There are different grades and steps. In the gross bodily platform we demand pratyakṣa-jñānam. Pratyakṣa means direct perception. There are different stages of knowledge. Pratyakṣa, aparokṣa, pratyakṣa, parokṣa, aparokṣa, adhokṣaja, aprakṛta. These are different stages of knowledge. So knowledge acquired in the bodily platform, direct perception, is not real knowledge. Therefore, we can challenge these scientists, so-called scientists. Their basic principle of knowledge is on the bodily concept of life, pratyakṣa, experimental knowledge. Experimental knowledge means this gross sense perception. That is experimental.
Not Real
Bhagavad-gita As It Is
BG Chapters 13 - 18
BG 13.8-12, Purport:
False ego means accepting this body as oneself. When one understands that he is not his body and is spirit soul, he comes to his real ego. Ego is there. False ego is condemned, but not real ego. In the Vedic literature (Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad 1.4.10) it is said, ahaṁ brahmāsmi: I am Brahman, I am spirit. This "I am," the sense of self, also exists in the liberated stage of self-realization. This sense of "I am" is ego, but when the sense of "I am" is applied to this false body it is false ego. When the sense of self is applied to reality, that is real ego. There are some philosophers who say we should give up our ego, but we cannot give up our ego, because ego means identity. We ought, of course, to give up the false identification with the body.
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 2
SB 2.9.34, Purport:
The independence of the individual living entity is not real independence, but is just the reflection of the real independence existing in the Supreme Being, the Lord. The false claim of supreme independence by the conditioned souls is illusion, and this conclusion is admitted in this verse.
SB Canto 3
SB 3.20.35, Purport:
Similarly, our material condition is a diseased condition. If one wants to enjoy real sense enjoyment, then one must get free of the entanglement of material existence. In spiritual life we can enjoy sense enjoyment which has no end. The difference between material and spiritual enjoyment is that material enjoyment is limited. Even if a man engages in material sex enjoyment, he cannot enjoy it for long. But when the sex enjoyment is given up, then one can enter spiritual life, which is unending. In the Bhāgavatam (5.5.1) it is stated that brahma-saukhya, spiritual happiness, is ananta, unending. Foolish creatures are enamored by the beauty of matter and think that the enjoyment it offers is real, but actually that is not real enjoyment.
SB Canto 4
SB 4.29.18-20, Purport:
The living entity is wandering throughout the entire universe and taking birth in different species on different planets. Thus he moves up and down, but that is not real progress. Real progress is getting out of this material world altogether. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (8.16):
- ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ
- punar āvartino 'rjuna
- mām upetya tu kaunteya
- punar janma na vidyate
SB Canto 5
SB 5.19.25, Purport:
Pious activities can elevate one to the higher planetary systems, and by speculative knowledge one can merge into the Brahman existence, but that is not real profit, for one has to come down again even from the liberated condition of being merged in Brahman, and certainly one must come down from the heavenly kingdom. One should endeavor to go back home, back to Godhead (yānti mad-yājino 'pi mām (BG 9.25)). Otherwise there is no difference between human life and the lives of jungle animals and birds. Animals and birds also have freedom, but because of their lower birth, they cannot use it. Taking advantage of all the facilities offered him, a human being who has taken birth in the land of Bhārata-varṣa should become a fully enlightened devotee and go back home, back to Godhead. This is the subject matter of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. The inhabitants of places other than Bhārata-varṣa have facilities for material enjoyment, but they do not have the same facility to take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has advised that one who has taken birth as a human being in Bhārata-varṣa must first realize himself as a part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, and after taking to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he must distribute this knowledge all over the world.
SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13
SB 10.13.43, Translation and Purport:
Thus Lord Brahmā, thinking and thinking for a long time, tried to distinguish between those two sets of boys, who were each separately existing. He tried to understand who was real and who was not real, but he couldn't understand at all.
Brahmā was puzzled. "The original boys and calves are still sleeping as I have kept them," he thought, "but another set is here playing with Kṛṣṇa. How has this happened?" Brahmā could not grasp what was happening. Which boys were real, and which were not real? Brahmā was unable to come to any definite conclusion. He pondered the matter for a long while. "How can there be two sets of calves and boys at the same time? Have the boys and calves here been created by Kṛṣṇa, or has Kṛṣṇa created the ones lying asleep? Or are both merely creations of Kṛṣṇa?" Brahmā thought about the subject in many different ways. "After I go to the cave and see that the boys and calves are still there, does Kṛṣṇa go take them away and put them here so that I come here and see them, and does Kṛṣṇa then take them from here and put them there?" Brahmā could not figure out how there could be two sets of calves and cowherd boys exactly alike. Although thinking and thinking, he could not understand at all.
SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)
SB 11.22.34, Translation:
The speculative argument of philosophers—"This world is real," "No, it is not real"—is based upon incomplete knowledge of the Supreme Soul and is simply aimed at understanding material dualities. Although such argument is useless, persons who have turned their attention away from Me, their own true Self, are unable to give it up.
SB 11.26.2, Translation:
A person fixed in transcendental knowledge is freed from conditioned life by giving up his false identification with the products of the material modes of nature. Seeing these products as simply illusion, he avoids entanglement with the modes of nature, although constantly among them. Because the modes of nature and their products are simply not real, he does not accept them.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Adi-lila
CC Adi 13.124, Purport:
Actually they are not possessions but entanglements because by enjoying the material world a conditioned soul becomes more and more entangled by incurring debts for his present enjoyment. Unfortunately, a conditioned soul considers property for which he is in debt to be his own, and he is very busy acquiring such property. But a devotee considers such property not real property but simply an entanglement in the material world. If Lord Kṛṣṇa is very pleased with a devotee, He takes away his material property, as He states in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.88.8): yasyāham anugṛhṇāmi hariṣye tad-dhanaṁ śanaiḥ. "To show special favor to a devotee, I take away all his material property."
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Lecture on BG 2.11 -- Mauritius, October 1, 1975:
So the problem was that Arjuna was not willing to fight, considering his family members as not to be killed. Nobody, of course, should like to kill his family members, so that was natural. But this family relationship or national relationship, community relationship, this is due to this body. I accept somebody as my brother because he has got the body from the same father from whom I have got this body. But the body is by-product of the father's body. So this bodily relationship is material. Material means outward, external. It is not real relationship. The father is a soul, I am soul, my brother is a soul, so we are related on the spiritual platform in relationship with God because soul is not matter. Our material father is... Material father means we see the material body.
Lecture on BG 2.13 -- New York, March 11, 1966:
Now we have to raise ourself from this position. Then we can get unlimited pleasure. We want pleasure, but we do not want such pleasure which ends. We want nonending pleasure. That is our heart's desire. But in material pleasure we cannot have that bliss. Even if you take a very good foodstuff, just delicious, still, after taking some portion of it, you will feel yourself satiated. Then that very foodstuff, you'll say, "No, no, I don't want any more." Because that ends. So that is not real pleasure. Real pleasure is defined: ananta. Ananta means that which has no end. So that pleasure you can have only when you are spiritually realized soul. That is possible. That is possible. We are reading all these scriptures, Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and there are so many Vedic literatures that if anyone wants to have spiritual life, there is complete facility. There is complete facility.
Lecture on BG 3.16-17 -- New York, May 25, 1966:
We are hankering after knowledge; then we come to the point of full knowledge. Vidyā-vadhū-jīvanam ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam. Ānanda. We cannot increase ānanda here. In the material sense gratification, ānanda does not increase. If you want some ānanda from sense, for the time being it may give you some pleasure, but at once it decreases. You have no more capacity to enjoy. You see? At once decreases. So it is not ānanda. It is not real ānanda. Ānanda means that will increase, increase. You enjoy and increases. Increases. Ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam. The example is very nice. Ambudhi. Ambudhi means sea. Sea... You don't find sea has increased. You go to the, what is called, seaside. Ten years before you had been to the seaside. You see the same level is there. It does not increase. If it increases, the whole New York City will be overflooded. It does not increase. But here Lord Caitanya says that ambudhi, the ocean of bliss, it increases. It increases. That is a new experience. When you are actually in spiritual happiness, your bliss will be increased.
Lecture on BG 3.27 -- Madras, January 1, 1976:
Hinduism means a type of faith, or Muslimism is type of faith. But... As it is described in the English dictionary, religion means a kind of faith. But it is not that type of religion. It is a compulsory fact. Just like sugar is, compulsorily must become, sweet. If sugar is not sweet, that is not real sugar. Chili is not hot; that is not real chili. Similarly, we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Our duty is to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. There is no question of faith. It is not the question of faith. You may have faith in Hinduism; tomorrow you may have faith in Christianism. Or you may have faith in Christianism, tomorrow in Mohammedan. This kind of faith is not Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is a compulsory. Just like laws of the state. It is not that it is meant for the Hindus, or for the Muslims, for the Christian. It is meant for everyone.
Lecture on BG 4.1 and Review -- New York, July 13, 1966:
And the next imperfection is to accept something in place of something. Just like we are accepting this body as myself, which I am not. Under this illusion... Everyone is under this illusion, nobody excepted. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13). When you ask me, "Swamiji, what you are?", oh, I'll say, "I am Indian." What sort of Indian I am? Because my this body is Indian, made in India or got in India. But I am not this body. I am not this body. So this, this is illusion. So second imperfection. First imperfection, that we must commit mistake. The second imperfection is accepting something which is not real. This is called illusion. The example of illusion is given generally: Just like in darkness, if you find some curling rope, you are afraid, "Oh, here is a snake!" Actually, that is not a snake. That means accepting the curling rope as a snake. This is the example of illusion.
Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Delhi, November 10, 1971:
Just like we individual souls, we want to enjoy our senses. Similarly, God has also senses, He also wants to enjoy. Just like here, we see a young boy, a young girl is united. Similarly, you have seen our pictures, Kṛṣṇa, Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, They are also united. There is also love, but that love is real. Here, the same thing, a reflection, is shadow. It is not real. The real love is there. There is no separation of that love. Here in this material world, because it is shadow, it is false, therefore there is separation. Love without separation is in God. Relationship between friend and friend, here it is breakable. As soon as there is some dissatisfaction, the friends separate. But if you make friendship with God, that is never separated. If you love Kṛṣṇa, that is never separated. If you accept Kṛṣṇa as your Son, that Son will never die. So these are the conception of God.
Lecture on BG 4.6-8 -- New York, July 20, 1966:
Now, so far the employment is concerned, so here, here the employer and employee, both are serving and both are thinking that "I am the master." That is māyā. Suppose I employ somebody. I give $25 per day. So the man who is employed, he thinks that "I am not your servant. I am servant of these $25." So there is no question of service. So similarly, the master also, he thinks, "I am giving you $25 because I am exacting some service from you." So here there is no question of... The service is there, but it is perverted, perverted, in a different way. That is not real service. Service is there. Because I cannot live without service. That is my nature. Just exactly the same way: the water is always liquid, either it is designated black, or designated white. That doesn't matter. But water is there.
What is this? (sound of footsteps walking away) Is that clear? (laughs) Thank you very much. Thank you.
Lecture on BG 4.7 -- Bombay, March 27, 1974:
So when Kṛṣṇa says, yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati... (BG 4.7). When people become averse to God or Kṛṣṇa, they become Godless, they think themselves as God or something like that, that is dharmasya glāniḥ. So naturally, here in this material world, every one of us, we have come to enjoy. Material life means enjoyment. Enjoyment is not real enjoyment. Real enjoyment is spiritual enjoyment. Spiritual enjoyment, that is with Kṛṣṇa. That is not in the material world. So the dharmasya glāniḥ means when there is discrepancy in the understanding of spiritual identity, that is dharmasya glāniḥ.
Lecture on BG 4.9 -- Bombay, March 29, 1974:
Just like a rich man's son. He has forgotten that his father is very rich, or his father has left immense property. But forgetting his real position, he's loitering in the street, hungry. You can call him, "All right, you take some food." That is not real benefit, that is temporary. But if you awaken his real consciousness, that he is the son of a very rich man, his father has got immense property, "Why don't you go back to your father and be happy?" That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. That is stated here. Janma karma ca me divyaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9). One has to understand Kṛṣṇa, tattvataḥ, in truth. Not superficially. What is Kṛṣṇa? Kṛṣṇa is the supreme leader. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). supreme leader, perfect leader, without any mistake, without any illusion, without any cheating, and without any imperfection of the senses. We have to take direction from such a leader, then our life will be successful. And because we are taking direction from imperfect leaders, cheater leaders, therefore we are meeting with so many problems.
