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Psychology (Conversations 1976)

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Conversations and Morning Walks

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 3, 1976, Nellore:

Prabhupāda: Yes. That accept. If he accepts that he's vimūḍha, then it is an advance. Just like a dog is barking, "Yow, yow, yow, yow!" You just run towards him with a stick, he'll immediately go away and stop. Because he is dog, he is thinking, "I am independent. I can bark like this." And as soon as.... Simply one stick-finish his independence. You'll find psychologically, however a big dog he may be, if you just run towards him with a stick, he'll go.... (laughs) He knows that "When this man will strike me with the stick, I cannot do anything." He knows it very well. Sometimes falsely if you touch the ground, he will go away. Everyone is thinking independently. He is forming a party, "revolution," "ism," and so many things. All of them are foolish rascals. They do not see the history. Stronger men than ourselves, Napoleon, Hitler, this man, that man, Gandhi—everyone is finished. So where is.... What is the value of my planning again? (break) There are many gods?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Hm?

Prabhupāda: Vivekananda. He is follower of Vivekananda. (break) ...Vivekananda's house was made, say, eighty years before. So what is the use of this house? It is standing and it is covered with matches.... What is called? Straw? What is called?

Harikeśa: Lines.(?)

Prabhupāda: No, no. Dorma, we say dorma. The bamboo cut into slice and open...

Harikeśa: Citar. Citar.

Prabhupāda: Citar?

Morning Walk -- January 12, 1976, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: And then you become his śiṣya, that's all, indirect śiṣya. For the last two year I have been only reading all the great writings of Vaiṣṇava saints and Vaiṣṇava ācāryas because I read a lot of Śaṅkarācārya and others, and even, even post—what do you call—Buddhist philosophy, different lines, half a dozen of them. When I read the Vaiṣṇavas' teaching I think that.... Personally, you see, there are so many children, but your own son, you say, "This is my son." The personal relationship, when established, takes you far ahead psychologically. Am I right, sir? That is how personal God...

Prabhupāda: And if you take care of your own son, nobody will criticize you that "Why are you taking care of your own son, not others? Nobody will.... That is natural. That is explained in the Bhagavad.... Samo 'haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu

(BG 9.29). He is equal to everyone. But one who is a devotee, "I take special care."

Dr. Patel: "He is in Me, and I am in him."

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dr. Patel: That is why all the great bhaktas, all the great, I mean, say, Narsi Meta(?) or Mirabai, they have worshiped personal God and merged in personal God in toto. Their, that what we call that ego is washed away by the sacred, I mean, this thing of God. Our impersonal philosophers are there, but they are not so well known. That is why he said that personal God and, I mean, worshiping personal God, you are immediately raised to that status from where you will be able to get jñāna.

Prabhupāda: (break) There was one teacher in my school, he used to say that "One who is slow to understand, he is slow to forget also."

Morning Walks -- January 22-23, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: (break) ...sex. Āhāra-nidra-bhaya-maithuna. This is life: sex and bhaya, fearfulness, and then eating and sleeping-four things. They must eat, they must sleep, and the sex, and as soon as some men are coming, flying. This is there in the human society. Where is the distinction?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: No distinction.

Prabhupāda: They are also together, the same sex. Āhāra-nidra-bhaya-maithuna. And they are writing books, big, big book, "Sex Psychology," Freud. This rascals' philosophy.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What's—his-name is doing that too. That bogus guru in Bombay, Rajneesh. He is also writing sex psychology books.

Prabhupāda: That's all. And this is going on as pleasure.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Bhagavan Rajneesh.

Guḍākeśa: He's been thrown out of Bombay now. He can't come to Bombay.

Prabhupāda: So many rascals are there. Is there any philosophy which is existent in the lower animals? What is philosophy there? And they are writing big, big philosophy, Freud's philosophy and others.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You were describing that Freud's business is that he had sex life with his mother.

Prabhupāda: Yes. You did not know that?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, I didn't know it till you...

Morning Walks -- January 22-23, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: The social system in India, that a boy, say, twenty, twenty-five years, and a girl, twelve to sixteen years, must be married. Must be married. And before marriage the girl should not see any boy, and the boy should not see any woman. Then the life is all right. Even in U.P. still, the system is that before marriage the boy should not see. The marriage takes place. Nowadays it has been practiced that boy goes to see the girl, but formerly it was not. She (he) should not see. She (he) should see the girl when the marriage actually takes place, not before that. The psychology is that when they require a man or a girl, so whatever she is or he is, they accept and they remain chaste, so there is no separation. This is the psychology. Whenever you are hungry, whatever nonsense foodstuff is offered to you, it is palatable. Is it not? Because, after all, it is the appetite which eats, not the foodstuff. Foodstuff may be very, very nicely prepared, but if you have no appetite, it is finished. You know the history of Ramakrishna? Did I say? Yes. So he had no appetite, and he very tactfully said, "Oh, you are not my wife. You are my mother." And he became Bhagavān.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So if he had no appetite it means he was transcendentally situated?

Morning Walk -- March 13, 1976, Mayapur:

Satsvarūpa: "It is a work to be treasured. The opportunity to receive the profound teachings of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in the West has been made possible by the devoted labor of Śrīla Prabhupāda. The clarity and precision of his commentaries on the text have rarely been equaled. No one of whatever faith or philosophical persuasion who reads this book with an open mind can fail to be both moved and impressed. The spirit of its message shines brightly from the pages."

Rāmeśvara: Jaya!

Ghanaśyāma: And he's a psychologist. Usually psychologists, they're very much sort of against spiritual life. Śrīla Prabhupāda, this one here, this is one of the biggest linguistic schools in the world, and this gentleman was the chairman of the department, so he's known all over the world for his studies in different kinds of languages.

Prabhupāda: Hm. What does he say?

Satsvarūpa: "It is axiomatic that no book can be expected entirely to satisfy all its potential readers. Here is one, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, however, which can be said to come remarkably close to that ideal. Clearly this book is intended mainly for those who are interested in, or may become so, transcendental science and, more specifically, in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. For them it could hardly be bettered, since the elaborate purports attached to each text explain elegantly and lucidly and in every possible detail the underlying meaning of the Sanskrit verses and their relevance to this increasingly popular philosophical outlook. The work is at the same time no less impressive to one who is a layman in the context of transcendental science. A student of Sanskrit or a general linguist with only a smattering of the language would gain much from going through this book and others in the set. That this is so is the result of the way the texts are presented. Each text in Devanāgarī is followed by an exact roman transliteration. This in turn followed by an English transliteration of each separate word. After this comes a translation in flowing English. The result is that with only a modest amount of effort one can succeed in reading and understanding the Sanskrit verses, and the experience is very rewarding. At the end of the book is appended a goodly amount of further helpful material. There is a glossary of important Sanskrit terms, a Sanskrit pronunciation guide, an index of Sanskrit verses in the whole of the First Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and a general index to the First Canto. In other words, we have here the ideal of what an edition of a Sanskrit text for a Western audience should be."

