Go to Vanipedia | Go to Vanisource | Go to Vanimedia


Vaniquotes - the compiled essence of Vedic knowledge


Perception (Conv. and Letters)

Conversations and Morning Walks

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation With John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and George Harrison -- September 11, 1969, London, At Tittenhurst:

George Harrison: But Vivekananda said that books and rituals and dogmas and temples are secondary details, anyway. He said they're not the most important thing, anyway. You don't have to read the book in order to have the perception.

Prabhupāda: Then why Vivekananda wrote so many books? (laughter)

George Harrison: Well, it's the same as in the Gītā.

Prabhupāda: No, no. He said there is no use of books. Then why he wrote so many books?

George Harrison: But in Hrishikesh, when we meditated for a long time, one man got tired of meditation, and he thought... He made the excuse to read the Gītā so he could come out of meditation, and he opened the Gītā and it said, "Don't read books. Meditate."

Prabhupāda: Who says?

George Harrison: The Gītā said it.

Prabhupāda: "Don't read books"?

George Harrison: It said, "Don't read books. Meditate."

Prabhupāda: Where?

Yoko Ono: No, but you see, you...

Prabhupāda: He said, brahma-sūtra-padaiś caiva hetumadbhir viniścitaiḥ (BG 13.5). He refers that "This scientific knowledge, the Absolute Truth, is explained very nicely in Brahma-sūtra, Vedānta-sūtra." He refers to the book.

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Dr. Karan Singh, -- November 25, 1971, Delhi:

Dr. Singh: (Sanskrit) śivo 'ham, śivo....

Prabhupāda: What you are? "I am servant of Kṛṣṇa." Śivo 'ham is the beginning. Śivo 'ham, ahaṁ brahmāsmi, that is the beginning realization. Just like "I am this," "I am Indian," "I am this." Then you have to think over, then what is my duty? This perception that I am Śiva or Maṅgala, I am spirit soul, then what is my duty? I am working now with the bodily concept of life: "I am Indian," "I am Kashmiri," "I am this," "I am that." So when I realize that I am neither Kashmiri nor Indian nor this nor that, I am śivo 'ham, or brahmāsmi, or I am eternal servant of God, Kṛṣṇa, that is your pure. Tat-paratvena nirmalam. When you come to that understanding, śivo 'ham understanding, brahmāsmi understanding, or eternal servant of God understanding, then your duty begins. That is bhakti. So, therefore, bhakti is not on the material platform. Bhakti is on the spiritual platform. Sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate (BG 14.26).

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- May 4, 1972, Mexico:

eYou cannot question simply. There must be service and surrender; then question will be nice. And if all of a sudden you come and question, that answer will not be sufficient. So I am drinking this water because there is taste. At this time, if you can give me some other juice, I'll not like. I'll like to take, drink water, because there is particular taste that will satisfy my thirst. That thirst-quenching taste is Kṛṣṇa. So immediately you can remember Kṛṣṇa, "Here is Kṛṣṇa." This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Raso 'ham apsu kaunteya (BG 7.8). There is no need of seeing Kṛṣṇa. You can perceive Kṛṣṇa while drinking water if you have got such power of perception. And the hints are already there in the Bhagavad-gītā. You can argue, "Where is Kṛṣṇa? I do not see Kṛṣṇa. How can I..." Well, Kṛṣṇa says, "All right, you try to realize Me in this way. While you drink water you know that taste is Myself." So you can see or perceive Kṛṣṇa by drinking water. So everyone is drinking water. Who cannot perceive Kṛṣṇa? What is the difficulty? Kṛṣṇa's giving hints, "Worship Me like that." And God, at the present moment, God can be seen eye-to-eye, but He can be perceived anumananda(?). What is that word? Parasya...?

Room Conversation -- May 4, 1972, Mexico:

Prabhupāda: You can know directly that "He is doing better than me." What is the difficulty? I can see... Just like all my disciples, they are following me. Why? Because they understand that "Our spiritual master explains about God better than us." Therefore they are surrendering. I am not bribing them. They are not fools. They have got very nice brain to act. So they accept me as the spiritual master brain because they understand it that "He can explain about God better than me." Where is the difficulty? These, all my disciples, surrenders unto me because they have found in me a better brain in explaining what is God. Direct perception. There is no question of indirect understanding. It is direct understanding. And the Vedas also advises that "Go to a better man," śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham (MU 1.2.12), "one who heard better and wise from the Vedic knowledge, and brahma, as a result of it he has become fully devoted to Kṛṣṇa," brahma-niṣṭham. These are the qualifications of spiritual master. His knowledge is perfect according to the Vedic injunction, and by having that knowledge he has become a perfect devotee of the Lord. These two things are to be seen. Then he is a spiritual master.

Morning Walks -- October 1-3, 1972, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Where he is now?

Devotee (1): He's supposed to still be in Bakersfield after Guru Maharaj-ji, but this mahātmā is his follower. But they were very anxious to follow in his way because Guru Maharaj-ji is supposed to give direct perception of God. It's described that he will show you light.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Devotee (1): Yes. They said when you meet him, he can show you light. He's giving direct understanding of God in this way, this light. When I tried to ask them to understand some Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they simply refused to listen. They had no desire to hear about Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They said, "What your spiritual master has to offer? What can you offer except just some scriptures?" They had no respect for the śāstra. So many young people are following this.

Jayatīrtha: Everyone wants instant realization.

Prabhupāda: Outlaws will say like that. "What education you have got? You have simply studied some lawbook." Outlaws will say like that. They will simply sell some book, "Now we are better that you. Without studying we have written."

