Thrive

Expressions researched:
"thrive" |"thrives" |"thriving"

SB Canto 1

SB 1.1.2, Purport:

In the lower stages of human civilization, there is always competition to lord it over the material nature or, in other words, there is a continuous rivalry to satisfy the senses. Driven by such consciousness, man turns to religion. He thus performs pious activities or religious functions in order to gain something material. But if such material gains are obtainable in other ways, then so-called religion is neglected. This is the situation in modern civilization. Man is thriving economically, so at present he is not very interested in religion. Churches, mosques or temples are now practically vacant. Men are more interested in factories, shops, and cinemas than in religious places which were erected by their forefathers. This practically proves that religion is performed for some economic gains. Economic gains are needed for sense gratification. Often when one is baffled in the pursuit of sense gratification, he takes to salvation and tries to become one with the Supreme Lord. Consequently, all these states are simply different types of sense gratification.

SB 1.8.25, Purport:

Generally the distressed, the needy, the intelligent and the inquisitive, who have performed some pious activities, worship or begin to worship the Lord. Others, who are thriving on misdeeds only, regardless of status, cannot approach the Supreme due to being misled by the illusory energy. Therefore, for a pious person, if there is some calamity there is no other alternative than to take shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord. Constantly remembering the lotus feet of the Lord means preparing for liberation from birth and death. Therefore, even though there are so-called calamities, they are welcome because they give us an opportunity to remember the Lord, which means liberation.

CC Madhya-lila

CC Madhya 1.194, Purport:

The śāstras strictly forbid a brāhmaṇa to accept service under anyone. The idea is that by accepting a master, one accepts the occupation of a dog. In other words, a dog cannot thrive without having a master, and for the sake of pleasing the master, dogs offend many people. They bark at innocent people just to please the master. Similarly, when one is a servant, he has to perform abominable activities according to the orders of the master. Therefore, when Dabira Khāsa and Sākara Mallika compared their position to that of Jagāi and Mādhāi, they found Jagāi's and Mādhāi's position far better. Jagāi and Mādhāi never accepted the position of serving a low-class person, nor were they forced to execute abominable activities under the order of a low-class master. Jagāi and Mādhāi chanted the name of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu by way of blasphemy, but because they simply chanted His name, they immediately became free from the reactions of sinful activities. Thus later they were saved.

Renunciation Through Wisdom

Renunciation Through Wisdom 1.5:

A person should never give up his prescribed duty without scriptural authorization, for this will cause chaos in the world. Since it is impossible to maintain the body without activities, it is impossible to totally renounce activities. On the other hand, the tree of material entanglement, which thrives on fruitive activities and their results, can never bring forth any hope for peace. It is for this reason that the Supreme Lord has explained how one is to perform activities:

Work done as a sacrifice for Viṣṇu has to be performed; otherwise work binds one to this material world. Therefore, O son of Kuntī, perform your prescribed duties for His satisfaction, and in this way you will always remain free from bondage. (Bhagavad-gītā 3.9)

Renunciation Through Wisdom 2.5:

One who fully understands Lord Kṛṣṇa never experiences any bitterness anywhere in the entire material existence. He thrives on the knowledge of His of eternal relationship with the Lord; indeed, he sees everything in the world, and the world itself, in relation to Kṛṣṇa. In this way he is unlike the impersonalistic salvationists, who regard this world as merely evanescent matter. Such a wise devotee realizes that everything is engaged in Lord Kṛṣṇa's service, that nothing can exist outside this relationship, independent of Lord Kṛṣṇa. In other words, for the devotee this world becomes transformed, surcharged with the existence of Kṛṣṇa in everything. The illusory potency recedes into oblivion, and this world takes on the characteristics of the spiritual world, Vaikuṇṭha. Such a pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa is not selfish, thinking he alone will enjoy the benefits of surrendering to Lord Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet. Rather, he tries to attract everyone in the world to Lord Kṛṣṇa, and by this effort he becomes known as a mahātmā, a magnanimous soul. Such magnanimous souls are truly rare.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.1.2 -- London, August 18, 1971:

Pradyumna: "Man is thriving economically, so at present he is not very interested in religion."

