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Temporary body (Lectures)

Expressions researched:
"body is temporary" |"body, although temporary" |"temporary as the body" |"temporary bodies" |"temporary body" |"temporary material body" |"temporary miserable body" |"temporary, material body"

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Introduction to Gitopanisad (Earliest Recording of Srila Prabhupada in the Bhaktivedanta Archives):

So far living entities are concerned, we find it from the authority of the śāstras that living entities have also no birth or death. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is clearly stated that the living entity is never born, nor does it ever die. He's eternal, indestructible, and continues to live after the destruction of his temporary material body. With reference to the above concept of sanātana-dharma we may try to understand the concept of religion from the Sanskrit root meaning of the word dharma. It means that which is constantly with the particular object. As we have already mentioned, when we speak of fire it is concluded at the same time that there is heat and light along with the fire. Without heat and without light, there is no meaning of the word fire. Similarly, we must find out the essential part of a living being which is always companion with him. That part of constant companion of the living being is his eternal quality, and the eternal part of the living being's quality is his eternal religion.

Lecture on BG 1.10 -- London, July 12, 1973:

Here in this material world, kuṇṭha planets. Kuṇṭha means anxiety. Here, in any planet you go, the anxiety will be there. This is material. Sadā samudvigna-dhiyām asad-grahāt (SB 7.5.5). Why anxiety? Because we have accepted something asat, which will not stay. But we are eternal, we want to stay. Our natural position is eternity. So we don't want this temporary body. Therefore we try to save the body as much as possible. But it will not be saved. Because we have accepted something nonsense, which is not compatible with our existence. The modern civilization, they do not know it. They think it that death is natural sequence. It cannot be avoided. No. It can be avoided. It can be avoided. But these rascals, they do not know how to avoid it, although it is mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā how you can avoid death. Birth, death, old age and disease, these are the problems, but they do not know how to solve these problems. They are simply engaged in some temporary business. And they are fighting. They are making plans.

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- New York, March 11, 1966:

Somebody's coming. Somebody's killing me." So full of anxieties. This is the condition. This is the condition. So you cannot, you cannot be free from the anxiety, dehinaḥ.

Prahlāda Mahārāja says, sadā samudvigna-dhiyām. And why this anxiety? Now, asad-grahāt. Asad-grahāt: "Because he has accepted this temporary body." He is eternal. A living spirit is eternal, but he has been forced to accept this temporary body. This is my position. One should be conscious of his precarious position, that "I am eternal, but I am encaged in a temporary body which will not exist. However I may try to make it youthful by so many arrangement, but no..." The science cannot give you permanent life. That is not possible. You may be, may be proud of your scientific advancement of knowledge, but Bhagavad-gītā says that four things... Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9).

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- New York, March 11, 1966:

You see? So, so long we have got this body, so we must have anxieties. That is the law of nature. Now, here, here it is said that... Now let us finish that. Prahlāda Mahārāja said, sadā samudvigna-dhiyām: "My dear father, for persons who have accepted this temporary material body and is full of anxiety always, for them, my idea is that they should give up this materialistic life and surrender unto Hari." Hari means Bhagavān, the Supreme Lord. That is the way of getting out of... And actually, this is so. In the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find in the last instruction to Arjuna is: sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja: (BG 18.66) "This is the most confidential knowledge I am giving you because you are My friend and because I love you very much. Therefore this is My last word."

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Public Lecture With German Translation Throughout -- Hamburg, September 10, 1969:

So one has to become competent to transfer himself in a particular type of planet. So we, as spirit soul, dehī, the possessor of this body... Dehī means one who possesses this body, or the occupier of the body, the spirit soul. That is eternal. Changing body only, but eternal. Therefore we should not be interested to these different types of temporary body. That is not very good intelligence. So we have to prepare ourself. If we want... There is a full description of each and every planet. And we can prepare ourself according to our desire, which planet we wish to go. But Kṛṣṇa says, mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām (BG 9.25). "Persons who are engaged in My occupational duties, they will come to Me."

So go to God, or Kṛṣṇa, means you'll have to acquire your original, spiritual body. The spiritual body is already there, but we are now covered by this material body.

Lecture on BG 2.13-17 -- Los Angeles, November 29, 1968:

This is a fact. Similarly, "You are lamenting on the body of your grandfather and teacher, even they change their body, what is the cause of lamentation? They will exist." This is the beginning of instruction of Bhagavad-gītā or spiritual instruction. Unless one understands this simple fact, that the soul is different from this body, the soul is eternal, the body is temporary, changing... Because without understanding this, there is no spiritual education. A false education. If one identifies with this body, there is no understanding of spiritual knowledge.

So the yogis, they are trying to come to this point by meditation, "Whether I am this body or not." Meditation means that. First meditation, concentration of the mind, the different kinds of sitting posture, that helps me to concentrate my mind. And if I concentrate my mind, meditation, so am I this body? Then if I am not this body, where I am in this body?

Lecture on BG 2.16 -- Mexico City, February 16, 1975:

Light means knowledge, and darkness means ignorance. So every one of us now in the ignorance that we do not know "What I am." Everyone is in darkness in the concept of body. Ask anyone what you are. He will say, "I am this body. I am Mr. Such and such." "I am Indian." "I am American." This is all bodily description. And we have already discussed. This body is temporary, but I, the spirit soul, I am permanent. I have already experienced that I had my childhood body, I had my babyhood body, I had my boyhood body, youthhood body, I know it, but the bodies are no more existing, but I am existing. So therefore I am permanent, and the body is nonpermanent. Therefore it is said, nāsato vidyate bhāvaḥ: "Permanency is not there in the body." Nābhāvo vidyate sataḥ: "And there is no annihilation of the permanent or the eternal."

Lecture on BG 2.28 -- London, August 30, 1973:

Therefore Śaṅkarācārya theorized this: brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. Brahman means the soul is actually the fact, not the material manifestation. Material manifestation, of course, he says false. We don't say false. We say temporary. So our main concern is that I am not temporary. My body is temporary. Now I am working for the body. That is illusion. Ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). Then what is real fact? Real fact is that I am spiritual particle, and the whole spirit is Kṛṣṇa, or God. Therefore, as part and parcel of God it is my duty to serve God. That is spiritual life, bhakti-yoga, That is called svarūpa. And in another place, the Bhagavad-gītā confirms it that sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate (BG 14.26). When I realize that I am not this body, then immediately I transcend the three modes of material nature: sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. Under the bodily concept of life, I am influenced by one of the modes of material nature and acting.

