yāṅhāra.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 6.151-154 -- Gorakhpur, February 14, 1971:
So ekāṁśena sthitaḥ, by His one part of energy, the whole material creation is there. He says, "I enter into this material world, and by expansion of My one part of energy, this material, whole material creation is there." There are many... Yasmād bhavanti vibhavanti viśanti. Yato vā imāni bhūtāni bhavanti. Yato vā imāni. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). There are many Vedic statements. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). That means the creation of this material world is from the Supreme Lord. Now, that creative energy of Supreme Lord is not material. That is spiritual. The material means the material world is created by the spiritual energy. Therefore, the spiritual energy (was) existing before the creation of the material world. Therefore, Viṣṇu's energy is not material.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.100-108 -- Bombay, November 9, 1975:
So that is not happiness. Happiness is different thing. Sukham ātyantikaṁ yat tad atīndriya grāhyam (BG 6.21). If you want happiness, that is spiritual happiness, not material happiness. So when he submitted that "Why I am suffering from these threefold miseries, adhyātmika, adhibhautika?" so that is real approaching of the spiritual master, that "Why I am suffering?" not that "Give me some mantra and medicine. I become happy. " No. The question should be... Just like if a person is serious to consult a physician, not that "Immediately give me some tablet. I become happy." No. The root disease must be treated. That is the relationship between the patient and... So Sanātana Gosvāmī is intelligent person, most intelligent person.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.102 -- Baltimore, July 7, 1976:
Guru means one who has seen the Absolute Truth. That is guru. Tattva-darśinaḥ, tattva means the Absolute Truth, and darśinaḥ, one who has seen. So this movement, our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, is for this purpose, to see the Absolute Truth, to understand the Absolute Truth, to know the problems of life and how to make a solution. These things are our subject matter. Our subject matter is not material things, that somehow or other you get a car and a good apartment and a good wife, then all your problems solved.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.110 -- New York, July 17, 1976:
We are going to become one with God, with effulgence." That oneness, you can stay within sunshine and be burnt up, but you cannot stay there. After your whims are fulfilled or you become disgusted... But because you have no information of serving Kṛṣṇa, then come down again to this material world and serve māyā—so-called hospitals and other things, philanthropic work. Because they have no information to serve Kṛṣṇa, the result is āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padam (SB 10.2.32). The Brahman is also paraṁ padam. It is not material; it is spiritual world. But because they have no shelter at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, they fall down again at the shelter of the māyā.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.112 -- Bombay, November 24, 1975:
We don't require to work. Everything is there for my enjoyment. But because we are now in this avidyā, ignorance, this material darkness, therefore I have to work. Avidyā-karma-samjñā. Karma is meant for this materialistic person. Bhakta does not require to take to karma, karma, jñāna, yoga, nothing. These are all material. Karma, jñāna, yoga, and bhakti. There are four primary principles for spiritual realization. So out of the four, karma, jñāna and yoga, they are all material, but bhakti is not material. That is spiritual.
Sri Brahma-samhita Lectures
Lecture on Brahma-samhita, Verse 33 -- Stockholm, September 6, 1973, Upsala University:
The Lord... Everything is not material. That is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1). Kṛṣṇa is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. His form is eternity, blissful and full of knowledge. So all His paraphernalia in the Goloka Vṛndāvana, that is His expansion of that quality, eternity, blissfulness and knowledge.
Lecture on Brahma-samhita, Lecture -- Stockholm, September 7, 1973:
The Lord, every (indistinct) is not material. That is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1). Kṛṣṇa is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. His form is eternity, blissful, and full of knowledge. So all His paraphernalia in the Goloka Vṛndāvana, that is His expansion of that quality—eternity, blissfulness and knowledge. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhiḥ. His gopīs, His consorts, His father, His mother, His friends, His trees, His flowers, His calves and cows—everything is spiritual expansion from Him. Everything... We are also expansion from Him. We are marginal potency, and this is spiritual potency. So everything is expansion.