Morning Walk -- March 14, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo (BG 18.66).

Prabhupāda: Yes, if he surrenders actually. He says. He says, ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo.

Gurukṛpā: That surrender has to be with perfect knowledge, or else it won't be strong enough.

Prabhupāda: If he surrenders, the knowledge will be there. That knowledge.... It is very psychological. If you surrender.... If I surrender to you, I must have some conception that you are very big. That much conception will help you, not more than this. Simply accept that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme. Kṛṣṇa bhakti kaile sarva karma kṛta haya. If you simply understand this, that "If I surrender to Kṛṣṇa, then everything is in my knowledge..." Sraddha śabde viśvāsa sudṛḍha niścaya, kṛṣṇa bhakti kaile sarva karma... And then he becomes immediately. And if I surrender to Kṛṣṇa, then my life is successful. This much. Is it very difficult?

Gurukṛpā: No, it's the easiest thing.

Prabhupāda: Kavirāja Gosvāmī has explained very nicely. This is viśvāsa. Śraddhā śabde viśvāsa sudṛḍha niścaya. Explain, Acyutānanda, this. Explain this.

Morning Walk -- March 18, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: That is...

Gurudāsa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, a few years ago I presented an exposition, and in that was a planetarium, and also there was an exhibit called "Man's Relationship with God," which was the alternative to modern anthropology, showing how anthropology is not valid and man's relationship with God is the valid thing, and then regulation is the preventative of the disease, is the alternative to psychology or behaviorism, like that. All these exhibitors can be there, showing how science is false and Kṛṣṇa consciousness...

Prabhupāda: So whatever thoughts are coming, you note it. Keep it. We shall utilize it with reference, with reference to the śāstra.

Gurudāsa: Jaya. (break)

Jayapatākā: This special exhibition building?

Prabhupāda: Bhāgavata. Take every page of Bhāgavata. And I think every year there should be change.

Haṁsadūta: New exhibit.

Prabhupāda: New exhibit.

Haṁsadūta: Otherwise it will become stale.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Morning Walk -- April 5, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: (Hindi) Rādhā-Dāmodara temple (Hindi).

Indian: (Hindi)

Prabhupāda: Oh. (Hindi)

Indian: Oldest place in Vṛndāvana. I am not even aspirant of religion or psychology, but people are very much interested in Hinduism there.

Prabhupāda: (Hindi)

Guru dāsa: (break) ...should have a nice path all the way around.

Prabhupāda: Yes. (Hindi)

Lokanātha: We should buy some for you, Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: No, we can buy the whole thing. (Hindi) I'll talk with him. (Hindi—Prabhupāda bargaining with chili seller in long exchange) You have got money?

Jayatīrtha(?): Yes.

Prabhupāda: (Hindi) So give him two rupees, eight annas. (Hindi)

Room Conversation -- May 7, 1976, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: These nasty countries, in the name of giving them material facility, they'll kill them, even they're independent. Such a horrible country. How people can tolerate loss of independence? It is very horrible. I am sitting here 24 hours, this is another thing, but if I understand that I cannot go out, I have to sit down here, oh it is horrible. It is a horrible condition. Simply this impression that I have to keep myself within this room, although I am keeping myself, I am not going, only for walk maybe. But if the impression is that I cannot go out from this room, then my life is lost. This is psychology. So, they are keeping their young men. They are not allowed to go out of the country, in Russia. Similarly in China.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Even more so.

Prabhupāda: So what kind of government it is? It is a horrible government. And they are hackney only in literature. These communist country, the people are forced to accept the government regulation. And that is all bad. I have seen in Moscow, generally the people are morose, their face not very happy. They are also Europeans, they want freedom to go here and there (indistinct) and to work. The taxi driver-first of all there is scarcity of taxi, you can not get taxi...

Guru-kṛpā: Even in Moscow, big city.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That Professor Kotofsky, I asked him, "Please arrange for a taxi." (indistinct) "Well, Swamiji, this is Moscow." So he came down to the gate—he was very virtuous—he showed me, "You go this way, actually there was 3 or 4 lane then you find a short lane, then you go this way, this way, then you get to your hotel. He showed me some short cut, personally. They... He could not call a taxi. And somewhere we went, we got a taxi, private taxi, and that man was begging for more than the fare.

Morning Walk -- June 5, 1976, Los Angeles:

Hari-śauri: Śrīla Prabhupāda? Before you were mentioning that we should start to try to get on friendly terms with some of these governmental people. Would that be done in the same way as they do in India? Just like we have so many government ministers that have become life members and things like that. Is that possible to do in America?

Prabhupāda: Yes. There are many government men. Why not? Human psychology is the same. How many lines in...?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: How many lanes.

Rāmeśvara: Four lanes.

Prabhupāda: That is biggest.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, there is a highway with six lanes, and there's even some with seven. Yes, fourteen lanes. In other words, fourteen lanes both sides.

Rāmeśvara: Every family has to have two or three cars; otherwise, they are not respected.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Also every family has to have two or three televisions; otherwise, there's fighting. Because the husband wants to see one show, the wife another, and the children another. So at least two or three televisions. Two or three cars.

Prabhupāda: In India also, those who are rich.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Getting like that.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

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

Rādhāvallabha: So the whole time he was in the hospital, all he talked about was how much he was suffering.

Prabhupāda: Don't be attached. (laughs) Rascal. Don't be attached. (devotees laugh)

Rāmeśvara: But the.... Certain psychologists are very, very interested in trying to put a person under hypnosis, and then he can talk about experiences he has had in his past lives. They are very eager to have a person under a certain condition where he will remember experiences from his past life.

Prabhupāda: So why the psychiatrist does not remember? Why he does not remember?

Rāmeśvara: They say that only certain people have the ability to remember.

Prabhupāda: Certain rascals.

Candanācārya: They hypnotize them, and they say, "Remember your last life."

