First of all, try, try to understand Kṛṣṇa and try to love Him. Your love will be distributed, not only in your family and community, but throughout the whole world. All animals, all insects, all trees. You'll never be inclined to do harm, even to an ant even. A tree is cut down—a Kṛṣṇa-bhakta becomes sorry. Others, they do not become sorry. They are so sympathetic. Nowadays, trees are being cut into pieces without any consideration. This is also sinful activities. They're also living entities. You cannot kill them unnecessarily. This is the law of nature. Go on.
Nowadays (Lectures, Other)
Lectures
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 14, 1972:
Then Caitanya Mahāprabhu started the civil disobedience movement. About one lakh of people, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, reached the house of Kazi, and there was some compromise.
So there is always impediments in this process. If you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, the atheist class of men, they cannot tolerate. In... Nowadays also, we are being harassed. In Australia, the Melbourne city authorities, they brought a civil suit against us not to chant on the street. And our men were being taken to the police custody. So this harassment was going on, and our men asked my permission, "What to do? The lawyers want two thousand dollars for defending." So I advised them that "Why you should defend? Better go to jail and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa there." That's all. So they followed this instruction. Later on, the Archbishop of Melbourne city, he advised the authorities, "Don't harass these men. They are actually devotees of God." So now there is no disturbance. So similar disturbance is to happen to everywhere.
The Nectar of Devotion -- Calcutta, January 30, 1973:
Therefore Śrīdhara Swami says mokṣa, mokṣa-vāñchā paryantaṁ nirastam. Mokṣa-vāñchā paryantaṁ nirastam. Dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo atra paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ vāstava vastu vedyam atra (SB 1.1.2). So in Bhāgavata says that "This Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is meant by the, meant for the paramahaṁsas, not for ordinary man." Ordinary man, they are after dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa. First of all, nowadays, even they do not care for dharma. They're animals. Really human life begins when they take to religious principles. Dharmeṇa hīna paśubhiḥ samānāḥ. So dharma-artha-kāma-mokṣa, gradually improvement, and devotional service is above mokṣa. Therefore dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo atra (SB 1.1.2). Kaitavo, cheating. As soon as there is some motive, that is cheating religion. But bhakti, there is no such thing, dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa. It is above, transcendental. Therefore it is meant for the paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satām. Nirmatsara. Nirmatsara means envious..., not envious. Matsaratā.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.5 -- Mayapur, March 29, 1975:
So another feature of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is described here by the author, Kavirāja Gosvāmī. In the beginning He has been described as the ultimate Absolute Truth, ṣaḍ-aiśvarya-pūrṇaḥ ya bhagavān. The Absolute Truth realized in three phases. The ultimate phase is Bhagavān. Ṣaḍ-aiśvarya-pūrṇaḥ. Bhagavān means full of six opulences. Not as nowadays there are so many Bhagavāns, they have no aiśvarya. But Bhagavān means ṣaḍ-aiśvarya-pūrṇaḥ, full opulences, six kinds of opulence. Then that Bhagavān, Supreme Personality of Godhead, has descended as incarnation, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, just to bestow the topmost understanding of loving affairs with Kṛṣṇa. Samarpayitum unnata ujjvala-rasāṁ sva-bhakti-śriyam.
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.15 -- Dallas, March 4, 1975:
So Vṛndāvana is always crowded by many pilgrims, and anyone who goes there, immediately he feels spiritual consciousness, especially nowadays.
So the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava especially... Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava means the followers of... (break) ...Mahāprabhu. There are four Vaiṣṇava sampradāya originally: from Lord Brahmā, Brahmā-sampradāya; and from Lord Śiva, Rudra-sampradāya; and from goddess of fortune, Lakṣmī, Śrī-sampradāya; and from the catuḥ-sana, four kinds of sanas, Sanat Kumāra, Sananda, like that. So the four sampradāya is coming from time immemorial. So we belong to the Brahmā sampradāya, the Gauḍīya-sampradāya. Sampradāya means just like there are political parties, but their aim is to develop the country, nation's interest, although... Just like in your country there are political parties, Democratic parties. What other parties?
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.2 -- Mayapur, March 2, 1974:
That is religion. Simple definition. Laws, the words, the rules and regulations given by the Lord, that is called religion. Just like I have several times explained, the laws, the rules and regulations given by the state is called law. You cannot manufacture law. Similarly, you cannot manufacture dharma. Nowadays, in this Kali-yuga, all the rascals, they are manufacturing religion. But who cares for that religion, or what will be the benefit of such religion? There'll be no benefit. It is simply... (break)
...that "I am Kṛṣṇa." Never said. Rather, when He was (in) Vṛndāvana, some of the devotees eulogized Him that "You are Kṛṣṇa," He immediately blocked His ear: "No, no. Don't say like that." That is the indication that to claim to become God or Kṛṣṇa is the highest type of rascaldom. That is rascaldom. Those who are these Māyāvādīs who are claiming that "Everyone is God. I am God, you are God," they are all rascals.
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.4 -- Mayapur, March 4, 1974:
The Absolute Truth can not be ascertained by imaginative speculation. One has to learn the tattva from the tattva-vit. Therefore the tattva-vid vadanti. Vadanti means they explain, tattva-vit, one who is tattva-vit, he explains. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam. One who knows, he's not silent. He is to preach, he is to speak. Nowadays it has become a fashion to be maunī-baba, does not speak. So these are, may be very good device for professional business, but so far we are concerned, in the Vedic culture, the tattva-vit must speak. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam. The tattva-vit must hear from the authorized person; then he'll speak. That is nice. Otherwise there is no need of speaking. So those who have not heard from the authorized person, they may make a business by making himself maunī-baba. Tāvac ca śobhate mūrkho yāvat kiñcin na bhāsate: "A mūrkha, a dull rascal, is very beautiful so long he does not speak." Because as soon as he speaks, then his knowledge, his learning, his capacity, his position, will be immediately exposed.
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.8 -- Vrndavana, March 15, 1974:
So here the author of Caitanya-caritāmṛta is describing about Kṛṣṇa. Here it is: svayaṁ bhagavān kṛṣṇa ekale īśvara. Isvara, Bhagavan, is Kṛṣṇa. Don't accept these humbug, bogus Kṛṣṇa and bogus Bhagavān. Then you'll be misled. And nowadays, especially India, there are so many gods. No! Here it is said, svayaṁ bhagavān kṛṣṇa ekale īśvara. If you accept this, then you understand what is Kṛṣṇa. And if you manufacture another dini Kṛṣṇa, no, that will not help you. Kṛṣṇa is one, but He has got many expansions. Therefore the expansions are called āra yata saba dekha. There are... Just like Kṛṣṇa, Balarāma, Viṣṇu, Kāraṇārṇavaśāyī Viṣṇu, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, Nārāyaṇa, Catur-vyuha Nārāyaṇa. There are hundreds and thousands of Viṣṇu-tattvas. So āra saba yata dekha tāṅra parikara, expansions. Real, original Kṛṣṇa, the Bhagavān, is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam. Ete cāṁśa-kalāḥ puṁsaḥ kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28).
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.91-2 -- Vrndavana, March 13, 1974:
So that is being taught, that... Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu explained His position to Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī that "My Guru Mahārāja, studying My character, he found Me a great fool. Therefore he advised Me to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra." The idea is that by studying Vedānta-sūtra, by becoming a very great scholar, to achieve transcendental position of devotional service is very, very difficult nowadays. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's gift. But whatever you may be, if you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra offenselessly, then everything is achieved, without any difficulty. Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, ihā haite sarva-siddhi haibe tomāra. Sarva-siddhi. Siddhi means perfection. Siddhi means perfection. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu advised... That is His propaganda. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-māha-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇaṁ sarvātmanaṁ paraṁ vijāyate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam (CC Antya 20.12). That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's...
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.91-2 -- Vrndavana, March 13, 1974:
Without being pious, nobody can approach Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is not so cheap. You may show yourself that you have become a great sannyāsī or Vaiṣṇava or whatever it may be, but so long you'll be engaged in sinful activities, there is no question of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That sinful activities means illicit sex and intoxication, gambling, and meat-eating. These are the pillars of sinful activities. So one must be purified. Janma-koṭibhiḥ. These... To purify oneself from the resultant action of sinful activities, it takes many, many births. Janma-koṭibhiḥ sukṛti. By counteracting the sinful activities, to engage oneself only in pious activities. So pious activities means brahmacarya... Śamo damo titikṣa. The brahminical qualifications. But it is very difficult nowadays to practice. Tyāgena śamena damena vā.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 6.254 -- Los Angeles, January 8, 1968:
This is a prayer offering to Lord Caitanya. The central figure, dancing, a boy about eighteen years old, He introduced this movement, saṅkīrtana movement, being compassionate with the fallen souls of this age. He recommended, He recommended from the authorized scriptures, not that He manufactured. Nowadays it has become a fashion to manufacture a certain type or system of religious or yoga principle. Caitanya Mahāprabhu did not do that. What He introduced, that is recommended in the scriptures, that "In this age, for spiritual realization, one may simply chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa." Kṛṣṇa means God. If you have got any other name for God, you can chant that also. It is not that you have to chant "Kṛṣṇa." But Kṛṣṇa means God. The word meaning of Kṛṣṇa means "all-attractive." Kṛṣṇa, from His beauty, all-attractive. From His strength He's all-attractive. From His philosophy He's all-attractive. From His renunciation He's all-attractive. From His fame He's all-attractive.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.98-102 -- April 27, 1976, Auckland, New Zealand:
We must approach a bona fide guru for enlightenment. And samit-pāṇiḥ śrotriyam: one who has received knowledge by hearing, not by speculating. Nowadays it has become a fashion to speculate. The Vedic injunction is, "No. By hearing." You have to approach the right person and hear. Therefore the whole Vedic literature is called śruti. One has to learn very intelligently by hearing from the authority. The same example we find in Bhagavad-gītā. In the battlefield, where time is very valuable, still, Arjuna is hearing from Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is instructing, and Arjuna is hearing. So this hearing process is our Vedic process. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has recommended, according to, of course, Vedic injunction: sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ. You haven't got to change your position. It is not necessary that you have to take sannyāsa from gṛhastha life, you have to give up your occupation. No. That is not very important thing. The important thing is This verse was submitted by Lord Brahmā:
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.100 -- Washington, D.C., July 5, 1976:
There is no difficulty, but if there is difficulty, atheist class of men, and it is very difficult, so take innocent, those who are actually eager to know. Everyone should be. That is the human life. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. That is human civilization. Everyone should be inquisitive to know about the Absolute Truth, Brahman, but education is different nowadays. People are interested with hammer, how to play on hammer, that's all, technology. There is no question of Brahman. Let Brahman go to hell, now take out the hammer. That Russian emblem? Hammer? And scythe? That's all. Yes?
