The Christian priests were conscious: "But how is this? From India he (Vivekananda) has come and he's talking like nonsense?" They questioned in Chicago speech

Expressions researched:
"But how is this? From India he has come and he's talking like nonsense" |"Christian priests were conscious" |"I have read his Chicago speech. In that speech, he openly says" |"One Christian priest, he was surprised" |"Rather, one Christian priest protested" |"We have seen that Chicago Address" |"Why do you care for God? You work hard, and why do you give credit to God"

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

I have read his Vivekananda's Chicago speech. In that speech, he openly says, "Why do you care for God? You work hard, and why do you give credit to God?" Like that. Rather, one Christian priest protested...

Room Conversation with Guest -- July 11, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: Our Hindus, they put forward so many competitors of Kṛṣṇa: "Why Kṛṣṇa shall be God? I have got my own God." Especially after the preaching of this Vivekananda, that "You can create your own God," it has become very simple business to create one God.

Guest: Well, then, that time, when Swami Vivekananda went to America, the country was not independent, not liberated. So at that time...

Prabhupāda: Who?

Guest: Swami Vivekananda, at that time...

Prabhupāda: No, who was not liberated?

Guest: This country of India. India was not liberated. So...

Prabhupāda: So what was the connection with liberation?

Guest: Ne. Because at that time there's some proud of nation and some proud of culture. He wanted to...

Prabhupāda: No, I don't think in America there was such conception. America had nothing to do with the British ruling. Rather, they declared independence from British rule.

Guest: I don't know what was the main idea of Swami Vivekananda at that time, when he preached that, this Vedānta.

Prabhupāda: No, I have read his Chicago speech. In that speech, he openly says, "Why do you care for God? You work hard, and why do you give credit to God?" Like that. Rather, one Christian priest protested...

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

The Christian priests did not like Vivekananda. They condemned him, "Oh, you are come from India, and you are speaking nonsense, this?" In those hundred years the Christian priests were conscious: "But how is this? From India he has come and he's talking like nonsense?" They questioned in Chicago speech.

Morning Walk -- September 13, 1975, Vrndavana:

Dhṛṣṭaketu: So the Māyāvādīs' philosophy is actually the supreme illusion.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu has forbidden. Māyāvādī-bhāṣya sunile haya sarva nasa (CC Madhya 6.169). One is finished if he follows the Māyāvāda philosophy. He is doomed. He will never be able to accept the real philosophy. He will be absorbed in that false philosophy. This is Māyāvādī's position. Māyāvādī haya kṛṣṇe aparādhī. They are aparādhī, offender. Therefore they shall remain perpetually in ignorance and think himself, "I am God." This is Māyāvādī's position. Vivekānanda preached openly that "Why you are thinking that you are sinful? You are God." He preached like that.

Brahmānanda: The Christians, they have a concept of sin. So when Vivekānanda went to America he was telling them, "No, you forget this concept. Whatever you do, it's all right because you are God." They were surprised.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: That's why they liked him.

Prabhupāda: No, no. They did not like. The Christian priests did not like him. They condemned him, "Oh, you are come from India, and you are speaking nonsense, this?" In those hundred years the Christian priests were conscious: "But how is this? From India he has come and he's talking like nonsense?" They questioned in Chicago speech.

Dhṛṣṭaketu: He's just fanning the fires of atheism.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Harikeśa: This Māyāvādī philosophy, is this...?

Prabhupāda: They are atheist. They are first-class atheist, more than the Buddhist. Veda na maniya bauddha haila nāstika. The Buddhists, they did not accept Vedic authorities; therefore they are considered as nāstika. But vedāśraya nāstikya vada. These rascals, they accept Vedas and preaches atheism. So they are more dangerous than the Buddhists. This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's version. (aside) Hare Kṛṣṇa. Bauddha ke adhika: "They are more dangerous than the Buddhists." The Buddhists, although they are supposed to be atheists, they worship the Deity Lord Buddha. But they say it is māyā. And more advanced than these atheists.

Brahmānanda: The Māyāvādīs.

Prabhupāda: More... Not advanced. More degraded. These atheists, they have been taught to worship the form of Lord Buddha, and Buddha is incarnation of Kṛṣṇa, so one day they will be delivered. But these rascals will never be delivered.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

That Chicago Address was the worst. Vivekananda is defying, "Why you give credit to God?" We have seen that Chicago Address. Now they are eliminating. Most blasphemous. One Christian priest, he was surprised, "What kind of nonsense these Indians are..." He asked him, "How you are speaking in this way?"

Room Conversation -- August 21, 1976, Hyderabad:

Gargamuni: We can see practically that this society, your society, is replacing this Ramakrishna Mission more and more.

Prabhupāda: Why Ramakrishna Mission? We are far above the Ramakrishna Mission.

Gargamuni: Yes. As far as the people go. They are all saying Hare Kṛṣṇa and... They don't even mention... Sometimes they ask us, "Do you know who Ramakrishna is?" And we say, "No, we have never heard of him." They go, "You have not heard of Ramakrishna?" We say, "No. We only know Prabhupāda and Lord Caitanya. Everybody knows that, and nobody knows who is Ramakrishna."

Jayapatākā: They do not know what to say.

Gargamuni: Then they don't know what to say. They say, "You mean you don't know that Chicago Address?" We say, "No. What? Oh, when Prabhupāda went for Ratha-yātrā? Yes, that we know."

Prabhupāda: That Chicago Address was the worst. He is defying, "Why you give credit to God?" This is the... We have seen that Chicago Address. Now they are eliminating. Most blasphemous. One Christian priest, he was surprised, "What kind of nonsense these Indians are..." He asked him, "How you are speaking in this way, 'Why you are giving credit to God?' " He said like that, "You are working, why you are giving credit to God?" This is Vivekananda's realization. And he created God, a illiterate priest, he become God. Because he said, "I am God." That is the proof.

Jayapatākā: Because he said?

Prabhupāda: "I am God. I am the same Rāma, same Kṛṣṇa." Therefore his name is Ramakrishna. He was Gadadhar Chatterji, and he said to his disciple, Vivekananda, first-class rogue, that, "I am the same Rāma, same Kṛṣṇa." So he took it. This is evidence. Because Kṛṣṇa says "I am the Supreme." So he said, "I am the same Rāma, same Kṛṣṇa." This is the evidence. If Kṛṣṇa can say, he can say also. This institution is the most harmful institution for Vedic culture.