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Pollution

Srimad-Bhagavatam

SB Canto 4

SB 4.29.33, Translation and Purport:

A man may carry a burden on his head, and when he feels it to be too heavy, he sometimes gives relief to his head by putting the burden on his shoulder. In this way he tries to relieve himself of the burden. However, whatever process he devises to counteract the burden does nothing more than put the same burden from one place to another.

This is a good description of an attempt to transfer a burden from one place to another. When one gets tired of keeping a burden on his head, he will place it on his shoulder. This does not mean that he has become freed from the strains of carrying the burden. Similarly, human society in the name of civilization is creating one kind of trouble to avoid another kind of trouble. In contemporary civilization we see that there are many automobiles manufactured to carry us swiftly from one place to another, but at the same time we have created other problems. We have to construct so many roads, and yet these roads are insufficient to cope with automobile congestion and traffic jams. There are also the problems of air pollution and fuel shortage. The conclusion is that the processes we manufacture to counteract or minimize our distresses do not actually put an end to our pains. It is all simply illusion. We simply place the burden from the head to the shoulder. The only real way we can minimize our problems is to surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead and give ourselves up to His protection. The Lord, being all-powerful, can make arrangements to mitigate our painful life in material existence.

SB Canto 7

SB 7.5.10, Translation:

O best of your family, has this pollution of your intelligence been brought about by you or by the enemies? We are all your teachers and are very eager to hear about this. Please tell us the truth.

SB Canto 9

SB 9.19.20, Purport:

The real mission of human life is to get free from encagement in the material body. Therefore Kṛṣṇa descends to teach the conditioned soul about spiritual realization and how to become free from material bondage. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata (BG 4.7). The words dharmasya glāniḥ mean "pollution of one's existence." Our existence is now polluted, and it must be purified (sattvaṁ śuddhyet). The human life is meant for this purification, not for thinking of happiness in terms of the external body, which is the cause of material bondage. Therefore, in this verse, Mahārāja Yayāti advises that whatever material happiness we see and whatever is promised for enjoyment is all merely flickering and temporary.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta

CC Madhya-lila

CC Madhya 9.263, Purport:

One cannot attain love of Godhead by executing karma-kāṇḍa or jñāna-kāṇḍa. But by dedicating one's karma, or fruitive activities, to the Supreme Lord, one may be relieved from the polluted mind, and becoming free from mental pollution helps elevate one to the spiritual platform. Then, however, one needs the association of a pure devotee, for only by a pure devotee's association can one become a pure devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. When one comes to the stage of pure devotional service, the process of śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam is very essential. By executing the nine items of devotional service, beginning with śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam, one is completely purified. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.1.11). Only then is one able to execute Kṛṣṇa's orders in the Bhagavad-gītā (18.65):

CC Madhya 10 Summary:

He lived at the home of Kāśī Miśra. Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya introduced many Vaiṣṇavas to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu after His return. The father of Rāmānanda Rāya, Bhavānanda Rāya, offered another son named Vāṇīnātha Paṭṭanāyaka for the Lord's service. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu informed His associates about the pollution of Kṛṣṇadāsa brought about by his association with the Bhaṭṭathāris, and thus the Lord proposed to give him leave. Nityānanda Prabhu sent Kṛṣṇadāsa to Bengal to inform the Navadvīpa devotees about the Lord's return to Jagannātha Purī. All the devotees of Navadvīpa thus began arranging to come to Jagannātha Purī.

CC Madhya 24.330, Purport:

"One who engages in full devotional service, unfailing in all circumstances, at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus comes to the level of Brahman." In material consciousness, however, even one who is situated in the mode of goodness is susceptible to pollution by the modes of passion and ignorance. When the mode of goodness is mixed with the mode of passion, one worships the sun-god, Vivasvān. When the mode of goodness is mixed with the mode of ignorance, one worships Gaṇapati, or Gaṇeśa. When the mode of passion is mixed with the mode of ignorance, one worships Durgā, or Kālī, the external potency. When one is simply in the mode of ignorance, one becomes a devotee of Lord Śiva because Lord Śiva is the predominating deity of the mode of ignorance within this material world. However, when one is completely free from the influence of all the modes of material nature, one becomes a pure Vaiṣṇava on the devotional platform.