Lecture on BG Lecture Excerpts 2.44-45, 2.58 -- New York, March 25, 1966:

Just imagine in your previous lives you had been a great man of knowledge, but in this life, since your childhood, you had to go to school, college, and acquire knowledge. The knowledge which you had in your previous lives is now forgotten. Therefore we are seeking eternal knowledge, but that eternity of knowledge is not possible with this temporary body. We have to understand that thing. Bhogaiśvarya. We are enjoying, we want to enjoy life, but the instrument of enjoyment is not proper. We are thinking of enjoying through this body. But bodily enjoyment is not my enjoyment. It is artificial. So if you want to stick up to this artificial enjoyment of life, then you cannot enjoy or you cannot be elevated to your real constitutional position of eternal enjoyment. Therefore Lord Kṛṣṇa says, bhogaiśvarya-prasaktānāṁ tayā apahṛta-cetasām.

Lecture on BG 2.55-58 -- New York, April 15, 1966:

"What a fool he is, that he is building such a nice house, and at the end he'll set fire in it? Then why you are taking so much trouble, sir?" "No. Yes." This is called... Actually our position is like this. Actually our position is like this because the whole life I am working so hard because of maintaining this temporary body of myself, my son, my daughter, my father, my mother. So setting fire. At the end the setting fire. Setting fire I am speaking specially because after death, as you put it into graveyard, in India, accord, in Hindus, they set fire. They set fire to the dead body.

So every, everything that we are creating, that will be, at the end it will be set into fire. The Bhāgavata says that paśyann api na paśyati, teṣāṁ nidhanam. Everything will be destroyed, and still, the thing which will be destroyed, we are after them. But the thing which will exist—na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20)—which will continue to exist even after the destruction of this body, we have no information.

Lecture on BG 3.6-10 -- Los Angeles, December 23, 1968:

They have engaged their life in sense gratification. Na sādhu manye, oh this is not good. This is not good.

Why? Yata, because, ātmanaḥ, the spirit soul, ātmano 'yam... Asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ (SB 5.5.4). This body is temporary, but so long this body is there, you'll have to suffer. What is that suffering? The sum total of suffering is birth, death, old age and disease. This is due to this body. Therefore the problem is how to stop this material body, repetition. Today I have got this body, Indian, tomorrow I may get American, next birth... Tomorrow means next birth. Next birth another, next birth another, next birth another—it is going on. Going on. There is no stoppage, this transmigration of the soul.

Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Montreal, August 24, 1968:

Then He has got His associates. Everything. Whatever we see in this material world, they are simply perverted reflection of the reality. Real form is there. Real name is there in the spiritual world. Just like my name, "such and such," your name, "Mr. John." This "John" is not actually your name, because you are spirit soul, eternal. But this "John" name is in relationship with this temporary body. As soon as this body is finished, the "John" name is finished. Then again, you take another body, you have got another name. Therefore this is not your name. But Kṛṣṇa, His name in the spiritual world and in this world, the same. His name does not change. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ sevonmukhe hi jihvādau (CC Madhya 17.136). By service attitude. Svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ. The name, form, quality, associates, when we are in service attitude, they become revealed to us. It is not that... Just like we ask you, "What is your name?" So if I ask God, "O God, what is Your name?" God is not subject to our, such, I mean to say, challenging. You see?

Lecture on BG 4.9-11 -- New York, July 25, 1966:

The shadow, without being the reality, how there can be possibility of shadow? If there is no reality of my hand, how the shadow of the hand can be there? So this world is temporary shadow. That is accepted. But there is the real world which has no destruction. This world is destructive. It will be dissolved. Just like our body is temporary, but it will be dissolved. Anything material that has got a birth, a stay for some time, a byproduct, a growth, a dwindling, and then vanish. That is the nature, anything. Just like this body. It was born from the mother's womb at a certain time, and it is staying for some time. It is staying for some time, and the body has got some byproducts, like children. We have got some children, the byproducts. Then it is dwindling. Just like I am getting older. Anyone, everyone, we are getting older. And at the last, it will vanish. Similarly, the whole material world, it has a time of its appearance, it grows, it makes so many varieties of byproducts, it dwindles and again vanishes.

Lecture on BG 4.10 Festival at Maison de Faubourg -- Geneva, May 31, 1974:

I am claiming my body, but I am not in full knowledge of my own body. And what to speak of knowing your body or other's body? Not only body, the mind, intelligence, and ego. What is going on in your mind, I do not know. Neither you know what is going on in my mind. We are so ignorant. Therefore this body is temporary and full of ignorance. And what to speak of blissfulness? It is always miserable. Here, because we have got this body, we suffer the pains of cold and heat. This is only one example. It is given in the Bhagavad-gītā, mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ. Śīta means cold. Just like in winter we suffer. In summer also, we suffer. Both seasons, we suffer. So why we suffer? Because we have got this temporary material body.

Lecture on BG 4.13 -- Johannesburg, October 19, 1975:

Then we'll understand this material existence is not at all good, not at all.

Then, as human being, as we are trying to solve our problems... The real problem we have to solve. And why we are in material condition and miserable condition? Because we have got this material body. This is the problem, real problem. Asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ (SB 5.5.4). This body is temporary. It will not exist forever. But so long it will exist, it will give trouble. This is a fact. So long we'll continue in this material body, you'll have to suffer.

But we have no intelligence. We think that "We are like cats and dogs. The cats and dogs, they also eat; we also eat. They sleep; we also sleep. And they have sex; we have also sex. And they defend, we also defend. Their business finished." No. Your business is not finished. Because you are human being, you have got advanced intelligence than the cats and dog. You should know analytically what are the miserable condition of life and try to solve. That is intelligence. That is intelligence.