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.101-104 -- Bombay, November 3, 1975:
Oh. Hare Kṛṣṇa. So, what is God, that is simplified, that nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām. He is the supreme eternal being amongst many other eternal beings. We are all eternal beings. We living entities, we are... Our position is eternity. As it is described in the Bhagavad-gītā, na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit: "These living entities, they do not take birth or die at any time." Not "Nowadays they are taking more birth and population is increasing." This is all nonsense. Population is neither increasing nor decreasing. It may be... The living entities, they are transmigrating in this material world, not in the spiritual world. In the spiritual world they have got their eternal form. But in the material world, because the living entities have come to enjoy the material resources, therefore, according to the desire, the living entity is getting different forms of body, 8,400,000. But he is not dying. The body is changed. Tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13).
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.101-104 -- Bombay, November 3, 1975:
So what is the difference between the plural number nityas and singular number? Now, eka. Eka-vacana, singular number leader, God... Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. That is the difference, that we are living entity and Kṛṣṇa, or God, is living entity, but Kṛṣṇa maintains all other living entities; we cannot maintain even ourself. And we find difficulty especially nowadays to maintain even a family. That is the difference. And still, as a rascal, I claim that "I am God. I am God." Nobody can claim unnecessarily that one is God. First of all prove that you can maintain all the living entities. You cannot maintain yourself even. You beg from door to door, and how you become God? Very simple question. Because in the Vedas (it is) said that eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān: "That one, singular number leader, He maintains all other living entities." That we have got practical experience. He is maintaining within the sand so many crabs. He is maintaining so many ants in the hole of your room. He is maintaining millions of elephants in the African jungle.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.102 -- Baltimore, July 7, 1976:
So these are nonsense, if somebody says, "I will die peacefully." Nobody dies peacefully, that is not possible. Therefore death is a problem. Birth is also a problem. Nobody is peaceful while within the womb of the mother. It is packed-up, airtight condition, and nowadays there is risk of being killed also. So there is no question of peacefulness, birth and death. And then old age. Just like I am old man, so many troubles I have got. So old age. And disease, everyone has got experience, even headache is sufficient to give you trouble. The real problem is this: birth, death, old age and disease. That is the statement given by Kṛṣṇa, that janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). If you are intelligent, you should take up these four problems of life as very dangerous.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.106 -- New York, July 12, 1976:
"Don't remain in this asat platform. Come to the sat platform." And the same thing is described here, sad-dharmasyāvabodhāya. So the human life begins when we can distinguish between sat and asat. If we remain in darkness without understanding what is sat and asat, then we are no better than dogs and cats. So the modern civilization, not only... Nowadays very big problem. People are very much attached to asad-dharma. They are not... Because they are so dull-headed, they cannot understand what is sat and what is asat. They cannot understand, dull-headed. Therefore brain requires to be clarified.
The two words are used in the śāstra, alpa-medhasaḥ and sumedhasaḥ. Medha means brain substance. So those who have got brain substance, they are called sumedhasaḥ, and those who have no brain substance, filled up with cow dung, they are called alpa-medhasaḥ. So this distinction I made in Chicago. It made a very great agitation because I discriminated that men are found to have more brain substance than the woman. So there was a great agitation.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.113 -- London, July 23, 1976:
So the children are there, the mother is there, and where is the father? A commonsense. Is there any mother can produce children without father? Is there any science can prove that a mother without connection with the father has produced child? No. If you say, "I cannot see the father," you do not see your fathers. There are many children nowadays who do not know who is father. But that does not mean there is no father. Common sense. There is father. Similarly, we see so many living entities produced by the mother, material nature—there must be father. And the father personally says, ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā (BG 14.4)—"I am the father." So why these rascals, they say that there is no God? There must be God, and He has got inconceivable potencies. Everything is being done by Him. If you say nature is doing, nature is a machine. Nature is not the doer. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10).
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.121-124 -- New York, November 25, 1966:
We are thinking, "Yes, I am very happy." And if somebody tries to come out of it, then he is also advised by the material nature, "Oh, why you are doing all this nonsense? You are very happy." Yavaj jīvet sukhaṁ jīvet. The atheistic theory... The atheist... Nowadays there are atheists, not that... Atheist class of men there are always. Maybe number of the atheists are now greater than before, but there was a great atheist in India. There are six kinds of philosophical theses. Out of those, atheism is one of them. So that atheism... Cārvāka Muni. He was, Cārvāka, the leader of the atheists. His theory was that ṛṇaṁ kṛtvā ghṛtaṁ pibet: "Just beg, borrow or steal. You must eat butter. Never mind." Ṛṇaṁ kṛtvā ghṛtaṁ pibet, yāvan jīvet sukhaṁ jīvet: "So long you shall live, you must live very comfortably." Then one may say, "Oh, beg, borrow, steal, and who'll suffer the sins? If I borrow, if I cannot pay? If I commit sins? If I commit burglary? Oh." The Cāṇakya, the Cārvāka Muni replied, bhasmī-bhūtasya dehasya kutaḥ punar-āgamano bhavet: "Well, when your body will be burnt into ashes, who is coming here and who is going to be responsible? Don't think all these." So this is atheistic theory.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.124-125 -- New York, November 26, 1966:
This is the whole mission of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, sum and substance. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu is saying here, puruṣartha-śiromaṇi prema mahā-dhana. People are, have their objective of life, everyone. Dharmārtha-kāma-mokṣa (SB 4.8.41, Cc. Ādi 1.90). Their objective of life is... Of course, nowadays people are different. Formerly... It is Vedic version, dharma, to make them religious. Therefore every civilized nation has some sort of religion. Religious... Because without becoming religious, there is no possibility of peace and prosperity. So this is one of the aim of human society, religious. And why religious? Dharma-artha. Then the economic condition will be better. If all people are religious, then economic condition will be better. Dharma-artha. And why economic condition better wanted? Kāma. Kāma means then the necessities of your life will be fulfilled nicely. Dharma, artha, kāma, and moksa. Then what is the end? That if you are peacefully in the society, then you can culture for your liberation. So dharmārtha-kāma-mokṣa (SB 4.8.41), so generally these four principles are the aim of human society.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.353-354 -- New York, December 26, 1966:
That is not contradiction; that is my poor fund of knowledge. I cannot understand; therefore assistance of guru, a spiritual master, is required. So far incarnation is concerned, here Lord Caitanya says that we have to see through the śāstra whether a person is incarnation or not. We should not blindly accept anybody as incarnation because there are, nowadays, numberless incarnations.
- avatāra nāhi kahe-'āmi avatāra'
- muni saba jāni' kare lakṣaṇa-vicāra
This is another significance of incarnation. Incarnation never says that "I am incarnation of God." I have read one book about a big avatāra in India. He was canvassing his students, "Do you now accept me as incarnation? Do you now accept me as incarnation?" And the... Perhaps you know. (laughs)
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.358-359 -- New York, December 29, 1966:
Why they will say false? God is real. His energy is real. You cannot say material energy as unreal, because God is there, and His energy is there. Just like the fire is there, the heat is there, the temperature is there. You cannot say temperature false. It may be manifested at some time. Or it may not manifest. Just like the temperature of sun is not perceived nowadays because it is due to the (?) cold season. But the temperature is the same, but it is manifested during June-July. It is very strongly, and other seasons, it is not manifested. Similarly, this material energy, you cannot say that it is false. It is false. The Vaiṣṇava philosophy is perfect. As the temperature (indistinct), it is sometimes manifested. And this is called taṭasthā. This characteristic, this symptom of the Supreme Lord, is called taṭasthā. Sometimes manifested, sometimes not manifested. But, so far the superior energy is concerned, that is always manifested. That is explained in the next line. Dhāmnā svena sadā nirasta-kuhakaṁ paraṁ satyaṁ dhīmahi. Now that is paraṁ satyam, the Supreme Truth, where there is no such temporary manifestation.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 21.49-61 -- New York, January 5, 1967:
The Brahma-saṁhitā, this Brahma-saṁhitā was compiled by Brahmā. It is very old book. It was picked up by Lord Caitanya from South India. When He was traveling in South India, in a temple He found this book, handwritten, very old. Formerly there was no press. If anyone wanted some book, he would have to copy it from others. That was the system. The books were not available just like nowadays we have got printed, thousands and thousands copies. That was not available. So two books were collected by Caitanya Mahāprabhu from South India.
One book is named Kṛṣṇa-karṇāmṛta. That book was written by one of the devotees, very great devotee, Bilvamaṅgala. His life is very interesting. He was too much prostitute-hunter. In one incidence his kept prostitute gave him instruction, "Oh, you have got so much attraction for this skinny body. If you would have such attraction for Kṛṣṇa, I do not know what you have done." Oh, at once he became, "Yes."
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 21.62-67 -- New York, January 6, 1966:
Apart from His feature of incarnation, take Him as a great devotee, learned. He was vastly learned, and nobody could surpass Him in His learning in those days. He defeated... When He was a sixteen-years-old boy, He defeated the greatest scholar, Keśava Kāśmīrī. His name was Keśava. He came to Navadvīpa from Kashmir to talk with scholars. Formerly, as nowadays you have got—what is called?—champion, champion. What is the meaning of champion?
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 21.62-67 -- New York, January 6, 1966:
So that was the plan, Bengali plan, second chance: first chance, second chance. So it was arranged like that, that Lord Caitanya, Nimāi Paṇḍita, would talk, would discuss with Keśava Kāśmīrī.
So one evening... Still during summer season on the Ganges side in the evening there are so many ladies and gentlemen, especially gentlemen. Ladies do not come. Nowadays come. Formerly they did not come out. So they came for strolling. And Nimāi Paṇḍita, although He was sixteen years old, He had many students. So formerly the system was that as soon as a boy becomes little grown up and learned, he will also teach some students. Catuṣpāthī. So although all the students were of the same age, still, Nimāi Paṇḍita was chief of them. So He was discussing with His own students on the bank of the Ganges. So Keśava Kāśmīrī came there for strolling, and he understood that "Oh, here is a boy, Nimāi Paṇḍita. He is to talk with me. So what this boy will talk with me?" He thought like that. So when he came before the assembly of the students, he talked with Nimāi that "Are You Nimāi Paṇḍita?" "Yes, sir.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 21.62-67 -- New York, January 6, 1966:
This is called dvirukti-doṣa (?). Sanskrit language is very scholarly language, reformed. You cannot deviate even a line, even a letter in the sense, in the poetry, in the writing. There are all regulation, strict regulation, grammatical and metric and so many things. So nobody can surpass, not that... Just like nowadays we write poetry—one line is three hundred miles, one hundred, (chuckles) and only one mile. That sort of poetry will not be allowed in Sanskrit. You cannot adjust three hundred miles and one mile. No. It must be very symmetrical. That is Sanskrit language.