Morning Walks -- October 1-3, 1972, Los Angeles:

Jayatīrtha: It's difficult to (indistinct) detached to material things. One should be attached to Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: That attachment will become. That is the special (indistinct). You cannot be completely detached. If you be detachment from something, you must be attached to something. Otherwise you have no perception(?). So you should be detached from matter and attached to Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee (2): (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: (indistinct)

Devotee (2): The devotee is always offering devotional service to the Supreme Personality.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is (inaudible). Simply by knowledge... Knowledge you must have, but simply theoretical knowledge... Practical manifestation that he's a great devotee. Whenever there is any doubt or question, he will prove by the evidences of śāstra.

Jayatīrtha: ...was saying last night to our scientist friend, than Kṛṣṇa is the perfect teacher. The spiritual master is simply repeating perfectly what Kṛṣṇa is saying. So if Kṛṣṇa is saying, "Surrender to Me," then the spiritual master is saying, "Surrender to Kṛṣṇa."

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Rosicrucians -- August 13, 1973, Paris:

Yogeśvara: ...how they have, the Russians have found the soul and they have described all the different phenomena of para-psychology and extra sensory perception, and he said it's an incredible book, and the Russians have made great discoveries. He hasn't finished the book yet.

Prabhupāda: That is Russians. I am asking him about his...

Yogeśvara: He says that the Rosicrucians they know what is the duty of human life.

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Yogeśvara: The destiny of human life.

Guru-gaurāṅga: ...the soul is a state, of crystik consciousness, Nirvāṇa, call it what you will.

Prabhupāda: That cannot be described.

Guru-gaurāṅga: ...with an understanding that is a million times beyond our understanding.

Prabhupāda: If it is beyond understanding, how can I accept it? (break)

Guru-gaurāṅga: ...understanding, and it is translated onto the objective level.

Prabhupāda: If I do not understand whom to love, how can I learn?

Room Conversation with Latin Professor -- December 9, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: And what is that? Good morning. Hare Kṛṣṇa. There are three stages. First stage of understanding is direct perception, by senses. Indriyāṇi parāṇy āhuḥ. In the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find. Here, from the material platform, our source of knowledge is direct perception. That is crude, pratyakṣa. It is called pratyakṣa. That is crude knowledge, direct perception. Just like I am seeing the sun. I am getting some idea of the sun, but that is not the perfect idea, although I am seeing it daily. I am seeing just like a disc, but it is very, very big. So my direct perception cannot give me perfect knowledge. The first... Besides that, at our present stage, material condition, we are imperfect because we commit mistake. By direct seeing the sun, I am thinking that it is just like a disc. Then we are illusioned. We, sometimes we accept something for something. Then, with this imperfect knowledge, we try to become teacher. That is cheating. And at the end, our senses are imperfect. So with so many imperfectness, how we can get perfect knowledge? What is your answer?

Morning Walk -- December 17, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Ahaṁ mameti janasya moho 'yam (SB 5.5.8). This is illusion. He is not that, but he is thinking, "I am this." That is animalism. The animal is always thinking that "I am this body."

Girirāja: So if somebody no longer identifies with the body, what is his perception of a painful condition?

Prabhupāda: He tolerates. He knows. Just like the same example. You are not the car . If your car is smashed, although you feel sorry, but you know that "I am not a car." That is the position.

Rūpānuga: So the pain is experienced by the consciousness that is spread all over the body?

Prabhupāda: That is false. That is called illusion. You are not painful, but you are thinking that "I am painful." But that is illusion.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: But we are conditioned.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Russian Orthodox Church Representative -- June 13, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: No, it is Absolute Truth. But there are different ways of understanding Absolute Truth. He is taking only one way, direct perception. (French)

Yogeśvara: He said, if it were an absolute truth, it would be evident to everyone.

Prabhupāda: Yes. But everyone is not advanced in knowledge. (French)

Yogeśvara: He says the question remains because there are other, very spiritually advanced men who don't accept that idea.

Prabhupāda: No, somebody may be known as spiritually advanced according to the society, but he may not be. So another thing is that what is the way of understanding the Absolute Truth. Let him explain. What is the standard way of understanding Absolute Truth? (French)

Yogeśvara: He says he doesn't have an answer in that kind of a context.

Church Representative: No context, problematic.

Prabhupāda: It may be problematic to some, but Absolute Truth can be understood by śruti, authoritative hearing.

Morning Walk -- June 19, 1974, Germany:

Prabhupāda: And if he is perfect, then just after giving up this body he goes to Kṛṣṇa. This is the process. If he does not fall from this transcendental service of Kṛṣṇa, then immediately after death he is transferred. Just like we are transferred from this gross body to subtle body, similarly, after death a devotee is transferred immediately to the Kṛṣṇa, where Kṛṣṇa is there, either within this material world or... They are first of all given chance to go to Kṛṣṇa. In any brahmāṇḍa there is Kṛṣṇa. Nitya-līlā is going on. So he is born there. Then actually plays with Kṛṣṇa, dance with Kṛṣṇa, talks with Kṛṣṇa. Apprenticeship. This is also apprenticeship here. So is there any difficulty of perception?

Satsvarūpa: No.

Prabhupāda: Why you said that "I have no perception?" There is perception, every day, every night. How you can say there is no perception? The perception is so strong, sometimes one dreaming some horrible position, he cannot more sleep. The sleep breaks. So why there is no perception? He is so much troubled that breaks. He immediately comes to the safe side of this gross body.

Devotee (1): Yes, takes shelter.