Festival Lectures
Janmastami Lord Sri Krsna's Appearance Day -- Montreal, August 16, 1968:
We are requesting to you that you please come to the practices of Bhāgavata. Come to kīrtana. By chanting
Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare
you at once are elevated into the spiritual platform, and our contaminated material senses may become purified simply because of this association of the names of God. These names are absolute. They are not material. If you chant "water, water, water, water," your thirst will not be quenched. But if you cry "Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa," you may find your position in this world, where you came from, why are you here, what are you doing, where are you going. These questions man must answer, or he's not making use of his ability of man.
Radhastami, Srimati Radharani's Appearance Day -- Montreal, August 30, 1968:
We are trying to enjoy in the matter, in the dull matter. That is spiritual. So brahman, brahman sukhānubhūtyā. People are trying to feel what is brahma-sukha, pleasure of brahmānubhāva. That is not material pleasure. So many yogis, they have given up their family life, their kingdom, and meditating to achieve that Brahman pleasure. Actually, the idea is Brahman pleasure. So many brahmacārīs, so many sannyāsīs, they are trying to achieve that Brahman pleasure, and in order to achieve that Brahman pleasure they are neglecting, they are kicking off all this material pleasure.
His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Appearance Day, Lecture -- Atlanta, March 2, 1975:
Similarly, Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's representative, spiritual master, if you keep always intact, in link with the words and instruction of the superior authorities, then you are always fresh. This is spiritual understanding. Na jāyate na mrīyate vā kadācit nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ purāṇo (BG 2.20). Purāṇaḥ means very old. Just like Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Being. He must be very old because He is the original person. But the Brahma-saṁhitā says, advaita acyuta anādi ananta-rūpam ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣa nava-yauvanaṁ ca (Bs. 5.33). Purāṇa-puruṣa, the oldest person, but you will find Him nava-yauvanaṁ ca, always a fresh youth. That is God. God is not a material, that it gets old. The body gets old.
Initiation Lectures
Initiation of Hrsikesa Dasa and Marriage of Satsvarupa and Jadurani -- New York, September 5, 1968:
And there is no separation. It is... There is no question of divorce or separation. In any condition of life, happiness or distress, you shall continue as husband and wife, because our main business is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This marriage is not material marriage for sense gratification. But because there are girls and boys and we require also Kṛṣṇa conscious population, therefore we encourage this marriage. It is not for sense gratification. So in this way there is no question of separation or divorce. You admit this? Yes. You also admit this? Then you change your garland.
Initiations -- Los Angeles, January 10, 1969:
Now this function, this ceremony which is going on, it is not a material ceremony. Material ceremony, of course... Just like in our country there are so many pūjās, satyanārāyaṇa-kathā, like that. Their aim is to gain some material profit. So that kind of function is not this initiation. Here there is no question of gaining any material profit. Here the process is to become purified and become eligible to enter into the kingdom of God. That is the aim. Not that "By initiation, by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, now my income is one hundred dollars. I will get one thousand dollars." No. There is no question of dollar calculation. It is no mammon's philosophy. It is real Kṛṣṇa consciousness philosophy.
General Lectures
Lecture -- San Francisco, April 2, 1968:
So it is very nice movement, and it is very easy to chant. Now before me... I am Indian, you are all Americans. This Hare Kṛṣṇa, this vibration may be foreign to you, but there is no difficulty to chant. The words may be in Sanskrit, but it is not difficult to chant. And if you simply chant, you get the result because it is transcendental vibration. Just like when television or radio vibration is there, either in India, America, everywhere the vibration is equally beneficial. Similarly, this transcendental vibration is coming down from the transcendental world. It is not material sound. It is not hackneyed. If you chant, if you practice, you'll realize it. So our request is that without any charges, without any fee, without any bluff, we say that you please chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.
Thank you very much.
Lecture -- Hawaii, March 23, 1969:
The instance is Prahlāda Mahārāja. Prahlāda Mahārāja, when he was in his womb of his mother, one saintly sage taught his mother about Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and the child became Kṛṣṇa conscious from the womb of his mother. So we can teach even in the womb of the mother because it is spiritual. It is not material. No material condition can check this teaching. Ahaituky apratihatā. That is the highest perfectional system of religion which is unchecked and develops love of Godhead. That is first-class religion, not under any condition. Ahaituky apratihatā. Apratihatā means without being checked. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not such thing that because one is child, he cannot learn; because one is blind, he cannot learn; because one is poor, therefore he cannot... Because one is rich... No condition, anyone, simply he must be a living entity, that's all. He must not be a dead stone. If he has got life, he can learn Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is so simple and so nice.