Lecture on BG 4.22 -- Bombay, April 11, 1974:

Then all our actions will not be binding upon us. Otherwise any little thing we do, yajñārthāt karmaṇo 'nyatra loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ (BG 3.9), we shall be entangled. And that is material life. If we become entangled more and more, then the process of changing body, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13), it will go on. Na sādhu manye yata ātmano 'yam asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ (SB 5.5.4). Although this body is temporary, it is full of miseries. That we do not understand. We are thinking that we are very happy. Where is your happiness?

Lecture on BG 6.4-12 -- New York, September 4, 1966:

Tasmāt satsu sajyeta buddhimān. Buddhimān means intelligent person. He must associate with satsu. Satsu means those who are trying for self-realization. They are called sat. Sat and asat. Asat means who are trying for the temporary things. Matter is temporary. My body is temporary. So if I simply engage myself for bodily pleasures, sense gratification, then I am engaging myself to temporary things. But if I engage myself for self-realization, the permanent thing, then I am engaging myself to the sat, or to the permanent. Tasmāt satsu sajyeta buddhimān. "Anyone who is intelligent, he should associate with persons who are trying to elevate themselves for self-realization." That is called sat-saṅga, good association.

And what is the result of good association? Now, because, if we make good association, the santāḥ chindanti. Santāḥ means the persons who are sādhu, who are pious. They can cut off by their words our attachment with this material world.

Lecture on BG 7.3 -- Bombay, March 29, 1971:

Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). Therefore all our attempts to become very happy within this material world is futile. The intelligent man should know this, that "I want permanent settlement in my life, but that is not being done." Only intelligent man can understand because intelligent means to understand that we are all eternal. Why should we accept this temporary body? We must have our eternal body. That is possible. You can have your eternal body like Kṛṣṇa. At the present moment, although we are eternal, we have to accept a certain type of body which is not eternal. Asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ (SB 5.5.4). Asann api. This body is temporary, but it is very miserable. It is always giving us trouble. That we should know. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9).

Lecture on BG 7.4 -- Bombay, February 19, 1974:

Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajaty ante kalevaram (BG 8.6). Your body, are you making now. So at the time of death, the condition of your mind will transfer you with mind, intelligence, subtle body. They are seeing that this gross body's finished, but they cannot see that there is another body which is made of mind, intelligence and ego. That is called subtle body. That will be explained, next verse.

So this knowledge... So people are simply mad after this material enjoyment. He does not know that this material body is temporary. It is for a certain years only. But you are eternal. Just try to understand what is your eternal business. Why you are so much mad after this temporary business?

Lecture on BG 9.1 -- Melbourne, April 19, 1976:

This is knowledge, that "If I am eternal, if I do not die after annihilation of this body, then why I am subjected to this body?" This is knowledge. And to manufacture a motor car, that is not knowledge. That is craftsmanship. Knowledge is here, that "I am eternal. Why I am put into this condition of temporary body, not only one kind of body, but there are 8,400,000 different forms of body, and I have to accept one of them, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13), according to my karma. This is my position. How to get out of it, to inquire about it? If there is any science to accept it?" That is knowledge.

Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, jñānaṁ sa-vijñānam, vijñāna-sahitaṁ yaj jñātvā: "If you are fortunate enough to understand this knowledge, then mokṣyase. You become liberated from this inauspicious condition of repeated birth, death, ignorance and suffering, so many things." So we shall try to explain one after another. This is the beginning. Thank you very much.

Lecture on BG 10.4 -- New York, January 3, 1967:

Actually I am a spirit, but I am now covered, embodied by matter. When we make a complete analytical study what is matter, what is spirit, that is called knowledge.

Material knowledge, any subject matter you can take, but that is temporary. Just like this body is temporary, similarly, any material knowledge you acquire, either you become a chemist or physicist or a medical man or an engineer, whatever you may acquire knowledge, all this knowledge will finish as soon as this body is finished. You forget. Death means forgetfulness.

Because the spirit does not die, eternal, so spiritual knowledge continues. If you develop spiritual knowledge... Suppose cent percent spiritual knowledge you acquire in this body. Then that will continue with you. Even after destruction of this body that spiritual knowledge will continue with you, and when you get next body, you begin... You finished your ten percent. You will begin again from eleven percent.

Lecture on BG 13.4 -- Hyderabad, April 20, 1974:

This is the Vedānta instruction: "Now we should take care of the soul, of the Brahman." Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. This is required.

That is spiritual knowledge. Unfortunately, for want of spiritual knowledge, for want of studying Bhagavad-gītā properly, we are simply taking care of this, I mean to say, temporary body. That is being explained. First of all Kṛṣṇa said that this body is the kṣetra. Kṣetra means field of activities. We are acting according to the body we have received. And this owner of the body is working; just like a cultivator has got a certain amount of land and he is cultivating and producing foodstuff according to his own capacity. This is called karma-kāṇḍa. We are working with this body and reaping the result and enjoying it. In this way we are repeating again and again, again and again, transmigration of the soul from one body to another. Tat kṣetraṁ yac ca yādṛk yad vikāri.

Lecture on BG 13.4 -- Hyderabad, April 20, 1974:

"I am this body, I belong to this nation, I belong to this family, I belong to this, that, so many things." All misunderstanding, all misunderstanding. My real identity is ahaṁ brahmāsmi: "I am spirit soul. Fortunately or unfortunately, by my own work, I have been put into the encagement of this body, temporary body, and I am creating another body. In this way I am traveling from one body to another, from one planet to another, from one place to another. This is going on." Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). "I am taking my birth and again I am becoming annihilated, although I am eternal." Nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ na hanyate...

This is understand... People should be little intelligent that "If I am eternal," na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20), "I do not die even after the destruction of this body..." Just like if this shirt and coat is torn out, we throw it away, that does not mean I am also torn and finished, similarly, this body... This body means I am spirit soul. I am covered with this gross body and the subtle body.

Lecture on BG 16.10 -- Hawaii, February 6, 1975:

That we are not concerned, that how to stop this infected material body, how to revive our original spiritual body. That spiritual body is within, but we have no information. Therefore it is said, alpa-buddhayaḥ. The real life is within. We don't take care. Who is taking care of the spiritual... Where is the university? Where is the college where is this training is given that "We are spirit soul. This body is temporary, and the spirit soul business is this so that spirit soul may be purified, no more he accepts this material body"? Where is that education? Therefore alpa-buddhayaḥ: less intelligent. They are simply busy with these bodily necessities of life. There is no education of the real living force. That education you will get—this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Therefore it is unique. It is the education to get people of the human society liberated from the animalistic ignorance. Because those who are under the impression of this bodily concept of life, sa eva go-kharaḥ: (SB 10.84.13) they are no better than the asses and the cows.