Lecture on BG 4.9-11 -- New York, July 25, 1966:
So we carry the ideas of this world to that world. Therefore we are afraid. There are many transcendentalists who like the impersonal conception of the Supreme Truth. As soon as personal conception of the Supreme Truth is presented there, they are afraid of: "Oh, it is something material. It is not real." This is called bhaya. But actually it is not that.
Actually this material world is described in the Bhagavad-gītā as the perverted reflection of the actual spiritual world. You will find in the Fifteenth Chapter that this material world is described as the obverted tree whose root is upwards and the branches are downwards. Have you have experience of this obverted tree whose root is upward and the branches and the leaves are downwards? Have you seen any tree like that? You have seen it, but you have forgotten. You have seen... When you see a tree on the bank of a river or bank of a reservoir of water, you find the reflection of the tree, just the opposite number. So similarly, this world, in the Fifteenth Chapter it is described there, the obverted tree. That means the real tree is there. The real tree is there.
Lecture on BG 4.13-14 -- New York, August 1, 1966:
Now, here we see that the friendship of Kṛṣṇa is going on not in this birth, but perpetually that friendship is there. But in the material world, the friendship, it will exist for few years and then break. Therefore it is reflection. It is not real. If you make your friendship with Kṛṣṇa, that will never break. If you make your master Kṛṣṇa, you'll never be cheated. If you love Kṛṣṇa as your son, He'll never die. Similarly, if you love Kṛṣṇa as your lover or husband, He will be the best husband, the best lover. There will be no divorce. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So similarly, there are many... Because Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord, He has unlimited... He is unlimited, and He has unlimited number of devotees. Now, some of them are trying to love Him as lover or husband.
Lecture on BG 4.26 -- Bombay, April 15, 1974:
So these indriyas, unless they are purified by becoming without any designation... Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, "I am not a brāhmaṇa, I am not a sannyāsī, I am a kṣatriya, I am not a brahmacārī." Because these are designation. Varṇāśrama-dharma, four varṇas and four āśramas. Of course, now we do not know even this designation. We are simply animals at the present moment. Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunam. But human society means to divide the whole human society into these eight divisions, brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha. Then it is systematic. But you have to go above that. That systematic division of the society is also sense gratification. That is not real life. That is also sense gratification. But it is systematized.
Lecture on BG 5.17-25 -- Los Angeles, February 8, 1969:
So achieving something pleasant... Generally we accept a thing pleasant when it satisfies our senses. We accept it as pleasant. But actually, satisfaction of my sense is not real pleasure because my senses are at the present moment diseased. Therefore as it is stated in the Nārada Pañcarātra, that tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). One has to purify the senses in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is not to become void of the senses. The other philosophers, they say that "You don't desire." We say that we don't desire nonsense but we desire Kṛṣṇa. Desire is there, but as soon as desire is purified, then I shall desire Kṛṣṇa. When one is desiring only Kṛṣṇa, that is his healthy state. And if somebody is desiring something else, something other than Kṛṣṇa, then he is to be understood in diseased condition.
Lecture on BG 5.22-29 -- New York, August 31, 1966:
Happiness which is derived by touch senses, saṁsparśajā... Saṁsparśajāḥ means happiness, so-called happiness derived by touch senses. Ye hi saṁsparśajā bhogāḥ, enjoyment. Duḥkha-yonaya eva te. Lord Kṛṣṇa says that this is not real happiness. Anything, any happiness derived out of touch sensation, that is not real happiness. Rather, that is the gate for various miseries. The whole Vedic scripture describes that happiness derived of sense perception out of the body, that is not real happiness. If we are to enjoy real happiness, then we have to transcend these bodily pleasures. Happiness is there because I am spirit soul. Actually I am full of pleasure, but because my sense of happiness is being manifested through this matter, therefore we are being frustrated in deriving real pleasure. So those who are in the, advanced in spiritual life, they are called yogis. Yoginaḥ. Ramante yoginaḥ anante (CC Madhya 9.29). Those who are spiritualists, they also enjoy. But they enjoy in the real happiness which has no end. Any happiness which is ended at a certain point, that is not happiness. That is, rather, source of distress. Ādy-antavantaḥ kaunteya na teṣu ramate budhaḥ. Budhaḥ means who is learned. A learned person does not enjoy such flickering or transient happiness which is derived by sense touching.
Lecture on BG 6.1-4 -- New York, September 2, 1966:
At six o'clock the sunshine comes from the western side... eastern side. So in the evening the sunshine cannot come from the eastern side. The sunshine comes from the western side, but it is coming because it is reflected through a glass in the opposite house. This is the idea of reflected. That reflection of the sunshine is not real, but it appears just like sunshine. Similarly, all our relationship here, either as master and servant or as friend and friend or as parents and child or as husband and wife or as lover and the beloved, any relationship, whatever we see here, that is the perverted reflection of our eternal relationship with God.
So when we come to that platform of understanding, then we are perfectly in knowledge. So when that knowledge comes here, it is stated, he takes the service of the Lord, Kṛṣṇa consciousness: kāryam. Kāryam means "It is my duty." Because I have got my eternal love relationship with Kṛṣṇa. There is no question of remuneration. Of course, remuneration is there thousand times more than what remuneration we get here by rendering our service. Kṛṣṇa thousand times... Not thousand times because there is no limit.
Lecture on BG 6.21-27 -- New York, September 9, 1966:
Just like the trees. The trees, they have got also consciousness, but it is not developed consciousness. Therefore the trees are standing on the road or anywhere, but they have no sense of feeling the miseries. Now, suppose a human being is asked to stand like the tree, at least for three days. Oh, it will be impossible for him because he cannot tolerate such kind of miseries. So therefore conclusion is that every living entity feels the pleasure and happiness according to the developed consciousness of his being. Similarly, the happiness which we are feeling now in the material mixture, that is not real happiness. That is not real happiness. If you ask the tree, "Are you feeling happy?" the tree will say, "Yes. I am feeling happy standing here the whole year, and the wind and snowfall I am enjoying very much." Oh. You see? So that sort of happiness the tree may enjoy, but you are human being. You will say, "Oh, this is the standard of his enjoyment."
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Bhuvanesvara, January 22, 1977:
The human society is meant for not only inquiring Brahman but to worship Brahman, Para-brahman. That is human society. So there is necessity of the four classes. At the present moment they are trying to create classless society. That is chaotic society. That is not real society. That is not Vedic civilization. Vedic civilization means when there is classified society begins: brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, and sannyāsa. And without this classification, the whole society will remain in chaotic condition. Just like the comparison is given, mukha-bāhūru. Just like in our body there is mouth, there is ūru, there is leg, there is bāhu. These divisions are required. Mukha means brāhmaṇa, bāhu means kṣatriya, and ūru means the vaiśya, and pāda means śūdra. The body can be maintained when four things are properly maintained. So these things are required, and they should be classified by quality and work. In this way we have to organize society. Then there will be no scarcity of real human being. Otherwise they will remain as animal.
Lecture on BG 8.20-22 -- New York, November 18, 1966:
So whatever we are seeing here, beautiful, they are all imitation of the real. As the doll is imitation of a beautiful girl, similarly, yasya satyatayā nityāpi satyam eva abhipadyate. Śrīdhara Svāmī says, "Because the spiritual world is real and this unreal manifestation appears to be real, appears to be real, but it is not real, we can understand reality will exist; reality will not vanquish." That is... Reality means eternal. Therefore real pleasure, that is Kṛṣṇa. The material pleasure is temporary, not actual. Therefore those who are after reality, they don't take part in this shadow pleasure. Shadow pleasure, they don't take part. So Lord Kṛṣṇa says that yaḥ sa sarveṣu bhūteṣu naśyatsu na vinaśyati. That is reality. "When everything will be vanquished, that spiritual nature will continue to remain." That remains always.
Lecture on BG 15.1 -- Calcutta, February 26, 1974:
Just like if you have to keep yourself, the legs are up and the head down, somebody keeps you like this, how long you will feel comfortable? If you, somebody takes your legs and catches you and your head down, then it is not very comfortable. So this whole material world is like that, ūrdhva-mūlam. The mūlam should have been down, but it is up. Therefore it is discomfortable. And another explanation is the, it is perverted reflection. We have got experience of the ūrdhva-mūlam. I think I have explained that, that a tree... On the bank of a river or the bank of a pond, tree is standing, but the reflection, we find that the same tree has become ūrdhva-mūlam and adhah-śākham. So by this statement, Kṛṣṇa says that this is not real. That reflection in the water, of the tree, is not real. Real tree is up. Similarly, real enjoyment, real varieties—everything is in the spiritual world. It is simply reflection. It is not fact. Therefore our enjoyment here is called māyā, or illusion. So in later ślokas Kṛṣṇa has described how to get out of this mayic reflection and go to the real tree. That has been described later on. Go on.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Delhi, November 12, 1973:
That is called siddhi, that is called perfection.
So manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye (BG 7.3). Nobody knows how to become perfect. They are struggling very hard to become perfect individually, socially, nationally. But how they can be perfect? They do not know what is perfection. This is perfection. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). If you do not take another material..., and do not accept another material body, this is the final..., that is perfection. That is perfection. That is the injunction of the śāstra: na mocayed yaḥ samupeta-mṛtyum, gurur na sa syāt pitā na sa syāj jananī na sā syāt (SB 5.5.18). These are the injunction of the śāstra. "Don't try to become a guru or don't try to accept a so-called guru." Who? Who cannot save you from this repetition of birth and death. This is the injunction. Not that "Guru has given me some mantra. I am now a poor man. I become very rich man." No. That is not. Real purpose of life—how to get out of this repetition of birth and death. That is wanted.
Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Hyderabad, April 18, 1974:
That is God's arrangement. When there is rain from the sky, the forest fire is extinguished. Similarly, when mercy from Kṛṣṇa comes, your blazing fire of material existence will be extinguished. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā... (CC Antya 20.12). Then real spiritual life begins. So long you are disturbed materially, there is no possibility. But these material disturbances cannot be subsided by your concocted method. It can be subsided by the mercy bestowed by Kṛṣṇa. That is the process. Saṁsāra-dāvānala-līḍha-loka **. So spiritual life is real life. Material life is not real. Material life is temporary. So everyone can be situated in the spiritual life, sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktiḥ (SB 1.2.6), simply by being situated in the devotional service of the Lord. Yato bhaktiḥ. Bhakti required.
Lecture on SB 1.2.7 -- Delhi, November 13, 1973:
The so-called university education, D.H.C., Ph.D., they are simply expansion of ajñāna. He is again... Therefore the more a person is so-called scientist, educated, he is more godless. That means he is going deeper and deeper into the ajñāna. Because jñāna means to know God. That is not real jñāna. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). Not ajñānavān. So if you do not God, if you do not know what you are, if you do not know what is your relationship with God, then what is your jñāna? That jñāna, for eating, sleeping, mating, the cats and dogs they have got. Do you mean to say to have better knowledge how to eat nicely, how to sleep more nicely or to have sexual intercourse nicely, is that jñāna? No. They are all ajñāna. They are the business of the cats and dogs. Real jñāna is to know ahaṁ brahmāsmi. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na... (BG 18.54). That is real jñāna.
Lecture on SB 1.2.9 -- Hyderabad, April 23, 1974:
Why you are suffering here for sporting and dancing? That is called dharmasya hy āpavargyasya. Stop this, I mean to say, always painful condition of material life. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). Because we have got this material body. This material body means reservoir of all suffering. By artificial method, so-called scientific advancement, we are trying to patch up, but that is not real happiness. You can go on continuing patching up. This is called māyā. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). You cannot... The real purpose is that everyone wants to live and enjoy, but the māyā will not allow. You can have very nice skyscraper building, but have you made any insurance that you will be allowed to enjoy this house? "No, sir, there is no such insurance." At any moment the nature will call, "Please get out, immediately." "No, I have got to do some business." "No more, sir. Please get out immediately." Can you stop that? Then why you are making plan? Your real plan is not there. Whether you will be allowed to stay here? There is no insurance. And why you are taking so much trouble? Therefore, nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma (SB 5.5.4), the whole day, night, they are working like ass, but there is no assurance whether the happiness for which he is laboring so hard will be allowed to be enjoyed. There is no certainty.
