One should not pass air within the temple. (16) One should not be angry within the temple. (17) One should not enter the temple after visiting a crematorium. (18) One should not belch before the Deity. So, until one has fully digested his food, he should not enter the temple. (19) One should not smoke marijuana, or gañjā. (20) One should not take opium or similar intoxicants. (21) One should not enter the Deity room or touch the body of the Deity after having smeared oil over his body. (22) One should not show disrespect to a scripture teaching about the supremacy of the Lord. (23) One should not introduce any opposing scripture. (24) One should not chew betel before the Deity. (25) One should not offer a flower which was kept in an unclean pot. (26) One should not worship the Lord while sitting on the bare floor; one must have a sitting place or carpet. (27) One should not touch the Deity before one has completed taking bath. (28) One should not decorate his forehead with the three-lined tilaka. (29) One should not enter the temple without washing his hands and feet.
Opium
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 7
Demons always think that the God of the devotees is fictitious. They think that there is no God and that the so-called religious feeling of devotion to God is but an opiate, a kind of illusion, like the illusions derived from LSD and opium. Hiraṇyakaśipu did not believe Prahlāda Mahārāja when Prahlāda asserted that his Lord is present everywhere. Because Hiraṇyakaśipu, as a typical demon, was convinced that there is no God and that no one could protect Prahlāda, he felt encouraged to kill his son. He challenged the idea that the devotee is always protected by the Supreme Lord.
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Nectar of Devotion
Nectar of Instruction
Such eating for sense gratification—including the use of extra quantities of spices like chili and tamarind—is to be given up by Kṛṣṇa conscious persons. The use of pan, haritakī, betel nuts, various spices used in pan-making, tobacco, LSD, marijuana, opium, liquor, coffee and tea is indulged in to fulfill illicit demands. If we can practice accepting only remnants of food offered to Kṛṣṇa, it is possible to get free from māyā's victimization. Vegetables, grains, fruits, milk products and water are proper foods to offer to the Lord, as Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself prescribes. However, if one accepts prasāda only because of its palatable taste and thus eats too much, he also falls prey to trying to satisfy the demands of the tongue. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu taught us to avoid very palatable dishes even while eating prasāda. If we offer palatable dishes to the Deity with the intention of eating such nice food, we are involved in trying to satisfy the demands of the tongue.
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Similarly, the aquatics in the water, they cannot live in the land. Similarly, because I cannot live in the sun planet due to this, my body, that does not mean there are no living beings. There are living beings. After all, the whole material world is made of five elements, earth, water, fire, air and ether. Now these five elements, in some planet you'll find earth predominant. In some planet you'll find water predominant. In some planet you'll find fire predominant. In some planet you'll find air predominant. But that does not mean that there are no living entities. There are living entities. The sun planet is a planet where is, where fire is predominant. Now, according to medical science that by heat and fire of the germs are killed. But in the fire also there are living entities. Just like Dr. Mishra was giving the example the other day about opium. Now opium is a death poison. Death poison. But in the opium also you'll find some worms.
Yes. How it is possible? They are also living entities. If I, if I take a drop of opium, I die. But they are living and they are eating and they are living there. So because it is impossible for me to eat opium and live, you cannot say that there are other livi..., that there cannot be no living entities there. Similarly you have experience that you cannot live in the fire. That does not mean that in the sun planet there is no living entities. There are living entities. Because in Bhagavad-gītā you'll find that living soul, as it is, it is not burnt by fire. It is not burned by fire. Because it is spiritual. The material elements has no power to destroy it. It is not burnt by fire. So in every planet it is concluded that every planet there are living entities. There are intelligent beings. And because in the higher planets there are more intelligent persons, beings, they are called demigods. The demigods means they have got, practically, qualification almost equal to the Supreme Lord. They have got such qualification.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
So common men, they think that bread is coming from these rascals. But actually, bread is coming from God. So because God could not supply the bread in the church, they become Communists. This is the position. They take God as some solace, what is called, opium? Opiate. Yes. When there is no other source... And the whole over the world, they do not know, actually, what is God, what is our relationship with, what is God's function. That you will find only in Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. That we can say very proudly. What is God, what is the philosophy, what He is doing, what is His name, what is His address, what is His father's name—we know everything. (laughter) That is our position.
So a king must be very responsible for the citizens how they are happy. So Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja was that type of king. Every king was like that. It was the duty of the king to see. You have read already that during Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja's time there was no excessive heat or excessive cold, neither there was disease in the country.
