Devotee (3): So by struggling to overcome our senses, we can please you and obtain your mercy?
Prabhupāda: Yes. (indistinct)
Devotee (4): Śrīla Prabhupāda mentions in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in the Third Canto, that a yogi is recommended to take foodstuffs, half as much as he desires, one quarter water, one quarter air, one quarter foodstuff. Is that fully recommended for a person in the the Kṛṣṇa consciousness society? If so, how can you be (indistinct)?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: The basic principle is that—Prabhupāda mentioned earlier in this afternoon's talk—that if you can control the tongue, especially eating habits, then you'll be able to conquer other things such as sleep. Not only sleep, but also overeating produces other problems like sex desire. Vāco vegaṁ manasaḥ krodha-vegaṁ jihvā-vegam udaropastha-vegam. So jihva, the tongue and the belly, udara, upastha, genital, one straight line, like this. So there's a correlation. If one overindulges in eating, then it becomes very difficult also to conquer sex desire, which is the main attraction, or bondage within this material world, not only for the human being but for every living entity. So the principle is that if you don't overeat it will become easier for you to conquer all the senses, as Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says, tongue is the most formidable of all the senses. Tāra madhye jihvā ati, lobhamoy sudur... always lusting after more and more. Never satisfied. So we have to become sufficiently enlightened to regulate eating habits. This is done by taking prasādam at regular times, and gradually, intelligently you can see what you actually require. Not that everyone will require the same amount. Just like there's a plate of food so one person is big or one person is small. An elephant and an ant, both of them have different quotas. So everyone has a particular quota of prasādam they should take. Gradually by practice apart from this (indistinct) is required. It's common sense.
Guest: There are two, two functions in the tongue, one is (indistinct) and one is (indistinct)? So which one (indistinct). Preaching is a form of tapasya? (indistinct)
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes, that's described in the Bhagavad-gītā, the different austerities. The austerity of the tongue, the austerity of the mind, the austerity of the body. It is described in the Seventeenth Chapter and the, and the austerity of the tongue, of speech,
- anudvega-karaṁ vākyaṁ
- satyaṁ priya-hitaṁ ca yat
- svādhyāyābhyasanaṁ caiva
- vāṅ-mayam tapa ucyate
It's an austerity, tapa. Austerity of speech consists of speaking truthfully, and beneficially, and then avoiding speech that offends. One should also recite the Vedas regularly. So preaching is also control of the tongue. So our philosophy is that control doesn't mean that you stop. It's not possible. Can you stop eating? Can you stop sleeping? Can you stop different activities of going here and going there?
Prabhupāda: (indistinct) everyone. (indistinct)
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: But that everything should be done in relationship to Kṛṣṇa. Then everything will become purified. Hṛṣīkeśa hṛṣīkeṇa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate. When the senses are engaged for Kṛṣṇa's satisfaction, then they're no longer... The senses are compared to the sharp teeth of (indistinct). (indistinct) sharp teeth are naturally very dangerous. But when engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service, the shark teeth, they're broken. So they can't feel any trouble. Although we are using the senses which is the cause of bondage, these senses employed in Kṛṣṇa's service, they no longer become a source of bondage, but of liberation.
Prabhupāda: (Sanskrit) Serpent is dangerous, so long he has got the fangs. (indistinct) If the fang is taken away that means he's no more dangerous. So (indistinct). But if I am sure that his fangs are taken away (indistinct). Senses are dangerous, it is compared with the serpent. (Sanskrit) But if you take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness that (Sanskrit) the fangs are no more existing therefore it is no more dangerous.
Devotee: Is it true or not true that Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta said that failure is the pillar of success and (indistinct)?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: I don't know exactly if Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Prabhupāda has used this saying....
Prabhupāda: What is that?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Failure is the pillar of success. But generally speaking, to paraphrase it, it means that we should learn from our mistakes.
Prabhupāda: Hm. That is success. If we learn our failure and try to rectify it, that is (indistinct).
Devotee (3): I asked Prabhupāda the other day, because Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says, "Forget the past, it sleeps and never the future dream at all. Live with times that are of thee, and progress thee shall call." So I asked Śrīla Prabhupāda, is it possible to forget the past? Śrīla Prabhupāda said, "No, that would not be possible, but we can think like this, that 'I have done so many foolish things,' and rectify it. Not that we should remain fools. Then what would be the value of our experience? Just like a child, he can put his finger in the fan and it hurts. So then he learns not to do it again. But if he's so dull-headed that again and again he puts his finger in the fan... Basically our experience from the material world should be duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). That the material world is simply a place of misery. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhī-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). That we should perceive the miseries of birth and death, disease and old age. That should be our experience in the material world. From this we should aspire for real happiness. (indistinct)