Other Books by Srila Prabhupada

Nectar of Devotion

Nectar of Devotion 51:

"The gopīs have become purified by Kṛṣṇa's glance, and as such, Cupid's influence is distinctly visible on their bodies." Although in the material sense the glancing of a boy at a girl is a kind of pollution, when Kṛṣṇa threw His transcendental glance at the gopīs, they became purified. In other words, because Kṛṣṇa is the Absolute Truth, any action by Him is transcendentally pure.

After Kṛṣṇa chastised the Kāliya-nāga in the Yamunā River by dancing on his heads, the Kāliya-nāga's wives addressed Kṛṣṇa, "Dear cowherd boy, we are all only young wives of the Kāliya-nāga, so why do You agitate our minds by sounding Your flute?" Kāliya's wives were flattering Kṛṣṇa so that He would spare their husband. Therefore this is an example of uparasa, or false expression.

Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead

Krsna Book Words from Apple:

YOGA (a scientific method for GOD (SELF) realization) is the process by which we purify our consciousness, stop further pollution, and arrive at the state of Perfection, full KNOWLEDGE, full BLISS.

If there's a God, I want to see Him. It's pointless to believe in something without proof, and Kṛṣṇa Consciousness and meditation are methods where you can actually obtain GOD perception. You can actually see God, and hear Him, play with Him. It might sound crazy, but He is actually there, actually with you.

There are many yogic Paths—Raja, Jnana, Hatha, Kriya, Karma, Bhakti—which are all acclaimed by the MASTERS of each method.

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 10.8 -- July 31, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Just like we are living in this part of your country, a village. So you are living very happily, undoubtedly. There is ample opportunity for living peacefully here. You grow little grains, you get some milk, some vegetable, and all your economic questions solved. But as soon as you go to the city, the whole pollution attacks you. You have to give up this simple eating process. Instead of drinking milk, in the city, you'll have to cut throat of the cow and eat the meat.

So in this way we shall be implicated with so many sinful activities that our life will be entangled. On account of our foolish civilization we do not understand what is the entanglement of life. The entanglement of life is described in the Bhagavad-gītā, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13), to change this body.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Rome, May 24, 1974:

Dharma, religious principle... Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata (BG 4.7). Glāniḥ means polluted. "Wherever there is pollution in the matter of discharging religious principles, I come down." Tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham. "Then I come down to settle up things." So Kṛṣṇa came for this purpose, to settle up or to purify dharmasya glāniḥ, pollution in the matter of discharging religious principles. Therefore, as soon as there is pollution, means there is a class of men who have polluted. They are called duṣkṛta, sinful. When there is increase of the number of sinful persons, there must be pollution in the system of religious life. This is the way. If everyone is following religious principle, everyone does not commit any sinful activity, so at that time, there is no chance of pollution in religiousness.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Rome, May 24, 1974:

"Then I come down to settle up things." So Kṛṣṇa came for this purpose, to settle up or to purify dharmasya glāniḥ, pollution in the matter of discharging religious principles. Therefore, as soon as there is pollution, means there is a class of men who have polluted. They are called duṣkṛta, sinful. When there is increase of the number of sinful persons, there must be pollution in the system of religious life. This is the way. If everyone is following religious principle, everyone does not commit any sinful activity, so at that time, there is no chance of pollution in religiousness.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Rome, May 24, 1974:

At the present moment, they do not know what is pollution and they do not know what is religious principle. That is the defect of the modern civilization, that religion is described in the dictionary, "a kind of faith," not principle. But according to Vedic conception, religion is not a kind of faith. Religion is... It is your must duty. That is religion. Or it is your natural occupation. You cannot change it. Faith you can change. "I am now Muhammadan; I become Hindu." Or "I am Hindu, I become Christian." But I remain the same man. I may change my faith from this to that. So religion does not mean that. Religion means you cannot change it at any circumstance. That is religion. That is the meaning of dharma.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Rome, May 24, 1974:

That is the meaning of dharma. If you change, that is your diseased condition. That is not normal condition. So that is the meaning of religion. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati (BG 4.7). When human being changes his normal condition of life, that is pollution of...