So the Paṇḍita, Kāśmīrī Paṇḍita, became surprised. The Kāśmīrī Paṇḍita became surprised: "How is that? This boy understood? He was a student of grammar, and He is pointing out literary defects?" Oh, he became very much, much surprised. Then he admitted. He was learned scholar. He admitted his fault and he said, "How is that?
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 25.31-38 -- San Francisco, January 22, 1967:
"This form is bhuvana-maṅgalam maṅgalāya. This form, Kṛṣṇa, is meant for all auspicity for everyone." Bhuvana-maṅgalāya dhyāne sma daraśitaṁ ta upāsakānām. "Those who are observing You in meditation..." Meditation means to concentrate the mind only on Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu. This is meditation. I do not know Nowadays so many meditators are there, they have no objective. Something they try to think of impersonal, nonmanifested. And that is condemned in Bhagavad-gītā, that kleśādhikataras teṣām avyaktāsakta-cetasām. Those who are trying to meditate upon that impersonal void, they are simply, I mean to say, taking unnecessary trouble. If you want to meditate, just meditate on Kṛṣṇa or the$ Paramātmā, the catur-bhuja Viṣṇu, four-handed Viṣṇu. That is the process of meditation everywhere recommended. So why should we go to the impersonal or voidness of meditation and waste our time? Yes.
Sri Isopanisad Lectures
Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 1 -- Los Angeles, May 3, 1970:
That is the main point. Just like there are the Buddhists, they are also vegetarian. According to Buddhist principle... Nowadays everything has deteriorated, but Lord Buddha's propaganda was to make the rascals at least to stop animal-killing. Ahiṁsā paramo dharma. Lord Buddha's appearance is described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and many Vedic literatures. Sura-dviṣām. He came to cheat the demons. The demons... He made such a policy that the demons were cheated. How he has cheated? The demons, they are against God. They don't believe in God. So Lord Buddha propagated, "Yes, there is no God. But what I say, you follow." "Yes, sir." But he is God. This is cheating. Yes. They do not believe in God, but they believe in Buddha, and Buddha is God. Keśava-dhṛta-buddha-śarīra jaya jagadīśa hare. So that is the difference between a demon and a devotee. A devotee sees that how Kṛṣṇa, Keśava, is cheating these rascals. The devotee can understand. But the demons, they think, "Oh, we have got a nice leader. He does not believe in God." (laughter) You see? Sammohāya sura-dviṣām (SB 1.3.24). The exact Sanskrit word is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. You have seen, those who have read: sammohāya, for bewildering sura-dviṣām. Sura-dviṣām means persons who are envious of the Vaiṣṇavas.
Sri Brahma-samhita Lectures
Lecture on Brahma-samhita, Lecture -- Bombay, January 3, 1973:
At that time, Vyāsadeva... Vyāsadeva is still present. So "Vyāsadeva accepts You, Nārada accepts You, and Asita, Devala, big, big, great sages accepts You. You are personally speaking, and I have realized that You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead." This is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is not manufactured, as nowadays it has become a fashion to manufacture God by votes. No. God is never manufactured. God is God. Not by mystic power one becomes God or by so-called meditation or magical arts. No. God is God. Nobody can become God. Asamaurdhva. In the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa is described as asama urdhva prapitāmaha ca (BG 11.39). In the Eleventh Chapter, you'll find these words. Because Brahmā is considered... He's called pitāmaha, because the father of the father. If you search out the genealogical table of this universe, especially of the human society, then you go on searching. I am begotten by my father; my father is begotten by his father, his father, his father, his father—you go on.
Lecture on Brahma-samhita, Lecture -- Bombay, January 3, 1973:
Brahman is absolute. There is no difference between Brahman and the literature which is describing Brahman. The same thing: just like Bhagavad-gītā and Kṛṣṇa, there is no difference. Bhagavad-gītā is also Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise why this book is worshiped since so, for so long time, since five thousand years, unless the Bhagavad-gītā is Kṛṣṇa? There are so many literatures, books, are published nowadays. After one year, two years, three years—finished. Nobody cares for it. Nobody cares for it. Nobody reads for... Any literature you take in the history of the world, no literature can exist for five thousand years, repeatedly being read by many, many scholars, religionists and philosophers, all. Why? Because it is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa... There is no difference between Bhagavad-gītā and Bhagavān. Śabda-brahman. So Bhagavad-gītā should not be taken as ordinary literature, that one can comment on it by so-called ABCD knowledge. No. That is not possible. The fools and rascals, they try to comment on the Bhagavad-gītā by their ABCD scholarship. That is not possible. It is śabda-brahman.
Lecture on Brahma-samhita, Lecture -- Bombay, January 3, 1973:
All others, they are servants. This is our conclusion. This is śāstric conclusion. Eka brahma dvitīya... Brahman cannot be two. Param brahman. Paraṁ brahma paramaṁ bhavān. Therefore Arjuna has addressed Him as bhavān, "Yourself." Not that "You have got many competitors." Just like we are, we find nowadays, in one street another God; another God, in another street, another god; another street, or another city, there are so many Gods. No. God is one. Ekam eva advitīya. And that is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28).
So this is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So if we want to learn about Kṛṣṇa, then we have to follow the path of mahājanas, great personalities. Just like Brahmā is presenting Brahma-saṁhitā, describing; Vyāsadeva is presenting Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Bhagavān, Himself, is describing Himself in the Bhagavad-gītā. So where is the difficulty to understand Bhagavad-gītā or Bhagavān?
Festival Lectures
Janmastami Lord Sri Krsna's Appearance Day -- Montreal, August 16, 1968:
Qualitatively the same as Kṛṣṇa, but quantitatively many millions of times less. Qualitatively the same, quantitatively different. Fragmental portion. So if we fragmental portions, separated parts and parcels, can serve the source or the whole, then we can be cured of this material disease which is rampant nowadays. And this is possible only by mercy. By mercy alone we can transcend this material existence and know that I am part and parcel of the Supreme, Kṛṣṇa, or God, and I can erase all of my karma and situate myself in pure consciousness. But this consciousness cannot be purified unless there is mercy. And in this age, Kali-yuga, as we know, mercy is diminished to being almost nonexistent. And Kali-yuga is just beginning.
So if we can get some information about what I am, what is my position, and what is God and how am I related to God, what is this world, then we're very fortunate. So by the mercy of the spiritual master we can free ourselves from these stringent laws of nature, and these unbreakable bonds. And only in this way. We can't free ourselves superficially or by our own mental invention. We can't sit, just go out and sit and think and free ourselves from this material existence.
Janmastami Lord Sri Krsna's Appearance Day -- Bhagavad-gita 7.5 Lecture -- Vrndavana, August 11, 1974:
Every one of us, we are trying to control over the material energy. The big stone, big hill, they, that is material energy, but the spiritual energy, a human being, is breaking the hill by dynamite. Therefore it is superior energy. It is also energy, but superior energy, because the..., it can control even the biggest mountain. Nowadays, by scientific advancement, they are making so many tunnels within the big, big mountain. Big, big ocean, they are making tunnel. They are drilling oil. Controlling. Therefore superior energy. But that does not mean they have become God. That is mistake. God is different. God is Kṛṣṇa, the supreme controller. He's controller of the material energy and the superior energy. This should be the conclusion. Jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat (BG 7.5). And the... Because... That will be explained in the next verse.
Because the superior energy is controlling the material energy... Or trying to control. Not controlling, but trying to control. That is called struggle for existence. Actually, we cannot control the material energy, but we are trying. That endeavor, to try to control over this material energy, is called struggle for existence. Actually, we shall not be controller. We shall not be able to control. That is explained.
Sri Vyasa-puja -- Hyderabad, August 19, 1976:
Just like the law. Law means what is given by the government. You cannot manufacture law at your home. Suppose in the street, common sense, the government law is keep to the right or keep to the left. You cannot say "What is the wrong there if I go to the right or left?" No, that you cannot. Then you'll be criminal. Similarly nowadays... Not nowadays—from time immemorial there are so many religious systems. So many. But real religious system is what God says or Kṛṣṇa says. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). This is religion. Simple. You cannot manufacture.
Therefore in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the beginning is dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra paramo nirmatsarāṇām (SB 1.1.2). So the... Somebody may envy that this person has sophisticated some disciples and they are offering prayers and pūjā. No, it is the system. Don't envy the... Ācāryaṁ māṁ vijānīyān nāvamanyeta karhicit (SB 11.17.27). Ācārya is the representative of God. Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādo **.
His Divine Grace Srila Sac-cid-ananda Bhaktivinoda Thakura's Appearance Day, Lecture -- London, September 3, 1971:
So there was a complaint. In Orissa, this Jagannātha temple is situated in Orissa. Utkāla. Utkāla, this state, was originally belonging to Dhruva Mahārāja. His son's name was Utkāla, Mahārāja Utkāla. Anyway, so this Utkāla, there was a pseudo yogi. He declared himself that... Just like you'll find nowadays also, there are so many rascals declaring that "I am incarnation of God." And they know some mystic power, play some jugglery, and foolish people take them: "Oh, he's God." So there appeared one like such pseudo God, Viṣṇu, in a village of Orissa. And he was dancing rāsa dance, and foolish people were sending their daughters and wife to dance with him. You see? There were so many. Not only that. People are so foolish, they do not know... They want to be cheated, and these cheaters come. He declared that "I am God. I am Viṣṇu." So there were sane men also. They took objection, "What is this nonsense? This man is dancing with ladies and gentlemen, er, girls." So they filed a complaint. At that time it was British rule.
