Finally he came to Navadvīpa to contest the learned paṇḍitas there. The paṇḍitas of Navadvīpa decided to match Nimāi Paṇḍita (Lord Caitanya) with the Kashmir paṇḍita, thinking that if Nimāi Paṇḍita were defeated, they would have another chance to debate with the scholar, for Nimāi Paṇḍita was only a boy. And if the Kashmir paṇḍita were defeated, then they would even be more glorified because people would proclaim that a mere boy of Navadvīpa had defeated a champion scholar who was famous throughout India. It so happened that Nimāi Paṇḍita met Keśava Kāśmīrī while strolling on the banks of the Ganges. The Lord requested him to compose a Sanskrit verse in praise of the Ganges, and the paṇḍita within a short time composed a hundred ślokas, reciting the verses like a storm and showing the strength of his vast learning. Nimāi Paṇḍita at once memorized all the ślokas without an error. He quoted the sixty-fourth śloka and pointed out certain rhetorical and literary irregularities.
Storm
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Preface and Introduction
SB Canto 2
Living the conditional life is just like plying a boat in the middle of the ocean. One is completely at the mercy of the ocean, and at every moment there is every chance of being drowned in the ocean by slight agitation. If the atmosphere is all right, the boat can ply very easily, undoubtedly, but if there is some storm, fog, wind or cloud, there is every possibility of being drowned in the ocean. No one can control the whims of the ocean, however one may be materially well equipped. One who has crossed the oceans by ship may have sufficient experience of such dependence upon the mercy of the ocean. But one can ply over the ocean of material existence by the grace of the Lord very easily, without any fear of storm or fog. It all depends on the will of the Lord; no one can help if there is some unfortunate danger in the state of conditional life. The devotees of the Lord, however, cross the ocean of material existence without anxiety because a pure devotee is always protected by the Lord (BG 9.13). The Lord gives special attention to His devotees in their activities within material, conditional life (BG 9.29). Therefore everyone should take shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord and be a pure devotee of the Lord by all means.
SB Canto 3
There blew winds which were most uninviting to the touch, hissing again and again and uprooting gigantic trees. They had storms for their armies and clouds of dust for their ensigns.
Fierce winds began to blow from all directions, spreading darkness occasioned by dust and hail storms; stones came in volleys from every corner, as if thrown by machine guns.
SB Canto 4
At that time, all the persons assembled in the sacrificial arena—the priests, the chief of the sacrificial performance, and the brāhmaṇas and their wives—wondered where the darkness was coming from. Later they could understand that it was a dust storm, and all of them were full of anxiety.
Conjecturing on the origin of the storm, they said: There is no wind blowing, and no cows are passing, nor is it possible that this dust storm could be raised by plunderers, for there is still the strong King Barhi, who would punish them. Where is this dust storm blowing from? Is the dissolution of the planet now to occur?
Specifically significant in this verse is prācīna-barhir jīvati. The king of that part of the land was known as Barhi, and although he was old, he was still living, and he was a very strong ruler. Thus there was no possibility of an invasion by thieves and plunderers. Indirectly it is stated here that thieves, plunderers, rogues and unwanted population can exist only in a state or kingdom where there is no strong ruler. When, in the name of justice, thieves are allowed liberty, the state and kingdom are disturbed by such plunderers and unwanted population. The dust storm created by the soldiers and assistants of Lord Śiva resembled the situation at the time of the dissolution of this world. When there is a need for the dissolution of the material creation, this function is conducted by Lord Śiva. Therefore the situation now created by him resembled the dissolution of the cosmic manifestation.
In the meantime, while Dhruva Mahārāja, doubtful of his mystic enemies, was talking with his charioteer, they heard a tremendous sound, as if the whole ocean were there, and they found that from the sky a great dust storm was coming over them from all directions.
When the great sages were carrying on their discussion in this way, they saw a dust storm arising from all directions. This storm was caused by the running of thieves and rogues, who were engaged in plundering the citizens.
Upon seeing the dust storm, the saintly persons could understand that there were a great deal of irregularities due to the death of King Vena. Without government, the state was devoid of law and order, and consequently there was a great uprising of murderous thieves and rogues, who were plundering the riches of the people in general. Although the great sages could subdue the disturbance by their powers—just as they could kill the King—they considered it improper on their part to do so. Thus they did not attempt to stop the disturbance.
SB Canto 5
The mountain cave is our happy home, and the mosquitoes and serpents are our enemies. The rats, beasts and vultures are different types of thieves who take away our possessions, and the gandharva-pura is the phantasmagoria of the body and home. The will-o'-the-wisp is our attraction for gold and its color, and material residence and wealth are the ingredients for our material enjoyment. The whirlwind is our attraction for our wife, and the dust storm is our blinding passion experienced during sex. The demigods control the different directions, and the cricket is the harsh words spoken by our enemy during our absence. The owl is the person who directly insults us, and the impious trees are impious men. The waterless river represents atheists who give us trouble in this world and the next. The meat-eating demons are the government officials, and the pricking thorns are the impediments of material life.
SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13
Another day, when mother Yaśodā was sitting with her child on her lap, she suddenly observed that he had assumed the weight of the entire universe. She was so astonished that she had to put the child down, and in the meantime Tṛṇāvarta, one of the servants of Kaṁsa, appeared there as a whirlwind and took the child away. The whole tract of land known as Gokula became surcharged with dust, no one could see where the child had been taken, and all the gopīs were overwhelmed because He had been taken away in the dust storm. But up in the sky, the asura, being overburdened by the child, could not carry the child far away, although he also could not drop the child because the child had caught him so tightly that it was difficult for him to separate the child from his body. Thus Tṛṇāvarta himself fell down from a very great height, the child grasping him tightly by the shoulder, and immediately died. The demon having fallen, the gopīs picked the child up and delivered Him to the lap of mother Yaśodā.
Tṛṇāvartāsura assumed the form of a whirlwind and covered with a dust storm the whole tract of land known as Gokula, so that no one could see even the nearest thing.
For a moment, the whole pasturing ground was overcast with dense darkness from the dust storm, and mother Yaśodā was unable to find her son where she had placed Him.
Because of the dust storm stirred up by the strong whirlwind, mother Yaśodā could find no trace of her son, nor could she understand why. Thus she fell down on the ground like a cow who has lost her calf and began to lament very pitifully.
When the force of the dust storm and the winds subsided, Yaśodā's friends, the other gopīs, approached mother Yaśodā, hearing her pitiful crying. Not seeing Kṛṣṇa present, they too felt very much aggrieved and joined mother Yaśodā in crying, their eyes full of tears.
SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)
When Jarāsandha's and Bhīmasena's clubs loudly collided, O King, the sound was like the impact of the big tusks of two fighting elephants, or the crash of a thunderbolt in a flashing electrical storm.
O brāhmaṇa, do you remember what happened to us while we were living with our spiritual master? Once our guru's wife sent us to fetch firewood, and after we entered the vast forest, O twice-born one, an unseasonal storm arose, with fierce wind and rain and harsh thunder.
Although the mighty wind blows clouds and storms across the sky, the sky is never implicated or affected by these activities. Similarly, the spirit soul is not actually changed or affected by contact with the material nature. Although the living entity enters within a body made of earth, water and fire, and although he is impelled by the three modes of nature created by eternal time, his eternal spiritual nature is never actually affected.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Antya-lila
Kṛṣṇa states in the Bhagavad-gītā (2.45), trai-guṇya-viṣayā vedā nistrai-guṇyo bhavārjuna. Thus He advised Arjuna to rise above the modes of material nature, for the entire Vedic system is filled with descriptions involving sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa and tamo-guṇa. People are generally covered by the quality of rajo-guṇa and are therefore unable to understand the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa with the gopīs of Vraja. Moreover, the quality of tamo-guṇa further disturbs their understanding. In Vṛndāvana, however, although Kṛṣṇa is covered by the hazy darkness of the dust, the gopīs can nevertheless understand that within the dust storm is Kṛṣṇa. Because they are His topmost devotees, they can perceive His hand in everything. Thus even in the dark or in a hazy storm of dust, devotees can understand what Kṛṣṇa is doing. The purport of this verse is that under no circumstances is Kṛṣṇa ever lost to the vision of exalted devotees like the gopīs.
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Nectar of Instruction
Indeed, all living entities within this material world are under the control of mahāmāyā, whose business is to subject them to the influence of threefold miseries: adhidaivika-kleśa (sufferings caused by the demigods, such as droughts, earthquakes and storms), adhibhautika-kleśa (sufferings caused by other living entities like insects or enemies), and adhyātmika-kleśa (sufferings caused by one's own body and mind, such as mental and physical infirmities). Daiva-bhūtātma-hetavaḥ: the conditioned souls, subjected to these three miseries by the control of the external energy, suffer various difficulties.
Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead
One day, shortly after the ceremony, when Mother Yaśodā was patting her baby on her lap, the baby felt too heavy, and being unable to carry Him, she unwillingly placed Him on the ground. After a while, she became engaged in household affairs. At that time, a servant of Kaṁsa's known as Tṛṇāvarta, as instructed by Kaṁsa, appeared there in the shape of a whirlwind. He picked the child up on his shoulders and raised a great dust storm all over Vṛndāvana, covering everyone's eyes. Within a few moments the whole area of Vṛndāvana became so densely dark that no one could see himself or anyone else. During this great catastrophe, Mother Yaśodā could not see her baby, who had been taken away by the whirlwind, and she began to cry very piteously. She fell down on the ground exactly like a cow who has just lost her calf. When Mother Yaśodā was so piteously crying, all the cowherd women immediately came and began to look for the baby, but they were disappointed and could not find Him.