So the normal condition of life is described by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. When Sanātana Gosvāmī inquired from Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu that "Why I am suffering?"... He inquired from Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He was minister, very big post, and very learned scholar in Sanskrit and Arabic. Because at that time there was Pathan rule. So as government was Muhammadan, so responsible officers, ministers, they had to learn the Arabic language or Persian language. The Moguls were Persians?

Lecture on SB 1.8.33 -- Los Angeles, April 25, 1972:

And there is necessity of the soul also. Because soul is the real subject matter. Body is the covering only.

So it is said that... No I'm explaining that verse. Dharmasya glānir bhavati. This is dharmasya glāniḥ, pollution of duty. Dharma means duty. Dharma is not a kind of faith. In English dictionary it is said: "religion means a faith." No, no. It is not. Dharma means the actual constitutional duty. That is dharma. So if you have no information of the soul, if you do not know what is the need of the soul, simply you are busy on the bodily necessities of life, bodily comfort... So bodily comfort will not save you.

Lecture on SB 1.8.34 -- Mayapur, October 14, 1974:

Therefore the varṇa-saṅkara, the hippies... That is varṇa-saṅkara. So varṇa-saṅkara... In the Bhagavad-gītā... If the varṇa-saṅkara increases, strīṣu duṣṭāsu varṇa-saṅkaro jāyate. When women become polluted, no fixed-up husband—that is pollution for woman, no chaste, no chastity—then this varṇa-saṅkara will come out. And when the world is overpopulated by varṇa-saṅkara, it will become a burden. Therefore it so became, atheist, varṇa-saṅkara, demons. So it was unbearable by the earthly planet. And it is said, yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata, tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham (BG 4.7). Therefore mother earth went to appeal, "Please come and save me. I am very much overburdened." Therefore it is said, bhārāvatāraṇāya: "diminish."

Lecture on SB 3.26.23-4 -- Bombay, January 1, 1975:

"They are My part and parcel. They can live as good as I am, but unfortunately, they are undergoing a struggle for existence on account of this polluted mind." What is that pollution? Kṛṣṇa-bahirmukha hañā bhoga vāñchā kare. He thinks that "What is the use of..." this is, what is called, "service mentality, slave mentality." They say, "This bhakti-mārga is slave mentality. Instead of becoming God, they want to become servant or slave of God. So this is slave mentality." No, this is not slave mentality. This is actual liberation, because our constitutional position is to remain. We are servant of Kṛṣṇa. But somehow or other, we revolted. Still we are revolting. Although Kṛṣṇa coming and canvassing, "Just surrender unto Me," but still we are revolting. This is our disease. Manaḥ ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati (BG 15.7).

Lecture on SB 6.1.23 -- Chicago, July 7, 1975:

He wants us back to home, live with Him comfortably, without any disadvantage of conditional life, freedom. Kṛṣṇa wants. Therefore he comes: yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata, tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham (BG 4.7). That dharmasya glāniḥ means... Dharma means religious. Glāni means pollution. What is that? We are manufacturing so many rascal type of religion. This is dharmasya glāniḥ. But real religion is as Kṛṣṇa says. What is that? Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). This is religion. Religion means the order of Kṛṣṇa. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). You cannot manufacture religion. Religion means you carry out the order of God.

Lecture on SB 7.6.8 -- Vrndavana, December 10, 1975:

It is not fact. It has no substance, but it is there; that's a fact. The example is given just like in dream, somebody is cutting my head and I'm crying. Actually there is no man cutting my head—my head is there—still, I am suffering by such thoughts. This is called moha. Actually there is no fact, but on account of being entangled in three stages of pollution... The pollution is that intelligence. The intelligence is polluted in three ways: jāgriti, svapna, and suṣupti. Jāgriti means just like we are now awakened; we are not sleeping. This is one stage. And another stage, at night when you go to sleep, and you sleep with dream, that is another stage. And another stage is suṣupti, so deeply, just like when a man is intoxicated or chloroform during surgical operation, he does not understand that "Surgical instruments are being applied on my body." He remains silent. This is another stage. So these three stages are there for polluting our intelligence.