Prabhupāda: So how do you say there is no perception? So this transmigration of soul takes place that... Just like in daytime we are in this body, nighttime we leave this body and work with the subtle body, so transmigration soul takes place—with that subtle body he enters the womb of suitable mother, and this body is left. And there he grows again this gross body and then comes out. Is it difficult to understand? That is not illusion. That's fact. And death means that you left this gross body and the period you do not come out in another gross body, that period is called death. That period is called death.

Morning Walk at Marina del Rey -- July 12, 1974, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: That is not science. Science should not take anything granted.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Something which is beyond their experimental knowledge...

Prabhupāda: Then where is the difference between the scientists and the devotees? The devotees, devotee accepts what Kṛṣṇa says. That's all. Granted. (japa) In the śāstra it is said that acintyā khalu ye bhāvā na tās tarkeṇa yojayet, yojayet. "Things which are beyond your conception or perception, don't bring it in arguments and logic."

Svarūpa Dāmodara: This is from Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu?

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu? Acintyā khalu ye bhāvā...?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: If they think a little carefully. Then there is no reason why they can't accept Him.

Prabhupāda: That you have to do, to convince them that "You think little carefully. You are advertising yourself as scientist, but you are talking without any care." (pause)

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Woman Sanskrit Professor -- February 13, 1975, Mexico:

Prabhupāda: Intuition is different. Direct perception. Śabda, you can (have) direct perception. It is not intuition. It is perception. Therefore the word is used, śrotriyam brahma-niṣṭham (MU 1.2.12). So our process is to receive knowledge through śabda-brahman, Vedic. Just like eko nārāyaṇa asit. Eko nārāyaṇa asit: "Before creation there was only Nārāyaṇa." Na brahmā na īśaḥ: "There was no Brahmā; there was no Śiva." So this is śabda-pramāṇa, śabda-pramāṇa, that "In the beginning there was God, nothing else." So in this way our Vedic principle is: when your knowledge is corroborated by the Vedic version then it is perfect.

Professor: But according to Śaṅkara it is not only way that you can approach truth. You can also approach through deduction.

Prabhupāda: There are many ways. Just like hypothesis. Hypothesis. Yes. History, history. Hypothesis, history. Then direct perception. There are many. But of all these, śabda-pramāṇa is taken as best. Śabda-pramāṇa, evidence through the sound. That is the best.

Room Conversation with Woman Sanskrit Professor -- February 13, 1975, Mexico:

Guest (1): Let's just say I would like to ask a question in this way. We don't doubt what you said, the assumption that individual ego is eternal and also subordinate to that which is eternal, hierarchically higher, nevertheless is the part of that which is the eternal reality. And that is (indistinct) that which you later developed. Question, sir: Is this statement what you made, a statement of fact based on direct perception, or it is something what follows traditional belief and is just the axiomatic basis of your philosophy or similar other philosophies of axiomatic basis.

Prabhupāda: No, this is axiomatic basis because you have to accept that your senses are imperfect. So you, by speculation, cannot have perfect knowledge. This is axiomatic truth.

Guest (1): With that epistemological truth, all right we may go along, and, as a matter of fact, doubt about the truths of direct sensual perception is the basis, one of models of scientific activity.

Prabhupāda: Direct perception...

Guest (1): My question is, rather, this statement, this basic statement about eternal ego and so on, is a statement which you somehow give to us as revealed message, something what is...,

Prabhupāda: Yes, revealed.

Room Conversation with Woman Sanskrit Professor -- February 13, 1975, Mexico:

Prabhupāda: Revealed. It is revealed. Hm? Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā the vibration is coming from Kṛṣṇa. Now, you practically realize it: "Yes, what is said is correct." That is direct perception. First of all, you receive the message, and then apply your logic and see that it is fact. Therefore it is perfect. When you receive the knowledge and when you directly apply it to your perception, when you see it is correct, that is the proof that the message which you received, that is correct.

Professor: Very difficult to have proofs of that, where the eternality of your own ātman for instance, things of that...

Prabhupāda: That is called realization. Yes. First of all you receive the sound, then apply your instruments, and when you find it, it is correct—that is the realization. So our process is to receive knowledge from the perfect. That's all. We are not perfect. But the knowledge we are getting, that is perfect. So according to that perfect direction, if we mold our life, then we are successful. Otherwise you go on experimenting, speculating. Ciraṁ vicinvan. Ciram, you understand, "perpetually," vicinvan, "thinking." Ciraṁ vicinvan.

Room Conversation with Woman Sanskrit Professor -- February 13, 1975, Mexico:

Prabhupāda: You have to see... That... Vedic injunction says, śāstra-cakśuṣā. Śāstra-cakśuṣā: "Your eyes should be the śāstra." There is another crude example. Just like who is your father? How do you understand? Through the vibration of the mother. The mother says, "He is your father." You accept it. Otherwise there is no experiment. So things which are beyond your perception, beyond your defective senses, that should not be speculated. Na tāṁs tarkeṇa yojayet. Acintyā khalv ye bhāvā na tāṁs tarkeṇa yojayet. These are the injunction. What is beyond your perception, beyond your speculation, don't waste your time so-called argument and logic. What is argument? Mother says, "He is your father." Where is the argument? You cannot apply any argument.

Professor: No, I said old tradition in India has been going on into argument itself.

Prabhupāda: No, argument you can go on, but if you want to know the truth it will not be attained by argument because argument is also within your thinking power: thinking, feeling, willing. So if your thinking, feeling, willing is imperfect, what is the use of your argument? What is the use of your so-called advancement of knowledge? Basically, if the senses, knowledge acquiring senses, are imperfect, then how you can get perfect knowledge?