Lecture on SB 1.2.33 -- Vrndavana, November 12, 1972:
So any devotee can fall down if he remains prākṛta-bhakta. So he has to raise himself above this in the madhyama-adhikāra. So here it is said that sva-nirmiteṣu nirviṣṭo bhuṅkte bhūteṣu tad-guṇān. So we are not enjoying actually. We are enjoying the interaction of the three modes of material nature. And we are thinking... The same thing, as my Guru Mahārāja used to say, that licking up the bottle of honey. That is not real honey. You have to open the bottle of the honey and lick up the real honey, then you'll get taste. That is advancement of spiritual knowledge.
Lecture on SB 1.5.9-11 -- New Vrindaban, June 6, 1969:
They have produced so many songs. But about whom? About Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, under the instruction of Nārada, now Vyāsadeva will produce a literature like Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is simply glorification of the Lord and His devotees. Bhāgavata. Bhāgavata means the Lord, and Bhāgavata means pertaining to the Lord. So pertaining to the Lord, everything. Vāstava-vastu vedyam atra. In the beginning of Bhāgavata it is said vāstava-vastu. Vastu means substance, the summum bonum. And vāstava, in relation to the summum bonum.
So if we try to understand everything in relationship with Kṛṣṇa, then we understand vāstava reality. That is reality. If we study something minus Kṛṣṇa, that is not real knowledge. Actually, Kṛṣṇa is the original cause of all. Sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1). So unless we come to the point of Kṛṣṇa, any understanding, any knowledge is imperfect.
Lecture on SB 1.16.22 -- Los Angeles, July 12, 1974:
So why this has happened? Because here it is said, kiṁ kṣatra-bandhūn. Kṣatriya, the administrator class, the government. So in Kali-yuga they will take charge of the administration or government, but they are not real kṣatriya. They are less than śūdra. So how the government will be nice? Therefore it is lamentable, that those who are not kṣatriyas, they are taking the position of government officers. And further it is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Twelfth Canto: kriyā hīnā... They are not following the rules and regulation of kṣatriya or brāhmaṇa. Still they are claiming to become brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya or vaiśya. And there is a mercantile class nowadays, interested in business, but business is one of the items of the vaiśya. The first business is to become agriculturist. Vaiśya. Vaiśya class, they are meant for making arrangement for our eating. That is also required. Kṣatriya is meant for give us protection. And the brāhmaṇa means to give us the ideal life, what is the goal of life, and śūdras, they cannot do anything of these... Therefore they are śūdra.
Lecture on SB 2.3.22 -- Los Angeles, June 19, 1972:
So, the peacock plumes, they look like eyes, painted. But it has no power to see. Similarly, if we do not see the forms of the Lord, just like in this temple we are seeing, then these eyes are to be considered as painted eyes. Not real eyes. Simply just appearing like eyes. It has no use. The human form of life, the eyes are there, particular eyes, to see the forms of the Lord eye to eye. And because our present position is that with these material eyes we cannot see the Lord in His spiritual form, therefore the Lord has kindly appeared before us in a manner in which we can see Him. The forms of the Lord is not imagination. They say that they imagine some form. Sādhakānāṁ hitvārthāya brahmaṇo rūpa-kalpanaḥ. The Māyāvādī philosophers, due to their poor fund of knowledge, they think that "The Absolute Truth is formless, but because we cannot meditate upon formless, something formless, let us imagine some form." Imagine. Nirviśeṣa-vādī, nirākāra-vādī, they imagine forms.
Lecture on SB 2.9.2 -- Melbourne, April 4, 1972:
"It appears like that." Therefore, when one is advanced in spiritual consciousness, he does not see the varieties of form because these varieties of form are not real. Anyone can understand that. Any form Today we have got a form. Take a photograph of it, and few hours after, the form has changed. So that is not permanent form. It is changing. Just like you see in the cloud. From airplane you can experience. The cloud You are running. You are seeing one form. After few minutes, that form is changing to different form. Therefore it is called ivābhāti. You immediately see a cloud just like big elephant, but after a few minutes you see the cloud, the same cloud, is changed into just like a big hill, another, a big tree. So this is going on. Today I am Indian, you are American, but next birth or after few years, although American, the body is changing. Body is changing. Therefore it is written there, ivābhāti: "as if it has got a body."
Lecture on SB 2.9.2 -- Melbourne, April 4, 1972:
Here, this is also Kṛṣṇa's exhibition of māyā, but it is temporary. In the another, spiritual world, that is also exhibition of Kṛṣṇa's māyā, but it is permanent. Here is a perverted reflection, we say. Just like shadow, shadow, the shadow of the tree in the water—everything is perverted, opposite. So that shadow is not the substance. The substance is there. On the bank of the river, that is really. Similarly the spiritual world is There also, everything is there. There are trees, there are fruits, there are flowers, there are men—everything is there, birds, beasts, everything. But they are all real. Here, bahu-rūpa. Bahu-rūpa means, which it is not reality. That, this bahu-rūpa is also reflection, but it is not real. That is the difference. Ivābhāti. Therefore it is called ivābhāti: "It appears like that." Actually it is not. Just like in some shop you see so many ladies and gentlemen are standing with nice dress.
Lecture on SB 2.9.2 -- Melbourne, April 4, 1972:
That is difference. So therefore this very word is used, ivābhāti. Actually it is all matter. But they have been changed into different forms. The Māyāvadi philosophers, they say "It is ivābhāti. There is no form. Therefore make it formless." But our is that ivābhāti means there is form, but this is simply imitation. That is the difference between Māyāvada and They say "Because it is false therefore reality must be zero. It is formless. It must be zero." Śūnyavādi. Nirviśeṣa śūnyavādi. There are no varieties. They will say "No varieties," and somebody will say, "No. It is zero." We say, "No. There is variety." This is ivābhāti. It appears like the reality. It is not real thing. The real is different. A comparison is given: just like water, the desert. There is no water, but it appears like water. But that does not mean there is no water. As soon as you say, ivābhāti, that there is reality, but this is not. It appears like reality. That is the actual meaning of ivābhāti. Iva, like. Ābhāti, appears.
Lecture on SB 2.9.3 -- Melbourne, April 5, 1972:
Some devotee wants to serve Kṛṣṇa becoming a bird, becoming a monkey. And somebody is serving as gopī or as cowherd boy, as father, as mother. But they are all spiritual. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhiḥ. They are all expansion. Just like when Brahmā took away all the friends and cows of Kṛṣṇa, immediately expanded Himself in the same way. So all the cows and all the cowherd boys, in every case, they were all expansion of Kṛṣṇa, pleasure potency. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ (Bs. 5.37). Nija-rūpa. So the varieties are there also, but here the variety is māyā. Māyayā bahu-rūpayā. The same example, the mirage. It appears like water, but that is not real water. Similarly, here māyayā, because it is false. They appear like that varieties but they are false. Māyayā bahu-rūpaya. Ramante. This ramante, this pleasure, is material pleasure because guṇeṣu. Ramamāṇa guṇeṣu asyā. They are trying to take pleasure in the material modes of nature.
Lecture on SB 2.9.11 -- Tokyo, April 27, 1972:
Kṛṣṇa can give you liberation, to merge in His effulgence. That also Kṛṣṇa will give. But it is very difficult to get Kṛṣṇa's service, very difficult. Kṛṣṇa will give you everything, whatever you want. By Kṛṣṇa conscious, being Kṛṣṇa conscious, by rendering devotional service, if you want to have some material profit, Kṛṣṇa will give you. Kṛṣṇa will give you. That is not very difficult thing for Kṛṣṇa. If you want to merge in His existence—the Māyāvādīs—all right, you can get it. But that it not real profit. Real profit is here described, in Vaikuṇṭha, how they are face to face seeing the Supreme Personality of Godhead, having the same body, and same ornaments, same opulence, everything same. Sārūpya, sālokya, sāyujya. Sāyujya is damn rascals. Sāyujya-mukti, never, merging, never, no Vaiṣṇava will take. But sārūpya, so far our Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava is concerned, they do not want even this sārūpya, same bodily feature. They don't want anything. They simply want how to serve Kṛṣṇa. That's all. That is Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava vicāra.
Lecture on SB 3.25.3 -- Bombay, November 3, 1974:
That is being attempted. Anyone who has taken birth in this land of Bhāratavarṣa, it is his duty to make his life successful by taking advantage of this Vedic literature. But we are not taking advantage of Vedic literature. We are going to learn technology. That is our misfortune. Technology is śilpa-karma. Just like an artistic man. That is not real education. Real education is how to solve the problems of life, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). That is education. So this education, this transcendental education, is to enlighten people how to become relieved from this entanglement of material life, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi.
Thank you very much.
Lecture on SB 3.25.7 -- Bombay, November 7, 1974:
So śāstra says, "This is not good." Here also, Devahūti says that bhūmann asad-indriya-tarṣaṇāt. Asad-indriya-tarṣ... Actually, these senses are not real senses. It is covered. Just like my, this body, covered with this shirt, or this cloth. It is not my real body. Although you see the shirt has got a hand, that hand is not real hand. The real hand is within the shirt. Similarly, our real body is within this body. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). Dehe. Dehinaḥ. Dehinaḥ means the real body, or the spiritual body of the soul, is within this body. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe. And the body is changing. Kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā. It is sometimes child, sometimes youth, sometimes a young man, sometimes old man. And then vanishes. It is... There are six changes. So this is not real body. But... And we are engaged in this unreal body, sense gratification. We have got senses. So therefore Bhagavad-gītā says, sukham ātyantikaṁ yat tad atīndriya-grāhyam (BG 6.21). Atīndriya-grāhyam. Beyond the senses. Therefore these senses are to be purified. That is called tapasya. Tapo divyam (SB 5.5.1). And... Yes. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). When we purify our senses... Senses you cannot destroy. That is not possible. Just like some, somebody said that "You become desireless." Desireless... Desire is the mental activities. So we cannot be desireless. That is not possible. We have to purify the desire. That is required. That is recommended.
Lecture on SB 3.25.36 -- Bombay, December 5, 1974:
Just like we have explained several times that we have got experience of the sunshine. Because sunshine is very easily approached. But that understanding of the sunshine is not real understanding of the sun globe or sun planet or the sun-god. That is not perfect understanding. It is partial understanding that you can understand the sun globe is full of heat and light. That's all. But how much heat, what is the temperature of heat, how much light is there, and where is the source of heat and light, that is not possible to understand. Everyone will admit this, that simply by seeing, because the sunshine is entering your room from the window, that does not mean you know everything of the sun. Similarly, this impersonal understanding of the Absolute Truth is like that. Just like sunshine is impersonal, but the sun-god is person. If sun-god is not person, how Kṛṣṇa says, imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam: (BG 4.1) "This Bhagavad-gītā..." He says to Arjuna, that "This Bhagavad-gītā, science of Bhagavad-gītā, or this yoga system, bhakti-yoga system, I spoke to sun-god. Exactly like that, I am speaking to you."
Lecture on SB 3.25.38 -- Bombay, December 7, 1974:
They think that in the spiritual world there is no more such relationship as master, friend, or father and son, or beloved and the lover. There is no such thing.
But here in the śāstra we see that that is real life. This is not real life. It is shadow. In the Bhagavad-gītā in the Fifteenth Chapter it has been described as shadow. Ūrdhva-mūlam adhah-śākham aśvatthaṁ prāhur avyayam (BG 15.1). Aśvattham. We have got experience of banyan tree. It is very durable. It stands for many, many hundreds of years. Therefore this material world has been compared with the aśvattham, aśvattham tree, very durable and very expansive. It goes on increasing, increasing. That is very nicely described in the Fifteenth Chapter. So it is called ūrdhva-mūlam. Ūrdhva-mūlam means... Here we have got experience: the tree has got its roots underneath, down. But this material world, which is compared with the aśvattha tree, the root is upside and the branches downside.