It is indicated here that in the villages or outside the towns, the inhabitants must depend on the cows for their prosperity. When the cows are destroyed, the people are destitute of all kinds of opulences. When King Indra ordered the Sāṁvartaka and companion clouds to go to Vṛndāvana, the clouds were afraid of doing this mischief. But King Indra assured them, "You go ahead, and I will also go, riding on my elephant, accompanied by great storms. And I shall apply all my strength to punishing the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana."
The gopīs prayed to the demigods to create some natural disturbance, such as a hurricane, storm or heavy rainfall, so that Kṛṣṇa could not go to Mathurā. They then began to consider, "Despite our parents and guardians, we shall personally stop Kṛṣṇa from going to Mathurā. We have no alternative but to take this direct action. Everyone has gone against us to take away Kṛṣṇa from our sight. Without Him we cannot live for a moment." The gopīs thus decided to obstruct the passage through which the chariot of Kṛṣṇa was supposed to pass. They began to talk among themselves: “We have passed a very long night—which seemed only a moment—engaged in the rāsa dance with Kṛṣṇa.
They were both expert fighters with clubs, and their techniques of striking each other were so beautiful that they appeared to be two dramatic artists dancing on a stage. When the clubs of Jarāsandha and Bhīmasena loudly collided, the impact sounded like that of the big tusks of two fighting elephants or like a thunderbolt in a flashing electrical storm. When two elephants fight together in a sugarcane field, each of them snatches a stick of sugarcane, holds it tightly in its trunk and strikes the other. At that time the sugarcane becomes smashed by such heavy striking. Similarly, when Bhīmasena and Jarāsandha were heavily striking each other with their clubs on different parts of their bodies—namely the shoulders, arms, collarbone, chest, thighs, waist and legs—their clubs were torn to pieces.
Kṛṣṇa continued to talk with His brāhmaṇa friend: “My dear friend, I think you remember our activities during the days when we were living as students. You may remember that once we went to collect fuel from the forest on the order of the guru's wife. While collecting the dried wood, we entered the dense forest and by chance became lost. There was an unexpected dust storm and then clouds and lightning in the sky and the explosive sound of thunder. Then sunset came, and we were lost in the dark jungle. After this, there was severe rainfall; the whole ground was overflooded with water, and we could not trace out the way to return to our guru's āśrama. You may remember that heavy rainfall—it was not actually rainfall but a sort of devastation. On account of the dust storm and the heavy rain, we began to feel greatly pained, and in whichever direction we turned we were bewildered. In that distressed condition, we took each other's hand and tried to find our way out. We passed the whole night in that way, and early in the morning, when our absence became known to our gurudeva, he sent his other disciples to search us out. He also came with them, and when they reached us in the jungle they found us very much distressed.
Light of the Bhagavata
The result of self-realization is cessation of the storms of desire and lust, which are products of the modes of ignorance and passion. This cessation of the storm does not mean that the sea becomes inactive. When the storm subsides, the work of navigation can take place smoothly. According to the Indian system of navigation, there is a ceremony on the seashore known as the coconut day. On the coconut day the sea is offered a coconut because she has become peaceful, and from that day on the seagoing vessels sail to foreign countries.
The three modes of nature divide human activities into two different spheres, one external and the other introspective. As long as a man is dominated by the modes of ignorance and passion, he is active externally in desire and lust. Men absorbed in desire and lust are called asuras, and they are always chasing after women and money. For the sake of women and money the asuras exploit every source of economic development. As a result of this asuric civilization, the entire human society becomes like a stormy sea, with no trace of peace and prosperity.
According to the varṇāśrama principle, it is compulsory that one retire after the age of fifty, without considering other circumstances. Business offices close at a fixed hour no matter what balance of work remains. Similarly, after the age of fifty one must retire from the active, external life and devote oneself to the introspective cultivation of the human spirit. This retirement must be compulsory, so that foolish old men will no longer disturb the peaceful progress of spiritual culture. In the modern democratic government, no one should be elected after the age of fifty. Otherwise the storm of the ocean of nescience cannot be stopped to allow the ships and boats to sail back to Godhead. The greatest enemies of progressive spiritual culture in human society are the old fossils of political parties who are blind themselves and who try to lead other blind men. They bring about disaster in a peaceful human society. The members of the younger generation are not as stupid as the old politicians, and therefore by state law the foolish old politicians must retire from active life at the age of fifty.
