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Perishable (Conversations)

Conversations and Morning Walks

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- May 3, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes. So why this should be tolerated? Don't be a doctor of chemist like one of them. Be really doctor of chemist. They must accept. This is the basic, I mean, platform of scientific knowledge. Antavanta ime dehā nityasyoktāḥ śarīriṇaḥ (BG 2.18). That is stated in Bhagavad-gītā. What lesson you have taken from Bhagavad-gītā? Antavanta ime dehā. "This material body is perishable, antavantaḥ." Nityasya uktāḥ śarīriṇaḥ: "But the life within this body, that is nitya, eternal." This whole cosmic manifestation is like that, the big body, gigantic body of Viṣṇu, external energy, display of external energy. Make plan how to meet them, how to defeat them. Catch them on their throat. If they say, "I do not know," then "Why you have become professor? Why do you become professor? Why do you become scientist? If you do not know, you learn from me. You become my disciple. I'll teach you. You learn it scrutinizingly with all your knowledge. We shall teach you. Why you evade?" Just the other professor, he does not like to come. Other scientist, he told?

Brahmānanda: The German scientist, he didn't want to come.

Prabhupāda: Why he avoids?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: He was thinking carefully and decided that he cannot defend what he has in his mind.

Prabhupāda: We are not ordinary, the so-called swamis and sādhus. We are going to give to the world something which they forgot. I told this in London airport. Yes. That was published in the papers. They asked me, "Why you have come to London?" And "Because to teach you something which you have forgotten."

Morning Walk -- May 12, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: No. That is the difference. That is defined in Bhagavad-gītā. Avināśi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idaṁ tatam. That thing which is spread all over your body, that is avināśi, that is eternal. Antavanta ime dehā (BG 2.18). This, what is said... The body is antavantaḥ, perishable. Nityasyoktāḥ śarīriṇaḥ. And the spirit within the body, that is eternal. That they cannot understand.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: So we can also say that according to the different shapes of the material bodies and qualities...

Prabhupāda: Different opportunities... Yes. According to consciousness we have got the shape of the body. If you have got dog's consciousness, then you get a dog's body. If you have got a god's consciousness, you get a demigod's body.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 1, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Ah, that will be explained. Karma, akarma, yes. (break) ...the same, material. Kṣara. Kṣara bhāvaḥ. That is perishable.

Chandobhai: Perishable.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Chandobhai: Puruṣaś cādhidaivatam.

Prabhupāda: Puruṣa. Puruṣa means the soul.

Chandobhai: Soul. Jīva.

Prabhupāda: Yes, the jīva. Puruṣa adhidaivatam. Then?

Morning Walk -- April 3, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: "And I am ātmā, Guḍākeśa. I am ātmā. Therefore, because My part and parcel is spreading, so that part and parcel, particle, that is the basic principle of everything." Just like this body. This body is based on that part and particle, soul. Because the soul was there, the body has developed.

Dr. Patel: Otherwise body would perish. It does rot.

Prabhupāda: Yes. The body develops so long the ātmā is there. So similarly, because Kṛṣṇa is there, therefore whatever manifestation you see, that is due to Kṛṣṇa. Now here the latest theory of the rascals, that life has come from matter, is refuted.

Dr. Patel: That is Carvaka's theory, this Karl Marx, the communists.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Now He says aham. Aham is living entity. So living entity is the origin of everything.

Room Conversation with Robert Gouiran, Nuclear Physicist from European Center for Nuclear Research -- June 5, 1974, Geneva:

Prabhupāda: I am a spirit soul. So my natural abode for living is spiritual world. So so long I am in the material world. It may be... The same example. I may be on the 747 or DC-10 or 10C-10 or this or that nonsense, I must be in anxiety. So that is the problem. And what is that material problem? Material life means you have got this material body and you do not wish to die. The anxiety on the plane is: "Because I may die..." That means you do not wish to die. That is my anxiety. If there is plane crash, then I may die. And therefore my anxiety. If I am assured that I'll not die, then where is that anxiety? The anxiety is that I do not wish to die, but death is there. So that death is there either on the plane or on the ground. You cannot avoid death. Why I cannot avoid death? Because I have got this body which is perishable.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- May 10, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: That's all right. We are not talking of this body. We are talking of the soul. We say that soul transmigrates. So, instead of transmigrating to another this perishable body, we are transmigrating to the eternal body. That is our business. We are making solution. But you do not know. You are simply working like monkey, uselessly.

Paramahaṁsa: But we haven't seen that anyone has got...

Prabhupāda: How you can see? You cannot see. You do not believe in transmigration. So how can you see? Paśyanti jñāna-cakṣuṣā. When you will have the eyes to see—knowledge—then you'll see. Now you are monkey, how you can see?