Lecture on SB 7.9.51 -- Vrndavana, April 6, 1976:

We should understand what is the difference between material and spiritual. Here in the material world, everything is polluted. What is this material pollution? Qualities, sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. Out of these three guṇas, sattva-guṇa is the best. If one is situated in sattva-guṇa, then there is chance of being promoted to the stage of nirguṇa. The sattva-guṇa is the (indistinct) and ignorance (indistinct) can be found in animals. This is tamo-guṇa. Pāpa-yoni, this is tamo-guṇa. Then if one is fortunate, he can be situated in the rajo-guṇa. Rajo-guṇa, at least there is some material interest (indistinct). So... But above that, there is sattva-guṇa, to understand things as they are.

Arrival Addresses and Talks

Arrival Address -- New Zealand, April 27, 1976:

Therefore Kṛṣṇa personally comes. Whenever people are kept in darkness, that is called dharmasya glaniḥ. Glaniḥ means pollution, when the process of life becomes polluted. The process is that from the lower animal bodies we have come through the evolutionary process to this human form of life. Now there is further improvement required. This is the process, more and more. And that improvement goes up to the point of meeting Kṛṣṇa in Goloka Vṛndāvana. Yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāmaṁ paraṁ mama (BG 15.6). But even after coming to the platform of human being, the leaders, they do not teach them how to go further ahead, up to the point of Kṛṣṇa. They have no knowledge.

Conversations and Morning Walks

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

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

Dr. Singh: Anti-pollution.

Prabhupāda: So this one stroke will clear everything. So my appeal to all intelligent class of men is come here, talk about this Kṛṣṇa consciousness philosophy and accept it and execute it. That is my appeal. All right, have some (indistinct). I think in 1925 I went to Kashmir.

Dr. Singh: Really. Before I was born, Swamiji.

Prabhupāda: What is your birthday?

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation with Dai Nippon -- April 22, 1972, Tokyo:

Dai Nippon Representative: Lately it is quite increasing in Japan, yes, becoming popular, because we have a lot of problems with pollution. We have a lot of social problem like pollution, traffic jam. So people, in order to keep good health, vegetarian is very good for health.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Vegetarian food is very nice. We can give you vegetable menu, three hundred items at least.

Dai Nippon representative: Three hundred?

Prabhupāda: Three hundred. Simply grains, fruits, and butter, that's all, and sugar. You give us these four items and we give you three hundred items. Yes.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Mister Popworth and E. F. Schumacher -- July 26, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: Hm. "Cars, Profits and Pollution." I was just reading this article. "Cars, Profits and Pollution." So this one side, we make profit, another side, we make pollution. This is the material, result of material activities. Whatever you do. Anything you do material, it is same. In one side, you see, "Oh, there is so much profit," and another side, you'll see so much pollution. Therefore the remedy is to act for spiritual realization. Then you will avoid pollution. The remedy is. If you... That is described in the Bhagavad-gītā, in the Third Chapter, how we can work for spiritual realization and avoid the pollution of material activities.

Room Conversation with Mister Popworth and E. F. Schumacher -- July 26, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: Then you will avoid pollution. The remedy is. If you... That is described in the Bhagavad-gītā, in the Third Chapter, how we can work for spiritual realization and avoid the pollution of material activities. This is the sum and substance of Bhagavad-gītā. In the Bhagavad-gītā, we do not avoid the material activities, but we become free from the material pollution. This is the secret of Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.

Popworth: How do you envisage one should act, if I may ask that?

Revatīnandana: He said, how do you envisage that one should act. How should one act? He's asking.

Prabhupāda: That you will find in the Bhagavad-gītā. Just like Arjuna. He was a kṣatriya, a warrior, but he acted on account of Kṛṣṇa. We are acting, but we are acting at the present moment for our sense gratification. Everyone is thinking that "If I do like this, it will give me great satisfaction." That is my sense gratification. I am acting for my satisfaction, not for Kṛṣṇa's satisfaction. So when we act for Kṛṣṇa's satisfaction, that is the perfection. Then we save the material pollution.

