Somehow or other (Lectures, Other)

Expressions researched:
"somehow or other"

Sri Brahma-samhita Lectures

Lecture on Brahma-samhita, Verse 33 -- Stockholm, September 6, 1973, Upsala University:

His expansion of that quality, eternity, blissfulness and knowledge. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis. His gopīs, His consorts, His father, His mother, His friends, His trees, His flowers, His calves and cows—everything is spiritual, expansion from Him. Everything... The... We are also expansion from Him. We are marginal potency. And this is spiritual potency. So everything is expansion. Therefore the Vedic literatures say, sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma: "Everything is Brahman." We are now combination of two energies, marginal energy and the external energy. But in the spiritual world, everything is only spiritual energy. So we are constitutionally spiritual energy. Somehow or other we have been entangled with this material energy. So if we try in this human form of life, we can get out of this material energy and again go back to the spiritual energy. That is the opportunity. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ (Bs. 5.37).

Another śloka is to explain: aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛtti-manti (Bs. 5.32). The spiritual body is equally qualified for doing everything. Just like with our hand, we can touch only. We cannot do... Or we can pick up something. But by simply having hand, or with the hand, we cannot eat. For eating we shall have to use this mouth, we have to use the stomach. But in the spiritual world, Kṛṣṇa, about Him is described: aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛtti-manti (Bs. 5.32). Each and every limb of Kṛṣṇa has got the potency of other limbs. He can eat by His eyes. He can hear from His eyes. And anything, all the parts of the limbs, because they are spiritual, you can use it for any purpose. This is not understandable in this material condition of life, but it is possible. These things are there.

Lecture on Brahma-samhita, Lecture -- New York, July 28, 1971:

If you apply your devotional service to Vasudeva, vāsudeve bhagavati... Vasudeva is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Bhagavati. Vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ (SB 1.2.7). If you apply, if you engage yourself in devotional service to Vasudeva, then the result will be janayaty āśu. Āśu means very soon, without delay; janayaty, generated. Janayaty āśu vairāgyam. Vairāgyam means knowledge by which one becomes detached from this material allurement. That is called vairāgya. Simply by employing yourself in devotional service you get the highest knowledge. That is vairāgya. Without vairāgyam... Jñānaṁ ca. Jñāna and vairāgya. Jñāna means knowledge, and vairāgya means detachment. This is required in this human form of life. As soon as you get right knowledge, that "I am spirit soul. I am not anything of this material world. Somehow or other I have been in contact with this material world, and because I have desired to enjoy this material world in different capacities, therefore I am transmigrating from one type of body to another type, and I do now know since when this system began. But is still going on," this is called knowledge. To understand one's constitutional position and how he's suffering in this material world, that is called knowledge. Now that perfection of knowledge comes when one becomes vāsudeva-parāyaṇāḥ.

Lecture on Brahma-samhita, Lecture -- Stockholm, September 7, 1973:

His form is eternity, blissful, and full of knowledge. So all His paraphernalia in the Goloka Vṛndāvana, that is His expansion of that quality—eternity, blissfulness and knowledge. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhiḥ. His gopīs, His consorts, His father, His mother, His friends, His trees, His flowers, His calves and cows—everything is spiritual expansion from Him. Everything... We are also expansion from Him. We are marginal potency, and this is spiritual potency. So everything is expansion. Therefore the Vedic literature says, sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma: "Everything is Brahman." We are not (?) combination of two energies: marginal energy and the external energy. But in the spiritual world everything is only spiritual energy. So we are constitutionally spiritual energy. Somehow or other, we have been entangled with this material energy. So if we try in this human form of life, we can get out of this material energy and again go back to the spiritual energy. That is the opportunity. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ (Bs. 5.37).

Another śloka I wish to explain: aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛtti-manti (Bs. 5.32). The spiritual body is equally qualified for doing everything. Just like our hand, we can touch only. We cannot do... Or we can pick up something. But simply having hand... Or with the hand we cannot eat. For eating, we shall have to use this mouth, we have to use the stomach. But in the spiritual world, Kṛṣṇa, about Him it is described, aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛtti-manti: (Bs. 5.32) "Each and every limb of Kṛṣṇa has got the potency of other limbs." He can eat by His eyes; He can hear from His eyes. Anything. All the parts of the limbs, because they are spiritual, you can use it for any purpose. This is not understandable in this material condition of life, but it is possible. When it is spiritually realized, it is possible. These things are there.

Festival Lectures

Gundica Marjanam Cleansing of the Gundica Temple, Lecture (the day before Ratha-yatra) -- San Francisco, July 4, 1970:

That's all right. You can keep it... That's all right. So Lord Caitanya's sampradāya. (laughter) That is my joy, that we have now a sampradāya, a party of Lord Caitanya in the Western country. That is my success. That's all. I have no value—insignificant—but somehow or other you cooperated, and you are still cooperating, and you are still cooperating as Lord Caitanya's sampradāya. That is my life. Thank you very much. (begins playing kartāls, ecstatic kīrtana follows)

It is working? (taps microphone) Huh? No. So just one day before Ratha-yātrā there is a festival in Jagannātha Purī which is called Guṇḍicā-mārjana. Guṇḍicā-mārjana. From the Jagannātha temple, about two miles away there is another temple house, not exactly temple, where the Deity Jagannātha goes during this Rathayātrā festival, from the temple to that Gundica house. And then the deities remain there for one week and then comes back. And during that one week there are many festivals. As I told you in this morning, this Jagannātha, He's proceeding toward Vṛndāvana. Rādhārāṇī is inviting Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa, after His childhood, pauganda-līlā, He was called by His father, His real father. Practically, He was called for killing Kaṁsa, His maternal uncle, who was giving trouble to the whole Yadu dynasty, and everyone was waiting for Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa appeared, and immediately He was transferred to a friend's house by His father. Vasudeva is kṣatriya, and Nanda Mahārāja is a vaiśya. Kṣatriya business is royal family, and vaiśya, they are agriculturalists, traders, krsi-go-raksya, and protection of cows. These three business, livelihood of the vaiśya. Kṛṣi-go-rakṣya-vāṇijyam (BG 18.44). Kṛṣi means agriculture, and go-rakṣya, cow protection. This is Vedic civilization.

Ratha-yatra -- London, July 13, 1972:

I am part and parcel of God." You have... Most of you must have read Bhagavad-gītā. In the Fifteenth Chapter it is said that the living entities are part and parcel of God. God is by nature joyful. In the Vedānta-sūtra it is said about the Supreme Absolute Truth, as ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12), by nature joyful. Therefore, as we are part and parcel of God, our aim of life is joy. We are searching after that joyfulness within this material world, but that is not possible. Just like a fish, if it is taken from the water and put on the land, in any condition the fish will never feel joyfulness. Similarly, we are spirit souls. Somehow or other, we have come in contact with this material world. Therefore in this material world we cannot have joyfulness. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt. This material world is not befitting our spiritual self. Spiritual self requires spiritual joy. That is beyond these material senses. Therefore this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is meant for clearing or cleansing or purifying the senses. As soon as we purify our senses, then actually we can enjoy our spiritual sense enjoyment.

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

He is very nice. He hears me very patiently. He does not go away." So that was my qualification. The high standard of philosophy which he was speaking at that time, practically I could not follow what was, he was speaking, but still, I liked to hear him. That was my hobby. Whenever... I was asking that "When Guru Mahārāja will speak?" So he took it very seriously.

And then, in 1936-it's a long history-during this Vyāsa-pūjā day, this Vyāsa-pūjā day, whatever I studied about our relationship with my Guru Mahārāja, I expressed in this poetry, and since that day my Godbrothers used to call me "poet." And Guru Mahārāja also very much appreciated this poetry. Now somehow or other you have found it. (laughs) I thought the poetry is lost, but I do not know how it was found out by some of our disciples. I think it was found out in London museum or somewhere else by Guru dāsa. They had a stock of Harmonist, and from the Harmonist, my Guru Mahārāja's paper, this poetry was found. Otherwise I thought it was lost. So anyway, this poetry is "Adore, adore ye all the happy day, blessed than heaven, sweeter than May." So I heard that the month of May is very pleasing in the Western countries, so I compared the happiness of this day with the May Day. They call May Day?

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Appearance Day, Lecture -- Los Angeles, February 7, 1969:

So I consulted some of my Godbrothers, senior Godbrothers, "Guru Mahārāja has told me like this. What can I do?" So you have heard the name of Professor Sanyal, and there were other Godbrothers. They asked me to write on the Vaiṣṇava-siddhānta in English. So perhaps in 1935 I wrote one poetry. The part of it, somebody, you have got. He was very pleased. Since then he was insisting me that "You write on, preach on in English." At that time I was thinking, "What can I do?" So anyway, after his passing away, this Back to Godhead paper was started, as late in 1944, I think, because the expenditure was three hundred, four hundred rupees per month.

So somehow or other, it has begun, the blessings of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, as he wanted me, he desired me. So because he desired, my... I am not very expert or educated or nothing extraordinary, but only thing is that I believed in his word. That is... You can say that is my qualification. I believed cent percent in his word. So whatever success is there, it is just due to my firm faith in his instruction. So I am trying to follow. And by his grace, you are helping me. So actually, the responsibility will now depend on you. I am also old man. I may pass away at any moment.

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Appearance Day, Lecture -- Atlanta, March 2, 1975:

At that time I was manager in a big chemical factory. So I thought that "I am married man. I have got so many responsibilities. How I can join immediately? It is not my duty." Of course, that was my mistake. I should have joined immediately. (laughter) I should have taken the opportunity immediately. But māyā is there. So I thought like that. So that's a long history. Then in 1954, no, not 1954, 1968, when I was fifty-four years old... Nineteen fifty-four, yes. Nineteen fifty-four, I was at that time fifty-eight years. So I left home, and I was living alone. Then, 1958, I took sannyāsa, and then I decided to take up the responsibility of my Guru Mahārāja. I thought that "My other Godbrothers are trying, so I am not capable to do it. They are better situated." But somehow or other, they could not do very much, appreciative activities, in this connection.

So when I was seventy years old I decided, "Now I must do and execute the order of my Guru Mahārāja. And thus this movement was started in 1965 from New York. And I was not very much hopeful because it is very difficult task, just opposite the European and Western culture. I came... When I first came, I had no money. So I got a free passage through some Indian steam navigation company.

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Appearance Day, Lecture -- Mayapur, February 8, 1977:

If the andha is taken on the shoulder... If the paṅgu is taken on the shoulder of the andha, then the lame man can give direction.