Lecture -- Boston, April 25, 1969:
We should always remember that our, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness begins from the fact that we living entities, we are not material product. We are part and parcel of God. We are qualitatively one with God but quantitatively different from Him. That is our philosophy. Living entity and God, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, they are qualitatively one. God is also a living entity like you and me, but He is qualitatively unlimitedly powerful. That is the difference.
Lecture Excerpt -- Bombay, November 7, 1970:
The first instruction is, the Lord says, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). I think I have explained this several times. Again, repeatedly, just like we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa repeatedly. There is no, I mean to say, tiredsomeness. These boys, they can chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra twenty-four hours, they will never get tired. They will dance and they will chant. And you also, if you try it you will never get tired. Because it is not material. In the material world if you chant anything, any favorite name for three, four, or ten times, you will get tired. Yes. That's a fact. But because it is not material, if you chant this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra you will never get tired.
Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, February 23, 1971:
This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is a self-purification movement. The method is vibration of transcendental sound. This Hare Kṛṣṇa, this sound, is not material sound. It is descended from the spiritual world. Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's name—not different. Abhinnatvāṁ nāma-nāminoḥ. As in this material world there is difference between the name and the substance... If you are thirsty, then if you simply chant "water, water, water," your thirst will not be quenched. You have to get the substance water. But in the spiritual world it is, being absolute, the name and the person whose name we are chanting, they are the same.
Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, April 10, 1971:
So Kṛṣṇa can change superior energy into inferior energy and inferior energy into superior energy. That is His omnipotency. As such, when Kṛṣṇa appears within this material world, even though He assumes a so-called material body, according to the Māyāvādī philosophers, that is not material. He can change into spiritual. That is His omnipotency. Sambhavāmy ātmā-māyayā (BG 4.6). Just like the electrical engineer, the same electrical energy, he can use it for refrigerator and he can use it for heater. It is his manipulation. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa, by His Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, He can turn this material world into spiritual world simply by changing the consciousness. That is in His power.
Pandal Lecture -- November 14, 1971, Delhi:
Mukti means to become transcendental to the three guṇas. Traiguṇya-viṣayā vedā nistraiguṇyo bhavārjuna. So Bhāgavata-dharma is in the transcendental platform. It is not material. There are two kinds of dharmas: material and spiritual, because we are combination of matter and spirit at the present moment. So long I want to enjoy this material world or to satisfy my senses... This material body means combination of senses.
Lecture at Caitanya Matha -- Visakhapatnam, February 19, 1972:
So, as it is the cause of the different leaves and flowers and fruit, is the heat and light of the sun, similarly, Kṛṣṇa has got two kinds of energies. That is also heat and light. That heat and light is spiritual energy and material energy. The material energy, not material energy, material energy is practically darkness, there is no light. The Vedic instruction is therefore that, don't keep yourself within this darkness, tamasi mā jyotir gamaḥ. There is another sky. Just like in this sky, you will find it is darkness. Naturally it is darkness. Because there is darkness, therefore Kṛṣṇa has created the sun.
Lecture -- Bombay, March 18, 1972:
The highest yogi is bhakti-yogī. These boys and girls that have taken this bhakti-yoga, they are the topmost yogis. So yoginam ramante. They also enjoy. Ramante yoginam anante. But their reciprocation of sense gratification is with the ananta, the supreme unlimited. Ramante yoginam anante satyānanda. That is real happiness, satyānanda. Here in this material world, that is mithyānanda, but real ānanda is to reciprocate with the Supreme, just like Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa līlā. So ramante yoginam anante satyānanda-cid-ātmani. And that is not material. Cit. That is spiritual, cid-ātmani. Iti rāma-padenāsau paraṁ brahmābhidhīyate (CC Madhya 9.29). Therefore rāma, rāma means to enjoy spiritual bliss satyānanda. That is, that should be the aim of human form of life. Human form of life is a chance to come back to the real platform of transcendental bliss. And if we waste our time simply for animal sense gratification like dogs and hogs, then you are wasting your time.