Lecture on SB 3.25.38 -- Bombay, December 7, 1974:
Similarly, actual life... Our life means we are enjoying some rasa, some relationship. I enjoy in the family with my children. There is some rasa. They are calling me "father." I am enjoying. Or somebody is calling me as "son." I am enjoying. Some woman is calling me "husband." I am enjoying. Some woman I am calling, "wife." Some person I am calling "servant," and he is calling me... These relationship we enjoy. But this enjoyment is shadow. This is not real enjoyment. We have no information. This enjoyment can be achieved in the similar way with Kṛṣṇa.
Kṛṣṇa therefore comes in person just to teach us how you can enjoy with Kṛṣṇa the same relationship.
Lecture on SB 3.26.7 -- Bombay, December 19, 1974:
Therefore, those who are yogis, they are also enjoying. Ramante yoginaḥ anante satyānande. That is real happiness which increases. Which decreases, that is not real happiness. That is illusion. Ramante yoginaḥ anante satyānande cid-ātmani. Cit, that is spiritual, spiritual ānanda. Really we want ānanda, happiness, blissfulness. That is our natural instinct. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). So... But we are searching after ānanda in this material world, and that is described here that saṁsṛtir bandhaḥ pāra-tantrya, under material condition and changing this body one after another. This is not ānanda. Satyānande cid-ātmani. Ānanda is available on the spiritual platform. Satyānande cid-ātmani. Ramante... Iti rāma-padenāsau paraṁ brahma abhidhīyate. Therefore the yogis, they enjoy, ramaṇa, in the spiritual world. That ānanda is called Rāma, Hare Rāma. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is also attractive, and Rāma is enjoyment. So when we dovetail our activities with Rāma and Kṛṣṇa, then our life becomes happy. Before that there is saṁsṛtiḥ.
Lecture on SB 3.26.20 -- Bombay, December 29, 1974:
Real awakening is when we come to our spiritual consciousness. That is real awakened. Yā niśā sarva-bhūtānāṁ tasyāṁ jāgarti saṁyamī. This is not, this awakening stage, this is not real awakening. Real awakening comes when we understand, ahaṁ brahmāsmi. At the present moment we are not awakened, still sleeping, because we are thinking, every one of us, "I am this body," "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim." In this way we are conscious of the designation. So we have to get out of the designation, and when we shall understand our real identity, not this bodily identity but spiritual soul identity, that is called brahma-bhūtaḥ. Otherwise we are jīva-bhūtaḥ. So long we are identifying with this body, we are still sleeping. Kota nidrā jāo māyā-piśācīra kole. Just like a child sleeps on the lap of the mother, similarly, we are sleeping on the lap of mother material nature. This is our position.
Lecture on SB 3.26.26 -- Bombay, January 3, 1975:
So this false ego, "I am this material body. I belong to this material world, I belong to this community, sect, or nation," so many, they are all based on ahaṅkāra. Ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate (BG 3.27). Actually, every one of us who are in this material world, they are, we are all under the full control of this illusory energy and working differently according to the influence of the different modes of material nature. I am not real kartā. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi (BG 3.27). Guṇaiḥ karmāṇi. I am under the influence of different guṇas, and still, falsely, I am thinking that "I am the doer. I have got the capacity of acting. And the effect, whatever I have produced, it is due to my labor." This is called illusion, moha. Mohaḥ ayam ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). This conception of life is moha. Moha, delusion or illusion, just like a person in feverish convulsion is lying unconscious, thinking something else. This is our position. Moho 'yam. So our real business is how to get out of this moha.
Lecture on SB 5.5.3 -- Boston, May 4, 1968:
That is materialistic life. As soon as we get this body, there is birth, there is death, there is old age and there is disease. Therefore if you want real happiness then you have to get free from all these four—miserable life. That is spiritual life. You have to become free from birth, you have to become free from death, you have to become free from old age, and you have to become free from disease. That is real life. "I don't like this" means this is not real life. The real life is different. So if that real life you want, then you have to follow the process. That is being discussed here. Tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyet (SB 5.5.1).
Lecture on SB 5.6.8 -- Vrndavana, November 30, 1976:
This is according to, strictly according to the version of the Ve... Sākṣād-dhari... You'll see. This is... Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura is singing, vede gāya yāhāra carita, and Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, he is also singing, sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstraiḥ. So there is no difference. Not that one ācārya will say, "I have seen"—so-called ācārya, not real ācārya—"I have seen in dream." The other day the letter came? He has seen, realized in dream, nitāi-gaura rādhe-śyāma. This is not the process. Process is the śāstra, authority. That is... We have to... Not that jugglery: "I have seen in dream. I have to become guru." No. Whether you are actually in terms of the śāstra? Whether actually you are dear to Kṛṣṇa, you are most confidential servant? That we have to test.
Lecture on SB 6.1.6 -- Los Angeles, January 3, 1970:
There is no difference so far living conditions are there. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's sons, or God or God's sons. Now, in the Bible, Lord Jesus Christ is described as the son of God. Now, so far I have heard, that it is claimed that he is the only one son of God. Now according to Bhagavad-gītā, every living entity is son of God. Now how to adjust? If the Bible says that Lord Jesus Christ is the only one son, then how these so many innumerable sons can be adjusted? There is adjustment. There is very nice adjustment. One should know it. He is the only one son means one who can sacrifice his life for God, he is real son. And one who is simply taking from father, "Oh, God, give us our daily bread," and He is supplying and eating and enjoying sense enjoyement, he is not real son. The real son is he who sacrifices his life for glorifying his father. Similarly, anyone who will sacrifice his life... Of course, it is not required that everyone shall be crucified like Lord Jesus Christ, but he should sacrifice his energy for the Supreme Lord. And that person who has devoted his energy for the satisfaction of the Supreme Lord, he is called Kṛṣṇa conscious person.
Lecture on SB 6.1.40 -- San Francisco, July 21, 1975:
That is the taste. If sugar is salty, although both of them looks the same, white powder, but if I give you sugar and if it is actually salt, then immediately you will say, "Oh, this is not sugar. This is not sugar." How? By taste. Similarly, everything has got his constitutional position. The sugar is sweet, and the chili is pungent. If sugar is pungent and chili is sweet, then you throw it away. It is not real. It is not real. Similarly, what is the constitutional position of human being, dharma? To serve. This is the constitutional position. Every one of us, we are serving. Without service we have no other business. So this is our constitutional position. But we are serving wrongly; therefore we are not satisfied. This is the position. Caitanya Mahāprabhu therefore begins His philosophy from this point, that jīvera svarūpa haya nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa: (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109) "The real constitutional position of all living entities is to serve Kṛṣṇa." This is constitutional position.
Lecture on SB 6.2.11 -- Allahabad, January 16, 1971:
Really, originally, the, I mean to say regulator of religious principle is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is sometimes addressed as dharma-setu. Setu means bridge. We have to cross over. The whole plan is that we have to cross over the ocean of nescience in which we are now fallen. The material existence means it is ocean of ignorance and nescience, and one has to cross over it. Then he gets the real life. This is not real life. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). We are... Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). People are so foolish. They do not take it very seriously because they do not know that they are eternal. That is another ignorance. Bhagavad-gītā begins from this knowledge that living soul is eternal, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). But they are in ignorance. They take it as a matter of fact that "This life, this body, is all in all, and after death there is no more any body, so who cares for sinful activities?" That is another ignorance.
Lecture on SB 7.5.23-24 -- Vrndavana, March 31, 1976:
So as soon as you engage yourself in pure devotional service without any material desire, without any material designation, immediately you are liberated. Svarūpena avasthiti. That is real situation of our constitutional position. So long we are not engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service, that is our opposite number of life, not real life. Real life is when you are fully engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, always engaged. That is life. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam. So to be fixed up in that spiritual life we should always engage ourself, śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam of whom? Viṣṇu. Of Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu. Even not of any other demigods, what to speak of ordinary beings. We are engaged in śravaṇaṁ kīrtana from the morning. We take a newspaper and we read what the politician says, what so many nonsense things. We waste our time. Śrama eva hi kevalam (SB 1.2.8). We should increase our taste for hearing and chanting about Viṣṇu, Kṛṣṇa. That engagement you have fully in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Bhagavad-gītā. So stick to these two books or Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Caitanya-caritāmṛta is still far advanced.
Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- Montreal, June 12, 1968:
That is the greatest mosque in the world. Many foreigners go to see it. It was constructed by Emperor Shah Jahan, say, about three hundred years or little more than that. So the Muhammadans, they are very particular to teach the Koran from the very beginning. That's a very nice system. Either you teach Koran or you, Koran, Bible, or you teach Bhagavad-gītā, it doesn't matter. One should have the idea of God consciousness. Then he can develop. So this opportunity should be offered to the children. If not, they are not real guardians, real parents, or real teachers. Why? Durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma. This Prahlāda Mahārāja teaching is not this Bhāgavatam. Just mark it. Prahlāda Mahārāja says, dharmān bhāgavatān, "the religion of God consciousness." He does not say Hindu religion or Muhammadan religion or Christian religion.
Lecture on SB 7.6.2 -- Vrndavana, December 3, 1975:
So I'll become one with the supreme spirit soul as soon as this body is finished." Gatākāśa potakāśa, it is said. But that is not real satisfaction. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninaḥ. They think, "Now I am liberated. I am one with the Supreme." But actually he is artificially thinking that. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ. Because they have no right information how to become satisfied fully, therefore they are aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ. Their intelligence is not yet pure. It is impure, again material. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adho anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ (SB 10.2.32).
Lecture on SB 7.6.8 -- Vrndavana, December 10, 1975:
So this is due to our attachment. So spiritual life means how to get out of this attachment. This is spiritual life. We are "No, what is the wrong if we are attached?" The wrong is that so long we remain attached to these temporary illusory things, you'll not be able to get out of it. That is the whole program. Therefore Kṛṣṇa advises, mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya. These pains and pleasure is due to this skin; it is not real. But because you are attached to the skin and bone, therefore you feel sometimes pain and pleasure. But that will not endure. Better tolerate it. Tolerate. That is spiritual, tapasya. That is called tapasya. When one can learn how to tolerate these temporary so-called pains and pleasure, then he is advanced.
Lecture on SB 7.9.4 -- Mayapur, February 11, 1976:
Every living entity originally nitya-siddha, but somehow or other, just like Jaya-Vijaya, fell down in this material world, and he was delivered also, both of them were delivered. So although you have fallen in this material world, and suffering the pangs of material existence, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9), on account of accepting this material body, still, Kṛṣṇa personally comes, yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata (BG 4.7). This is glāniḥ, discrepancies. We are living this material existence, this is not real life. Real life is to become mahā-bhāgavata.
Lecture on SB 7.9.19 -- Mayapur, February 26, 1976:
Therefore the ordinary father and mother, like cats and dogs, they are not real shelter of the children. That is... Prahlāda Mahārāja said, bālasya neha śaraṇaṁ pitarau nṛsiṁha. Bālasya neha śaraṇaṁ pitarau nṛsiṁha na ārtasya. Ārtasya means diseased, suffering from some disease. No, just like I have already explained, we are opening hopitals and bed... That is not. You can do it, but at the same time he must be Kṛṣṇa conscious. We have got practical examples. Some of our devotees, they go to the hospital, and they purchase our books and they become a devotee. Even in hospital bed they're reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Bhagavad-gītā, and taking benefit. That is real remedy.
Lecture on SB 7.9.36 -- Mayapur, March 14, 1976:
So in the previous verse we understood that Lord Brahmā executed severe austerity for hundreds of years just to become purified. Tīvra-tapasā pariśuddha-bhāvaḥ. Bhāva, situation, or nature, bhāva, nature also... So we have a bhāva, nature, at the present moment which is not real bhāva. We have acquired this bhāva on account of long, long years' material association. But this bhāva can be changed. That is spiritual. Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī also says bhāva, and another place, in Bhagavad-gītā, it is said, budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ, bhāva (BG 10.8).
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, December 27, 1972:
These activities of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, it is, it appears to be ordinary activities, but that is liberated activity. Those who cannot understand the activities in liberation, nirviśeṣavādi, they think that in the conditioned state of life, there are activities; when one becomes liberated, he has no more activities, he becomes dumb. No. Actual activities begins in liberated... Just like a man, a diseased fellow, diseased fellow, lying on the bed, he's also eating. He's also sleeping. He's also passing stool, urine. But that is not real activity. When he becomes cured of the disease, come to his healthy life, and then again he walks, he eats, he sleeps, that is another, mean, a position of eating, sleeping. But one who cannot understand the liberated activities, they are shuddered. As soon as they think of activities, they think, "Oh, the activities, they, the..." The same patient who is suffering, for, suppose from birth, he cannot understand that there is activities after being cured of this disease. He cannot understand.