So actually this logic is coming to be true, there is now agitation. People are feeling the pressure of this movement, and in Europe and America there is opposing party. But don't be afraid. Take this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement very seriously. It is not a national movement or some social movement. It is the movement to uplift the position of the whole human society. So that was the mission of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. Somehow or other we are taking it little seriously. Let all the Americans, Indians, especially young men... Don't misunderstand these Europeans and Americans C.I.A. Don't be mad, crazy fellow. They have taken Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They have nothing to do with politics. And you also, young men, you also join on the basis of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and do something philanthropic for the whole human society. (end)

Arrival Addresses and Talks

Arrival Lecture -- Gainesville, July 29, 1971:

We are all part and parcel of God. Therefore, just like you are part and parcel of your parent, so there is some intimate relationship with your parents. It cannot be broken, even if you are absent from home for many years. Still, when you go home, meet your parents, the old relationship—affectionate father, mother and son—immediately you'll revive. It does not take much time—because the son was long, long away from father, and he has come back, he takes another hundred years to establish the relation. No. As soon as the father and the son is together, the natural relationship immediately revives. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is the original father, God is the original father. We are all His sons. Somehow or other we have left home. We have tried to enjoy material sense gratification. Kṛṣṇa has given us full facility. But we are not happy. That is not possible. Because we are separated from our original position, therefore we can not be happy. I give you one example. Just like this finger is the part and parcel of your body or my body, your body. If this finger is separated from this body it has no value, but if it is attached with this body, it has value. Similarly, we being part and parcel of God, Kṛṣṇa, if we're detached from God then we cannot be happy. That is a fact. There are many examples. Just like a baby, the part and parcel of the mother, crying, so many people trying to pacify the baby, taking on the lap, but still it is crying. But as soon as the baby is on the breast of the mother, immediately happy. Naturally. The baby knows, "Now I have come to the ri

Arrival Lecture -- Gainesville, July 29, 1971:

"Their mother is this material nature, and I am their seed-giving father." Kṛṣṇa says that. So how can Kṛṣṇa be Indian or Hindu or this or that? No. Kṛṣṇa is for everyone. And the proof is that five years ago in the Western countries nobody knew what is Kṛṣṇa. How they're taking Kṛṣṇa in so loving attitude? This is the proof that Kṛṣṇa is for everyone, and everyone is for Kṛṣṇa.

Try to understand this philosophy. Don't be mislead. It is not a sectarian religion. It is the fact. Nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-bhakti sādhya kabhu naya. The author of Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja, he says, nitya siddha kṛṣṇa bhakti. Kṛṣṇa-bhakti, our love for Kṛṣṇa, is eternal fact. Everyone has got love for Kṛṣṇa. Now, somehow or other it is covered. But that has to be awakened. Just like covered fire. Sometimes fire is covered by the ashes, and if you'll fan over the fire and put some new charcoal, again the fire will awaken, very bright. So similarly, somehow or other, our love for Kṛṣṇa is covered by these material designations: "I am American," "I am Christian," "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim," "I am this," "I am that." These are all ashes. The fire is the spirit soul. So if you rightly fan it over, and you'll see very soon, the fire will come out again. So how fanning? Śravaṇādi-śuddha-citte. You kindly hear about Kṛṣṇa śuddha-citta, without any embarrassment, without being biased to something else. Śuddha-citte. If you... then Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or love for Kṛṣṇa, will automatically awaken, simply by hearing. That is happening. What we are doing? We are chanting everywhere "Hare Kṛṣṇa," and people are coming for hearing. We're not bribing them that "You take some money and become a member of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement." Rather they are paying.

Arrival Lecture -- New Delhi, November 10, 1971:

We should be very much proud of becoming Indian to take our birth on the holy land of India. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, bhārata-bhūmite manuṣya-janma haila yāra (CC Adi 9.41). Anyone who has taken birth in this holy land of Bharata-varṣa, janma sārthaka kari': just make your life perfect and distribute the knowledge all over the world. Janma sārthaka kari kara para-upakāra. Para-upakāra. India is meant for doing welfare activities to the world, but we have forgotten that. We are trying to imitate the Western country and technology, and we have thrown out our Vedic treasure-house, our transcendental knowledge treasure-house. So my Guru Mahārāja ordered me long, long ago, when I was twenty-five years old, my Guru Mahārāja ordered me to go to the foreign countries and preach Lord Caitanya's message. But somehow or other I could not assimilate his order until I was seventy years old. But it was better late than never. So also I was trying how to make a successful tour for preaching Caitanya Mahāprabhu's message. So by the grace of my Guru Mahārāja and by your blessings, I went to the Western countries and had such a very good response, very good response. I went there empty handed with forty rupees in my pocket and free ticket, return ticket, by the Scindia Steam Navigation Company. And for one year I had no place to live, I had no money to eat; still I was going here and there. Then in 1966... I went in America in 1965. After struggling for one year, in 1966 I incorporated this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, International Society for Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. So some of our friends suggested, "Why not make 'God Consciousness Society'?" and "No. 'Kṛṣṇa Consciousness.' If I make 'God Consciousness,' that will be a big task." Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam.

Arrival Lecture -- Calcutta, March 20, 1975:

There are about more than hundred children in Dallas. They are rising early in the morning, attending maṅgala āratik, boys and girls not more than ten years, not more than five, six years. So that is very hopeful. In future they will become nice Vaiṣṇava. And many children are taking birth. They are very nice devotees. In last, in our Śrīpāda Atreya-rsi's small child, about six months old, as soon as I shout out, "Hare Kṛṣṇa," immediately he'll... He'll laugh. Very nice. There are many such children. So all these children, they are Vaiṣṇavas. Śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe yoga-bhraṣṭaḥ sanjāyate (BG 6.41). That is the... They are given chance to take birth in the family of Vaiṣṇava father and mother. From the very beginning of life, they are getting encouragement. We had such opportunity. Somehow or other, we have come to this stage. Similarly, these children, they are getting opportunity from the very beginning of their life. So on the whole, it is very hopeful that in the Western countries... Not only Western countries—especially Western countries—we have sown some seed, that a community, Vaiṣṇava community, is now established. That is very hopeful, a Vaiṣṇava community, and they are, in America, they are now addressed, "American Hindus," these American boys and girls. So by the grace of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, this much has been done, and they are improving more and more. They are serving Kṛṣṇa. Prāṇair arthair dhiyā vācā. This, our Gurukṛpa Mahārāja, has contributed large sum of money for our Vṛndāvana construction, and this time also, I have brought a very large sum of money, about fifty lakhs. So this will be utilized for Kṛṣṇa's business. And these people, Western people, they are serving this cause with life, prāṇair; arthair, by money; dhiyā, by intelligence; and by words.

Initiation Lectures

Initiation of Satyabhama Dasi and Gayatri Initiation of Devotees Going to London -- Montreal, July 26, 1968:

His Divine Grace Oṁ Viṣṇupāda Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Prabhupāda, my (Prabhupāda's voice chokes up) beloved spiritual master. He is seeing. He had a great desire to preach Lord Caitanya's message in the Western world. And I am sure he will be pleased to see so many young boys and girls are seriously engaged in preaching the gospel of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. That is my success.

So, His Divine Grace, my spiritual master, somehow or other liked me, that I should take up this responsibility. And on the first day I met him, I was at (that) time a very young man, a nationalist, and engaged in a very responsible office. So one of my friends casually took me. I did not like to go. But I am very much thankful to that friend, who is still living in Calcutta, that he forcibly took me to His Divine Grace. I was reluctant to see because in our house my father used to receive so many sannyāsīns, but I was not very much satisfied with their dealings. So I thought that Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Mahārāja might be a similar man. So what business I have got to see him? But this friend took me forcibly, that "Why not see the man?"

Initiation of Mrga-netri Dasi -- Los Angeles, June 22, 1970:

All right. She may be named as Anaṅga, Anaṅga-mañjarī. That's a name of one of the assistant gopīs. Yes. So your daughter is fortunate. She is getting association of these devotees from childhood. So give her protection and raise her nicely. She is becoming attracted to the Vaiṣṇavas, to Kṛṣṇa. This is the opportunity, to get nice father and mother and become Kṛṣṇa conscious. Yes. So that is the duty of the father and mother, parents, to raise the children to complete Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then she will no more have to come back in the womb of any other mother. This is the... This finishes. That is the duty of father and mother. Father and mother should think that "This child will no more come in any other womb. I shall train him or her in such a way." That is the duty. That is the duty of spiritual master, that is the duty of parents, that is the duty of state. But it is Kali-yuga; everything is different. So somehow or other, so she should be taken care of. And as you train, so she becomes trained. That's all. (pause) Oh. (chuckles) Something...

Initiation Lecture -- Los Angeles, July 13, 1971:

That is the mentality now. So your example... You have got by the grace of Lord some foreign degrees. If you present this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement in India, many persons will follow. So you think in that way and try to understand our philosophy. You are very nice boy. And India's condition is not very satisfactory at the present moment. They are misled. So I came here with that purpose also, that "This movement I cannot start. They will not accept. But if I go to America, if the Americans accept and they preach, then they will be accepted." So that position has somehow or other come, so you together... It is not meant for either for American or Indian; it is meant for the whole human society. They are suffering grievously for want of this consciousness. So every one of us has got a great duty to broadcast this knowledge of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Bhagavad-gītā... Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is based on Bhagavad-gītā. It is very widely read all over the world. Simply the rascals, they have misinterpreted. Now we have to give the right interpretation and present what is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is our duty. So I know that you'll soon return to India, so Lord Caitanya and Lord Kṛṣṇa is giving you a great responsibility. Try to serve them to your best capacity. Thank you. So this is your beads? Yes. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

General Lectures

Lecture on Teachings of Lord Caitanya -- Seattle, September 25, 1968:

The Māyāvādī philosopher, they think that liberation is the ultimate goal. Just like in Buddha philosophy, the nirvāṇa. Nirvāṇa means annihilation of material existence. Nirvāṇa. They think that as soon as there is annihilation of this material existence, that is the final goal. The Māyāvādī philosopher or the impersonalist, they think that not only to get freedom from this material existence, but to remain in spiritual status, jñānam, simply in the knowledge that "I am spirit soul. I am merged into the spirit soul," that is their goal. But here, the Sanātana Gosvāmī, he belongs to the Vaiṣṇava philosophy. He says, "Now what is my duty?" That means after liberation it is not that everything is void or activity is stopped. No. Actually activity begins after liberation. At the present moment our activities are not liberated activities. At the present moment all our activities are conditional, but actually I am not... Because I am spirit soul, therefore I'm not under material condition. But somehow or other, I am now put into material conditions. This is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā: brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54). When one is actually liberated, brahma-bhūtaḥ, that is called brahma-bhūtaḥ. When one is not liberated he's called jīva-bhūtaḥ. Just like we are, ordinary living entities, we are under designations, and in the concept of this body, we are thinking everything. But actually I am not this body. I am not matter. I am a spirit soul. When this understanding comes, that is the point of liberation. And after that liberation, actual duty begins. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā also.

Lecture -- Seattle, September 30, 1968:

Our awareness is there. You love somebody. But you are meant to love Kṛṣṇa, that you have forgotten. So forgetfulness is also our nature. Sometimes we forget. And especially because we are very small, minute, therefore even I cannot remember exactly what I was doing last night at this time. So forgetfulness is not unnatural for us. And again, if somebody revives our memory, to accept that, that is also not unnatural. So our loving object is Kṛṣṇa. Somehow or other, we have forgotten Him. We don't trace the history when we forgot. That is useless labor. But we have forgotten, that is a fact. Now revive it. Here is reminder. So take opportunity. Don't try to history why you have forgotten and what was the date of my forgetfulness. Even if you know, what is the use? You have forgotten. Take it. Just like if you go to a physician, he'll never ask you how you got this disease, what is the history of this disease, at what date, at what time you were infected.