Lecture -- Jakarta, February 26, 1973:
So there is the pleasure, this sex attraction. But that sex attraction is not material, Kṛṣṇa, rādhā kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir hlādinī śaktir asmāt, ekātmānāv api deha bhedaṁ gatau. Try to understand. For Brahman perception, Brahman pleasure, a great saintly person, he gives up everything material. He takes sannyāsa, he goes, undergoes severe penances, just to realize brahmānanda. So when Brahman... A person, ordinary person, to realize brahmānanda, he gives up everything material, do you think Kṛṣṇa, the Para-brahman, is enjoying something material? Just try to understand. Kṛṣṇa does not enjoy anything. He's Para-brahman.
Lecture at Upsala University Faculty -- Stockholm, September 7, 1973:
So Kṛṣṇa, about Kṛṣṇa it is said that He is the supreme controller and He has got His form, His body, which is not made of these material ingredients. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Vigrahaḥ means body. So He has got body. But what kind of body? Sac-cid-ānanda. It is, the ingredients are spiritual, not material. Here, the ingredients, gross body I have got, you have got—earth, water, air, fire, mind, intelligence, ego—these ingredients. But Kṛṣṇa's body, the ingredients are sac-cid-ānanda. Sat means eternity, cit means knowledge, and ānanda means blissfulness. That is His body, sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ. But He has got a body.
Lecture -- Bombay, September 25, 1973:
Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, the father of saṅkīrtana movement within two hundred years. He was ācārya and a householder, gṛhastha. He was very responsible officer, magistrate, householder. But he was a great devotee. Not only devotee-ācārya in the line of Caitanya Mahāprabhu disciplic succession, ācārya. So he sung, ye dine gṛhete bhajana dekhi, gṛhete goloka bhāya: "The day whenever we find there is bhajana," means worshiping the Supreme Lord, "at that time immediately the house becomes Vaikuṇṭha." Actually, that is so. Vaikuṇṭha or Goloka Vṛndāvana is not material things. Just like Kṛṣṇa is not material. Kṛṣṇa... As Kṛṣṇa can stay in His abode, Goloka Vṛndāvana, and still He can stay everywhere... Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham. That is Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture -- Hong Kong, January 31, 1974:
Many big, big kings came and gone. Who is performing the birthday ceremony of that king? But we perform according to Vedic system the birthday ceremony of Lord Rāmacandra. Nowadays we have imitated so many other birthday ceremonies, but in the śāstra it is enjoined the birthday ceremony of the advent of God should be observed. The birthday ceremony of God is called jayantī. That is special constellation of the stars. But now the jayantī has been used for so many rascals and fools. This is not śāstric. So because Kṛṣṇa's janma and ordinary man's janma is not the same thing, therefore Kṛṣṇa says, janma karma ca me divyam (BG 4.9). Divyam means transcendental, not material. Not material. It is spiritual or transcendental, divyam. Janma karma ca me divyam evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9). Still you have to learn it in truth.
Lecture on Manipur Dancing -- Mayapur, March 29, 1975:
So people are hankering after happiness because he's part and parcel of sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, Kṛṣṇa. So naturally, we are seeking the same spiritual happiness, but we are being misled by māyā. That we should be very much cautious under the guidance of proper spiritual master. And this morning we're discussing this verse from Caitanya-caritāmṛta, rādhā kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir ahladini-śaktir asmat. The rādhā kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtiḥ, loving affairs between Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, and the gopīs are expansion of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. That is ānanda-cinmaya-rasa. That is not material thing. It is a transformation of the pleasure potency of Kṛṣṇa. Rādhā kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir ahlādinī-śaktir asmāt. So this Kṛṣṇa conscious movement is meant for taking these misguided living beings to the topmost perfection of life in the rādhā-kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛti. This is the aim of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, and in India still, in Manipur, the idea is being cultivated, and I shall be very glad that you Europeans and Americans who are present here may catch up this idea and introduce in your country. And actually they'll be happy if they follow the principles that vikrīḍitaṁ vraja-vadhūbhir idaṁ ca viṣṇoḥ.