Prabhupāda: And whatever nonsense he says, it is all right.

Candanācārya: Yes.

Rāmeśvara: Is that possible, that the living entity can remember?

Prabhupāda: He can remember, but not these rascals' mechanical process.

Hari-śauri: They say they take him into the subconscious and they extract thoughts from the subconscious.

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

Prabhupāda: You may not. You may not, but we have got personal experience that people do not want to die until he fulfills some, his brainwork plan. I have seen. One, my friend, he was dying, he was at that time fifty-four years old only, and he was begging the doctor, "My dear doctor, medical man, can you not give me four years time only, I can fulfill my plan?" He was very big businessman, so he was planning something to do, but doctor said that "You cannot survive." So he was begging the mercy of the doctor, "Doctor, can you not give me at least four years time?" As if the doctor can give him life. He was feeling this is obstacle: "I'm going to die without fulfilling my plan." I think that psychology is everywhere.

Richard: But, but generally, how can...?

Prabhupāda: You may not be afraid of, but generally.

Richard: Generally, how can you determine an obstacle...

Prabhupāda: I've seen it, I've seen it, that he was begging the doctor, "Please give me four years life. Give me some medicine so that I'll live at least for four years, I'll finish my plan." I've seen it. You are the first man that you are not afraid of death (devotees laugh), but I see everyone is afraid of death.

Richard: I...

Prabhupāda: You see. As soon as there is immediately siren, I've seen it, also...

Richard: Are you afraid of death?

Prabhupāda: No. My position is different, because I know I'm not going to die. My position is different. Because we are confident, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). We are not going to die. Death is no question for us.

Room Conversation -- June 15, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: How many scientists?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: They are also fallible, they can also make mistakes. "Experts Misled: For instance, investigators in universities in the West were known to be misled by tricksters who claimed para-psychological powers." Like ESP.

Prabhupāda: They invent some big, big words (laughter). Aparkalasvena-vargolas-double-wakundali-gondolais (gibberish). (laughter)

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: "One of them was Uri Geller, an ordinary street magician who succeeded in hoodwinking two scientists of the Stanford Research Institute. He claimed that he was able to perform miracles with psychic powers obtained from a computerized brain thirteen million light years away in space." Very far away in space there's a computerized brain that he's using.

Hari-śauri: This guy, Uri Geller, he had a stage show. He would get one iron bar and stare at it, and the iron bar would bend, like this. And he could bend, he could put a spoon in the open palm of his hand, and it would bend. Things like this he was doing, and he became very famous overnight.

Prabhupāda: By bending iron.

Conversation with Clergymen -- June 15, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: Yes. That's nice.

Scheverman: I was wondering if you had some plan, some thoughts in the way in which we could mutually cooperate for the...

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. There is plan. Now suppose if I say "Let us create some peaceful man," so who will disagree with this? I don't say everyone will be peaceful, but some of them can be trained up. Some of them can be trained up courageous in battle. We have to select by practical psychology what is the tendency. Similarly we should divide,...

Scheverman: In other words, you would utilize practical psychology in the selection of people for the various levels.

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes, yes.

Kern: Well, you see, in our training for priests, our training for religious women and men, brothers, our people in this work would heartily agree in the need that there is for that training.

Prabhupāda: There is. Just like I have already said that to keep your body in order you require to keep the head, the hands, the belly and the legs in order. Otherwise, there will be disorder. The present position of the whole human society is in disorder.

Scheverman: So you are talking not only about an intellectual fitness development, but also a physical fitness of body to go along with that.

Dhṛṣṭadyumna: No.

Hari-śauri: Social body.

Interview with Kathy Kerr Reporter from The Star -- June 17, 1976, Toronto:

Jayādvaita: "One who is thus transcendentally situated at once realizes the Supreme Brahman and becomes fully joyful. He never laments nor desires to have anything; he is equally disposed to every living entity. In that state he attains pure devotional service unto Me."

Prabhupāda: Equally disposed. As soon as he knows that I am not this body, I am spirit soul, then there is no distinction. Just like two American goes to India. So when they understand that "We are Americans," immediately their interest becomes one, although they are in the foreign country. That is psychology. Similarly, as soon as we come to the spiritual platform, there is no such distinction as black, white, Hindu, Muslim, Christian. Everything finished. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu. You are reading the purport?

Jayādvaita: Purport: "To the impersonalist, achieving the brahma-bhūta (SB 4.30.20) stage, becoming one with the Absolute, is the last word. But for the personalist, or pure devotee, one has to go still further to become engaged in pure devotional service. This means that one who is engaged in pure devotional service to the Supreme Lord is already in a state of liberation, called brahma-bhūta, oneness with the Absolute. Without being one with the Supreme, the Absolute, one cannot render service unto Him. In the absolute conception, there is no difference between the served and the servitor; yet the distinctions is there, in a higher spiritual sense. In the material concept of life, when one works for sense gratification, there is misery, but in the absolute world, when one is engaged in pure devotional service, there is no misery. The devotee in Kṛṣṇa consciousness has nothing to lament or desire. Since God is full, a living entity who is engaged in God's service, in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, becomes also full in himself. He is just like a river cleansed of all dirty water. Because a pure devotee has no thought other than Kṛṣṇa, he is naturally always joyful. He does not lament for any material loss or gain because he is full in service to the Lord. He has no desire for material enjoyment because he knows that every living entity is the fragmental part and parcel of the Supreme Lord and therefore eternally a servant. He does not see, in the material world, someone as higher and someone as lower; higher and lower positions are ephemeral, and a devotee has nothing to do with ephemeral appearances or disappearances. For him, stone and gold are of equal value. This is the brahma-bhūta stage, and this stage is attained very easily..."

Morning Walk -- June 21, 1976, Toronto:

Prabhupāda: He is not devotee. He's pretending to be devotee. One who is devotee never falls down. There are so many false devotees. He falls down.

Devotee (2): Prabhupāda? In 3.4 Bhāgavatam Lord Kapiladeva speaks about the feeling of loss, the conditioned soul in the material world when he's identifying with matter.

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Devotee (2): Kapiladeva speaks about the feeling of being lost. Is that what the psychologists say is craziness?

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Puṣṭa-Kṛṣṇa: The feeling of being lost. Kapiladeva's instructions? He wants to know if the identification with matter is the same thing as craziness.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Mūḍha. (Sanskrit) What is that verse? Everyone is working under illusion of māyā, until he comes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Indian man (5): Śrīla Prabhupāda, is it better for gṛhasthas to be self-supporting and living outside the temple? Like somebody working all day and following the regulative principles?