His Divine Grace Srila Sac-cid-ananda Bhaktivinoda Thakura's Appearance Day, Lecture -- London, September 3, 1971:
From Caitanya Mahāprabhu... Five hundred years ago, Caitanya Mahāprabhu taught this philosophy, but within two hundred years... Because this material world is so made that whatever you introduce, in due course of time it will deteriorate. You make a nice house, but after one hundred years, two hundred years, or nowadays, even after fifty years, it becomes dilapidated. That is the nature's law, kāla. Time will destroy everything. Now, British empire, such a big, vast empire, now it is finished. The kāla, the time, will make everything finished. That is material. Anything material, it has birth, it has growth, it has got some opulence, then dwindling, then finished. That is the way of material... So we are interested in spiritual subject matter. Therefore the process is ādau gurv-āśrayam. One has to accept a bona fide spiritual master. That is our process. Without accepting a bona fide spiritual master, we cannot make any progress. It is impossible. So Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura happens to be ācāryas, one of the ācāryas.
Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami's Appearance Day -- Vrndavana, October 19, 1972:
"My associations are all abominable." Ordinary men, especially he was mixing with the Mohammedans, they were habituated to drinking, meat-eating, which have become a fashion in the gentleman's society nowadays. So he considered himself as fallen. "The most wretched of mankind..." If a human being does not take advantage of this opportunity to have a human form of life, then he's missing the point. In the Bhagavad-gītā the Lord says... (much talking in background) (aside:) Stop them.
Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami's Appearance Day -- Vrndavana, October 19, 1972:
Just like in India, you'll find there is a system. A brāhmaṇa is addressed, "Paṇḍitji." Still, that is the etiquette. A brāhmaṇa is addressed as "Paṇḍitji," a kṣatriya is addressed as "Ṭhākura Saheb," and a vaiśya is addressed as a "Sethji" and a śūdra is addressed as "Choudhari." They have got respect for everyone. So Sanātana Gosvāmī was not a false paṇḍita. Nowadays... I have seen in Calcutta one brāhmaṇa with thread, he was pulling on thela. So somebody addressed him "Paṇḍitajī." So that sort of paṇḍitajī was not Sanātana Gosvāmī, that without any knowledge he was pulling on thela, and he's also a paṇḍitajī. Not like that. He was actually paṇḍita. He was very learned scholar. But he knew his position, that "Although my friends, my admirers, my assistants, my subordinates, they address me Paṇḍitajī, but actually I am not paṇḍita." He said, grāmya-vyavahāre kahe paṇḍita, satya kari māni, āpanāra hitāhita kichui nāhi jāni! Grāmya-vyavahāre. Grāmya means ordinary deals, ordinary dealings social etiquette. "They call me Paṇḍitajī, but actually I do not know what is the aim of my life, what is my constitutional position." Ke āmi, kene āmāya jāre tapa-traya.
His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Disappearance Day, Lecture -- Bombay, December 22, 1975:
Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). Kṛṣṇa is not far away, but you have to search out where is Kṛṣṇa within your heart. That is called yoga. Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ (SB 12.13.1). Yoginaḥ, those who are trying to understand Kṛṣṇa by the yoga process... The yoga means controlling the senses. Without controlling the senses you cannot practice any yoga. Nowadays it has become a fashion, meditation yoga, but that is not bona fide. That is not only (not) bona-fide; that is farce. Real yoga is controlling the senses and concentrating the mind to the Supreme Person. Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ (SB 12.13.1). That is the... And farce yogi is going like that.
Jagannatha Deities Installation Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.13-14 -- San Francisco, March 23, 1967:
This morning we have been discussing this śloka. So here also Bhāgavata says that tasmād ekena manasā: "With your one attention," tasmād ekena manasā bhagavān sātvatāṁ patiḥ, "you have to fix your mind on the Supreme Personality of Godhead," sātvatāṁ patiḥ, sātvatāṁ patiḥ, "the master of the devotees." Which bhagavān? There are many bhagavān, because nowadays we have manufactured many bhagavāns. But here it is said that bhagavān means sātvatāṁ patiḥ, who is accepted by great devotees, just like Brahmā, Śiva, and not that by ordinary public one has been accepted, "Oh, here is incarnation of God." No. So that God is Kṛṣṇa. That conception of God is Kṛṣṇa, because in the Bhagavad-gītā you find mattaḥ nānyat parataram asti. Kṛṣṇa says that "There is nothing beyond Me. There is nothing beyond Me." Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate (BG 10.8): "I am the origin of everything." Mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate: "Everything emanates from Me." Iti matvā: "One who knows this," iti matvā bhajante māṁ budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ, "those who are actually learned, he knows it, and therefore he becomes My devotee."
Arrival Addresses and Talks
Arrival Lecture -- Gainesville, July 29, 1971:
If you sell pure milk, just from the farm, there will be many hundreds of customers immediately, and if you sell adulterated, homogenized water mixed milk, the milk will be sold, but not very many customers ordinarily. So anything pure will attract. That is natural. Pure love, pure foodstuff, anything pure. Pure gold. In economics also. It is said, "Bad money drives away good money." If you put bad money, just like nowadays the currency is some paper, paper currency, so drives away good money. Good money means gold coins. They are not to be seen. That's economic law. As soon as you put bad money, the good money will vanish.
So try to present Kṛṣṇa as He is. People will be attracted, because everyone has got Kṛṣṇa's intimate relationship. We are all part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says, mamaivāṁso jīva bhūta (BG 15.7), all living entities, not only human being, other than human being, everyone, all living entities. They have got different bodies only, according to their different desires and inclinations.
Arrival Conversation -- Los Angeles, June 20, 1975:
Yes. When they will read, then they will get. Nowadays in the Sixth Canto, Fourth Chapter, the soul and how the soul is covered, that is being described wonderfully. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam amalaṁ purāṇam. Vidvāṁś cakre sātvata-saṁhitām. It is written by the most learned Vyāsadeva, vidvāṁs, and sātvata-saṁhitām. How merciful he was. He is still living, Vyāsadeva. He is still existing.
- anarthopaśamaṁ sākṣād
- bhakti-yogam adhokṣaje
- lokasya ajānataḥ vidvāṁś
- cakre sātvata...
- (SB 1.7.6)
Do you remember this verse? It is in the First Canto. Anartha. The soul has been embarrassed, the unnecessary things. Just like a man is within the huge garbage. What is his position? If... You have got your garbage car, so within that, (chuckles) if a man is pushed...
Arrival Lecture -- San Francisco, July 15, 1975:
This is Vedic injunction. Other Vedic injunctions are like, the same. Kaṭha Upaniṣad says, tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet: (MU 1.2.12) "If you want to learn that transcendental science, then your first business is to go to a guru." Guru... As God is one, guru is also one. There cannot be different gurus. Nowadays it has become a fashion that "I have got my own guru. You have got your own guru." No. Guru means the representative of God. As God is one, similarly, guru is also one. There cannot be different gurus. Because God is one, how there can be different gurus? The principle of guru is one. (child crying) (aside:) Stop. The original guru is Kṛṣṇa. Yaṁ brahmā varuṇendra-rudra stunvanti divyaiḥ stavaiḥ. Original guru, unto whom Brahmā, yaṁ brahmā varuṇa indra, all the demigods, offering their prayers. Within this universe Brahmā is considered to be the foremost living being, but is he also offering respect to Kṛṣṇa. Śiva-viriñci-nutam (SB 11.5.33). Lord Śiva is also offering respect to Kṛṣṇa. That is the Vedic process.
Initiation Lectures
Initiation Lecture -- Hamburg, August 27, 1969:
The scientist says that so many millions miles away, if somebody goes or some planet goes near the sun globe, it will immediately burn into ashes. Similarly, God and ourself, Kṛṣṇa and living entities, they are qualitatively one, but quantitatively, we are very minute. Aṇu. We are smaller than the atom. Nowadays there is atomic theory. We can see the atoms within the holes of the windows when there is focus of sunlight. That is called prasareṇu. Prasareṇu means six atoms combined together, then it is visible. Otherwise, atom is also not visible with our naked eyes. There is atomic theory, paramāṇuvāda, in Vedic literature also. And Bhāgavata says that the scientists may be one day able to count how many atoms are there within this universe. This is not possible, of course, but it is theoretically. The Vedic, er, Śrīmad-Bhāgavata says that "It may be possible one day by scientific research, one can count how many atoms are there within this cosmic manifestation.
Sannyasa Initiation Lecture -- Calcutta, January 26, 1973:
This is the sum and substance.
So this sannyāsa order, although it is prohibited in this age... Because so many rascals will accept sannyāsa and do all nonsense things; therefore sannyāsa is prohibited. Just like nowadays in Kali-yuga the, some of the sannyāsīs, they are eating meat. Disastrous. So this kind of rascal sannyāsīsm is prohibited in the śāstra. Sannyāsaṁ pala-paitṛkam, devareṇa sutotpattiṁ kalau pañca vivarjayet (CC Adi 17.164). But Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Vaiṣṇava ācāryas, they took sannyāsa for preaching work, not for doing rascaldom. Preaching work. So Mukunda ahaṁ niṣevaye. Mukundāṅghri-niṣevayaiva. Simply by serving... Mukunda, Kṛṣṇa, what does He want? He wants that this philosophy of Kṛṣṇa, Bhagavad-gītā, should be spread all over the world. You take up this determination and be steady in your sannyāsī. That is my request.
Wedding Ceremonies
Wedding Lecture -- November 17, 1971, New Delhi:
Formerly there was a system: if the husband is unable, then a son can be begotten by the husband's younger brother, devareṇa. But in this age, Kali-yuga, that is forbidden. Similarly, aśvamedha yajña, gomedha yajña is also forbidden, because there is no yajñic brāhmaṇas. Formerly when an animal was put into the fire, sacrificed, and by Vedic mantra it was given a new, fresh life. That was the test of Vedic mantra pronouncing. But that is not possible nowadays. In the Kali-yuga, the only yajña is the sañkīrtana yajña.
- kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ
- sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam
- yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair
- yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ
- (SB 11.5.32)
Those who are highly intellectual, su-medhasaḥ, they perform the saṅkīrtana yajña, and by that saṅkīrtana yajña, the Lord, whose complexion is not black and who is always chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and is accompanied by His associates, sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam, yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ.
So in this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, everything is being performed according to the scriptural injunction. It is not that we are manufacturing something.
