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Lectures

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, October 26, 1972:

So soul has got form. It is not formless. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa has got also form. But that form is different from this form. When in the śāstras it is said, nirākāra, nirākāra means nirākṛta ākāra, "This ākāra, this form, is being nullified." Nirākāra does not mean there is no ākāra. This body. When it is said, nirākāra, that means the soul, the Supersoul or the soul, has no this ākāra, as we see. Just like we are seeing some dog or some cat or some hog, some tree, some plants, so many, eight million four hundred thousands of forms, but this is not the form. Nirākāreti. Not this form. The soul has got a different form. That is described. Keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadhā kalpitasya ca (CC Madhya 19.140). We cannot see, at the present moment. So as we cannot see you. I am not seeing you, you are not seeing me... Just like a man's son dies, or father dies. He cries, "Oh, my father is gone, my father is gone." Where is your father gone? Your father is lying on the floor. Why do you say the father is gone? "No, he's gone. He's no more." That means this thing which has gone, he has never seen. He has seen simply this outward body, dress. This is called ignorance. I am not seeing you; still, I am speaking that I see you. So if I cannot see you, the part and parcel of God, how can I see God with these eyes?

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, October 27, 1972:

The individuality remains. It remained in the past. It is, at the present moment, it is continuing. And in the future also, they will remain, the same way. This is clearly explained in the second chapter of Bhagavad-gītā. So merging does not mean, always, that losing one's individuality. The individuality's there. Therefore the theory of merging into the existence of impersonal Brahman is to stay there for some time, again fall down. Just like the same example that the water of the rivers, they merge into the ocean, but again it is evaporated, in the sky, and it falls. Again goes through the river, merges. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). This is going on. One mani..., once manifested, and again merging. This is going on.

So our philosophy is that once going into the ocean, no more coming back. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). That is our philosophy. If we once go in the spiritual world, we do not like to come back. We stay with Kṛṣṇa and dance with Him, or play with Him, or serve with, serve Him as tree, as plant, as water, as cows, as land, as cowherd boys, as father, mother, or as gopīs. This is our philosophy. Once we go to Kṛṣṇa, we live forever with Him in either of these capacities. Let me live at Vṛndāvana in any capacity. It doesn't matter. But live there. Therefore he says that "He further prays that by residing in that ocean of nectar he may always feel eternally continually, without any cessation..." Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). To remain ānandamaya. That is the principle of Vaiṣṇava philosophy. Go on.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 9, 1972:

Every chance of falling down from the spiritual happiness. That spiritual happiness, nirbheda-brahmānu-sandhana. Nirbheda, without any distinction. That is not real Brahman happiness. Brahman happiness means that there must be a distinction. The distinction means Kṛṣṇa is predominator and everyone is predominated. Just like the gopīs. Kṛṣṇa is the predominator, and the gopīs and all the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana-Nanda Mahārāja, Yaśodā and the cowherd boys, servant, trees, plants, flowers, water, animals, cows—everyone is predominated. Kṛṣṇa is only predominator. That is real happiness. Whenever there is any trouble in Vṛndāvana, they approach the predominator and immediately the predominator takes care and they're happy. This is Vṛndāvana life. As soon as there was torrents of rain, the, all the inhabitants, inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, they approached Kṛṣṇa to give them protection. And Kṛṣṇa immediately gave them protection by lifting Govardhana Hill. So they were confident that Kṛṣṇa's there. They did not know Kṛṣṇa as God. They simply loved Kṛṣṇa, and they were confident that "So long Kṛṣṇa is there, we are happy, we are out of danger." That is the conviction of the Vṛndāvana-vāsī. They simply concentrate on Kṛṣṇa.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Calcutta, January 25, 1973:

In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that anyone who becomes a devotee of the Lord is never vanquished. Others, however, are always vanquished. Vanquished means that after getting this human form of life a person does not come out of the entanglement of birth and death and thus misses his golden opportunity. Such a person does not know where he is being thrown by the laws of nature.

Suppose one does not develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness in this human form of life. He will be thrown into the cycle of birth and death involving 8,400,000 species of life, and his spiritual identity will remain lost. One does not know whether he is going to be a plant or a beast or a bird or something like that, because there are so many species of life. The recommendation of Rūpa Gosvāmī for reviving our original Kṛṣṇa consciousness is that somehow or other we should apply our minds to Kṛṣṇa very seriously and thus become fearless of death. After death we do not know our destination because we are completely under the control of the laws of nature. Only Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is controller over the laws of nature. Therefore if we take shelter of Kṛṣṇa seriously, there will be no fear of being thrown back into the cycle of so many species of life. A sincere devotee will surely be transferred to the abode of Kṛṣṇa, as affirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā."

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 14, 1972:

Pradyumna: "Suppose one does not develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness in this human form of life. He will be thrown into the cycle of birth and death involving 8,400,000 species of life, and his spiritual identity will remain lost. One does not know whether he is going to be a plant or a beast or a bird or something like that, because there are so many species of life. The recommendation of Rūpa Gosvāmī for reviving our original Kṛṣṇa consciousness is that somehow or other we should apply our minds to Kṛṣṇa very seriously, and thus also become fearless of death. After death, we do not know our destination, because we are completely under the control of the laws of nature. Only Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is controller over the laws of nature. Therefore, if we take shelter of Kṛṣṇa seriously, there will be no fear of being thrown back into the cycle of so many species of life. A sincere devotee will surely be transferred to the abode of Kṛṣṇa, as affirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā."

Prabhupāda: Mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te (BG 7.14). Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). These statements are there. If we actually take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then māyā, the laws of nature, will not act. And... Otherwise, we shall be put into the cycle of birth and death. So the best utilization of this human life is to elevate oneself to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ: if we try to understand Kṛṣṇa, in truth, then tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9), then we'll not have to accept any more this material body, which is full of miserable conditions. Then we go back to home, back to Godhead. Go on.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Calcutta, January 28, 1973:

Prabhupāda: This tulasī. big plant, while passing it should not touch your cloth. It is not ordinary plant. Very careful. Or it should not be kept there. Be careful. Go on.

Mādhavānanda: "Others, who are less intelligent, or those whose intelligence has been taken away by the spell of māyā, are attached to different demigods on account of the influence of the modes of nature. The wise man is he who has clearly understood that he is not..., that he is spirit soul and not simply a body. Because he realizes that he is spirit and that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Spirit, he knows that his intimate relationships should be with Kṛṣṇa, not with this body. The distressed and the man who wants money are in the material concept of life because distress and need of money are both in relationship with this body. One who is inquisitive may be a little above the distressed and the man in need of money, but still he is on the material platform. But a wise man who seeks Kṛṣṇa knows perfectly well that he is spirit soul, or Brahman, and that Kṛṣṇa is the supreme spirit soul, or Para-brahman. He knows that the spirit soul, being subordinate and finite..."

Prabhupāda: Where it is?

Mādhavānanda: At the bottom of thirty-one.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.1 -- Mayapur, March 25, 1975:

Real business is athāto brahma jijñāsā. This human life, nature, gives us the opportunity to inquire about the Absolute Truth. We have got the intelligence. The cats and dogs, they have no intelligence to inquire about the Absolute Truth. The trees, the plants, the aquatics, the animals, the beasts, the uncivilized man—so many, 8,400,000 forms and species of life. Out of that, the civilized men, the Aryans... Ārya. Ārya means the person who has got godly qualification. This is the meaning of Āryan. Āryan, advanced. Āryan does not mean godless society. They are non-Āryans. Real Āryan means... Because we are part and parcel of God, naturally we have got, in minute quantity, the qualities of God. That is natural. But on account of our material association, those qualifications are covered now by upādhi, by various designations. This is our material disease. Material disease means... Just like a gold is covered by dirty, dirty things. Similarly, we are actually gold, because part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. We are a small Kṛṣṇa, very small, but we are also the same quality. But it is covered. This is our disease. And these coverings are going on in different names—socialism, communism, and this "ism"—so many. "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim," "I am white," "I am black"—these are all designations.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.3 -- Mayapur, March 27, 1975:

Therefore at the end of each chapter of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is stated by Vyāsadeva, brahma-sūtrasya bhāṣya. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam means comment on the Brahma-sūtra. Brahma-sūtra is the gist code of all Vedic literature. And then it is explained, athāto brahma jijñāsā. That is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā: "Jīvasya, for living being, the only business is to enquire about the Absolute Truth." That is the only business. People are in trouble because they have given up their real business. Human life is meant for this business, brahma-jijñāsā, to enquire about the Absolute Truth. We have been given so many facilities by nature. There are so many living entities, they are standing on the ground for many years. The trees, the plants and the aquatics, for many, many years they are in the water. The flies and insects, for many, many years they are in that condition. And gradually, by evolution, we come to this form of human life. Especially the Aryans, the advanced, civilized human being, he has got all the facilities. The uncivilized men live in the jungle, and they cannot utilize the resources. (people making noise) Ask them to stop. Somebody must remain there.

So therefore Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, in very simple Bengali song, he says, hari hari biphale janama goṅāinu. This is our life. We have got this human form of life, but we are simply spoiling it. This is the whole situation.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.9 -- Mayapur, April 2, 1975:

So that is not the way. Therefore śruti-pramāṇam. Śruti-pramāṇam means from the Vedic evidence we have to understand. Now, just like in the Vedas it is said, jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi. In the Vedas, all knowledge was there, all the living entities described fully and with minute, exact quantity. Now, within the water, we understand from the Vedic literature, there are 900,000 forms of aquatics. Now, the modern scientists, how many they have observed or studied? But it is said exactly, 900,000. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Of course, you cannot enter within the water. But on the land, now different, and that is two million. How many species of plants and trees, and that is two million. How many the botanists have studied? Two million. Sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Even in your country, in your village, you'll find daily some new vegetable. You see? So these are the Vedic calculation. And not only that, there are different species of life, and how they are working, what senses are predominant in each and every life and everything is described. Everything is very minutely described. Therefore, if we want to have knowledge, you cannot do it by mental speculation. We should know that our mind is very, very limited. Simply by theorizing, it is not possible. Therefore tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet sampit-pāṇiḥ śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham (MU 1.2.12). So we have to know from the supreme authority or the Vedas. Then the knowledge will be perfect. Otherwise...

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.16 -- Mayapur, April 9, 1975:

So, description of Vṛndāvana, Vṛndāvana and Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa situated there. The Vṛndāvana... Vana means forest, and vṛnda means tulasī. Mostly there are tulasī plants and other trees also, but all the trees are living desire trees, spiritual. They can serve Kṛṣṇa in any way, desire. They have become trees by their voluntary desire. They're all spiritual beings—there is no force—but everyone has got a particular tendency to serve Kṛṣṇa in a different way. So these trees and plants, they are also living beings. They are not ordinary living beings, but they have decided to serve Kṛṣṇa by supplying fruits and flowers. They want that service. Everyone has got his particular propensity. So someone is serving as the land there, someone is serving as the throne, someone is serving as the supplying agent of fruits and flowers, someone is engaged in His service as the gopīs, confidential servitors. The cows, calves, everything—they are all different living entities. They are not made of these material things, material body. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ (Bs. 5.37). They are all also expansion of Kṛṣṇa's pleasure potency. In one sense they are also Kṛṣṇa; they are not different from Kṛṣṇa. Śakti-śaktimatayor abheda: "The power and the powerful, they are not different, identical." Just like the sun and the sunshine. So in the sun globe there is heat and light, and the sunshine, there is heat and light. So, so far heat and light is concerned, they are one. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's pleasure potency, ānanda-cinmaya, ahlādinī... It is already described, rādhā kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir hlādinī-śaktir asmāt.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 6.254 -- Los Angeles, January 8, 1968:

Out of that, aquatics, water animals or water-living entities, are 900,000. The botanist or the physiologist, how many they have seen or how many they have experimented or how many we have seen? But from the śāstra, from the Vedic scriptures, we find that there are 900,000's of species of life in the water, and 2,000,000 species of life in the botanical department. Similarly, there are birds, there are beasts, there are four-legged animals, and at last, the human beings. The human life is considered to be the developed form of all species of life. Darwin's theory also, some idea, gives some idea. I think he might have taken this idea from Vedic literature. But the gradual evolution is recommended, is, I mean to say, mentioned in the Vedic literature that from aquatics to plant life, then worms' life, then birds' life, then animal life... There are thirty-three hundred thousands of animal life. So at last this human form of life. And the human form of life, there are many species, some of them civilized, some of them not civilized. Some of them have no religion. But we can know from the history of human civilization that any civilized nation, it doesn't matter whether he's Christian, whether he's Muhammadan, or a Hindu, or Buddhist—there is some type of religion.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 6.254 -- Los Angeles, January 8, 1968:

Just like father is the seed-giving agent into the womb of the mother, and then the child, baby, comes out... Without the combination of father and mother, there is no possibility of generation. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa says that "In all species of life, the living entities, I am the seed-giving father, and this material nature is the mother." Nobody can deny. Because our this body... Just like the child's body is made by the mother. Father gives the opportunity to develop the body, and the mother supplies the ingredients for developing the body, similarly, God impregnates, God impregnates material nature with the living entity, and they come out in different forms: aquatics, birds, beasts, animals, trees, plants, vegetables, so many. And Kṛṣṇa says that "I am the father of all of them."

So my request to you (is) that don't accept Kṛṣṇa as something Indian god or Hindu god. No. Kṛṣṇa is the original father of all living entities. He claims. If you don't accept... If the father says, "You are my son," and the son says, "No, I am not your son," oh, that is son's prerogative. He may deny it if he doesn't believe his mother. Now what is the proof that one man is my father? The mother is the proof. There is no other source of understanding who is my father. If a boy wants to understand, "Who is my father?" the only authority is the mother. Mother will say, "My dear boy, my dear child, here is your father." You have to accept. If you say, "I don't accept. I must have proof that he is my father." How it is possible? It is not possible. Similarly, the Vedic literature is to be considered the mother and Vedic literature says, janmādy asya yataḥ: (SB 1.1.1) "The Supreme Absolute Truth is that who is the source of all generation, all emanations."

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.103 -- Washington, D.C., July 8, 1976:

Now here is a chance, human life, he can understand what is the goal of life and how to achieve it. He can be trained up. So if that opportunity is refused to the human society by the guardians, by the government, it is a great misservice, a great disadvantage. To keep them in darkness of animal propensities... Because we are changing our body, here is a chance, after many evolutionary process, many thousand and millions of years. We are going to the park. How many plants and creepers are there, how many animals, how many aquatics? We have to come through all these processes, evolutionary process. So here is a chance. Therefore for the human being it is advised that try to understand the goal of your life. Tad vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet samit-pāṇiḥ śrotriyam (MU 1.2.12). That is Vedic instruction. Must try. So from the very beginning, if children are not trained up to inquire about the goal of life, they are kept in darkness, simply eat, drink, be merry and enjoy, that is not civilization. They must be trained up. The opportunity must be given so that he can inquire more and more about the goal of life.

The goal of life is, as Caitanya Mahāprabhu will explain, that we are intimately related with God. Someway or other, we are fallen down in this material world, and we are by mistake accepting this body as self, and we are being trained up also only to see the bodily interests just like cats and dogs. The animals also, they are interested with the body only. They have no other interest. But if a human being is kept in the same darkness, simply bodily interest, that is a great disadvantage.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.104 -- New York, July 10, 1976:

"There is no controller. We are everything. Whatever we like, you can do. There is no life after death, and there is no life in other planets..." These are all ignorance. Simply fool's paradise. It has no meaning.

So Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means to give people right knowledge. Don't think that it is a sentimental so-called religious movement. But you come to the right conclusion to the spiritual platform by this easiest method introduced by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Chant the holy name of the Lord and your... Because misunderstanding means because we have so many dirty things accumulated on the heart for many, many lives. Beginning from aquatics, then plant life, the trees' life, the insect life, in this way, now we have come a life of enlightenment. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. Now we should inquire. That is, Sanātana Gosvāmī is teaching us that go to the proper spiritual master. He has come. He is not ordinary man, he is minister, so he cannot go to a cheater, to a bluffer. He has selected the right person, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

So we have to go to a person who is as good as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. As good... How one can become Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu? He is God. How another man can become as good as Caitanya Mahāprabhu? Then he is also God? No. He doesn't require to be God, and neither he can ever become God. That is false. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's equal person means one who speaks the exactly what Caitanya Mahāprabhu speaks. That makes him equal. He doesn't manufacture. If you simply repeat what Kṛṣṇa says or Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, then you become equal to me. Equal to me? That is guru. Guru means who is equal. Sākṣād dharitvena samasta-śāstrair uktas tathā bhāvyata eva sadbhiḥ **.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.110-111 -- Bombay, November 17, 1975:

Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ, goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ. He is situated in His planet, Goloka Vṛndāvana; still His energies are going on. The material energy is working, this material world. Kṛṣṇa says, mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). Under His vigilance all the laws of material nature is going on. Exactly in time the sun is rising, the moon is rising. Everything is going on minutely, very nicely. Parāsya śaktiḥ. Svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca. It is going so nicely that Kṛṣṇa hasn't got to learn how to do it. The machine is so perfect, it is going on perfectly. The flower is coming by His energy. Puṇyo gandhaḥ pṛthivyāṁ ca. The special seed you sow on the ground and a particular type of plant will come out, then rose will come out, a particular flavor will come out. Svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca. We do not see how Kṛṣṇa's energies are working, but it is working. Don't think that "It is automatically... There was a chunk and there was..." No. Not like that. Everything. But His energy is so perfect. Just like if you want to paint one nice flower, you have to arrange so many things—color, and the brush, and the painting cloth—and you have to apply your energies and... But still, it will not come so perfect. But Kṛṣṇa's energies are so perfect that we see automatically, but there is supervision of Kṛṣṇa. There is no question of accident. Everything is supervised. Svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca. We have to do it with our hand, to paint a picture of a nice rose flower, but in the nature the flower is coming out. We see automatically. No. The Kṛṣṇa's energy is working, there but it is going on so swiftly, so, I mean to say, accurately, that he hasn't got to exact His energy, but it is working automatically. Svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca. Whatever knowledge is required... If you have studied, you will find in the petals of the flower the color, exactly symmetrical, everything. Whatever color is required, it is coming out. We say "automatically." No automatically. Svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā. The knowledge and the action of Kṛṣṇa is so perfect, it is coming out.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.110-111 -- Bombay, November 17, 1975:

To purify the existence we have to practice tapasya, not running like cats and dogs here and there. This will not make solution of life. Human life is meant for tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyet sattvaṁ yasmād brahma-saukhyam anantam. This is the process. Mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimukteḥ (SB 5.5.2). If you want to get out of this entanglement of distressed condition of material body, then mahat-sevām: you associate with mahātmās and serve him. Mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimuktes tamo-dvāraṁ yoṣitāṁ saṅgi-saṅgam. And if you want to enjoy senses, then the path of darkness is there: tamo-dvāram. Then you do not know where you are going. Today you are human being. Tomorrow, after this body, you may become a plant or tree or something else. That is tamo-dvāram. We are pushing through darkness. But we should not remain in darkness. Jyotir gamaḥ, tamasi mā: "Don't remain in darkness. Come to the light."

So we have got so many books of knowledge giving us light, especially in this age, Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Take advantage of this and come into the light and make your life successful. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.113 -- London, July 23, 1976:

So we find mahad-yoni, mahā-tattva, the material elements, is the mother. Everything is coming out of the womb of the mother. Whatever we see in this creation, the plants, the trees and living entities, and we are speaking especially of the living entities, and there are 8,400,000 different forms, they are coming from earth. That we can see. It doesn't require great intelligence. Any boy can understand that it is coming out of these five elements—means earth, water... The grass is coming out of earth, the fish is coming out of the water. So we have got experiences in two elements. But we have got experience also that living entities coming out of air. So earth, water, air... There are living entities in fire also, but because our knowledge is limited, we do not see. We cannot conceive that in the fire also there can be living entities. And why not? There are five elements, matter. So if earth is producing life, if water is producing life, if air is producing life, why not fire? What is the fault there? Everything is producing life. So the mother produces children. So many children are coming out of the... Tāsāṁ mahad yonir brahma. Yoni, yoni means mother. 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.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.120 -- Bombay, November 12, 1975:

This is our position. That is called māyā, "which is not possible." God is not so cheap that you can become equal with God or greater than God. You must always remain subordinate to God. That is your position. Actually we are subordinate. We have no meeting with God. We have no knowledge of God. But practically we see that we are subordinate to the material nature. That's a fact. Everyone knows. Who can overcome the laws of material nature? No. Nobody can do. By nature you have to die. You cannot avoid it. You are subordinate. By nature you have to become old man. You cannot avoid it. So we know that we are subordinate to material nature. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). All these living entities—man or not man, animal or trees or plants, everyone—everyone is under the laws of material nature. They are, of course, dumb, the other animals or living entities. But human being has got advanced senses. He can think advancedly. So why they are thinking that they are free? They are servant of at least material nature at the present moment. Why they are thinking "master"? That is their misconception. This is called anyathā rūpam. He is actually servant, but he's thinking "master." This is called anyathā rūpam. Anyathā means "otherwise," not svarūpam. So therefore mukti means hitvā anyathā rūpam, giving up this nonsense speculation that "I am master of nature. I am master of this, master of that," or "I am God. I am equal to God." These are all rascaldom, anyathā rūpam, thinking otherwise.

Sri Brahma-samhita Lectures

Lecture on Brahma-samhita, Verse 32 -- New York, July 26, 1971:

And who has not seen the sunshine and moonshine? Everyone has seen. As soon as there is morning, there is sunshine. So if sunshine is God, then you have seen God. Why do you deny? You cannot deny. Kṛṣṇa says, raso 'ham apsu kaunteya: (BG 7.8) "I am the taste of the water." So who has not tasted water? We are drinking, daily, gallons of water. We are thirsty, and the good taste which quench our thirst, that is Kṛṣṇa.

So you have to see God, or Kṛṣṇa, in this way. Then you'll advance, make advance. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We have to see in everything, Kṛṣṇa. As soon as we see living entity... Never mind whether he's a human being or animal or insect or bird or plant or aquatic; they're all living entities. In the sea, there are nine hundred thousand species of living entities. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi. These are the statements in the Vedic scriptures. Exactly stated: jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi. It does not say ten hundred thousand; it says nine hundred thousand. Exact calculation. Now bring any biologist to calculate how many species are there in the water. They cannot say. But here, in the Padma Purāṇa, Vedic literature, you get exact information how many species of living entities are there within the water. Everyone knows that there are living entities, full of living entities. We are catching fish, but small fishes. We have not seen. Even if we have seen the biggest fish, that is, whale... Sometimes they are as big as one big ship. But there are other fishes, we get information, they are called timiṅgila. The big fish, the whale fish, and timiṅgila means there is another big fish which swallows this timiṅgila, this whale just like anything. These informations are there. And in Calcutta Museum, in our childhood—it may be still existing—we saw one skeleton of a fish that is bigger than this room, a skeleton. It is hanging on the ceiling. So there are very, very big, big fishes. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi. You get immediately information, without being a biologist, scientist, you can get information. The Darwin's theory, in most perfection, there is in the Padma Purāṇa: jīva-jatiṣu. The evolutionary theory is there. But Darwin is missing the real point: Who is, who is evolving? He's missing the spirit soul. He cannot explain. That is imperfect.

Festival Lectures

Ratha-yatra and Press Conference -- San Francisco, July 4, 1970:

Perhaps all of you know the famous book of knowledge, Bhagavad-gītā. In that Bhagavad-gītā, Ninth Chapter, last verse, it is said there, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65), mām evaiṣyasi kaunteya. In that verse it was assured by (the) Lord that "You always think of Me." Man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ. "Become My devotee." Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī. "Just worship Me. In this way you will come to Me." Mām evaiṣyasi.

So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means to utilize to the best possible means this human form of life. We are coming to this human form of life in the evolutionary process from aquatics to reptiles, to plants and trees, then birds and beasts, then human form of life. Out of that human form of life, there are many uncivilized form of life, just above the monkeys. But those who are civilized... Civilized means those who are following the instruction of the Vedas, varṇāśrama-dharma. The human society (is) divided into four varṇas and four āśramas. The four varṇas are social division, namely the student life, the householder life, the retired life, and renounced life. These four divisions of social life and four divisions of spiritual life—brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha..., brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra—in this way there are eight divisions. These eight divisions of human society are very scientifically adopted. It is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā, cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). This civilized division of human society is so perfect that one can gradually, from the aquatic life, can go back to home, back to Godhead.

Ratha-yatra -- San Francisco, June 27, 1971:

That body is no longer there. Now you are young man there is another body, and when you'll become old man like me, you'll have another body. This means that we are changing bodies in every moment, every second, imperceptibly, but I, the spirit soul, exist in all circumstances. Therefore it is natural to conclude that after leaving this body I shall have another body. That's a fact. That is Vedic truth. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). The example is given that as we change our dresses; similarly, we are changing our dresses from one body to another. We have changed dresses as aquatic animals, as many fishes and aquatic animals as there are in the sea, then we are change bodies as creepers, plants and trees for many, many years. Then we change our bodies in the insect life, reptiles life, then we are change our bodies in three..., thirty hundreds of thousands of beasts, then we have got this human form of life. That is also an evolution through many uncivilized form of human life. Now this civilized form of human life, with higher intelligence and consciousness, it is meant for God realization. It is not meant for utilizing as the animals waste their time simply for eating, sleeping, mating and defending. That is not our business. That is part of our business so far the body is concerned. But as spirit soul, our main business is to understand what I am, wherefrom I have come, where I shall go, why I am under the tribulation of threefold miseries of material condition. These questions must be answered. If we do not question, just like live like animal... The animal cannot question, neither they can understand the answer, but the human form of life they can question and understand the answer also. In the Vedānta-sūtra it is called brahma-jijñāsā, inquiring about the Supreme. So that is our prerogative. Please take chance of this human body and try to understand yourself and cleanse your heart from the dirty things by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.

Ratha-yatra -- Philadelphia, July 12, 1975:

So we living entity, we desire. "Man proposes; God disposes." God is very kind. Whatever you desire, He will fulfill. Although He says that "This kind of material desires will never satisfy you," but we want. Therefore God supplies us, Kṛṣṇa, different types of body to fulfill our different desires. This is called material, conditional life. This body, change of body according to desire, is called evolutionary process. By evolution we come to the human form of body through many other millions bodies. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. We pass through 900,000 species of form in the water. Similarly, two million forms as plants, trees. In this way, by nature's way, nature brings us into this human form of life just to develop or awaken our consciousness. Nature gives us the chance, "Now what do you want to do? Now you have got developed consciousness. Now you again want to go to the evolutionary process, or you want to go to the higher planetary system, or you want to go to God, Kṛṣṇa, or you want to remain here?" These options are there. It is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā,

yānti deva-vratā devān
pitṛn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ
bhūtejyā yānti bhūtāni
mad-yājīno 'pi yānti mām
(BG 9.25)

Now make your selection. If you want to go to the higher planetary system, you can go. If you want to remain here, in the middle planetary system, you can do so. And if you want to go to the lower planetary system, that you can do. And if you want to go to God, Kṛṣṇa, that also you can do. It is up to your option.

Janmastami Lord Sri Krsna's Appearance Day Lecture -- London, August 21, 1973:

Our human life, the ultimate goal of human life is to achieve immortality. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9), This is our..., we have forgotten this. We are simply leading the life of cats and dogs, without any knowledge that we can achieve that perfection of life when there will be no more birth, no more death. We do not understand even that there is possibility of amṛtatvam. But everything is possible. Amṛtatvam. Nobody wants to die. That's a fact. Nobody wants to become old man, nobody wants to become diseased. This is our natural inclination. Why? Because originally, in our spiritual form, there is no birth, no death, no old age, no disease. So after evolutionary process down from the aquatics, birds, beasts, plants, trees, when you come to this form of human form of body after... Aśītiṁ caturaś caiva lakṣāṁs tād jīva-jātiṣu. This is evolutionary process. We come to the human form of body. Then we should know what is the goal of life. The goal of life is amṛtatvam, to become immortal. That you can become immortal simply by becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious. Kṛṣṇa says. It is a fact. We have to simply understand. Janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ. If you try to understand Kṛṣṇa in truth, tattvataḥ, then, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9), after giving up this body, you don't accept any more material body. And as soon as you don't accept any material body means you become immortal. Because by nature we are immortal.

So Kṛṣṇa advents, Kṛṣṇa advents to teach us this lesson, that "You are immortal by nature. As spirit soul you are part and parcel of Me. I am as immortal. So you are also immortal. Unnecessarily, you are trying to be happy in this material world."

Janmastami Lord Sri Krsna's Appearance Day Lecture -- London, August 21, 1973:

Simply struggle for..., unnecessarily. The best thing is that you have enjoyed sense life in so many varieties of life, as cats, as dogs, as demigods, as tree, as plants, as insect. Now, in this human form of life, don't be captivated by sensuous life. Just try to understand Kṛṣṇa. That is the verdict of the śāstras. Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye (SB 5.5.1). To work very hard like dogs and hog for sense gratification is not the ambition of human life. Human life is meant for little austerity. Tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyet sattvam. We have to purify our existence. That is the mission of human life. Why I shall purify my sattva existence? Brahma-saukhyam tv anantam. Then you get unlimited pleasure, unlimited happiness. That is real pleasure. Ramante yogino 'nante satyānanda-cid-ātmani iti rāma-padenāsau paraṁ brahmābhidhīyate (CC Madhya 9.29).

So, at least in India, all the great personalities, saintly persons, sages and ācāryas, they have cultivated this spiritual knowledge so nicely and fully, and we are not taking advantage of it. It is not that those śāstras and directions are meant for the Indians or for the Hindus or for brāhmaṇas. No. It is meant for everyone.

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Disappearance Day, Lecture -- Hyderabad, December 10, 1976:

The evolutionary theory is there in the Padma Purāṇa. It is not Darwin's theory. Darwin stolen it from Padma Purāṇa, and he presented in a distorted way of his own imagination. Otherwise the Darwin's theory is not the original. The theory... It is not theory-fact. Jīva-jātiṣu. It is wandering within the cycle of jīva-jāti, different species of life. Tathā dehāntara prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). This is Vedic knowledge, this evolutionary process. It is not Darwin's theory.

So by that process, lower animals and then the chronological order is there... First of all aquatics, jalajāḥ. Jalajāḥ means aquatic. Then sthāvarāḥ, trees, plants. Then flies, then birds, then beasts, then human being. In this way, bahu sambhavante, after many, many millions of years we get this opportunity of human life to realize God. And this civilization is denying, refusing the opportunity to the human society to understand God—such a soul-killing civilization. It is a fact. They are denying "What is God? There is no God. Everything is science," although they cannot explain science. They cannot do anything, simply talking like nonsense. Last night some girls came, so they are students of botany. So I asked them, "Can you manufacture a seed which can give birth to a big banyan tree?" "No, sir, it is not possible." Then what kind of botany you are studying? Actually what is their science? They talk simply something which is going on in the middle portion. Where is the beginning and where is the end of knowledge, that they do not know. They are theorizing only in the middle. They do not know janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), where is the beginning of this science. That is... Beginning is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo (BG 10.8). He is the beginning. Bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām (Bg 7.10). That seed, you scientist, you cannot manufacture. What chemicals are there that if you put in the earth and pour some water and it will grow a big tree? These scientists, they cannot explain what is the chemical composition is there. But there is. So that is in the hand of Kṛṣṇa.

Six Gosvamis Lecture, Sri Sri Sad-govamy-astaka -- Los Angeles, November 18, 1968:

This is the first aphorism in the Vedānta-sūtra, that atha. Atha means thus. Ataḥ, ataḥ means hereafter. "Hereafter" means that we have passed through 8,400,000 of species of life; now we have got civilized form of human body; now it is the time to inquire what I am, what is God, what is my relationship with God.

So in every human society there is such inquiry and there is some answer also. So cultivating this knowledge, Kṛṣṇa consciousness or God consciousness, is essential. If we do not take to these inquiries, simply if we engage ourself in the animal propensities... Because this material body is animal body, but the consciousness is developed. In the animal body or in the lower than animal body—just like trees and plants, they are also living entities—the consciousness is not developed. If you cut a tree, because the consciousness is not developed, it does not protest. But it feels the pain. That is scientifically proved by Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose. It feels. But the feeling is not so strong. But if you kill one animal, it protests because the consciousness is developed. Similarly if you kill a man, that protest is still vehement because the consciousness is still more advanced. So in this way, in different forms of life, we are developing different types of consciousness. Just like this child, because it has got a certain type of body, its consciousness is not so developed. But when this body will be grown up, when this girl will be young, then her consciousness also will be different.

Six Gosvamis Lecture, Sri Sri Sad-govamy-astaka -- Los Angeles, November 18, 1968:

Similarly, our consciousness should develop. The perfection, the ultimate goal, the limit of development is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The consciousness is developing one after another in different bodies, but Kṛṣṇa consciousness means that is the ultimate development. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). This is the definition how consciousness reaches its perfection. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante. That perfection is reached after many, many births. Just like aquatics, plants, trees, reptiles, birds, beasts, then uncivilized human form of body, then civilized form of body, and especially the Vedic style of body. That is considered to be the highest perfectional body. And Vedic perfectional stage also achieves the highest goal when it is Kṛṣṇa conscious.

Therefore Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the highest goal of life. We should always remember. And Bhagavad-gītā says bahūnāṁ janmanaṁ ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). After many, many births of evolution, one after another, one after another, one after another—that evolution is going, every moment—so when one is perfectly wise, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān. Jñānavān means perfectly wise. Jñāna means knowledge, and vān means one who has. The Sanskrit word vān... Just like bhagavān. Bhaga means opulence, and vān means one who has. So Bhagavān means one who has got six kinds of opulences in full. Every Sanskrit word has got its root meaning. It is not... Just like Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa has got His root meaning. Kṛṣṇa, "the greatest." Kṛṣ, and ṇa means negation. There are different meanings, but this is one of the meanings. Another Kṛṣṇa meaning is "all-attractive." So God is great. That very idea is perfectly expressed in the word Kṛṣṇa. So bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān (BG 7.19). Jnanavān means who has attained, who has possessed, who is in possession of highest wisdom. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate.