Lecture on BG 16.10 -- Hawaii, February 6, 1975:

Just like we have accepted this body. This is asad-grāha. This body will not stay. Everyone knows, but still, I am too much attached to this body. This is called asad-grāha. And so long we are attached to this nonpermanent body, there should be anxiety. Prahlāda Mahārāja says, asad-grahāt, sadā samudvigna-dhiyām asad-grahāt (SB 7.5.5). Because we have accepted this temporary body, therefore we are full of anxiety. Full of... He was asked by his father, "My dear son, what nice thing you have learned? Kindly say." Father wants to know how his son is being educated.

So Prahlāda Mahārāja replied that "My dear asura father..." He said. Asura-varya. He did not say, "father." He said, "My dear asura, the best of the asuras," asura-varya. Asura-varya, means best... That is the foolishness. The best—He heard the best, but he is addressing him as "asura, best asura." Still he is pleased, "Because I am best.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.2.5 -- Visakhapatnam, February 20, 1972, At Ladies Club:

The soul is eternal and the body is temporary. It is changing every minute. Just like from our mother's womb, our first birth takes place between the father and mother. Two secretions emulsified, forms into a pealike body, a small pealike body. First night the soul takes shelter within that body, and the mother supplies the energy, and it develops. From that pea it becomes a small body, but the small body becomes greater and greater, and when it is fit for developing, or increasing in this material atmosphere, mother delivers the child and again it becomes developing. So developing means changing the body. Child's body... Every one of us had a body like a child, baby, but that body is now missing; we have got a different body. Young man has got a different body, old man has got a different body. So this is a fact, that the soul is there, but body is changing. Therefore the natural conclusion should be that when we leave this body, I take another body.

Lecture on SB 1.2.12 -- Vrndavana, October 23, 1972:

Therefore Bhāgavata says that we should not, I mean to say, commit any more sinful activities. Na sādhu manye yata ātmano 'yam asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ (SB 5.5.4).

Although we have got this temporary body... You can say that "Although I am suffering, I'll, it will be finished, within, say, twenty years, ten years." Asann api. It is not permanent. But why you should make yourself under these tribulations of life? That is the problem. Not only that. Asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ. I have got this body. I am suffering. I am undergoing threefold miseries, threefold miserable condition of life. Why I shall make another body, again undergo the threefold miseries of life? Not only human life, any form of life. Human life, there... Human form of life, there is possibility of little comfort. Suppose if I get a body like a tree. Just like here is an eucalyptus tree standing. Then I'll have to stand for thousands of years. And I have to suffer scorching heat, shivering cold, and blast wind, and so many things.

So people have no education, unfortunately, that the spirit soul is permanent. It is changing different types of body in order to suffer different types of miserable condition of life. They're thinking, easy-going... "I have got now very nice body, eating, sleeping mating and..." That is the business of the hogs and dogs.

Lecture on SB 1.7.7 -- Vrndavana, April 24, 1975:

Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). We get one type of body, and again we give it up. Dehāntara-prāptiḥ. This is called anartha, anartha. Anartha upaśamam. What is that anartha? This is anartha. Why shall I get a new type of body? I am eternal. Nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Why I am getting this temporary body? This is called brahma-jijñāsā. Unless a man is awakened to this consciousness, "Why?"—Kena Upaniṣad—he is not human being; he is animal. The animal cannot question. The dog cannot question that "Why I have got this dog's body, and my master has got the human body?" No. He has no such knowledge. But if a human being cannot consider that "I am also an animal, and this dog is also animal. I am situated so comfortably, and the dog is loitering in the street for a little food. Why this condition...?" So śāstra says, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). One should think that "If I get another body, whether I shall get the dog's body or a human body or demigod's body?" That is consideration. That is intelligence.

Lecture on SB 1.7.36-37 -- Vrndavana, September 29, 1976:

So these are rare instances. But don't think that because you are very clever and..., you'll be untouched by Yamarāja. No, no, no. Dehāpatya-kalatrādiṣu asatsu (SB 2.1.4). Asat. Nobody will stay. Asat. This material world is like that. Asat means temporary, everything. This body is temporary. Your body is temporary, this life is temporary. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13), Kṛṣṇa says you'll have to change this body. It may be for fifty years, sixty years, utmost hundred years. But still, you have to change this body. Therefore asat. Asato mā sad gama. This is Vedic instruction. Don't be attached to this asat, temporary things. That is called vairāgya. Vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yogam (CC Madhya 6.254). If one wants to learn how to become vairāgī, no attachment for this material world, then he must take to devotional service. Vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yogam. That is, bhakti-yoga means vairāgya, no attachment for this material world. One who is actually attached to Kṛṣṇa, he must be no attachment for this material world. That is the sign.

Lecture on SB 1.15.47-48 -- Los Angeles, December 25, 1973:

Where is the difficulty?

So those who are not interested to understand this consciousness and the origin of consciousness, they are asat. They cannot understand what is spiritual life. Therefore the beginning of spiritual life... In the Bhagavad-gītā, it is said that dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). In this body, in this asat, this temporary body, there is the proprietor of the body. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe. The proprietor of the body. So that is to be understood. So how it can be understood? Vidhūta-kalmaṣāḥ. Those who are washed off of the sinful act... Therefore we prescribe that "Don't be associated with sinful activities." What is that? Illicit sex, meat-eating, intoxication and gambling. One who is washed off of these, vidhūta-kalmaṣā sthānam, that sthānam, that place, is virajena ātmanaiva vidhūta-kalmaṣāḥ... Those who are washed of... Otherwise it is not possible. If you think that "I shall do this and do that," then do this, not that. That is finished. You go on doing this life after life, and remain in this material world.