Morning Walk -- October 16, 1975, Johannesburg:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Government's only duty is that government gives me land and I pay tax: "Whatever I produce, take one fourth." Finish. All taxes. If I don't produce, there is no tax. That's all. That is the business between the government and the public. That's all.

Harikeśa: If the public are giving like one quarter of a perishable item, what does the government do with that? Let's say they were growing some vegetables, so they give one quarter of that to the government. What would the government do with that? They've got so many tons of vegetables.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Morning Walk -- December 14, 1975, New Delhi:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Harikeśa: There's no hope.

Prabhupāda: No. Unless they take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there is no hope, that's a fact. There will be more chaotic condition and everyone will suffer and perish. Āchinna-dāra-draviṇā gacchanti giri-kānanam. This is already predcited. I am not painting. It is already there, I am simply repeating. That's all. I am not speculator.

Hari-śauri: Actually most of them are aware that they're in a very bad position. Everybody is expecting another war.

Prabhupāda: Yes, just see. This is capitol of India. This is the position. We can know, understand.

Morning Walk -- December 17, 1975, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: That knowledge is, I mean, perished by māyā.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Māyā will help you. If you want to forget Kṛṣṇa, Māyā will help you, how you can more and more forget.

Dr. Patel: Māyā would help us even for finding out Kṛṣṇa...

Prabhupāda: No. māyā...

Dr. Patel: ...because the body is the māyā, the mind is māyā, and the very mind will help us, sir, that doesn't it help us to go towards Kṛṣṇa?

Prabhupāda: No. That is not māyā's help. When you surrender to Kṛṣṇa, māyā will not bother with your business. That means you get relief from māyā. You are no more under the jurisdiction of māyā. You..., now you are under the jurisdiction of Kṛṣṇa. That is wanted. māyā will trouble you so long you do not go in the jurisdiction of Kṛṣṇa.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- Honolulu, May 20, 1976 :

Devotee (2):

kṣipraṁ bhavati dharmātmā
śaśvac-chāntiṁ nigacchati
kaunteya pratijānīhi
na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati
(BG 9.31)

"He quickly becomes righteous and attains lasting peace. O son of Kuntī, declare it boldly that My devotee never perishes."

Prabhupāda: (indistinct).

Devotee (2): Purport. "This should not be misunderstood. In the Seventh Chapter the Lord says that one who is engaged in mischievous activities cannot become a devotee of the Lord. One who is not a devotee of the Lord has no good qualifications whatsoever.

Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal -- June 28, 1976, Vrndavana:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Is sanātana-dharma so wide that everyone can be...

Prabhupāda: Sanātana means eternal. So na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). The identification of the living entity is already described, that it does not perish after annihilation of this body. That is sanātana. So that is meant for everyone. Not that the Hindus, after giving up this body, exist, and the Muslim or Christian does not exist. Everyone exists. Everyone is eternal, so sanātana-dharma is meant for everyone.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Is there anyone actually outside of sanātana-dharma then?

Prabhupāda: If he thinks. Otherwise nobody is outside. If you think that you are not... There are so many rascals, they think that with the body everything is finished. But he may think so, but that is not fact. Similarly, if one thinks that "I am not sanātana-dharmi, I am Christian."

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

Prabhupāda: Just explain.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Too fallen to follow the regulative principles is like saying a diseased man is too diseased to take medicine. So it's actually in our own self interest. We have to become enlightened, to understand what our real interest is. Yajña vai viṣṇu. Now we are thinking that our real interest is to gratify the senses. This is perishable. When we come to the understanding of ātmā, ahaṁ brahmāsmi, then we understand that our real self interest is to follow these regulative principles. As Prabhupāda said, in the beginning it may be painful, undoubtedly, because we are, for so many lifetimes addicted to sense gratification, but gradually more and more ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12), when the heart becomes cleansed from the dirty misidentification with this gross and subtle material body, gradually more and more it becomes favorable (indistinct).

Room Conversation with Professor Francois Chenique -- August 5, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Prabhupāda: This is Vedic definition. Śṛṇoti akarṇa. He has no ears, but He hears everything. That means that it is not the fact that He has no ear, but He has no limited ear like me. And therefore described sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). You cannot compare with this body. Because sat means eternal. So this body is not eternal. So when God has no body means He hasn't got a body like this. He is sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). His body is eternal, blissful and full of knowledge. But He has body. You cannot say impersonal. But His body is of different quality. Just like you have got body, but you cannot swim in the..., or you cannot remain within the water. Similarly, he has got body, but not the body like this, perishable. Sac-cid-ānanda, this body is perishable. But He has got imperishable. Avyayātmā. We have to understand in that way. Not that because it is stated He has no body that means He is zero.

