Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa, when He sees that one is interested in hearing about Him, then He gives you facility. What is that facility? That facility is śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ (SB 1.2.17). Kṛṣṇa-kathā, talks about Kṛṣṇa, you, either you understand it or not understand it, it doesn't matter, if you simply sit down to receive, give aural reception to such message, you become pious. Immediately. Puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ. You don't understand; simply you talk and discuss and hear, you become pious. Just like fire. You come to the fire, you understand it or not understand, you get warm. That facility is there. You don't require to understand how fire is produced, what is the chemical or physical constitution. You do it, understand or not understand. Just like you sit down on a car, motor car. You understand it or not understand it, what is the engineering of the car, but you run on. Similarly, kṛṣṇa-kathā, the simply, the simple method, if you kindly come and hear, then you will be pious. That is the first installment.
Warm (Conversations 1968 - 1975)
Conversations and Morning Walks
1968 Conversations and Morning Walks
1969 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: They were sleeping. But Kṛṣṇa is playing. That means He has manifested again with the cowherd boys and cows. Then he was convinced, "Yes, He is my Lord." Then Brahma-stava is there. Ānanda cinmaya rasa pratibhāvitābhis tābhirya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ (Bs. 5.37). So Kṛṣṇa can expand in many, many thousand times. What Brahmā will do by stealing His... No, that is not possible. So Brahmā was also convinced. These things you'll find in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Brahma-vimohana. Even Brahmā is bewildered, what to speak of ordinary men like us. So Kṛṣṇa-līlā, to understand... There is no need of understanding. Simply you love Kṛṣṇa, then the whole business finished. Just like if you touch fire, if you understand it or not understand it, the warmness is there. Similarly, either you understand Kṛṣṇa or do not understand Kṛṣṇa, it doesn't matter. Simply if you love Kṛṣṇa, then your life is perfect. That's all.
1971 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Chanting is to make the process very easy. Because in this age people are unfortunate, short living, and they are attracted in false things, they are very slow, they do not take it very seriously. Therefore chanting is a common platform. Anyone can chant. Anyone, even the child can chant, the old man can chant, the fool can chant, the intelligent can chant, the rich can chant, the poor can chant. So the chanting is a common; therefore it is becoming successful. And chanting means, Kṛṣṇa being absolute, Kṛṣṇa's name and Kṛṣṇa there is no difference. Absolute means there is no duality. As in this dual world there is difference between the name and the substance, in the absolute world there is no difference between the name and the substance. Both of them are the same. So therefore chanting of Kṛṣṇa's name means associating with Kṛṣṇa directly. And because they are associating with Kṛṣṇa directly, they're quickly becoming purified. Just like if you touch a metal rod to the fire, it becomes warm and then it acquires the quality of the fire. The metal rod, you can touch anywhere, it will burn, although it is metal rod. But because it acquired the quality of the fire, it can burn, it can act as fire. Similarly, if we constantly associate with Kṛṣṇa, then we acquire the spiritual quality. Then we can act as spiritual very quick. This is the point.
Prabhupāda: Do you like to go to Africa? It is warm country.
Kulaśekhara: Yes Prabhupāda. That would be nice.
Prabhupāda: So you can go. You can go. And you know Deity... (break) ...and if it is sufficiently left, then she doesn't require further. Otherwise add something. But she'll take after the husband. My mother was doing. Yes. The remnants of foodstuff left by the husband will be taken by the wife. That means if the husband does not eat, she'll not eat. So those things are now dream only. (laughs) Impossible. Just like small child, If he follows the father, catching the hand of the father, she is always safe, he is always safe. Now your so-called independence has spoiled the social life. You know he was married. Where she is now?
Kulaśekhara: Oh, she left. We haven't seen her since she left. I don't know where she is. Three years ago. When she left, Śrīla Prabhupāda, she took some drugs and...
1972 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Yes. Forgetting is not very difficult if you try to forget. That's all. Out of sight, out of mind. (laughter) Just like I have got my wife, children, my grandchildren, everything. But out of sight, out of mind. That's all. Therefore vānaprastha, sannyāsa. Everything is nicely arranged by the Vedic system. (break)
Prabhupāda: You are feeling warm?