The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 10, 1973:
They do not know. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānāḥ (SB 7.5.31). And still they're becoming guide, they're becoming swamis, they're becoming gurus, they're becoming fathers, they're becoming government. How people can be happy? Everyone is andhā, blind. They have no jñāna, no knowledge, and misleading only. So the, ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam. You can have unlimited ānanda, but because you are falsely trying to enjoy through this material body, therefore you are becoming confused and frustrated. That they do not know. They think, "I have got this material body, I have got some senses, let me enjoy the senses to the best possibility." But you cannot do it, because it is false, it is not real. Real senses, unless you feel sensation, that sensation, consciousness is there because the spirit soul is there. Otherwise there is no sensation, and unless you feel sensation, there is no enjoyment.
The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 9, 1972:
Every chance of falling down from the spiritual happiness. That spiritual happiness, nirbheda-brahmānu-sandhana. Nirbheda, without any distinction. That is not real Brahman happiness. Brahman happiness means that there must be a distinction. The distinction means Kṛṣṇa is predominator and everyone is predominated. Just like the gopīs. Kṛṣṇa is the predominator, and the gopīs and all the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana-Nanda Mahārāja, Yaśodā and the cowherd boys, servant, trees, plants, flowers, water, animals, cows—everyone is predominated. Kṛṣṇa is only predominator. That is real happiness. Whenever there is any trouble in Vṛndāvana, they approach the predominator and immediately the predominator takes care and they're happy. This is Vṛndāvana life. As soon as there was torrents of rain, the, all the inhabitants, inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, they approached Kṛṣṇa to give them protection. And Kṛṣṇa immediately gave them protection by lifting Govardhana Hill. So they were confident that Kṛṣṇa's there. They did not know Kṛṣṇa as God. They simply loved Kṛṣṇa, and they were confident that "So long Kṛṣṇa is there, we are happy, we are out of danger." That is the conviction of the Vṛndāvana-vāsī. They simply concentrate on Kṛṣṇa.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.8 -- Mayapur, April 1, 1975:
So where is this Vaikuṇṭhaloka? It is rather imprudent to inquire because we cannot calculate even this material world, what is the length and breadth of this universe. This is only one universe. This is called māyika brahmānanda. Māyika means shadow. Shadow... Shadow is existing on account of the real. So therefore it is called māyā. Just like the example is, in your country, in the window, there are many nice model, beautiful women standing or a man standing, nicely dressed, but that is not real man or woman. That is shadow. That is called māyā. This is the example of māyā. Māyā means it is not fact, but it appears like fact. That is called māyā. Another example is... Just like the mirage, water in the desert. Actually there is no water, but it appears that there is water. The foolish animals, they run after this water, but there is no water.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.100-108 -- Bombay, November 9, 1975:
Therefore Vedic injunction—śāstra-cakṣuṣa: "You must be seeing everything through the śāstra, not with your these rascal eyes." It has no value. Śāstra-cakṣuṣa. Tasmād śāstra-vidhān uktam, Kṛṣṇa said. Yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya. The direction is the śāstra. You should see through the śāstra what is what. Then you'll be benefited. If you simply believe on your senses... The whole world, philosophers, scientists, they are going on on their own imperfect senses. Therefore everything is rascaldom. It is imperfect. It is not real knowledge. Śāstra-cakṣuṣa. You should know things through the śāstra, guru. Sādhu-śāstra-guru-vākya, tinete kariyā aikya. This is... If you want to know something, then it must be confirmed by sādhu, śāstra and guru. Then it is complete. And if you speculate, if you establish something under speculation, then it is not right. It is wrong.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.101 -- Washington, D.C., July 6, 1976:
So service of Kṛṣṇa is not idleness. There are different methods of spiritual realization, especially jñāna and yoga. That is all right, but actual process of self-realization is service. If you speculate to know about God... You can do so, but after knowing God, if you do not know what God desires you to do, then such kind of knowledge is simply waste of time. That is, you may, of course... That is not real knowledge. Real knowledge is to—that will be explained—to be induced to give some service to the Lord. In the beginning, this is called śānta-rasa, to understand the greatness of God, "God is great."
So we can discuss about the greatness of God, but next stage is that "God is so great, why not let me render some service unto the Supreme, the great?" That is one step forward. Simply to know "God is great and I am engaged in my own occupational duty," there is no symptom of love. Symptom of love means when one is eager to render some service to the beloved. That is love. Simply I love you and you love me, formality, but there is no service, that is not real love. Real love begins as it is stated in the śāstra, dadāti pratigṛhṇāti: to give something to the lover, to the beloved, and to take something. Dadāti pratigṛhṇāti bhuṅkte bhojayate: to accept some eatables from your beloved, and offer him something for eating. Bhuṅkte bhojayate. Guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati. And you disclose your mind; there is no secrecy between the lover and the beloved. And the other party also discloses.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.106 -- New York, July 12, 1976:
Whatever our occupational duties are now going on in this big city of New York... What is their occupational duty? The duty... Everyone is going to the office early in the morning. They have got... Everyone has got duty, but that duty—asad-dharma. Body will not exist; therefore anything done on account of the body, that is asad-dharma. That is not real dharma. Real dharma is when you come to the platform of sat. That sat we have to understand, what is sat and what is asat. Asat, nonpermanent. Everyone we know that this body is not permanent. And sat? That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. You have to learn it. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). The body is asat, it will be destroyed, but the soul, which will never be destroyed... Nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ na hanyate... Na hanyate hanyamāne śarī... (BG 2.20). Na jāyate mriyate vā kadācit. That soul is never born, never dies, kadācit, at any time. Not that sometimes it dies and sometimes... No. Any time, kadācit.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 21.49-61 -- New York, January 5, 1967:
We have seen. Where? In the reservoir of water or in a reflection you see the real tree is upwards, but the reflection is downwards. Therefore this material world is reflection. It is not real. Just day before yesterday I was pointing out the reflection of the sun from this side. So that reflection is playing. It is giving light, everything. But it is reflection, imitation. It has no value. Similarly, all this material world, it appears very nice, as if everything is all right, but nothing is all right. It is simply a temporary illusion. Therefore it is called māyikā. It is not the real thing. The real thing is there in the spiritual world. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says if you return to that real, I mean to say, abode, then you will have..., you haven't got to come back again to take birth in this material body. Yad dhāma gatva na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama. Na tad bhāsayate sūryo na candro na pāvakaḥ (BG 15.6). This is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, that "There is no need of sun. There is no need of moon. There is no need of electricity." These things are there.
Festival Lectures
Ratha-yatra -- Los Angeles, July 1, 1971:
So these are our foolishness. Meditation means to think over all this subject matter very intelligently, not like a rascal, that "If I am person, why God should be imperson? If I am eternal, why God should be dead?" This is meditation, to study diligently. If I have got an instinct to love others, so why God shall not, God will not have this instinct to love others? If I have got attraction for the opposite sex, why God should not have? Why He should not be attracted by Rādhārāṇī? Very simple truth. And why Rādhārāṇī should not be attracted by Kṛṣṇa? But the difference is: here everything is false. False means the attraction is not real attraction. But there the attraction is real. Here I am attracted with a boy, with a girl—after six months, finished. Because there are so many defects, therefore the attraction does not exist. It is all defective. This body is false, false in the sense it is an imitation. Just like you see one idol in the dress shop, very nice girl standing, but it is a false; similarly, this body made of material elements is not our real body. False. Similarly, the girl's body is false. Therefore, because false, the so-called love and attraction is also false. Therefore our so-called love breaks. There is no love here. It cannot be.
Varaha-dvadasi, Lord Varaha's Appearance Day Lecture -- Bhuvanesvara, January 31, 1977:
So Kṛṣṇa comes therefore, personally appears and exhibits His enjoying love in Vṛndāvana. He brings His friends, His girl-friends, boy-friends, everything, His father, His mother, and shows that "The enjoyment which you are seeking, that is there in the spiritual world with Me. See how I am enjoying." Just so that we may have our brain cleared that if we enjoy with Kṛṣṇa, we can enjoy the dance, the paternal love, the conjugal love, the friendly playing with boys, with animals, who is in the garden, in the forest, in the water-same thing is there. Everything is there, all the sporting, but spiritual. So this is Kṛṣṇa's līlā. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis (Bs. 5.37). So we are seeking pleasure within this material world. That is imitation. That is not real enjoyment. But the basic principle of enjoyment is there. Here there is imitation enjoyment, love between young boy young girl. So wherefrom it comes? It is there in Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise how it can come? It is not possible. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1).
Initiation Lectures
Initiations -- San Diego, June 30, 1972:
Just like in Christian church they go. There is cause: "God, give us our daily bread." The cause is bread. "Therefore I have come to church." But when you go to church without any cause, that is real love. "God will give me bread; therefore, let me go to church," this is also nice, but this motivated faith may be lost. If we approach God for some material benefit, for personal sense gratification, that may break at any time. So that is not real love. Real love is without cause. And apratihatā. Apratihatā means which cannot be checked. My love for God cannot be checked by any material condition. Nobody can say that "Because I am poor man, I have to work so hard, I cannot love God now." People say like that. "We shall wait. When I get millions of dollars in my bank balance, then I shall take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Now let me earn money." You see? This is not bhakti or attachment. Mayy āsakta. Mayy āsakta manāḥ pārtha yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ. Mad-āśrayaḥ means "under My protection." Kṛṣṇa says. So taking shelter of Kṛṣṇa or His representative... Mat means "My man" also. Mad-āśrayaḥ, take shelter of Kṛṣṇa or His representative, and try to practice the yoga by which you will have spontaneous love for Kṛṣṇa.
Wedding Ceremonies
Initiation of Sri-Caitanya dasa and Wedding of Pradyumna and Arundhati -- Columbus, May 14, 1969:
So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to purify the human society. And the purification process, simply by chanting, is sufficient. But still, our Gosvāmīns, they have given us some ritualistic ceremonies. That will help the process of purification. Sacrifice, offering, these things are there. But the main thing is chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. That is sufficient. So in our society we want to establish divine society. Therefore there is need of all classes of men and all classes of social orders. Our Vedic conception is varṇāśrama-dharma. The "Hindu" term is not found in any Vedic literature. It is a name given by the Muhammadans, so far I know. It is not... Real term is varṇāśrama-dharma, sanātana-dharma, four varṇas and four āśramas. Four varṇas: brāhmaṇa kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, according to qualification... And Bhagavad-gītā also says these are the qualification, brāhmaṇas: satya śama dama titikṣa ārjavam, ācāryopāsanam, brahma-karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.42).
General Lectures
Lecture Excerpt -- San Francisco, September 14, 1968:
So we have to continue this chanting, either imperfectional stage or in the perfectional stage. Satatām kīrtayanto mām (BG 9.14). In the Bhagavad-gītā, you will see that this kīrtana is recommended continuously. Satatam. Satatam means always. Either in the imperfect stage or in the perfect stage, the process is one. It is not like the Māyāvādīs, that first of all you chant, and by chanting, when you become yourself God, then there is no chanting—stop. This is Māyāvāda philosophy. This is not real, the position. Chanting will continue even in your highest perfectional stage. But that chanting and at the present moment chanting, there is little difference. Yes.
Lecture on Teachings of Lord Caitanya -- Seattle, September 25, 1968:
But actually, I am not, because I do not know what I am." It is very nice picture, you see? In the Vedas the injunction is that if anyone wants to understand the transcendental science, he must approach to a bona fide person or a spiritual master in such humbleness as Sanātana Gosvāmī is approaching. He is born of a very high aristocratic family, but he says that "I am born very low." He's very learned man, but he says that "People say me learned man, but actually I am not." Just the position. So why he's saying that? That will be explained. Because actual learning means to know oneself. That is real knowledge. This knowledge that "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am born of this family," "I am father of this person," "husband of that lady," and this and that, so many designations, that is not real knowledge. Real knowledge is to know oneself. That is being taught by Sanātana Gosvāmī, that "I do not know what I am. I am simply identifying myself with this body. That is not real knowledge." He's presenting in that way.
Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, April 11, 1971:
Because that disease, hankering and lamenting, is there. It is not brahma-bhūtaḥ stage. And they cannot be on the platform of seeing everyone on equal terms. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu. That is not possible. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu means when one is actually on the spiritual platform, he can see everyone on the same category because everyone is spirit soul. Then not only in human society—in other animal society also... Just like there are 8,400,000 species of life. That means the living entity is passing through different types of bodies. This is called learning. This is called understanding. Unfortunately, this learning and understanding, there is none throughout the whole world in any university. Therefore whatever education we are getting, that is not real learning. That is not real learning. Paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ (BG 5.18). If one gets actual learning, then he sees equally everyone. Paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ. Vidyā-vinaya-sampanne brāhmaṇe gavi hastini.
Lecture -- Vrndavana, March 14, 1974:
If you want really peace, then you develop your dormant love of God, Kṛṣṇa. Then you'll be happy. Otherwise you'll never be happy. Because we want to love somebody. That is natural. So we have placed our loving propensity in so many things, even to cats and dogs, but that will not satisfy us, because that is sense gratification. That is not real love. Real love is to love Kṛṣṇa, love of Kṛṣṇa. So this is the highest philosophy of life, highest perfection of life, how to learn to love Kṛṣṇa. The Vṛndāvana means simply loving Kṛṣṇa. The cowherds boy, the gopīs, the Nanda Mahārāja, Yaśodāmayī, Rādhārāṇī—the only focus is to love Kṛṣṇa. That's all. This is Vṛndāvana. Vṛndāvana does not mean a city or town or this or that. Vṛndāvana means where everyone is in love, in intense love with Kṛṣṇa. So you have come to Vṛndāvana. Try to learn how to love, intensified love, Kṛṣṇa. That is perfection of life. And that is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's contribution. Kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te (CC Madhya 19.53).
So although we have got love propensity... Everyone loves somebody. But we are being frustrated, because that is not real love. Real love is to love Kṛṣṇa. You may execute your duties very nicely, but if you do not learn how to love Kṛṣṇa, this all discharging of your duties is simply working or laboring for nothing.
Sunday Feast Lecture -- Atlanta, March 2, 1975:
As it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati: (BG 18.61) "The Lord is situated in everyone's heart." But we cannot do that. I cannot even know what you are feeling, pains and pleasure. But God He can know. Otherwise why we offer prayer to God? He knows. In this way you have to study what is God. Although apparently He has got two hands, two legs, but that hands and legs are not like ours. We have got our hands and legs. That is within this body. Just like your coat has got hand, but that hand is not real hand—the real hand is within the coat—similarly, we have got also hands and legs, but that is within this material body. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yau... (BG 2.13). Within this body. We should not be concerned with your coat and shirt. We should be concerned with you. Similarly, we are now materially dressed. We should not be concerned with the dress. We should be concerned what is there within the dress. That is knowledge. That is knowledge.
Philosophy Discussions
Philosophy Discussion on Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz:
Prabhupāda: But this is also scientific truth. Just like, according to Vedic scripture, this black body is a sign of sinful life. Therefore brāhmaṇas are called śukla. Brāhmaṇas are fair complexioned. Still it is said if a brāhmaṇa is black, then he is not a real brāhmaṇa born. Kalu-ban means black man. Black brāhmaṇa is to be understood that his father is not real brāhmaṇa. He is born of somebody else, but he is known as brāhmaṇa. Similarly a śūdra, if he is fair-complected, he is also not real. Kalba kata śūdra bete mussulman. Muslim, if he is a dwarf, he is not real Muslim, because Muslims from Afghanistan are very tall. And kaṅki chale, the son of a prostitute, and puṣṭi putra, adopted son, all of them are rascals. Puṣṭi putra, adopted son, he gets money because a rich man, when he hasn't got a son, he takes somebody else, adopted son, and he gets money for nothing and spends like anything. We have seen it in London. One Mr. Sil, he got immense money, and he died a penniless street beggar. And he was an adopted son. I have seen it. His only business was how to spoil his adopted father's money. And we have seen, he was such a rich man, died a street beggar. This I have seen.
Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:
Prabhupāda: Yes. Miracles means you cannot conceive how it is being done. The same example, as I said, that if you want to paint one rose flower you require so many things, but that also is not real rose flower. But imitation, it may be perfect, but you have to take so much trouble in collecting the paint, the colors, and your energy, then duration of work, and some day it may come out perfect. But the same energy is working so swiftly that you see automatically a rose flower is coming out. The same example again: just like this airplane, there are thousands of complicated electronic machinery arrangements, but you see that the pilot is simply pushing a button. That's all. But layman is seeing that "Simply by pushing a button, a miraculous thing is happening." But no, with the pushing of the button there are so many complicated machineries, they work one after another, one after another.
Philosophy Discussion on Hegel:
Prabhupāda: This is not real fact. This is imitation of the real table. It is fact to a person who has no knowledge of the real. Because it will not exist; that, our reality means which will exist. Otherwise it is not reality.
Śyāmasundara: So this may be real for some time and then...
Prabhupāda: It is temporary, temporary. It is not real. It is some temporary manifestation. The same example, like dreaming; dreaming is not real but temporary hallucination, that's all. You cannot say this "dream-real". This word is used, svapna-draṣṭur ivāñjasā. Just like dream, it is very nice example. In dream everything appears to be real but it is not real, it is all false or temporary.
Śyāmasundara: So what I want to clarify is that you say...
Prabhupāda: He wants to say something.
Philosophy Discussion on Hegel:
Prabhupāda: Yes, unless one understands that he is entrapped, there is no question of liberation. If he's in ignorance that this is the real life... Just like ordinary man, they think this is real life but we are giving education, "No, this is not real life. The real life is Kṛṣṇa consciousness."
Śyāmasundara: Does someone who has been in prison and then he becomes free, does he appreciate his freedom more than someone who has always been free?
Prabhupāda: So, that's very easy to understand. You can apply the same thing in your life. That is not very difficult. Everyone can understand.
Philosophy Discussion on Henri Bergson:
Prabhupāda: Not real knowledge.
Atreya Ṛṣi: But some. Maybe some speculator will say, "Yes. I am convinced there is God." He heard that from either, for example, he heard it in his own culture or somewhere indirectly he heard it from God. He didn't make that up. Is that the conclusion?
Śyāmasundara: You mean by intuition can we understand.
Prabhupāda: Yes. One can understand. It is very easy. That I explained in the meeting, that we see, that any way you take, I have got my father, my father has got father, his father, his father, his father—so there must be some original father. That is supreme father. Another way: I don't find myself free. I am in American state, so I have to submit report to the immigration department. Or you, American citizens, you have got some obligation to the state: the draft man is there, calling you; if you don't go then you have to go to jail. So nobody is control-free; everyone is being controlled. Again, I see that the man who is controlling me, he is also controlled, and that man is also controlled, that man is... So here you see relative—I am controller and controlled. So when I approach the person who is simply controller, not controlled, that is God. How can you deny this definition of God? Simply (indistinct). Here by our experience we see, everyone is rejecting the controller and controlled. But if you can find out the Supreme Person, who is controller but not controlled, then He is God. Find out. Now, if i say that it is beyond my capacity, so go to experienced man, Brahma. He has got duration life a million times greater than you, and he got knowledge.
Philosophy Discussion on Soren Aabye Kierkegaard:
Prabhupāda: But how the activity came? Then one should be..., intelligent man should be concerned first of all wherefrom this activity came. What is the origin of activity? That is philosophy. You are simply seeing there are... Sometimes we see activity in matter, just like the cloud, cloud is coming on the sky, it is moving, there is activity. But that activity, this material activity, is interaction. That is not real activity. Real activity, just like modern science, they are concerned with the material science, seeing the activity, they are saying it is by nature it is going; rather, a fruit is coming out, a flower is coming out, this is, there is activity. So one should know what is the cause of this activity. They think that it is automatically coming, by nature, nature. They cannot explain. That is not philosophy. But we have to see wherefrom this activity comes. We get answer from Bhagavad-gītā that behind all these material activities there is a brain, there is a... That is God. Just like this machine is working, acting. It is talking. As soon as you press one button it's talking. But a child will say, "Oh, how wonderful this machine is talking." This is childish. One who has got sense, he'll know this talking is not coming automatically. Somebody has talked, and it is simply a record. That is intelligence.
Philosophy Discussion on Martin Heidegger:
Śyāmasundara: He says that when we have thoughts and ideas, that their intention is always directed towards some object, but anxiety has no intended object. If I am anxious about something, or address something, it is not real because there is no object toward which it is directed.
Prabhupāda: Yes. When you have no objective, that anxiety is very troublesome. Therefore we have got also anxiety: how to become fully Kṛṣṇa conscious. You are also thinking that "Whether I have chanted sixteen rounds or not? Whether I am deviating from my duties to become (indistinct)?" There is anxiety, but we have got an objective. But others, they have no objective, and full of anxiety.
Śyāmasundara: He calls that "nothingness."
Prabhupāda: That is nothingness.
Philosophy Discussion on Mao Tse Tung:
Prabhupāda: But shall not be happy. If I am given under the control of Communist government, I shall not be happy. We were there for a week in Moscow. We were not at all happy. That boy who came to us, he is not happy. So where is your perfection? You make everyone happy; then it is all right. If you think that "I am happy, my brother is happy. That's all right. Let others go to hell," that is another thing.
Revatīnandana: But Mao will say that the Russian Communism is religionism, that it is not real Communism. Therefore they are unhappy.
Prabhupāda: That's all right. The Russian Communism is failing; similarly, some days after, his communism also will fail. Because they are all imperfect. To criticize another man does not mean you are perfect. That is a different thing. You have to prove that you are perfect. "Judge not others lest you may be judged."
Philosophy Discussion on Samuel Alexander:
Prabhupāda: This, this, this sense should be explained. Because God is infinite, He has infinite Deities also. That is infiniteness. He is presented as Deity; that is infinitely of varieties. That is infiniteness. Why he is sticking to one Deity? That is his not understanding the meaning of what is infinite. That is explained in the Brahma-saṁhitā, advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam (Bs. 5.33). Ananta-rūpam: He has Deity infinitely. That is infinity. Because He is infinite, He has no Deity—that is not real conception. He is infinite and He has got infinite Deity forms.
Hayagrīva: He says, "God's body, being the whole universe of space/time, is the source of the categories but not itself subject to them."
Prabhupāda: Yes. So if God is Deity, He is also not subject to these created living being. That is condemned. When one thinks God's Deity as one of the deities within this material world, he is condemned as mūḍha. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam: (BG 9.11) "Because I appear just like a human being, the rascals, asses, they think of Me as ordinary human."
Conversations and Morning Walks
1969 Conversations and Morning Walks
Lord Caitanya Play Told to Tamala Krsna -- August 4, 1969, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Not real food.
Prabhupāda: No. Or... Real food is not required. Simply that explain it. Or you can do one thing. You can offer real food. And since she will be in devotion, one may take the foodstuff and distribute to the audience and keep it. That will be also nice.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Maybe we can distribute prasāda twice in the play.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes.
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Conversation with Cardinal Danielou -- August 9, 1973, Paris:
Cardinal Danielou: Yes, because we, we thought that there is a difference of nature between life of man, life of spirit, and biological, biological life. And we say... (break) ...not really exists, and we think so. We think that animals, plant are not real beings, are world of appearance and that you human person only is real being. And that in this sense, the material world is without importance.
Prabhupāda: Now..., I follow. Suppose you are living in this house. So you are not this house, that's a fact.
Cardinal Danielou: Yes. Yes.
Prabhupāda: But if I come and break your house, is it not inconvenience for you?
Cardinal Danielou: Yes, surely. Surely it is inconvenient.
Prabhupāda: So if I cause inconvenience unto you, is it not criminal?
Cardinal Danielou: It is inconvenient to me, but is...
Prabhupāda: No. If I cause some inconvenience to you, is it not criminal? Is it not sinful?
Room Conversation with Dr. Christian Hauser, Psychiatrist -- September 10, 1973, Stockholm:
Prabhupāda: But if we begin from the perfect, the conclusion will be perfect. What are the four defects? Explain.