No. He simply feels your pulse and sees that you have got a disease and he gives you the medicine: "Yes. You take it." Similarly, we are suffering. That is a fact. Nobody can deny. Why you are suffering? Forgetting Kṛṣṇa. That's all. Now you revive your memory about Kṛṣṇa, you become happy. That's all. Very simple thing. Now don't try to find out the history when you forgot. You have forgotten, that is a fact, because you are suffering. Now here is an opportunity, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Revive your memory, your love for Kṛṣṇa. Simple thing. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, dance, and take Kṛṣṇa prasāda. And if you are not educated, you are illiterate, hear. Just you have got natural gift, ear. You have got natural tongue.

Northeastern University Lecture -- Boston, April 30, 1969:

Student: You say there's pure joy in achieving the transcendental platform. Why? Why necessarily joy and not sorrow?

Prabhupāda: Because you are seeking after joy. Because you are originally transcendental, spirit soul. You're hankering after. Your business is to come to that platform of joyfulness. But you are somehow or other put into this material platform. You are not having fulfilled your joy. Just like you belong to this land, and if you are put into the ocean, Atlantic Ocean, however expert swimmer you may be, you cannot be happy. You have to come back to the land. Then you can be happy. Similarly, we are all spiritual souls, spiritual sparks. Just like the sunshine. Sunshine means there are molecular parts of shining principles. Similarly, we are also molecular parts and parcel of God, who is ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). In the Vedānta-sūtra... He is full of joy. So we, as part and parcel also, we are full of joy. So unless we come in contact with the Supreme, our joyfulness will never be fulfilled. Therefore we have to come to the spiritual platform if we want to have that full spiritual or full joyfulness, ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt. (end)

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

So, how to test it? The Bhāgavata says, so long you do not come to the platform of understanding yourself, whatever you are doing, it is simply defeat. Zero. Zero has no value. If you go on adding zero, zero, zero, zero, million times, the value is zero. But, if there is zero and put on the left side one, it becomes immediately ten. Therefore, according to... Not according to. Everyone, everyone reasonable man can understand that "What I am doing? What I am gaining?" In your country especially, I see there is so much frustration among youngsters. They are finding that this is zero. Somehow or other they are trying to realize that this sort of life is zero. Actually. Human life, simply increasing the demands of our senses, these activities are zero activities. Parābhava, defeating. Yāvan na jijñāsata ātma-tattvam. When a human being, as long as a human being does not inquire "What I am? Why I am suffering? I do not wish to die. Why death is enforced upon me? I do not want to be diseased. Why disease is forced upon me? I do not want to become old. Why I become old? I do not wish to die. Why I..." These things are very important questions. That is called ātma-tattvam, self-realization. Human life is meant for this purpose, enquiring self-realization. And if we do not enquire, then we are no better than animals. Animals have no power to enquire about the self. They are simply busy with the problems of the body—eating, sleeping, mating and defending. Similarly, if human body is also engaged simply for eating, sleeping, mating and defending, that is

Lecture -- New Vrindaban, June 22, 1969:

Bhāgavata says that "One should not become father, one should not become mother, unless they are able to save the child from the impending mouth of death. And hariṁ vinā na mṛtiṁ taranti: "Without Kṛṣṇa consciousness, nobody can be saved from the cycle of birth and death." That is not possible. There are many Vedic versions. Yāvan na prītir mayi vāsudeve na mucyate deha-yogena tāvat. Deha-yoga means contacting this material body. We are not this material body, but we have contacted. Just like we contact some infectious disease, similarly, we have somehow or other contacted. Deha-yogena. And that is the cause of all our misery.

So Bhāgavata says, yāvan na prītir mayi vāsudeve. So long one does not develop this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there is no chance of getting out of this contact of material body. We can get very nice body or very bad body. That doesn't matter. We can get a dog's body, or we can get a demigod's body. We can live for five minutes. There are many insects and germs which live for five minutes, and there are living entities in Brahmaloka who live for five millions of years. All varieties of life there are within this universe. By Kṛṣṇa's creation, you will find, aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān: the bigger than the biggest and the smaller than the smallest. You will find. Just see in this New Vrindaban. There are big trees, also small, very insignificant, so small tree that you are trampling over it. So in the living condition there are so many varieties, 8,400,000's of species. But the problem is not to promote ourself from this small body to big body, from the ant's body to elephant's body. That is not our problem. Not to accept this material body—to have our spiritual body, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1). Just like Kṛṣṇa has sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, Nārāyaṇa has got sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. So that is our problem.

Lecture on Teachings of Lord Caitanya -- Bombay, March 17, 1971:

For which the jñānīs and yogīs, they are trying hundreds of years. Kṛṣṇa is so nice that if you simply think that, "I shall kill Kṛṣṇa, I shall kill Kṛṣṇa."

There is a story in the Bhaktamarg grantha that one paṇḍita was reciting Bhāgavata and he was describing Śyāmasundara. Mother Yaśodā was decorating with all jewels very nicely to go with his cowherd boy friends, with the calves and cows. Śyāmasundara. And in the forest of Vṛndāvana. So, one thief was also hearing that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So he thought it wise, "Why not go to Vṛndāvana and get all these ornaments from these boys? (laughter) They are all boys, so either I can kill them or somehow or other cheat them, get these ornaments." So, that's a long story (indistinct). So, with that spirit he went to Vṛndāvana to find out Śyāmasundara to exploit Him, to take all the ornaments from Him. When he actually went to Vṛndāvana, he was finding out, "Where is Śyāmasundara? Where is Śyāmasundara?" Śyāmasundara came and, "Here I am." So, first of all he was (indistinct), "My dear boy, You give me all these ornaments I will give you nice thing." He said, "No, I cannot give you, my mother will be angry, no." (laughter) In this way then he decided that I shall take forcibly. In this way simply by the association of Śyāmasundara he became a devotee. That is the fact. Dhruva Mahārāja also went to worship Śyāmasundara, Kṛṣṇa, to get the kingdom of his father. He was insulted by his stepmother that, "You cannot sit down on the throne, or on the lap of your father, because you are not born from my womb." So he took it very seriously. He went to his mother, "My stepmother insulted me like this." So, his mother said, "My dear boy, yes, it is a fact because you are not born from my..." What it is called co-wifes?

Lecture on Teachings of Lord Caitanya -- Bombay, March 17, 1971:

Even if you have desires, not that anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11), without any material desires. Generally we go to temple, to God, for some, for fulfilling some material desires. So, śāstra says even if you have got material desires, even if you are not śuddha bhakta... What to speak of śuddha bhakta, even if you are an enemy of Kṛṣṇa, somehow or other go to Kṛṣṇa. Go to the fire and you'll get warm. That is our propaganda. The Gosvāmīs recommend therefore, yena tena prakāreṇa manaḥ kṛṣṇe niveśayet. Somehow or other you just try to become Kṛṣṇa conscious, then everything will be successful. That is our propaganda. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, sādhu, śāstra, kṛpāya. A sādhu means devotee. That I was going to explain. A sādhu, there are different kinds of sādhus, but only the devotee, he is sādhu. It is explained by Kṛṣṇa himself, api cet sudurācāro bhajate mām ananya-bhāk, sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ (BG 9.30). He is sādhu. Even if you find some defects in him due to his former habits, but he is simply engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service, unflinching devotion, he is sādhu. He is sādhu. In spite of some defects. We must admit, even in fire there are some defects. Fire is so pure that anything impure you put into the fire, it becomes pure. Perhaps you know in our Hindu system if a one utensil becomes impure some time, you put it in the fire and it becomes pure. Is it not? Is it not?

Lecture on Teachings of Lord Caitanya -- Bombay, March 17, 1971:

That is beginning of devotional service. So Kṛṣṇa, Caitanya Mahāprabhu, sādhu-śāstra-kṛpāya yadi kṛṣṇonmukha haya sei jīva nistare. Nistare means he becomes delivered. If somehow or other he becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious, by the mercy of a sādhu, and by understanding the śāstra, if somehow or other he becomes lean to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then he is eligible for being delivered from this miserable condition of material life. Māyā tāhāre chāḍaya. Then this illusion, māyā, releases our light here now. That is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā,

daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī

mama māyā duratyayā

mām eva ye prapadyante

māyām etaṁ taranti te

(BG 7.14)

This simple process that you surrender to Kṛṣṇa and māyā immediately gives you release, "Oh, no more. That's all right." (pause) Yes, any questions? So, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is very scientific, authorized and practical, and very simple. You all take to this and be happy.

Lecture -- Los Angeles, July 11, 1971 :

So only difference is that He is great, infinite. Therefore, we can not calculate His infinite qualities. But I, being infinitesimal, my qualities, my capacities, my energy, they are very infinitesimal. Therefore, I forget. And because I forget, therefore I cannot remember what was my body in my last birth. Because I cannot remember. Death means forget. Just like at night you forget everything, sleeping. Similarly, when this body is finished, we forget about this body. We are interested in the next body. So this forgetfulnss is the opposite number of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kṛṣṇa conscious, we are trying to revive Kṛṣṇa consciousness means we are trying to get out of this conditional life of forgetfulness. That is our perfection of life. We are trying to achieve that perfectional state of life. That is called struggle for existence, and somehow or other defeated.

So, our last point of perfection, where we can survive eternally, is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is started in your country. It is not a new manufactured thing, concocted thing. It is very old, because the Bhagavad-gītā is there. Kṛṣṇa consciousness means Bhagavad-gītā. Even from historical calculation, the Bhagavad-gītā was spoken at least five thousand years ago. So, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is, even from historical calculation, at least five thousand years old. So, modern history of the world cannot give any chronological data of historical event more than three thousand years, but this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is still older, from prehistoric days. It is not new. Eternal. As I am eternal, God is eternal, this consciousness is also eternal. But because we have forgotten due to the covering of the illusory energy, we have to revive it. That is our business.

Lecture -- Detroit, July 16, 1971:

We are seeing each other. We have not come here to see the dress; we have come to see or to learn some knowledge. Similarly, the human life is especially meant for grasping the knowledge we are missing. The missing knowledge is that I have forgotten that I am spirit soul, part and parcel of God, Kṛṣṇa. That is the missing point. So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is meant for reviving that lost consciousness. That lost consciousness. We have lost this consciousness that "I am the part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, the supreme blissful enjoyer, but somehow or other, being complicated within this matter, I am suffering. I am trying to become happy with this material atmosphere, which is not possible." Just like if you are put into the water you may be very nice swimmer, but you cannot be happy there because the water is not your place. You are a living entity of the land. Similarly, a fish, if you take out of the water and give it a velvet bedding, "My dear fish, you lie down here, on the velvet," he'll die because the condition is different. Similarly, we are spirit soul, Kṛṣṇa's part and parcel. So unless we go back to Kṛṣṇa, just like the gopīs or the cowherds boy, we cannot be happy. There is no possibility.

Pandal Lecture -- Delhi, November 12, 1971:

We are speaking here for the last one week, so it is very encouraging that we are reviving the dormant Kṛṣṇa consciousness of our brothers and sisters in India.