Philosophy Discussions
Prabhupāda: Psychologically everyone has this tendency. Then why is it mentioned in the śāstras in this way? The whole thing is to restrict. Just like ordinarily in the state drinking liquor is also controlled by the excise department of the government. The government opens drinking shops, but the price is enhanced. I know because I was dealing in rectified spirits, so because we are preparing medicine we are getting opium, rectified spirits, gañja, very cheaply. One smuggler came to me and said that "You give me your license, you take one thousand rupees. I will manage." So I told him that when I would be arrested, because after I would be arrested, then the government would ask me that "We have given you the license as a respectable gentleman, and you are doing this," then what shall I reply? So this restriction is that liquor... Wine is made from rectified spirits, brandy, whiskey, everything; I know all the formulas, how to make them. The cost price of the rectified spirits is about Rs. 1/59 per gallon, and the government is selling at 60 rupees. For us it was five rupees, because we were manufacturers. So why (indistinct)? Restriction.
Śyāmasundara: I'll read his famous statement about religion. He says, "Religion is the (indistinct) of the oppressed (indistinct), the heart of the heartless world, just as it is the spirit of the spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people."
Prabhupāda: That's right, but the he does not know what is religion. His definition (indistinct) why he accepts the Vedic way; nobody knows what is religion. Our Vedic version is religion is the code given by God. So if God is fact then His law is also fact, it is not illusion. Just like Kṛṣṇa giving religion. There is (indistinct), sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66), to surrender unto God. This is religion.
Śyāmasundara: His idea is that everything is produced from economic struggle. So that religion is like a police force, and it is invented by the bourgeois or the capitalist as a technique to dissuade the masses from revolting by promising them a better existence, or a happier existence after death so that they can be...
Prabhupāda: (indistinct) we are obliged to his proposal now. He has created a philosophy, which is being enforced by killing, by threatening.
Hayagrīva: Marx felt that religion is a symptom of a degraded man. He wrote, "Religion is the sigh of a distressed creature, the soul of a heartless world, as it is also the spirit of a spiritless condition. It is the opium of the people. The more a man puts into God, the less he retains in himself."
Prabhupāda: But practically we see that the Communist are also equally failure, even without God. Now these Chinese and Russians, they are not in agreement. So same thing—that those who believed in God and those who did not believe in God the difference existed. And now amongst the Communist there are coming out so many section. So the difference of opinion is still there even denying God, without God. So that is not improvement. The real purpose is to understand what is really God is. That is required both by the Communist or the capitalist. Denying God and acting independently, that has not brought any peaceful condition of the human society.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Yes. That physiological test, you can do between man and animal. The animal will be found better. Their circulation of blood is most natural.
Karandhara: Also the state of mind which they claim is beneficial, the same state of mind can be reached more quickly by smoking opium.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Hṛdayānanda: Well.
Bali Mardana: We know from experience.
Karandhara: Yes. Calm state of mind, emitting alpha rays, alpha brain waves. Smoke opium you get the same thing.
Hṛdayānanda: Really? No, the intelligent students all know it's cheating.
Karandhara: It had a light bulb on it. So they put a thing on the person's head, and when he's in transcendental meditation, if the light bulb goes on, then he's in samādhi. So one man came and smoked opium and put the machine on his head and the light stayed on. (laughter)
Prabhupāda: They are speaking of "transcendental," but testing by mundane.
Karandhara: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Transcendental perfection is tested by mundane instruments.
Hṛdayānanda: Boy, that's contradiction.
Bali Mardana: They don't ever use the word "trans..." They just call it "TM."
Prajāpati: (break) ...Śrīla Prabhupāda, is what's called "linguistic analysis."
Prabhupāda: Hm.
Prabhupāda: Yes, because they are godless. Whole modern world is godless. They don't think of God very seriously. Everyone. They have described it as "Opiate," what is that?
Karandhara: "Opium of the people."
Prabhupāda: Yes. They think, "Those who are religious, they are simply wasting their time." Therefore communist country, they are completely against religion. They cannot allow their people to waste their time. That is their philosophy. This is the condition of the world.
Karandhara: Because the monarchs of the past days, they used religion to suppress the people so severely in Russia that...
Prabhupāda: Well, something wrong was done; therefore everything is wrong. If somebody, he might have seen some counterfeit coin, does it mean the whole currency is counterfeit? You cannot say like that.