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
So disturbance of mind is due to our ignorance. So here, a very nice word. (aside:) You can come here. All right. Here a very nice word is used: dhīra. Dhīra. Dhīra means undisturbed. Undisturbed. So this we should, we should carefully note, that our mind in the material condition is always disturbed, always disturbed. And this is due to our unfavorable condition. Because we are actually spirit in identity and we have been put into material conditions. We can very well experience. And we have, I got experience, and here is Captain Pandia. He has also experienced. He may be more than experienced than me. When we passed through the sea on the ship, although we are on the sea, quite safe, still, when there is some storm, when there is some disturbance on the ocean, we also become very much disturbed, because that situation is foreign to us. We are not so much disturbed in the land as we are disturbed in the ocean because we know that our position in the ocean is not our natural condition. So we should know that disturbance is due to our unnatural condition. Otherwise, there is no question of disturbance.
Material energy is very strong, very powerful. You can know that. If there is a strong, a strong storm immediately, so many houses, so many trees and plants can be immediately uprooted. Material nature. If there is big storm in the ocean, it can inundate many cities, many towns. Material energy is very, very strong. That is stated, daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). So we are under the control of the material nature.
A brahmacārī, from the very beginning of his life, he is trained to act only for guru. That is brahmacārī. It is enjoined that a brahmacārī live at the shelter, at the care of guru just like a menial servant. Kṛṣṇa also, although He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, when He was living as brahmacārī at His guru's house, Sāndīpani Muni, He was collecting wood, fuel, from the jungle. He was going daily. It is not that because He was Personality of Godhead, therefore He should not go. No. You will find in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Kṛṣṇa Book, that when Sudāmā Vipra met him, he was talking with Him about His childhood stories. Kṛṣṇa reminded him, "Sudāmā, do you remember that one day we went to collect fuel for our Guru Mahārāja, and there was storm and rain, and we could not get out of the forest. We had to live overnight there. Then on the morning Guru Mahārāja came with other disciples and they recovered us from the jungle. Do you remember?" So Kṛṣṇa had to do this. This is training.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
So this duality is visible in this material world, but in the spiritual world there is no duality. There is absolute peace and... (break). ...So when He wants to fight, He comes here, because here there are many demons. So His fighting spirit is satisfied. Otherwise, for killing the demon, Kṛṣṇa does not require to descend. There are many agents of Kṛṣṇa. For example, this city, Visakhapatnam, on the seashore, if Kṛṣṇa desires, this whole city can be killed in a second, simply by overflooding the sea, or by storm. He has got many agents, parasya śaktir vividhaiva śruyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). Or the material agents, Durgā devī, she can all, do all these things. So Kṛṣṇa does not require to descend for killing the demons, but when He feels, just like a rich man sometimes feels to contest with some wrestler, that does not mean he requires it. That is the Kṛṣṇa spirit. He is all-blissful. So when Kṛṣṇa comes, descends, there are many demons. He especially comes for the devotee. But when He fights with the demon, that is also His favor, because anyone killed by Kṛṣṇa, he immediately attains liberation. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is absolute. Either He fights or blesses, the result is the same.
An interesting story has been described by our Satsvarūpa Mahārāja in the Back to Godhead: The learned scholar and the boatman. The boatman... In Bengal there are many rivers, and so people generally transport by boat service. So a learned scholar from Calcutta, say, was going home in the village on a boat, and he was very happy. So he was asking the boatman, "My dear boatman, do you know what are these stars, this astronomy, how they are working?" "No, sir, I do not know." "Oh, your life is twenty-five percent lost. You do not know anything." Then after some time, "You know the geology, how this earth, water, they are working?" "No, sir, I am poor man. What can I know?" "Oh, your fifty percent of your life is lost." Then all of a sudden there was a cloud, black cloud on the sky, and there was storm. Then at that time the boatman asked, "Sir, do you know how to swim?" "No, I do not know." "Then one hundred percent you have lost.(laughter) You are going to be drowned." He jumped and he drowned.
So when the brahmacārī goes there, a little rice or little ḍāl, they contribute. In this way by collection of these alms from the neighboring householders, practically the āśrama's eating problem is solved. Brahmacārī is supposed to live in gurukula at the place of guru just like a menial servant. Even Kṛṣṇa, He also lived as a menial servant. His teacher asked Him to bring some fuel from the jungle, and He went with Sudāmā Vipra, and while collecting these dry woods there was a storm and there was heavy rain, and they became lost in the jungle, Kṛṣṇa and Sudāmā Vipra. Then his teacher, Sāndīpani Muni... With the assistance of other boys, they were rescued. So this is the position of the brahmacārī, that they go to collect alms, all kinds of, for gurukula.