This Kṛṣṇa Consciousness Movement is to be learned from the very childhood. So far personally we are concerned, my father taught me this Kṛṣṇa consciousness from the very childhood. My father was a great Vaiṣṇava, and I had the opportunity of taking birth in that family. So he gave me lessons of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness from the very beginning of my life. He gave me mṛdaṅga. He engaged a teacher for learning mṛdaṅga playing. Sometimes my mother was irritated. But somehow or other, I got the inspiration from my father worshiping a small Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Deity. So Prahlāda Mahārāja says, kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha (SB 7.6.1). Actually the students, the children, should be given chance to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. That is the duty of the state, that is the duty of the parents, that is the duty of the guru, that is the duty of kinsmen. That is the instruction given in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Gurur na sa syāt sva-jano na sa syāt, pitā na sa syāj jananī na sā syāt, na mocayed yaḥ samupeta-mṛtyum. This human form of life, as Prahlāda Mahārāja says, durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma. Durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma tad apy adhruvam arthadam. This human form of life is obtained after many, many millions and millions of births, evolutionary process. We have already discussed this point. So that is the Vedic civilization, that a human being should be given chance to understand this Bhāgavata-dharma, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kṛṣṇa consciousness means Bhāgavata-dharma.

Pandal Lecture -- Delhi, November 13, 1971:

Cripple-minded man thinks in terms of personal interest or society's interest or community's interest, nation's interest, or international interest. Even international interest is cripple-minded, because there are many planets. If we expand ourself from self-interest to family interest, from family interest to community interest, similarly, even you expand to the international interest, it is imperfect unless your interest is expanded up to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the Vedic injunction in the Ṛg Veda, oṁ tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padaṁ sadā paśyanti sūrayaḥ. Those who are advanced in knowledge, their aim is, their interest is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Viṣṇu. Tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padam. But people do not know what is his self-interest. That is indicated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇu. Everyone should be self-interest. But in this material world, being illusioned, being bewildered by the material energy, we are thinking our self-interest in terms of our particular type of education. Somebody is thinking that "Simply I have to maintain my body somehow or other." Little expanded, thinking interest of society, you go on. But they do not know that the self-interest must expand to Lord Viṣṇu. And that is explained by Prahlāda Mahārāja.

Pandal Lecture -- Delhi, November 13, 1971:

Priya ātmeśvaraḥ suhṛt, viṣṇoḥ, viṣṇoḥ pādopasarpaṇam. Our self-interest must reach up to the lotus feet of Lord Viṣṇu. That is perfection. Otherwise whatever interest we create, that is temporary interest and it will be finished and I shall create another interest. That knowledge is lacking in the modern civilization. We are interested in nationalism. That is very good. But we do not know what nationalism was in my past life and what nationalism will be there in my next life. That we do not. Therefore, Prahlāda Mahārāja says that interest should be to the lotus feet of Lord Viṣṇu as it is indicated, directed by the Vedas, tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padam. Unfortunately, somehow or other we have forgotten that interest. That is explained by Caitanya Mahāprabhu, anādi bahir-mukha jīva kṛṣṇa bhuli gela ataeva māyā tāra golay badhila(?). We do not know when we have forgotten Kṛṣṇa, our self-interest. And because we have forgotten Kṛṣṇa, therefore māyā, the illusory energy of Kṛṣṇa, has caught up us. Ataeva māyā tāra golay badhila(?).

Pandal Lecture -- Delhi, November 20, 1971:

Govinda, the Lord. Go means the cow, and go means the senses, and go means the land. So Kṛṣṇa, the reservoir of all pleasure, especially gives pleasure to the senses. Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi **. So our senses are there. You cannot stop the activities of the senses. Yoga indriya saṁyama. The purpose of yoga is to control the senses by observing the regulative principle, yama-niyama, then practicing a particular type of sitting posture. It is somehow or other mechanical, because those who are grossly in the concept of body, they are recommended to practice this haṭha-yoga so that by this process his mind can be concentrated on Kṛṣṇa. Yoga indriya saṁyama.

So actually our indriyas can be controlled when they are engaged in the service of the Lord. Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ (CC Madhya 19.170). Otherwise it is not possible to control the senses. You cannot stop the activities of senses. That is not possible. Because we are living entity, we have our senses, and it must act. In the Bhagavad-gītā, it is said that you cannot stop the action of the mind even for a moment. And mind is the central point of our sensuous activities. Therefore, if you want to control the senses, then you have to learn this bhāgavata-dharma. Prahlāda Mahārāja therefore recommending, kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha (SB 7.6.1). From the very childhood one should practice this bhāgavata-dharma.

Lecture -- Visakhapatnam, February 18, 1972:

There are five rasas. They are called śānta-rasa, dāsya-rasa, sakhya-rasa, vātsalya-rasa, and mādhurya-rasa. Of course, in this material world also we find these five rasas in a perverted reflections. Originally, it is between Kṛṣṇa and His devotee. So Arjuna was related with Kṛṣṇa in sakhya-rasa, as friend, a devotee as a friend. Anyone can become related with Kṛṣṇa. We have got our eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa because we are all parts and parcels of Kṛṣṇa. Just like the father and the son is eternally related. A son may become rebellion to the father, but the relationship of father and son cannot be broken. Similarly, we are also related with Kṛṣṇa. Somehow or other, that we have forgotten. That is our present position. That is called māyā. Māyā means when we forget our relationship with Kṛṣṇa and we establish so many false relationships. Now at the present moment, I am thinking "I am Indian," somebody is thinking "I am American," somebody is thinking "I am Hindu," somebody is thinking "I am Muslim." These relationships are all false, māyā. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa says at the end, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). That is real relationship. That is our real position. That is real mukti. And in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, it is stated—mukti is defined—what is that? Muktir hitvānyathā rūpaṁ svarūpena vyavasthitiḥ (SB 2.10.6). Mukti means give up your false designation. That is mukti. And Caitanya Mahāprabhu begins from this mukta stage. Lord Sri Kṛṣṇa gave us information what is mukti. Mukti is sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇam, that is mukti. And Lord Caitanya, when he was instructing Sanatāna Gosvāmī, he began from this point: what is that real constitutional position of the living entity. And Caitanya Mahāprabhu, when He was asked by his disciple Sanatāna Gosvāmī that actually what I am? The exact Bengali verse, he says that grāmya-vyavahāre paṇḍita.

Lecture at Caitanya Matha -- Visakhapatnam, February 19, 1972:

The difference between Kṛṣṇa and me is this. That suppose, I am painting one nice flower. So I require the brush, I require the color, I require the intelligence, I require the time, so that somehow or other, in few days or in few months, I paint a very nice color fruit, flower or fruit. But Kṛṣṇa's energy is so experienced that by working His energy, many millions of flowers, colorful flowers, come at once. The foolish scientists, they say that it is the work of the nature. No. Nature is instrumental. Behind nature there is brain of God, Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. One who is Kṛṣṇa conscious, he understands that this flower has not come blindly. These varieties of flowers, trees, and leaves, they are developing under direction of Kṛṣṇa, but His direction is so powerful it comes at once, svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca. Just like a great scientist pushing on a button, electronics. Immediately something wonderful happens, but it is not that the machine is working, it is the scientist who is pushing on the button. Similarly, don't take, this is nonsense that nature is producing. No, nature cannot produce.

Lecture -- Bombay, March 19, 1972:

That is also explained here-abhijñaḥ svarāṭ. Svarāṭ means fully independent. The Absolute Truth, the Supreme Person, is fully independent. Not only conscious, abhijñaḥ, but He is independent. But we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa; therefore the quality of independence of Kṛṣṇa is there, but in minute quantity. Our independence and Kṛṣṇa's independence is not the same. Just like here is the Arabian Sea. You take a drop of water from the Arabian Sea, you taste it, you'll find it is salty. The salt is there in a drop of the Arabian Sea water, and salt is there in the Arabian Sea. But the quantity of salt in the whole Arabian Sea and the quantity of salt in the drop of water, they are different. Similarly, because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, all the qualities of Kṛṣṇa, they are also present within us in minute quantity. And because it is in minute quantity, sometimes it becomes lost. Therefore our consciousness, originally, because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, our original consciousness is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but somehow or other, being in contact with this matter, we have lost our Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore this movement is to revive Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is our original constitutional position. That I was explaining, quoting the Bengali poet

kṛṣṇa bhuliya jīva bhoga vañcha kare

pāśate māyā tāre jāpaṭiyā dhare

Because somehow or other in material contact we have lost our Kṛṣṇa consciousness, it has to be revived. It has to be revived; then we shall be happy. That is the particular point we want to stress on this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement-revival of the original consciousness. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has explained this as ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12), cleansing the heart.

Lecture at Auckland University -- Auckland, April 17, 1972:

If you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, then gradually, by this bhakti-yoga process, we shall understand that "I am not this body, but I am a spirit soul," ahaṁ brahmāsmi. There is a Vedic mantra which is called aham: "I, I am Brahman, or the spirit soul." And if we come to that position to understand that "I am not this body; I am spirit soul," then other things will follow, which is stated in this Bhagavad-gītā, brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati (BG 18.54). When one becomes Brahman-realized, that "I am spirit soul," then the first benefit will be that such persons will be free from all kinds of lamentation and hankering. In this material world two things are going on: lamentation and hankering. Things which we do not possess, we hanker after it, and things we do possess and, somehow or other, we lose, then it is lamenting. So actually the whole situation is lamenting because we are losing. Take, for example, this body which we have gained from our father and mother on a certain date. It is losing gradually. Suppose you are twenty years old. That means you have already lost twenty years of your total duration of life. Suppose you are to live for hundred years. So twenty years you have already lost, or you have already died up to the amount of twenty years. I am seventy-six years. That means I have also died up to the amount of seventy-six years. So the age is increasing, that is a false idea. The age is decreasing. Somebody says that "You are seventy-six years old. Oh, you have so much increased." I am not increased. Practically I have decreased the duration of life.

Lecture at Auckland University -- Auckland, April 17, 1972:

Now there are so many contraceptive methods for checking birth. But still, the population of the whole world is increasing. So birth, death, old age. Nobody wants to become old, everyone wants to remain young and fresh, but old age overcomes. Similarly, disease. There are scientific advancement of knowledge, you have got very effective medicines, but there is no science to stop disease or to stop death. These are the actual problems. But the problems, these problems, are pertaining to the body. The soul is different from this body. This is our misunderstanding. I am soul; you are soul. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. But somehow or other, I have been entrapped in these bodily, material bodily changes. Changes, you can understand, that you had a body like a baby; you had a body like a child; you had a body like a boy. Now you have got youthful body. Some days after, you will get a body like me. So the body is changing, and I am the same. I can remember my childhood body, my babyhood body or my boyhood body.

So the soul is eternal and the body is changing. That is explained in this Bhagavad-gītā. Most of you are well known to this book, Bhagavad-gītā. It is widely read book all over the world. So the first instruction given in the Bhagavad-gītā is this:

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

That's all. Because (the) ultimate knowledge is God. If one cannot understand what is God after so much education, then Bhāgavata says, śrama eva hi kevalam: (SB 1.2.8) "It is simply labor, labor, waste of time." Simply waste of time. There is no education. Education, knowledge, means ultimately to understand, to know what is God. Actually; not fictitiously, vaguely. So there are many classes of men who have no understanding of God. Some of them are saying, "God is dead," or "God is impersonal," "There is no God," "Zero," "I am God," "You are God," so many things. All these people do not know what is God; therefore there are different theories. Therefore, somehow or other, if you can understand God, then your life is successful. Somehow or other. Because this human life is especially meant for understanding God. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. The Vedānta-sūtra... You have heard the name of Vedānta. Vedānta means... Veda means knowledge, and anta means ultimate. The ultimate knowledge. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyam: (BG 15.15) "The ultimate purpose of reading Vedas is to know Me."