Arrival Addresses and Talks

Arrival Lecture -- Paris, July 20, 1972:

When we come to that platform and when we engage ourself in that positional occupation, then we are liberated.

So this movement is very important movement. It is not of course possible to give you all details within a few minutes, but if you are interested you can kindly contact with us either by correspondence or by reading our literature or by personal contact. Any way, your life will be sublime. We have not such distinction that "This is India," "This is England," "This is France," "This is Africa." We think every living entity, not only human being, even animals, birds, beasts, trees, aquatics, insects, reptiles—all are part and parcel of God. But the lower animals, the aquatics, birds, beasts, trees, plants, insect—they are unable to receive this knowledge. The human being has developed consciousness. He can receive this knowledge of spirit soul. So our only request is that do not take this movement as a religious movement. It is the movement of the soul. It is very scientific, based on authority. And practically we are seeing, we are getting good response all over the world. We have got over hundred branches. Even Africa we have got many branches. Canada, Europe, America, Australia, New Zealand—everywhere. So our only request is the leaders of the nation, the scientist, the philosopher, may kindly take some interest in this movement. We can talk with them. We have got many literatures, big, big books, scientifically explained, philosophical explained. So our only request is that you come forward and try to understand this philosophy and spread for the benefit of the whole human society.

Arrival Address -- Paris, June 8, 1974:

If the soul is important in this body, why there shall not be bigger soul, the Supersoul, in this gigantic body? What is this universal body and this body? The same thing. It is only small, and that is very big. The same material construction. Bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ (BG 7.4). This earth, water, air. Just like you have got your bones, the huge earth mountain, that is also another bone of this gigantic body. As you have got your hairs on the body, the millions and millions of trees and plants, they are also the hairs on the gigantic body. So as you have got holes in your body here, there, and the navel, similarly these oceans and seas, they are also different holes. So they are described—it is not my imagination—they are described in the Bhagavad-gī..., Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Second Canto, to conceive the gigantic body. As you have got your skull, the round skull, the whole, I mean to say, hemisphere is also skull of this gigantic body. It is similar. As you have got a body and you, the soul, is the important thing, active principle within this body, similarly this gigantic body, the active principle is there, that is we call from the śāstra Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, the same comparison. But because they are mūḍha, rascal, they cannot understand. No brain. We have no brain, we are all not very intelligent. But we can understand if there is the active principle soul within this body, there must be a Supersoul within this huge structure of body. And that is called God. Mohitaṁ nābhijānāti mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam (BG 7.13). Those who are bewildered, narādhamāḥ. Narādhamāḥ, the lowest of the mankind. These things cannot be understood by the cats and dogs.

Arrival Lecture -- Dallas, March 3, 1975:

"My dear Arjuna, if one can simply understand what I am, why do I come here in this material world, what is My duty, what duty I perform..." These two, three things, if one understands, that "Kṛṣṇa comes for this purpose, He is like this," then the result will be tyaktvā dehaṁ... We have to give up this body. That's a fact. But this person who has understood Kṛṣṇa, he is not coming back again to accept another material body. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). Mam eti. If he does not take birth again, so does he become zero? Śūnyavādi? No. Mām eti: "He enters into My family." Kṛṣṇa's family... Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana has got a great family. He has got His father. He has got His mother, Mother Yaśodā, Nanda Mahārāja. He has got so many friends, hundreds and thousands-boyfriends, girlfriends. The trees, the plants, the flowers, the fruits, the land, the water, the cows, the calves—He is surrounded by a great family. He is not a single person. Suppose if we say, "Now the president is coming." So president means he is not only coming alone; he is coming with secretaries, his ministers, his military secretary and so many other people, some soldiers and bodyguards. He is not alone. So if a material president, insignificant, is always surrounded by his associates, so the Supreme Being, how He is associated with His surroundings, you can just imagine. He cannot be alone. That is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is not zero, śūnyavādi, as they say that "Everything zero after this," or nirviśeṣa, "Everything like sky." No. He is individual, person. And He says in the Bhagavad-gītā in the Second Chapter, "My dear Arjuna, you, you are a person. Me, I am also a person, and all these soldiers and kings who are assembled here, they are also person. So don't think that we were not person in the past, and we are not person at present, and in future also we shall not become person. We are all person, eternally person." And whenever there is person, there is associates, there is family, there is exchange of love. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Arrival -- Philadelphia, July 11, 1975:

We are giving that information, how you can keep yourself eternal. This is the greatest gift to the human society. He wants to live eternally, but he does not know how to live eternally. His energy is being spoiled by this skyscraper building construction. But he is not very serious to construct his body eternal. He will not be able to live in the skyscraper building. Maybe he will be allowed to live, to live there as a rat. There are rats, so many rats. Actually, this is the fact. The person who has got very attachment for that place but he is not to live there, but on account of attachment, thinking of that place at the time of death—but he is so sinful he cannot be given the human body—then he is given the cat's or the rat's body: "Live here." Or a tree or a plant. So where is the science discussing all this? Wherefrom the tree has come? They are satisfied only that "I have now a skyscraper building," but do not know that whether he will be allowed to live here. Vairāgya-vidyā. These things are being discussed in meeting, in our meeting anywhere. But they have no brain to understand.

Arrival Speech -- New Vrindaban, June 21, 1976:

Now, if you study the lower grade of life, they are having all these things without any plan for economic development. Lower grade, just like animals, say, other lower grade... Lower grade means less than the animal or the aquatics, the plants, the insects, the birds, then come to the beast, then come to the human form of life, civilized. Uncivilized, then civilized. In this way there is a gradation. So this happiness, sense gratification, that is already there. Prahlāda Mahārāja says, sukham aindriyakaṁ daityā deha-yogena dehinām. The sense gratification is there in different bodies, but the standard may be different. Standard means our calculation; otherwise, the standard is also the same. The sex life between dogs and sex life between human beings, the pleasure is the same. There is no change. There is no change. You don't think that when the dogs on the public street enjoy sex life their standard is lesser than our sex life in a very nice decorated apartment, and so many things, nice dress, nice bedding. No. The pleasure is the same. Just like if one has got typhoid fever. It is not that the poor man will suffer more than the rich man. No. The fever temperature is the same. The doctor, after taking temperature, he will say the temperature is the same. It does not mean that because the rich man has got typhoid fever, his suffering is less than the typhoid fever for the poor man. No. That is not possible. So we think that the standard of sense gratification is pleasure. No. The standard of pleasure of this eating, sleeping... We are taking pleasure in eating nice foodstuff. Just now Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja gave me... And another animal, he's also eating something very abominable to our consideration. Just like the pig eating stool. He's also getting the same pleasure.

Arrival Talk -- Aligarh, October 9, 1976:

"I am product of this material nature," "I am this body." "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am brāhmaṇa," "I am kṣatriya," and so on, so on... So many designations. But we are none of them. This is the clearing. Ceto-darpaṇa. When you understand clearly that "I am not an Indian, I'm not an American, I'm not brāhmaṇa, I'm not kṣatriya"—means "I am not this body"—then the consciousness will be ahaṁ brahmāsmi. Brahmā-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati (BG 18.54). This is wanted. This is success of life. Otherwise, if we remain in darkness of our existence...

Everyone is abodha-jāto. So anyone born in this material world in different platform... One may take birth as demigod in the heavenly planets or one may take birth as a human being in the lower planets. And lower than that, animal, plants. There are 8,400,000 different species of life. So any form of life, we are bound up by the laws of nature, and bhuṅkte prakṛti-jān guṇān. The puruṣaḥ... Puruṣaḥ means the living entity. Puruṣaḥ... Actually, nobody is puruṣaḥ. Everyone is prakṛti. Apareyam itas tv viddhi me prakṛtim parām. Parā prakṛtim. The material, matter, is the aparā-prakṛti, and spirit soul is parā-prakṛti. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is clearly explained, bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ (BG 7.4). This is... Bhinnā me prakṛtir aṣṭadhā. This is separated. This is also nature, but inferior. Apareyam itas tv viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parām. There is another prakṛti. What is that? Jīva-bhūto. This living entity. So living entity is also prakṛti, but because he has the tendency to enjoy this material world, he is sometimes described as puruṣaḥ. Puruṣaḥ means enjoyer and prakṛti means enjoyed. So the prakṛti forgets her position and artificially he wants to become puruṣaḥ. So this puruṣaḥ, prakṛti 'stho. Puruṣaḥ prakṛti 'stho bhuṅkte prakṛti-jān guṇān. So long he's in this material world, he has to associate with the modes of material nature, sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. Bhuṅkte prakṛti-jān guṇān. And on account of the influence of the prakṛti-jān guṇa, he has to take different types of bodies. Puruṣaḥ prakṛti 'stho bhuṅkte prakṛti-jān guṇān kāraṇaṁ guṇa saṅgo 'sya (BG 13.22).

Initiation Lectures

Initiation of Lokanatha dasa -- New Vrindaban, May 21, 1969:

San, sat. Sat-mukharitām. Sat means eternal, and mukharitām means speaking, coming out from the mouth of a person who is eternally situated. Who is eternally situated? Not this body. Eternally situated, I am, I am real "I am," the spirit soul. So the spirit soul can speak when he is Kṛṣṇa conscious; otherwise he is covered. His speaking power is stopped. Just like an unconscious man is without any consciousness, but he has got the life—the soul is there—similarly, in the other species of life, although the soul is there, it is not, the soul is not speaking. The outward, the influence of the soul... (aside:) What is this? That means the soul is not manifested there fully. Labdhvā sudurlabham (SB 11.9.29). That is being manifested from aquatic life to plant life, then in insect life, then bird's life, then beast's life, at last human life. Out of human life, there are civilized life, uncivilized life. And out of the civilized life, there are atheists and theists, and those who are actually developed conscious. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The consciousness is developing from the lowest status of living condition, aquatic, then plants, trees, then insects, flying insects, then birds, then four-legged beasts, so many, then two hands, two legs, gorilla. Similarly, human, uncivilized, then civilized, Aryans, then our Vedic knowledge. In this way consciousness is increasing. That is real evolutionary theory. Darwin has simply taken some imaginative... He might have taken from Padma-Purāṇa. In Padma-Purāṇa these are very nicely explained, how many species of life are there. They have given account: "So many species in water." Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi: "Nine hundred thousand species in water." Sthavarā lakṣa-viṁśati: "Trees and plants, there are two millions." Exact number. Now, if you are scientists, if you are botanist, if you are physiologist, you can try it and see. But these are already there. Mānuṣāḥ catur-lakṣāṇi: "The human species, there are also 400,000's." So out of this, the Aryan family, the civilized man, the Aryan families are understood to be the highest civilized... (end)

Detroit Initiations -- Detroit, July 18, 1971:

Prabhupāda: Beads. Give me beads. (chants japa) Where is that tulasī plant? Today's not very hot. Warm... It is all right. (Chants japa, devotee chants purificatory mantras. More japa. Devotee chants mantra again. Prabhupāda corrects his pronunciation. More japa. Jagadīśa gives lecture while Prabhupāda chants japa. Then more japa.) The ten offenses, explain. (Jagadīśa explains ten offenses from book) Give them chairs. Some ladies are standing.

Jagadīśa: (continues lecture on offenses) ...the mind will be controlled. And we can fix the mind of Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet. The mind will be wavering here and there, but if we control the lower self...

Prabhupāda: Or, in other words, when you fix up your mind in Kṛṣṇa, then senses will be automatically controlled. This way is difficult. That way is easy. You fix up your mind... Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane (SB 9.4.18). Ambarīṣa Mahārāja, he was a emperor, but he was a great devotee. How? He always fixed up his mind on the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. Vacāṁsi. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor. Kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor, on the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, he fixed up his mind. Vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane. The next is the tongue. Mind fixed up, then the next sense is, important sense, is the tongue. Next to the mind, tongue should be controlled. How? By chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and eating Kṛṣṇa prasādam. Then other senses will be automatically controlled. (continues chanting japa)

Initiation and Brahma-samhita Lecture -- New York, July 26, 1971:

Govinda means who gives pleasure to the cows, who gives pleasure to the senses. He's Govinda. Go means..., another meaning is earth. So He gives pleasure. Kṛṣṇa is all pleasure potency. And ādi-puruṣa. Ādi-puruṣam, original person. (sound) What is that? (pause) Ādi-puruṣa, original person. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). (aside:) Why don't you sit down? Sit down. Ādi, original; puruṣa, person. The origin... Unless the origin of everything is a person, how so many persons are coming? Every one of us, all living entities, either man or animal or demigod, even trees, plants, they're all persons. Everyone, individual person. So if every living entity is a person, how the original of, origin of everything can be imperson? The origin must be person. Therefore ādi-puruṣam. The origin, original, or origin of everything, janmādy asya yataḥ, Absolute Truth, is that from whom or from which everything is emanating. So everything is a person, individual. So origin must be person. Ādi-puruṣam. Therefore Brahmā..., this Brahma-saṁhitā is made by Brahmā. He's the original creature within this universe. He's recommending that "My origin is also a person." Ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi: "I worship that original person." Therefore the origin of everything, the Absolute, the summum bonum, cannot be impersonal. What is the reason? Where is the experience that from imperson a person comes? There is no such instance within our experience. From person, a person comes. My father is a person, so I am a person. His father is a person; therefore my father is a person. Go on searching, you'll find the original person. Try to understand this philosophy. The whole world is impersonal. They do not know anything, of course, but they have got an impersonal philosophy. How the impersonal philosophy can stand? Every individual entity is a person; therefore origin must be a person, ādi-puruṣam. And it is recommended by the authority, Brahmā.

Wedding Ceremonies

Wedding Ceremony and Lecture -- Boston, May 6, 1969:

There is evolution of life from lowest animal in the water and up to the highest platform or highest planetary life, where the duration of life is many, many millions of years. The highest planetary system is called Brahmaloka, or where the first created being, Brahmā, lives. The duration of Brahmā's life is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā that forty-three hundred thousands of years multiplied by one thousand makes one twelve hours of that Brahmaloka. Just like there is distinction of the duration of life between the microbes and the human being, similarly, there are different grades of different duration of life in different stage of planetary system. So the life is evolving. Now after evolutionary process from the lower animals, from the aquatics to plant life, vegetable life, then microbes, reptiles, birds, beasts, then we come to the human form of life, this civilized form of life. Now here it is just like crossing. Where we should go next life? Whether I shall promote myself to the higher planetary system or into the spiritual sky, Vaikuṇṭhaloka, or I shall go down again in the evolutionary process of lower animals? That is to be decided. So if we want to go to the higher planetary system, we can go there. If we want to stay here, we can do that. If we want to go down, that we can do. And if we want to go back to Godhead, that also we can do. So this facility is given in this human form of life. Now it is our choice, where shall I go? Shall I go down to hell, or shall I go up to heaven, or I shall go back to Godhead, back to home? Everything we can do. So our this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is directly approaching the spiritual sky, back to home, back to Godhead. No more evolutionary process. That is the advantage of this Kṛṣṇa conscious...

General Lectures

Lecture -- San Francisco, April 2, 1968:

These things are explained in the Vedic literatures. I am not manufacturing. That karmaṇā dehopapattaye. We are preparing our next life, next body rather... Life is continuing. I am eternal. Next body—according to my present one. Just like in this meeting we have got two hundred ladies and gentlemen, but you cannot find out any lady or any gentleman exactly like the feature of the other. Differences. That means different consciousness, different work, and we have got different body. According to Bhagavad-gītā, the soul is transmigrating from one body to another, but the soul is eternal and permanent. And there are evolutionary process also. There are nine million species of life in the water. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. And the trees and plants are two million. Similarly, there are reptiles, birds, then beasts, three million beast life, beastly life. Then at the end, we come to the form of this human being, and there are four hundred thousand species of different kinds of bodies. Just like your body in America and our body in India, there is some difference. Similarly, there are four hundred thousands of human form of life. So this is the process of evolution. And these bodily changes are taking place according to different consciousness. And the highest perfectional consciousness is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. When we come to the point of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then our life becomes perfect.

Lecture Engagement -- Montreal, June 15, 1968:

The Lord says that there are eight hundred, er, 8,400,000 species of life, different forms of life, species of life. There are aquatics, there are plants, trees, worms, germs, then birds, beasts, and at last, the human species of life, only 400,000's. So Kṛṣṇa says that "All the species of life—never mind whether he is man or he's a dog, he's a cat—he's a living entity, and I am the seed-giving father of all living entities." Now, how nice, you can understand simply. This verse, if you can understand, then you can have some idea of universal brotherhood. If you want to make universal brotherhood, you must find out the center—the universal father. So these questions and answers are there, and we have got the science of God, the education of science of God, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So these books are meant for human society, and if you take advantage of the knowledge imparted in this book and if you chant this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, you will see how your life becomes improved, how you become full of knowledge, full of bliss, and how you advance in your eternal life.