Speech -- Vrndavana, April 27, 1975:
That is confirmed in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: ahaituky apratihatā. That he has very nicely explained, quoting many authoritative statement from scriptures. And another thing... It is a fact that nobody can check Kṛṣṇa-bhakti. It is transcendental; it is not material. Unless one acts on the platform of spiritual activities, one cannot understand why bhakti is apratihatā. Pratihatā means checked by impediments. So that is for material things. Just like a living being, a soul, he is checked by this material body. Otherwise a living being can go anywhere, sarva-gaḥ. The spirit soul is free to move anywhere, but because we are now covered by the material body, we are checked. But devotional service is on the transcendental platform; it cannot be checked. Therefore in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is explained, ahaituky apratihatā yenātmā samprasīdati.
Lecture -- Bombay, April 1, 1977:
So what is that verse? Divya-jñāna hṛde prakāśito. Just recite that. (Indians repeat) Before that. (prema-bhakti yāhā hoite, avidyā vināśa yāte) So the necessity is prema-bhakti. Prema-bhakti yāhā hoite, avidyā vināśa yāte, divya-jñāna. So what is that divya-jñāna? Divya means transcendental, not material. Tapo divyam (SB 5.5.1). Divyam means we are combination of matter and spirit. That spirit is divya, transcendental. Apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parā (BG 7.5). That is parā prakṛti, superior. If there is the superior identity... And for understanding that superior identity we require superior knowledge, not ordinary knowledge.
Philosophy Discussions
Philosophy Discussion on Hegel:
Prabhupāda: This is our philosophy, Rūpa Gosvāmī's philosophy. That hari-sambandhi-vastunaḥ; everything has relation with Kṛṣṇa and those who are giving it up, "No, no it is matter, brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā, this is false," Rūpa Gosvāmī says, phalgu-vairāgya, that kind of renunciation is insufficient or, phalgu means false, false renunciation. So our renunciation means renounce things for sense gratification. That's all. (indistinct) we renounce anything for our sense gratification, but we accept everything for Kṛṣṇa's senses. But actually everything is spiritual. Just like if Kṛṣṇa does not accept anything material but they argue that you are offering material flower, material food, how will Kṛṣṇa accept? Therefore in essence it is not material, but because we have been habituated to accept them for our sense gratification, therefore it is material.
Philosophy Discussion on Henri Bergson:
Prabhupāda: That's, what is called, that is the nature. First, first of all something is created, then it develops, it stays for some time, then it becomes old, dwindling, and then finished. This is called six changes of sarvika (?), of anything material. But a spirit soul is not material. He is not subjected to all these changes. This is our practical experience. The body is changing but spirit soul is the same. He remembers that "I had this body, a child's body. I have this young boy's body." He remembers; therefore he is eternal. The change is taking place of the body, so therefore the soul has nothing to do with the bodily changes. He has got his perpetual duty, perpetual activity—that is devotional service. So he has to be trained up in that perpetual duty, then he will stop this process of bodily changes, he will remain in his eternal body, spiritual body. That is going back to home, back to Godhead.
Philosophy Discussion on William James:
Prabhupāda: That is fact. That, that we say. The gross body, when it is finished, the subtle body—mind, intelligence, ego-remains. That carries me to another gross body. Just like the example is, there is a flavor. You cannot see, but it is carried by the air. If it is coming from the rose garden, you say, "Oh, very nice flavor." You cannot see it, but it is carried by the subtle air. Similarly, I, the spirit soul, when I give up this gross body, then I am carried. I have got body still. That is subtle body—mind, intelligence, and ego. And according to my desire, that subtle body grows into another gross body.
Śyāmasundara: So the mind and the intelligence, they are not material? That means...
Prabhupāda: Material. Subtle.
Philosophy Discussion on Sigmund Freud:
Prabhupāda: No, that is..., he is not... That is the defect. He does not know perfectly anything, and he is philosophizing. That is the defect. Not only in him—I find these all mental speculators, that is the defect. Everything is possible, but our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is different from his imagination. Our philosophy is that so long one has the sex inclination, he will have to accept a material body. And as soon as he accepts a material body, he becomes implicated in so many miserable condition of material existence. But there is another life, which is not material, that is spiritual. If one is trained up to accept that spiritual life, there will be no more botheration of this material existence. That he does not know, neither he can understand. But there is such thing. That can be found in the Vedic civilization, not this meat-eating civilization. It is not possible.