Interview -- March 5, 1975, New York:

Prabhupāda: They are doing. They are doing. What they are not doing? They are doing all service. We have got this body. We have to maintain this body. We are doing everything. We are also eating, we are also sleeping, as you are eating, we are sleeping. Where is the difference? We also allow sex, but not illicit sex. We allow eating, but no meat-eating. That is the difference. We are also eating, as you are eating. We are sleeping, as you are sleeping. Where is the difference?

Reporter: Perhaps only in some perceptions.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Reporter: Perhaps only in some perceptions.

Prabhupāda: That's all.

Reporter: Thank you, Swamiji.

Prabhupāda: There is no difference.

Morning Walk -- May 21, 1975, Melbourne:

Madhudviṣa: Yes, but there is some traditional respect. (break) When you were speaking with the priest yesterday, he was saying the chanting is material because it comes out of the mouth and it's made like a material sound vibration. Would it be possible for them to run scientific tests on the chanting, the sound of Hare Kṛṣṇa, to make a distinction between that sound and let's say the sound of an automobile's horn? Would that be perceptible?

Prabhupāda: No, the same sound. Sound is the same; when you are impure, this is material. Just like the tongue is the same, but when you are suffering from jaundice, you are tasting sugar as bitter, and when you will be cured, then the same tongue will taste it is sweet. So it depends on the purification of the body. Whole this bhakti-yoga or any yoga, the whole system is purification. Tapo divyaṁ yena śuddhyet sattvam (SB 5.5.1). Our existence is now impure. Therefore we have to accept birth, death, old age, and disease. And when it is purified, without any contamination, then there is no birth, death, old age. In diseased condition you cannot relish. Even if you are given actually rasagullā you will not taste it very nice. If there is no appetite, even it is rasagullā, it is useless. Spiritual life means curing the contamination of material disease. That is spiritual life. And when you are purified, you relish the spiritual taste.

Room Conversation with Bernard Manischewitz -- July 13, 1975, Philadelphia:

Prabhupāda: Yes. So different body means you are changing body every moment, imperceptibly. That is the medical science.

Bernard Manischewitz: Can it sometimes be perceptibly? Can a person...?

Prabhupāda: Perceptibly we can understand that the body is being changed so long you are within this body. Because if the person, the soul, is not in the body, the body does not change. Body changes so long the soul is there. And as soon as the soul goes out of the body, there is no more change. Is it not perceptible?

Bernard Manischewitz: If the soul goes out of the body...

Prabhupāda: There is no more change. It remains the same. Same status. Why? That means so long the soul is there, changes take place.

Bernard Manischewitz: I see. Thank you very much. I understand.

Room Conversation -- October 4, 1975, Mauritius:

Prabhupāda: So this argument, how he can refute, that he has died twenty-two years?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Well, he can also say that he has lived twenty-two years, because he has no perception of any life before that time. He can't remember living before.

Brahmānanda: "Before, I was not alive. Now I am alive, so I have lived for twenty-two years. Before, I was dead; I was not alive. Now I am alive, so I've been alive for twenty-two years."

Prabhupāda: So before, you were not alive. Then how your life came?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: The combination of...

Prabhupāda: Do it. Again foolishness. These rascals... (laughs) Then, if you can create life, then where is the question of dead body? You create again. Give life again. If you are so competent that you can give life, combination, then this dead body is there. You bring chemicals and inject.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: The same chemicals are there, too. The same chemicals, living body, dead body—five minutes before, five after—is the same chemicals. But they can't explain why there is such a drastic difference.

Prabhupāda: What is that same chemical?

Morning Walk -- November 11, 1975, Bombay:

Devotee (3): The vision of the eyes is imperfect. We have to see by intelligence, from the authority...

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is not intelligence; that is fact. Intelligence you should have that "However I can perceive by the senses, the senses being imperfect, all our perceptions are imperfect." That is intelligence.

Devotee (3): Then one may ask, "Well, how do I recognize that this is the bona fide authority?"

Prabhupāda: Who authorized? Another rascal, that's all. He's a rascal. Another rascal... Just like sva-vid-varāhoṣṭra-kharaiḥ saṁstutaḥ puruṣaḥ paśuḥ (SB 2.3.19). A lion is being praised by the rabbit in the jungle. The rabbit is also animal; lion is also. So what is the use of lion being praised by a rabbit? If a lion is praised by a rabbit, does it mean lion is more than animal? So similarly, these so-called scientists, big men, they are being praised by small rascals. That does not mean on account of praising, he has become more than animal. He remains animal.

Devotee (3): We see Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but they see Him as a common man like themselves also.

Prabhupāda: Therefore they are mūḍhas. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhāḥ. Only the mūḍhas can deride. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritaḥ (BG 9.11). It is stated already.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 3, 1976, Nellore:

Harikeśa: Well, if I'm convinced it's a school, it's a school. I mean, the only thing that really matters is my perception of that thing.

Prabhupāda: You learn from him that it is school. Before that, you did not know. Therefore you have to learn. That experience is valuable, when you learn it.

Harikeśa: Yes, but the only thing that makes it a school...

Prabhupāda: You cannot imagine by seeing a building that it is a school. You cannot imagine that. That is foolishness.

Harikeśa: But all the people inside, they are also imagining that it's a school.

Prabhupāda: So that is all...

Acyutānanda: Just like if there is a pen. If I use it to kill someone, it is a weapon. If I use it to mix something, it is an instrument. If I use it to write with, then it's a pen. So it is not a pen. It is not a weapon. It is my idea that I impose on the object that makes it what it is.

Morning Walk -- January 3, 1976, Nellore:

Acyutānanda: (break) ...the authority of a authority. We're accepting his authority, but his experience comes from his direct perception, which comes back to...