Lecture -- Seattle, October 4, 1968:

Every planet is so made that it is complete in itself. The water is there, reserved in the seas and oceans. That water is taken away by the sunshine. Not only here, in other planets also, the same process is going on. It is transformed into cloud, then distributed all over the land, and there is growing of vegetables, fruits and plants, everything. So everything is complete arrangement. That we have to understand, that who has made this complete arrangement everywhere. The sun is rising in due time, the moon is rising in due time, the seasons are changing in due time. So how you can say? There is evidence in the Vedas there is God. In every scripture, every great personality, devotee, representative of God... Just like Lord Jesus Christ, he gave information of God. Although he was crucified, he never changed his opinion. So we have evidences from scripture, from Vedas, from great personality, still, if I say, "God is dead. There is no God," then what kind of man I am? This is called demon. They'll never believe it. They'll never believe... Yes. Just the opposite demon is budhā. Budhā means very intelligent, wise man. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said, therefore, kṛṣṇa ye bhaje se baḍa catura. Anyone who becomes attracted by Kṛṣṇa and loves Him... Worshiping means loving. In the beginning it is worshiping, but at the end it is love. Worshiping.

Lecture -- Seattle, October 7, 1968:

Aquatics—900,000. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. This is the... Darwin has taken the idea of evolution from this Padma Purāṇa. You won't find any philosophy, any doctrine in the world which is not found in the Vedic literature. It is so perfect, everything is there. So the anthropomorphism or—what is called?—anthropology... Anthropology of Darwin is there in the Padma Purāṇa. It is very nicely described. Darwin cannot explain what are the number of the species of different, but Padma Purāṇa states that there are 900,000 species of life within water, within the ocean. And above the ocean, as soon as the ocean water is dried up, the land is coming out, immediately the vegetation begins. Different types of plants and trees then come out. So jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Two millions, lakṣa-viṁśati, twenty hundred thousand. That is two million? Anyway... Sthāvarā lakṣa. Sthāvarā means those who cannot move. There are different types of living entities. The trees, the plants, they cannot move. The other type of living entities, just like the birds, the beasts, the human being, they can move. So sthāvarā and jaṅgama. Jaṅgama means those who can move, and sthāvarā means those who cannot move. The hills, the mountains, they are also amongst the sthāvarās. They are also living entities. There are many hills, they are growing. That means there is life, but in the lowest stage of: stone. So in this way we are making progress. Sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ. Reptiles and worms. Rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ means eleven hundred thousands. Then from reptiles, worms, the wings grow-birds.

Lecture -- Seattle, October 18, 1968:

That is realization. You cannot make any distinction that "This is lower," "This is higher." No. Paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ (BG 5.18). When a person is fully learned, he does not make any distinction that "He is human being, he is cow, he is dog." He sees that he is spirit soul covered in different dress. That's all. That is his vision, universal equality vision. You cannot say that dog has no life, the cow has no life. How can you say that there is no life? That is lack of your knowledge. What is the symptom of life? You will find the symptom of life is there in human being, in ant also. How you can say that small creatures, lower animals have no life? That is lack of your knowledge. Even trees, plants, they have got life. So perfect knowledge required. So love of Godhead on the basis of perfect knowledge is real love of God. Otherwise it is fanaticism. So the fanatics, they may fight. That is not love of Godhead. (pause) Of course, it is very difficult to come to that stage, but one should try. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We are all student. We are trying. But there are degrees also. Just like in a educational institution there is tenth class, eighth class, fifth class, sixth class. And with the yoga, it is just like a staircase or a lift. So there are different stages of perfection. The highest perfection is who is always thinking of Kṛṣṇa. That is yoginām api sarveṣāṁ mad-gatenāntarātmanā śraddhāvān bhajate... (BG 6.47). The highest perfectional is Kṛṣṇa, thinking always Kṛṣṇa, and Rādhārāṇī. That is the highest perfectional stage. She has no other business: simply thinking of Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture -- Los Angeles, November 13, 1968:

Jaya-gopāla: What is the relationship of the surabhī cow with Kṛṣṇa?

Prabhupāda: They are also... These cows are also devotees, and Kṛṣṇa is fond of keeping cows, taking care of them. The same love affairs, exchange of love. That's all.

Jaya-gopāla: Which...

Prabhupāda: Dāsya-rasa. Dāsya-rasa, servitude. There are different rasas, mellows of relationship with Kṛṣṇa. Śānta, dāsya... Just like Vṛndāvana-bhūmi or the trees, the plants, they are serving Kṛṣṇa silently. And the cows and servants, they are offering superior service. The friends, they are offering service as friend. The gopīs, they are... Gopīs or the motherly gopīs, just like Yaśodā and ladies, offer their, loving Kṛṣṇa as son, and the younger girls, they're loving Kṛṣṇa as husband, as lover. So in this way in Vṛndāvana there are different transcendental mellows of loving affairs. So the cows are on the śānta, dāsya-rasa, giving service, just like master and servant. They are situated in this transcendental humor. But they're all one with Kṛṣṇa. Nobody is inferior than Kṛṣṇa, but the relationship is exchange of loving service. That's all.

Nandarāṇī: Is our rasa with Kṛṣṇa already established? I mean, is it eternal? Or do we, can we attain...

Prabhupāda: No. It is already established. You have got eternal relationship. When you become liberated, you realize that your relationship is with Kṛṣṇa like this. You'll develop that taste, whether in śānta-rasa or dāsya-rasa or mādhurya-rasa or vātsalya-rasa. But that is not to be imitated at the present moment. When we are actually liberated. To come to that stage, the routine work, regulative work, should be followed: chanting, hearing, worshiping, following the regulative principles. In this way, gradually, as we are purified, we come to the pure consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then at once we understand, "My relationship with Kṛṣṇa is like this." And you are transferred to the Kṛṣṇaloka in that humor.

Lecture -- Los Angeles, December 4, 1968:

It is not that in a particular country or particular society or particular class of men they are brāhmaṇas. No. Bhagavad-gītā does not say that. Brahma-karma svabhāva-jam. Svabhāva-jam, natural activities. So truthfulness, controlling the senses, controlling the mind, and simplicity, and cleanliness, and tolerance, and knowledge, and practical application of knowledge in life. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is for training brahmacārīs. Brahmacārī means who are being practiced to the brahminical culture. So, there must be a portion of the population well versed in brahminical culture. Ekaś candras tamo hanti na ca tara sahasrasaḥ. Just like in a garden if there is one nice flower plant, rose, with good scent, the whole garden becomes flavored, you see? Scented. Similarly, we do not expect that the whole population of the human society will be taking to this brahminical culture; but even one percent of the whole population accepts this brahminical culture, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then the whole world will be peaceful. Not even one percent, less than one percent. It is so nice.

So Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is very scientific movement. Unless you raise the population from the animal propensities, how you can expect peace? Do you think is there any peace in the dog society, in the cat society? No, it is not possible. You keep some dogs. They meet. As soon as they meet together there will be howling—"gow, gow, gow, gow."

Lecture -- Los Angeles, December 4, 1968:

Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is simply picking up where there are brahminical class of boys, girls, men. Not that we are taking account, "Oh, who is your father? Is your father a brāhmaṇa?" No. We don't take account. His father may be anything; it doesn't matter. But if he has got tendency to accept this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we immediately welcome: "Come on." And we teach him this brahminical qualification—to become brahmacārī, not to indulge in illicit sex life, don't take nonvegetarian diet. We recommend not exactly nonvegetarian diet. We are vegetarian diet, we restrict from nonvegetarian diet, but we recommend Kṛṣṇa prasādam. We have no quarrel with the nonvegetarians, because vegetable also has got life. The plants, the grass, the trees, the fruits, the flowers, they have also life. They are not dead. So simply becoming vegetarian is no great qualification. Somebody is taking meat and somebody is taking vegetable, it does not make any difference. But we are taking vegetables not as vegetarian. We are taking as Kṛṣṇa prasādam, remnants of foodstuff offered to Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that,

patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ
yo me bhaktyā prayacchati
tad ahaṁ bhakty-upahṛtam
aśnāmi prayatātmanaḥ
(BG 9.26)

Kṛṣṇa said that "If somebody offers Me some foodstuff prepared from vegetables and fruits and grains"—grains are also fruits—"so with love and devotion, then I eat." Therefore we offer these things to Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture -- Los Angeles, December 4, 1968:

That was circumstantial because we have to take into consideration of the situation of the country and the people. Where there is no other food, one must live. Then meat-eating is not bad in that case. Because survival is required. But when there are substitutes... Everyone is eating another life. That is the law of nature. That is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that sahastānām ahastāni. The animals, animal who has got hands, he eats the animal who has no hand. That means four-legged animals. Ahastāni sahastānām apadāni catuṣ-padām. And the animals or living entities who cannot move, they are foodstuff of the moving. That means the grass, plants, they are the foodstuff for the cows and other animals. Nūnaṁ mahatāṁ tatra. And the big animal eats the small animal. Just like we see a big serpent is eating a small serpent, a big fish eating a small fish. So this is the law, that nūnaṁ mahatāṁ tatra jīvo jīvasya jīvanam. So one life is meant for maintaining another life. This is the law of nature. But Upaniṣad says that īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam: (ISO 1) everything belongs to the Lord. Just like in a hotel there are many kinds of foodstuff, but they all belong to the hotel keeper. And you can take only on your table what is offered to you. You cannot take anything, anything, whatever you like, no. That is illegal. Similarly, everything is food, that's all right. But you can take only what is allotted for you, that's all. So human being should take, as far as possible, vegetables. The teeth is made for eating vegetables. That is scientifically true. And if you take vegetables all along, then you will never be diseased. And so far we are concerned, we are taking Kṛṣṇa prasādam. That I have already explained, that Kṛṣṇa wants this foodstuff... If Kṛṣṇa says that "Give Me meat," then we shall eat meat. Because we are concerned with Kṛṣṇa prasādam.

Lecture -- New York, April 16, 1969:

That is foolishness. If we take, "Oh, this picture is very nice," that's all—no. So we are passing through many phases of life, different dresses. Vāsāṁsi. Bhagavad-gītā says, vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). Just like I am putting on this dress. If it is dirty or if it is very old, then I change; I accept another dress. Similarly, this body is also like that. When it is dirty or when it is old enough, not to be used, then we change to another body, and this body we leave. This is the whole instruction of all Vedic literature.

Therefore the activities of this body is not all. And as there are different types of body, as we have come to this body, this status of body, passing through many, many types of abominable body—aquatics, beasts, trees, plants, microbes, reptiles, so many... Repeatedly we have said, 8,400,000's of bodies. So this is an opportunity. This life, this human form of life, is an opportunity to make further progress. It is not that after this human body is finished, then there is no life. This misconception, this misleading philosophy, that after death there is nothing, void, is killing the human civilization. Is killing practically. They do not know "What is my next life?" The next life is there. As there are, you can see so many varieties of planets, so there are lives also, different grades of lives, different standard of life. Take for example the moon planet. What do they know about moon? They are trying to reach there by some mechanical means. That is not possible. Anyway, even if it is possible, one should know what is the standard of life there. That you can get from Vedic literature.

Lecture -- New York, April 16, 1969:

Therefore if you have spoiled that point of time without any utility, then you have spent at least many millions of dollars for nothing. That should be our calculation. Āyuṣaḥ kṣaṇa eko 'pi na labhyaḥ svarṇa-koṭibhiḥ sa cen nirarthakaṁ nītiḥ. If that valuable time is spoiled without any benefit, then just imagine how much you are losing every moment. So we should be very careful about our time. Don't spoil time. That is our request. Don't spoil time like animals. They have no responsibility because there is gradation. After this life, they get another life. After this life, they get another life. From aquatics they are promoted to the plant life. From plant life they are promoted to the insect life. From insect life they are promoted to the birds' life. Gradual evolution. They are coming by nature's way. Nature is helping. And nature has helped you to come to this life, to civilized form of life, where you can have education, where you can have nice compartment, apartment, nice food, nice association, nice car, nice city. Because... What is the difference between this nice and, I mean to say, not nice? Because you have got nice intelligence. In this land of America, when the Europeans did not come here to colonize, the Red Indians were there. They could not develop this American land so nicely, nice cities, because they were less intelligent. Now you are intelligent, you have developed it. That means if you have got nice intelligence, you can live nicely. Now what is the limit of that nice intelligence? That limit of nice intelligence is described in the Bhagavad-gītā. What is that? Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). After developing, going through many species of life, many intelligent human forms of life by cultivating knowledge, education, when one comes to the limit of education and knowledge, he understands what is God. What is God. That is the limit of.

Engagement Lecture -- Buffalo, April 23, 1969:

We should understand this. So here the specific instruction is that deha-bhājām. Deha-bhājām means we have voluntarily or willingly we have accepted this material body. Actually, we are spirit soul. We should not have accepted this material body. But when we have accepted, how we have accepted, there cannot be any tracing of history. It is not possible. Anādi karama. Anādi karama. Nobody can trace out the history when we, the conditioned soul, accepted this material body. And deha-bhājām means that anyone who has accepted this material body... Not very big. There are 8,400,000 different forms of living entities. Nine hundred thousand species of living entities in the water. Similarly, two millions species of life in the plants and vegetables. In this way, on the total, there are 8,400,000's of species of life. Unfortunately, this Vedic knowledge is not instructed in any university, but these are fact. They should try. If they are very much inquisitive to make research work, now let them research away how the Vedic knowledge says there 8,400,000's of species of life. Let the botanists, let the anthropologists, or so many—there are department of knowledge—let them research out. Darwin's theory, evolution of the organic matter, they are very much prominent in the educational institutions. But there is Padma Purāṇa and other authoritative Vedic scriptures. They give the magnitude of the living entity. They have different forms of body. How they are evolving one after another—everything is there. It is not a new thing. But people are giving stress only to the Darwin's theory. But in the Vedic literature we have got immense information of this living condition in this material world.

Lecture at International Student Society -- Boston, May 3, 1969:

That we should know. That is the business of human form of life, not to waste life like animals and evolve. By the laws of nature, we get another form of life. We are evolving by the evolutionary theory. It is not theory. Of course, Mr. Darwin has called it theory, but in the Padma Purāṇa, Vedic literature... This evolutionary process is very nicely explained in Vedic literature. Aśītiṁs caturaś caiva bhramadbhiḥ jīva-jātiṣu. These Sanskrit words are there in the Padma Purāṇa, that "A living entity is traveling or evolving from lower grades of life to the higher grades of life in 8,400,000 species of life." There are 900,000 species of life in the water. There are 2,000,000 species of life of plants and vegetables. Similarly, microbes, reptiles, there are 1,100,000 species of life. Then birds, 1,000,000 species of life. Then beasts, four-legged beasts, there are 3,000,000 species of life. Then, from beastly life, he comes to the human form life. There also variety, 400,000's of varieties. In this way we come to the point of civilized human form of life. The evolution is coming. Just like we evolve our body or grew our body from the womb of our mother. It is stated... Everything is there in the Vedic literature. After the sex intercourse of the man and woman, there is an emulsification of the two kinds of secretion. And in the first night there is a pealike form that takes place. Then he grows, growing. Then many holes come out of that pealike form—that becomes our eyes and other nine holes. In this way the body is developed in seven months. Then the child gets consciousness, and he feels very much inconvenience.

Lecture at Engagement -- Columbus, may 19, 1969:

We don't try to mislead the people. We give without any changes and without any cost, any loss on your part. But, give a try, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, simple thing, just chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, these sixteen words: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. You practice it, you chant anywhere you like, either in your home or anywhere. There is no restriction, there is no hard and fast rules and regulation for chanting, and anyone can chant. You see all our..., you also chanted just a few minutes ago. You chanted. So it is not difficult. Give it a try. That is our request. We request you, most humbly, that you take these sixteen words, you chant, and your heart will be cleansed of all dirty things. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). Every dirty things. Our, we do not know how long we are changing births—900,000 species of births in the water, and two million species of life as plants and leaves and trees, and so many lives as reptiles, and cats and dogs and so many... Now we have come to this, by evolutionary process, this civilized form of life, human form of life, very beautiful form of life. Why you should waste this life, again go to that cycle of changing birth after birth, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9)? The intelligent man should understand, try to understand, how much miserable it is to undergo birth and death and disease and old age. Don't be carried away by whims. You are intelligent boys and girls, born in rich family and rich nation. Just try to utilize, then it will be finishing touch to your country. Your country is advanced in so many ways. You have no poverty. You are advanced in so many ways. Take this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Your country will be perfect, actual leader of the whole world.