Prabhupāda: Temple is meant for rendering service to the Lord. So if anyone is rendering service to the Lord, he can live. But not for sense gratification. Those gṛhasthas who still have desire for sense gratification, they may live outside.

Indian man (5): What about the gṛhastha's duty toward his family, like looking after his family and children? In India, like when you have a daughter you have to get her married and...

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

Prabhupāda: Yes. No, everywhere there is mixture. Otherwise, how it comes to 8,000,000? There is mixture. But this is the general division. Now you cannot make how much passion, how much goodness is there. That you can understand from the behavior. But this is general division. We can speak of general division. The minute division is made by nature. That nature's study, one who can study nature, then he can do that.

Rūpānuga: That means to study the activity, psychology of the...

Prabhupāda: So all the qualities are working, mixed up practically. But prominently like this. Here you cannot have any quality completely of that quality. Other qualities are there, but prominently that particular... Just like demigods. They also become sometimes passionate, sometimes ignorant. So in this material world it is very difficult to find out pure modes of nature in anything. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Sometimes some quality prominent, sometimes some quality is prominent. So the best thing is to become transcendental to all these qualities. Sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate (BG 14.26). That is devotional service. Śuddha-sattva, completely pure goodness. That is wanted.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: That is not the direction that we were thinking. We were thinking that we could give some specific examples. We understand that the modes of nature are mixed, but even then... Now let's take birds. A bird like swan likes to be very clean habit, likes to live in a nice environment like lotus and clean water, but on the other hand birds like eagle, very passionate, wants to...

Prabhupāda: Crow.

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

Rūpānuga: So one of the things we want to do is expose this cheating. Should we expose this kind of thing directly like this, or should we indirectly deal with it?

Prabhupāda: No, you do scientifically. I give you the hint. (laughter)

Svarūpa Dāmodara: If we say that, they will be mad at the...

Prabhupāda: Give psychology. Say "Who asked him about Arizona? Why he is speaking Arizona?" That means they are in Arizona.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: So. Śrīla Prabhupāda, is it all right to include that, these ninety-two chemical elements as finer, er, finer form of earth?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Mixture of so many things. But actually, that is the fact. Just like iron, gold, everything you find. Just like earth, but you have to purify.

Rūpānuga: So earth is a mixture of all these different elements?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: So we can call this...

Prabhupāda: Different quality of earth.

Rūpānuga: Like subcategory.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Actually, in water also, all these, most of these earth materials are there, because it dissolves in water. Water is so many salts and elements, in a dissolved form.

Interview and Conversation -- July 8, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: They are... Just see. Their all activities are in Arizona. That's all. That is disclosed yesterday. He has...

Rūpānuga: Exposed.

Prabhupāda: All bogus propaganda. They have now disclosed the same psychology, "No, I am not stealing." "Who is there in the room?" "No, no, I am not stealing." Where is the question of...? If somebody asks "Are you stealing," then this answer is... If somebody is asking, "Who is in that room?" he immediately answers, "No, no, I am not stealing."

Hari-śauri: Guilty.

Prabhupāda: And this is going on. What concern was about Arizona? This is psychology. They have no business with Arizona, but they are putting the Arizona. That means it was. Everything was in Arizona. What benefit people will get by such information? And they are spending so much money. If it is like Arizona cave, then Arizona there are living entities. Why not there? Hmm? What is the answer?

Rūpānuga: They say it is similar, but not enough to have life.

Prabhupāda: No, that is not science. If the some of them are similar, then everything must be similar. That is nature's law. Hmm? What the scientists say?

Hari-śauri: There was one report. They said there may be some bacteria there. They thought there was a possibility of bacteria.

Arrival Comments in Car to Temple -- July 9, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: He's going to help our, this... (break)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: These are bookstalls, look at that. Barnes and Nobles, they are putting up bookstalls here.

Rāmeśvara: Another Ph.D. from India has joined our movement in Denver. He just moved into the temple, he has a Ph.D. in psychology.

Prabhupāda: Yes. There are horse carriages here?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Just there. (Plaza Hotel?)

Prabhupāda: Yes. This is Fifty-seventh?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Fifty-ninth. They don't want to turn here, huh, Jayānanda? Do you? Go up Fifty-ninth it would be nicer. This is where the parade begins. From here down straight. All the way down Fifth Avenue.

Prabhupāda: The Ratha-yātrā.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. From here all the way down, we go all the way down to the park. Washington Square Park. All the way down, three rathas. It's the biggest avenue.

Prabhupāda: Is there any hour limit?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No. Two or three hours it will take. You've got to get on the right side, Jayānanda.

Prabhupāda: It appears more congested than before.

Evening Darsana -- July 11, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: To delude them. Read the purport.

Dhṛṣṭadyumna: "Lord Buddha, a powerful incarnation of the Personality of Godhead, appeared in the province of Gayā (Bihar) as the son of Añjanā, and he preached his own conception of nonviolence and deprecated even the animal sacrifices sanctioned in the Vedas. At the time when Lord Buddha appeared, the people in general were atheistic and preferred animal flesh to anything else. On the plea of Vedic sacrifice, every place was practically turned into a slaughterhouse, and animal killing was indulged in unrestrictedly. Lord Buddha preached nonviolence, taking pity on the poor animals. He preached that he did not believe in the tenets of the Vedas and stressed the adverse psychological effects incurred by animal killing. Less intelligent men of the age of Kali, who had no faith in God, followed his principle, and for the time being they were trained in moral discipline and nonviolence, the preliminary steps for proceeding further on the path of God realization. He deluded the atheists because such atheists who followed his principles did not believe in God, but they kept their absolute faith in Lord Buddha, who himself was the incarnation of God. Thus the faithless people were made to believe in God in the form of Lord Buddha. That was the mercy of Lord Buddha: he made the faithless faithful to him. Killing of animals before the advent of Lord Buddha was the most prominent feature of the society. They claimed that these were Vedic sacrifices. When the Vedas were not accepted through the authoritative disciplic succession, the casual readers of the Vedas are misled by the flowery language of that system of knowledge. In the Bhagavad-gītā a comment has been made on such foolish scholars. The foolish scholars of Vedic literature who do not care to receive the transcendental message through the transcendental realized sources of disciplic succession are sure to be bewildered. To them, the ritualistic ceremonies are considered to be all in all. They have no depth of knowledge.