Room Conversation with Mister Popworth and E. F. Schumacher -- July 26, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: This is the secret. Arjuna is a good example. Before fighting, he was thinking in terms of his own satisfaction. But when he understood Bhagavad-gītā and he agreed to act for Kṛṣṇa's satisfaction, then he became perfect. So our, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is so nice that we do not say immediately to stop. Just like "Cars, Profits and Pollution," the very nice description of these three things. But there is no suggestion of remedy. That he does not know. If he suggested remedy, "Now stop all cars driving," or "Stop this nonsense business," that is impossible. That is craziness. So we do not say that you stop it. But we say, purify it. Just like there is pollution. So pollution is there. You cannot stop manufacturing cars or driving cars. That is not possible. But you can purify the pollution. That is possible.

Popworth: It's possible to what?

Prabhupāda: Purify.

Room Conversation with Mister Popworth and E. F. Schumacher -- July 26, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: Purify.

Popworth: Purify the pollution.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Popworth: Yes.

Prabhupāda: That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Nirbandhaḥ kṛṣṇa-sambandhe yuktaṁ vairāgyam ucyate. So everything should be done—that is called karma-yoga—in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Under the direction of Kṛṣṇa. Just like Arjuna is doing. He did not change his position as a fighter, as a warrior. But he acted according to the direction of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore he is recognized: bhakto 'si priyo 'si (BG 4.3). "You are My dear friend. You are My devotee." This is the process. So we have to purify. We cannot stop. That is not possible.

Room Conversation with Mister Popworth and E. F. Schumacher -- July 26, 1973, London:

Popworth: Well, the diagnostic's not altogether clear to me how the chanting is going to affect the pollution. How do you see...?

Prabhupāda: It is a purificatory process. Pollution means impure. So if you purify, then there is no more pollution. Just like infection. You have got some disease, infection. If you give some vaccine to purify the body, the infection is gone. It is like that.

Revatīnandana: It seems that there's a difference in the usage of this word pollution.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Room Conversation with Mister Popworth and E. F. Schumacher -- July 26, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Revatīnandana: I think there's a difference in the way the word pollution is being used.

Prabhupāda: Yes, whatever meaning you may do...

Revatīnandana: So, for instance, if it is used to indicate air pollution...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Revatīnandana: ...then how will the chanting will affect that?

Prabhupāda: Yes, it will affect.

Room Conversation with Mister Popworth and E. F. Schumacher -- July 26, 1973, London:

Vicitravīrya: Pollution is to some extent a result of materialistic activity?

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Vicitravīrya: The pollution, is it to some extent the result of material activity, which will cease when the spiritual...

Prabhupāda: Yes, there are so many things. What is material activity, what spiritual activity is. These are to be understood. But we are sure, if simply this chance is given, anywhere, let us execute this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra and speaking something from this Bhagavad-gītā. We are getting practical result. Just like you were describing, that in communist country.

Room Conversation with Mister Popworth and E. F. Schumacher -- July 26, 1973, London:

Haṁsadūta: Anyway, our point is... We're speaking in general. In general, because the center, factually the center, God, is missing, somehow or other, He's missing, therefore people are also giving it up. They can't take it. Because it's not practical. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is practical. It's not a sentiment or a dry philosophy. It's a practical philosophy of life, absolute philosophy of life, how to do everything without any pollution, without any contamination. Just like we are experiencing by our so-called advancement that we have created so many modern facilities for comfort, but the result is, alongside, simultaneously, there's an equal disadvantage. Just like we create a motor car. But we create air pollution. Or you create a highway. But you have to create snowplow to clear the highway. You have to create police. You have to create so many other things.

Prabhupāda: And there is list of accidents, injuries.

Haṁsadūta: Yes.

Room Conversation with Mister Popworth and E. F. Schumacher -- July 26, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: Pollution.

Haṁsadūta: Pollution. Or reaction. You're getting... Just like you make an automobile; you get the reaction-air pollution. So if you kill animals, you will be killed.

Popworth: You think like this?