Lecture with Allen Ginsberg at Ohio State University -- Columbus, May 12, 1969:

In other words, the indigenous, the importation of a very strange oriental form, almost a hard-shelled Baptist oriental form, in the sense of its traditionality and its fundamentalism, its reliance on ancient texts and interpretation of ancient texts by long tradition of teachers—it's strange it's so far-out and ritualized an Indian form should take root in the United States a little more naturally than the more Protestant Vedānta Society or the extremely rigorous Zen groups that have taken root. I think partly it's due to the magnanimity or generosity or the old-age charm, wisdom, cheerfulness of Swami Bhaktivedanta, his openness of heart, his willingness to come down on to the street, and his sense of his own divinity and the divinity of others around that it's been possible for the bhakti-yoga cult of India to be planted very firmly here in America so that now there are communes, or ashrams, functioning on the basis of the Kṛṣṇa rituals, which are, in some respect, a model for all those anarchists and political people who are interested in establishing indigenous American communes. The regulations on food, on sexual relations, which generally cause much confusion in mutual-living health pads, the regulations on sleep and thinking process, are like an interesting model to study for those who are interested in forming affinity groups or large family communes. I will have my turn at language tomorrow because I'm giving a poetry reading at the student union somewhere—I'm not sure where—which is my regular thing, which is why I was invited here by the student activities committee. So I will cut myself off now and be brief and leave the rest of the evening to Swami Bhaktivedanta, who will give a language explanation, or whatever he wants to say, of the cultural, or metaphysical or religious roots in... Pardon me?

Lecture with Allen Ginsberg at Ohio State University -- Columbus, May 12, 1969:

"This bag of flesh, bone, urine, stool and secretion—can it be soul? Can it be self?" But they are finding out by exercising this body to find out the soul. The soul is there, but you cannot see it by material instrument. It is very fine. It is one ten-thousandth part of the tip of your hair. These are explained in the Vedic literature. So how you can find with your material eyes? You cannot see it. And because you cannot see it, you are concluding there is no soul. That is the ignorance. There is. There is soul, and this body has developed on the platform of that soul, and that soul is migrating from one body to another. That is called evolution. And that evolutional process is going on, 8,400,000's of species of life, aquatics, birds, beasts, plants, and so many species of life. And we have got now this developed consciousness, human form of life. We should properly utilize it. That is our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We simply educating people, "Don't waste your valuable life, the human form of life. If you are missing this chance, you are committing suicide." That is our propaganda. Don't commit suicide. Take to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

And the process is very simple. You haven't got to take difficult processes like yoga system or philosophical, speculative system. That is not possible in this age. That is... I am not speaking from my own experience, but I am taking the experience of big ācāryas and big stalwart sages. They say that kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā. If you want to realize yourself, if you want to know what is your next life, if you want to know what is God, if you want to know what is your relationship with God, all these things will be revealed to you—this is real knowledge—by simply chanting this mantra, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. It is practical.

Lecture at Harvard University -- Boston, December 24, 1969:

Everyone. We are chanting. You can chant with us and practice it, and there is no hard and fast rules and regulation. You can chant anyway, anywhere. Whether you are in the college, whether you're on the street, whether you are sleeping, lying, or whatever, you can chant. Because God has given you this tongue and you can chant. And this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, a dog or cat cannot chant although he has got the tongue. So you have got the facility. By God's mercy you have got this facility to chant the holy name of God. If you think that Kṛṣṇa is Indian God's name, actually it is not Indian God's name. Kṛṣṇa never claims that He's Indian or Hindu. Most of you have read Bhagavad-gītā. He claims everyone as His son. Not only human society—the animal society, bird society, the beast society, the plant society, the aquatic society, all. Sarva-yoniṣu. Sarva means all. Yoni, yoni means species of life. Everyone, all living entities, Kṛṣṇa says. Kṛṣṇa must be... If He is God, He must claim that, that "The material nature is their mother and I am their father." So Kṛṣṇa is for everyone. Not that... Don't think that Kṛṣṇa is for the Indian or for the Hindus. No. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa. This Kṛṣṇa is for everyone. For the human being, for the animals—everyone. So if you think that Kṛṣṇa is belonging to some particular country or religion, then you can chant your own way. If in your religion, in your scripture, there is any God's name, you can chant that also. Our only propaganda is that you increase your love of God. And the simple process is to chant this Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. There is no charge for it. There is no loss on your part. There is no inconvenience on your part.

Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, April 6, 1971:

So I shall... I have given you some introduction to the Bhagavad-gītā, that this Bhagavad-gītā contains subject matter relating to God, to the living entity—īśvara, jīva—and prakṛti, and the time factor, and karma. Now, in the beginning, the six chapters in the Bhagavad-gītā are simply devoted to understand what is the constitutional position of the jīva. The living entities are eternal. That is stated in the Second Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā: dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ... (BG 2.13). (break)... dvau bhūta-sargau loke 'smin daiva āsura (BG 16.6). Asmin loke, in this world, there are two kinds of living entities, not only in human society but also in animal society, in trees, in plants, in... There are 8,400,000 species of life—aquatic, plants, trees, reptiles, insects, birds, beasts, then human beings, civilized human beings, noncivilized human beings. And altogether, there are 8,400,000 species of life, and they are divided into...(break)

...man's body. So... But I am the same. I can remember some of the incidences of my childhood, of my boyhood, of my youthhood. Therefore I am permanent. That is the real understanding of the living entity. These things have been explained very vividly. And in the Sixth Chapter Lord Kṛṣṇa recommended how to practice yoga. Yoga is the beginning of linking up our lost relationship with the Lord, yoga. Yoga means adding, addition or linking. Because we are now forgotten... The yoga system, any yoga system, means... Bhakti-yoga, karma-yoga, jñāna-yoga—there are different names of yogas—but actual fact is how to link up our lost relationship with the Supreme Lord. That is called yoga.

Lecture -- Bombay, March 19, 1972:

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is explanation of the Vedānta-sūtra. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is explanation by the same author. Vyāsadeva is the author of the Vedānta-sūtra, and he explains what does he mean by the Sūtras. That is very nice. The author explains his mind. That is perfect explanation. I cannot understand the author's mind. I may imagine something, but you cannot understand the author's mind, what does he want to explain. Therefore Vyāsadeva explains himself about the Vedānta-sūtra: athāto brahma jijñāsā, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). The human life, atha, now it is the time for inquiring about the Supreme Absolute Truth. Not in other life. "Other" means other than the human life: animal life, beast life, plant life, aquatic life, insect life. There are so many, 8,400,000 of species of life. By evolutionary process, when we come to the human form of life, it is our duty to understand and inquire about Brahma. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. That Brahma is explained by the author. That Brahma is that from where everything emanates, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Janma, śiti and loi(?). Janma means birth, śiti means stay, and loi(?) means annihilation. So wherefrom everything is coming out, and from whom everything is staying, and after annihilation, where everything is entering—that is Brahma. Janmādy asya (SB 1.1.1). Janmādi.

Lecture at Christian Monastery -- Melbourne, April 6, 1972:

Prabhupāda: No. If actually one loves God, he must love everyone. That is the sign. That is the sign. Just like my heart is now thirsty. I am quenching with drinking water and putting here. So as soon as put this water here, immediately the energy distributed all over the body. So a God conscious person cannot be neglectful or envious to anyone. That is the test. This is test. Sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ. All good qualities. So this is a good quality, love your neighbor, to give them service. So if actually one person is God conscious, he must be sympathetic with the troubles of his neighbor, or anyone, not only human being. Animals also. They are also living entities. A God conscious person has no discrimination between human being and animal or trees or plants because they are also living entities.

Guest (7): Swamijī, an old guest has been wandering around. He's called Fred Robinson. He's been forecasting doom to happen very shortly for the human race and says that it is far too hopeless to try and grab for the spiritual plane until one goes back to the land, back to simple living and where one just makes one's task to supply food for the children, the new children of the new age. And then yoga and the spiritual disciplines will flow much easier. What would you say to that?

Prabhupāda: Yes. We are also distributing food. Yes. In our Māyāpur daily we are distributing food to two thousand, three thousand. So that is one of our program, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and distributing prasādam.

Lecture -- Los Angeles, May 18, 1972:

Pārtha-sārathi means He acted as the charioteer of Arjuna, Pārtha, the son of Pṛthā. Arjuna's mother's name was Pṛthā. So Arjuna's another name—Pārtha. And because He acted as the charioteer of Pārtha, His name is Pārtha-sārathi. So actually, Kṛṣṇa, or God, has many dealings with His many devotees, and that particular dealing may be called His name. Therefore... He has innumerable devotees, therefore He has innumerable names. You cannot fix up one name.

But this Kṛṣṇa name means "all-attractive." He attracts everyone. That is the real name, all-attractive. You have seen Kṛṣṇa's picture. He is attractive to the animals, cows, calves, birds, bees, trees, plants, water, in Vṛndāvana. He's attractive to the cowherds boy. He's attractive to the gopīs, He's attractive to Nanda Mahārāja, He's attractive to the Pāṇḍavas. He's still attractive to the whole human society. Therefore, if any particular name can be given to God, that is Kṛṣṇa. And Parāśara Muni, a great saint, father of Vyāsadeva, who compiled all the Vedic literatures, his father, Parāśara Muni, He gave definition of God:

Lecture -- Los Angeles, May 18, 1972:

In all varieties of species of life... There are 8,400,000 species of life. The aquatics, the trees, the plants, the birds, the bees, the insects... Then human beings. And out of the human beings also, there are so many uncivilized. Civilized human beings are very few. And out of the civilized human beings, very few take to religious life. Very few. And out of these so-called religious human society, most of them, they simply designate, "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim," "I am Christian," but they do not know about religion. And one who knows about—not knows, little attracted—they are engaged in philanthropic work. To give help to the poor, or to open a school, hospital. This is called karma-kāṇḍa. Out of many millions of these karma-kāṇḍa people, one is jñānī. Jñānī means "one who knows." And out of millions of persons who know, one is liberated. And out of millions of liberated persons, one can understand what is Kṛṣṇa. This is the position of Kṛṣṇa.

Sunday Feast Lecture -- Los Angeles, May 21, 1972:

So in this way you have to study. We are samples of God, part and parcel. Just like you take little sample from the Pacific Ocean, a drop of water. You can taste it, and it is salty. You can understand the whole water is salty. Similarly, living entities, they are sample of God, small, very small. You can create one sputnik or jet plane, and you take so much credit, "Oh, I am flying in the sky." But why don't you give the credit to God, who is plying, flying millions of sputniks in the sky? Not small; with so many mountains, seas, houses, trees, plants, and so many things. You can see so many things. The sun planet, the moon planet and others, so many other pla... Koṭiṣu vasudhādi vibhūti-bhinnam. In each and every universe, there are millions of planets. Koṭiṣu, vasudhādi. Vasudha means planet.

yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi-
koṭiṣv aśeṣa-vasudhādi vibhūti-bhinnam
tad brahma niṣkalam anantam aśeṣa-bhūtaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
(Bs. 5.40)

The brahma-jyotir, yasya prabhā, is the bodily effulgence of God, Kṛṣṇa, Govinda. So on that effulgence, jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi, there are innumerable universes. It is not very difficult to understand. Just like you see, in the sunshine innumerable planets are floating. So what is the difficulty to understand that there is a shining effulgence from the body of God, Kṛṣṇa, and in that shining effulgence, innumerable universes are floating? What is the difficulty? There is no difficulty. It is most scientific proposal.

Hare Krishna Festival Address -- San Diego, July 1, 1972, At Balboa Park Bowl:

In your country, this, this movement is started since 1966, but in '67 I was sick. I went back to India and again came back in 1968, and since that time, we are pushing on this movement little, very highly, and it is being effected. It is being effected. People are understanding. So my request is that you have got all material resources. Don't waste your time. Life is very valuable, especially this human form of life. Labdhvā su-durlabham idaṁ bahu-sambhavānte. This human form of life is achieved after many, many births of evolutionary process. We had to undergo 900,000 species of life in water. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Two millions of species of life through plants and trees. Sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ. Eleven hundred thousand species of life of insects and reptiles. Pakśiṇāṁ daśa-lakṣaṇam. And one million species of life amongst the birds. Then triṁśal-lakṣāṇi paśavaḥ: and then three million species of life amongst the beasts. In this way, there are four hundred thousand species of human form of life, out of which, the civilized form of life, when our consciousness is developed, that is the opportunity to understand what is God, what I am, what is my relationship with God, what is this material world, how I shall treat. That is needed. In the Vedānta-sūtra it is said, athāto brahma jijñāsā. This human, this civilized form of human life is meant for inquiring about Brahman, the Supreme, the Absolute Truth.

Lecture -- London, July 12, 1972:

Eighty-four, lakṣāṁs, 100,000. Jīva-jātiṣu, there are different species of life. They are developing. Because after devastation, the whole universe is filled up with water. So in the water the first living beings are the fishes or the aquatics. Then that fish or aquatic means a living entity embodied by that fish body. Just like we are now, every one of us... I am also a soul, you are also a soul. We are embodied by this body, human form of body. Similarly, we had to accept the body of a fish. Because we are in this material world, when there is water only, where shall we go? We must live here in this material... Unless we are liberated, we must have to live... And according to the circumstances, we get different types of body. So from the aquatics, next promotion is trees, plants, then insects, then birds, then beasts. In this way, after millions, millions of years... You have seen that a tree is standing for thousands of years. If I get a body of a tree, then I'll have to stand in one place for many thousands of years. Therefore when you come by gradual evolution in the different species of life, by nature when you come to this point, to possess a human form of body, it is very, very rare. That is described: durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma. Durlabham. Duḥ means difficult, and labha means gain. Durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma tad apy adhruvam. Adhruvam. He said durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma tad apy adhruvam arthadam. Although it is also temporary. We shall not live forever with this body. The animals also, they'll also not live forever. The body will be finished after certain period of time. So he says, Prahlāda Mahārāja says, "My dear friend, this body, this human form of body, is very, very rarely we have obtained it. Although it is temporary, but there is a great gain." In the animal life, that is also temporary, and this human form of body is also temporary. But the animals cannot get that achievement which we can get. Durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma tad apy adhruvam arthadam. Arthadam means... Artha means meaningful or some material profit or spiritual profit.

Lecture -- Laguna Beach, September 30, 1972:

So this world, this material world, although it is not different from God, but still, it is not God. So we have to transfer ourself from this material energy to the spiritual energy. That is the business. So long we are in the lower form of life... This human form of life is considered the upper or better form of life, whereas the animals, the trees, the aquatics, the insects, the reptiles... There are so many, 8,400,000 forms of life. Out of that, this human form of life, especially the civilized form of life, this is elevated life of developed consciousness. The consciousness of human form of life is different from the consciousness of aquatic life or tree life or plant life or cat life or dog life. This is the developed consciousness of life. Why this developed consciousness of life is given by God? To understand God. This is the only business. This developed consciousness of life is being misused in the matter of animal life. The modern scientific advancement or philosophical speculation, they are trying to adjust how we can enjoy our sense life better. But after all, it is sense life. Better or inferior, there is no such question. Suppose a glass of water, given in golden glass tumbler or in earthen tumbler. The taste of the water is the same. Similarly, the taste of life is eating, sleeping, sex life and defense. So either in the dog's life or human life, the taste of eating or taste of sex life is the same. The same example. You drink water in different pots, either golden pots or earthen pot—it doesn't matter—but the taste of the water is the same. It is not different. Simply because you put the water in a golden pot, therefore it does not mean that the taste of the water also will change. No. The taste will remain the same.

Rotary Club Lecture -- Hyderabad, November 29, 1972:

The Vedānta-sūtra says, "Who is the Absolute Truth?" Athāto brahma jijñāsā. The Vedānta-sūtra means to inquire about the Absolute Truth. This human form of life is meant for inquiring about the Absolute Truth. Jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā. That is the duty of the human form of life. It is a very big subject matter. So this human birth, form of life, we have got after so many evolutions: aquatics, then trees, then plants, then insects, then birds, then beasts. Then we come to the platform of this human being, especially civilized human being. And especially born in India. For this reason, Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that Indian people have got a special mission. He said, bhārata-bhūmite manuṣya-janma haila yāra (CC Adi 9.41). Anyone who is fortunate enough to get his birth in Bhārata-varṣa, janma sārthaka kari' kara paropakāra. Paropakāra. Indian, Indians are meant for doing welfare activities to others. Because in India you have got the culture which is actually human culture. Human culture means to understand God, to understand Kṛṣṇa; that is human culture. Otherwise, if you simply improve the four principles of animal life, that is not culture. Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca sāmānyam etad paśubhiḥ narānām. Eating: animal eats; we also eat. And if we make some improvement in the eating matter, that is not advancement of civilization. Similarly in sleeping matter. A dog lies on the ground; we lie down on very silk bed and very nice apartment. But we are thinking this is advancement of civilization. No. This is not advancement of civilization. The advancement of civilization is that "Why I am put under the material laws?"

Lecture at Bharata Chamber of Commerce 'Culture and Business' -- Calcutta, January 30, 1973:

Why this struggle for existence? We must know... We have got eternal life. This temporary... Suppose in this temporary life I become Birla or some big businessman for, say, twenty years or fifty years, utmost, hundred years. Next life there is no guarantee that I'm going to be Birla or this man, Tata. No. There is no such guarantee. That we do not take care. We are taking care of the small span of life, but we are not taking care of our life eternal. That is mistake. Suppose in this life I am a very great businessman. Next life, by my karma, if I become something else... There are 8,400,000 species of life, forms of life. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Nine lakhs of forms of life in the water. Then there are insects. Sthāvarā lakṣa... There are trees, plants, two million forms of trees and plants. Kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ. Eleven lakhs' species of insects, reptiles. Then birds. Pakṣiṇāṁ daśa-lakṣaṇam. In this way, we fulfill eight millions of different forms of life. Then we come to the form of human life. Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja said that kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha, durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma (SB 7.6.1). This mānuṣaṁ janma is very, very rare. We should not be satisfied only becoming a very big businessman. We must know what is next life, what I am going to be.

