Uncertain

Expressions researched:
"not certain" |"uncertain" |"uncertainly" |"uncertainties" |"uncertainty"

BG Chapters 7 - 12

BG 12.5, Purport:

There is no doubt that the impersonalists are unnecessarily taking a troublesome path with the risk of not realizing the Absolute Truth at the ultimate end. But the personalist, without any risk, trouble or difficulty, approaches the Supreme Personality directly. A similar passage appears in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. It is stated there that if one ultimately has to surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead (this surrendering process is called bhakti), but instead takes the trouble to understand what is Brahman and what is not Brahman and spends his whole life in that way, the result is simply troublesome. Therefore it is advised here that one should not take up this troublesome path of self-realization, because there is uncertainty in the ultimate result.

SB Canto 1

SB 1.18.12, Translation and Purport:

We have just begun the performance of this fruitive activity, a sacrificial fire, without certainty of its result due to the many imperfections in our action. Our bodies have become black from the smoke, but we are factually pleased by the nectar of the lotus feet of the Personality of Godhead, Govinda, which you are distributing.

The sacrificial fire kindled by the sages of Naimiṣāraṇya was certainly full of smoke and doubts because of so many flaws. The first flaw is that there is an acute scarcity of expert brāhmaṇas able to carry out such performances successfully in this age of Kali. Any discrepancy in such sacrifices spoils the whole show, and the result is uncertain, like agricultural enterprises. The good result of tilling the paddy field depends on providential rain, and therefore the result is uncertain. Similarly, performance of any kind of sacrifice in this age of Kali is also uncertain. Unscrupulous greedy brāhmaṇas of the age of Kali induce the innocent public to such uncertain sacrificial shows without disclosing the scriptural injunction that in the age of Kali there is no fruitful sacrificial performance but the sacrifice of the congregational chanting of the holy name of the Lord. Sūta Gosvāmī was narrating the transcendental activities of the Lord before the congregation of sages, and they were factually perceiving the result of hearing these transcendental activities. One can feel this practically, as one can feel the result of eating food. Spiritual realization acts in that way.

The sages of Naimiṣāraṇya were practically sufferers from the smoke of a sacrificial fire and were doubtful about the result, but by hearing from a realized person like Sūta Gosvāmī, they were fully satisfied. In the Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa, Viṣṇu tells Śiva that in the age of Kali, men full of anxieties of various kinds can vainly labor in fruitive activity and philosophical speculations, but when they are engaged in devotional service, the result is sure and certain, and there is no loss of energy. In other words, nothing performed for spiritual realization or for material benefit can be successful without the devotional service to the Lord.

SB Canto 3

SB 3.7.40, Purport:

As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (BG 2.41), devotional service to the Lord is one, and the mind of the devotee is not diverted to the many branches of uncertainties.

SB Canto 4

SB 4.24.42, Purport:

Modern scientists have stopped their brainwork by discovering the theory of uncertainty, but factually for a living being there cannot be any brain activity which is not checked by time and space limitations. A living entity is called aṇu, an atomic particle of the supreme soul, and therefore his brain is also atomic. It cannot accommodate unlimited knowledge.

SB 4.24.42, Purport:

Kṛṣṇa knows everything, but one cannot know Kṛṣṇa without being favored by Him. Thus for Kṛṣṇa and His representative there is no question of a theory of uncertainty. What Kṛṣṇa says is all perfect and certain and is applicable to the past, present and future. Nor is there any uncertainty for one who knows exactly what Kṛṣṇa says. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is based on Bhagavad-gītā as it is, as spoken by Lord Kṛṣṇa, and for those who are engaged in this movement, there is no question of uncertainty.

SB Canto 5

SB 5.22.8, Purport:

Modern scientific calculations are subject to one change after another, and therefore they are uncertain. We have to accept the calculations of the Vedic literature. These Vedic calculations are steady; the astronomical calculations made long ago and recorded in the Vedic literature are correct even now.

SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13

SB 10.7.17, Purport:

Their words never fail. In every transaction with other members of society, brāhmaṇas are certainly dependable. In this age, however, one must take into account that the brāhmaṇas are uncertain in their qualifications. Because there are no yajñic brāhmaṇas, all yajñas are forbidden. The only yajña recommended in this age is saṅkīrtana-yajña.

SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)

SB 10.51.23-26, Translation:

As he gazed at the Lord, King Mucukunda saw that He was dark blue like a cloud, had four arms, and wore a yellow silk garment. On His chest He bore the Śrīvatsa mark and on His neck the brilliantly glowing Kaustubha gem. Adorned with a Vaijayantī garland, the Lord displayed His handsome, peaceful face, which attracts the eyes of all mankind with its shark-shaped earrings and affectionately smiling glance. The beauty of His youthful form was unexcelled, and He moved with the nobility of an angry lion. The highly intelligent King was overwhelmed by the Lord's effulgence, which showed Him to be invincible. Expressing his uncertainty, Mucukunda hesitantly questioned Lord Kṛṣṇa as follows.

SB 10.60.13, Translation:

O fine-browed lady, women are usually destined to suffer when they stay with men whose behavior is uncertain and who pursue a path not approved by society.

CC Adi-lila

CC Adi 1.91, Purport:

The paths of the culture of knowledge (jñāna-mārga) and of mystic powers (yoga-mārga) are equally hazardous, for one does not know where one will go by following these uncertain methods.

CC Adi 1.91, Purport:

The path of worship of the innumerable devas, or administrative demigods, is still more hazardous and uncertain than the above-mentioned processes of karma-kāṇḍa and jñāna-kāṇḍa. This system of worshiping many gods, such as Durgā, Śiva, Gaṇeśa, Sūrya and the impersonal Viṣṇu form, is accepted by persons who have been blinded by an intense desire for sense gratification.

CC Adi 5.41, Purport:

"People may sometimes think of You as impersonal or personal, but You are one. For persons who are confused or bewildered, a rope may appear to manifest itself as different kinds of snakes. For similar confused persons who are uncertain about You, You create various philosophical methods in pursuance of their uncertain positions."

CC Madhya-lila

CC Madhya 24.215, Translation:

“"We have just begun performing this fruitive activity, a sacrificial fire, but due to the many imperfections in our action, we are not certain of its result. Our bodies have become black from the smoke, but we are factually pleased by the nectar of the lotus feet of the Personality of Godhead, Govinda, which you are distributing."

Teachings of Lord Caitanya

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter Prologue:

During his residence in East Bengal, his wife Lakṣmīdevī left this world from the effects of snakebite. On returning home, he found his mother in a mourning state. He consoled her with a lecture on the uncertainty of human affairs.

Easy Journey to Other Planets

Easy Journey to Other Planets 1:

4. The intelligent candidate places intelligent questions to the spiritual master in order to clear his path of all uncertainties. The spiritual master shows the way, not whimsically, but in accordance with the principles of the authorities who have actually traversed the path.

Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead

Krsna Book 87:

On the other hand, those who are not devotees but are engaged in uncertain processes of self-realization, such as jñāna, yoga and karma, are understood to be still contaminated. Such contaminated persons, although apparently advanced in self-realization, cannot even liberate themselves, what to speak of those who follow them.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.36-37 -- London, September 4, 1973:

Pradyumna: Translation: "Your enemies will describe you in many unkind words and scorn your ability. What could be more painful for you?"

Prabhupāda: Niścayaḥ, "uncertainly"?

Pradyumna: Should be "certainly." Translation: "O son of Kuntī, either you will be killed on the battlefield and attain the heavenly planets, or you will conquer and enjoy the heavenly kingdom."

Lecture on BG 7.1-3 -- Ahmedabad, December 14, 1972:

All the scientists, they are not confident. Now there is a theory, "theory of uncertainty," among the scientists. Whatever knowledge they are making, they are making progress, everything is uncertain. Yes. It must be uncertain, because the basic principle is wrong. Therefore it must be uncertain.

Lecture on BG 7.1-3 -- Ahmedabad, December 14, 1972:

And although my senses are imperfect, I, still, I theorize, "It may be...," "It is like this," "It is like that." These are all imperfect things. Therefore whatever knowledge we may make progress, it is saṁśayam, it remains doubt, uncertainty.

Lecture on BG 7.1-3 -- Ahmedabad, December 14, 1972:

So these things, "Perhaps, it may be," that is not certain. Therefore they have now accepted the theory of uncertainty. But here we, if we hear from Kṛṣṇa, then it is perfect knowledge.