General Lectures
Lecture -- Los Angeles, February 2, 1968:
That is another point. But if somebody thinks that "I have got all these opulences; therefore God realization is very easy for me," no, that is not. So God realization depends on God, because God, you cannot oblige God by some force. Just like if you have got money, oh, you can do anything nowadays. If you have got strength of wealth, you can have any power, you can do anything. But that does not mean that you can purchase God. No. That is not possible. If you have got beauty, you can conquer over very stalwart, very strong men. Just like what is the... Cleopatra. You have heard the Grecian history. She was very beautiful, and she conquered many great warriors. So beauty sometimes can conquer even the greatest man, but that does not mean beauty can conquer God. No. That is not possible. So the vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yoga (CC Madhya 6.254). To conquer God is bhakti. If you are advanced in devotional service, then you can conquer God. Just like the gopīs, as I was speaking, their parentage was not very high, not at all high. Village, agriculturists, farmers, no education, practical...
Lecture -- Los Angeles, February 2, 1968:
When they give in charity, they give something broken. (laughter) (Bengali) Khana goruke brāhmaṇake dana (?). In India there is a..., charity is given to the brāhmaṇas. So a man saw that his cow is blind. "All right, give it in charity." So charity means... Charity should be the first-class thing if it is really charity. But nowadays people give in charity just for name. "Oh, I am giving something." This charity... You have read Bhagavad-gītā. There are three kinds of charity: sattvic, rajasic, tamasic. Sattvic, charity in goodness, is with due consideration that "Here should be given the charity." Just like the Vedic injunction is to give charity to the brāhmaṇas. Why? That is the worthy place, to give charity in the hands of brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇava. Real brāhmaṇas. I don't say caste brāhmaṇa. Because they will employ whatever you give them in the service of the Lord. Therefore charity, that is sattvic charity. There is no question of profit or name. But, "Charity should be given here. Here is something, God's service." That is sattvic. And rajasic means for the sake of name.
Lecture -- Montreal, June 26, 1968:
So tayor mitha hṛdaya-granthim āhur. As soon as a man and woman is combined together, that means the knot of material attraction becomes doubly tightened. Then they want apartment, gṛha. Ato gṛha-kṣetra. Kṣetra means... Of course, nowadays everyone is seeking after employment, but formerly nobody, there was no industry, no big business. Everyone has to produce something, foodstuff, out of the kṣetra, field. So if you become a family man you must have some source of income. That source of income is land, as Rāyarāma was explaining you. Actually the land is the source of income. If you can utilize the land, then there is everything stocked there. This same example can be given. This American land was lying vacant, but since the Europeans took possession of that, at least they have exploited the resources. So everything was on the land. So land is really property. So gṛha-kṣetra, apartment, land. Gṛha-kṣetra-suta. As soon as they have married, they require, they at least desire to have a child. At least, the girl wants. Although now the process is different, but the hankering is that girls, women, they want child. That is sentiment. Ato gṛha-kṣetra-suta āpta. Āpta means relatives.
Lecture -- Seattle, October 4, 1968:
God realization or God consciousness is not difficult. It is very easy. There is no, I mean to say, any stumbling block on the path of your understanding what is God. Everything is there. The Bhagavad-gītā is there, the Śrīmad-Bhāgavata is there. Even you accept, your Bible is there, the Koran is there, everywhere. Without God, there cannot be any book or scripture. Nowadays, of course, they are manufacturing so many things. But in any human society the conception of God is there—according to time, according to the people, but the idea is there. Now you have to understand, jijñāsā. Therefore Vedānta-sūtra says that you try to understand God by inquiry, inquiry. This inquiry is very important. In our process, ādau gurvāśrayaṁ sad-dharma pṛcchāt. One has to accept a bona fide spiritual master and he has to inquire from him, sad-dharma pṛcchāt. Similarly, in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also says that jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam. "One who is inquisitive to understand the Absolute Truth, he requires a spiritual master." Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam (SB 11.3.21). Jijñāsuḥ means inquisitive, one who inquires. Inquiry is natural. Just like a child: with the development of his life he inquires from the parents, "Father, what it is? Mother, what it is? What it is? What it is?"
Lecture -- Seattle, October 9, 1968:
If we miss this opportunity, we do not know where we are going. The defect of the modern civilization is they don't care. Hedonism, Cārvāka's theory. There was, long, long before, there was an atheist philosopher. As there are many atheist philosophers nowadays, in former days also. He was known as Cārvāka Muni. According to his opinion, he says that don't care for next life. Don't care. Bhasmī-bhūtasya dehasya kuto punar āgamano bhavet. He says... Because according to Vedic system, the body is burned after death. As you bury underground... There are three processes everywhere. Somebody throws away for being eaten up by birds, or somebody puts within the ground, or somebody burns it. So Cārvāka Muni says that "After burning this body, who is coming and who is responsible? You see. You live merrily as far as possible. Ṛṇaṁ kṛtvā ghṛtaṁ pibet. If you have no money, then borrow or steal, but live very nicely for sense pleasure." That is Cārvāka Muni's theory, and mostly, at the present moment, that theory is being followed. But the question is that Cārvāka Muni says there is no next life. What is the proof? Does it mean that his word is proof that there is no next life? Then everyone will say something. Of course, that is being accepted. Anyone discovers or says something nonsense, it is accepted.
Lecture -- Seattle, October 11, 1968:
There's an article in it called "Superconsciousness," by our spiritual master. "Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the highest yoga performance by trained devotional yogis. The yoga system, as it is stated in the standard yoga practice formula given by Lord Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā and as recommended in the Patañjali yoga discipline, is different from nowadays—practiced haṭha-yoga as it is generally understood in the Western countries. Real yoga practice means to control the senses, and after such control is established, to concentrate the mind on the Nārāyaṇa form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Lord Kṛṣṇa is the original absolute personality, the Godhead, and all the other Viṣṇu forms, with four hands, decorated with conch, lotus, club and wheel, are preliminary expansions of Kṛṣṇa." Should I wait a second? Wait for them to leave?
Sunday Feast Lecture -- Los Angeles, January 19, 1969:
Anywhere you go, you'll find, somebody is greater than you, somebody is equal to you and somebody is lower than you, anywhere you go. But in case of God, there can be only lower; nobody greater or equal. That is God, simple definition of God. Nowadays there is a disease, to declare oneself as God, "I am God." And there is regular propaganda that everyone is God. Now, how everyone can be God? The definition of God is like this: "Nobody shall be equal; nobody shall be greater." Then He is God. If somebody says, "I am God," say, if somebody thinks that "I am God," he should think also, "Whether I have no more any greater than me or equal to me?" Oh, if you find so many equal and greater, lower also... But first thing is whether there is nobody greater than you or nobody equal to you. Then you are God. Don't be crazy and think that "I am God." God is not like that. Here is the definition, bhagavān, asamaurdhva. In Sanskrit word, it is very nicely described.
Lecture -- New York, April 16, 1969:
In the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find that if you want to go to the higher planets, there is ways and means. So we have discussed this point in our small book Easy Journey to Other Planets. So there is life in other planet, there is standard of living.
Now, in the moon planet we understand the duration of life is ten thousands of years according to our calculation. Scientifically, everything is relative. Just like nowadays, formerly, to come to your country it would take two months from India on the surface. And now the airplane is there, we come within one day, within fifteen hours or twenty hours. So everything is relative. Just like the sputnik. The sputnik surrounded, circumambulated the earth in one hour, twenty-five minutes, three times. That means by the sputnik speed, the three days... To circumambulate the earth three times means three day and night. That means according to our calculation, seventy-two hours. That seventy-two hours was finished in one hour and twenty-five minutes. How? Because the thing is relative. If you accelerate your speed, the whole thing becomes relative.
Lecture Engagement and Prasada Distribution -- Boston, April 26, 1969:
And out of them, maybe ten percent are believing in God, following religious principles. In this way the whole thing is being reduced. So in the Bhāgavata it is said that not only they are living for short duration of life, they are not intelligent enough that this human form of life is meant for God-realization. Now, especially nowadays amongst the educated circles, they inquire, "What is God? What is God?" You see. But apart from your country or Western countries, in... I have met in many, many large gatherings of universities. Especially, I am very sorry to say, many Indian students ask me that "What is God?" Now, India is supposed to be the place where God descends as Lord Kṛṣṇa, as Lord Rāmacandra, Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So it is very surprising that Indian students are asking, "What is God?" So this is lamentable in this sense, that people are reducing in their sense of spiritual realization. That is a very regrettable fact. And the Bhāgavata says, parābhavas tāvad abodha-jāto yāvan na jijñāsata ātma-tattvam: "A man is supposed to be defeated in all his activities if he does not inquire what he is." This statement is also in Bible, you know, that "If one loses his own self and he gains all material prosperity, what does he gain?"
Address to Indian Association -- Columbus, May 11, 1969:
Paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, five hundred years ago in Navadvīpa, at the age of sixteen years only, a boy of sixteen years, He introduced this movement, saṅkīrtana movement. Not that He manufactured some religious system. Just like nowadays there are..., so many religious system have been manufactured. Actually, religion cannot be manufactured. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam: (SB 6.3.19) "Religion means the codes of God, the laws of God." That's all. Just like you cannot live without obeying the state laws, similarly, you cannot live without obeying the laws of God. And in the Bhagavad-gītā, the Lord says, yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati: (BG 4.7) "Whenever there is discrepancies in the process of religious, prosecution of religious activities," yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati, abhyutthānam adharmasya, "and there is predominance of irreligious activities," tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham, "at that time," Kṛṣṇa, the Lord, says that "I appear." That is the way. The same principle. Just like as soon as there is disobedience of state laws, there is advent of some particular state officer or the governor or the state man to take step and to set things right. That is the way.
Lecture 'Nobody Wants to Die' -- Boston, May 7, 1968:
Neck. Yes, kantha. Then you can bring it between the brows, and when you are sufficiently practiced, you can transfer your soul from the top of your brain to any planet you like. That is the perfection of yoga. That is not possible nowadays. Nobody can practice. Real perfection of yoga is not possible in this age. That breathing exercise, the sitting posture, following the rules and regulations... Nobody's following the rules and regulation, what to speak of the sitting posture. That is a process, recommended process. That is mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā also, and in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also. But that process is not possible at the present days. But if you want spiritual perfection at the present age, then this is the recommended process by Caitanya Mahāprabhu:
- harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma iva kevalam
- kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā
- (CC Adi 17.21)
Anyathā means other process. Anyathā. Because we are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, it does not mean that we are condemning other process. No. The other process is there in the scriptures and authoritative scriptures. But other process is not possible to be practiced in this age. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, kalau, "In this age," nāsty eva nāsty eva, "it is..., there is no possibility to practice other process."