Haṁsadūta: And intoxication itself means that you are polluted. Toxic means poison. Poison means pollution. So if you indulge in intoxication, everything you do, say and think will be polluted. If you kill animals, the result is you're polluting nature's... There are laws of nature. Animal is part of nature. You're part of nature. So if you disturb nature, that means you're polluting the nature. And you are living in that nature. So you are suffering the reaction.

Room Conversation with Mister Popworth and E. F. Schumacher -- July 26, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: Eight kinds of criminals. In killing animals, there are eight kinds of criminals. That he has explained. One who is killing, one who is ordering, one who is purchasing, one who is eating, one who is cooking, in this way... Just like if a man is killed. If a man is killed and there are so many persons implicated, it does not mean that only one who has killed, he becomes criminal. All others who are implicated in that killing business, they are criminals. This is pollution.

Revatīnandana: This, this...

Schumacher: Let me make myself clear. I happen to be a vegetarian.

Revatīnandana: That's all right. We understand that. We're talking about the matter, the issue.

Morning Walk -- December 10, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Therefore the first thing is that you, this, "You shall not eat meat, you shall not do this, do that, do this..." People are generally sinful, especially in the Western countries, because they are all addicted to these habits. So he can be polluted very soon. Very soon he can be polluted. He's prone to pollutions by nature.

Govardhana: There are many people who come like that to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They seem to experience a taste, and then they go away and everything seems to be lost. What is their...

Prabhupāda: Yes, they...

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 9, 1974, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: It is happening because there is discharge of semina, night pollution. But where is that girl? Is it not dream? So similarly this is also dream. You are having the effect of truthfulness, but it is a dream. Māyā... Therefore it is called māyā-sukhāya. The same thing, that at night you are dreaming you are embracing nice beautiful girl, as there is no such thing, similarly, in the daytime also, whatever advancement you are making, this is also like that. Māyā-sukhāya. We are happy, we are dreaming, "This process will make me happy. This process will make me happy." But the whole process is dream only. You are taking this day-dream as reality because the duration is long. At night, when you dream, the duration is for half an hour. And this is for twelve hours, or more than that.

Room Conversation with Richard Webster, chairman, Societa Filosofica Italiana -- May 24, 1974, Rome:

Prabhupāda: Just like in America, the president Nixon is charged with so many offenses. So... This is not good. He is the head of the state, and he has been charged with so many pollutions. Then how people will follow exemplary character?

Richard Webster: Well, I don't know whether these accusations have been proved in regards to Nixon. They may be true.

Prabhupāda: No, no, I think they have. What are the charges against Nixon?

Atreya Ṛṣi: Certainly he already... It all depends on the standards that we want to have for a president. In other words, he has not been convicted, but he has accepted, himself, certain charges, that he has lied and he has tried to save his men, and therefore he has lied, and he has evaded taxes.

Room Conversation with Biochemist, Dr. Sallaz -- June 4, 1974, Geneva:

Dr. Sallaz: Our aim. We are looking about. The state of the world is going down since thirty years, I said. With pollution, with strengths, with power, with everything, the world is going down, going to the catastrophe. And there is only one possibility to save it. It is a question of spiritual revolution. Without a spiritual revolution, between twenty, twenty-five years, the world is finished, all the world of which people are so proud.

Prabhupāda: Very good.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation with Devotees -- March 31, 1975, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: That means childhood age, there is no pollution, and youthhood age, Kṛṣṇa's, it was polluted by the gopīs. This is their version. Kṛṣṇa becomes polluted.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, they say like that.

Prabhupāda: Do they say like that?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. I have spoken to them, in Hyderabad, that Bāla Kṛṣṇa dāsa. And another thing they say is that Rādhārāṇī's name is not mentioned in Bhāgavata. So this whole emphasis on Rādhā is not correct.

Acyutānanda: Is not correct.

Morning Walk -- April 3, 1975, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: No. Nature, the material nature, and... Just like in... Sometimes at night you have got, what is called, pollution, night pollution?

Trivikrama: Yes.

Prabhupāda: So why it is happenning? Why it is happenning? Why this eruption comes? Can you explain?

Devotee: I don't know what night pollution is.

Trivikrama: Passing semina in sleep.

Devotee: Oh.