Lecture on BG 7.2 -- Nairobi, October 28, 1975:

Indian man (2): Śrīla Prabhupāda, in Back to Godhead, on page five, it is said that Śrī Vallabhācāryajī, a devotee to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, wrote commentary on Śrīmad-Bhāgavata, and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu rejected his commentary, and then He said that He is not prepared to listen to his commentary, and he gives certain other comments.

Prabhupāda: Not certain other comment. The Vallabhācārya, he brought his Subodhinī-ṭīkā, and he was great admirer of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and he said that "I have written one commentary which is far better than the comments given by Śrīdhara Svāmī." So that was disapproved by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. If you disapprove previous ācārya or if you become more intelligent than previous ācārya, then you are not ācārya.

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

So, when this German chemist was lecturing, theorizing that life has come from chemicals, so he put the question that "Suppose if I give you these chemicals, whether you can prepare a life?" He answered in the meeting, "That I cannot say." That means he's not certain; still, he's theorizing, that from chemical, life has come. No, from chemical, life has not come; from life, chemical has come. This is real theory.

Lecture on BG 8.12-13 -- New York, November 15, 1966:

Just like this sputnik man, the aeronautics, they go higher and higher, twenty-five thousand or thirty thousand or hundred thousand miles away. But if they cannot take rest in some planet, they'll fall down, at once fall down again. So the rest is required. In the impersonal form the rest is uncertain, uncertain.

Lecture on BG 9.2 -- Calcutta, March 7, 1972:

In all types of religious system—yoga, jñāna, karma or anything, whatever you have manufactured—you are not certain how much you have advanced. But if you practice bhakti-yoga, you'll be personally feeling, "Yes, I'm making advancement."

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.8.31 -- Los Angeles, April 23, 1973:

When Nanda Mahārāja will talk amongst his friends and the friends will talk about Kṛṣṇa... "Oh, Nanda Mahārāja, your child Kṛṣṇa is wonderful. "Yes, I see that. Maybe some demigod." That's all. "Maybe." That is also not certain. So the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, they do not care who is God out or who is not God. That is not their business. But they want Kṛṣṇa and love Kṛṣṇa. That's all.

Lecture on SB 3.26.30 -- Bombay, January 7, 1975:

So why if they have gone to the spiritual world and stays in the Brahman effulgence and still they are māninaḥ, not certain? Yes. Why? Because they cannot stay there. This is very logical argument and statement of the Vedic literature.

Lecture on SB 6.1.3 -- Melbourne, May 22, 1975:

You can construct a very nice skyscraper building, and you can have a nice car, but you will not be allowed to stay here. What you have done for that? You will be kicked out at any moment. Then your all labor is simply... You can solace yourself that "My children will enjoy" or "My grandsons will enjoy." But why not enjoy yourself? That is very uncertain. Any moment I shall be kicked out.

Lecture on SB 6.2.7 -- Vrndavana, September 10, 1975:

He will get another body. But what kind of body he is going to get, that is not certain. He may be a demigod or he may be a dog, according to his karma.

Initiation Lectures

Lecture & Initiation -- Seattle, October 20, 1968:

So duration of life is very uncertain in this age. At any moment we can die. But this life, this human form of life, is meant for a sublime gain.

General Lectures

Pandal Lecture -- November 14, 1971, Delhi:

So we do not know, we are not certain that what kind of body I am going to get next, but we will have one body.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on David Hume:

Śyāmasundara: He says that even the idea of God is merely probable but not certain.

Prabhupāda: That he cannot say. As soon as he speaks of authority, there must be a supreme authority. That is God.

Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is favor. Just like nobody wants to die, but the superior power obliges everyone to die. So he is dependent. Why should you think that he is independent? That is foolishness.

Hayagrīva: He sees uncertainty as a necessary ingredient for faith.

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Hayagrīva: Uncertainty is a necessary ingredient for faith.

Prabhupāda: No. Faith, faith should not be blind. That is useless. Faith... Just like I believe in the government. This is not faith, this is fact. There is government, and I am under government's law, so I have to obey the orders of government. This is not faith; this is fact. Similarly, to one who knows God and becomes dependent on Him, that is not faith; that is fact. He is happy by his depending on God.

Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:

Hayagrīva: In his last work Kant seems to shift his position. He says, "Morality thus leads ineluctably to religion, through which it extends itself to the idea of a powerful moral law-giver outside of mankind for whose will that is the final end of creation, which at the same time can and ought to be man's final end. Make the highest good possible in the world your own final end." So he seems to point to an absolute law-giver or an absolute morality, which is God, but he believes that this knowledge of God is ultimately uncertain.

Prabhupāda: Uncertain—for the man who does not possess the perfect knowledge. But if we believe in God, if we know God, we can get perfect knowledge from Him. Then we become perfect.

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: On the other hand, the so-called physicist... His name was Heisenberg. He produced the concept of the theory of uncertainty, and he found out that certain physical rules that govern certain parts of the so-called universal system of rules—why the planets are moving around the sun, and why they have a repeated course and so on. But he did not know what was the answer. So he named the title of the theory, the Theory of Uncertainty. Based on that, there are so many groups coming up, but they found uncertainty itself, that implies that there is some...

Prabhupāda: Basic principle is uncertainty, and they're building on big, big buildings.

Śyāmasundara: Darwin calls it the missing link.

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Prabhupāda: He has to admit that the theory of uncertainty is bogus, but everything is there, and that masking behind all these things there must be big brain. That one has to accept. Simply uncertainty, that is not a science. The certainty is that behind all these things there is a big brain. I do not know Him—that is a different thing—but there is a big brain.

Śyāmasundara: Darwin, he was not so much interested in those questions of origin and those things, but he was a botanist and a biologist, and he simply wanted to investigate how things evolved from one simple form to a more complex form...

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Karandhara: What they mean by doctrine is that they can't agree on it and say it's fact. That there's so many short-comings that they will call it a doctrine but they won't call it fact. That's practically the whole story in scientific research: the real scientists, they never call anything a solid fact; it's always a theory or a doctrine because they never find a perfect enough conclusion which takes into account everything and perfectly reconciles...

Prabhupāda: What is that uncertainty? What do you call that?

Śyāmasundara: It's called Theory of Uncertainty. Heisenberg's Theory of Uncertainty.

Prabhupāda: That is also theory.

Śyāmasundara: Yes. That has to do with atomic particles.

Philosophy Discussion on John Dewey:

Hayagrīva: He says in the realm of philosophy and religion, certainty is impossible. He says, "The moment philosophy supposes it can find a final and comprehensive solution, it ceases to be inquiry and becomes either apologetics or propaganda. Any philosophy that in its quest for certainty ignores the reality of the uncertain in the ongoing processes of nature denies the conditions out of which it arises."

Prabhupāda: There is uncertain when you do not accept the reality. The reality is God, and God is explaining how things are going on, but you take it as mythology. Then how you will know?

Philosophy Discussion on Soren Aabye Kierkegaard:

Prabhupāda: That is another foolish thing. Dog's obstinacy that is called. Dog's obstinacy. This philosophy is dog's obstinacy.

Devotee: He says that the normal state of man's condition is an anxious uncertainty, that a man is naturally anxiety and uncertain.

Prabhupāda: Uncertainty for them who do not know what is the end of life, the goal of life.

Śyāmasundara: So he says that this anxiety and uncertainty is displaced or replaced by the passion of truth or faith.

Prabhupāda: Yes. These modern economic concept, they think that this anxiety is the impetus for economic development.

Philosophy Discussion on Arthur Schopenhauer:

Hayagrīva: Schopenhauer writes, "Every keen pleasure is an error and an allusion, for no attached wish can give lasting satisfaction."

Prabhupāda: That is...

Hayagrīva: "And moreover, every possession and every happiness is but lent by chance for an uncertain time..."

Prabhupāda: Mm.

Philosophy Discussion on Carl Gustav Jung:

Śyāmasundara: Well, are there not certain characteristics that are particularly male and certain characteristics that are particularly female?

Prabhupāda: Male is only God. That is the characteristic. Male means enjoyer and female means enjoyed. So except God, except Kṛṣṇa, nobody is enjoyer. Therefore He's God.

Philosophy Discussion on Carl Gustav Jung:

Hayagrīva: The life sequence is interrupted by different reincarnations, but it's not certain whether or not personality survives. There may only continuity of karma.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Personal, personality is there. Suppose a man rebukes a dog. So the dog also responses. Even a small ant, it is going to certain direction, if you check it, it will protest. So personality is there always, either in the body of human being, cats, dogs, even an ant.