Lecture at Indo-American Society 'East and West' -- Calcutta, January 31, 1973:

Where is that technology?" So the students liked it. And we had very nice discussion. So we are very much advanced in technology. But we do not know what is the technology of the soul transmigrating from one body to another. That is ignorance. That is ignorance.

And this ignorance prevails in animals also. The animals do not know. Because they are not advanced in knowledge. But they have got also soul. Their soul is evolving or transmigrating from one body to another. There is a system. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa viṁśati. From the aquatics. Because the whole world was merged into water, devastation. Therefore the beginning of living entities, (is) the aquatics. From the aquatics, they come to the plants, trees. Then from plants, trees, to insect. From insect to birds. Then bird to beast. From beast to human being. Aśītiṁ caturaś caiva lakṣāṁs tāñ jīva-jātiṣu. They're all mentioned. The evolutionary theory, it is not new thing, as it is stated by Darwin. It is there in the Padma Purāṇa. But it is very perfectly explained there. Darwin has not very perfectly explained. There are so many defects. But real thing is that the living entity, soul, is transmigrating from one body to another and the chance of developed consciousness is human form of life. In this human form of life, if we do not understand "What I am, wherefrom I have come, where I am going next, why I have taken this body, subjected to so much miserable tribulations of life which I do not want?"

Lecture -- London, August 26, 1973:

Ladies and Gentlemen, I thank you very much for your coming here and participating with this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. So you have already some understanding about this movement. Still, as you have kindly come here, I shall try to explain what is this movement. This movement means that to awaken the original consciousness of the living entity. Living being or living entity, there are varieties, 8,400,000 varieties. There are nine hundred thousand varieties in the water, and two million varieties as trees and plants. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. And then insects, reptiles, there are eleven hundred thousand varieties. Then there are one million varieties of birds. Pakṣiṇāṁ daśa-lakṣaṇam. Then beasts, three million. Three million varieties of animals, beasts, four-legged beasts, and then there are four hundred thousand forms of the human being, out of which the civilized men, they are taken into consideration. All other varieties, they are in the lower grade of life. They cannot understand Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is not possible. It is in the human form of body when the consciousness is developed. In the tree also, there is consciousness. It is now scientifically proved. When you cut tree or take its leaves, it feels, and that is recorded in the machine. This machine was discovered by Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose, a great physicist in Calcutta. So everyone has got consciousness, there is no doubt about it. But the developed consciousness is found in the human being. And the topmost development of consciousness is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore we are appealing to the people in general all over the world that "Now you have got developed consciousness than the lower animals, birds, trees, beasts. Now you develop further so that you can awaken your original consciousness, which is called Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then your life is successful." This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.

Lecture at Upsala University Faculty -- Stockholm, September 7, 1973:

One technologist questioned me. That technology means the process by which we can enjoy this material world. That is technology. So the spirit is how to enjoy. So prakṛtim puruṣaṁ caiva, and kṣetram. Kṣetram means the field of activities. Although everyone is trying to enjoy, but he cannot enjoy according to his whims. He is limited with the body. A man is trying to enjoy and a cat and dog is also trying to enjoy. But the enjoyment of the cats and dogs are different from the man's enjoyment because on account of different body. The facility of enjoyment has been given by nature according to different body. Therefore we find intelligent man and less intelligent man; cats and dogs and human being and different types of men, different types of plants, different types of animals—varieties, 8,400,000's. The nature is so acute. As you try to enjoy this material world, he'll give you a suitable type of body. Just like a pig. A pig means he has no discrimination of food. He can eat even stool. So similarly, persons who have no discrimination what kind of food we should eat, so he is given the next change to become a pig so that there will be no discrimination. And he has got a particular type of body, a particular type of mouth so that he can enjoy any abominable things. A tiger, a tiger wants to suck fresh blood, so nature has given a suitable type of body with jaws and nails so that he can immediately attack an animal and suck the blood. So in this way, prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). We are trying to enjoy, but we have got different desires of enjoyment. So every particular thing is taken into account by the laws of nature. And the next life, because if I try for something, I am absorbed in that thought, and at the time of my death, when I leave this gross body, my mental condition is there, and that mental condition carries me to a suitable position where I get a suitable body to fulfill the mental desires. This is the process of transmigration. So our process is... This is also described in the Bhagavad-gītā:

Lecture on Gurvastakam at Upsala University -- Stockholm, September 9, 1973:

By Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement we are trying to give information how one can be transferred directly to the Goloka Vṛndāvana planet, Kṛṣṇaloka. That is our mission.

So what is the difference between this material world and the spiritual world? The difference is that in the material world you have to change your body, although you are eternal. Nityaḥ śāśvato na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). You are not destroyed after the annihilation of this body, material body, but you transmigrate to another body. And that body may be one of the 8,400,000's of forms. There are 8,400,000's of forms. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi. There are 900,000 forms in the water, two millions forms of trees and plants, eleven hundred thousand forms of the insect, and then one million forms of the birds. And then three million forms of the beasts. And then we come to this human form of life. Now it is our choice, whether you are going to be transferred again through the cycle of this transmigration of the soul from the one body to another in the lower species of life, or you want to be transferred to the spiritual sky. And you can transfer yourself to the highest spiritual platform, which is known as Goloka Vṛndāvana. That is your choice. You have been given the chance of this human form of body to make your choice. You are completely under the control of material nature, but the material nature gives you a chance to get this human form of body. Whatever you like, you can do. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā:

Lecture -- Hong Kong, January 31, 1974:

The duty of human life is to understand God, Kṛṣṇa. In the Vedānta-sūtra, the first aphorism is athāto brahma jijñāsā. Athaḥ, "therefore." Because we have got this human form of body, so this is the time for inquiring about the Absolute Truth. In the other life, animal life, beast life, tree life, plant life... There are 8,400,000 different forms of life, and through evolutionary process we have passed through 8,000,000 forms of life or a few thousand more forms of life, because human beings, they are of 400,000 forms of life. Just like we have got experience over this planet there are different forms of life, different system of religion, different system of culture, even though all of them are of human form life, similarly, there are other forms of life—aquatics in the water; in the jungle, trees, plants, mountains; and then insects, reptiles, ants; then birds, flies. Jalajā nava-lakṣāni sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa the description is there what are the different forms of life. Jalajā nava-lakṣāni. In the water there are 900,000 forms of life. Who knows that? But in the Vedic śāstra everything perfectly calculated is given there. This is called Vedic knowledge. Vedic knowledge means perfect knowledge. There is no (indistinct) who can calculate how many forms of life are within the ocean. But from the Vedic literature you get just exact conclusion—900,000 species of life. The botanists, they cannot say how many forms of trees and plants are there. But in the Vedas you'll find sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati—2,000,000's forms of life, of trees and plants. Sthāvara. Sthāvara means the living entities which cannot move, stand in one place. This is a punishment, those who are too much dull. Means..., dull means cannot understand what is God. That is dullness.

Lecture at World Health Organization -- Geneva, June 6, 1974:

We... In the śāstras, in the Vedic literature, we don't find such thing as overpopulation, because the living entities are already fixed up. From the Padma-Purāṇa, we can understand that the living entities, they're very, very small particles of the supreme spirit soul, or God. Mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7). And their dimension is also mentioned, keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadhā kalpitasya ca: (CC Madhya 19.140) the one ten-thousandth part of the top of the hair. And jīva-bhāgo sa vijñeya sa anantaya kalpate. So the living entities are already ananta, unlimited. In another place of Upaniṣad, Kaṭhopaniṣad, we find that nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). These living entities, they are maintained. Their provision for their maintenance is already there, made by God. So there is no question of overpopulation. The question is varṇa-saṅkara. Varṇa-saṅkara, that is the problem. So the human life is meant for systematic organization of spiritual realization. That is human life. There is evolutionary process from low-grade life, from aquatics to trees, plants, from trees, plants to insects, from insects to birds, and then from birds to the beasts, from beasts to human being. So there are 8,400,000's of living entities in different species of life. And in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said,

sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya
sambhavanti mūrtayo yāḥ
tāsāṁ mahad-yonir brahma
ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā
(BG 14.4)

So Kṛṣṇa, or God, claims that He is the seed-giving father of all these living entities. So as the father makes provision for maintenance of the sons and children, so God is not incapable.

Lecture at the Hare Krsna Festival at La Salle Pleyel -- Paris, June 14, 1974:

At the time of death, as the mind is absorbed, I mean to say, full of thoughts, according to that full of thoughts, we are given another gross body. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, that anta-kale, yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajaty ante kalevaram (BG 8.6). Bhāvam, the attitude, the modes of the mind at the time of death, will carry me to the next gross body. Therefore it is necessary to prepare ourself what kind of body we are going to get after death. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, "After death, the soul," tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13), "gets another body." Now, we can see in our experience, there are so many different types of bodies. There are 900,000 species of bodies in the water. There are two million different types of bodies in the vegetables kingdom, means the trees and plants. There are eleven hundred thousand species of life in the insect kingdom. There are one million types of bodies in the bird kingdom. And there are three million types of bodies in the beast life. And there are 400,000 species of body in the human society. Out of them, the civilized man is considered to be perfectly in bodily situation.

So this human form of body is given to us by nature to understand God. In other forms of life there is no chance of understanding God. Therefore it is our duty, everyone's duty, before the next death comes, we must understand what is God. If we simply misuse this body like cats and dogs, then we are missing the chance. We cannot say that we are free. That is not possible. We are completely under the control of the material nature. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā:

Public Speech -- Bad Homburg, Germany, June 22, 1974:

We have to pass through 900,000 forms of aquatic body within the water. Then gradually we come to the form of trees and plants. They are two million varieties. Then we get the bodies of the insect. There are 900,000 forms of body. Then we enter into the species of birds, one million forms of body. Then after bird's body, there are three million different varieties of beast's body. Then after this period, we become human body, but there are 400,000 species of human body. And thus we get this nice human form body with good brain and good consciousness. So it should be utilized properly. By the laws of nature... Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). This is the law of nature. Gradually we develop different types of body and different types of consciousness. So when we come finally to God consciousness or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is the perfection of life.

So we are living in this planet, but in other planets also there are different forms of life. So there is one planet... There are many millions of planet. Specifically, there is one planet within this universe that is called Siddha-loka. There is other planet also, heavenly planet, Brahmaloka planet, and in different planets there are different species of life, different standard of comforts, but in the higher planetary system, the standard of comfort is more and more, thousand times more, thousand times more, in this way. Just like in this planet we have got different standard of life. In your Western countries your standard of life is... At least, it is to be understood more comfortable than other standard of life. In this way, if you promote yourself to the topmost planetary system, which is called Brahmaloka, then you get your duration of life, many millions of years. It is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā that sahasra-yuga-paryantam ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ (BG 8.17).

Lecture at St. Pascal's Franciscan Seminary -- Melbourne, June 28, 1974:

Madhudviṣa: (repeating question) St. Francis, the founder of this particular order which we have been invited to speak to, found God in the material world. And he used to address the aspects of the material world as "brother" and "sister." "Brother tree," "sister water," like that. What is your view upon this?

Prabhupāda: This is real God consciousness. This is real God consciousness, yes, not that "I am God conscious, and I kill the animals." That is not God conscious. To accept the trees, plants, lower animals, insignificant ants even, as brothers... Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu. This is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā.

brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā
na śocati na kāṅkṣati
samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu
(BG 18.54)

Samaḥ. Samaḥ means equal to all living entities, to see the spirit soul, anyone... It doesn't matter whether he is man or cat or dog or tree or ant or insect or big man. They are all parts and parcel of God. They are simply dressed differently. One has got the dress of tree; one has got the dress of king; one has got the, insect. That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ: (BG 5.18) "One who is paṇḍita, learned, his vision is equal." So if St. Francis was thinking like that, that is highest standard of spiritual understanding. Similar expression is there in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, that sthāvara-jaṅgama dekhe nā dekhe tāra mūrti (CC Madhya 8.274). A spiritually advanced devotee of the Lord, he sees the trees or the animals or the stone or the anything he sees—he sees that it is the energy of God. Nā dekhe tāra mūrti. Just like your mūrti or my mūrti—mūrti means form—may be little different, but we are made of the same ingredients. If your body surgically operated, the same blood, stone, or bone, or flesh, everything is there the same because same ingredients. Similarly, our outward covering is covered by these material elements, but inside, within this, there is the spirit soul. Therefore one who is advanced, he does not see that "This is cat, this is dog, this is man, this is elephant, and this is brāhmaṇa, this is this..." No. He sees the soul, that "Here is the soul, part and parcel of God." That is his vision. Paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ (BG 5.18). So that is God realization. God is spirit, Supreme Spirit, and he is part and parcel, the living entities. That is real vision. Paṇḍitāḥ. Paṇḍitāḥ means learned.

Sunday Feast Lecture -- Atlanta, March 2, 1975:

Prabhupāda: It is very good. It is very good. Guru Nanak, he chanted the name, holy name of Rāma, the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, Govinda. So if we follow Guru Nanak, we are fortunate. Anyone who presents a science of God, it doesn't matter whether he is this man or that man; he is our guru. Yes?

Girl: Why is it all right to kill any plants? How are they different from animals?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: She is asking, "What is the difference between killing a plant and eating it and killing an animal and eating it?"

Prabhupāda: The same fault. Either you kill animal or plant, the same sin is there just like if you kill an uncivilized and if you kill a big man, the punishment is the same, hanging. You cannot say that "I have killed one uncivilized man." No. That you cannot do. Similarly, you cannot kill even plant. But we have to live. Therefore we can kill plant under the order of the Supreme. Just like I have already explained. Kṛṣṇa said, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26). Patraṁ means plant. So Kṛṣṇa wants it. So for Kṛṣṇa's sake we can do that. Just like Arjuna did. Arjuna did not like to kill his brothers, but Kṛṣṇa said that "This is My desire." "All right, I shall kill." This is Kṛṣṇa-bhakti. When Kṛṣṇa says, we can do everything, not for our personal self. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ santo mucyante sarva-kilbiṣaiḥ. That another crude example: just like a soldier. When he is fighting by the order of the state, he is getting gold medal and killing. His business is killing. But the same man, when he comes home, if he kills one person, then he is hanged. Why? He could say that "My business is killing. I am soldier.

Sunday Feast Lecture -- Atlanta, March 2, 1975:

I have killed this man." "No. This is for your account. On the battlefield you killed for the state's account; therefore you were eulogized. You were given reward." Similarly, we can kill only on the order of the Supreme. Otherwise we cannot kill even a plant. Therefore Bhagavad-gītā says, yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ santo mucyante sarva-kilbiṣaiḥ. Yajña means for the satisfaction of the Supreme Lord, whatever you do, you are not implicated with sinful activities. And bhuñjate te tv aghaṁ pāpā ye pacanty ātma-kāraṇāt (BG 3.13). And a person who is doing on his own capacity, he is simply acquiring sinful resultant action. So the conclusion is: even a plant you cannot kill, what to speak of bigger animals. If one thinks that "I am killing only plants; therefore I am very pious, vegetarian," no. There is no question of vegetarian, nonvegetarian. They are equally sinful. Only those who are taking prasādam, they are free from sinful activities. Yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ santo mucyante sarva-kilbiṣaiḥ. All right, thank you... Again? More questions? (laughter) All right, one more question.

Life Member House Lecture -- Hyderabad, April 14, 1975:

Our position as servant is never changed. We remain servant. So if we don't agree to accept Kṛṣṇa's proposal sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66), then we have to take shelter of māyā and you have to perpetually serve. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19).

To serve māyā means to continue this material existence one after another. Now I've got this body, you've got this body, and if we do not change our attitude to serve Kṛṣṇa, then we get again next body. There are 8,400,000 different forms of body. We can see. There are so many trees, plants, insects, animals. They're all living entities. Also there are nice body—Americans, Europeans, beautiful body, or demigod's body. There are different bodies, eight million... So long we shall remain māyā-dāsa, we have to change this body one after another. It may be of higher standard or it may be of lower standard. That will depend on my work. Karmaṇā daiva netreṇa jantor deha upapattaye (SB 3.31.1). This is the philosophy, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You are... We are not independent. We are completely under the control of material nature, and we get different types of bodies on account of associating with different modes of material nature. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa saṅga asya sad-asad janma yoniṣu (BG 13.22). Sat, asat, there are two kinds of status quo, sat and asat. Sat means nice, or eternal, and asat means not very nice. So either you can get the body of the human society or you can get a body in the hog society, dog society. But the activities of the hogs and dogs and human being, if it is carried on in ignorance, eating, sleeping, mating... Then there is no difference. There is no difference. There is no difference to become a hog or to become a man.