Prabhupāda: We don't take such authorities, who takes experience from others. We take authority who is...

Keśavalāl Trivedi: Experienced.

Prabhupāda: Automatically. (sic:) Parāsya bhaktir vividhaiva śruyate svabhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca. Svabhāva..., you can.... Just like if you ask me how to do something, if I say, "Yes, you do like this," svabhāvikī. I have got by nature knowledge how to do it perfectly. That is going on. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). Kṛṣṇa is dictating that "You do like this." So, you see, everything is coming perfect. From the nim seed a nim tree will come. It is so nicely made by Kṛṣṇa-bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām (Bg 7.10)—that it will come nim tree, not mango tree. The chemicals are so combined. You do not know what is there, a small seed, baṭa vṛkṣa. And a huge banyan tree will come out, not other tree. That is knowledge. He has given the whole, I mean to say, operation in a small seed. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām. There is no mistake. You simply take it and cultivate. You'll get the result.

Morning Walk -- May 28, 1976, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: What do they mean by soul?

Hari-śauri: (laughs) They don't mean anything. They think it's all just chemical reaction. But nowadays they're doing more research into things like telepathy and what they call ESP, extra-sensory perception. Rather than just put it down to basic chemical reactions, they're thinking that there's something on a more subtle platform.

Prabhupāda: What is that platform?

Hari-śauri: It's what they call ESP, extra-sensory perception, something that you can't see but it's still there, the influence of the mind over material objects.

Devotee (1): They say that material objects are just like automobiles, dead, but they can't move without the influence of the spirit soul. So the human being or the trees and the jīvas were seeing that the body is moving, so many things are taking place. The point is that in the universe, wind is blowing, the ocean is moving...

Prabhupāda: It is (inaudible). You are in small soul, and there is big soul, Supersoul. Similarly, as the soul is (inaudible). There must be soul. Similarly, this material combination (inaudible). Without Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, there is no actual (inaudible).

Morning Walk -- June 8, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Stop them, all rascals.

Rāmeśvara: (break).... ability that they have studied, they call it ESP, or extrasensory perception, and by this the ability to see through the eyes is greatly increased, and you can, like sometimes they have a playing card and they turn it face down, and the man can guess what is the actual card, and they have all these games, and, in this way they say certain people have special powers.

Prabhupāda: As soon as they say "certain people," that is not fact.

Candanācārya: Actually, they say that potentially everyone has these powers, but some are more developed than others. Also the powers to understand each other's thoughts. (someone passes with a portable radio hearing a news broadcast)

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Rāmeśvara: The only hope is to read your books, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Devotees: Jaya.

Prabhupāda: Not my books, Kṛṣṇa's books.

Morning Walk -- June 9, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes. How other planetary system is going on, you do not know, but we can guess it is going on like this. Anumāna. Pratyakṣa anumāna. One thing is direct perception, another by guessing. Pratyakṣa anumāna and śabda and śruti, aitihya. There are so many evidences. Harer nāma harer nāma (CC Adi 17.21). Śrī kṛṣṇa caitanya prabhu...

Rāmeśvara: Devotees once told me you said that the demigods like this movement very much so that they're standing in line to take their birth in the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.

Prabhupāda: Yes. They like to come here on this planet. Just like you Kṛṣṇa conscious men, you are very much enthusiastic to go to India. India has no material attraction, but why our men wanted to go to India in spite of so many difficulties? Similarly, in the higher planet, heavenly planet, they are so much engrossed with material happiness that there is no facility. But here there is facility, in this earth, Bhūrloka. Bhogaiśvarya-prasaktānāṁ tayāpahṛta-cetasām (BG 2.44). One who is too much attached to material convenience and everything, they have no opportunity for Kṛṣṇa consciousness. (break)

Rāmeśvara: Śrīla Prabhupāda, you wrote that we don't have to be concerned that this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement will deliver the whole world, because it will fill up again. Even if we can bring everyone back to Godhead, it will just be finished up again with more conditioned souls.

Interview with Professors O'Connell, Motilal and Shivaram -- June 18, 1976, Toronto:

Jayādvaita: It's in the list of items of knowledge, "The perception of the evil of birth, death, old age and disease."

Prabhupāda: Yes. And the cure, medicine, is also given: tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). If you become Kṛṣṇa conscious, then.... Everyone has to give up this body, but a person who is in thorough knowledge of Kṛṣṇa, then he, after giving up this body, he does not accept any more material body. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma (BG 4.9). Find out his verse.

Jayādvaita: "One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna."

Prabhupāda: Yes. This is the solution. Therefore our only business should be to understand Kṛṣṇa. That is perfection of life. That makes the solution-tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). Our propaganda is how to understand Kṛṣṇa. And this yoga, Kṛṣṇa consciousness yoga, simply thinking of Kṛṣṇa, and try to understand Kṛṣṇa. That is explained.

'Life Comes From Life' Slideshow Discussions -- July 3, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: This is physical, but subtle.

Sadāpūta: The actual perception of the soul is not...?

Prabhupāda: Perception of the soul is there, but this physical demonstration is of the soul by consciousness. The more it is purified, it becomes spiritual. The consciousness is there. The more it is purified, then it becomes spiritual. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). It has to be purified. The water is crystal clear, but when it comes in touch with the earth it becomes muddy. But again you can clarify it, and water becomes crystal clear. That consciousness is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Sadāpūta: So we wanted to then say that, a few lines of reasoning, that you have to have higher-ordered laws to cause complex forms...

Prabhupāda: That higher-order laws is explained, mayādhyakṣeṇa (BG 9.10).