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 11, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Allen Ginsberg: I'm not certain that I'm worthy of that, Swamiji.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. But I know that you are not ordinary man.

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 17, 1971, Allahabad:

Guest (1): That is what I say. Any spirit will have certain form.

Prabhupāda: Not certain form. He has got his original form.

Guest (1): Original means all the... We are living from the eternal...

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 20, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: No, there is the latest theory. What is this, theory of ignorance? Or what is that? Theory of impossibility, or something like that?

Karandhara: Oh, theory of uncertainty?

Prabhupāda: Uncertainty, yes. Theory of uncertainty. Everything is uncertain. And that is little intelligence. That, how to find out the certainty. (pause)

Svarūpa Dāmodara: The scientists, they claim that the discoveries are accidental and incidental, by accident, by chance.

Prabhupāda: What is this? That means they're fools.

Conversation with Mr. Wadell -- July 10, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: Well as soon as you say, "perhaps," "maybe," that is not... This has no meaning. Because it is not certain. You have no clear idea.

Mr. Wadell: But are there not things about which in the mortal life one can have no clear idea?

Prabhupāda: But if there is clear idea, why they should not take it? Why they should speculate "perhaps," "maybe"?

Room Conversation with Anna Conan Doyle, daughter-in-law of famous author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle -- August 10, 1973, Paris:

Prabhupāda: It is very painful because as soon as you die, you are again packed up within the womb of the mother to develop another body. And that is also not certain. Nowadays the father, mother is killing the child. So even if you develop a body to come with the expectation to come out, the father, mother kills you, again you have to enter another mother's body. Again you may be killed.

Room Conversation with Dr. Christian Hauser, Psychiatrist -- September 10, 1973, Stockholm:

Prabhupāda: And when he's offered these chemicals, he's not certain whether he'll be able to produce life. Is it not cheating?

Dr. Hauser: Yes, he's jumping to conclusions, one can say.

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Dr. Hauser: He's jumping to conclusions.

Prabhupāda: Whatever it may be, he's not certain about producing life from those chemicals. But still he's lecturing. Is it not cheating?

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Scientists -- July 2, 1974, Melbourne:

Dr. Harrap: I'm a little uncertain from reading some of your comments about the primary aim that you would set for science. I would place a great deal of emphasis on the contribution that science can make to the community.

Prabhupāda: That I admit. That I admit. Yes.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 11, 1975, London:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Well, I had heard—of course, I'm not certain of the source—that because of impiety the sun and the moon, people would not be able to see. So there would be no vegetation. And without vegetation, even animals cannot live. So eventually they would take to eating their own children. Is this what takes place?

Prabhupāda: Yes, there will be no foodstuff at the end of... That is stated. No milk, no food grains, no fruits, no whatever. Especially food grains.

Morning Walk -- July 24, 1975, Los Angeles:

Paramahaṁsa: There is this question about these, again, UFO's, whether or not they are agressive or if they will bring us more knowledge than what we have. So there's this fear, uncertainty. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...sataḥ syāt. This frightfulness is due to unawareness of God. The more one is unaware of God, he is more frightened. One who is fully conscious of God, he is not frightened because he knows, "Everything is God. Why shall I afraid?"

Room Conversation with Reporter of The Star -- October 16, 1975, Johannesburg:

Prabhupāda: So in the face of so many odds and uncertainty, I went there, simply depending on my spiritual master and Kṛṣṇa, with this hope only, that "If they desire, everything can be done. But otherwise there is no hope. I am going there, hopeless, just to make an experiment. My other Godbrothers, they failed. All right, Guru Mahārāja asked me. In the beginning I did not do. Let me do it in this old age." So it became surprisingly success.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 19, 1976, Mayapura:

Acyutānanda: The scient... There was a scientific law called Heisenberg's Law of Uncertainty that—'cause this Heisenberg just died, so they wrote his philosophy—that you cannot observe anything and give a conclusive answer to anything that was uncertain. No one can make a decisive statement...

Prabhupāda: So why you are giving this conclusive answer? Why he is giving?

Acyutānanda: No.