Morning Walk -- July 14, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: So whether your radio message reach there?

Hari-śauri: We should wait, Śrīla Prabhupāda, a minute, because police over there, they may object if we walk. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...only in America (laughter). All intelligence monopolized by America.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Sounds like the old British policy.

Prabhupāda: Foolish policy. Just like the deaf man, he thinks everyone is deaf. You know that? This is psychology. Deaf man will think that everyone is deaf. Broadcast radio message in the Pacific Ocean, the aquatics they do not reply, that means there is no life? Rascal theory.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Anyway, maybe they speak a different language.

Devotee: They don't understand that there may be different mediums of communication.

Rāmeśvara: The government announces to the public that so much money from the taxes has to be spent on this space exploration. But according to the information that you're giving us it is not possible for them to be spending so much money to photograph Phoenix so they must be stealing the money.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: You mentioned that in previous ages when there was yajña taking place on this planet, sometimes the demigods would come down. So that means that is it possible that they would be communicating with the people of this planet?

Prabhupāda: Hm. They're speaking Sanskrit language. In all other planets they are speaking Sanskrit.

Room Conversation -- July 31, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Prabhupāda: Don't say "no." But give a taste for the good, then it will be automatically "no." And if you say "no" then he'll, they will rebel. The four "no's," that is very difficult. Still they are breaking. No illicit sex, they are breaking. But if they develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness, this will be automatically "no." So don't bring many "no's," but give them positive life. Then it will be automatically "no." And if you say "no," that will be a struggle. This is the psychology. Positive engagement is devotional service. So if they are attracted by devotional service, other things will be automatically "no." Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate. Just like Ekādaśī day. Ekādaśī day, we observe fasting. And there are many patients in the hospital, they are also fasting. But they'll "No, no." They'll, within heart, "If I get, I shall eat, I shall eat." But those who are devotee, they voluntarily "no." The same fasting is going on for the devotees and the hospital patient. And that "no" and this "no," there is difference. Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate (BG 2.59). It is not meant for the mass of people, but at least if we keep a section of people ideal to the human society, they will be guided. At the present moment, there is no ideal section. Everyone is rascal, demons, rogues, everything. There is no ideal character. All politicians, scientists, leaders, they are all drunkards and woman-hunters. So what they can lead? There is no ideal man in the society. The politicians are giving big, big speech in the United Nations. They'll go to the same hotel where another debauchee is dancing and drinking. That's all. That is his character. Is it not? So what he will do? We can give a very big speech, that's all. What is his character? There is no ideal character in the present human society. Do they appreciate our, these restrictions?

Room Conversation -- August 3, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Prabhupāda: Yes. This is not possible for us. We welcome. But we must be well organized to utilize these poor souls for becoming first-class devotees. That should be done. Otherwise, sex life and the by-product, that is always troublesome, either you take this way or that way, it is troublesome. If it is not troublesome, why they are killing their own children? To avoid trouble. This is psychology. They want to avoid trouble. But our process is, if you want to avoid trouble, then don't marry, remain brahmacārī. If you cannot, then, all right, have legal wife, get children and raise them very nicely, make them Vaiṣṇavas, take the responsibility. So we are organizing this society, we welcome. Some way or other we shall arrange for shelter. But to take care of the children, to educate them, that will depend on their parents. Now our Pradyumna was complaining that in the Gurukula, his child was not educated to count one, two, three, four. So I have told him that "You educate your child. Let the mother educate in English, and you educate him in Sanskrit." Who can take care? So similarly every father, mother should take care that in future they may not be a batch of unwanted children. We can welcome hundreds and thousands of children. There is no question of economic problem. We know that. But the father, mother must take care at least. Properly trained up, they should be always engaged. That is brahmacārī gurukula. Brahmacārī guru-kule vasan dānto guror hitam (SB 7.12.1). From the very beginning they should be trained up. From the body, they should be trained up how to take bath, how to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa or some Vedic mantra, go to the temple, offer obeisances, prayer, then take their lunch... In this way, they should be always engaged. Then they'll be trained up. Simple thing. We don't want to train them as big grammarians. No. That is not wanted. That anyone, if he has got some inclination, he can do it personally. There is no harm. General training is that he must be a devotee, a pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa.

Room Conversation -- August 11, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: Oh, that is another thing. Material. That is, er, Transcendental Meditation. (long pause)

Jñānagamya: How can we convince them?

Prabhupāda: Hm? How can you convince? They are asuras.

Jñānagamya: No, those who doing some meditation that are Kṛṣṇa consciousness...

Prabhupāda: No, they are also asuras. They do not know what is the meaning of meditation. That is psychology. It is not meditation. Or some medical treatment. Meditation is different, real meditation.

Devotee: What is... What is real meditation?

Prabhupāda: Real meditation is to find out the Supersoul within the core of the heart. That is real meditation. God is situated in everyone's heart, so the yogis, they try to find out the Supersoul within the heart. That is real yogi. Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginam. This is real yogi, trying to contact the Supersoul. They are searching after the God in His all-pervading feature. But, ah, some of them, they want to become one. That is asuric. One with God, that is asuric. Because they are being defeated by God, so therefore they want to become God to stop this defeat. That is asuric. Therefore they will never be able to be, but they are trying for it.

Jñānagamya: It is the highest blasphemy.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Jñānagamya: It is the highest blasphemy, isn't it? If one says, "I am God."

Room Conversation -- August 14, 1976, Bombay:

Indian Doctor: There is research in parapsychology in certain municipality(?) of India, they have proved that (indistinct).

Prabhupāda: That they may do, a very great service, but we know it without going to the psychological process. We believe Kṛṣṇa. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13), bas, finished. What is the use of going to the psychology and...?

Indian Doctor: But those...

Prabhupāda: No, no, those who are fools, they may waste their time in that way. (laughter) But we are not so fool.

Indian Doctor: They are fools to not to think that they'll become...

Prabhupāda: They are rascal fools because they do not take Kṛṣṇa's word. Kṛṣṇa says tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). Why should we bother? Our mission is simply to propagate Kṛṣṇa's instructions. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We don't manufacture anything. So-called yoga, so-called meditation, so-called this and... We don't care for all this nonsense. Our only business is how to implement the instruction of Kṛṣṇa, the rascals may understand and be happy. That is our mission. We haven't got to manufacture anything. This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission. Yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṇa-upadeśa (CC Madhya 7.128). You simply carry the message of Kṛṣṇa and try to deliver it to anyone you meet. This is our... We haven't got to manufacture anything. Therefore we are presenting Bhagavad-gītā as it is. Take it, without interpretation. Don't spoil the whole thing. Interpretation means spoiling. Whole thing spoiled.