Lecture -- Bombay, November 2, 1970:
Although Buddhism, we do not accept the philosophy of Buddhism, we Vaiṣṇavas, we do not accept, but we accept Lord Buddha as incarnation of Kṛṣṇa. Keśava dhṛta-buddha-śarīra, jaya jagadīśa hare. Sadaya-hṛdaya darśita-paśu-ghātam. Lord Buddha appeared being very much compassionate on the matter of animal slaughter. As nowadays, animal slaughter is going on without any check, similarly, sometime before about 2,500 years ago in India, the same condition prevailed. Vedic civilization is very liberal. According to Vedic civilization, the king has to give protection to all the prajās. Prajā means one who has taken birth in his kingdom. Prajāyate. So the animal is also prajā of the government. The trees are also prajā of the government. So formerly, nobody could slaughter an animal, nobody can cut even a tree without reason, without sanction by the Vedic injunctions. At the present moment, in our country... This Bhārata-varṣa is called puṇya-bhūmi. Actually, it is so, because on this land, all the great saintly persons appeared.
Lecture at Boys' School -- Sydney, May 12, 1971:
Then in future they will be godly or God conscious and their life will be peaceful. And because this is not taught in the schools and colleges... I have got experience by traveling in the Western countries. Especially in America, they have got so many nice arrangements of big, big universities. Unfortunately, nowadays they are producing hippies. So this is not very encouraging. In every schools and colleges the God consciousness should be taught. Never mind whether through Bible or Koran or through Bhagavad-gītā. Everywhere there is knowledge of God consciousness. That teaching should be introduced in every schools and colleges so that children, from the very beginning, may understand what is God, how great he is, how we are related with God, and how we have to live. So our, this movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is teaching that thing. Don't think that it is a sectarian religion. We are making people God conscious. It doesn't matter whichever religion you may belong. We want to see whether you are actually God conscious. Our Bhāgavata says, sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje (SB 1.2.6),
Lecture -- Detroit, July 16, 1971:
One person is very learned. In our country a brāhmaṇa is supposed to be very learned; therefore he is addressed as paṇḍita. Paṇḍita means very learned. Nowadays he may be a fool number one, but he is called paṇḍita. That is not actually the fact. A brāhmaṇa means very, very learned in Vedic literature. Veda-pathād bhaved vipraḥ. One who has studied the Vedas very nice, he is vipra. So one who is actually paṇḍita, he will see a learned brāhmaṇa, a hog, a dog, and a caṇḍāla, an elephant, like that, everyone, all living entities—that means all living entities—on the equal level because he sees to the soul, not to the body. Just like we are meeting here. We are seeing each other. We have not come here to see the dress; we have come to see or to learn some knowledge. Similarly, the human life is especially meant for grasping the knowledge we are missing. The missing knowledge is that I have forgotten that I am spirit soul, part and parcel of God, Kṛṣṇa. That is the missing point. So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is meant for reviving that lost consciousness. That lost consciousness. We have lost this consciousness that "I am the part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, the supreme blissful enjoyer, but somehow or other, being complicated within this matter, I am suffering.
Lecture -- Los Angeles, July 20, 1971:
We are controller, everyone. Nobody can say that "I am without controller." No, that is not possible. Everyone has got a controller. However big officer you may be, you have a controller over your head. But Kṛṣṇa has no controller; therefore He is God. He is controller of everyone, but He has no controller; therefore He's God. So there are many so-called Gods nowadays. Very... God has become very cheap, especially they are imported from India. They are not manufactured in here. You are fortunate. But India, they're coming out, "God," practically every day. They are... The other day, Karandhara was telling me that some God was coming to Los Angeles, and they were requested to receive him. So Kṛṣṇa is not that kind of God. I mentioned in my introduction to Kṛṣṇa book that Kṛṣṇa is not that type of God, manufactured in mystic factory. No. He is God. He was not made God, but He is God.
Lecture -- Los Angeles, July 20, 1971:
That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We cannot say anything which is not accepted by the authorities coming from Kṛṣṇa. And in the Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa recommends this process of knowledge: evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). "This knowledge, formerly, all the great saintly kings..." Formerly, there was monarchy. Just like nowadays also, the government is authority. Your President is authority. So in the days of monarchical king, government, the monarch or the king is head of the government. He is authority. But formerly, those authorities, those kings, were ṛṣis, great learned scholars, ṛṣis, great devotees. They were not ordinary men. That system of government was very nice. One person, well talented, well trained as the head of the government, very peacefully he could execute the governmental function. There were many instances, the Vedic civilization, how the kings were perfect. You'll find from Dhruva Mahārāja's instances that Dhruva Mahārāja went to the forest to search out God, and he found out.
Lecture at Art Gallery -- Auckland, April 16, 1972:
Don't think that is has coming out automatically. No. Nothing comes out automatically. It is coming out of the energy of the Supreme Lord, but the energies are so subtle, nice and artistic that all of a sudden you see a nice flower.
So He is the greatest artist. Just like nowadays, the electronic age, the artist or the scientist just pushing on one button and it is working so nicely. Nowadays it is very easy to understand. In the aeroplane the pilot is simply pushing on button, and such a huge machine, just like a small city, it is flying in the sky, and the wings are working, the machine is working. But we see that a person is simply pushing some button. As it is materially possible, that a man of this world can work so wonderfully simply by pushing some button, so how much great is God, or Kṛṣṇa—"God is great"—how His brain is fertile, how energies are fine, that simply by His desire, "Let there be creation," immediately everything is there. So that is the greatest artist. Simply we have to understand. If we take things very insignificantly, "Ah, by nature," but you cannot explain what is nature. In the garden you see different flowers are coming out.
Lecture at Art Gallery -- Auckland, April 16, 1972:
God means controller. So everyone is controller. In that sense everyone is god. But everyone is not supreme God, supreme controller. Suppose I am controlling some of my students. But I am being controlled by somebody else. Similarly, he is also controlled by somebody else. That is our practical experience. But the supreme controller means who is not controlled by anyone, but He is controller of everyone. That is God. Nowadays it has become a cheap business, to see so many Gods. But you test this, whether he is controlled by anyone. If he is controlled by somebody, then he is not God. If He is simply controller, then you can accept Him as God. That is the definition of God, a very simple definition.
Lecture at Auckland University -- Auckland, April 17, 1972:
The duration of life is limited. It is already destined. According to our past activities, we have got a body whose duration of life is already fixed up. The standard of happiness and distress, that is also fixed up. You cannot change it. Suppose one has got one hundred years age to live. Nowadays nobody lives for one hundred years. Utmost, eighty years or ninety years very rarely. My grandmother lived for ninety-six years. My father lived for eighty-four years. I do not know how long I shall live, but still I am living. But duration of life in this age is gradually decreasing. You are all students of the university, but there is no science how you can increase the duration of life or how you can stop death. That is not possible. Death... Birth, death, old age and disease—these are the four problems of our life. Nobody wants to die, but death is sure. We must die. Nobody wants to take birth, but there is birth. Now there are so many contraceptive methods for checking birth. But still, the population of the whole world is increasing.
Sunday Feast Lecture -- Los Angeles, May 21, 1972:
In the Vedas, Upaniṣad: na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. God has nothing to do personally. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. Na tat-samas cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate. Nobody is found equal to him or greater than Him. Nobody. That is God. If somebody is competitor, one God competitor, another God competitor... Just like nowadays it has become a fashion to become God, and there are competitions between one "God" and another. But actually, nobody can compete with God. That is God. Na tasya sama. Sama means equal. Adhikasya, or greater. That means greater. That means everyone subordinate. Everyone subordinate. Everyone is lower than God. He may be very powerful, but nobody can be equal or greater than God. That is the Vedic information. Na tasya sama adikasya dṛśyate. We don't find... They are also, great saintly persons, they're researching that who is the greatest personality. Greatest personality. So by research work by great saintly persons, especially by Lord Brahmā... He is the first creature within this universe. So he has found by his spiritual advancement and research work that Kṛṣṇa is the greatest. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1).
Sunday Feast Lecture -- Los Angeles, May 21, 1972:
That is still existing in a different name, but the difficulty is, the classification is not made according to quality and work. That was the actual position of classification. Nowadays, a śūdra is on the government. A person who is a nonsense number one, he has no knowledge, he is on the head of the government. The things have been topsy-turvied. A person on religious category, he's advocating something, oh, it is not to be uttered. Homosex. You see? He's advocating homosex. Just see. These has been topsy-turvied. The four classes of men are there, still. But the third-class, fourth-class man is taking the place of first class. And the first-class man is kicked out, "Go out. Don't talk of God." This is the position at the present moment. The classes are there. That is natural. There must be some first-class men, there must be some second-class men, there must be some third-class men, there must be some fourth-class men. But the difficulty is that the fourth-class man is taking the position of first-class man, and the first-class man is being kicked out. Therefore there are so many problems in the society.
Rotary Club Lecture -- Ahmedabad, December 8, 1972 'The Present Need of Human Society':
Then dharma-nyāya-vyavasthāyāṁ kāraṇaṁ balam eva hi. Now justice, nyāya... Nyāya means justice, dharma and religious principle. Dharma-nyāya-vyavasthāyām, to establish justice, anyone who is powerful, he will get justice. You bribe. Nowadays... Of course, we do not discuss these things. Everyone knows. Justice can be purchased in this age. Balam eva hi. Dāmpatye ratir, ratir abhirucir hetur māyaiva vyāvahārike. These are the symptoms. Dāmpatye, husband and relationship, husband and wife, means sex power. We have practically seen in the Western countries, as soon as there is some disturbance in the sex relation of husband and wife, there is divorce. So that, these are the symptoms. Strītve puṁstve ca hi ratir vipratve sūtram eva hi. So man and woman should be united in marriage relationship simply on sex urge, not on the religious principle. That we have seen. And sūtram, vipratve sūtram eva hi. And if anyone, somehow or other, gathers a sacred thread—not sacred, even not sacred; thread—he becomes a vipra. Liṅgam eva āśrama-khyātāv anyonya āpatti-kāraṇam, avṛttyā nyāya-daurbhalyam. If you go to the court, court of justice, if you have no money, then you cannot get. Suppose you have to claim from somebody, say, some few thousands of rupees, first of all you have to deposit the stamp fee, five percent, and the pleader's fee.
Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, January 14, 1973:
Although Buddhism, we do not accept the philosophy of Buddhism, we Vaiṣṇava, we do not accept, but we accept Lord Buddha as incarnation of Kṛṣṇa. Keśava dhṛta-buddha-śarīra, jaya jagadīśa hare. Sadaya-hṛdaya darśita-paśu-ghātam. Lord Buddha appeared, being very much compassionate on the matter of animal slaughter. As nowadays animal slaughter is going on without any check, similarly, sometime before, about 2,500 years ago, in India the same condition prevailed. Vedic civilization is very liberal. According to Vedic civilization, the king has to give protection to all the prajās. Prajā means one who has taken birth in his kingdom. Prajāyate. So the animal is also prajā of the government. The trees are also prajā of the government. So formerly nobody could slaughter an animal, nobody can cut even a tree without reason, without sanction by the Vedic injunction. At the present moment in our country, this Bhāratavarṣa is called puṇya-bhūmi. Actually it is so, because on this land all the great saintly persons appeared. The incarnation of God, Lord Rāmacandra, Lord Kṛṣṇa, Lord Buddhadeva, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu and all the big, big ācāryas—Śaṅkarācārya, Śrī Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Viṣṇu Svāmī... So... Vyāsadeva... All of them appeared on this sacred land of Bhāratavarṣa.
Lecture -- Jakarta, February 27, 1973:
So Kṛṣṇa, first business is go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca, He's the protector of cows and brāhmaṇas. Why? Why He's specially giving? Nowadays it has become a fashion, daridra-nārāyaṇa-sevā, to give protection to the daridras. That is good idea. But why you should bring Nārāyaṇa amongst the daridras? Nārāyaṇa is not daridra. Nārāyaṇa is the husband of Lakṣmī, Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa. Not only one Lakṣmī, millions of Lakṣmīs. Lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānam. Cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam (Bs. 5.29). Surabhīr abhipālaya. In the transcendental world, in Kṛṣṇaloka, there are..., there that is called goloka. Goloka means that planet is full of many cows, and those cows are known as surabhī. Surabhī. The Kṛṣṇa is habituated to take care of the cows. Just like nowadays any respectable gentleman is supposed to take care of dog, similarly, Kṛṣṇa (indistinct) take it as hobby, so He has got the hobby of giving protection to the cows. Surabhīr abhipālayantam. Lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānam (Bs. 5.29). And Kṛṣṇa is worshiped by many, many thousands of Lakṣmīs, these gopīs.
Lecture -- Jakarta, March 1, 1973:
"I cannot practice this yoga system. It is not possible. I cannot control my mind and practice this haṭha-yoga system." Now just try to understand. He is such a personality, great personality, and five thousand years ago, when things were so nice. So at that time a person like Arjuna felt that he's unable to practice this yoga system. And nowadays a (indistinct) people with teeny knowledge, they are trying to practice yoga system as if they're..., he has become more than Arjuna. It is very difficult subject matter. It is not possible for ordinary man. The first principle is that he has to sit down alone in a sacred place, alone. Yoga practice is not possible in a big city, with friends and smoking habit and drinking habit. This all first. One has to become very strong in controlling the mind, controlling the senses, sitting in a solitary place, sacred place like Himalaya or Hardwar, like that. And who is going there, and who is practicing? It is not possible. Not only that, he has to sit down straight, and not bending, and looking on the tip of the nose, and not closing the eyes completely, half closed—so many rules and regulations—and always thinking of Viṣṇu.
Lecture -- London, August 23, 1973:
And if you judge from good sense and intelligence, you'll have to admit what is said in the śāstra. Now just like in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). We are very much astonished to see the activities of the material nature wonderfully working. But we do not know that behind the material nature there is God. Under His direction the material nature is working. That is intelligence. Material nature, matter... Matter cannot act independently. That is not possible. Just like this microphone is a combination of material things—some iron, some other metals. But it has been adjusted, created by some living entity. Not that matter has automatically come into intermingling with this other and become a microphone. That is not possible. Take any machine. It may be very wonderful machine. Just like nowadays the wonderful machine is computer. What is called?
Lecture -- London, August 23, 1973:
So this material world is the prison house of God. Anyone who is living in this prison house, they are all prisoners. It may be demigod, as it is said, deva. Na vai vidur ṛṣayo nāpi devāḥ na siddha-mukhyā asurā manuṣyāḥ. We are human being. There are other beings. They are called asuras. They are very powerful, asuras, but godless. Just like nowadays some portion of the world is occupied by the asuras. They are materially very powerful, but they are asuras because they do not believe in God. Take, for example, Russia. Of course, the mass of people, they are not like that. A fragmental portion of Russian people, they are godless. So you cannot be godless. If you become godless, if you become without religion, if you become without any intentions to abide by the orders of God, then you will be punished. This is nature's law. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā we learn that daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). Every one of us is serving under the order of māyā, illusory energy, material energy, and we are becoming tired, sometimes very much fatigued, every one of us. Nobody is satisfied, cannot be satisfaction. Because in the prison house you cannot expect any comfortable life.
Lecture on Gurvastakam at Upsala University -- Stockholm, September 9, 1973:
Then the next path is performing rituals as they are enjoined in the Vedic śāstra. Kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇuṁ tretāyāṁ yajato makhaiḥ. Yajato makhaiḥ. Makhaiḥ means performing big, big sacrifices. It requires huge lots of money. They, in this age, people are very poor. They cannot perform. Dvāpare paricaryāyām. And in the Dvāpara-yuga it was possible to worship the Deity in the temple. But nowadays, in this Kali-yuga, that is also very impossible fact. Therefore, the general recommendation is, kalau tad dhari-kīrtanāt: "In this age of Kali, simply by chanting the holy name of the Lord, you can get all perfection." All perfection. That is the... Our this movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, is meant for that purpose. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu... The picture is there, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Here, Ṣaḍ-bhūja. So He inaugurated this movement five hundred years ago, chanting. Chanting and dancing. So this is going on for the last five hundred years. In India it is very popular, but in the Western countries, we have just introduced five or six years ago, and people are taking to it, and they are feeling happy. So this is the only process. Therefore, the guru is always engaged in chanting.
Lecture -- Hong Kong, January 31, 1974:
Janma karma ca me divyam (BG 4.9). Divyam means His birth is not ordinary birth. If it had been ordinary birth, then why we are still performing the Janmāṣṭamī ceremony, Kṛṣṇa's birthday ceremony? Many big, big kings came and gone. Who is performing the birthday ceremony of that king? But we perform according to Vedic system the birthday ceremony of Lord Rāmacandra. Nowadays we have imitated so many other birthday ceremonies, but in the śāstra it is enjoined the birthday ceremony of the advent of God should be observed. The birthday ceremony of God is called jayantī. That is special constellation of the stars. But now the jayantī has been used for so many rascals and fools. This is not śāstric. So because Kṛṣṇa's janma and ordinary man's janma is not the same thing, therefore Kṛṣṇa says, janma karma ca me divyam (BG 4.9). Divyam means transcendental, not material. Not material. It is spiritual or transcendental, divyam. Janma karma ca me divyam evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9). Still you have to learn it in truth.
Lecture -- Hong Kong, January 31, 1974:
Dehino'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā (BG 2.13). So this transmigration of the soul from one body to another is not very good business. Who wants to die? Nobody wants to die. But he has to die. He must die. There is no question of he likes or not likes. Nobody wants to take birth, again enter into the womb of mother. And nowadays it is very risky, because mother is killing the child: the ultimate end of Kali-yuga. The mother's shelter, a child feels very happy on the lap of mother, and that is the arrangement of nature. Mother should take care of the child. But in this age the people are so, I mean to say, contaminated that even mother is killing child. Just imagine what is the position of birth and death. Birth and death is not very good business. Therefore if you want to stop this birth and death then take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, try to understand Kṛṣṇa.
La Trobe University Lecture -- Melbourne, July 1, 1974:
These devotees, they have arranged the raised seat, so we have accepted this raised seat. If they wanted to sit down on the floor, I would have gladly accepted. I have no objection, this or that. But as the devotees receive and they give honor, that is good for them, because actually we should honor the Supreme Lord, God, and His representative. Nowadays it is different. Students and people are learning not to honor. But that is not actually the system. According to Vedic system, the representative of God must be honored as God. Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ **. Just like in India we had British rule. The governor general, he was viceroy. So he was given honor, as much honor we used to give to the king. So that is the etiquette. That is the system. It is not that the honor given to the viceroy exactly like to the king, he becomes a king. No. He is servant of God. But it is the duty of the citizen to honor the representative of the king as king. That is etiquette. That is our Vedic system.
Life Member House Lecture -- Hyderabad, April 14, 1975:
So intelligent person, instead of waiting many, many births to understand Kṛṣṇa, may take it immediately what Kṛṣṇa says, as it is. Then his life is successful. So that is possible to understand Kṛṣṇa as He is saying. But because on account of our sinful activities, we cannot understand. Duṣkṛtina. Duṣkṛtina means always engaged in sinful activities, very intelligent person, but engaged in sinful activities. Nowadays... All the people are nowadays educated, but all of them, mostly, ninety-nine percent, they're engaged in sinful activities—illicit sex, meat-eating, intoxication, gambling. These are sinful activities and, in spite of advancement of education all over the world, these things are going on. Therefore they cannot understand Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is understood by a person who is no more engaged in sinful activities.
Subha Vilasa Home Engagement -- Toronto, June 19, 1976:
Indian man (1): Most fortunate men try to follow Kṛṣṇa. The unfortunate...
Prabhupāda: So anyway, now it is Śubha Vilāsa Prabhu's duty to bring these imitation Kṛṣṇas.
Devotees: Jaya.
Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Guest: Many, many good bhaktas are being spoiled by impersonalists nowadays...
Prabhupāda: Yes. You are personalist or impersonalist? He is personalist. (laughter) Hari-nāma karo (Hindi). So, another kīrtana? (end)
Address to Rotary Club -- Chandigarh, October 17, 1976:
Kṛṣṇa's father and the Pāṇḍavas' mother, they were real brother and sister. In this way there were family relationship, and Kṛṣṇa therefore denied to take part in the actual fighting. The whole world was divided. Some of them joined this party; some of them joined that party. Just like it actually happens when there is big war. Even nowadays, all the nations, they make a group. Some of them forming were forming one group; another some of them, they formed another group. Exactly the same thing was done. Now Kṛṣṇa was the charioteer, but when the chariot was brought in front of the two soldiers' party, Arjuna became little bit disturbed that "I have to fight. On the other side they are my brothers, they are my nephews, they are my gurus, Dronācārya, and they are my grandfather, Bhīṣmadeva. So what kind of fight this is that I have to fight with my friends and relatives and family members?" So he hesitated, that "Kṛṣṇa, what kind of fight this is? They are not my enemies; they are all family members. So I am not interested in this fight." So he practically decided not to fight. And Kṛṣṇa said that "What is this nonsense? You are a military man, and you have come to fight here, and you are My friend and My relative also, and if you decide not to fight, what people will say?" This is the beginning.