Philosophy Discussion on Carl Gustav Jung:
Prabhupāda: ...it finishes, but of course this idea can be maintained. In the higher sense, that is not gross body; that is spiritual body. That is applicable to God and special representative of God, not to all. Then that is not material body; that is spiritual body. Means when God appears He appears in His spiritual body. It does not change. Just like Kṛṣṇa says that millions of years ago He spoke to the sun-god, and Arjuna questioned, "How it is to be understood that millions of years ago You spoke it?" So He said that "Yes, I did. You were also present, but you do not remember. I remember." So how it is possible? One who does not change the body, He can remember. Just like when we do not change the body, I can remember, but when we change body we do not remember. This is the principle. So this resurrection, I do not know what the exact meaning, but as to the Bhagavad-gītā, it is said, Kṛṣṇa said, sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6). He comes in His original body, not covered by material body. Therefore, because He has no material body, there is no change.
Philosophy Discussion on Carl Gustav Jung:
Hayagrīva: He feels that a materialistic Western capitalism cannot possibly defeat a pseudoreligion like Marxism. He says that the only way to combat atheistic Communism is for the individual to adopt, to adopt a nonmaterialistic religion.
Prabhupāda: That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It has nothing to do with materialistic "isms." It is directly connect, connected with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. God demands that sarva-dharmān parityajya mām (BG 18.66). So we are teaching that "You, you are servant, but your service is wrongly placed; therefore you are not happy. You place or render the service to Kṛṣṇa, you will be happy." This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We are neither for capitalism nor for so-called Communism, or not for so-called religion also. We are only for Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Philosophy Discussion on Carl Gustav Jung:
Hayagrīva: Jung laments the fact that such a nonmaterialistic faith does not presently exist in the West. He writes, "Not only does the West lack a uniform faith that could block the progress of a fanatical ideology"—that is Marxism—"but as the father of Marxist philosophy," because Marx was a Westerner, "it makes use of exactly the same spiritual," so-called spiritual, "assumptions, the same arguments and aims." So he feels that man is desperately in need of a religion that has immediate meaning, and he feels that Christianity is no longer effective in combating this.
Prabhupāda: He has predicted very nice. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, which is above everything, either Christianism or Marxism or capitalism or anything. It is based on Bhagavad-gītā, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). So actually it is a fact. Kṛṣṇa says that if you adopt this principle of life, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then you will remain above all sinful reaction of life and make progress spiritually, gradually.
Philosophy Discussion on Aristotle:
Hayagrīva: Here's another point. Aristotle says that it is not material objects that are trying to realize God, like as Plato says, but God realizing Himself through material objects. God does this in a variegated way and in an infinite way. So God realizes the potentiality of a rose or of a man by creating a rose, a flower, a man that is perceivable by the material senses. So the world is more real to Aristotle than it is to Plato.
Prabhupāda: If God has created the material world and material variety, so means He is in full awareness how to do things nicely. That is perfectness of God. He knows everything how to do it perfectly, naturally. Just like even a child, we get daily experience, when we offer some cake in the Deity room, the child immediately takes it and puts in the mouth. Although she is very small baby, (s)he doesn't require any education about taking the cake and what to do with it. Immediately puts in the mouth. So this natural, what is called, knowledge, that is God's knowledge. He knows everything perfectly well, and when He produces a rose flower, it is all-perfect. That is God's... God is not..., He has to get the knowledge through some source. He is already in awareness of everything. That is God. So He hasn't got to know His capacity through matter.
Philosophy Discussion on Aristotle:
Hayagrīva: Aristotle defines God as pure form and pure act and purely nonmaterial. He is absolute spirit and is the unmoved mover.
Prabhupāda: Yes. He is absolute spirit, there is no doubt upon it, but why He should come to know Himself through material world? That is defective.