Rotary Club Lecture -- Ahmedabad, December 8, 1972 'The Present Need of Human Society':

Even Kṛṣṇa, when He was King of Dvārakā, Sudāmā Vipra, His friend, he came. Immediately He stood up and gave him His own seat. So because he was a qualified brāhmaṇa... So everywhere qualified brāhmaṇa was respected by the qualified kṣatriyas, vaiśyas. But now, there is practically no qualified brāhmaṇa, neither a qualified brāhmaṇa is respected. Vittam eva. But if one has got money, then he'll be respected. This is the symptom of Kali-yuga. Vittam eva kalau nṛṇāṁ janmācāra-guṇodayaḥ. If one has got money, Sethji, he may be not educated, without any good qualification, but somehow or other he has got money, he'll be respectful, not a qualified brāhmaṇa. Then dharma-nyāya-vyavasthāyāṁ kāraṇaṁ balam eva hi. Now justice, nyāya... Nyāya means justice, dharma and religious principle. Dharma-nyāya-vyavasthāyām, to establish justice, anyone who is powerful, he will get justice. You bribe. Nowadays... Of course, we do not discuss these things. Everyone knows. Justice can be purchased in this age. Balam eva hi. Dāmpatye ratir, ratir abhirucir hetur māyaiva vyāvahārike. These are the symptoms. Dāmpatye, husband and relationship, husband and wife, means sex power. We have practically seen in the Western countries, as soon as there is some disturbance in the sex relation of husband and wife, there is divorce. So that, these are the symptoms. Strītve puṁstve ca hi ratir vipratve sūtram eva hi. So man and woman should be united in marriage relationship simply on sex urge, not on the religious principle.

Rotary Club Lecture -- Ahmedabad, December 8, 1972 'The Present Need of Human Society':

That we have seen. And sūtram, vipratve sūtram eva hi. And if anyone, somehow or other, gathers a sacred thread—not sacred, even not sacred; thread—he becomes a vipra. Liṅgam eva āśrama-khyātāv anyonya āpatti-kāraṇam, avṛttyā nyāya-daurbhalyam. If you go to the court, court of justice, if you have no money, then you cannot get. Suppose you have to claim from somebody, say, some few thousands of rupees, first of all you have to deposit the stamp fee, five percent, and the pleader's fee. So you have to push good money after bad money. So these are the symptoms. There are many symptoms. In this way, the conclusion is... This is the description given by Śukadeva Gosvāmī to Mahārāja Parīkṣit. There are many other symptoms. Our time is short. The king, the government, that is also stated. Government will be simply taxing. And people, being harassed in famine and taxation, they'll give up their hearth and home, will go to the forest and hills. And gradually, time will come when the ages will be reduced so much that a person twenty to thirty years old will be considered as great, grand old man. These are the symptoms of Kali-yuga.

So how to get out of this entanglement? There are so many things prescribed. But in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said that kalau doṣa-nidhe rājan asti hy eko mahān-guṇaḥ. Doṣa-nidhi. Nidhi means ocean. This Kali-yuga is a ocean of doṣa, so many faults. But still, there is some hope.

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

Prabhupāda: Everyone. Don't you see it is practically? They were all Christians, Jews, Mohammedans. How they are coming to Kṛṣṇa consciousness?

Guest: So is Kṛṣṇa consciousness the only method?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Kṛṣṇa conscious... You... Maybe it in otherwise. But the aim is that there is God. We are part and parcel of God. Somehow or other, we are now separated. We must be united again. That is the life's business.

Guest: So any other religion also can give...

Prabhupāda: Oh yes. Why not? Any religion. We do not way that "You practice this religion or that religion." We say "Just try to go back to home, back to Godhead." That is our philosophy.

sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo

yato bhaktir adhokṣaje

ahaituky apratihatā

yenātmā samprasīdati

(SB 1.2.6)

If you want really happiness then you follow such principles by which you can develop your love for God. So it does not mean... If you can do it in Christianity, that's all right. If you can do it by Muhammadan religion, that's all right. But the aim should be to go back to home, back to Godhead. That is our philosophy. (American gives short speech thanking Śrīla Prabhupāda, then Indian man (possibly life member) makes similar speech, but praises bhakti and chanting, quotes Bhagavad-gītā, etc. Then kīrtana begins) (end)

Lecture -- Jakarta, March 1, 1973:

Take any one of them or nine of them, His devotee, bhagavad-bhakta. The result will be mām evaiṣyasi satyam, "I don't cheat you." Kṛṣṇa is not cheating anyone. Still He says that "Don't think I am a cheater, satyam. Yes. Truly you'll come back to Me." Mām evaiṣyasi satyaṁ te pratijāne priyo 'si me. "And why You are disclosing this confidential knowledge to me?" Priyo 'si me: "You are My very dear friend." Somehow or other you become dear friend of Kṛṣṇa and He's within you. He'll always talk with you, most confidentially, and your life will be successful. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. But unfortunately, people are not prepared to accept this simple thing and make his life successful. Still we are canvassing door to door, country to country, that "You accept this process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and you'll be happy in your life," not only this life, next life. That is is perfection of life.

Lecture -- London, August 26, 1973:

We can understand what I am, what you are. We are not this body; we are spirit soul. As spirit soul we are all eternal, blissful, and cognizant. But on account of this material covering we are suffering the material conditions, threefold kinds of miserable life. It is very difficult, little, but this is the problem. We have to understand this; otherwise, we are missing the opportunity of this human life. If we neglect, then we are just like animals. The animals have no concern to understand this philosophy of life, that "I am not this body, I am spirit soul. I am encaged. Somehow or other I have to get out of this entanglement and be again reinstalled in my original consciousness and be happy, having eternal life, blissful life and full of knowledge." This is the problem. But people have become so dull and rascal that they do not even care to understand this philosophy of life, that "I am not this body; I am spirit soul." Actually, even one's daily life, one can understand that he is different from this body. Just like every one of us, we had a child's body, a boy's body, a youth's body. Now I am old man, but I can remember that I had a body, a small body, baby's body. I remember personally when I was six months old I was lying down on my eldest(?) sister's lap. She was knitting. I still remember. So then I got another body, another body, another body, and according to development of body I had different consciousness, just like child's consciousness is different from the father's consciousness.

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

So many things. So therefore the Vedic information is the Supreme Absolute Truth is a person. He's not impersonal. The impersonal realization of God is realization of His different potencies. Just like this material world, this is the manifestation of one of the potencies of God. He has got many potencies. So all the many potencies have been grouped into three: the material potency, the spiritual potency, then the marginal potency, between the material and spiritual. The spiritual potency we can understand. Just like I am speaking. I am speaking means I am spiritual being. I am speaking. This material body is my covering, just like shirt and coat. So the... Now I'm existing. Somehow or other, I've been encaged in this material body, but I am spirit soul. That is spiritual potency. And as this material world is made of material ingredients, similarly, there is another world. That information you can get from Bhagavad-gītā. Paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nyo 'vyakto 'vyaktāt sanātanaḥ (BG 8.20). There is another nature, another manifestation of nature. That is spiritual. What is the distinction? The distinction is when this material world will be annihilated, that will remain. Just like I am spirit soul. When this body is annihilated, I am not annihilated. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). After the destruction of this body, the soul is not destroyed. Soul remains there in the subtle body: mind, intelligence and ego. So that mind, intelligence and ego, that carries him to another gross body.

Pandal Speech and Question Session -- Delhi, November 10, 1973:

The Bhagavad-gītā says, "The real problem is janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9), that birth, death, old age and disease, these are the problems." If you take birth, then you will have to die. Anyone who takes birth, he must have to die. And so long, between birth and death, there is old age and disease. Actually, these are the problems. So far we are concerned, living entities, every one of us, that is described in the Bhagavad-gītā. Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit: "The living entity is never born, never dies." Nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ purāṇo na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre: (BG 2.20) "The living entity is eternal, ever-existing and very old, and," na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre, "it does not die after the annihilation of this body." But the modern civilization, they are thinking that "This body we have got somehow or other, a lump of matter, and so long we have got this body, let us enjoy life, sense gratification." This is atheistic theory.

In our country there were atheists also. Just like Cārvāka Muni. According to his philosophy, he says, ṛṇaṁ kṛtvā ghṛtaṁ pibet. Because in our country, India, life is enjoyable when we get to eat too much ghee. You see, pakhika anna (?). That is enjoyment. Just like in Western countries, if they can eat, they can drink more, that is life's enjoyment. In our country, of course. So ṛṇaṁ kṛtvā ghṛtaṁ pibet. If somebody says that "I have no money," so Cārvāka Muni says that "You take loan from your friend and purchase ghee and enjoy life."

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

This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is actually perfect communism. The Communists are thinking in terms of the human being, and that also within the state, but a Kṛṣṇa conscious person, he is thinking in terms of all living beings. Vidyā-vinaya-sampanne brāhmaṇe gavi hastini, śuni caiva śva-pāke ca (BG 5.18). In the Bhāgavata it is stated that a householder, before taking his lunch, he should invite on the street, "Sir, if anyone is still hungry, please come at my place. There is still food. You can take it." And he should see that in the household even the lizard he is not hungry. Even there is a snake, he is not hungry. This is Vedic principle, God consciousness, that "Somehow or other, one animal has become lizard. Maybe he is hungry. So at my house he is. Why he should remain hungry? Give him some food." Nobody likes snake, but in the śāstra it is said, "Even there is a snake, you should see that he is not hungry, he is given some food." So of course, it is very high idea, but it is the complete ideal of so-called Communism, real. It is not that nation... American nation, they are concerned with the human being only. Or any nation. Not American, everywhere. And nation means... The definition of "native" means one who has taken birth in that land. That is called native. So the cow is also native. So why this law, that for the benefit of the human being, the cow should be slaughtered? And he is giving milk; he is working for you. What is this philosophy? In Christian religion it is clearly stated, "Thou shalt not kill." And most of the slaughterhouses are in the Christian countries. Why? This is all misunderstanding of spiritual life.

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

Just like if you are in danger, you ask your friends to help you. This is prayer. So our prayer is, to Kṛṣṇa, ayi nanda-tanuja. Nanda-tanuja means... Kṛṣṇa appeared as the foster son of Nanda Mahārāja; therefore He is addressed as nanda-tanuja, means "the son of Mahārāja Nanda." So patitaṁ kiṅkaraṁ māṁ viṣame bhavāmbudhau. "I am your eternal servant. Somehow or other, I am now fallen in this ocean of nescience, ignorance." Just like if you are a person of the land, if you are thrown in the ocean, it is struggle for existence. Manaḥ ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati (BG 15.7). This is struggle for exis... Everyone is struggling. But what you will struggle in the ocean? You may be a very big swimmer, but how long you shall swim? You will be tired. The only means is to take you out of the ocean. Even one inch above the ocean is your safety. It doesn't matter how many inches you are taken from the ocean. Similarly, the prayer is, "My dear Lord Kṛṣṇa, I am your eternal servant. Somehow or other, I am now fallen in this ocean. Please pick me up and fix me again as the dust of Your lotus feet." This is the prayer. So we should know in what dangerous position we are. Then there is necessity of prayer. And prayer to whom? To the Supreme Person to save us. Therefore there are so many prayers in the śāstra. Prayers means addressing the Lord to save us from this. The real saving is to pick us up from this ocean of nescience, ignorance. Then everything is all right. As soon as we come to the knowledge that "I am not this body; I am spirit soul, part and parcel of God," then our knowledge is perfect. This is called brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā. This is called Brahman realization.