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: (laughs) No, no, no.
Dr. Patel: So they have taken to it. I don't...
Prabhupāda: That is another thing. That is another thing. Just like opium. Opium, for common man, it is bad. But you are a physician; you can use opium, tincture opium for some certain use.
Dr. Patel: Therefore I say.
Prabhupāda: That is another thing.
Dr. Patel: Same thing, I say. The same reasoning.
Prabhupāda: But they are not physicians. They are ordinary men.
Dr. Patel: So it is bad for them.
Prabhupāda: We don't find there is sanction by God to drink. But under certain circumstances, beverages, different types of beverages allowed, not for intoxication but for keeping health. That is different thing. Just like in the moon planet, it is mentioned they drink soma-rasa. Soma-rasa is a kind of beverage made from extract of herbs. So because it is very cold there, so they drink that, but not for intoxication. People drink for intoxication. Just like in medicine, so many drugs are used. Even opium is used. Yes. Morphia is used. But they are not used ordinarily. For a specific purpose. Even snake poison is used, but that does not mean snake poison should be used perpetually. So for benefit of the body under particular circumstances something may be recommended, but that is not for general use or for intoxication. That is condemned. Just like animal killing is sometimes prescribed in the yajña. The purpose is different. But that does not mean unrestricted animal killing in the slaughterhouse should go on, no. That is sinful. So if we violate the laws perpetually, then how we can consider as belonging to a certain group of religious system? There must be principles.
Satsvarūpa: But we will take people's minds off the fact that they should be fighting for economic rights. We say, "That's not so important. You should become God conscious, Kṛṣṇa conscious." And then the people... Just like Marx said, "Religion is the opium of the people." They think we're just pacifying people, when actually everyone should becoming agitated for equal rights. So when they see us...
Prabhupāda: So where is equal rights? Even in Russia, there is managerial class and laborer class. Where are equal rights? Why there are managers? Yes. I have seen it. The managerial class and the laborer class. So where is equality? Why the managerial class? You know that? There must be required. The old women, they are sweeping the street. Why not Mr. Lenin come and sweep the street? Why he is sitting in a big palace and the poor woman has been engaged to sweep the street? Where is equality? What advancement they have made? We are following opiate. They are following opiate, Lenin's rascal's philosophy. That's all. That is also opiate. But where is equality? That is also opiate. You are advocating equality, but where there is a man manager and another man is working. So why you are accepting this nonsense philosophy being opiated by rascal Lenin?
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Drugs are meant for medicinal purposes, not for drinking or taking generally. Every herb, every vegetable, is a drug meant for curing a particular disease. This is nature's gift. Just like if you cut your finger, you take little grass and take a little juice and apply it. It will act as tincturizing, immediately. They are meant for this purpose. These vegetable, drugs, are meant for when you are sick or disturbed, you can utilize. Not for intoxication. Just like opium. If you have severe type of dysentery, diarrhea, a little opium it will immediately cure. But opium is not meant for using as an intoxication. There is use of opium. Morphia, opium, they have got use at a certain time, not for using it for intoxication. That is foolish.
Dr. Patel: (Hindi about temporary pleasure) They go down.
Man: (Hindi)
Dr. Patel: The whole, I mean, Japan was practically done, I mean, done to practical death by this opium smoking.
Prabhupāda: In China also. The Britishers, they were taking opium from India and selling there and making money.
Dr. Patel: And now Chinese leaders were rejoicing that American boys smoking LSD. (Hindi conversation)
Prabhupāda: Saurabha, you have brought these logs from Vṛndāvana?
Saurabha: Yes.
Prabhupāda: So why they are lying idle?
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Acyutānanda: He said, "Religion is the opiate of the people." So there was a cartoon that Marx came back in 1976, and they said, "No, opium is the religion of the people."
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Acyutānanda: "Now opium is the religion of the people because everyone is taking drugs. You say religion is the opiate. Now opium is the religion." They think there should be no private property. There was... They are discussing this in Indian Parliament now. They should abolish private property and abol... Women should not wear ornaments.
Prabhupāda: Ācchā?
Acyutānanda: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Where it is?
Acyutānanda: They're discussing in Parliament.
Prabhupāda: In our?
Prabhupāda: So we... Our propaganda is bring Kṛṣṇa; then your zeros will be valued. Otherwise you are zeros.