Lecture on SB 2.1.1-5 -- Melbourne, June 26, 1974:

Sad-dharma. Sad-dharma means... Sat means eternal. Real occupational duty... Now I am working as American or others working as Indian or German or Englishmen, or this family men. Everyone has got some occupational duty. But this occupational duty... Suppose I am working as American or European or Australian. This is temporary, because this body is temporary. And I am in bodily concept of life. Therefore my duty, so-called duty, is also temporary. As soon as the body is finished, I begin another chapter of duty. Suppose this life I am human being; next life I may not be human being. This statement was not liked by the newspaper man. (laughing) He was told that next life you can become animal, so he has published in my name, "The swami can become animal." Also the swami can become also animal. The so-called swami, they will become animal. (laughter) So that is not wrong. But we devotees, we are not afraid of becoming animal. Our only ambition is that we become Kṛṣṇa conscious.

Lecture on SB 2.1.2 -- Mombassa, September 13, 1971:

It is information is there that there is another nature which is sanātana, eternal. This nature, this material nature, darkness, is not eternal, temporary. Just like your body, my body, everyone's body is temporary. Similarly, this universe, this gigantic body, this is also temporary. It has got a date of creation, and it will be annihilated at a certain date, everything. Therefore, this dark world or nature is subject to birth, death, old age, and disease, whereas that nature which is full of light, that is eternal and even after annihilation of this material world, it remains. That is called sanātana, eternal.

So one who is not interested to know about the other nature of light, how that nature is, how there are planets, how living entities are living there, who is predominating, so many things we have to learn, that is called ātma-tattvam.

Lecture on SB 2.3.19 -- Los Angeles, June 14, 1972:

Simply if you understand Kṛṣṇa, everything will be known to you. And if you actually understand Kṛṣṇa, then your life is successful. Immediately you are eligible to go back to home, back to Godhead. Immediately. Janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). "That man who has understood Me rightly, he is no more coming back to accept this temporary material body. He comes to me." So try to understand Kṛṣṇa, and the beginning is karṇa-patha, these holes of the ear. Lend your ears to hear from the devotee. That's all. Na yat-karṇa-pathopetaḥ. It is not that you have to pass MAD, DHC, no.

Simply lend your ear, "Oh, let us hear about Kṛṣṇa." Then everything is all right. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ. Kṛṣṇa is unconquerable, but if you simply hear about Him in your position, śruti-gatām, through the aural reception, you will conquer Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa's name is Ajita, nobody can conquer Kṛṣṇa. But if you simply hear about Kṛṣṇa, time will come, you will conquer Kṛṣṇa. Like the gopīs.

Lecture on SB 3.25.16 -- Bombay, November 16, 1974:

Doing something sinful, they take pleasure. For pleasure's sake they do that. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma yad indriya-prītaye (SB 5.5.4). Simply for the matter of sense gratification.

So śāstra says, "No, no, this is not good. This is not good." Na sādhu manye yata ātmano 'yam asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ (SB 5.5.4). But they have no brain. This body is temporary, but it is full of suffering, although it is temporary. One can say, "This body is temporary. So what do I care for...?" But it is painful. We have to suffer.

nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma
yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti
na sādhu manye yata ātmano 'yam
asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ
(SB 5.5.4)

They have no brain that this material body is kleśada, is simply miserable. So dull brain. That is tamo-guṇa. Tamo-guṇa means completely darkness. Just like animals. You take one animal, you cut its throat. Another animal is standing and eating grass. He does not know "The next time, next term is mine." This is animal life.

Lecture on SB 3.25.20 -- Bombay, November 20, 1974:

Tat sādhu manye asura-varya dehinām. "So far I have understood, that dehinām, those who are embodied..." Dehinām. Not "dehānām." Dehinām, he has said. Dehinām means we are dehī, we are proprietor of this body. I am not this body. So because we accepted this body, we are always in miserable condition. Sadā samudvigna-dhiyām asad-grahāt (SB 7.5.5). We accept this temporary body. That is the cause of all miseries. We cannot understand it. We are talking of so many miseries, but what is the cause of misery, that we do not know. Everyone knows, but he'll not know it. The cause is this body. Because the body is there, there is disease, there is old age, there is birth, there is death. And the whole struggle is against how to stop death, how to stop birth, how to stop disease, and how to stop old age. You just see. Why there are so many advancements in the chemical science? Why there are so many medical men? Why there are so many drug shop? To stop these things. This is a struggle. But why they are required? Because we have got this body.

Lecture on SB 3.25.35 -- Bombay, December 4, 1974:

"Is our body eternal?" no, sir. It is temporary, say, fifty years, sixty years, utmost hundred years. So it is not eternal, it is not sat. Asat. Asato mā sad gama, the Vedic injunction, that "Don't keep yourself in this asat body. Just get your original sat body, eternal body." We are not interested. We are simply interested with this temporary body: "I am this body." I am not this body. I am spirit soul. I am within this body. This is knowledge. This is called siddhi. So long I am thinking, "I am this body," then I am cats and dogs. They are thinking like that. But when I know that "I am not this body. I am the spirit spark, spirit soul. I am encaged within this body," that is knowledge. That is knowledge. So those who are self-realized spirit soul, they can see.

Lecture on SB 3.25.39-40 -- Bombay, December 8, 1974:

"If I am Brahman, then what is...? Brahman means eternal. So why I am busy with these bodily affairs?" This is called brahma-jijñāsā. And if you become very learned scholar in the Vedānta and busy with these bodily affairs, that is another foolishness. If you actually Vedantist, then you should be inquiring that "I am eternal. Why I am put into this temporary body, and on account of this body, I am subjected to so many miserable condition of material life? Why I should remain in this condition? How I can get released from this condition?" That is human life. That is human life. And tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). If you actually very much eager to inquire about it, then you require a guru. Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam: (SB 11.3.21) "One who is inquisitive about spiritual life, about spiritual identity," tasmāt, "therefore," guruṁ prapadyeta, "you must seek out a bona fide guru."