But actually, the human life is meant for not enjoying the senses. That is called tapasya. To deny. That is human life. That is Vedic civilization. First of all, the brahmacārī system, how to deny sense gratification. That is the first training. Even the, even Kṛṣṇa, He had to go to the forest to collect dry wood for the spiritual master. The, that is mentioned in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Kṛṣṇa was talking with Sudāmā Vipra, how both of them went to collect dry wood, and there was storm and rain. They became stranded in the forest. Then next day their teacher and other students rescued them. So the brahmacārī was trained up, tapasya, not to enjoy. They would have to go beg door to door, brahmacārī: "Mother, give us some alms for our āśrama." So they were trained from the very beginning to address any woman as "Mother." So... And there were so many other things: to rise early in the morning... Tapasya. Tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyet sattvam (SB 5.5.1).
So He is teaching us. Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the teacher. Āpani ācari' prabhu jīvere śikhaila. But still, it is very difficult to strictly follow. But we must try to follow as far as possible. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu has therefore taught us, tṛṇād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā. We must be tolerant like the trees or more than the tree. The trees, they are standing in the open air, and there are so many disturbances, storms, scorching heat, and somebody is taking the leaf, somebody cutting. It doesn't protest. Tolerance. This is very good example of tolerance. So in order to execute our spiritual consciousness or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we shall learn tolerance. Tolerance, that is advised in Bhagavad-gītā, that tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata: "Don't be disturbed." Just like a brāhmaṇa or a sannyāsī has to take three times bath. And if it is very chilly cold, it does not mean that he will give up that taking bath three times, early in the morning. He must take. That is called tolerance.
There are many living entities. Out of them, some of them are cala, and some of them are acala. Cala means moving. Just like tree is not moving, but it is life. But a small insect, it is moving. Sthāvara jaṅgama, they are called in technical words. Sthāvara means standing in one place, and the vegetables, trees, plants, they are more condemned. They cannot move even. They'll have to stand up in a place for thousands of years. There is no possibility even to move. If there is storm, scorching heat, pinching cold, they cannot move. They'll have to suffer. So it is very condemned life to become tree and plant, sthāvara. Then jaṅgama. The jaṅgama means moving. So there are many varieties of moving animals. The insects, the birds, the beast, then human form. So how out of the human moving forms, the civilized form... Out of the civilized form, those who are in Vedic culture... Out of the Vedic culture, many are addicted to the fruitive activities, ritualistic ceremony, how to go to the heavenly planet, how to become members of rich family. They are working very hard, karmi. So out of many millions of karmīs, one jñānī... Jñānī means who understands, "What is the use of this karma, fruitive activities?" So out of many jñānīs, one is mukta, liberated. And out of many millions of mukta-koṭiṣv api mahā-mune—one is a bhakta. This is the gradual development.
Now, we can see in our front, there is a tree standing for many years, and he has to stand in scorching heat, torrents of rain, pinching cold. He cannot move an inch. And if we think seriously, "Suppose if I would have been put into that condition, that 'Stand up here for five hundred or five thousand years. You cannot move an inch, and you bear all the sufferings, scorching heat, storm,' " would I agree to do that? No. I will not agree. But the tree is also a living entity. He is a living being. I am also living being. So I am put in a different condition of life and the tree is put in a different condition of life. Why? Why this distinction? Is there any upper hand superior judgment that one is put in the condition of standing tree and one is put in the beautiful human body, freely moving? There must be, because we are all living entities. We are all soul, spirit soul. We are simply put in different dresses.
You are trying to prolong your life by scientific method, but what is the use of such life? This material life, there is suffering. Just like the tree. It does not do any harm to anyone. Rather, it is very hospitable. It gives shelter to the people. They are taking fruits, they are taking branches, leaves, sometimes cutting. They are very harmless, but still, there is harm, suffering. Must stand there for five thousand years and scorching heat and pinching winter, storm, and sometimes fall down. The suffering is there. Even we become a nonviolent... Even Gandhi. He was nonviolent, very moralist. Still he was killed. Just see. This is material world. He was killed by bullet. So the material world means suffering. So what is the use of making a prolonged life? Prolonged suffering. Therefore it is said, aghāyuḥ. If you live for a moment as a devotee, your life is successful. And if you live for many thousands of years without any Kṛṣṇa consciousness—aghāyuḥ, useless life, useless. Aghāyur aśucir malāt, because the desire is there, kāma and lobha, greediness and lusty desire.
Everyone, we want happiness. But we are so blind that happiness in the material world is faced with so many other troubles. Just like I want to be happy, I am sitting peacefully, the mosquito will come and disturb me. The bugs will come, disturb me. The dogs will come, disturb me. And so many other... There will be some earthquake will disturb me, there will be some storm will disturb me. There will be some fever, disturb me. Some calamity will disturb me. So because all these disturbances are, this is nature's daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). That māyā is always ready to disturb us. Because to remind us that "You want to be happy in this material world, that is not possible. I shall disturb you always, in this way or that way." That we haven't got eyes to see, that we are being disturbed. But if we want undisturbed happiness then we have to purify our existence. That is wanted.