Haṁsadūta: Uh, four de... Every conditioned soul, you or I, anyone, born in this material world, he's defective by four things. He has got imperfect senses. Just like you don't see what's happening beyond the wall. So this is imperfection of the senses. There are so many examples. The next thing is you're subjected to be illusioned. You may accept a thing for real which is not real. Just like we accept the body as self, but we are not the body. The body is a lump of matter. We are simply witnessing the changes of the body, but we are not the... So this is illusion. Then...
Prabhupāda: Mistakes.
Room Conversation with Dr. Christian Hauser, Psychiatrist -- September 10, 1973, Stockholm:
Dr. Hauser: Not real life, but the proteins that life is made of...
Prabhupāda: But we are concerned with the real life. We are consider, concerned with the real life. If you can produce one real life, a small ant, not human being, then I shall think that you are successful in your program. But that you cannot do. Why do you talk nonsense? Therefore you are cheating. Why should he say: "That I cannot say," if he's not confident. That means cheating. Everyone is doing that. He's not confident about his theory, and he's speaking long, long speech. And people are fools. They are hearing. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānāḥ (SB 7.5.31). One blind man is leading many blind man. What is the benefit? The leader has no eyes, and he's leading many blind men. What is the use?
Dr. Hauser: Hmm. Yes.
Prabhupāda: And these so-called scientists will reply: "Yes, we are trying. In future..." In future, everyone can expect future. But the hearsay is that: "Trust no future, however pleasant." Why future? In past we could not do. At present we cannot not do. What is the guarantee that in future we'll be able to do? There is no history that anyone has produced life from chemicals. What do your, what do you think, that life is a product of chemicals? Do you mean to say?
Morning Walk -- December 15, 1973, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: So, these are all no argument. No sane man will accept this argu...
Karandhara: Most western people are so frustrated, they accept these philosophies wholeheartedly.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is frustration. That is not real life. That is another thing.
Karandhara: But like you say in Bhagavad-gītā, they are so angry with all types of speculation that they become frustrated and disgusted.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Frustration is not life. Frustration is frustration, disappointment. That is not life.
Karandhara: They say that frustration is the only reality.
Prabhupāda: No. That's for you.
Morning Walk -- December 20, 1973, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: No, no, no. He may say nonsense. The fact is this. That if he is sama-darśinaḥ, equal, then why he is particularly aiming to the lower class? That means he is not sama-darśinaḥ. He has not come to the stage. He is simply talking nonsense. Sama-darśinaḥ means he is equal to everyone. That is sama-darśinaḥ. Sama-darśinaḥ does not mean to get a cheap adoration, popularity, I go to the poor. That is their Ramakrishna Mission. They also are doing that same thing. Daridra-nārāyaṇa-sevā, like that. Why daridra? Why not real Nārāyaṇa? Just like this morning we read nārāyaṇa-pade. Never said daridra-nārāyaṇa-pade. To the great. Surrender does not mean to the lower. Does it mean surrender? Surrender, this relationship means that to whom I surrender, he is greater than me. And to the lower, mercy. These two words.
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Conversation -- February 13, 1974, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: You're having strong teeth.
Dr. Kapoor: They are, so long as you don't know that I have not real ones. (laughter)
Devotee: That is māyā. (more laughing by Dr. Kapoor)
Prabhupāda: (Hindi).
Dr. Kapoor: She was here only a couple of days ago. My youngest son was married on the 20th of this month...
Prabhupāda: Ah, yes, I heard.
Morning Walk -- April 4, 1974, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Yes. No, that is not real form. Real form is Kṛṣṇa.
Dr. Patel: Aiśvaram rūpam.
Prabhupāda: This is a form for less intelligent. Those who are thinking "The God must be horizontal form. God, how He can be a human-like form?" God is great, so he is thinking of greatness of God. Somebody thinks that, according to his own idea. Greatness means they have got idea, "The sky is the greatest." So God must be of the form like sky. Yes. So what is the...?
Girirāja: (reads synonyms) "Translation: O lotus-eyed one, I have heard from You in detail about the appearance and disappearance of every living entity, as realized through Your inexhaustible glories." (reads next synonyms) "O greatest of all personalities, O supreme form, though I see here before me Your actual position, yet I wish to see how You have entered into this cosmic manifestation."
Prabhupāda: Entered. So just like it is to be understood. He's very intelligent. Now, I am... As soul, my magnitude is described. What is that? Keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadhā kalpitasya ca (CC Madhya 19.140). Keśa agra, the tip of the hair, divide into hundred parts. And again take that one part and again divide into hundred parts. Keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadhā kalpitasya ca (CC Madhya 19.140). Now, it is simply, it is to be imagined. Kalpitasya. Jīva-bhāgaḥ sa vijñeyaḥ. That is the magnitude of the jīva. Now, that magnitude of jīva has entered in this body or in the elephant's body. Now, which is important, the body is important or that small particle is important?
Dr. Patel: Small particle is important.
Morning Walk -- April 11, 1974, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Yes. His physiognomy is sac-cid-ānanda vigraha (Bs. 5.1). That we can understand. Sac-cid-ānanda. He is eternal, He is full of knowledge and He is blissful. Sac-cid-ānanda. Your body, my body, is just opposite. It is not eternal, it is temporary. And it is full of ignorance. Therefore we require knowledge. (aside:) Little away, yes. So this is full of ignorance, and there are so many miseries. So Kṛṣṇa hasn't got a body like this. (aside:) Hare Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa's body is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. So we can distinguish what is Kṛṣṇa's body and what is our body. (break) ...understand. Try to understand, that what is the nature... That is called spiritual body. So we have got also similar body, but very small, very small. That is covered by this material body. And because in the spiritual body I am person, I have got form, therefore the material elements have taken a form. Just like when your coat is made, it is made according to your body. Because you have got hands, so the coat has got a hand. But the hand of the coat is not real. The real hand is within the coat. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). Within. These foolish people, they do not understand. They take, "This is hand. This is hand." He does not know that this hand is artificial, outward. Real hand is within. This is their misconception. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Try to understand. These are very important question. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Because within the coat the real man is there, therefore the dress has assumed two hands, two legs, one collar, like that. But this is false, like dress. Real... Therefore every living entity has got form. He is not formless.
Room Conversation with Pater Emmanuel (A Benedictine Monk) -- June 22, 1974, Germany:
Prabhupāda: Then where is love? If you disobey the orders of God, then where is your love? Therefore we have come here to teach them to love God. If you love me, you cannot disobey me. And if you disobey me, that love is not real.
Pater Emmanuel: Will that means that Christianity has to change their customs or the Christianity, Roman Catholic or Protestant, must return to the source?
Prabhupāda: (aside) You can sit on the chair if you like.
Guest: No, I like to sit, thank you.
Prabhupāda: Not only Christianity, everywhere, the people now do not love God, but they love dog. Yes. Therefore this movement is required, awakening of God consciousness. Not the Christians, they are only to be accused, but Hindus, Muslim, everyone. They are simply stamp, but no obedience to God. This is the position.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Conversation with Sanskrit Professor, other Guests and Disciples -- February 12, 1975, Mexico:
Prabhupāda: No, dharma is duty, varṇāśrama-dharma. That is also given up. That means the only duty becomes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He said, sarva-dharmān parityajya. In the beginning He said that dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya. Yes. Yuge yuge sambhavāmi. Now, He said that "I appear to reestablish the principle of religion." So at the last stage He said, sarva-dharmān parityajya. That means the so-called dharmas, or religion, which is going on in the world, they are not real. And the Bhāgavata therefore says, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra (SB 1.1.2), that "All kinds of pretending religion is rejected here." Pretending religion, what is that? Pretending... Just like gold. Gold is gold. If the gold is in the hand of some Hindu, then will it be called Hindu gold? Similarly, religion means obedience to God. So where is Hindu religion? Where is Christian religion? Where is Muslim religion? God is everywhere, and we are just meant for obeying God. That is one religion, obedience to God. Why they have manufactured this Hindu religion, Muslim religion, Christian religion, this religion, that...? Therefore they are all pretending religion.
Room Conversation with Professors -- February 19, 1975, Caracas:
Prabhupāda: No, we must first of all understand that our senses are imperfect. Just like we are sitting in this room. We have got our eyes, but we cannot see what is there, going on, beyond this wall. The sun is fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than this earth, and we are seeing just like a disc. So the eyelid is just near the eyes, but we cannot see what is the eyelids. If the light is off, we cannot see. So we can see under certain condition. Then what is the value of our seeing? If we, even if we manufacture telescope, that is also manufactured by the imperfect senses, so it is also not perfect. So anything understood by manipulating our imperfect senses, that is not real knowledge. So our process of understanding real knowledge is to take it from the person who has the real knowledge. Just like if we contemplate or speculate who is my father, it is never possible to understand who is my father. But if we receive the words from mother that "Here is your father," that is perfect. Therefore the process of knowledge should be not to speculate but to receive it from the perfect person. If we receive knowledge from a mental speculator, that is not perfect knowledge.
Room Conversation -- April 4, 1975, Mayapur:
Prabhupāda: They, they're not real communists. Real communist we are. Actually see. All people from all parts of the world, professing different religions, different path of life. Still they are joined. This is natural. Kṛṣṇa community.
Devotee (1): So this war... You mentioned a couple of minutes ago that this war almost broke out once before when America aimed all of its weapons at India. So it could happen at any time. It could happen very shortly then.
Prabhupāda: That war was also Russian instigated. This war, last war between Pakistan and India, was practically between India and Pakistan, uh, yes...
Devotee (1): Russia.
Prabhupāda: No. The Bangladesh, they were Bengalis. Although the whole Pakistan, including Bangladesh and the other part, West Pakistan, East Pakistan, Bangladesh... So actually, Bangladesh is bigger than West Pakistan. They should have taken the government, majority. But the West Pakistan, by force they were ruling. They are not majority. So after all, they are Bengalis, maybe Muslim. They're intelligent than these Punjabis. Punjabis, they have got bodily strength, not brain. So these Bengalis, in Mujjhamat Raman, that was his demands, that: "We are majority. Why they should govern us? We should govern over them." This is the movement.
Garden Conversation with Dr. Gerson and devotees -- June 22, 1975, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is nice. Yes. But I say that even there is something wrong, it is not impediment. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Api cet sudurācāro bhajate mām ananya-bhāk, sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ (BG 9.30). Even if you find in devotee something bad, and his behavior is not in the standard, but because he is Kṛṣṇa conscious, he has no other business, he is sādhu. Api cet sudurācāro bhajate mām ananya-bhāk, sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ (BG 9.30). He is sādhu. He is saintly man. Even if you find some defect in his character, because he is sticking to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he is saintly. Kṛṣṇa says. How is that, a saintly man has got some this bad character? So that answer is next verse.
- kṣipraṁ bhavati dharmātmā
- śaśvac-chāntiṁ nigacchati
- kaunteya pratijānīhi
- na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati
- (BG 9.31)
"Yes, there are some defects. It is right. But it will be very soon finished." Just like you make the switch off, electric fan. So after the switch is off, still it is moving. But that movement is not real movement because the switch is off. It will stop very soon.
Morning Walk -- Durban, October 13, 1975 :
Prabhupāda: He was neither Muslim nor Hindu. He was an intelligent barrister coming from the… His father, means not real father, his father was Parsi, and he kept one Mohammedan girl. So the Jhinna is the issue of this… (to passerby) Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Indian: Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Today at 2:30 we have program at Peter Mather Hall. Yes. Come along.
Indian: Not Carlisle Street?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: No. Carlisle Street is the Arya-samāj temple. (laughs) So…
Prabhupāda: "So if you make propaganda and pay money to go against the Hindus and incite them"—gradually it developed. And the money was being paid by the Britishers. And he saw that money is coming. He had no feeling, national or… He wanted money, that's all. For money you can purchase anything nowadays.
Morning Walk -- October 20, 1975, Johannesburg:
Prabhupāda: So that is material knowledge. In order to taste happiness, you have to suffer. That is material happiness. And happiness, pure, is spiritual happiness. Here, in order to enjoy happiness, you have to suffer; then you can taste. Therefore that is not real happiness. (break)
Harikeśa: A sandtrap. This is where the ball goes in and it's very difficult to hit it out of there.
Prabhupāda: Oh.
Harikeśa: So you're not supposed to hit it in there.
Prabhupāda: Oh.