Room Conversation with Justin Murphy (Geographer) -- May 14, 1975, Perth:

Justin Murphy: Could I ask you very simply? You suggest this. If we all do this, will that, for example, remove the problems that we do, that our society, at any rate, at any guess, generates for ourself? We have more and more pollution. Depending on the way the wind blows, for example, we get at times choking pollution from the industrial complexes down to the south of this city. Are these problems going to be...

Prabhupāda: No, no, the next question will be, "If you get sufficient grain for eating, why should you take to industry?"

Justin Murphy: To make money, very simply.

Morning Walk -- May 16, 1975, Perth:

Devotee (1): About ten miles down the coast. They have very big factories, very bad pollution. Big factories down south, in one place called Fremantle. It's a little way down.

Prabhupāda: Three miles?

Devotee (1): Ten.

Prabhupāda: Ten miles. How long it will take to go and come?

Amogha: To the factory?

Prabhupāda: No, that area.

Morning Walk -- May 17, 1975, Perth:

Paramahaṁsa: Well he's a very..., actually he's a big man and therefore he's very busy. In their terms he's a big man. He had a lot of seminars yesterday taking him up late at night working. I'll send him something to read. (break) ...problem. As he sees it, the biggest problem is that the industrial civilization, the big companies and consumer society, are taking the natural resources at such a pace that they are causing pollution and they are causing in the future a great scarcity of certain products, and, in other words, he thinks they're ruining the earth.

Śrutakīrti: He said, "irreparable damage." They'll never be able to again restore what they've taken.

Paramahaṁsa: So he's very perplexed by the future, say, a hundred years from now, what will happen if we go on at the rate we're going, taking natural resources.

Prabhupāda: Just like they are taking petrol. This is natural resources. They are taking continually.

Morning Walk -- July 20, 1975, San Francisco:

Bahulāśva: That big lake in Chicago? No one can swim because of the pollution.

Prabhupāda: How they polluted, such a big lake?

Bahulāśva: By factories. Many factories are there.

Dharmādhyakṣa: They empty all their waste directly into the lake. All the fish are dying.

Prabhupāda: Here some fishy smell. (break)

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

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

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: It's from these automobiles, the exhaust. They say that in some cities like New York, just living in the city itself, it is like smoking two packs of cigarettes every day because of so much pollution in the air, so contaminated. (break)...in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that the cure for madness is open space and fresh air. That's Ayurvedic method. So in the cities there's all kinds of confined spaces, the air is not all clean. There's so much madness. (break)

Prabhupāda: (in car) Scientists are changing their theories, how we can accept? Reasonably? You are changing your theories, how we can accept you are scientist? You are not sure of your position. Philosophers also, they say "I believe." What is the meaning of this philosophy?

Room Conversation -- June 10, 1976, Los Angeles:

Hari-śauri: Pollution.

Prabhupāda: So where is the solution of your problems? It has created more problems.

Kīrtanānanda: So village life is best.

Prabhupāda: That is the best life. That you develop. It will be an ideal thing. You haven't got to go office fifty miles off. Just get little vegetables and milk, bas, your problem is solved. It is practical. Why you should go fifty miles off?

Garden Discussion on Bhagavad-gita Sixteenth Chapter -- June 26, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Kulādri: Every day in the city they make a report, pollution report. And they say you should go outside or not go outside. Some days it is not good for your health to leave your home.

Devotee (1): They are also selling fresh air, Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Fresh air? (laughter) Fresh water, also.

Hari-śauri: In Tokyo there are special machines you can get air, clean water.

Prabhupāda: Fresh, by cleaning the urine? Now they are doing that. Fresh water by cleaning urine. Fat derived from stool. Yes, German people did it. Fat extracted from stool. Scientifically. You can use it with butter very nicely on your bread. This is going on.

Conversation with George Harrison -- July 26, 1976, London:

George Harrison: Well, I don't know. I think the whole world's changing. Somebody said it's the pollution, leaves so much..., there's so much of the oceans now with polluted and with oil on the top, there's not so much evaporation anymore.

Prabhupāda: Not in the ocean. It is the sinful activities of the populace. That is real problem. They are all engaged in sinful activities. Especially this innocent animal killing. These are the all reaction.