General Lectures
What do we know about these stars?" "Oh. Then your fifty percent of life is wasted, useless." Then he was asking, "Do you know what are these trees? Do you know any science of botany?" He said, "Sir, we are ordinary laborer. What do we know about botany?" "Oh. Then seventy-five percent of your life is useless." In this way the student of technology was asking the boatman, "Do you know this? Do you know that?" And he said that "I am ordinary man. What do I know all these things?" Then all of a sudden there was a black cloud, and there was storm, and the river began to be inflated, and the boatman said, "My dear sir, do you know swimming?" "Oh," he said, "no." Then he said, "Then your cent percent knowledge is spoiled. Now you have to go down to the river. Your life is finished." In this way they dropped in the river, and the technological student, because he did not know how to swim, so the storm and the waves grabbed him.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Śrutakīrti: He answered that by saying he didn't have that supernatural grace.
Revatīnandana: Yeah, why not? That's pretty clear, actually. "Well, we love God. Yes, we love God." A steak and a glass of wine and God.
Śrutakīrti: I think a storm is coming.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Śrutakīrti: A rainstorm is...
Prabhupāda: Rainstorm? No.
Revatīnandana: Little, little... It might rain. It's not for a while. But when it gets misty, it sometimes rains.
Prabhupāda: You can understand from the cloud. When it's blackish, then there is rain. (Break) (end)
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Oh. That is our house.
Bali Mardana: I think it is. (break)
Prabhupāda: ...in the history there is no such action.
Devotee: There was one time on one of the other islands. It fell on someone, some child.
Bali Mardana: Sometimes during a storm it may be loosened.
Prabhupāda: That is another thing.
Satsvarūpa: Kṛṣṇa lets them fall in such a way that people don't get hurt.
Prabhupāda: (break) ...grow fruit, eh? (break) And if the fruit is green, it will never fall. Therefore when the fruits are grown, green, take it down. But that they do not know.
Bali Mardana: I don't know if they do.
Prabhupāda: Because they do not use coconut.
Dr. Patel: Oh yes.
Prabhupāda: Without understanding, if you follow like a storm, that is no use. That is no use. Slow, but sure. Go slow... And that is the defect in the modern. If somebody can recite Bhagavad-gītā like storm, it is to be understood he has perfected himself. No. Let him explain at least one word of Bhagavad-gītā. That is wanted. Slow, but sure. That is going on. The professional Bhāgavata reciters, they jump over Kṛṣṇa's rāsa-līlā. The rascal does not explain the first line of Bhāgavatam, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). It requires many years to understand that one word, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), and he jumps over, "Bhāgavata recitation means rāsa-līlā." That is going on. That has spoiled the whole atmosphere. Therefore that rascal has been able to challenge that Kṛṣṇa, that, what is that, rural?
Satsvarūpa: "Popular rural god with sixteen thousand wives."
Prabhupāda: That's it. He does not know what is Kṛṣṇa. And he is writing about Kṛṣṇa, "rural boy with sixteen thousand..." First of all, he does not know that when Kṛṣṇa was rural boy in Vṛndāvana he had no sixteen thousand wives. You see. Still, these rascals say, "rural boy with sixteen thousand wives."
Prabhupāda: Yes. Still, they say, "There was no Kṛṣṇa." That is the most regrettable incidence, that these people, they do not know what is Bhagavad-gītā, and still, they pose themselves as a knower of Bhagavad-gītā. Yes. That should be protested now. That is our mission. No, you cannot say like that.
Dr. Patel: We are going to read up to the mandir. Because we have not...
Prabhupāda: (break) ...study one line, that is sufficient. It does not mean to go like a storm and do not understand.
Dr. Patel: We don't go like a storm. We go very slowly.
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. Let us go slow but sure.
Girirāja: (finishes synonyms for 11.19) "Translation: You are the origin without beginning, middle or end. You have numberless arms, and the sun and moon are among Your great unlimited eyes. By Your own radiance, You are heating this entire universe."
Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa says that prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ. Now that being exhibited by Kṛṣṇa. Not only Kṛṣṇa said, but He exhibited.
Robert Gouiran: May I... I agree completely because I felt that when I could get a contact with the spiritual plane, I felt the protection. I felt that nothing could happen to me, not happen. As long as I was in touch...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Robert Gouiran: ...with this plane, nothing could happen because I felt I was in harmony. And when I went back, I took the plane, exactly as you say, at Colombo, I went by Colombo, and there was a storm, terrible storm when the plane took off, and the lady beside me was very frightened, and I was so enlightened at the time that I told her, "We are protected. I am protected. So if you are beside me you are also protected. So nothing could happen." And it was an extraordinary feeling. In French we call that providence. You know that?
Prabhupāda: Providence? Yes. That... When we are in danger, we remember the providence, but when we are happy we forget providence. (laughter)
Robert Gouiran: (French, "I didn't understand.")