City Hall Lecture -- Durban, October 7, 1975:

So you are talking like a learned man, but you are not a learned man." This is the first instruction. Because Arjuna accepted Kṛṣṇa, He chastised him with little hard words, that "You are not a paṇḍita." Now, you just consider what is the position of this world. Everyone is taking care of this body. But Kṛṣṇa said, gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ. The paṇḍitāḥ, one who is learned, he knows that he is not this body. He is soul. So our first business is to take care of the soul. And this is the opportunity, this human form of body. In the human form of body we can understand Bhagavad-gītā, not in the dog's body. That is not possible. So by evolution, jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati, from aquatics to trees, plants, then insects, then birds, then beast, then human being, then civilized human being... In this civilized form of human being, if we do not take this knowledge of Bhagavad-gītā personally given by the Lord Himself, then we are missing the point. This is the whole Vedic literature's lesson, that human form of life is meant for self-realization: "I am not this body. I am soul. I am spirit soul. My business is different from simply taking care of the body." This is human civilization. So therefore our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is very important movement. We request everyone to study this movement very seriously and make one's life successful. And what is that success? Simply try to understand Kṛṣṇa. If you simply try to understand Kṛṣṇa... And Kṛṣṇa is explaining Himself. When I speak of Kṛṣṇa, everyone should know that Kṛṣṇa means God. So if we try to understand simply Kṛṣṇa, or God, in this life, then we become liberated. We become free from this material bondage. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). This is the assurance given in the Bhagavad-gītā. If you simply try to understand Kṛṣṇa... Janma karma ca me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9). Now, in truth you should understand Kṛṣṇa, what is Kṛṣṇa. And there is no difficulty. Kṛṣṇa is explaining Himself in the Bhagavad-gītā.

Tenth Anniversary Address -- Washington, D.C., July 6, 1976:

So there is law of God, there is God. If human being does not know what is God and what is the law of God, then he's no better than the cats and dogs. He must know. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19).

So that law is being instructed by the God Himself. That is Bhagavad-gītā. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati (BG 4.7). Dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya. So Kṛṣṇa did not come to establish some sectarian religious system. That is not God's system. God is for everyone. God is not for the Hindus, for the Muslims, for the Christians, or anyone. God is for everyone. He is for animals, trees, plants, aquatics, insects, everyone. Because He claims, Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā,

sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya
sambhavanti mūrtayaḥ yāḥ
tāsāṁ brahma mahad yonir
ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā
(BG 14.4)

Kṛṣṇa is claiming. Actually, that is the fact. If you study only this verse, sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayaḥ yāḥ. There are so many forms of life, beginning from grass. That is also life. The grass is coming from the earth, the trees are coming from the earth, the animals, four-legged animals, they are eating grass, they are forming semina, they are discharging the semina, and the animal species of life are coming.

Tenth Anniversary Address -- Washington, D.C., July 6, 1976:

That is also life. The grass is coming from the earth, the trees are coming from the earth, the animals, four-legged animals, they are eating grass, they are forming semina, they are discharging the semina, and the animal species of life are coming. We are eating, either eating the animal or the vegetable, we are also begetting children. The origin is from the earth. Tāsāṁ brahma mahad yonir. Mahat-tattva. So we can see practically that these things are there, so many different varieties of life. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ. They are all living entities. Aquatics, nine hundred thousand forms of life within the water, jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi, everything accurate. Sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati, the trees, plants, they are standing, sthavara. That is very great punishment. Those who are very, very sinful, they have to take birth as trees and plants and stand up for thousands of years. Material nature's punishment. A small ant, it can move, but a big tree cannot move. That is punishment. Just like in our childhood we were being punished by the teachers, "Stand up on the bench." So it is like that.

General Lecture -- (location & date unknown):

"It doesn't matter what is that religion. Any religion is first-class religion provided it gives you opportunity to develop your dormant love of God. That's all." You follow any religion; it doesn't matter. Either you become a Hindu, Muslim, or Christian, or Buddhist, or so many other religions there are, but the test is that whether your religious principle is first class or third class or second class, the test will be whether you have developed your dormant love of God. That's all. If you are lacking in that, that you have not..., instead of developing your dormant love of God, you are developing your love for so many other things...

Caitanya Mahāprabhu has instructed in Caitanya-caritāmṛta that just like when you seed some plants, there are..., some other plants also grow. So the gardener takes out the unnecessary plants in order to give impetus to the real plant to grow. So Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Bhagavad-gītā, following the principle that dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19), that dharma means, religion means, the law enacted by the Lord... This is the law, that "You surrender unto Me." Kṛṣṇa says. Now, if you say that Kṛṣṇa is Indian God or Hindu God, oh, Kṛṣṇa, of course, does not say like that. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayo yāḥ: (BG 14.4) "In any form of life, all the living entities..." It doesn't matter, even a human being or in the animal kingdom or lower than human beings, lower than animals, birds, beast, reptiles, aquatics. There are 8,400,000 species of life. Kṛṣṇa claims, sarva-yonisu: "All species of life, they are My sons." Ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā: "I am their father, supreme father."

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Śyāmasundara: He made many, many tests; he has much evidence...

Prabhupāda: What is that evidence?

Śyāmasundara: ...to show that animals adapt to their environments, just like if you...

Prabhupāda: Why he takes animals first? Why not others?

Śyāmasundara: Animals, trees, plants, insects, men, he examines all the different varieties. For instance if you put a certain animal in a cold climate, he will develop hair to protect his body against the cold, and he will pass on this characteristic to his sons.

Prabhupāda: So why...? The people in Greenland, do they develop hair?

Śyāmasundara: They don't have so much hair, but they develop very fatty tissues. Their eyes are slitted so there is not so much snow and bright light...

Prabhupāda: Then development of hair is not only the existent; there are other many conditions. You cannot say that development of hair is due to the condition as he says, natural condition. That is not a fixed-up...

Śyāmasundara: I was just using that as an example of how a species can adapt to its environment.

Prabhupāda: The question is that this development of body, is there any plan that this body should exist in certain condition of nature, and therefore he must have these equipments, either you say, tissues or veins or hair? Who has made these arrangements? That is the question.

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Prabhupāda: Bones, that's all right. There are many... We also say from the Vedic śāstra there is fish, timiṅgila, which can swallow up big, big whales, you see. That is also very big. And there is Varāha incarnation, He picked up the whole earth on the tusk. How much big the Varāha animal was to show that it can pick up the whole earth, earthly planet just like a ball. He cannot imagine such big animals.

Śyāmasundara: But my point is they excavated down into the ground and they found that gradually, through the years, animals are evolving towards more and more complex forms, from very simple forms in the water to land animals, plants, and these big dinosaurs, then they died out.

Prabhupāda: If they died out, that means there is no more existence of that animal. But how can you say that the animal is existing somewhere else? Now, according to his statement that from a certain basic principle, by gradual evolution, the human body is coming. Now his theory is that the human body is coming from the monkey.

Śyāmasundara: They are related; they come from the same...

Prabhupāda: Related? Everything is related. That is another thing. But if the monkey's body is developing into human body...

Śyāmasundara: Yes. Apelike man.

Prabhupāda: Then after development of human body, why is the monkey species does not cease? Why not it does not cease?

Śyāmasundara: They are like branches of the same tree, he calls them.

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Prabhupāda: No. Not in this planet, he has no chance to see it.

Śyāmasundara: There's dinosaurs existing on this planet?

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes, he has no chance to see it, or it is imagination only.

Śyāmasundara: That's very hard to accept. What about the dodo? It was a giant bird...

Prabhupāda: Our proposition is that there is an evolutionary process from aquatics to birds here, plants life, then insect life, then bird's life, then animal life, then human life. So this is a evolutionary process, we accept but it is not that one is extinct, another is surviving. All of them are existing simultaneously.

Śyāmasundara: But they are not all present at this particular moment on this planet, are they?

Prabhupāda: Particular, it is not that he has seen all the planets or all the universes. What he has seen?

Śyāmasundara: That's what I mean. They may be extinct on this planet but on some other planet they...

Prabhupāda: At least he has no power to see everything. That is a fact. He's not so powerful that he can see everywhere and everything. That you have to accept. He has limited power to see. By that limited power to see he cannot conclude that one species (is) extinct. That is not possible. No scientist will accept that. After all, your senses by which you are (indistinct), they're limited. So how you can say, "This is finished," or "This is that." That is not to be accepted. Because your senses are imperfect. You cannot see. You cannot search out. Have you searched out all the earthly layers or the 25,000 miles everywhere? That is not possible for you. The whole earthly planet is circumference is 25,000 miles, radius how many, has he discovered that all the places?

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Prabhupāda: What is remains? Remains means just like the coal, that is the remains.

Śyāmasundara: Coal.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Śyāmasundara: Coal is the remains of trees, plants...

Prabhupāda: Yes. This is the remains.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Coal, oil, petroleum.

Śyāmasundara: That means there was some evidence that there were... If we look in coal beds we find remains of trees that were very simple, no complex forms of trees. Now trees are much more complex.

Prabhupāda: Complex or simple, it doesn't matter. There were trees.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Actually, the coal doesn't say whether the tree was complex or not.

Śyāmasundara: No, but they find impressions from leaves and the carboniferous age, they find that the remains of trees, plants, twigs, all very simple forms like our (indistinct). Today they're more...

Prabhupāda: Our evidence is intelligence, not with tools and (indistinct). Our evidence is intelligence. We find, we get Vedic information by disciplic succession-highly intelligent. So that is our evidence. Not the tools.

Śyāmasundara: The Scripture. The evidence which is written and spoken in...

Philosophy Discussion on Henri Bergson:

Hayagrīva: So there's harmony at the beginning and harmony at the end?

Prabhupāda: Everything is in harmony. That is God's law. Everything is in harmony. Material or spiritual, everything is in harmony.

Hayagrīva: So if everything is in harmony, then evolution has an incidental meaning. The meaning is just...

Prabhupāda: The evolution is all harmony. Just like from aquatics one has to become insect. From aquatic one has to accept the body of plants and trees, then he has to accept the bodies of insects. This is harmony. Changing is there, but it is in harmony. Now, when one comes to accept the body of human being, then his consciousness is developed. Now he can accept, because he has got greater freedom than the animal, so he has to make his choice whether he is going to stop this evolutionary process or he wants to remain in this evolutionary process. So if he takes instruction of Kṛṣṇa, then he can stop this botheration of evolution, and if he does not take, then he remains. (aside:) Find out this verse, aśraddadhānāḥ puruṣā dharmasyāsya parantapa. What is it?

Philosophy Discussion on Henri Bergson:

Prabhupāda: They cannot go.

Hayagrīva: By use of, what is this radio, what do they call it? By radio waves they try to listen to messages from outer space.

Prabhupāda: That's all right, but what benefit we will get? Suppose it is not very important thing. If you hear how the persons in other plant are talking, so what benefit we will get?

Hayagrīva: Is this isolation a characteristic only of the lower and middle planetary systems? In the higher planetary system, systems, is there so much isolation?

Prabhupāda: Isolation is always there. Even in this world there is isolation, even in animals. The birds, the crows, they remain together, and the swans remain together. So there is isolation between the swan and the crows. So this isolation will continue because everyone is under different modes of material nature. There are three modes of material nature. Multiply three by three, it becomes nine. Nine by nine, then it becomes eighty-one. So, prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni (BG 3.27). So according to the association of different qualities the isolation is there, but when they come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, spiritual platform, so there is no more isolation. When everyone is engaged in the service of the Lord, there is no isolation.

Hayagrīva: Bergson sees the universe itself as expanding and evolving. He writes, "For the universe is not made but is being made continually."

Philosophy Discussion on William James:

Prabhupāda: The man or not man, there are living beings, varieties; we simply do not see the man as a living being. We see there are varieties of living beings, beginning from water up to the higher planetary system. There are different forms of living being, we have several times repeated. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati, like that, nine millions, ah, nine hundred thousands forms of body within the water; then plants, trees, creepers, insects. So all of them are living beings. God is concerned with all of them. Why man is created? Every one of us in different form we are created. Or exactly not created; we are part and parcel of God. In one word God is the father of all living entities. So the simple relationship is that God is maintainer, we are maintained. This is our relationship. In the material world, as a man may have more than one wife, so similarly God has two prakṛtis, or subordinate energies—material and spiritual. So in the material world the material nature is the mother, God is the father, and varieties of living entities, they are all maintained by the father, supreme father. This is the conception of universal brotherhood. And if we understand our relationship with God as father and son... There are so many sons. That is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā, sarva-yoniṣu. All different forms of life, the mother is material nature, and God says, ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā: (BG 14.4) "And I am the seed-giving father." So that relationship should be known, and if we act according to that relationship, there will be actual peace and prosperity and advancement of all knowledge. That is wanted.

Philosophy Discussion on Jacques Maritain:

Śyāmasundara: They have realized their essence.

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa conscious.

Śyāmasundara: Yes. Whereas the lower types of entities who are purely potential but have very small existences, like they're animal, plant life, he sees that hierarchy, and he says that the highest summit of man is..., the summit of wisdom, when he becomes capable of loving God lovingly.

Prabhupāda: That's right.

Śyāmasundara: Then he becomes purely...

Prabhupāda: Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, premā pumartho pumān: the highest perfection of life is to attain love of Godhead. And Bhāgavata also says, sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje (SB 1.2.6). That is first-class religious system, (indistinct) develops his dormant love of God. That is religion. That is first-class, transcendental religion. And Bhāgavata, in other place it is said, dharmaḥ projjhita kaitava atra: all cheating religious system is rejected here. Because Bhāgavata does not accept a religious system as genuine unless the followers develop love of Godhead. This is the test. And dharma means, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). This is dharma. Kṛṣṇa says that "You give up all types of religious system." That means they are not religious, they are not religious. Otherwise why Kṛṣṇa will ask that you give it up?

Śyāmasundara: Yes.

Philosophy Discussion on Jean-Paul Sartre:

Hayagrīva: Not intelligently.

Prabhupāda: That means a rascal. A rascal can say that "I appeared without father and mother." That's not possible. So we say that everyone appears, not only human being. All animals, all plants, trees, everywhere—there are 8,400,000 species of life—they have appeared from these material elements. Either from the water... The fishes is appearing in the water, and the plants and trees, they are appearing on the land, and then insects, birds and everything. Everything is appearing. So material nature is the mother. That is accepted. So as soon as you accept mother there must be father. Where you get this conception that we are appearing without father and mother? How it, how it is possible?

Rāmeśvara: He just wants to put the question aside.

Prabhupāda: Why? This is the primary question, wherefrom you appeared.

Rāmeśvara: Christians also, and the Jew, the Western religions, they say there is a God, but He has put us here in this world. So He is in His heaven, and we are here on earth, and our business now is to become happy. They also put the question aside. (end)

Philosophy Discussion on The Evolutionists Thomas Huxley, Henri Bergson, and Samuel Alexander:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Śyāmasundara: He wants this, he wants that. Is that right?

Prabhupāda: Next step... No. Up to human form of life, by nature one is making progress automatically. One after this, one after this. That evolution. Jalajā nava... Just like from aquatics, you become trees, plants. (aside:) Telephone. Telephone. Somebody go. From trees, you become insect. From insect, you become birds or reptiles. From birds, you become beast. From beast, you become a human being. This is going on by nature's way. Just like a goat. A goat has to live in this body for certain years. Then he becomes something, other animal, and he has to live in that body for some years. Then he becomes another body. This is change . In this way he comes to the human form of life when his consciousness is developed. Now, when... Amongst the human form of life, there are many species of human form of life. So when one comes to..., I may say, in India, when he's born in India, that is the highest perfectional point because there is Vedic knowledge. So he can take advantage of the Vedic knowledge. And by taking advantage of Vedic knowledge, he understands that "I am part and parcel of God. Therefore my real business is to go back to God. Why I am suffering in this material world?" That is perfectional stage.

Śyāmasundara: But the urge to improve oneself, to attain the next stage...

Philosophy Discussion on Plotinus:

Hayagrīva: He believed that the soul is eternal and incorporeal in men, animals, and even in plants, and in this he differed from other philosophers of the time.

Prabhupāda: What... In which way differs? Because he accepts...

Hayagrīva: Accepted in..., the soul living in animals and also in plants.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is the fact. He is right. That is Vedic conclusion. Sarva-yoniṣu, all different forms of life, there is soul, part and parcel of God. How some foolish person can think of animal has no soul? What is the reason? There is no very strong argument. The animals may be less intelligent. A child may be less intelligent than the father; that does not mean there is no soul. This gross and doggish mentality, animal mentality, is killing the human civilization. Now they have degraded so much that they think that the embryo has no soul. In this way man is being put into darker and darkest region of ignorance. Everyone has soul. That is real. We get it from Kṛṣṇa: sarva-yoniṣu. In different forms of life the soul is there, undoubtedly. That is real conception of soul. Evolution means he is evolving from one lower grade of body to another, higher grade of body, and in this way by evolution he comes to the human form of life. And in this human form of life he can understand the teachings of Bhagavad-gītā, that if he likes, he can surrender to the Supreme Lord and go back to home, back to Godhead, and if he does not, then he remains in this material world, undergoing the tribulations of the repetition of birth, death, old age, and disease. Corporal body.