Lecture on SB 3.26.43 -- Bombay, January 18, 1975:

Try to understand Kṛṣṇa. Then your life is successful. Janma karma ca me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9). Simply you try to understand Kṛṣṇa. Then, from this asat, this temporary life which you are changing one after another, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya... (BG 4.9). After giving up this body... This is also temporary body, asat, the asat. Asat means it will not stay. So after giving up this body, if you get another body... That is compulsory. Tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13). Dehāntara-prāptiḥ there is. Just like we are getting different bodies in this life, similarly, when this body is finished, we get another body. But another body or this body, because this material body, asat. Asad-grahāt, because we accept this material, temporary body, there must be suffering, kleśada. Or whatever we feel pains and pleasure, that is due to this body.

So the best achievement of life is the how to stop this getting material body again. Spiritual body. That is happiness. Then you will get eternal happiness, blissful life.

Lecture on SB 5.5.1 -- Vrndavana, October 23, 1976:

So we have discussed this verse yesterday. It is very essential that this human form of body is meant for rectifying or purifying our existence. That they do not know, especially in the modern age, that this body is temporary and we living entities, we are eternal and this is our bondage. So long we are within this material body, it is our bondage. Real life is eternal life, without any birth, death, old age and disease. Where is that science? There is no such department of knowledge that how one can live eternally without any disease, without any old age and without any death and without any birth. If there is birth there is death. And between the two, birth and death, there is old age and disease. Where is that scientist who are trying to solve this problem?

Lecture on SB 6.1.8 -- Los Angeles, June 21, 1975:

Because they are mad, pramattaḥ. What for mad? Yad indriya-prītaya: "Simply for sense gratification." There is no other profit. A temporary sense gratification. They are acting so sinfully. So Ṛṣabhadeva says, na sādhu manye: "This is not good." Why? Yata ātmano 'yam: "Because you have got already this material body, this temporary body." So "That's all right. I have got this temporary body. It will be finished." No. Asann api kleśada: "Although it is temporary, so long you will possess this material body, you will have to suffer so many suffering, threefold miseries." So they don't care for it because illiterate. Not illiterate—ignorant. Literary knowledge is not sufficient. There must be real knowledge. The real knowledge you will get from the Vedas. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). Real knowledge you will get from guru, from Kṛṣṇa. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam (BG 4.2). That is real knowledge. Otherwise, anything has got some knowledge, that knowledge is not sufficient.

Lecture on SB 6.1.47 -- Dallas, July 29, 1975:

Because Kṛṣṇa is not changing body, therefore He has no past, present, future. Those who are changing body, they have got past, present, future. I had my childhood. I have changed the body in this old age. Therefore I think, "In the past I was like this, or future, I will be like this." So this is relative. Time is eternal, we are eternal, but because we have accepted this temporary body, therefore we have to calculate past, present and future. So future means... Just like there is ordinary word in English, "Child is the father of man," future. The same child will be father or grandfather in future.

So this future, past, present, future, is being controlled by the three modes of material nature. If we practice in this life sattva-guṇa, then ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthāḥ: (BG 14.18) then we shall be promoted to the higher planetary system. Madhye tiṣṭhanti rājasāḥ. If we cultivate rajo-guṇa... Rajo-guṇa means kāma-lobha, kāma, simply desiring. This is called rajo-guṇa. "I want this, I want this, I want this."

Lecture on SB 6.1.47 -- Dallas, July 29, 1975:

This is called rajo-guṇa. "I want this, I want this, I want this." Because there is no satiation of want, therefore every man or woman planning something, "How my sense gratification will be fully satisfied." This is rajo-guṇa, kāma. Everyone is forgetting his real business. His real business is he should know, one should know, that "I am eternal. I have taken this temporary body and subjected to the laws of nature, birth, death and old age. So my real problem is how to become again eternal, not accepting any more birth, death, old age. That is my real business." But because I am infected with the material modes of nature, we are making different plans. Everyone is busy. Everyone is busy in different plans, forgetting his real business. This is called māyā. Māyā means..., ma means not; ya means this. Therefore māyā means when you understand, "This is not my business," then you are out of māyā. "This is not," mā-yā.

Lecture on SB 6.1.62 -- Vrndavana, August 29, 1975:

So long we will be in want, our mind will be agitated. Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja advised that, sadā samudvigna-dhiyām: "Those who are always agitated..." Everyone is agitated. Samudvigna. Tat sādhu manye asura-varya dehinām. Anyone who has accepted this material body must be always agitated in mind, sadā. Why? Asad-grahāt. Because he has accepted this temporary body, he must be full of anxiety. It cannot be avoided. Asad-grahāt. Asato mā sad gama. The Vedic injunction is "Don't keep yourself in this temporary world or temporary body. Must go to the spiritual world, back to home, back to..." This is Vedic injunction. Sad gama. Asato mā sad gama. Asad-grahāt. If you accept this temporary material world, means temporary body... Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanam... (BG 2.13). We are transmigratng from one body to another. This is asad-grahāt. Why I shall transmigrate if I am eternal? Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). I am eternal.

Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- San Francisco, March 3, 1967:

And now, at the childhood, or in the womb of his mother, or when the body is just like his father, or when the body is just like his grandfather—the same thing, soul, will continue. So therefore soul is permanent and the body is changing. This is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Antavanta ime dehā nityasyoktāḥ śarīriṇaḥ (BG 2.18). This body is temporary. Temporary. Either this childhood body or boyhood body or youthhood body or mature body or old body, they are all temporary. Every moment, every second, we are changing. But the soul within the body, that is permanent. So this body, Prahlāda Mahārāja says, durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma: "Now, after many many births..."

Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- San Francisco, March 15, 1968:

Adhruvam arthadam. He says that "This life is very valuable, very rare, but it is also temporary." Because it is very rarely obtained, it is not permanent. It is also temporary like cats and dogs. They have got their temporary body. But the one significance of this body is arthadam. Arthadam means you can derive the greatest value in this life. Arthadam. Artha means money, and paramartha means spiritual consciousness. That is also artha. So one should be engaged for earning money because the body requires material necessities. That's all right. But his real attention should be how to achieve spiritual consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is arthadam. That is the value of life.

Lecture on SB 7.7.22-26 -- San Francisco, March 10, 1967:

Then nine into nine equal to eighty-one. Then go on, eighty-one into eighty-one. It will, increases infinitely.