Gurudāsa: In New York they had one island of refuse floated in to shore. For years they were building up island of refuse, and it floated in, and now no one can go to the beaches.

Prabhupāda: Samosa. Where is samosa? There is only one left?

Room Conversation -- September 16, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: No encouragement. They are simply staying somehow or other in their original culture, but there is no encouragement by the leaders. But the leaders have lost. This is the position. Just like Jawaharlal Nehru, he was a complete rascal about Indian culture. He did not think that Indian culture has any value. Therefore he wrote the book, "Discovery of India." You know that? He has... It is little popular. "Discovery of India." So long India was not discovered by opiate or something like, as the Russians say. Now it is now discovered. And that its leaders have to become Anglicized or Europeanized. Industry, the Western way of living, eating, and everything. Pollution. Everything.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 31, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: They are killing... They are... Prostitution... But to save the society from their pollution, the concession is there, "Go to prostitute." They are killing themselves.

Satsvarūpa: Just like Mahārāja Parīkṣit, he did not kill the Kali either when he found...

Prabhupāda: He was ready to kill. When he surrendered, he gave him some shelter. (end)

Room Conversation -- April 2, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: It has no meaning. The people were so rascal that they attempted to kill him. Because he was speaking of God. So we can understand the pollution of the then society, how intelligent they were. He had to deal with such rascals that he was speaking about God and the result is that they wanted to kill him first. He preached, "Thou shalt not kill," and they killed him first. This is their intelligence. Now people are advanced. Those doctrines, they are not (indistinct). That's all. The answer.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He says, "Did Jesus die on the cross to redeem all the sins of the world?"

Correspondence

1947 to 1965 Correspondence

Letter to Sri Munshiji -- Bombay 18 February, 1957:

Therefore, the right philosophy is that God is simultaneously one and different from the living being. Those, who therefore consider God and living beings are identical in every respect, are polluted in thought. This pollution of thought of the empiric and atheistic philosophers now prevailing practically all over the world, has caused a tremendous deterioration of human civilization as to become agnostics in dealings. Symptoms of this agnostic trend of human civilization is described in the 16th chapter of the Bhagavad-gita and I need not describe it before you.

1973 Correspondence

Letter to Spiritual Sons and Daughters -- Bhaktivedanta Manor 27 July, 1973:

Human life begins when there is systematic education in the science of God consciousness. Just some days ago I was discussing with Professor Alister Hardy—Head of Religious Experimental research unit Oxford, it was his opinion that the problems of human life are over-population, environmental pollution etc.. But from Bhagavad-gita we understand that God is the father of all living beings, so the father must be competent to provide for all the children, and in the case of the Supreme Father this is actually so—we get it from Vedic Literature "nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13)—Amongst all the Eternals there is one chief Eternal Being and he is engaged in supplying and fulfilling the desires of all the others."

Letter to Spiritual Sons and Daughters -- Bhaktivedanta Manor 27 July, 1973:

Therefore our conclusion was that the real problem is not over-population or pollution, malnutrition etc., but the actual problem is Godlessness. So you are all intelligent boys and girls—therefore my request to you is that you study this science of Krishna Consciousness and solve all the problems of the world by systematic propaganda as far as you are able to do it.

Letter to Sir Alistair Hardy -- Bhaktivedanta Manor 28 July, 1973:

Similarly the problem of malnutrition, it comes to the same proposition. Because nature is taking revenge on the demonic population malnutrition is also one of the branches of such revenge.

Pollution of environment is a problem which people in a America are viewing with great concern. This problem is also due to Godlessness. People instead of producing food they are producing in huge quantities some artificial necessities of life, for which so much industry is working at top speed. Industrialization means to bring the people more and more away from God consciousness. The laborer, the worker in the factory, all of them are sudras, and the capitalist of the industry they are vaisyas, so the whole population is now composed of vaisyas and Sudras, which means the quality of passion and ignorance is now prominent.

Page Title:Pollution
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:29 of Nov, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=3, CC=3, OB=2, Lec=12, Con=29, Let=4
No. of Quotes:53