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ?

Prabhupāda: Sūyate sa-carācaram, hetunānena kaunteya jagad viparivartate. Things are going down on account of the superior direction.

'Life Comes From Life' Slideshow Discussions -- July 3, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Science calls those chemical senses.

Prabhupāda: These are described in the Bhāgavata, the different perception of different senses, how one is prominent in one animal body. That is described.

Rūpānuga: That is coming? That is not yet printed? I don't remember that description.

Prabhupāda: No, I think that in the Third Canto. In Third Canto there is. You can consult Third Canto. One sense is prominent.

Rūpānuga: Like you have the example the tongue for the fish, an elephant, his genital, and you gave some other, these are there in the Bhāgavatam. The deer, the ear.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: That's due to the combination of the modes, as a result of the mixing of the three modes in different percentage. So we can even just mention like that in this,

Prabhupāda: That you can take from the authoritative statement you find.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: So shall we make an attempt to give these examples like this, or just mention it? What's better? What do you think?

Conversation with Prof. Saligram and Dr. Sukla -- July 5, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Devotee (3):

rāja-vidyā rāja-guhyaṁ
pavitram idam uttamam
pratyakṣāvagamaṁ dharmyaṁ
su-sukhaṁ kartum avyayam
(BG 9.2)

"This knowledge is the king of education, the most secret of all secrets. It is the purest knowledge, and because it gives direct perception of the self by realization, it is the perfection of religion. It is everlasting, and it is joyfully performed."

Devotee (3): So by struggling to overcome our senses, we can please you and obtain your mercy?

Prabhupāda: Yes. (indistinct)

Devotee (4): Śrīla Prabhupāda mentions in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in the Third Canto, that a yogi is recommended to take foodstuffs, half as much as he desires, one quarter water, one quarter air, one quarter foodstuff. Is that fully recommended for a person in the the Kṛṣṇa consciousness society? If so, how can you be (indistinct)?

Room Conversation With Scientists -- July 6, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: You can't see so many things. What is the value of your eyes? Why do you believe so much your eyes? You cannot see even your eyelids, so close. Still, you are blind. When there is some particle, you cannot see. You have to struggle how to get out this particle. If you see, then take it. So what is the value of your eyes? Why do you believe so much? Adhyakṣa, they are called adhyakṣa, only believe in direct perception.

Hari-śauri: Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: Let him come. So?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Getting French visa was done, and tomorrow I pick up your passport and apply for Iran visa. Then just one more, Italy, remains.

Prabhupāda: Why do they speak about seeing? What is the value of your seeing? I have seen the Atlantic Ocean, that means I have seen everything? This is ludicrous.

Rūpānuga: They may simply speculate from a distance, that "Here is the surface," like here...

Prabhupāda: That's all. Real business is speculation.

Rūpānuga: Here it says, here, this is some great, here...

Prabhupāda: Oh, that is "I am not stealing."

Morning Walk -- July 12, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: Stop, don't read, it is now understood what is.... Mars, it is all in Arizona.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You were very perceptive to find it.

Rāmeśvara: No one is thinking like that. You are the only one who caught that, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Because I am the only one at the present moment intelligent.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We are still as dull (Prabhupāda laughs) as the karmīs. We would never have thought like that, Prabhupāda, about Arizona.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: They mentioned that the pictures of Mars appear just like some of the picture of national parks in Arizona.

Prabhupāda: In other places they could not find, throughout the whole world, Arizona. That means the whole business is going on in Arizona.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: They say that if this terrain were on the earth, we would immediately make it a national park, it looks just like one of the national parks.

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- December 26, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Our movement is, either you are Hindu, either you are Muslim, either you are Christian, you kick out all this. Sarva-dharmān parityajya. Simply you become surrendered to Kṛṣṇa or God. This is our... And anyone who can do that, he is first-class religious. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje (SB 1.2.6). Adhokṣaja, God's name is Adhokṣaja. You cannot see Him beyond your material perception. So if you are trained up to surrender to God, then you are religious. We do not say that you become Hindu or Muslim or Christian or this or that. We do not say so.

Dr. Patel: But all Christians, if they truly are... I mean Hindus, that Christ...

Prabhupāda: No, either he become Hindus. That does not mean the Hindus are perfect. We do not mean that. Even if he becomes Hindu, what is the benefit? No benefit.

Dr. Patel: No. Even he becomes a Christian, there is no benefit.

Prabhupāda: I say any religious stamp, material, there is no benefit. Therefore Kṛṣṇa said sarva-dharmān parityajya (BG 18.66). You have to give up all these designations. And bhakti, love of Godhead, or service to God, begins when you are relieved from these designations. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). When becoming God conscious, you become completely purified, then your devotional life begins. And so long you are entangled with this designation, there is no question of devotional service. Either you Hindu or Muslim or Christian, it doesn't matter.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Darsana and Room Conversation Ramkrishna Bajaj and friends -- January 9, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: You have to take bath; you have touched it,' and this śaṅkha is in their Deity worship? It is contradictory." But because it is stated in the Vedas, you have to accept. This is Vedic injunction. You cannot argue. There is no question of arguing. Just like cow dung is the stool of an animal. Even if we touch my own stool, I take bath. But cow dung, it is said, it is pure. If there is anywhere impure, you smear the cow dung; it will be pure. Now, you can argue that "It is stool of an animal. How it becomes pure?" This argument will not... So Vedic knowledge means don't argue. You have to accept it. Acintyaḥ khalu ye bhava na tas tarkena yojayet. Things... There are many things which is beyond your perception, so you have to accept the Vedic injunction. Then you are right. So if the Vedic injunction is: "In such and such moment you take a bath in the Ganges; you become purified," you take it. There is no question of argument. That is faith. Now faith must be there. Vedo-praṇihito dharmaḥ. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). Everything is there. Can you find out this verse from the Sixth Canto?