Guru-gaurāṅga: (French)
Robert Gouiran: No, because I felt that when we reach this point, we, we are, we get to...
Prabhupāda: Anyway...
Robert Gouiran: (French)
Prabhupāda: At the time of danger, we remember providence or God. That is also good. So that is a Hindi proverb that duhkse sab hari bhaje, sukse bhaje kol, sukse ajar hari bhaje, duhka ase hay(?). Means "When one is in danger, he remembers God, and when he is in happiness he forgets God. Therefore if he remembers God always, then where is danger?" So our business is to become God conscious. Then there will be no anxiety. So we are preaching that, I, here, that you become God conscious.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Amogha: But that heaviness they say is gravity.
Prabhupāda: You can call anything. (laughs) But if Kṛṣṇa desires, a football may not fall. Just like so many planets, they are carried up by the air. All these planets are moving only by the air. So the heavy land, heavy cloud is carried by the air. It is a question of adjustment of air, not the law of gravity. Now the whole universal planetary system are floating and rotating round the polestar. Is it law of gravity, they are rotating? It is the arrangement of the air, by the air it is up. Just like there is dust storm, so many are floating in the air. There is no question of law of gravity; it is the air. And the who is controlling the air? That is Supreme Personality. Just like in Darwin, the motor buses were floating by the air. It was a great storm there?
Amogha: Yes, hurricane.
Prabhupāda: Huh? Hurricane?
Amogha: On Christmas day.
Prabhupāda: Motor buses were floating. Is that law of gravity? Air, different adjustment of air. If Kṛṣṇa desires, simply by air this whole city will be devastated. The other day we saw so many trees fell from (New?) Kurukṣetra. All trees and houses will be smashed within half an hour if some hurricane is sent. Poking nose in the affairs of God. They'll simply try to prove that there is no God. This is their attempt. And they say "nature." What is this nature? Nature is an instrument, machine. The authority is God, Kṛṣṇa. So I have given the right name, fourth-class men, not even third class. All fourth class. Śūdra. Śūdra and less than śūdra. This is the whole pack of population at the present moment. First-class man, his definition is there: śama, dama, tapa, śaucam, titikṣā, ārjavam, jñāna, vijñāna, āstikyam. That is first-class. They are snatching a motorcar mechanic as first class. Because he knows some mechanical arrangement how to do it, he is first class. Such things are being done by the demons. Machine or wonderful building, these are done by the demons. Now to begin? Time will come(?)?
Prabhupāda: That is your foolishness. Why you should take permission of your father or mother? Your business is your business. Why you are thinking like that, "I have to take permission of mother, my wife, my children"? And who will give you permission? Nobody will give you. You have to take your own permission. That is the way. You have to think that "Now, what is the use of taking their permission? When I am in danger, will they save me?" Hariṁ vinā na mṛtiṁ taranti. "When I will die, they can save me? Then why shall I take their permission?" That is intelligence. Nature does not depend on your wife's or father's and relatives' permission. She does not care. When she will ask you, "Die now," you have to die. No question of permission. "Now your time is up, finished. Get out." No permission. You have to do it. Nature can await permission of Kṛṣṇa. Nobody's permission. Mama māyā. When the police comes to arrest you, it doesn't... the police doesn't care for anyone's permission. Only the government permission. That's all. Unless the government orders, they will arrest you. The police will arrest and take you by force. Mūḍhā nābhijānāti mām ebhyaḥ paramam: "The rascal does not know, nobody's permission will be accepted except My permission." This mūḍhā does not know. Nābhijānāti: "He does not know it." Therefore he is mūḍhā. It is now looking so peaceful nice, but with the permission of the Lord immediately there will be a heavy cloud and storm and waves and finished everything, within a second. That is permission. (laughs) Who cares for your permission?
Bali-mardana: Death does not discriminate between the high and the low.
Prabhupāda: You are scientist? Ask them. Don't come here. What is the use of scientist? Hm? If they cannot stop. Not only stopping, if the sea likes, it can overflow the whole thing.
Devotee: Haribol.
Prahupada: It came up to here. Like this or...
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: No. It is very bad weather last few days. A storm must be in the neighborhood.
Dhīrāṅga: There was one powerful king of England, he felt that just by his command he could hold back the tide. So he went and sat on the beach on his throne and he commanded the sea not to come in. But of course the sea came in and washed him away, he was very embarrassed. King Canute. He became so puffed-up.
Devotee: There's some steps here, Śrīla Prabhupāda. It might be very soft.
Prabhupāda: What is this adventure?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: This is an ice cream advertisement. (break) Very respected person. Unkulunkul means the most respected amongst all respected persons. This is how they address God.