Harikeśa: It makes it more difficult.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Sometimes they hit a golf ball, Śrīla Prabhupāda, two hundred yards, and it goes into the hole.
Prabhupāda: The same thing. In order to feel the happiness of playing, he has to go in this way. It is unhappiness.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Morning Walk -- April 16, 1976, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Yes. Prāpañcikatayā buddhyā hari-sambandhi..., mumukṣubhiḥ parityāgo. Mumukṣubhiḥ, this mokṣa-vāñchā, they said, "It is false." So mumukṣu.... parityāgo phalgu vairāgyaṁ kathyate. It is not real vairāgya. He does not know what is vairāgya.
Dr. Patel: Vaiṣṇavas.... Veda gives to take care all your mind, sensation, body, from that...
Prabhupāda: Everything Kṛṣṇa's. That...
Dr. Patel: Kṛṣṇa's. That is right.
Prabhupāda: Mānasa deha geha yo kichu mora, arpiluṅ tuwā pade. All as soon as it is surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, it is all spiritual.
Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal -- June 28, 1976, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: These are later misconceptions, Hinduism and this ism, that ism, that ism. Actually, it is called sanātana-dharma, or varṇāśrama-dharma. That is meant for everyone. But because it was being followed regularly in India and Indians were called by the Muslims on the other side of the River Sind, or Sindu, and they pronounce Sind as Hind. Therefore they called India as Hindustan, means on the other side of Sindu, or Hindu River. Otherwise, it has no Vedic reference. So this Hindu dharma has no Vedic reference. The real Vedic dharma is sanātana-dharma, varṇāśrama-dharma. First of all he has to understand this. Now that sanātana-dharma, or Vedic dharma, being distorted, not being obeyed, not being carried properly, it has come to the understanding of Hinduism. That is a freak understanding. That is not real understanding. We have to study sanātana-dharma or varṇāśrama-dharma. Then we'll understand what is Vedic religion.
Room Conversation -- July 6, 1976, Washington, D.C.:
Prabhupāda: Bhuṅkte prakṛti-jān guṇān. The same thing. Puruṣaḥ prakṛti-sthaḥ bhuṅkte prakṛti-jān guṇān.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Is—this ego mentioned here—is it a false ego? That's what I understand.
Prabhupāda: Not real. Real ego is "I am servant of Kṛṣṇa." Ahaṁ brahmāsmi.
Rūpānuga: Is there false ego in different modes? Like false ego in the mode of ignorance, false in the mode of passion or goodness?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Rūpānuga: So the consciousness can be contaminated according to the mode in which it's associating.
Prabhupāda: Yes, prakṛti-jān guṇān.
Rūpānuga: Yes. So I am identifying with my body in any mode, that is false ego. But my consciousness is contaminated by a particular mode. May be passion, may be ignorance, may be goodness. So then my consciousness is contaminated. So false ego is the base of all material activities, but I may be acting in a certain mode, contaminated in a certain way. Is that right?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Room Conversation -- September 6, 1976, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: That means he's not pure brāhmaṇa. Brāhmaṇa cannot be black. Just like a European, if he becomes black, that means he has mixture. European and American, if he's black, that means mixture. So brāhmaṇa family, how it has... Still, family, it must be very fair. Śukla. Brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya family must be very beautiful. If he's pure. Kāla brāhmaṇa prakāśa śūdra (Bengali) beki poṣya-putro pasaraila.(?) It is a slang language. Kāla brāhmaṇa. Brāhmaṇa should not be black and śūdra should not be white. And a Musselman should not be dwarf. Because formerly real Musselmen were coming from Kabul, Afghanistan. That is called (indistinct). If a Muslim is dwarf that means he is not real. (Bengali) Prostitute's son, and poṣya-putra, adopted son. They are all of the same class. How this selection? Black brāhmaṇa, white śūdra, dwarf Musselman, and prostitute's son, and adopted son. Adopted son, he gets money without any earning and spends like... I have seen so many adopted sons.
Room Conversation -- November 15, 1976, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: Yes. You are destroying these trees.
Devotee: Well, see these trees, they're not real tall all the way, there's...
Prabhupāda: Oh, this is green also.
Devotee: Yeah, this is greenery around here and occasionally there's a big tree and then along the back here's...
Prabhupāda: Big trees are this side.
Room Conversation -- November 15, 1976, Vrndavana:
Devotee: You know with a little thing. And then right in the middle of the dome, we want to put like a big gold, not real gold but you know, gold-colored thing with flags.
Prabhupāda: Flags.
Devotee: Put flags on the top. Right exactly. This was our initial idea.
Prabhupāda: So why don't you make a temple like this? You see?
Devotees: (indistinct-talking together) ...attractive point.
Prabhupāda: But then you cannot deny that it is not a temple.
Devotee: Yeah, that's true. Actually...
Prabhupāda: Best thing is this type temple.
Press Conference -- December 16, 1976, Hyderabad:
Prabhupāda: ...ābhāsa. Ābhāsa. Just like in the morning there is no full sunshine, but there is some glimpse of light. That is not real light. Real light is full sunshine but before the sun rises fully there is some light. That light and this light different. We have to come to the full light. Then our life will be success. Not partial light. That will not help. The full light you can get from the Supreme Person, Kṛṣṇa.
Dr. Ramachandra: Jyotiṣām api taj jyotis tamasaḥ param ucyate.
Prabhupāda: Yes. yes. Yes. So you take light from Kṛṣṇa. And that is full light, and you'll be happy. That is our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Don't be satisfied with glimpse of light. Take full light. And that is open to everyone just like the sunshine is open to everyone. If you want to remain in the darkness, in the room, that is your business but you come to the... You can come to the full sunlight. That you can do. Where is the difficulty? Kṛṣṇa is open to everyone. He is speaking everything openly. There is no secret mantra. Everything is there. Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī mām. This is open to everyone. Where is the difficulty? Unless we deny to accept Kṛṣṇa's instruction, there is no secret. Everything is open. But our leaders and scholars, they do not like to take Kṛṣṇa's instruction as it is. We are therefore insisting, we are presenting Bhagavad-gītā as it is, no interpretation. They say, "Why not interpretation?" That is the defect. We say no interpretation. You take Kṛṣṇa as it is, that's all. Then your life is successful.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Morning Walk -- January 9, 1977, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: That is your real world, but you do not know what is reality. Your real world is this body. But this body is not real. That, you rascal, you cannot understand. Your reality is this body, but body not real.
Rāmeśvara: Even if this world is not real, temporarily it's real.
Prabhupāda: Temporary, yes. So I am eternal. I must associate with eternity. Why shall I..., temporary. Suppose if somebody comes in India, American, that is his temporary residence. Why shall I accept India as everything? Similarly this body is another India or for Indian, American. It is temporary, asann, asat. Asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ (SB 5.5.4). This body is temporary. That you have no knowledge. Why shall I be attached to the temporary things? I am the owner of the body, I am reality, so I must realize myself. Self-realization. This is self-realization, that "I am not this body, I am pure soul, Brahman." Ahaṁ brahmāsmi.
Room Conversation Varnasrama System Must Be Introduced -- February 14, 1977, Mayapura:
Prabhupāda: Temporary but it is miserable also. But you are eternal. Why you should be satisfied with temporary happiness? If you be satisfied, be satisfied. That is your business. But that is not real happiness. Why you should take repeated birth and death? If there is another life where there is no birth and death, why should you not take that? You are eternal. But because you are a fool, you think that "If I get ten thousand years of life and very comfortable life, that is happiness." That is mistake. Kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ (BG 7.20). That is also said. Why don't you refer to that...? "Such persons have lost that intelligence."
Room Conversation -- February 18, 1977, Mayapura:
Prabhupāda: Yes, insult. The animals should be kicked with shoes and stick. Argumentum baculum. There is no argument for animals. Kick and stick. Beat him. That is the way of dealing with animal. You cannot request an animal very... "My dear dog, please do not bark. Sit down." Simply kick and give him stick. That is good. They're animals. Gentle behavior with gentleman, not with the animal. "You are so big, big animal, you are simply to be kicked and whipped. Then you'll come to your senses." Religion. Religion is farce. First of all explain why you cannot do this machine. You are very proud of machine-making, artificial. "Why artificial intelligence? Why not real intelligence?" Intelligence also material. Bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhiḥ (BG 7.4). The buddhi. It is material, subtle form of material energy.
Room Conversations -- February 20, 1977, Mayapura:
Prabhupāda: Rakal Chandrardha(?). He has got a street. He liked me. He's known to(?) take care of his son very nice.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Your mother's brother.
Prabhupāda: Not real, but cousin.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Your mother's...
Prabhupāda: My mother is the brother's daughter, and he was the sister daughter. Just like our this nephew, first cousin.
Room Conversation -- March 1, 1977, Mayapura:
Prabhupāda: (chuckling) Yes. For Kṛṣṇa's business why there should be...? Even there is fight it should be mock fight, not real fight. Then it is right.
Gargamuni: Yeah, most of the fights we have aren't personal. They're just difference of opinion.
Prabhupāda: No, that will go on. Then majority vote. Then it's decided. What can be done?
Gargamuni: No one has any personal animosity.
Hṛdayānanda: No. There's no more personal animosity. A chairman was elected, Kīrtanānanda Swami, and vice chairman, Jayatīrtha, and secretary, again Satsvarūpa.
Prabhupāda: That's nice. Who is chairman?
Hṛdayānanda: Kīrtanānanda Swami.
Prabhupāda: He's senior.
Evening Darsana -- May 11, 1977, Hrishikesh:
German man (1): "The Father and me are one," he said. To give an example, the father in the heaven, and to his disciple he said, "The Father is in me. The Father is in me. I am one with the Father. I am not real, but the Father in me is doing everything. I am doing nothing." Every truth... Somebody touch his feet and they don't touch. "Don't tell me, my Father and me," he said.
Devotee (5): We chant every morning, sākṣād-dharitvena...
Prabhupāda: No bona fide person will say that "I am God." As soon as one says that "I am God," he's a rascal immediately. God is not so cheap. Caitanya Mahāprabhu never said. He said, "I am the servant of the servant of the servant of servant of God." Gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ (CC Madhya 13.80). Hundred times down. And that is real identification. And as soon as a person says, "I am God," then he's a madman. He's part of God. That is all right. But not the Supreme God.
Room Conversation -- July 19, 1977, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: Quite big.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's not real big, but then again, in that area and for what we want, it doesn't have to be real big. It's not meant to live a lot of people there. Upstairs, on the top floor, there's about four or five rooms for living or for other activities. Then the two ground and basement... I don't know the exact layout. I only went in quickly. I'm trying to think if it was basement plus three-basement, ground, first and second or basement, ground and first floor. Probably there was basement, ground floor, first floor, second floor. Yes, that's what it is. They have rooms where you can do different things.
Prabhupāda: Brick building?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Not a big building. It's not that big.
Prabhupāda: Wooden.
Room Conversation -- October 30, 1977, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: And that is Māyāvāda. (break) ...superficially Caitanya Mahāprabhu also a Māyāvādī.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. That was confirmed when He was talking like that. Just like Carl Jung... He's a psychologist. He says that matter is a concept, some sort of imagination that one has in his mind, something like that idea that these Māyāvādīs... They think this is not real.
Prabhupāda: It is not real in this sense: because the spirit is there, therefore it is there. Because there is consciousness, there is ignorance, covering. And if you stop this ignorance, then consciousness is there, pure.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: When the consciousness is undeveloped, looks like dead body.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes.
Correspondence
1947 to 1965 Correspondence
Letter to Harbanslal -- Bombay 2 August, 1958:
You know that I am attached with one cultural mission of the name of the League of Devotees as well as Indian cultural Congress which is trying to broad caste this message of Paropakara. The standard of Paropakara should be such as will be useful both in the current life as well as life after death. Every sane man thinks of Paropakara in that way. Temporary sense gratification is not real Paropakara. Please therefore begin these Paropakara activities in the foreign countries as you have gone there. I think your going there is another __ preaching the Indian culture as above mentioned. I shall be glad to be in touch with you by correspondence so that I may be giving you my humble suggestion for this service.
| Page Title: | Not Real |
| Compiler: | Rishab, Mayapur |
| Created: | 18 of May, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=1, SB=7, CC=1, OB=0, Lec=79, Con=31, Let=1 |
| No. of Quotes: | 120 |