Philosophy Discussion on Plotinus:
Hayagrīva: He uses this following metaphor. He says, "We are like a chorus grouped about a conductor who allow their attention to be distracted by the audience. If, however, they"—that is we, the individual souls—"were to turn toward their conductor, they would sing as they should and would really be with him. We are always around the One. If we were not, we would dissolve and cease to exist. Yet our gaze does not remain fixed upon the One. When we look at it, we then attain the end of our desires and find rest. Then it is that all discord passes. We dance an inspired dance around it. In this dance the soul looks upon the source of life, the source of the intelligence, the root of being, the cause of the good, the root of the soul. All these entities emanate from the One without any lessening, for it is not a material mass."
Prabhupāda: Yes. There is good sense, that God is individual and the soul is individual. As he has given the metaphor or analogy that the con..., parties of a concert party...
Devotee: Conductor and a chorus.
Prabhupāda: ...they are singing in the tune, sometimes attention diverted by the audience, it becomes out of the tune. Similarly we, when we divert our attention to the illusory energy, then we fall down, and although we remain the same part and parcel of the Lord, but the influence of the material energy covers us, and we identify with the covering elements, and life after life bodies changing, and we are identify with the covering, and this is our miserable condition of material existence. And therefore first education is that "I am not this covering." That is spiritual education. That is the beginning of Bhagavad-gītā instruction, that "You are not this body.
Philosophy Discussion on Thomas Aquinas:
Hayagrīva: Aquinas believed that only God and the angels have form that is not material. There is no difference between God's form and His spiritual self.
Prabhupāda: Yes. As in the material world any form-man or beast or anyone—in the outward, external covering is matter, but within the matter there is the soul. The soul has form and God has form. That is real form. And the material form is simply shirting and coating over the spiritual body.
Philosophy Discussion on Thomas Aquinas:
Hayagrīva: Not..., nonmaterial.
Prabhupāda: We don't find, even the biggest mountain cannot create anything, but when the spirit soul or the human being takes a stone, he can give a form to the stone. But the mountain, although it is very big, it cannot give any particular form to the stone. It remains stone.
Purports to Songs
Purport & Explanation to Hari Hari Biphale -- Los Angeles, December 26, 1968:
Prabhupāda: Yes. Two kinds of knowledge are there. You can practically understand by experiment. This is called jāniyā. And another knowledge is by hearing from authoritative source. That is also knowledge. Jāniyā śuniyā "By hearing process and by experimental knowledge, in both ways, I know that this human form of life is meant for engaging in the loving service of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, but I did not do that. That means purposefully I have drunk poison. I have committed suicide." Then golokera prema-dhana, g-o-l-e... No. G-o-l-o-k-e-r-a, golokera. Prema,
p-r-e-m-a, prema. Dhana, d-h-a-n-a. Golokera prema-dhana. That means: "This chanting, Hare Kṛṣṇa, is imported from the transcendental abode of Goloka." Hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana. "This chanting, Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, this is not material vibration. This sound is..." What is called? Captured? Just like we capture sound. The sound is in the air. So this sound... There are different layers of air, but this sound is in the highest layer, in the transcendental, spiritual layer, beyond this material world. From that sound it is captured. It requires strong machine to capture that sound. Golokera prema-dhana, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana.
Purport to Gauranga Bolite Habe -- Los Angeles, January 9, 1969:
The next line is viṣaya chāḍiyā kabe śuddha ha'be mana. (spells out) This kabe means when, aspiring. Śuddha means purified. Ha'be, will be. Mana means mind. So when actually our spiritual master or Nityānanda Prabhu is pleased upon us, at that time the symptom will be that we shall no longer hanker after material enjoyment. When that stage of life is arrived, at that time only, we can understand what is Vṛndāvana, the abode of Kṛṣṇa. Vṛndāvana is not a material place, just like ordinary city or country. It is transcendental. So appreciation of Vṛndāvana will be possible when our mind is free from all material desires. Viṣaya chāḍiyā. Viṣaya means eating, sleeping, mating and defending. They are called viṣaya. Viṣaya means objects. In the material world there are, these four objects are in view: how I shall eat, how I shall sleep, how shall I mate, how shall I defend. So as soon as one is purified of all material desires, these material objectives will not be a problem.
| Page Title: | Not Material (Lectures) |
| Compiler: | Rishab, Mayapur |
| Created: | 25 of Jan, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=172, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 172 |