Dr. Patel: Sir, they were saying that religion is an opium.
Prabhupāda: Yes, opium is very good sometimes. He is right. Tincture opium. Yes. Yes. All the drugs are used. You know very well.
Dr. Patel: Yes, yes, sir. In heart attack we give that first.
Prabhupāda: Yes. So opium is poison undoubtedly, but if it is in the hand of physician, it is nectarine. It can save the life. Whatever God has created, it has got some use. One must know. Nirbandhaḥ kṛṣṇa-sambandhe yuktaṁ vairāgyam ucyate. That is wanted.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Marx's idea was that instead of trying to improve the condition of life, people would simply go to the church or like this and worship and accept their miserable condition of life without any material progress.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: We will do that.
Krishna Modi: (Hindi) They don't want anything. They say that religious is a opium. So that what you are doing (indistinct). They are not (indistinct). If they are in power then they can do like that.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: They did it in Russia.
Krishna Modi: Because their theory is this: That this God and all these religious matters, this is a opium and this is a kind of, you may say it that in the umbrella. Religious in the name of...
Prabhupāda: And what they have done, the Communists?
Krishna Modi: They have not done anything. They should not do anything. It is not their duty.
Prabhupāda: No, I mean to say, countries like Russia and China, what actual progress they have made?
Prabhupāda: This freedom means you can manufacture your own religion. And this is freedom. They want this freedom, that you can manufacture. Yato mata tato patha, as the Ramakrishna Mission says, that "You can manufacture your own way of religion."
Dr. Ramachandra: Somebody said religion is the opium of the masses.
Prabhupāda: Yes, they will say.
Dr. Ramachandra: That is... They trained us.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Dr. Ramachandra: I think you're right in saying that the government has rejected it, in that sense.
Prabhupāda: But they do not know what is religion. That is the difficulty. Religion is here. Kṛṣṇa says, mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja. This is religion.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Mr. Rajda: No, in the last rulers, most of them were Communists, but they said that religion is opium. They say religion is opium. They didn't believe in religion at all.
Prabhupāda: Therefore they say something, we say something, he says something. That you manufacture something. But nobody know what is reality. That is the difficulty. Unless you know the reality, to suggest something, "I suggest it," that does not mean it is solution. That is going on, all over the world. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ (SB 7.5.31). Bahir-artha. The external features, these material features, they are concerned with that. Earth, water, air, fire, mind, intelligence. But they do not know that beyond this, there is another element. Unless you come to that knowledge, there is no question of welfare activities. That knowledge is available in India. India should understand. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission. Bhārata-bhūmite manuṣya janma haila yāra (CC Adi 9.41). Not only India, but he must be a human being. Not only human being, but also systematic human society. (break) Of course, we are trying to give this knowledge. These American, Europeans, they are taking it. It should be done very systematically, not alone tried.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that "They have given me..."
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So many disciples.
Prabhupāda: The Vṛndāvana also they do. These things are there, their business. And they smoke gāñ..., opium, gāñjā. Pān they are chewing, fish. "Tīrtha-guru." In Vṛndāvana the jāta-guru, caste gosvāmī, they do like that. He'll not touch his water even, and still, he is disciple.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, but that... This is such a contradiction, that the man gives someone, makes someone his disciple, but he will not take him.
Prabhupāda: He'll not take his food, he'll not touch his water, and still, he's guru. That's all. In Vṛndāvana it is going on, large... So many visitors come. They are victimized. They have got their step, in that way.
Correspondence
1972 Correspondence
It is understood also that your Constitution allows freedom of religious expression. But it appears from the facts that you do not wish to indulge in religious principles which are simply sentiments. We agree wholeheartedly that without philosophy, religion is reduced to sentiment or "the opium of the masses." We are likewise in full agreement with your national leaders that the state and the citizens in general must be organized upon philosophical principles.
We, the above institution, have got our spiritual communism idea, and we want to see that not a single person, man or animal, remains hungry or in want of material necessities of life. According to our philosophy, a householder or substantial citizen of the state has to see not only after the well-being of his wife, children, relatives and dependents, that they shall be properly taken care of and will not starve, but also even if a lizard lives in his house, he should see that it is not hungry.
| Page Title: | Opium |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 11 of Jul, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=1, CC=0, OB=2, Lec=6, Con=14, Let=1 |
| No. of Quotes: | 24 |