Meeting With Member of Parliament, Mr. Krishna Modi -- August 31, 1976, Delhi:

Prabhupāda: In America it is 25.

Krishna Modi: No, not 25, that is 45... But there is a system in West Germany that if you earn more, the tax will be less. That is their system. If people will earn 200 crores, then the tax percentage will be lower. Lower.

Prabhupāda: That is good. That is good. The psychology is that if you earn more and government will tax more, then the impetus for earning more is cut.

Krishna Modi: Therefore they have got no black money. And here the system is different. If you will earn more then you will have to pay more. It means people are not as interested in earning.

Prabhupāda: Therefore what is the use of earning? What is the use of earning?

Krishna Modi: That is true. Then I will get all the replies and papers today. And I will arrange each and every thing before 5th or 6th of September.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: You leave here the 6th?

Krishna Modi: Oh no. I will leave today or tomorrow. But I will come and I will arrange all these things.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: When are you coming back here?

Krishna Modi: I will come back on 5th.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Okay. So I'll meet you on the 5th then.

Room Conversation -- September 6, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: They can. They'll not accept the process. They can. Everyone. Otherwise why these brahmacārīs? Just to be trained. That's all. By training we can find so many brahmacārīs. Just like by training you have given up so many things. You were accustomed to this illicit sex and meat-eating and... But you have given up. But why? By training. So if we request the government, "Let us open this brahmacārī..." They'll not help. But they'll make the other propaganda. They'll make contraceptive method, and naturally one Hindu widow is trained up not to marry again. Once she got a husband, that's all right. Now you convert your, you divert your attention to Kṛṣṇa. They'll make propaganda. "Why stop her sense gratification? Let her marry again, widow marriage." Why widow marriage? If there is voluntarily giving up begetting any more child, to avoid husband, why the widow marriage bill is introduced? Everything was natural, brahmacārī. The sterilization is already there. That will not be accepted. Widow, she's remaining refrained from. Just like we have now asked our girls not to dress attractively, widow. They should dress not attractively. Because after all, what is this sex enjoyment? It is not very good thing. By outward attraction they attract. Nice sari, nice,—one becomes attracted. Therefore this is psychology, that if the woman does not dress very nicely, she will not be attractive. Unnecessarily attraction she will avoid. But a woman is naturally, her psychology is dress very nicely so that man may be attracted. Because they want shelter. This is the whole psychology. They, although they declare independence, they cannot live independently. That is not possible. Therefore they are by nature accustomed to dress attractively so that one may accept her and give her shelter. This is psychology. Otherwise, why the woman are naturally inclined to dress herself nice. Man does not. This is the psychology. A boy, sixteen years old boy, he does not... He is roughly dressed, he does not... But a sixteen year old girl will never remain roughly. She'll always try to decorate herself very nicely and utilize her youthful beauty for attracting. Why attracting? Because she wants shelter. Therefore it is the duty of the father and mother that she is young girl, she wants shelter, and out of passion, lusty desires, her selection may be wrong. So before she selects out of her own way, let me, it is my duty, I am guardian. Give her some good shelter. This is Hindu process.

Room Conversation -- September 6, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Very natural.

Akṣayānanda: But they say restricting. But they will say restricting, unnatural.

Prabhupāda: They may say, but this is natural psychology. Father, mother, they know, the well-wisher of the children. Now everything is spoiled. But we don't care for this. We say take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, everything will be adjusted.

Akṣayānanda: By sterilization, Prabhupāda... When they perform some operation that will also spoil their intelligence.

Prabhupāda: Everything is spoiled.

Akṣayānanda: Because if the, as I have read, if the semina can go to the brain then there can be some intelligence, if even a little could go. Is it by sterilization no more can go to the brain I think. So they have become balada. (oxen) They've become like the balada.

Prabhupāda: Nowadays boys are dull. Why dull?

Akṣayānanda: So dull in India.

Prabhupāda: Everywhere. Because they discharge semina like anything. Must be dull.

Akṣayānanda: And then by...

Room Conversation (Bullock Cart SKP) -- September 12, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: No, they're thinking that so many people are coming to the cities, how we shall provide them? That's a problem. After all government has to supply them rations. Where is so much foodstuff? And if they are not supplied, then there will be resentment. That's a fact. What they are doing in the city, so many scooter (makes motor sound), going here and there. Actually no engagement. The girls are loitering in the street by dressing. It will become more and more problems, city life. So this is the solution, that they must go back to the village. But they are trained up to enjoy the facilities, so-called facilities, of the city. They are not going to village. But if we can introduce this hari-saṅkīrtana, and if they have little taste, that is success. It's a great program. And that taste will come-ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). If he simply becomes little sober that "I want to eat, I have to sleep, I want some sense enjoyment and defense. So if I can get easily in the village, why shall I go three hundred miles away? Just keep in mind the psychology. So that simple life will be possible if one is bhakta. Bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt (SB 11.2.42). Only by devotion. Not by otherwise. Not by artificial means, by manufacturing toilet. Only bhakti. If they get little attachment for Kṛṣṇa the questions will be solved automatically. And they will be happy. Undoubtedly. That is the Caitanya Mahāprabhu's first instruction. Ceto-darpaṇa.

Lokanātha: I come from village, and I'm happy now as I have taken to holy name and prasāda. So more, other villagers... Half of these boys are from villages?

Prabhupāda: Yes, they are villagers.

Lokanātha: They're chanting and they're so happy and they're going back to village.