Prabhupāda: Yes. They are instructing, If you want economic development, why you are going to church and temple? Just start industry. You'll get money. That is, propaganda is going on. At least, in our country, in India, it is going on. "Forget now God and temples. Just try to imitate America. Overnight become industrialist." But they are not teaching them that America or Western countries, after industrialization, now they are producing hippies. That they do not see. They are seeing one side, that "America and Western countries, they have become so prosperous by industrialization. Let us imitate them. We must have." Actually, India, after independence, should have distributed this spiritual knowledge. Why we should compete with industrialization? They have got also demand for the spiritual knowledge. So India should have given the spiritual knowledge to the Western countries instead of competing with industry. And that is a fact.

Lecture on SB 5.5.3 -- Stockholm, September 9, 1973:

Prabhupāda: Fifty-six years they are advocating this philosophy, Comm... What they have done? Now they are going to hold conferences, how peace. Why not peace by your philosophy, this Communist philosophy? What you could not attain working fifty-seven years, now they will attain by holding another conference. Just see. Just see the rascaldom. They could not improve anything. The same fearful of other countries. I went to Moscow. There, all people are unhappy. Their economic condition is not very developed. Simply advertisement. I was talking with that Professor Kotovsky, I asked him, "Please call for a taxi." So he was sorry, he said, "Swamiji, it is Moscow. it is very difficult to get a taxi." Just see what is the condition of the country. Then he came down personally up to the door, and he showed me one short cut, "Swamiji, if you go like this, in this way, then you'll get to your hotel." Because he was disappointed to give me immediately a taxi. Now we can understand. Either there is no demand for taxi... People cannot pay for it. That is the fact. Or the government arrange such that everyone is poor man. There is no possibility of thriving in taxi business or getting taxi. This is practical, I have seen. And actually in no other city in Europe and America I have seen so many people walking on the street. We can study. Just like there is rice cooking. You take one grain of rice and press it. If it is soft, then you know that now the rice is prepared. So it is intelligence required.

So from this taxi affair, I could understand that these people are not happy. And another incident I saw that... Śyāmasundara was there. Even... He could not collect even nice rice, nice ḍāl, only milk was available. Milk and yogurt, that is very sufficiently available. No vegetable, no fruit, no grain, at least, men like us cannot live there happily. (indistinct) But they'll not get any food. Unless he's meat-eater, he'll have to starve. The whole world is coming to like that. And it is said in the śāstra, gradually this condition of human civilization will deteriorate to such extent that no more rice will be available, no more wheat will be available, no more sugar will be available. Everything will be... No more milk will be available. Finished. Simply you have to eat the seeds of the... There is not fruit, only seed. Just like in the mango, there is one seed and pulp. The pulp will not be available, only seed will be available. These are already foretold. No fruits will be available, no grains will be available, no milk will be available.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on William James:

Śyāmasundara: So it is a matter of degree which is more practical than something else. Sense gratification or communism or any other "ism," it's practiced (indistinct) effect, but that effect...

Prabhupāda: But if it has bad effect then what is the use of it? It must have good effect. Effect must be there, but if it is bad, that is not practical. The effect must be good and continuous.

Viśāla: But that good result is relative, depending upon who is deciding whether it is good. In other words, Lenin or Mao, they feel that the practical result of their philosophy is good.

Prabhupāda: That's all right, but now Mao disagrees with the practical utility of Russian philosophy. So where is the stability? And similarly, the Russians don't agree with the Chinese, so what is practical for China is not practical for the Russians. So which one we shall take?

Viśāla: That which is practical for both.

Prabhupāda: That means both of them are not practical. It will be proved in due course of time.

Śyāmasundara: He says that terms such as "God" and "matter" and "absolute" and terms like that must have cash value or practical worth. He says, "You must bring out of each work its practical cash value."