Morning Walk -- March 14, 1976, Mayapur:

Revatīnandana: Kṛṣṇa explains why He comes at a certain time and He says, "I come whenever there are certain conditions."

Prabhupāda: No, no, not "certain time."

Revatīnandana: Does He ever say, is there any statement in the śāstra...

Morning Walk -- May 25, 1976, Honolulu:

Devotee (4): Perhaps it's a speculation—I'm not certain. But in the Bhagavad-gītā it describes that lust is also sometimes like a fire. Practically one experiences that the heat in the body, the lusty desires increases heat within the body. So is there any correlation between fire within the body and the mode of passion?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Passion is there. Just like fire, if you fan it, it blazes more. Similarly, with passion, the fire is more powerful.

Garden Conversation -- June 8, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: They'll not accept knowledge given by God; they'll manufacture knowledge. That is material disease. And that knowledge is also uncertain. One stalwart man of knowledge is speaking, "I think, I believe," and another stalwart is saying, "No, no, I think, I believe." What is the meaning of this "I think, I believe"? We say "You are all rascals.

Room Conversation -- June 18, 1976, Toronto:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Am I mis...? You had told me once, I'm not certain. Maybe I made a mistake. You said that Vāsudeva, it was known fact that he was homosex?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Vāsudeva.

Prabhupāda: He was homosex and sex, everything.

Garden Conversation -- June 28, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: That means not yet certain.

Rādhāvallabha: No, they admit they're not certain.

Prabhupāda: This is all... They're misleading.

Room Conversation -- August 11, 1976, Tehran:

Devotee (2): I was reading the other day that they are doing some experiments on Mars. They have twenty-two different theories about this one idea. Just this one little idea, twenty-two different theories.

Prabhupāda: Theory means they are not certain.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 22, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Brahmānanda: I don't know if the government has said it, but people talk like that just to create some atmosphere of uncertainty. These unstable governments, they like to create this kind of atmosphere.

Prabhupāda: There are many Indians. Practically Indian.

Brahmānanda: Yes, everything. Tamāla, when he came there, he said that Mombassa was like Bombay...

Morning Walk -- January 29, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: "Life has no meaning," eh?

Hari-śauri: To get the Nobel Prize.

Satsvarūpa: They say you should face up to that uncertainty or no meaning and then just live your life in that... Without taking some meaning from the śāstra or anybody, you just...

Prabhupāda: Simply take from him.

Satsvarūpa: Each person has to find within himself the meaning.

Room Conversation -- February 3, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: If he has taken sometimes fish, there was no way. What can be done? Not for his sense gratification.

Hari-śauri: Even that's not certain, that he took fish anyway.

Prabhupāda: Sometimes it is said.

Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- June 21, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: There is no question of creation. God is not creator, er, not created. He is creator. And as long as God is there, the living beings... It is not uncertain. The nityaḥ, śāśvataḥ. Then these two words would not have been used if it is created. He never said.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: It is eternal.

Conversation, 'Rascal Editors,' and Morning Talk -- June 22, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So we have to take this word change. So you cannot expect what changes. Are you going to be dog or hog or god? That will depend on your work. How you can expect to see, that "I do not see"? But that is not certain. There are 8,400,000's of different types of change of body. But you have to change. Not that you have to become a dog. You can become a demigod.

1947 to 1965 Correspondence

Letter to Mr. Bailey -- Allahabad 7 July, 1953:

Sages of India realized it by a perfect deductive process which descends on human consciousness by a transcendental chain of unbroken bona fide disciplic succession that material civilization is a temporary gigantic demonstration of a rabid process of sense gratification. The sense organs are given uncertain liberty to gratify their desires and the whole show of science education, trade, industry, economy and politics are but different spheres of activities in the realm of gratifying the senses.

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Rupanuga -- Montreal 3 July, 1968:

But I do not advise you take advantage of alchemy for making gold, it it is not certain. We should not waste our time on that which is not very sure. If you can manufacture gold, then we can very soon spread our Krishna Consciousness, but I think Krishna will not give us that opportunity, because as soon as we get large quantity of gold, we forget Krishna.

Letter to Christopher -- Montreal 13 July, 1968:

Previous to this I think I received one letter from you when I was either in San Francisco, or Los Angeles, and whenever I receive some letter, I reply it promptly, so it may be that my reply is missing due to your uncertain whereabouts.