Bob: Just tight.
Prabhupāda: Too tight.
Bob: I was cold before. (break) (Loudspeaker in background is very loud) Thank you so much for allowing me to ask my questions.
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: By engaging. That is our school. It is a school. If a student does not learn nicely, you cannot say, "Get out." As far as possible. But when it is absolutely impossible to correct him, then you have to ask. And if there is money, equal you have to manage some money, what can be done? But I don't think if we try our best to correct him, this ultimate punishment will be required. Human being, after all human being, and our business is to teach and become ideal ourself. Āpani ācari prabhu jīvere śikhāya. We have to teach by our personal behavior. If you rise early in the morning, if you take your bath, if you sit down regularly and keep them (indistinct), how he can deny? How one can deny? It is not possible. But if I smoke, I ask others not to smoke, that will never be possible. Āpani ācari prabhu jīvere, first of all you have to be. If one is not cleansing, you shall tell me (indistinct) this way. We have to do like that. Not that I (order), "Come on, you do this. Oh, you cannot do, get out." Not that. We show him. After all, our life is sacrificed for preaching and that preaching means one should behave himself, nicely. He cannot say that "You do not do this." Just like one day in London there was some talks with Nanda Kumāra, you. He was accusing you, you were accusing him. I heard from (indistinct). So you should do in such a way that he cannot accuse you. If you ask him to rise early in the morning, take your bath, and if you do not take. Supposing some special case. I was taking early bath. Now I do not take, because due to my health. That is because... Otherwise regularly I was taking. Not even hot water. Regularly. This hot water bath I have begun in your country, otherwise I have never taken. Even in severest cold. Here also I am trying to avoid. I am keeping tub of water sunshine. Whatever little warm may become, that's all.
Prabhupāda: No. Just like the one strata is like that. After an hour, it will be different. So what is the use of your studying this strata? Therefore it is called jagat. Jagat means always changing. The material world is always changing. Your body. This body will stay, say, for fifty years, hundred years. Then you get another body. That's all. Another body. Jagat means changing. Now this color is there. Say, after one hour it will be white. You see. Then you study this black color. Again you study the white color. Again this black color. Punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām (SB 7.5.30). Chewing the chewed. That is your business. Just like seasonal changes. Now it is cold. Any moment, you'll have to get out (of) these clothes. It is very warm. So these changes are going on. The whole material cosmic manifestation is subjected to different types of changes. Therefore it is called jagat. Jagat means going, changing.
Prabhupāda: Yes, matter grows upon life. Just like why this body has grown upon me? I am the spirit soul. This is māyā. Just like, this is... I have explained in Bhagavad-gītā. I am putting on this overcoat. The overcoat is made according to the size of my body, but I am thinking, "I am overcoat." This is foolishness. Just like I got my hand, therefore this overcoat is made of warm cloth. It has got a hand also. Because originally I have got hand, therefore the overcoat has got a hand. Similarly, originally I am spirit soul, I have got my spiritual body, and the material body has grown, cut according to the body.
Paramahaṁsa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, what about in mineralogy? Scientists have proven that, for example, mountains are growing by sedimentary activity.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is also growing on spirit soul, Supersoul.
Prabhupāda: So Lord and Lord's name, They're the same, identical. Just like we are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. So this Kṛṣṇa name and the Kṛṣṇa person, identical. Because the Lord is absolute. In the material world, the world of duality, the name is not the substance. If you require water, simply by chanting "Water, water," your thirst will not be quenched. You require the substance water. But in the spiritual world, the Lord and His name, the same thing. If you chant the Lord's name, Kṛṣṇa, or any name of Lord, that is identical with the Lord. Therefore by chanting the holy name of the Lord, you are associating with the Lord. And as soon as you associate with the Lord, you become purified. Because Lord is all-pure. Just like if you associate with fire, you become warm. Similarly, if you constantly associate with the Lord, you remain purified. Therefore our principle is they are always chanting... Just like we are... I am chanting also. (Holds up beads) Or reading some book.