Philosophy Discussions
Philosophy Discussion on William James:
Prabhupāda: Similarly, all this display of this universe or anything creation, cosmic manifestations, this is designed by the Supreme, parāsya śaktir vividhaiva. Multi-energies. Just like this flower. We have got experience that if you paint a flower, it requires so much experience to handle the brush and the colors. So similarly, this is certainly proof of experience, but His energy is acting so nicely, we see that the flower is coming automatically. And the same example I have given so many times, that nowadays in electronics, just like this, so many mechanical arrangement is within there. But I say "putt,"—I push on this one button. One who does not know, he sees, "Oh, this is moving so wonderfully." No. There is experience.
Śyāmasundara: The Darwinists, for instance, would say that this flower through time had the experience that if it produced a nice odor, more bees would come to pollinate it and continue the species. So that the experience is passed on in the gene or the seed of the flower, so...
Prabhupāda: Whose experience passed?
Philosophy Discussion on Arthur Schopenhauer:
Prabhupāda: Yes, the maximum age in this millennium is hundred years, but formerly they used to live for thousand years. Before that they used to live for ten thousand years, and before that they used to live for one hundred thousands of years. So nowadays we don't think even they are going up to hundred years, even not ninety years.
Hayagrīva: Sixty, sixty-seven.
Prabhupāda: Sixty-seven is the average. The more one becomes sensuous, the duration of life is lessened. That is the law of nature.
Hayagriva: So that's all on Schopenhauer. (end)
Philosophy Discussion on Ludwig Wittgenstein:
Prabhupāda: This is evidence: that there is no soul. The self, the individual soul, is now departed; therefore this body is lump of matter. This is evidence. And because the soul is there, therefore the body changes or develops. Just like if a child is born dead, then the body does not develop or changes. It remains in the same condition. But so long the soul is there, the child grows or changes his body. That is evidence. Because the soul is there, therefore the child is growing or changing body from childhood to boyhood, boyhood to youth. Suppose a child is born, doctor says it is dead child. You say something is wanted, but what is that something? You do not know. Otherwise, if you know, you add it. What is that something? Suggest, what is that something? Simply vague idea something, that is nonsense idea. That is not science. You must give, "This is wanting." Suppose that you say that the blood, the redness, just like nowadays blood supply is the theory, so what is this blood? Blood is a liquid, red liquid, like chemical or something, with some salt. So you can add salt, just like in cholera cases, they add saline injection. So dead body, you give saline injection, make it red by some color, give him life. If you say that "Red blood is now white," so make it red. What is the difficulty? There is no difficulty. There are so many chemicals. If you say the redness is the life, then there are many natural products, just like jewels, by nature it is red. Why is it not alive? Why it is not alive? By natural redness of something, if you say that is the cause of life, then there are many jewels. What is called, jewels?
Philosophy Discussion on Sigmund Freud:
Prabhupāda: That, that means he has no clear conception of God, because God has to take power from some parliament. God does not take power from anyone. He is God. That is described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that janmādy asya yataḥ anvayād itarataḥ ca artheṣu abhijñaḥ svarāṭ (SB 1.1.1), that the Supreme, God, or Supreme Truth, Brahman, He knows everything. He knows everything in details. And wherefrom? Abhijñaḥ. He is, abhijñaḥ means completely in awareness. Then the question may be raised that "How He got this complete knowledge? From whom He received?" The answer is immediate, svarāṭ. Svarāṭ means independent. That is God. If one has to take knowledge from Mr. Freud, then he is not God. Anyone, if you come to that person that He is independent, parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate svābhāvikī (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport), naturally He is all-perfect. He hasn't got to become perfect by some process or from some authority. That is God. He is all-perfect automatically. That is God. So anyone who is trying to be perfect, he is not God. One who is... That, that, that is in the history, we find in the history of life of Kṛṣṇa. When He was three-months-old child He, He could kill big giant like Pūtanā. That is automatic. Either He is child or He is a young man or He is old man, the godly power is there. The nowadays these so-called yogis, they are becoming God by meditation, but the three-months-old child in the lap of His mother, how He became God? The God is God always. He hasn't got to learn it from anyone. That is His svarāṭ, independent. So these people have no conception of God; therefore they are simply speculating and misleading persons. God is not the subject matter of speculation. We, if we want to know God, then we must know it from God Himself or a person who knows Him. That is the direction in the Bhagavad-gītā:
Philosophy Discussion on The Evolutionists Thomas Huxley, Henri Bergson, and Samuel Alexander:
Prabhupāda: That is struggle for existence you can say. They are simply trying to live. They have no other ambition. That's all. But if a man..., if the living soul, after having come to the stage of human being, if he also simply tries for these four things, eating, sleeping, mating and defending, then he is no better than animal. So nowadays in the modern civilization, simply these things are taught: how you can live comfortably with a car, with a bungalow...
Śyāmasundara: So the urge, the urge to improve or to advance...
Prabhupāda: (aside, Hindi:) Aiye aiye. Give them something, sitting place. Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Śyāmasundara: The urge to advance is there in the human more developed. How does that...?
Prabhupāda: You can give this side. This side. Yes. Why not this fan is running? What is that? All right. Let them sit.
Philosophy Discussion on Johann Gottlieb Fichte:
Prabhupāda: That, if there is water, that water is this well. How can there be more than this? And maybe big well, that's all. But that is his conception. So this conception will not help. You cannot create God. Just like we have got God, Kṛṣṇa. As soon as there was necessity to give protection to the inhabitants of whole Vṛndāvana, the torrents of rain, and it requires a big umbrella, and immediately He lifted the whole mountain: "Come on, under this, let Me see how long this torrents of rain go on. I shall hold." That is God. He... So He was seven-years-old boy. He was not a meditation God. Nowadays that the rascals are becoming God by meditation. What is meditation God? God is always God. Does it require meditation to become God? There are all these rascals, they are preaching, "You meditate and you become God. You think that 'I am moving the sun, I am moving the earth, I am...' " This is rascaldom. But Kṛṣṇa, He is not that kind of God. He is always God. Now it is necessary, "All right. Lift this." This is God. Aiśvaryasya samagrasya vīryasya. Whole strength is there to lift the mountain. That is God.
Philosophy Discussion on Plato:
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes, that's a fact, very good. But the best thing is monarchy, because if the monarch is rājarṣi, he is not only king... That is necessary. Kṛṣṇa wants that, that the government should be ruled; therefore we praise, offer so much respect to Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, Mahārāja Parīkṣit and Lord Rāmacandra, how to become an ideal king. He is Personality of Godhead. He showed how to become Rāma-rājya. So this is very good because it is not expensive. One man is maintained by the state very nicely, and nowadays these democracies' mob rule means instead of one king there are 300,000 kings in a state, and they are looting the hard-earned money by income tax, and everything is so polluted. So the condemnation of democracy is supported by us. It is mob rule. It has no value.
Hayagrīva: Socrates and Plato.
Prabhupāda: That's all right.
Philosophy Discussion on George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel:
Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa is always present, but if when you hold a ceremony, garbhādhāna ceremony, that "I am going to have sex with my wife for begetting a Kṛṣṇa conscious child," then you remember Kṛṣṇa. And at the time of sex, the mentality of the father and mother, that is acquired by the child. There is rules and regulation for garbhādhāna ceremony, and in the Bhāgavata you will find that as soon as a..., the..., one gives up the garbhādhāna ceremony, he is a śūdra. So who is observing this garbhādhāna ceremony at the present moment? Therefore everyone is śūdra. Kalau śūdra-sambhavāḥ. Everyone is born as śūdra. The father and mother gave birth as śūdra. So this birthright of brāhmaṇa is no longer in this day. Even they falsely claim, "Because I am born of a brāhmaṇa father I am brāhmaṇa," that śāstra will not support. Whether garbhādhāna ceremony was performed? And nowadays, especially, who knows that he is son of a brāhmaṇa? The woman is intermingling with everyone, and who has given birth of the child? Whether he is actually a brāhmaṇa's son, a śūdra's son, who knows it? So how he can claim, by birthright, a brāhmaṇa? That is not possible. Therefore everyone is śūdra. But he can be trained as a brāhmaṇa. That is pāñcarātrikī-vidhi. We are following this pāñcarātrikī-vidhi, not Vedic vidhi. Vedic vidhi is different. Pāñcarātrikī. By training. He has got little tendency, little fire, to become Kṛṣṇa conscious.
Philosophy Discussion on B. F. Skinner and Henry David Thoreau:
Prabhupāda: They are, difficulty, that is missing, that what is their ideal life, what is the aim of life. So he is prescribing so many things. That will not help the human society. And women, about women, this idea that (s)he should be married at sixteen years old, that is good, but it is not that women stops child breeding by the twenty-two years age. No. There are many women and they can beget children in, in advanced age. I, so far personally I know, my mother was the youngest daughter, and she was born when my grandmother was fifty years old. So it is not that the woman stops child begetting at the age of twenty-two years age. Nowadays up to thirty years, twenty-five years, woman, woman is married, so how he, she can stop?
Hayagrīva: Well, he wouldn't say stop. He says, "A young couple will live quite as well together whether married or unmarried. Sex is no problem in itself. Here the adolescent finds an immediate and satisfactory expression of his natural impulses." So since the children are held in common, marriage..., you may get married if you like, but it's not required.
Prabhupāda: Children?
Purports to Songs
Purport to Hari Hari Biphale -- Hamburg, September 10, 1969:
And Lord Balarāma has become Nityānanda. So these two brothers adventing, they are delivering all kinds of fallen souls. Pāpī-tāpī jata chilo. As many fallen souls there were within this world, they're delivering them simply by this chanting procession. Hari-nāme uddhārilo, simply by this chanting. How it is possible? Then he says, tāra sākṣī jagāi and mādhāi. The living example is the two brothers, Jagāi and Mādhāi. These Jagāi and Mādhāi, two brothers, they happened to be born in a brāhmaṇa family but they turned to be debauch number one. And... Of course, nowadays, in this age, their qualification is not considered debauch. Their debauchery was because they were drunkard and woman hunter. Therefore they were called debauch. And meat-eater also. So... But they became later on delivered by Lord Caitanya and Nityānanda. Great devotees.
| Page Title: | Nowadays (Lectures, Other) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 27 of Jun, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=90, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 90 |