Letter to Nathan Baruch -- Montreal 7 August, 1968:

It is expected that the mail strike will end by tomorrow, as it is announced about their settlement, but still I am not certain. I am therefore replying your letter by posting at Boston. Hope you will receive it duly.

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Tamala Krsna -- Allston, Mass 26 April, 1969:

So without investing further money in our present temple, because it has now become uncertain, we shall carefully save some money for investing in some new place.

1970 Correspondence

Letter to Jayapataka - So. La Cienega Blvd. Los Angeles, Cal. 90034 February 13, 1970:

I am also glad to learn that everything in Montreal is now running smoothly under the direction of Sripati, and similarly that Raktak is very capable to manage the new center in Toronto as you are now feeling uncertainty what to do now yourself.

Letter to Brahmananda -- Los Angeles 17 April, 1970:

There should be no such negligences like this, nothing uncertain should be pushed. Now what other discrepancies there may be like this? Or what is the use of such editing? Everything must be done very carefully and attentively.

1971 Correspondence

Letter to Stephen -- Bombay 4 January, 1971:

So please do not ever become discouraged. That is one of the defects of conditioned life. Simply execute your duties in Krsna's service, chant sincerely, and follow the regulative principles faithfully. If you carry out this simple order of life, all your uncertainties will come to nothing by the grace of the Lord and the whole matter will become clear.

Letter to Damodara -- Allahabad, India 10 January, 1971:

Then advancement will be swift and you will gradually come to see everything clearly so that you may act for the pleasure of the Lord without uncertainty. When one is spontaneously engaged in this way, always in the service of the Lord and anxious to avoid all mundane activities, he is actually experiencing the taste of bliss in Krsna consciousness.

Letter to Satadhanya (Stan Federoff) -- Bombay 30 March, 1971:

If you ever have any points of uncertainty, you may inquire from your elder Godbrothers or Hayagriva Prabhu and Kirtanananda Maharaja or if need be from me.

Letter to Mukunda -- Bombay 13 April, 1971:

Still I would like to go to London, but when that will be is very uncertain.

Letter to Mukunda -- Bombay 13 April, 1971:

Since it is uncertain when I shall arrive, the devotees recommended by you for initiation in a previous letter may now be initiated.

Letter to Satsvarupa -- Bombay 14 April, 1971:

My program here is not yet fixed up so it is uncertain when I shall be returning to U.S.A.

Letter to Himavati -- Bombay 26 December, 1971:

If you think that you may go to Russia and do something, I have no objection. But your plan appears too vague or uncertain to consider very seriously, so you should not bother yourself with such plans unless there is concrete opportunity.

1972 Correspondence

Letter to Puri Maharaj -- Bombay 6 January, 1972:

The Madras Program appears to be uncertain. I am going to Jaipur to attend a function from the 15th to 23rd.

Letter to Bob -- Los Angeles 16 June, 1972:

I am not certain yet when I shall be arriving in New York, but it shall be some time in the early part of July, and you may keep in regular contact with Bali Mardan regarding the arrival date, and I shall be very much engladdened to meet with you in New York once again.

Letter to Tamala Krsna, Bhavananda, Jayapataka -- London 9 August, 1972:

The engineers may be trying to cheat you. You told the total cost will be four lakhs, now it is eight lakhs, why this doubling and uncertainty?

1973 Correspondence

Letter to Bhagavan -- Vrindaban 19 November, 1973:

Regarding Annada, her father will not agree, but I shall tell her privately. Regarding Mandakini, let it be clarified, then send her. Moscow is uncertain, and Paris is certain; so we should not sacrifice the certain for the uncertain.

1974 Correspondence

Letter to Bhurijana -- Bombay 3 May, 1974:

As for your future plans, you write that you are not sure where you will go after arriving in New York, and it is not certain that you will live with devotees. How will you advance without association of devotees? I do not exactly follow your thinking, but for the time being you can go. But I think you can come back and work diligently in Hong Kong.

1975 Correspondence

Letter to Madhava Maharaja -- Bhaktivedanta Manor 8 March, 1975:

Sridhara Maharaja on account of his uncertain health condition will not be able to take any active part in celebrating the ceremony, but he has promised to come provided his health permits.