So this energy is acting in such a way that those who are not in exactly knowledge, they are bewildered. They think, "This is the end, nature, material nature." But this material nature is temporary—everyone knows it—as your body is temporary. It is born, it is stays for sometimes, it grows, it becomes very beautiful, and it produces some by-products, some children, or nice boys and girls, then becomes old and then vanishes, these six changes. Similarly, you should know anything material, they are under these six changes, and when vanishes, it will never come back again. It finishes forever. Your this nice body, when it will vanish, nobody can get it back. Suppose one man's very beautiful son or daughter has died. There is no power in this world which can bring back that body again. That is not possible. Therefore any sane man, any intelligent man, they should understand that "This is false.

Lecture on SB 7.9.8 -- Montreal, July 1, 1968:

Why you are anxious? For these two things, Śocati and kāṅkṣati. Lamentation for the loss and hankering after which we do not possess. Prahlāda Mahārāja says that if somebody wants to get free from this anxiety... And this anxiety is due to asad-grahāt. Asad-grahāt means for accepting this temporary body. Asat. Asat means temporary, that will not exist. So Prahlāda Mahārāja suggests the remedy that if anyone wants to get free from anxieties... Because the anxiety is sure and certain for everyone who has got this material body. But if he wants to get free from it, then hitvātma-ghāṭam gṛham andha-kūpaṁ, the so-called atmosphere of material happiness, he should give up, and vanaṁ gato yad dharim āśrayeta (SB 7.5.5), and go to the forest and accept the lotus feet of Hari, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The same instruction is everywhere. In the Bhagavad-gītā also the same instruction is there: sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66).

Lecture on SB 7.9.10-11 -- Montreal, July 14, 1968:

No, it is not false. The theory of the Māyāvādī, brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā... Jagat, this material world, they say it is false. We don't say it is false. It is temporary. That is the real termination, or terminology, that it is not false. So because it is temporary, so we have to make the best use of this temporary body. Don't take it as false. Just like a train... You have no experience in your country. In India we have got experience. When there is a little more stoppage of a mail train... The people of India, they are accustomed to take bath daily. So immediately they take some advantage, and they begin to take bath. And there are so many water taps in the station, and every tap is engaged. So to make the best use. Because they think that "We have got a half an hour at our disposal, so let us finish it properly." So once taken bath, then the whole day's journey is pleasant. Similarly, this body is not false. Not only this body, everything material.

Lecture on SB 7.9.10-11 -- Montreal, July 14, 1968:

So once taken bath, then the whole day's journey is pleasant. Similarly, this body is not false. Not only this body, everything material. We don't take it is false. We take it as temporary. And temporary, how it should be utilized for our best purpose? Just like the mail passengers in the train, they are using the half an hour time for taking bath, utilize. Similarly, although this body is temporary, we can utilize it for the best purpose. What is that best purpose? Realization of Kṛṣṇa. If we can utilize this temporary body for utilization, for understanding Kṛṣṇa consciousness and be fixed up in that Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is the best use of the bad bargain.

So Prahlāda Mahārāja therefore says in this verse, prāṇaṁ punāti sa-kulam. One who has engaged himself in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, aravinda-nābha pādāravinda, lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu, he purifies himself as well as his family. Purifies his whole family. Sometimes a Vaiṣṇava born in a village, he purifies the whole village. These are statements in authentic scriptures.

Lecture on SB 7.9.10-11 -- Montreal, July 14, 1968:

Andhā yathāndaiḥ upanīyamānās te 'pīśa-tantryām uru-dāmni baddhāḥ. Because they follow rascal leaders. Their leadership is andha. Andha means blind. And they are following the blind leadership. They are themselves blind. Why blind? They cannot see future. They do not know what is going to... Because they have no understanding that "I am eternal." This temporary body is only a flash in my life. I've changed so many bodies. Just like in this present existence I have changed my body so many times from my childhood to this old age. Similarly, I am changing my body. So this life, this body is temporary. Durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ. Andhā, and I do not see my future; therefore I am blind. And the leader which is leading me, he is also blind. So a blind man leading other blind men, what is the result? The result is catastrophic. Therefore in spite of so many great leaders, politicians, scientists, educationist, the result is that problematic. The whole world is full of problems. They do not know what is their interest. The interest is this Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Lecture on SB 7.9.10-11 -- Montreal, July 14, 1968:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes. That is the way. Everything here in the material world is temporary. Anything you take, anything material, that is temporary. Similarly this body is temporary, this house is temporary, this country is temporary. Say some five hundred years ago, this was not Canada. It was something else. Similarly, in some other time, it will be different. So nothing is fixed up or permanent in this material world. Yes?

Guest: Some time ago, I... (break)

Prabhupāda: ...either belonging to the Indians or to the Canadians. It belongs to Kṛṣṇa. Actually, that is the fact. Everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa. We simply falsely say that "This is, belongs to Canadian," "This is, belongs to Indian," "This is, belongs to..." (end)

Lecture on SB 7.12.4 -- Bombay, April 15, 1976:

Dvitīyābhiniveśitaḥ. I am soul, every one of us spirit soul. Kṛṣṇa is spirit soul. So even after the destruction of body, I do not die. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). But this realization we are lacking. Therefore, when there is some danger about my body, I become fearful. This is dvitīya... But that does not mean unnecessarily we expose to danger. No. But we must have this consciousness, that "This body is temporary. Even it is destroyed, I am not going to die. But if Kṛṣṇa likes to be destroyed, let it be done so. Where is the question of fear?" But that does not mean I'll not take any precaution. I must take precaution. But I shall not be overwhelmed. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ. If I think... Just like in car, there was some little accident the other day. So although there was accident, we did not care. We began to walk. Because we know that "Because there is some accident, then we are lost"—no. So the more we become spiritually advanced, these things come in. Nidrāhāra vihārakādi.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

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

Asad-grahāt sadā samudvigna-dhiyām asad-grahāt (SB 7.5.5). The śāstra says that we are always full of anxieties. Why? Now, asad-grahāt: "We have accepted this body, which will not exist." Asad-grahāt. These are facts. Study śāstra in that way. Why we are full of anxiety? Because we have accepted this body. So our main business is how to get out of this entanglement of this temporary body. The people are not very seriously thinking, neither they have got sufficient knowledge how the temporary body is obtained, how it is changed, another temporary body, and there are 8,400,000 different forms of body, and we are changing one after another. Why this disease? "If I am, my position is, as I understand from Bhagavad-gītā, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20)—I am not destroyed after the destruction of this body—why I am in this position that I have to change my body?" Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). This is intelligence. When you come to this intelligence, then athāto brahma jijñāsā; then the inquiry about spiritual life begins.