Prabhupāda: Yes. Therefore our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement daily brings cash value without any business, without any labor. What do you think?

Viśāla: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Viśāla knows very well.

Śyāmasundara: So when we use the word "God," it has cash value?

Prabhupāda: Cash value. We are going to everyone, we are simply showing some book and taking (indistinct). You can say, somebody may say, you are giving books worth $200 and taking $1,100...

Śyāmasundara: I think this may be one reason why Kṛṣṇa consciousness is thriving in America, because this is a typically American idea, that everything must have a cash value or it is useless.

Prabhupāda: So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement has cash value. Even in Los Angeles, outsiders, they are surprised: "How these people live in such a nice house, eat such nicely, and have so many cars, and they have no anxieties, although they do not work, they have no business?" So what can be more cash value than this?

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation About Mayapura Construction -- August 19, 1976, Hyderabad:

Jayapatākā: There there's another temple of Jagadīśa Paṇḍita.

Prabhupāda: Hm, yes.

Jayapatākā: That is run by Mādhava Mahārāja. That's in actual Chugda, and this is another mile or two miles from Chugda. That Jagadīśa Paṇḍita Mandira has got big Jagannātha Deity and one stick which Jagadīśa Paṇḍita carried the Jagannātha Deity from Jagannātha Purī with. I saw both temples. They told me there that "You should see this temple, very lovable Deities." I went in. Actually the Deities are very beautiful and very well kept. Just like in Mādhava Mahārāja's mandira, underneath the siṁhāsana they didn't wash. Only in front. But this man, everything was neat and clean. It looked like a thriving, more or less, a thriving place.

Morning Walk Conversation About Bombay -- August 29, 1976, Delhi:

Girirāja: The thing is that it's not very certain that we'll win and if we file...

Prabhupāda: No. It is not a question of winning. It is a question of discussing in the court.

Girirāja: Yes, but that's also...

Prabhupāda: And the paper does not give any publicity.

Girirāja: Well, see, their paper... You see, this man, the editor, he thrives on controversy and notoriety. So he likes cases. And then when the case comes up, he gives the report of the case in his newspaper. So most people felt that he would be very happy if we filed suit because that will increase his...

Prabhupāda: It will be in his favor.

Girirāja: Yes.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: I met one, but, I knew the assistant editor of Times of India and I spoke to him about it. He said if we wrote a strong reply, we could perhaps get him to print our reply on third page. We could perhaps get him... He's done that in the past. But it's a risky gamble.

1971 Correspondence

Letter to Indira -- London 9 August, 1971:

You are doing one of the best of services by cultivating Srimati Tulasi Devi so nicely. And she is growing so profusely. That is a sign that you are a great devotee because Tulasi Devi thrives on devotion. Thank you very much.

From Hawaii we cannot bring in Tulasi Devi but from St. Louis, she can be sent everywhere. That is very nice. So when you make a big profit what you will do with the money?

So you should induce other centers to cultivate Tulasi. One circular should be sent to every center that they should import Tulasi Devi from either St. Louis or Hawaii and at every offering of bhoga to the Deities there must be one Tulasi leaf on the plate. The leaves may be ordered from St. Louis or Hawaii and as soon as possible each center should arrange to care for Tulasi Devi nicely according to the instructions of you or Govinda Dasi who have both become expert.

1972 Correspondence

Letter to Sankarasana -- Bombay 4 February, 1972:

I am especially encouraged that that professor has become my initiated disciple, and because he is very intelligent and has a good position of influence in the university, he can utilize this opportunity to serve Krishna very perfectly by influencing the intelligent students to take up this perfectional science. Also, he has got good income, so I don't see there is any difficulty there, in fact, very soon I think you enlist many students to help and have a thriving KC center. And if you like if I come to Dallas to see, I may also come there to speak to the students, as suggested by Sri Galim. Hoping this meets you in good health.