Room Conversation -- October 31, 1976, Vrndavana:

Hari-śauri: Yeah, he says that here, because of their own ignorance then they find fault. He goes on: "From this misunderstanding came fear then hatred and from hatred grew injustices and often atrocities. An injustice is now being perpetrated through ignorance. Are atrocities far off? This may sound like an overstatement, but for those who say, 'It can't happen here,' it already has, such as to the American Indians and to our people (of) Japanese descendant. The time to stop such action is at the beginning, now. The way to stop it is to replace ignorance with knowledge, and hatred with understanding. Sometimes people stand off at a distance and look at another person's belief and laugh at them or fear them. But as they get closer, they may come to understand how similar the observer's beliefs may be to their own beliefs. As a scientist, a psychologist, I have tried to learn about and understand the Hare Kṛṣṇa people. For nearly a year I have spent hours each week, talking with, reading about, and testing members of the movement. I have been to their temples in this country and in Europe. I have eaten in their homes and I have been to their children's schools. What I have found is a group of people trying to find God and live as closely to the way that He would like them to live. There is no place in their lives for immorality, for cruelty to other people or animals, for artificial stimulants or harmful chemicals such as alcohol, drugs, or tobacco. At first glance their approach to God may seem alien to us with their different dress, the incense, and the many statues and their unique ceremonies, but a closer look reveals similarities to our religious practices that are just the same. In Catholicism we find the holy water, chanting on the rosary, statues of saints and incense. And in Judaism we find the blowing of the shofar."

Prabhupāda: And they say, the cow's urine, they are forcing to eat. (laughter) (Bengali) ...that they are forcing the devotees to drink cow's urine. (laughter) These are the charges: brainwash, mind control, forcing cow's urine to drink. (laughter) How clever they are to find out some fictitious faults.

Room Conversation with Dr. Theodore Kneupper -- November 6, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Hm? Yes.

Devotee: "(indistinct) which developed for advancement of learning in art, science, philosophy, physics, chemistry, psychology, economics, politics, etc. By culture of such knowledge the human society can attain perfection of life. This perfection of life culminates in the realization of the Supreme Being, Kṛṣṇa. The śruti therefore directs that those who are actually advanced in should aspire to the service of Lord Viṣṇu. Unfortunately, persons who are enamored by the external beauty of viṣṇu-māyā do not understand that the culmination of perfection or self realization depends on Viṣṇu. Viṣṇu-māyā means sense enjoyment, which is transient and miserable. Those who are attracted by viṣṇu-māyā utilize advancement of knowledge for sense enjoyment. Śrī Nārada Muni has explained that all paraphernalia of the cosmic universe is but an emanation of the Lord or His different energies because the Lord has set in motion by His inconceivable energy, actions and reactions of the created manifestation. They have come to be out of His energy, they rest on His energy, and after annihilation they merge into Him. Nothing is therefore different from Him, but at the same time the Lord is always is different from them. When advancement of knowledge is applied in the service of the Lord the whole process becomes absolute. The Personality of Godhead, His transcendental name, fame, glory, etc., are all nondifferent from Him. Therefore all the sages and devotees of the Lord have recommended that the subject matter of art, science, philosophy, physics, chemistry, psychology, and all the branches of knowledge should be wholly and solely applied in the service of the Lord. Art, literature, poetry, painting, etc., may be used in glorifying the Lord. The (indistinct), writers, poets, and celebrated literature are generally engaged in writing sensuous subjects, but if they turn (indistinct) the service of the Lord, they can describe the transcendental pastimes of the Lord. Vālmīki was a great poet, and similarly Vyāsadeva is a great writer and both of them have absolutely engaged themselves in delineating the transcendental activities of the Lord and by doing so they become immortal. Similarly science and philosophy also should be applied to the service of the Lord. There is no use presenting dry speculative theories for sense gratification.

Room Conversation -- December 12, 1976, Hyderabad:

Mahāṁśa: Yes. Yes, that can be done. But family attachment... You see, these people, they have also family attachment, just like karmīs. So they are not so willing to... Because their whole family... The whole village is like one family. It's like one family. They are all related to each other. And they can stay. They stay. Many of them stay here overnight.

Prabhupāda: Naturally everyone wants to stay at his own place. "Home sweet home." "There is no place like home." That's a fact. That is psychology. They will like to stay there. But if they have got facility to live here with family they may come.

Mahāṁśa: I was thinking we can make their house just like our house. If they are living right on our border, we can go to their house, tell them how to make an altar and make them live like how we are living. Let them stay there but let them live a good Kṛṣṇa conscious life.

Prabhupāda: They'll come gradually, not immediately. Immediately, the psychology is, they have got attachment for their house. It may be worse house, but still, their attachment... That is natural. Long, long ago, when I was child practically, I went with my father in the village. So one man from the village was serving us. So my father: "This boy is nice. So why not take him to Calcutta?" So one day he was absent. It was dropping and... So I went in the interior of the village and I saw that his house was broken, there was no roof, and rain was falling and he was sitting, covering with a cloth. Then I told him that "Why not come with us in Calcutta? We shall give you nice place, nice food." So his answer was, nā bābu kanceri jabo nā (?): "Bābujī, I cannot go out of my home." That was his home. (laughter) This is my practical exp... He was sitting idly and it dropping and he could not come to serve. Still, that is his home, and he cannot leave home, that "Bābu kanceri jabo nā (?). That is psychology. It may be very worse condition; still, nobody wants to give up "home sweet home." That is natural psychology. So you have to manage. You see then why they, these Delhi passenger clerks... This morning I was telling that son was asking mother, "Who is this man?" His father, and he had never seen. "You have seen father." No, rather, he had no chance to see father because when the father comes back from the office it is night, ten o'clock or more than that. That time the son is sleeping, and again he has to go early in the morning. That time also, son is sleeping. So he did not know. So one Sunday, when he's grown up, he is asking his mother, "Who is this man?" "So this man..." Not only in India, in everywhere. I have seen in New York from the other island? What is that?

Room Conversation -- December 12, 1976, Hyderabad:

Āsakti. Then they will be attached here. Spiritually if you enlighten them, then they'll be attached. They'll voluntarily say they are accepting here. The chanting, chanting, then... This is the beginning, that "You chant and take prasādam." Then ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). Gradually the heart will be cleansed, and gradually they will be elevated to the platform of āsakti. Then they will not want money, they will not want... Then they will live here, work, just you are doing. That stage, that requires little advancement. Therefore I say this kīrtana program must be continued. Then ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam. As you make the heart cleansed, they become more and more advanced. And then this stage of āsakti, that "This is... We shall live here." Just like we have given up our hearth and home and wife and children. We have given up that attachment. This attachment, practical... That is... You cannot expect immediately. That is not possible. Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate (BG 2.59). When one gets better attachment, then they can give up this nasty attachment. Therefore we have to continue this saṅkīrtana. This is the psychology. But there is very great prospect to develop this place, and you have got experience. If you can develop, it will be very nice example. Once successful here, we can introduce this program. And India will be easier because they are by nature inclined to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It will be easier. The kīrtana must be there. Otherwise why we have to take so much responsibility?