Lecture -- Nellore, January 4, 1976:

Bhārata-bhūmi, those who are born in India, their business is to do welfare activities throughout the whole world, because the whole world is in darkness about understanding the Supreme Person with whom we have got very intimate relationship because we are part and parcel. Just like your son is part and parcel of your body. Somehow or other, if he forgets and goes out of home, you are anxious to see that your son comes back. A son may have become mad. So similarly, Kṛṣṇa, He is the son of... Kṛṣṇa is the father of all living entities. Sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrt..., ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā: (BG 14.4) "I am the seed-giving father." So Kṛṣṇa is very, very anxious to take us back to home, back to Godhead. This is Kṛṣṇa's desire. Therefore He comes personally, He sends His representative, He leaves behind Him Bhagavad-gītā, so we can take advantage and go back to home, back to Godhead. That is our real happiness. Any man who is wandering in the foreign countries without any shelter, without any security, his happiness is when he goes back to home, back to Godhead.

Subha Vilasa Home Engagement -- Toronto, June 19, 1976:

In the world, in the material world, there are two kinds of persons: devotees and the demons. Devotees are those who have understood the existence of the Supreme Lord and are engaged somehow or other in His service, and the demons are those who reject the service of the Lord. In the Seventh Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā this is described: catur-vidhā bhajante mām. There are four types of people who surrender to Kṛṣṇa. So those who are in distress, those who are in search of money, those who are inquisitive and those who are searching after the Absolute Truth, so these four kinds of persons, when given the opportunity, will take shelter of the Supreme Lord. And the other four kinds of persons are called, are described in Bhagavad-gītā...

Subha Vilasa Home Engagement -- Toronto, June 19, 1976:

That is Kṛṣṇa's purpose in creating the material world—to give a chance to these foolish living entities to revive their eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa and go back to home back to Godhead.

So within human society... This is also stated in the Seventh Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye: (BG 7.3) "Out of many thousands of men, one may endeavor for perfection. And of many such perfected men, hardly one knows Me in truth." So the material world is a very dangerous place. The living beings within the material world are kṣatram. They do not know the purpose of life. They are simply interested in their own advancement, somehow or other. So they engage in all kinds of destructive activities which cause harm to themselves and to others. So this is the condition of the material world. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Prabhupāda has stated that this is no place for a gentleman. In the material world everyone is, just as we are observing... I was visiting the Kṛṣṇa consciousness farm in British Columbia, and on the road we were passing large herds of beef cows. We were discussing that the farmer thinks of these cows not as spirit souls but as commodities. He simply puts them in a field to eat, and when they get big enough, kills them and takes the money for his enjoyment. He doesn't see that these are living entities, spirit souls. So this activity of the human beings, killing the cows, helpless cows by the thousands daily, is causing the..., or is an indication that there is no merciful quality in the human beings. They are simply interested in their own aggrandizement and welfare. If they don't surrender to Kṛṣṇa, that is the only alternative.

Subha Vilasa Home Engagement -- Toronto, June 19, 1976:

Therefore Kṛṣṇa comes and canvasses, and He tells the conditioned souls, "You must surrender to Me." And if one chooses not to surrender to Kṛṣṇa, that means that he himself wants to become Kṛṣṇa—without any qualification. The spirit soul is infinitesimal spark of Kṛṣṇa. And that spark, when not in touch with Kṛṣṇa, the fire, becomes like the sparks of the fire not in contact with the fire: extinguished. So there is no good qualities for the living beings who are outside Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So the four types of men who surrender to Kṛṣṇa, they're doing so with some selfish interest. All of the conditioned souls are acting for their own selfish interest. They do not know otherwise. But somehow or other, if one of the conditioned souls will surrender to Kṛṣṇa by the grace of a pure devotee, then that immediately puts him into a situation of becoming purified. The greatest purification is to come in touch with a pure devotee of the Lord. There are many many ritualistic activities prescribed in the Vedic literatures for gradual purification. But, as Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī points out in his Upadeśāmṛta, what is the good of undergoing so much atonement and pious activity if the heart remains contaminated and the living entity remains sinful, ready to..., just acting for his own benefit? Therefore the greatest opportunity for the conditioned soul is when he gets the chance to associate with a pure devotee of the Lord.

Sunday Feast Lecture -- London, July 25, 1976:

They are called gṛhastha. So gṛhasthāśrama is as good as other āśramas. There are four āśramas. Vedic civilization means four varṇas and four āśramas. Brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, and brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha and sannyāsa. So those who are not following this principle of varṇāśrama-dharma, living like cats and dogs, they also live with wife, children. That sort of living is called gṛha-vrata. Gṛha-vratānām. Matir na kṛṣṇe: "They cannot become Kṛṣṇa conscious." Matir na kṛṣṇe parataḥ svato vā mitho 'bhipadyeta gṛha-vratānām. Why? Now, adānta-gobhiḥ. Go means senses. Go means cow. Go means land also. So anyone who has taken the vow of sense gratification... That is the modern world, that "Somehow or other, satisfy senses." They cannot control the senses. Adānta-go. Adānta. Dānta means control. Adānta, not controlled. Adānta-gobhiḥ. So what is that? Viśatāṁ tamisram: "They are going towards hell," because this sense gratification process, unrestricted sense gratification process, he is creating a situation of different mentality and that mentality will be prominent at the time of death, and according to that situation he'll get his next birth.

General Lecture -- (location & date unknown):

Everyone who are materially situated, he has got hankering: "I shall become this great man," "I shall become this big businessman," "I shall become such politician," "I shall become such and such." Always, everyone is struggling. But this kṛṣṇa-kathā is relished by them who are above this hankering. And that is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na socati na kāṅkṣati (BG 18.54). This kāṅkṣa, this tṛṣṇa, the same thing... Kāṅkṣa means hankering. In the ordinary position we are hankering and lamenting, hankering to possess something, and if, somehow or other, that possession is lost, then you are lamenting, again hankering. These two features of the material life. So brahma-bhūtaḥ... Brahma-bhūtaḥ means one who is above these two principles, hankering and lamenting. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na socati na kāṅkṣati (BG 18.54). If you become above these 8 qualities, material qualities, that is called brahma-bhūtaḥ, ahaṁ brahmāsmi: "I am Brahman."

This is self-realization. So nivṛtta-tarṣaiḥ means one who has realized his self. So Parīkṣit Mahārāja, also confirming that "This kṛṣṇa-kathā, these activities of Kṛṣṇa can be relished by persons who have are transcended this position of hankering and lamenting..." Nivṛtta-tarṣair upagīyamānāt.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:

Prabhupāda: To have faith, that is also not perfect. Therefore the Western philosophers, they have created different faiths, and religion means faith. Somebody may believe in some faith, others may believe in another faith. But that is not factual. The factual is this: if we are actually convinced that there is God, and God is omnipotent, so by His omnipotency He descends. As it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata (BG 4.7). "Whenever there is discrepancies in the process of religious principles," abhyutthānam adharmasya tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham, "when people become irreligious, at that time I descend." He descends for two reasons: paritrāṇāya sādhūnām (BG 4.8), for relief of the devotees. Devotees are always anxious to see God, but somehow or other they are unable to see. Of course, they are seeing God, but at the same time face to face(?). So in order to give them relief God descends to be seen face to face. The other reason is that vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām: rascals, miscreants, to kill them. Just like Hiraṇyakaśipu, Kaṁsa, Rāvaṇa, they are the symbolic representations of miscreants. So to kill them. Two things. So one may say that God is partial. No. God is not partial. God is kind to everyone, both to the devotees and to the demons. The demons being killed by God, they get immediate salvation, whereas the devotees, by seeing God, they can understand what is actually the position of God. So God displays himself factually as He does in the spiritual world in Vṛndāvana. His nature is to play with the cowherd boys, to dance with the gopīs. These things are actually displayed, and devotees became encouraged that "After finishing this material body, we are going to Kṛṣṇa, or God, to join these pastimes of the Lord." This is called paritrāṇāya sādhūnām. Sādhus, they heard from the śāstras, but Kṛṣṇa practically demonstrates. So they become doubly confirmed, doubly assured what they are going to have next life. So these things, the transcendental world, God, His activities, we hear. By hearing also we realize. Because God is absolute, therefore to see Him and to hear about Him, there is no difference. There cannot be any difference. By seeing eye to eye or to hear about Him, the same thing.

Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:

Hayagrīva: He says this can be intuited, but not known.

Prabhupāda: Not known? To foolish man everything is unknown, but to a man who is in knowledge, he knows everything. From the authority or my direct perception, somehow or other the knowledge is there. So "unknown" means that he doesn't care to know. Where to take knowledge he doesn't know, neither he personally knows; therefore it is unknown.

Hayagrīva: For him we cannot experience God through our senses.

Prabhupāda: No, that is not possible. We always say that when God explains Himself, that is also not to everyone—only to the devotees. The devotees can accept the Personality of Godhead as He instructs. A nondevotee or atheist he cannot understand; he simply speculates. But by speculation it is not possible to understand God.

Hayagrīva: Kant says that speculative reason is unable to attain to a sure or adequate conception of God.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is our..., that the speculator cannot reach vicinity of God. It is not possible. Athāpi te. Only one can understand by the mercy of God, and this mercy is bestowed upon a person who is devotee, who is surrendered to God. Otherwise this mercy is reserved, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yoga-māyā-samāvṛtaḥ: (BG 7.25) "I am not revealed to everyone and anyone; rather, I am covered by yoga-māyā." Because revelation means when one becomes devotee this covering curtain is... What is called, curtain?

Philosophy Discussion on Hegel:

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes, there is a plan. After this, this should be done. After this, this should be done. Otherwise why Kṛṣṇa says superintendence, mayādhyakṣeṇa (BG 9.10)? Just like you stand, you get your assistant, "Work like this. Do like this. Do like this. Do like that." So there is a plan, and there is direction. And there is reason also.

Śyāmasundara: What is the purpose of the plan? Is there any ultimate...?

Prabhupāda: Plan is... The whole plan is that living entities, they're part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Somehow or other they wanted to enjoy this material world so Kṛṣṇa has given them chance (indistinct). Just like children, some small children, they want to play with something but the father guides so that they may not meet(?), fall down, so many things. "No, no, don't do this. You can play like this." So Kṛṣṇa says, sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭho, I am sitting in everyone's heart, mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca (BG 15.15), I am giving him intelligence, forgetfulness, everything. So he wanted to play, "All right, give to him the chance to play." But the whole plan is that "Let him play, and again come back." That is Vedic knowledge, that he wants to play, "All right, you play." But when he's fatigued by this nonsense play, he says, "Give up this. Come to me," sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). This is the plan.

Śyāmasundara: So the world is a school house or a school ground where we become educated...

Philosophy Discussion on Hegel:

Śyāmasundara: So it's in the... Is it good if someone comes to the material world and then they leave? I mean is the fact that they should come here...