Festival Lectures

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

We being part and parcel of God, it is our duty to understand our relationship with God and act accordingly, and then our ultimate goal of life is achieved. The ultimate goal of life is to attain eternal life, full of knowledge and bliss, sac-cid-ānanda vigraha (Bs. 5.1). Sat means eternal, ānanda means bliss and cit means knowledge. This body is just the opposite. It is not sat. This body is temporary. It is not eternal. This body is full of ignorance. There is practically no knowledge. We do not know, after closing our eyes, we do not know what is happening before our eyes. So our knowledge is always imperfect. And this life is also miserable. It is not at all blissful. Every step, there are three kinds of miserable condition: ādhyātmika, adhibautika, adhidaivika. Ādhyātmika means miseries pertaining to the body and the mind. Adhibautika means miserable condition offered by other living entities. And adhidaivika, natural disturbances. So either of these three, or at least one or two, there must be always present. This is the material condition of life.

Arrival Addresses and Talks

Srila Prabhupada Welcomed by Governor at Hotel De Ville -- Geneva, May 30, 1974:

At that stage, brahma-bhūtaḥ stage, we can see everyone, spirit soul. I don't see an American or a Swiss gentleman or a French gentleman or a cat or dog or tree, but I see the spirit soul. That, in that spiritual state, brahma-bhūtaḥ stage, samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu, one can see that within this body there is the spirit soul, and he wants to work for benefit of the spirit soul, not for the temporary body.

So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is just on the principles of this Bhagavad-gītā, to understand his real identity, spiritual identity. Paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ.

General Lectures

Lecture at Engagement -- Boston, May 8, 1968:

And so long we are unaware of the presence of the spirit soul in the body, so long we do not inquire what is the spirit soul, so long our all activities are simply wasting our time. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said that parābhavas tāvad abhodha-jātaḥ. The foolish person or the foolish living entity... Anyone who has accepted this temporary body is understood to be foolish. So every one of us is born foolish because we identify with this temporary body as myself. Therefore we are foolish. Everyone knows that the body does not exist, and still, everyone identifies himself with this body. This is called ignorance, or illusion.

So the whole world, or the mostly people are hovering in ignorance, and he does not know that he is spirit soul, and he is transmigrating from one body to another. He does not want to die, but the death, cruel death, is enforced upon him. So these problems, they do not consider very seriously, and they are thinking very happy on the principles of animal life.

Lecture -- Seattle, September 30, 1968:

There is no necessity of teaching a bird or beast how to love the children. There is no necessity, because that is natural. To love your home, to love your country, to love your husband, to love your children, to love your wife, and so on, you go on, all this love, more or less they are all in the animal kingdom also. But that sort of love will not give you happiness. You'll be frustrated because this body is temporary. Therefore all these loving affairs are also temporary and they are not pure. They are simply a perverted reflection of the pure love that is existing between you and Kṛṣṇa. So if you want really peace, if you really want satisfaction, if you don't want to be confused, then try to love Kṛṣṇa. This is the plain program. Then your life will be successful. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is not something manufactured to mislead and bluff the people. It is a most authorized movement. Vedic literature, the Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Vedānta-sūtra, Purāṇas, and many, many great saintly persons adopted this means. And the vivid example is Lord Caitanya.

Lecture at Wayside Chapel -- Sydney, May 13, 1971:

You cannot protect it. This is material nature. But I have got the tendency to keep my body fit, strong, and eternal. That is my tendency. People are taking so much exercise just to become very strong and stout. But nature will not allow you. However stout and strong you may be, you have to die. You have to give up this body. This body is temporary, but our tendency is to live forever. The scientists are trying how to keep this body fit. One Russian scientist said that "By material science we shall be able to keep this body forever." They may say like that, but in the history we do not find any evidence that anyone has ever been able to keep this body forever, immortal. That is not possible.

But this tendency can be satisfied if you transfer yourself to the spiritual world, because you are marginal. I have already said that we are in a marginal position. If we like, we can keep on this material side of the nature, and if we like, we can transfer ourself to the spiritual side of nature. And what we are? We are also spiritual sparks.

Rotary Club Lecture -- Ahmedabad, December 5, 1972:

This is not aim of life—simply we forget, we forget, forgetful of our self, and we are thinking..., big, big professors, they are thinking, "Oh, after finishing this body, everything is finished." No, that is not the fact. Therefore it is stated that sanātana. Sanātana means eternal, and God is also eternal. And there is a place also, which is eternal. This place is not eternal. Just like your body is temporary, similarly, the whole material creation which you have got experience... We haven't got full experience. Whatever little experience we have got, that is also temporary. That is not sanātana. This whole material world is not sanātana, eternal. It is temporary. This body is also temporary. So our knowledge about this body and this world—insufficient knowledge. Therefore because we are eternal, we must find out an eternal and we must serve the eternal Supreme. That is called sanātana-dharma. This is sanātana-dharma. So we are teaching that sanātana-dharma.

So I am very pleased to meet you.

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

So one has to become competent to transfer himself in a particular type of planet. So we, as spirit soul, dehi, the possessor of this body... Dehi means one who possesses this body or the occupier of the body, the spirit soul. That is eternal, changing body only, but eternal. Therefore we should not be interested to these different types of temporary body. That is not very good intelligence. So we have to prepare ourself, if we want. There are the full description of each and every planet, and we can prepare ourself according to our desire which planet we wish to go. But Kṛṣṇa says, mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām: (BG 9.25) "Persons who are engaged in My occupational duties, they will come to Me."

So (to) go to God or Kṛṣṇa means you will have to acquire your original, spiritual body. The spiritual body is already there, but we are now covered by this material body. So how we are eternal, that is described in the Bhagavad-gītā:

Page Title:Temporary body (Lectures)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:12 of Nov, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=60, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:60