Tejas: Last night it was very hard. Again no one was coming to the kīrtana.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Morning Walk -- December 25, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: So why not ask him. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Guest (1): Now they have, after seeing these young men, they have started thinking that "Why these young men (laughing) from America are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and why we are not doing?" I said, "You just think it over."

Prabhupāda: (Hindi) No, America... The purpose of going to America for... This was one of the cause, that "When I bring Americans here, these rascals will take some lesson."

Guest (1): I think you are absolutely right. (laughing) Psychologically, somehow or other, anything that is...

Prabhupāda: And long, long ago, in the beginning, one friend wrote. I replied in that letter, that "You have finished your cows. You are importing powdered milk. Now you have to import brāhmaṇas also from America. (laughter)

Guest (1): True, absolutely true.

Prabhupāda: Now, you see that we are establishing so many temples. They are being maintained by imported American brāhmaṇas. You cannot get.

Guest (1): Same thing in Aurobindo. I went to Pondicherry also this...

Prabhupāda: You cannot get here now brāhmaṇas. They have learned how to eat meat, how to drink, how to have illicit sex. They are finished.

Guest (1): No more brāhmaṇas. You are right. That's tragedy. That's a fact.

Prabhupāda: (Hindi)

Room Conversation -- December 26, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Jagadīśa: "Dear Dr. Lubin: In our recent telephone conversation you asked me to articulate in a letter those questions concerning the current brainwashing, deprogramming controversy which I feel may be pertinent to psychiatrists interested in religious issues and therefore a potential topic for discussion and or research within the Committee on Psychiatry and Religion of the Group for Advancement of Psychiatry. Speaking on my own behalf and informally on behalf of the Hare Kṛṣṇa religious society, I might suggest that this issue raises some very serious questions concerning possible abuses of diagnostic power in psychiatry against religious practitioners and movements for what may be social, political, and legal ends. Within the last ten years a large number of new religious groups, sects, communities and organizations have appeared on the American scene. Some are totally new organizationally as well as theologically. And others are, or allege to be, based upon some already existing spiritual tradition. I myself am a member for six years of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, the Hare Kṛṣṇa Movement. The term Kṛṣṇa consciousness is synonymous with the term bhakti-yoga, a theistic form of yoga which finds its scriptural authority in the Bhagavad-gītā and other major Indian devotional texts. The religious tradition represented in the West of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement, Vaiṣṇavism, has centered the lives of hundreds of millions of Hindus for many centuries in India. This particular tradition has produced one of the world's largest and richest bodies of religious, philosophical, and mystical literature. The founder and spiritual leader of the movement, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, has within the last ten years, offered more than fifty volumes of translation and commentary on major texts of the tradition: Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, etc. These works are considered significant contributions to scholarship by specialists in the field and are studied in the universities throughout the world. See book reviews in the pamphlet, 'The Kṛṣṇa Consciousness Movement is Authorized.' The members of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement, both men and women, single and married, live in strict adherence to Vedic and Vaiṣṇava principles in regards to religious practice, chastity vows, diet, etc. The movement's nearly one hundred centers are mostly urban monasteries from which members in accordance with Vaiṣṇava tradition perform evangelistic and proselytizing activities. The authenticity of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement has formerly been confirmed by numerous Hindu religious academic and cultural bodies both in India and U.S. Of the new religious movements which are prominent, most are allegedly based on either a Western religious tradition: the Children of God and Unification Church are Christian oriented; or an Eastern religious or philosophical tradition: Zen groups, yoga groups, Hare Kṛṣṇa, etc. Of the groups based either on Western or non-Western spiritual traditions, some are seen as not accurately representing that tradition upon which they are ostensibly based. For instance, several Christian church organizations assert that the Unification Church, the Moonies, is not a bona fide Christian organization. Others, such as the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, are accepted as legitimate, both by scholars and adherents of that tradition. As the public tends, however, to indiscriminately lump together whatever appears to be strange or out of the ordinary, the mass media refers to all such groups with the derogatory term, 'cult.' All questions of legitimacy aside, the parents of many members of such groups feel, for one reason or another, that their son or daughter has been brainwashed and they are under the 'mind control' of the cult. Originally denoting the specific technique employed by Chinese Communists to effect ideological persuasion to extreme psychological and often physical coercion, the term brainwashing is defined as a colloquial term applied to any technique designed to manipulate human thought or action against the desired will or knowledge of the individual." That's from the Encyclopedia Britannica. "In popular usage it becomes an imprecise, all-encompassing and pejorative term used to describe any kind of persuasion or behavior with which one may disagree. In psychology it is not generally accepted, I am told, as a legitimate clinical term. How does one wash another's brain? The dynamics of 'conversion' in the case of Kṛṣṇa consciousness are quite informal. Talking with devotees, reading scripture, meditation, etc. and certainly do not include the application of any type of psychological coercion against the desire, will, or knowledge of the potential or novice devotee.

Room Conversation -- December 26, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Very good.

Jagadīśa: All these... Kīrtanānanda Swami was there and a boy who was kidnapped, Vasu Gopāla, as well as Dr. Harvey Cox, the Civil Liberties Attorney who is defending us, and Dr. Stephen Corover, a psychologist, Jack Colley, who's a renowned religious scholar, and Dr. Eck, a lecturer in Sanskrit and India studies at Harvard. The public was invited and they had questions from the floor and all of the members of the panel, important people, were all in our support. It's very long...

Prabhupāda: That's all right.

Hari-śauri: There's one interesting statement in there from one of these men. He's lived in Vṛndāvana for about two years. And he says how when he first went to Vṛndāvana, all the people there, they would chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Rāma, but it was kind of a derogatory thing because they had seen this film, Dum-mada-dam. So whenever they saw a Westerner they thought, "Oh, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Rāma," implying, "Oh, you're a hippie, you're a drug addict." Like that. But he said in the last two or three years since we established our temple, now that is completely changed. They're still saying, "Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Rāma," all the children shout it, but now they expect us to shout "Haribol" back and that it's a sign of, it's a friendly gesture now. So he's an outsider, but he's noticed the change in the Indian people's attitude, especially in Vṛndāvana.

Jagadīśa: He said, "Any Westerner they see in Vṛndāvana they say Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Rāma."

Prabhupāda: (indistinct)

Page Title:Psychology (Conversations 1976)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:18 of Nov, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=37, Let=0
No. of Quotes:37