Jagadīśa: I know the verse.

Prabhupāda: Sixth Canto, First Part. Veda-praṇihito dhar... Yamarāja's instruction. Er, the Yamadutas explain what is dharma, veda-praṇihito dharmaḥ. Where you found the page? (?)

Evening Conversation -- January 25, 1977, Puri:

Prabhupāda: ...there the injunction of the śāstra, kṛṣi-go-rakṣya. Go-rakṣya. Cow should be protected. Kṛṣṇa said, kṛṣi-go-rakṣya. Kṛṣṇa did not say chāgala-rakṣya or hog-rakṣya. Go-rakṣya. So it is the duty of the king or the state or the government to give protection to the cows. This is śāstric injunction. But nowadays neither the state or government is giving protection to the cow. They are becoming implicated with so many problems. I heard that India again is now slaughtering cows. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...perception. That is experience. Why do you give on seeing only? By seeing one mango you cannot understand what quality it is, but you have to touch with your tongue. Therefore in chemical laboratory the characteristics are there: "This is the color. This is the taste. This is the reaction." So you have to gather experience like that, not by simply seeing. That... I gave the example. Now you take one egg. What is there? Some white and some yellow substance. So you make one egg with white and yellow and bring life. So what is the power of your seeing? A small egg. Take a small egg. The covering, some celluloid, within, some white substance, some yellow substance. Or make further analysis and give some chemicals of the same taste, same color, same characteristic—now bring life. But the same thing. You put under the feather of the chicken. Within five days it will bring life. So what is the credit of these rascal doctors, D.H.C.? That a small chicken is better than these D.H.C. Why don't you see practically?

Room Conversation about BTG the Moon -- February 18, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: (laughing) But he admitted. (laughter)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The general idea is just like this page, "Chant and Be Happy." But there is practically no devotees shown. The whole idea is that if you show devotees, no one will be able to identify with the devotee. So they're showing persons in material life, and each one of them is giving his opinion of why he chants. "Chanting makes me calmer," "Chanting makes me more perceptive," "Chanting makes me more open-minded." So these are all... (break) ...the ultimate goal of chanting is to instill love of God, but that thing is never mentioned. (break)

Brahmānanda: Then he would approve. That was the test.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This article has changed very much from the original Back to Godhead article. This article here is issue number, I think, 14, many years ago, about the anchor in the water. It was very Kṛṣṇa conscious. Now it has been made...

Hari-śauri: No one's going to derive any Kṛṣṇa conscious meaning from that article. It's two whole pages, with picture and a little bit of writing.

Room Conversation with Ratan Singh Rajda M.P. 'Nationalism and Cheating' -- April 15, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: By keeping one lion and fighting him and it is enjoyed. What is this? What they have gained? In this way, the privileged... Is it not subject perception? What Napoleon has done? Or Hitler has done? Or Churchill has done?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What about nationalism here in India?

Prabhupāda: They are imitating. What Gandhi has done? These things are cheating, spoiled. Then they have now a slogan to drive away poverty. Vivekananda imitated, daridra-nārāyaṇa-sevā. So Vivekananda started his mission in India hundred years ago. Why there are so many daridras lying on the street at night? Hm? Everywhere. Here you can say, "India is poverty-stricken." That is your imagination. Accepting that, those who are materially opulent, why they are also, they're lying on the street? Why in Bowery Street they are lying on the street? Why in the Bedford Park English boys are lying on street?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I don't know... One verse can be quoted that because of one's connection with the modes of material nature...

Prabhupāda: Amsterdam, who they, lying on the street in center of Europe?

Room Conversations Bangladesh Preaching/Prabhavisnu Articles by Hamsaduta -- August 11, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, boy. He says, "The highly developed forebrain and the deeply convoluted cortex have helped him to think creatively. Scientists, as a general rule, are objective thinkers because they base their thoughts on empirical knowledge. Mystics and visionaries, the so-called spiritual scientists of Dāsa and Swami, on the other hand, build up their thoughts on their subjective perceptions. Books on chemistry, physics, mathematics, geography, history, geology, anthropology, paleontology, engineering, medical science, astronomy, etc., are the products of objective thinkers."

Prabhupāda: Big, big words, that's all.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "On the other hand, books like Arabian Nights, Gulliver's Travels..."

Prabhupāda: Whose Arabian Night?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "Fairy stories like the Mahā..."

Prabhupāda: Who's talking Arabian Night?

Correspondence

1947 to 1965 Correspondence

Letter to Mr. Bailey -- Allahabad 2 October, 1951:

The mission with which you have started your service inspired me to help you as far as possible and I thought it fit to inform you that your mission can be well guided by the practical philosophy of the Bhagavad-gita. If you do not wish to have it that is a different question. If you put up a programme acceptable to one and all there is no necessity of patronizing a particular ism. A common formula can be of practical use both for India or others. As such you can have practical solutions of all problems such as social, religious, cultural, political, economic as well as agricultural and industrial—from the Bhagavad-gita. It is possible only simply by assimilating it by direct perception. It is meant for all living being. Indirect perception will mislead far away from the truth and I am afraid many such indirect misinterpretations in a speculative mood by various commentators, have done more harm than good to the humanity in general.