Evening Darsana -- August 12, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: Everything is there. You cannot become a learned scholar or learned leader from the platform of go-kharaḥ. That is the defect. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ: (BG 2.13) this is the first instruction. Who is thinking that "What next body I'm going to accept?" Nobody's thinking. They say after finishing this body everything is finished. And Gītā says, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Then what kind of paṇḍita he is? Bhagavad-gītā says, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20), nityam, na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit. The soul is immortal. Antavanta ime dehāḥ: the śarīra is antavat, perishable. Nityasyoktāḥ śarīrinaḥ. Who is considering? If I am eternal, if I am not going to die even after the annihilation of the body, then the next question would be jijñāsuḥ. Then what will be my next position? What kind of body I am going to get? That is intelligent.

Room Conversation -- August 25, 1976, Hyderabad:

Indian man: No, assuming this end. I am putting a question. Every man who took part in the Kurukṣetra war, assuming that they are to be killed, they are destined to be killed. Then when they are killed, then Kṛṣṇa's argument is the soul, the body perishes but the soul is eternal.

Prabhupāda: Soul is eternal...

Indian man: ...the soul. How you are reconciling it if you say that the... I mean what a man is different from Kṛṣṇa. Or ātmā is different from Paramātmā. If you say that, then how do you say that ātmā is eternal? And what is the fate of the ātmā?

Prabhupāda: No, ātmā is eternal. That is said, nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). Why don't you understand? Ātmā is eternal, God is eternal. But the difference is, next line, eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. That one ātmā, God, He is maintaining others, and the others are being maintained. So how you can make equal the maintainer and the maintained? First of all, try to understand.

Press Interview -- October 16, 1976, Chandigarh:

Prabhupāda: So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is purely a spiritual movement. Therefore sometimes it is little difficult to understand the activities of this movement. There are two things, material and spiritual. That is the beginning of instruction of the Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa begins with this statement: that this body is not the person, the soul is the person. Asmin dehe. Within this body there is the soul. And he has explained in different ways that this body is antavanta ime dehā (BG 2.18). This body is perishable, but the soul is not perishable. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20), that even after the destruction of the body the soul is not destroyed. Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit. The soul never takes birth, never dies. Nityaḥ śāśvato 'yam na hanyate hanyamāne (BG 2.20). There are so many things explained, what is the soul. So without the soul, this body is useless.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- March 27, 1977, Bombay:

Rāmeśvara: (reads)

kṣipraṁ bhavati dharmātmā
śaśvac-chāntiṁ nigacchati
kaunteya pratijānīhi
na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati
(BG 9.31)

"He quickly becomes righteous and attains lasting peace. O son of Kuntī, declare it boldly that My devotee never perishes." Purport. "This should not be misunderstood. In the Seventh Chapter the Lord says that one who is engaged in mischievous activities cannot become a devotee of the Lord. One who is not a devotee of the Lord has no good qualifications whatsoever. The question remains, then, How can a person engaged in abominable activities either by accident or intention, be a pure devotee? This question may justly be raised. The miscreants, as stated in the Seventh Chapter, who never come to the devotional service of the Lord, have no good qualifications, as is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Generally, a devotee who is engaged in nine kinds of devotional activities is engaged in the process of cleansing all material contamination from the heart. He puts the Supreme Personality of Godhead within his heart, and all sinful contaminations are naturally washed away. Continuous thinking of the Supreme Lord makes him pure by nature. According to the Veda, there is a certain regulation that if one falls down from his exalted position, he has to undergo certain ritualistic processes to purify himself. But here there is no such condition, because the purifying process is already in the of the devotee due to his remembering the Supreme Personality of Godhead constantly. Therefore the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare should be continued without stoppage. This will protect a devotee from all accidental falldowns. He will thus remain perpetually free from all material contaminations."

Prabhupāda: Our abridged edition of Bhagavad-gītā is there in the pandal?

Room Conversation -- April 2, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: What is the use of giving me quotations from...? We are talking about practical things.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah. The only point I was going to bring out was that it is clear how they misread the Bible. Just like one of them says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life." But you pointed out that to believe means to follow his teachings. That they don't understand. They say, "We believe in Jesus," but they don't follow his teachings.

Prabhupāda: Then where is his belief? Where is the question of belief? Unless strictly follow the teachings, there is no question of belief. It is bogus principle.

Page Title:Perishable (Conversations)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:06 of Dec, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=18, Let=0
No. of Quotes:18