Prabhupāda: Ah. (end)
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: People I speak to, they say, "Yes, even in the last twenty years we can notice a great change in the weather patterns." People say that.
Prabhupāda: Disturbance means sinful atmosphere.
Rāmeśvara: In Bhāgavatam, you wrote that when there is a great storm or hurricane, some demon has taken birth.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And also that it is the king's responsibility to see that there is good weather. If there's good government then automatically...
Prabhupāda: Everything.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: These buildings are churches, but they're all closed. But our churches are lively, even at four in the morning.
Prabhupāda: From four o'clock up to ten.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Now there's twenty-four-hour kīrtana. So all day and night.
Rāmeśvara: (break).... on the decline of the churches in America, and they say that the biggest reason in the last few years is that Pope, he issued one big statement against birth control and abortion. He said, "Catholics cannot practice birth control and should never have abortion." So they did not like this. So that is the biggest reason for the decrease in attending the church. They broke away from the authority.
Prabhupāda: That means if the church allows sense gratification without restriction, then they'll attend church. That is the conclusion.
Prabhupāda: That is the speciality. The guru... One should go to guru to serve him as menial servant. That is acceptance of guru. That is required. Nīcavat. Nīca, nīca means menial. Just like menial servant, he does everything. Similarly, to live with guru means to serve him as a menial servant. That is Vedic injunction. Nīcavat. You should not be puffed up, that "I am coming from such royal family, I am coming from such rich family." And that tendency is trained up from the childhood. A child does not know. Just like Pradyumna's son. You can engage him in any menial service. He does not discriminate. He's trained up. So this is gurukula. Very word is used, nīcavat. He gives service to the guru just like a menial servant. And this training being given from the childhood, he does not know what is low or what is high. His spiritual master asks to do something... Even Kṛṣṇa went to the forest to collect some dry wood. Vasudeva's son, in royal family, but he had to go. And all of a sudden there was storm and, what is called?
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Lightning.
Maṇihāra: Thunder.
Prabhupāda: No.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Yes, same standard. Very nice, Hindi books. All right.
Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: Thank you very much. Be enthusiastic to print books. And these items are very, very nice, greeting.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Greeting cards. This will overtake India, take everyone by storm. Plus, we are coming up with calendars next year.
Prabhupāda: Yes, make money and spend it for printing.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. And plus, the temples make money also. It's a new source of income for the temples. And if we don't do it, the karmīs are doing it in any case.
Prabhupāda: No, no, we shall do exactly like karmīs, but not for us. For Kṛṣṇa. That is the difference. Same thing we are doing. Therefore these Māyāvādī cannot understand. "Again form?" The example is just like a man like me, he's diseased, he's suffering. And when they say, "Mother Yaśodās' crying," "So again crying?" He does not know what is this crying. He thinks this crying and that crying the same. Therefore Māyāvādī. They want to make it zero—no crying. But we take it a great blessing, crying for Kṛṣṇa. But they cannot understand. They say, "Again crying? Then what is the benefit?" And this is māyā. You understand? This is the simple understanding of Māyāvāda. As soon as there is crying, they say, "Oh, it is māyā. No crying." Nirviśeṣa-vādī. Crying is a great transcendental pleasure. That they cannot understand, the poor fund of knowledge. Caitanya Mahāprabhu was simply crying. That is love. So that they do not understand, how crying can be pleasure. That is Māyāvāda. All right.
Correspondence
1969 Correspondence
Regarding your worries about natural disasters in Los Angeles, thank you for your cares for me. But Krishna is always giving protection and there is no cause of concern. There was a slight storm at night for two or three days, but that was not very much of a disturbance for me. I am glad to note that you are making improvements in the temple's paraphernalia. That should be your primary engagement. Please also take good care of this boy Charles. He is new, and you must help him so that he will not be poisoned by the influence of maya.
I understand that in New Vrindaban you have got electricity, and I shall be glad to know what is the condition of the atmosphere there. The other day, I saw in the paper that there was very strong snow-storms in New York and the airport service had stopped there completely. Is there any snow-storm in New Vrindaban also? If not, I can go whenever you call me there because here I have no serious business just now. In London, they have not yet been able to find out a suitable temple house, but their propaganda work is going on very nicely. They are attending almost every night somewhere in kirtana engagements, and five or six English boys have joined them already. So I was thinking of opening the London temple on the Birthday of Lord Caitanya which falls on March 4, 1969. I have already written to them about this, but if it doesn't take place, then why not make foundation stone ceremony on that date in New Vrindaban? If the climate is not too much obstructive, then we can hold a ceremony on that day on account of Lord Caitanya's Advent and lay down the foundation stone of our New Vrindaban construction work.
| Page Title: | Storm |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, Mayapur |
| Created: | 23 of Mar, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=19, CC=1, OB=9, Lec=13, Con=11, Let=2 |
| No. of Quotes: | 55 |