Prabhupāda: It is not good. Then where is the question of taking him back to Godhead? It is not good. But if someone falls down somehow or other... But not that those who are coming with a mission, they are fallen down. When the governor goes to the prison house to inspect, it does not mean he's also prisoner. If the prisoners think, "Oh, the governor has come here, therefore he's also one of us." That is not. Therefore it is forbidden, guruṣu nara-matir, you never should think of guru as ordinary man. Guruṣu nara-matir, vaiṣṇave jāti buddhiḥ, arcye śilā-dhīr, if you think that is stone, "Ah, we are worshiping stone," these are forbidden. Actually they are not. Arcye śilā-dhīr, guruṣu nara-mati, vaiṣṇave jāti buddhiḥ. Just like Kṛṣṇa says, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11), because he's coming just like ordinary man. Not ordinary man, as man, so people are thinking, "Ah, He's a maybe little powerful. That's all." (indistinct). That is ignorance.

Śyāmasundara: Hegel's idea is actually not too much different than ours because he says that...

Prabhupāda: It is very much different, (indistinct) of difference. He'll have to go through millions of births to come to our understanding.

Śyāmasundara: Yes. In one sense he believes that the absolute truth is always changed, is always changing and yet is also permanent.

Prabhupāda: Absolute truth, how can you change?

Philosophy Discussion on Hegel:

Śyāmasundara: But because he was so vague, this left room for someone like Hitler to come in and use this philosophy...

Prabhupāda: Well, Hitler came not as a king, he came as a usurper. He's not king. That is going on that any rascal, somehow or other he gets power, he becomes the head. But he has no training how to become actually the protector of the citizens. Therefore after the whole world is in trouble. He whimsically declares war and involve all the citizens, implicate. Therefore this support to monarchy is better in this sense that a person, by saint to saint, or by disciplic succession, or hereditary succession, he can be trained and if one man is trained nicely, he can govern over hundreds and thousands inhabitants(?) very nicely.

Śyāmasundara: He says that in a well-ordered monarchy, the law alone has objective power to which the monarch has got to affix the subjective "I will". In other words the law alone rules, the king is simply the order-supplier for the law.

Prabhupāda: That is now, democracy, constitutional king. He is simply show-bottle. But if the king has got complete power and if he is trained, he is God conscious king, rājarṣi... Imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ, the Bhagavad-gītā, the Fourth Chapter it is said, imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). The saintly king understood it. Not ordinary man. Therefore a king, monarch is supposed to be saintly. He must understand the philosophy of Bhagavad-gītā and he should introduce educational system so that people may understand Bhagavad-gītā, or the science of God. That is the first duty of the state, of the king. And in another place the Bhāgavata says that one should not become father, one should not become the head of the state, one should not become guru, if he cannot save persons from the imminent danger of death. So we are, we are now in entanglement, repeated birth and death, it is the state duty to stop the citizens' repeated birth and death.

Philosophy Discussion on Hegel:

Prabhupāda: Yes, but spirit is, according to our philosophy, the spirit is realized in three phases, brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11). The supreme spirit is realized in three phases. An example is given, just like you see from a distant place the mountain, you see just like a hazy cloud. You go forward, you will see something, substance, green, and if you enter it you'll see so many trees, so many animals. So you are seeing the same object but according to your understanding, somebody is saying, "Oh, it is a cloud." Somebody is saying, "It is some green (indistinct)," and somebody is saying, "No, it is very nice place." It is a question of where he is standing, to understand God. So those who are standing in distant place, for them imperson. Just like we are seeing the sunshine imperson, and the sun globe localized, and if you have got capacity to enter into the sun globe, you'll see sun god. Similarly, God is realized in three capacities, brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11). Either impersonal Brahman, or localized Paramātmā, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But if you somehow or other approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead, it is Kṛṣṇa. Then you understand the other two things. And Kṛṣṇa is explaining, brahmaṇo ahaṁ pratiṣṭhā. "I am the resting place of brahma-jyotir." Brahmā-saṁhitā says, yasya prabha (Bs. 5.40), this brahma-jyotir, impersonal brahma-jyotir is the bodily rays of Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, Paramātmā, īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna (BG 18.61), that is another feature of Kṛṣṇa. He is sitting in everyone's heart. Just like the sun is reflected in thousands and millions of (indistinct). There are no so many suns, there is only one sun. How you will (indistinct)? So God is one but according to realization, one who has seen the (indistinct), he says, "Oh, there are millions of suns." And one who has not seen the (indistinct), he has seen only sunshine, "Sun is impersonal." It is a question of (indistinct) person who is realizing. But actually God is a person, sat-cit-ānanda-vigraha. That is (indistinct). We have got clear conception of God, sat-cit-ānanda-vigraha, Kṛṣṇa.

Philosophy Discussion on Hegel:

Śyāmasundara: That's an idea.

Prabhupāda: Not idea. Somehow or other—they are both scientists—they thought it (that) the sound can be captured. So they were making research. Now, they said—Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose, he found first, how sound can be captured but because he was Indian, the British government did not give him the credit. They gave it to Marconi and it was discovered (indistinct) Jagadish Chandra Bose. Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose personally told. I was present in the meeting in my childhood. That is a fact. One Baptist Mission Church in College Square, I saw Sir Jagadish, he spoke there. Then you challenge that "Now I shall give something which no others, which is (indistinct)". So he gave that the trees have sense, sensitive (indistinct). They can feel when you cut. That machine (indistinct). In Calcutta I have seen Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose Institute, we have got in (indistinct).

Śyāmasundara: When we were discussing Plato, Plato has this idea also that the ideal precedes the physical representation and you said yes, that the ideal was in spiritual realm, it exists in the spiritual realm. Because of that we are able to conceptualize some idea.

Prabhupāda: Not that that idea is like this. Just like we have found that in the spiritual world and this is perverted reflection so in the śāstra we hear, cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu, the houses are made of touchstone. So we have never seen touchstone, neither you have seen a house made of touchstone. We have seen house made of bricks or wood. So this is, this may be an idea but that idea comes by hearing from authority. Not that we manufacture that spiritual world must be made up. Like this.

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Prabhupāda: It is, apartment is not evolving. I am evolving in this sense that I am changing one apartment to a better apartment. The better apartment is already there.

Śyāmasundara: To go back to this survival of the fittest theory, supposing we are all here and the water comes, like you said. Supposing one of these persons in Los Angeles has the ability to breathe in water, somehow or other he can breathe under water...

Prabhupāda: So we have no objection.

Śyāmasundara: So he survives; everyone else...

Prabhupāda: He survives means... He survives means that even if he's dead, that does not mean that the species is dead. There is another human being in another part of the world.

Śyāmasundara: I accept that, but I mean I want to...

Prabhupāda: So you say that because he does not survive, the whole species is extinct.

Śyāmasundara: No. But he survives..., one man survives because he is able to breathe in the water.

Karandhara: But how is he able to breathe in the water?

Śyāmasundara: Because he's adapted, he's mutated somehow.

Karandhara: But what has been that selective principle that he's adapted?

Śyāmasundara: According to you, you say it's his desire.

Philosophy Discussion on Henri Bergson:

Devotee: Parasyānubhavātmanaḥ.

Prabhupāda: Explain that verse. Ātma-māyām ṛte rājan parasyānubhavātmanaḥ, na ghaṭeta...

Devotee: Na ghaṭetārtha-sambandhaḥ...

Prabhupāda: ...artha-sambandhaḥ svapna-draṣṭur ivāñjasā. Actually there is no bewilderment (indistinct) spirit. I am eternal spirit soul, eternal servant. Just like the (indistinct) but it is somehow or other (indistinct) for a time it is covered by the clouds it appears moving. (break) Actually it is not moving. (indistinct) we see that the moon is moving. So we are spirit soul eternally. Just like I am lying down on my bed, bit I am dreaming I have gone to Pacific Ocean and being drowned and so many things, you have come to save me, and so many troublesome things. But actually there is no Pacific Ocean, nothing of the sort. It is simply my dream. So this temporary covering of the body is just like a dream. As soon as you come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, everything is finished.

Devotee: In the dream, they are also suffering. So in the same way it is actually happening in a subtle form in your dreams. It is actually happening.

Prabhupāda: Yes, and it has no actual value, but when it is happening and I am under dream, I am thinking it is all actual. Actually it has no value. Therefore it is called māyā. Māyā means which has no real existence, but it appears.

Śyāmasundara: Last night you said that what is the meaning of the word "nothing." That māyā means "nothing"?

Philosophy Discussion on John Dewey:

Prabhupāda: This nature is temporary, but there is another nature, sanātana. That he does not know. Paras tasmāt tu bhavo anyaḥ, 'vyakto 'vyaktāt sanātanaḥ (BG 8.20). That is standardization. Sanātana means eternal. That does not change. It is neither created or annihilated. That is standard.

Śyāmasundara: So somehow or other we must develop a...

Prabhupāda: Just like this Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Five thousand years ago Arjuna became Kṛṣṇa conscious. The same Kṛṣṇa consciousness we are also preaching. This is standard. And before that Arjuna, the same Kṛṣṇa consciousness was preached to the sun-god forty millions of years ago. So this does not change. This is unchanging, avyakta. Param avyayam. Kṛṣṇa is avyayam and His consciousness is avyayam. It is not changing.

Śyāmasundara: He says that we must develop..., the whole world must develop a common faith in practical activity.

Prabhupāda: Yes. This is Kṛṣṇa's position.

Śyāmasundara: He says that "Ours is the responsibility of accepting a precious heritage of values, accumulated by the continuous human community at great cost in effort and suffering, and to expand, conserve, transmit, and rectify these values bequeathed to us." In other words, he says that we must take the lessons of history and build upon them in order to transmit these values and preserve them.

Philosophy Discussion on Martin Heidegger:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Because I am true, therefore why I am here, that is truth. The basic principle is "I am truth." Therefore "Why I am here?" This is intelligent question. So that... These questions was asked by Sanātana Gosvāmī to Caitanya Mahāprabhu. The first question: "Actually what I am? I don't want miserable condition of life, but this world is full of miserable condition of life. So why this is?" This is actually human understanding, when one comes to this enquiry that "I do not want any miserable condition of life, but why this miserable condition of life is forced upon me?" Nobody wanted the Pakistan war, but somehow or other it was enforced. Similarly, there are so many difficulties. Śītoṣṇa sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, āgamāpāyino, they come and go, but they come and go, or they come, that's a fact. So we have to tolerate. But the question is why these miserable conditions come? Why I should tolerate? But even if I tolerate, that is not finished. So why this is the position? This "Why?" position is actually human life. That is called in the Vedānta-sūtra, brahma-jijñāsā. After trying (indistinct), when one is unable to make any solution, then the question comes "Why?" That is the beginning of human life. That is the beginning. Otherwise animal life. So animal life, this is animal is being slaughtered, but it cannot question, "Why I am being slaughtered?" That's all. "Why you are slaughtering me? I am also a living entity." It has no such (indistinct). That is animal's life. And when there is question "Why?" that is human life. "Why?" Kenopaniṣad.

Śyāmasundara: He claims that the consciousness of death makes a difference in the choices that an individual makes during his life. He says that the consciousness that this body will end, this consciousness guides him to choose in a certain way.

Philosophy Discussion on Carl Gustav Jung:

Prabhupāda: Another continuation is that the child changes body. So as he was acting in his childhood, he does not act in the same way when he has got the different body of a young man, but the same soul is there. It can be understood very easily.

Hayagrīva: The third type of rebirth listed is called resurrection. Now there are two types of resurrection. He says, "It may be a carnal, that is gross, material body, as in the Christian assumption that this body will be resurrected." That is the Christian doctrine, is that at the end of the world the..., somehow or other, through the miracle of God, the gross body will reassemble itself and ascend into heaven or descend into hell. Somehow survival of the gross body. He says, "On a higher level..."