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Purusottama -- Los Angeles 2 February, 1968:

The beginning of service is to engage our hearing organs, and receive the transcendental message by aural reception. And whenever we are mature in receiving the transcendental message from books like Bhagavad-gita, and Srimad-Bhagavatam, via media the transparent bona fide Spiritual Master, then we are able to chant or engage our tongue in the service of the Lord, being engaged in the service of the Lord. The material covering of our senses becomes inactive and actual spiritual form of activity becomes manifest. I very much appreciate your development of this spiritual perception, and Krishna has given you a good chance in the matter of your proposed dealings with the U.N. Please immediately finish the job by incorporating our association in the U.N. It is a very good opportunity. Consult Brahmananda and do it immediately. In the future, we will have very great scope for introducing our Krishna Consciousness for leaders amongst all the nations. I think it is a very great opportunity for us, and we should utilize it.

1970 Correspondence

Letter to Bhagavan -- Los Angeles 10 January, 1970:

Regarding your question—What is meant by an object regaining spiritual quality?—the answer is that Krishna is pure knowledge and, therefore, He is the Supreme Person. In other words, He is the Supreme Power, and His Power is manifested throughout by different energies as much as the power of fireplace is expanded by light and heat. When we perceive heat and light, it means that we perceive the original fireplace. The perception of Krishna in everything is actually Krishna consciousness. In our conditioned state, we take it for granted something as separated from Krishna. But actually it is not so. Nothing can be separate from Krishna, everything is resting on Krishna, therefore, things which we consider now matter, when dovetailed for the cause of the Absolute Truth or Krishna, regains its spiritual quality. Another example may be cited in this connection. When we cook foodstuffs in the kitchen for eating ourselves, it is a different thing from the foodstuff which is prepared and offered to Krishna. The same dahl, rice is material for one purpose but the same thing becomes spiritual when it is dovetailed with Krishna. So on the higher platform, there is nothing material when everything is accepted in relationship with Krishna or the Supreme Spirit. I think this will clarify your question.

Letter to Yamuna -- Los Angeles 2 March, 1970:

I am in due receipt of your letter dated 17 February, 1970, and have read the contents with great interest. We are not impersonalists, under the circumstances we have got varieties of perception in the matter of discharging devotional service. In Rupa Goswami's "Siksamrta" it is stated that advanced life in Krsna Consciousness means one should be always very much anxious to calculate whether every moment of his life has not been utilized in devotional service. This is called feeling of being afraid for misusing time.

One should be very careful to estimate how every moment of his life is being utilized in the service of the Lord. The Goswamis were very much advanced in this line of action, and therefore about them it is said "nidra hara bihara vijito" that means one who has conquered over eating, sleeping, and mating. The idea is to save more time from this materialistic business and utilize it for Krsna's service. When our anxieties are how to utilize life in that way, that stage is abyarthya kalatvam "utilizing life without spoiling it." The next stage is namagane sada ruci "attraction for chanting the Holy Name always" and priti tad basati sthale "feeling of pleasure in living in the Temple or in the place of pilgrimage." So I am very glad that you are gradually coming to that stage; continue it carefully. Try to realize it yourself and teach the method to all your younger brothers and sisters.

Letter to Syamasundara -- Los Angeles 14 May, 1970:

So as suggested by you I am deleting the words "of the famous Beatles", and simply putting his name and his present transcendental change by chanting Hare Krsna. In the Preface the one paragraph is being replaced by the following words, suggested by him. "If there is a God, I want to see Him. It's pointless to believe in something without proof, and Krishna Consciousness and meditation are methods where one can actually obtain 'God perception.' You can actually see God, and hear Him, play with Him. And He is actually there, actually with you."

Regarding your invitation to visit you in England, in this connection you can read my circular letter recently sent to all the Presidents. But when there is absolute necessity, there will be no difficulty.

It is very encouraging to hear that you have converted the very nice chapel to a splendid Temple and you have arranged to hold public kirtana one night a week in Henley. Please continue to expand these developments because the outlook is very bright. Yes, the village folk are not so much contaminated. The great English poet, Mr. Cowper, said, "Town is made by man, and village is made by God."

Letter to Ekayani -- Los Angeles 25 July, 1970:

Regarding your questions, the first answer is that it is correct that the body transcendental of Krsna and Krsna Himself are nondifferent. So what is the difficulty to understand that the soul of Aghasura merged into the body of Krsna? In other words Krsna benedicts the demons Whom He kills personally with the impersonal liberation of merging with Him.

There is a difference between the activities of Krsna which are exhibited to the perception of the conditioned souls in this world and His activities in Goloka Vrndavana. Because Krsna was playing as an ordinary human being, His activities here appear just like ordinary human activities, but in the Spiritual Sky there is no such requirement. There in the spiritual sky Krsna has His activities also but they cannot be understood by the conditioned living entities how they are going on without any resemblance of the mechanical workings of things in this material world.

1976 Correspondence

Letter to Ayodhyapati -- Vrindaban 22 September, 1976:

I am in due receipt of your undated letter and I thank you for it. Your siddhanta is correct to the sastra and in this way go on reading books and have the correct perception and Krsna will help you. siddhanta baliya citte na kara alasa iha haite krsna lage sudrdha manasa (CC Adi 2.117). A sincere student should not neglect the discussion of such conclusions, considering them controversial, for such discussions strengthen the mind. Thus one's mind becomes attached to Sri Krsna.

You should be always alert in understanding the sastric conclusions that will help you, otherwise we can be misled by bogus philosophies. I am very pleased that you are studying the books. This will make you happy and successful.

Page Title:Perception (Conv. and Letters)
Compiler:Mayapur, RupaManjari
Created:11 of Oct, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=38, Let=7
No. of Quotes:45