Hayagrīva: Plotinus saw the individual souls returning to God or the One through three stages. The first stage is that of asceticism, detaching oneself from the material world. The second stage, one detaches oneself from the process of reasoning itself. That would be mental speculation. And in the third stage the intellect transcends itself into the realm of the unknown, the realm of the One, and he speaks of this as an ecstasy, an involvement, or a transcendence of the ego. So these are the three stages of God realization that he sets down.

Philosophy Discussion on St. Augustine:

Prabhupāda: Why man? Every living entity has a mortal body. So to enter into the mortal body, that is a kind of punishment. And then there is evolutionary process from lower grade of body to higher grade of body. That is quite reasonable, that every living entity or soul is part and parcel of God, but on account of some sinful activities or disobedience to God, as they believe Adam on account of disobedience to God they lost Paradise and came to this material world, similarly, the soul belongs to the Paradise, or heaven, or Kṛṣṇa, but somehow or other he falls down within this material world, and he gets first a body like Adam. But again, on account of his further, low-grade activities, he goes down, sometimes as human being or sometimes as more than human being—the demigod—and sometimes as animal, trees, plants. In this way he goes down, degradation, or goes up by elevation. But he is always aloof from the material body, but according to his desires and activity he gets different body. This is quite reasonable and confirmed by the Vedic literature. But his actual life is when he is freed from this material contamination, getting different bodies life after life.

Hayagrīva: Augustine conceived of peace in this way. He says, "Peace between a mortal man and his maker consists in ordered obedience guided by faith under God's eternal law. Peace between man and man consists in regulated fellowship. The peace of the heavenly city lies in a perfectly ordered and harmonious communion of those who find their joy in God and in one another in God." So that peace in its final sense is the calm that comes out of this order.

Philosophy Discussion on St. Augustine:

Prabhupāda: Wrapped up. But there are different identities. Intelligence... Everyone has got mind, but the mind acts under intelligence. But the intelligence of different living entities are different. Similarly mind is also different. A dog's intelligence is not equal to the intelligence of the human being. A dog's mind is not equal to the human being's mind. So actually the soul, being put under different types of body using different types of intelligence, and different some mental, psychic action, thinking, feeling, willing. So according to the body, the mind and intelligence are different.

Hayagrīva: Well, this..., thinking in this way Augustine writes, he says, "We do not apply 'Thou shalt not kill' to plants, because they have no sensation, or to irrational animals that fly, swim, walk or creep, because they are linked to us by no association or common bond. By the creator's wise ordinance they are meant for our use, dead or alive. It only remains for us to apply the commandment 'Thou shalt not kill' to man alone, oneself and others." So...

Prabhupāda: So that is imagination of Augustine. But Jesus Christ does not say such qualitative killing. He says frankly, "Thou shalt not kill." When he says that, he means, "You should not kill." But when there is absolute necessity, just like he says that "One life is food for the another life..." Does he not say it like that?

Hayagrīva: He says, uh... (break) He says..., this is, this is Augustine writing. He said, "Some people try to stretch the prohibition 'Thou shalt not kill' to cover beasts and cattle and make it unlawful to kill any such animal, but then why not include plants and anything rooted in and feeding on the soil? After all, things like this, though devoid of feeling, are said to have life and therefore can die and so be killed by violent treatment."

Philosophy Discussion on St. Augustine:

Prabhupāda: No, that is not Vedic philosophy. Vedic philosophy admits that one living entity is the food for another living entity. That is natural. That is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,

ahastāni sahastānām
apadāni catuṣ-padām
phalgūni tatra mahatāṁ
jīvo jīvasya jīvanam

Those who have got hands, they eat the animals without hands, only four legs, and the four-legged animals eats the animals which cannot move—that means plants and vegetables. Similarly, the weak is the food for the strong. In this way there is natural law that one living entity is food for another living entity. But our philosophy, Kṛṣṇa consciousness philosophy, is not based on this platform, that plant life is not sensitive and animal life is more sensitive or human life is more sensitive. We take all of them as life, either human being or animal or plants or fish, it doesn't matter. That is inevitable. Either you eat animal or vegetable, you eat some living entity. That is inevitable. You cannot avoid. Now it it the question of selection. That, of course, is there. But apart from this vegetarian or nonvegetarian diet, we are concerned with Kṛṣṇa prasādam. Kṛṣṇa, whatever..., our philosophy is whatever Kṛṣṇa eats, we take the remnants of His foodstuff. So Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, "You give Me food, and prepared from patraṁ phalaṁ toyam, vegetation." So if by killing vegetable or plant there is any sin, that, that is Kṛṣṇa's. We simply eat after His eating. This is our philosophy. We are not after vegetarian diet or nonvegetarian diet. Whatever Kṛṣṇa eats, we take the remnants of food.

Philosophy Discussion on Thomas Aquinas:

Hayagrīva: This is a point where Catholic doctrine seems to differ. Aquinas did not believe in a soul per say, or pure soul per say, as divorced from a particular form. God did not simply create a soul. He created an angelic soul, or the soul of a demigod, a human soul, an animal soul, a plant soul, etc. He believed that simply to create a pure soul, a being, would be almost the same as creating God Himself.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Hayagrīva: So again we see the Christian conception that God created the soul out of nothing.

Prabhupāda: No. The soul is created and... Actually not created. Soul is existing along with God, just like the sparks of fire is existing with the fire. But the difference between the two fire is that the sparks may be separated from the big fire, and when it is separated, is loses its illumination. Similarly, an individual soul is already there. The master is there and the servants are there, eternally. Just like the body is there, the parts of the body are also there. We cannot say that the parts of the body is separately created. As soon as the body is there, the fingers of the body are there, the other limbs and parts of the body are all there. The soul is never created or never dead. It is explained in the Bhāgavata, na jāyate vā mriyate vā. Soul has neither creation nor death. It appears, because the soul has accepted this material body, with the end of this material body it appears that somebody is dead. But he is not dead. He simply transfers from this body to another body, and when he is liberated, then he hasn't got to accept any more material body. Then in his original, spiritual body he goes back to home, back to Godhead. So actually the soul is never created. It is always existing with God, and this is nice that if it is accepted the soul is created, then God is also Supreme Soul—the question may be raised that He is also created. So that is not the fact. God is eternal, and His part and parcels are also eternal. The only difference is that God never accepts this material body, but the individual soul, being small particle, it may be sometimes he succumbs by the material energy.

Philosophy Discussion on Rene Descartes:

Prabhupāda: ...that we shall consider later. First of all come to the reasoning, that this combination of air, water and bone and muscle and urine and stool is not life. You first of all come to that, then we have to find out that what is that soul. First of all you come to this conclusion. "This is not," neti. "This is not." Then what is the positive thing, that we have to search, athāto. That is brahma-jijñāsā. What is that Brahman? It is not matter. Then we will come to the conclusion that Brahman is the origin of this matter, because the matter is developing on the soul. That is also reasoning. Simply sex does not create pregnancy unless there is soul. They have so many times sex, so not every time there is pregnancy. Of course, it is expected, but... Anyway, when the soul is injected in the womb of the woman, then the pregnancy means the matter develops, and that we can see outside the pregnancy also—when the child comes out it develops a body. And if this child comes out dead, there is no development. Therefore the soul is the basic principle of material development. That means a seed of a tree, so you sow it, and if the soul takes shelter of the seed, then it grows to a plant; otherwise does not grow. The same seed, if you fry it and sow it, then it will not, because unsuitable for the soul to remain in that seed. So athāto brahma jijñāsā janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1).

Philosophy Discussion on George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel:

Hayagrīva: He does say reason is also infinite form, that which sets this material in motion...

Prabhupāda: This is, this is, this is real reasoning, that "I am imperfect or limited. How I can speculate on the unlimited? So better let me learn from the unlimited about the unlimited." That is perfect knowledge.

Hayagrīva: One final point is that he sees the worship of animals and plants to be a form of pantheism. He refers to Indian religion...

Prabhupāda: No. But Indian, that he does not know; still he speaks. That is the most regretful situation.

Hayagrīva: Yes.

Prabhupāda: If God says that "Amongst the plants I am this plant..."

Hayagrīva: Tulasī, Tulasī.

Prabhupāda: Whatever it may be.

Hayagrīva: Yes.

Prabhupāda: So the Hindus, they worship, follow God's instruction. That is they have got in a certain sense. God has said that "Amongst the plants, I am this plant, so worship." They are not worshiping all, every plant.

Philosophy Discussion on George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel:

Prabhupāda: They, they will worship any nonsense, but here it is God consciousness. God has said that "I am this," so "I am...," I will worship. That is God, God consciousness. God has said. He has complete faith in God. Just like praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu: "Of Vedic knowledge I am the oṁkāra." Therefore they follow: oṁ tad viṣṇu paramaṁ para..., every mantra is followed by. How he has known oṁkāra is God? That God has said: praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu. So God is giving instruction how He should be realized. So they are following that. They are realized; they realize actually. And what is the use of speculating? He will never understand God because he is speculating with his limited knowledge. God is unlimited.

Hayagrīva: So although God is all animals and all plants...

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is...

Hayagrīva: Although God is everything, we concentrate on these particular...

Prabhupāda: No. That is especially prohibited. Mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni: (BG 9.4) "Everything is in Me, but I am not there." Just like the body of a dog. The body is on the soul; the platform is the soul. Otherwise there is no meaning of the body. So the body of the dog is depending on the soul of the body. But that does not mean the dog's body is God. Nāhaṁ teṣu avasthitaḥ. Find out this verse, mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni nāhaṁ teṣu avasthitaḥ. They are taking just as Vivekananda, they, the body of a daridra, poor man, is resting on God, Nārāyaṇa...

Hayagrīva: Yes.

Philosophy Discussion on George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel:

Hayagrīva: So the Tulasī, the actual... To get back to the original point, the actual philosophy behind reverence for the Tulasī plant or the cow or the sexual ceremony, the basis then would be remembrance of Kṛṣṇa, that these can bring remembrance of Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Hayagrīva: Because Kṛṣṇa says so, but...

Prabhupāda: Just like Kṛṣṇa says satataṁ cintayantaṁ mām: "Always thinking of Me," that is the process of consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ (BG 9.14). Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto (BG 18.65). "Always think of Me." So somehow or other you think of Kṛṣṇa, then you will become Kṛṣṇa conscious, purified.

Hayagrīva: But you shouldn't think of Kṛṣṇa in any..., in another way, for instance a palm tree or...

Prabhupāda: (indistinct) Then He is giving indication that "Amongst the trees I am this." So you take it.

Hayagrīva: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Just like Kṛṣṇa said, raso 'ham apsu kaunteya (BG 7.8). He said that "I am the taste of the water." So you are drinking water always. The taste which quenches your thirst and you feel satisfaction, that is Kṛṣṇa. Now if you follow Kṛṣṇa's instruction, "Now I am drinking water. Now I am feeling satisfaction. Now this satisfaction is Kṛṣṇa," then you remember Him.

Philosophy Discussion on Thomas Henry Huxley:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Hayagrīva: He writes in this way: "In the theory of evolution the tendency of a germ to develop according to a certain specific type, for instance of a kidney bean seed to grow into a plant having all the characters of Phaseolus vulgaris," that is a kidney bean, "that is its karma. The snowdrop is a snowdrop and not an oak tree—and just that kind of snowdrop—because it is the outcome of the karma of an endless series of past existences."

Prabhupāda: Yes. Karma... That is called karma-bandhanaḥ: one after another, one after another, one after another, it is going on. So if this evolutionary process one comes to the form of human being, then he is allowed the discrimination to decide whether he shall continue in this karma-bandhanaḥ process or he should stop his karma-bandhanaḥ process and surrender to Kṛṣṇa. If he surrenders to Kṛṣṇa then his karma-bandhanaḥ process stopped, and if he does not, then he is again put into the karma-bandhanaḥ process by the laws of nature.

Hayagrīva: So he does appear at least a little closer than Darwin, because Darwin didn't recognize any of this transmigration at all.

Prabhupāda: Darwin, he is all through. Everyone is more or less. Unless one has got the right knowledge... Why Darwin? Everyone is under false impression. Therefore our proposition is that you take right knowledge from the right person, Kṛṣṇa, then you are perfect. And if you go on speculating—you speculate in one way, I speculate in another way—it does not mean that we are intelligent person.

Conversations and Morning Walks

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Interview -- March 9, 1968, San Francisco:

Prabhupāda: Now, if you vacate this room, that does not mean you are finished. You have gone in some other room. So this is a great science. And people are neglecting this science. They have no, I mean to say, information. There are so many departments in universities, technological, medical, engineering, but where is the department to know or understand what is this life, what is God, what is our relationship? So this is not very good civilization. So there is life after this life. Just like progressive life, a child is progressing to youthhood, the youth is aspiring to become a big man, important man. As in this life there is progressive life, similarly, life after life, there is also progress. There are different grades of life. So we get information from authoritative books that there are 8,400,000's of different grades of life, and there are 900,000's of aquatic life, two million species of plants and trees, about eleven hundred thousand species of life of birds, three million types of species of beast, and 400,000 species of this human body. Out of that 400,000's, different kinds of human bodies, the civilized body is a great boon. At that time we can make further progress. Either we can transfer to other planets... The standard of living, comforts, are many, many thousands times better than this planet. But in this book, Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, we get information that within this material universe, wherever you go, either you remain in this planet or you go to the moon planet or to the sun planet, or there are millions and trillions of planets... The highest planetary system is called Brahmaloka. There the duration of life is very, very great. You cannot calculate even twelve hours of their days. These are described in this book, Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. Sahasra-yuga-paryantam arhad yad brahmaṇo viduḥ (BG 8.17). Four hundred... Three thousand years is the duration... Four hundred and, yes, four hundred and three thousands of years, solar years, is the one unit of yuga.

Morning Walk at Stow Lake -- March 23, 1968, San Francisco:

Prabhupāda: Huh? Yes. Machine was not made for chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, but we are utilizing it so that the machine-maker may be benefited. Because we employ everyone's energy to Kṛṣṇa. So by his energy he has manufactured this machine, so we are employing in Kṛṣṇa's service so that he may be benefited, purified. We are showing him the mercy. Just like one flower picked up from a plant offered to Kṛṣṇa is offering benefit to that plant. Because his energy is in the service of Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, the person who has manufactured this machine, when it is employed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness business, he's benefited. Indirectly, we are giving him opportunity, although he does not know it. But his energy is being utilized for Kṛṣṇa. We offer prasādam, the same principle. A man does not know about Kṛṣṇa. But he wants to eat. By eating, he'll be gradually Kṛṣṇa conscious. So you have... Our business is to give opportunity to all forgotten souls to be engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, today or tomorrow. The boys and girls who have come to this society, they have accumulated in that way, knowingly or unknowingly, some Kṛṣṇa conscious qualification, and therefore they have taken this opportunity. (Pause) We have no dog friend. (Laughs)

Mālatī: It's a dog taking a man for a walk.

Prabhupāda: We are all devotee friend. Where is your dog?

Mālatī: Oh, he's gone.

Prabhupāda: Gone? (laughs)

Mālatī: Yes. Some very nice people who worship dogs took him.

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 12, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Hayagrīva: That's the usual. That's in all the dictionaries.

Lady: Only the Indian people are lucky that still they are holding it tight. That's all. Now other people have forgotten. But it's all universal.

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa said in the Bhagavad-gītā that "I am the father of everyone." Sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya (BG 14.4). Not only human being. All animals, trees, plants. So Kṛṣṇa is universal.

Allen Ginsberg: Now, for instance, in America many of the black people are tending toward Allah and toward Muhammadanism.

Prabhupāda: That is another thing. Somebody is inclined to some thing, somebody is inclined to some thing. That is going on, and it will go on till the end of the creation. (laughing)

Allen Ginsberg: Yuga.

Prabhupāda: But our process is that, you are searching after the center, here is the center. That is our proposal.

Allen Ginsberg: But what do you do when different religious groups claim to be the center? What do you do when different religious groups...

Lord Caitanya Play Told to Tamala Krsna -- August 4, 1969, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It says in the Teachings of Lord Caitanya that He revealed His heavenly powers to His associates.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That was done in one day, saṅkīrtana. He asked His devotees after saṅkīrtana, "What do you want to eat?" So some of the devotees out of fun said that "We want mango." But that was not mango season. So He asked somebody, "All right. Bring some mango seed." So mango seed can be had in Bengal in everywhere because after eating mangoes they throw it, and gradually they become a small plant. So He brought some small plant mango and immediately sowed it on the courtyard, and immediately it became a big tree and full of mango.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That would be a nice time for us to distribute prasāda to all the people.

Prabhupāda: Yes. If possible, mangoes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, yes. From the tree. We'll have them hung on the tree and pick.

Prabhupāda: Yes. You have got nice ideas. You can do very nicely. Yes. This is required, creative ideas.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Maybe... About Lord Caitanya's civil disobedience. That is with the Kazi? His civil disobedience?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That is the Kazi.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Page Title:Plants (Lectures, Other)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:19 of Nov, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=101, Con=4, Let=0
No. of Quotes:105