Prabhupāda: And what he will do in the meantime?

Hayagrīva: I don't know what happens...

Devotee: (indistinct)

Hayagrīva: ...what happens to the material elements. The material elements disintegrate, disintegrate...

Prabhupāda: The material body...

Hayagrīva: They're distributed in nature.

Philosophy Discussion on Jean-Paul Sartre:

Prabhupāda: Yes. That we can admit. Anyone who is in this material world, he is condemned. But the next question will be, if one is condemned, then he can be blessed also. The other side of condemnation is blessing. So what is the blessing side? Has he got any knowledge of the blessing side? Then he is imperfect. As soon as you say condemned, there must be blessing. So he does not know what is the blessing side. That he takes as nothing. That is nonsense.

Śyāmasundara: He says that we cannot escape this situation of freedom, that somehow or other we are therefore responsible for our activities. We cannot escape the situation of being free. Everyone is free to determine what is his future.

Prabhupāda: Then why do you speak of accident? If you are irresponsible, then why do you say accident? The two things cannot go. If he was responsible, he must be responsible to something else, who is condemning you or blessing you. How it can be accident? These are contradictions.

Śyāmasundara: This situation that we find ourselves in, choosing our future, everyone has to choose his future, what is the next step...

Prabhupāda: Then why do you say accident? First of all you withdraw the word accident, then you can talk all this.

Śyāmasundara: There are certain events that we cannot control. They simply happen to us.

Prabhupāda: Cannot control, that can be accepted. But it is supposed that we have controlling power. Nothing is accident. Sometimes, when you are miscontrolling, that is accident. But actually that is not accident; that is your miscontrol, not accident. The reason is miscontrol.

Philosophy Discussion on Bertrand Russell:

Prabhupāda: How you have to take that knowledge from the superior? He gives us the key: sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1). Vedānta is searching out what is Brahman. Brahman means the original source of everything. (break) ...mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate, iti matvā bhajante māṁ budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ (BG 10.8). So those who are vidhā, actually learned, they know that Kṛṣṇa is the supreme source of everything; therefore we should offer our obeisances to Kṛṣṇa. This is actually knowledge. And one who does not know how to (indistinct) the supreme, but suppose blindly he accepts, "Kṛṣṇa is supreme," he also derives (indistinct). Just like fire: either with scientific knowledge you touch, or without any knowledge you touch, the fire will act. Similarly, Krsna is the supreme. Either you study scientifically or not study, He is supreme. So somehow or other, if one goes to supreme he becomes purified. That is, that is the defect of the modern man. Therefore they question, question about the līlā of Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs. Gopī means, gopī is actually surrendered(?) to Kṛṣṇa in love. Kṛṣṇa is faithful(?). But Kṛṣṇa, He is the supreme. Their lusty desires become purified and they became the first-class devotees. Therefore Lord Caitanya was so strict as a sannyāsī to allow women to come to near to His (indistinct), He says, ramyā kācid upāsanā vraja-vadhū-vargeṇa yā kalpitā. So there is no superior mode of worship than it was conceived by the damsels of Vraja, because they loved Kṛṣṇa blindly, without any reservation, without any return. Mad after Kṛṣṇa. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu says this is the first-class love. They might have gone with some purpose, that doesn't matter, but because they approached Kṛṣṇa somehow or other, (indistinct) kāma, it doesn't matter.

Philosophy Discussion on Karl Marx:

Prabhupāda: The, this thing is not only in Russia, this is going on in other countries. So, people have been taught not to keep accounts. All these big, big business men they don't keep accounts, so there is no question of income tax. Suppose if I want to purchase from you something. No cash memo, no account. I give you money, cash, I take goods, I sell it, no account, then I cash from my (indistinct). That's all. But provided I have my right books, then these things will be applicable-income tax. Just like in our Indian system, there small broker, he has no book; nothing of the sort. He is purchasing one bag or two bags of rice, he is selling, that's all. He does not keep accounts. So as soon as... The whole tendency is, that I want profit. If the government (indistinct), somehow or other, (indistinct), I will get my profit but I will not show government how much profit I am making. He may propose all these nice things according to his philosophy but he cannot change the mind of the people. Therefore all these proposal will be futile. Simply waste of time, that's all.

Śyāmasundara: His idea is that the mind of people can be changed because the conditions...

Prabhupāda: But not in that way, by force. That is not possible. You cannot change the mind even of a child by force, and what to speak of elderly man, educated man. Is it not so? Mind can be changed by our process: ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). Otherwise it is not. These things will be made (indistinct) complete, even in the ordinary position. Their utopia—it is not possible.

Śyāmasundara: He also wants to abolish all inheritance rights, all rights of inheritance.

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

Prabhupāda: No, no. There is nothing accidental. It is not that accidental, one becomes high-court judge. (laughter) This is nonsense. Accidental(ly) one becomes a very high grade medical man. This is all childish proposal. They have no sense even. It is all childish. Where is the, in our practical life, where is the evidence that accidentally one has become like this? Is there any evidence of how they propose these childish things? I do not know. And they are passing as philosophers.

Śyāmasundara: Occasionally, for instance, there will be some great genius born in a family, and they will say that somehow or other, nature has produced this genius. The parents are not so intelligent.

Prabhupāda: No. Genius means he, in his previous life, he cultured, and next life is being manifested. Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe yogo bhraṣṭaḥ sañjāyate (BG 6.41). So yoga-bhraṣṭaḥ, one who could not finish his yogic activities perfectly, he is given chance. Śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe. Not that accidental.

Śyāmasundara: So through the practice of some kind of yoga system, men develop higher consciousness.

Prabhupāda: Yes. This is also, we are practicing, bhakti-yoga.

Śyāmasundara: Otherwise...

Philosophy Discussion on Plato:

Prabhupāda: Yes, Vedic civilization is that, that putrārthe kriyate bhāryā. A man should accept a wife for putra, for son. Why son? Putra-piṇḍa-prayojanam: a putra should be responsible for offering piṇḍa, so that after death, even by mistake or somehow or other I am in a wrong position, by the piṇḍa I am elevated. This is idea. So marriage is for having good son, that's a fact, who will deliver me even if I am in the hell. Therefore the śraddhā ceremony in there. So even the father is in hell, by this śraddhā ceremony he will be delivered. This is the idea. So unless one has got son, nobody is going to offer him śraddhā oblation, and even one may be very benevolent, but it is not expected. But it is the duty of the son, as it is said, putra. Pu means there is a hell pundama (?). The hell's name is pundama, pun. So I mean, pu and tra, tra means one who delivers. If by chance I am put into pundama naraka trayate, one who delivers me from that hellish condition of life, he is putra, and for this kind of putra I accept a wife, not for my sex enjoyment. And it is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā, one who uses his sex for these religious activities, that "I shall get good father, a good son who can deliver me," then marriage is required. Otherwise it is useless. Dharmāviruddho kāmo 'smi. Kṛṣṇa says, "Sex life which is not against religious principle, that is I am." And sex life which is, which has no religious principle, that is sense gratification leading one to hell. So this theory: that we should marry, we should have sex life for creating good progeny. And my Guru Mahārāja used to say—he was a sannyāsī brahmacārī—but he said that "If I could produce really Kṛṣṇa conscious children, I can use hundred times sex life. Otherwise why shall I use my sex for cat, producing cats and dog?" He has said like that. So the śāstra also says, pitā na sa syāt janani na sa syāt: the father's, mother's duty is how to rescue their children from the cycle of birth and death. That is real father and mother. Otherwise cats and dogs, they are also father and mother. That is not wanted. Vedic culture is different. Produce children for such education and such accomplishment that he can be saved from the cycle of birth and death, and the putra should be such qualified that even his father goes to the hellish condition of pundama, he will deliver him. That is the idea of becoming father and family.

Philosophy Discussion on St. Augustine:

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

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

Philosophy Discussion on George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Hayagrīva: Because Kṛṣṇa says so, but...

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

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

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

Hayagrīva: Yes.

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

Hayagrīva: Hegel mistook this for pantheism.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Hayagrīva: Hegel mistook this for pantheism.

Philosophy Discussion on Auguste Comte:

Prabhupāda: Yes, unless one has got full sense of God, they cannot stick to the worshiping method. And we have got practical experience in Los Angeles that we purchased that church because it was not going on at all. They made plans for Sunday school and so on, so on, but somehow or other it failed. Nobody was coming to the church. At last it was sold to us. Now this same church is there, and the same Americans are there, but at the present moment in our Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Temple it is always packed up. So what is the reason? The same church is there and the same men are there, but formerly nobody was coming, so that the church was sold to us. Now it is all packed up. What is the reason? The reason is that simply religious sentiment, assembly in the church, will not help us unless there is spiritual life and based on philosophy and full understanding of the goal of life. That will make religion perfect; otherwise no.

Hayagrīva: Here is his conclusion and the last point. He says, "The whole effect of positive worship will be to make men free...," excuse me, "The whole effect of positive worship will be to make men feel clearly how far superior in every respect in the synthesis founded on the love of humanity to that founded on the love of God." In other words, love of mankind is superior to love of, of God, or what is known as God.

Purports to Songs

Purport excerpt to Sri-Krsna-Caitanya Prabhu -- Montreal, July 17, 1968:

Prabhupāda: This is a prayer to Lord Caitanya. The devotee is saying, "O Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, kindly show me your causeless mercy." Śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu dayā karo more. "Because You have come to deliver fallen souls, so You will not find the most fallen soul like me." This is the humble prayer. We should be conscious of our fallen condition and pray to the Lord in that way, that "My dear Lord, somehow or other I am fallen. Now kindly pick me up." The substance of this song is like this. Of course, the language, Sanskrit, you may understand..., you may not understand, but the vibration will act. (end)

Purport to Bhajahu Re Mana -- Los Angeles, May 27, 1972:

So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness society is the swans, paramahaṁsa. Haṁsa. Haṁsa means swan. Haṁsa, this example is given because the swan knows the technique how to take milk out of water. You give the swan milk and water, it will take the milk portion and give it up the water portion. Similarly a swan, a haṁsa, paramahaṁsa, means in this human form of life, one who takes the spiritual portion of life and rejects the material portion of life, he is called haṁsa, paramahaṁsa. We are mixed. Our body is material, but I am spirit soul. So we have to know the techniques how to get out of this material bondage. That is the process of jñāna vairāgya, knowledge and renunciation. The example is given, just like wood, firewood. If you somehow or other, you can ignite fire, then the fire will vanquish the wood. The blazing fire will consume the whole wood. Similarly, you have got the fire of spiritual consciousness. If you can evoke that spiritual consciousness, this material consciousness will be burnt up. It will come out from this material body, but when it comes out, then it will vanquish the material body. Very good, good example. The fire, there is..., in the wood there is fire, everyone knows. So you ignite fire, and if you make it dry, then the fire takes place very quickly. And when it is blazing fire, then the wood becomes vanquished. There is no more existence of the wood. Similarly, if you can invoke your spiritual consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, when it will be very nicely going on, then your material existence will be finished. This is the process. Durlabha mānava-janama sat-saṅge taraha e bhava-sindhu re. In this way, just get on the other side of this ocean of nescience.