Prabhupāda: So the iron becomes warm, warmer, and then at last, it becomes red-hot. When the iron is red-hot, it is no longer iron. It is fire. If you touch anywhere, it will burn. Although apparently it is iron rod, but because it has become red-hot, it is fire. Similarly, if you constantly keep in spiritual activities, your outward body, although it is iron and matter, it becomes spiritualized. Try to understand this example. Iron rod put into the fire, when it is red-hot, it is no longer iron rod. It is fire. Similarly this body, although material, if you constantly keep in touch with spiritual activities, then it is no longer material. It is spiritual. The body's also spiritual.
Buddhist Monk (1): He tried whiskey. He said, "Come to vodka because vodka's whiskey here," he says, "in this country." I told him, "I don't drink that either." "What do you eat and what do you drink?!" So... He asked me, "What's the matter with you?" "There's nothing wrong with me. (laughter) I am quite healthy, and everything... I am a follower of the Buddha, and our first precept is nonviolence to all mentally conscious living beings. And that's the reason why we follow this." "Ah, you miss the steak don't you?" I said, "I miss nothing. If one wants to have vegetables prepared, there are so many ways of preparing it, healthier, and if one wants taste, it will be even more tasteful." "All right, all right. Bring him as many vegetables. And what do you drink? Beer?" I said, "No. Fruit drinks, if you have." "You order." He gave me a listing. I wanted to pay. He wouldn't allow me to pay, and he paid it. Those people are kind there. And from the time I got, went across, I could talk to anyone without any restriction. I could discuss religion with farmers, factory workers, doctors, lawyers, whom I met in the course of my visit. And they were getting interested. Because people who have not seen materialism, they are very crazy for it. But once they have it, and it is beginning to be a surfeit, and divorces and suicides and other troubles increase, nervous cases, they think, "Oh, now there is a vacuum setting in." So they are interested. I was in every east European country. They never tried to tamper with my books or my talks. Of course, I didn't organize any public talks. I didn't, made no attempt. Then Czechoslovaks, Hungarians, very warm-hearted people. There are yoga classes there. And I met quite a few Hungarians outside who referred to yoga. Then Rumanians, Yugoslavs, Bulgarians. They are friendly people. Swamiji, have you been there in eastern European countries?
Prabhupāda: I have been in Moscow.
Buddhist Monk (1): Well, I was wondering whether they would ask me whether I am bringing narcotic, the religion, the heart of the heartless, soul of the soulless, the opiate of the masses. So I had read Marx before I left my country. I had thought "They will ask me," but no such question was asked. And ultimately, when I was leaving the Soviet Union, they again opened my books, you see, and put them back. One book, an officer kept one book. I thought, "Now, what is this? All right." He closed the suitcase, did not put this book, and he comes behind me and says, "Could I have this book?" I said, "You see, I have made many notes in the book. Why do you want that book for? So kindly return it to me, please." He wouldn't return it. He follows. And he said, "Please let me have it." I asked him, "Why do you want this book really for?" He said, "I have studied Buddhism from the Northern School, and I would like to know something about the Southern School of Buddhism." I said, "Anyhow, you can get these books, I'll give you an address." But he wouldn't give it to me. He said "Please let me have it." I said, "All right, good health and peace to you. You can have it." Hungarians are very warm-hearted people, very warm-hearted people.
Prabhupāda: It is for me?
Prabhupāda: Every... Everything has two sides, black side and bright side. We are interested with the bright side. Black side we can point out, but anyone who is sincere, he'll take the bright side. Sajjano guṇam icchanti doṣam icchanti pāmaraḥ. There are guṇa and doṣa, fault and good qualities. So those who are sajjana, they take the good qualities, give up the bad qualities. Then there, gradually things will come out. But if we accept God, "God is all-good," then all good qualities automatically manifest. Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ (SB 5.18.12). All good qualities manifest. If you remain with the fire, you become warm. The quality is acquired. If you remain in the sunshine, you become warm. Because sun is warm. So you acquire the quality. So if we remain always with Kṛṣṇa, then we acquire the qualities of Kṛṣṇa. So God is all-good. Therefore I become good, by association with God. It is very simple reasoning.
Prabhupāda: Yes. God is all-good. So if you remain always with God, then you become good. The same example: if you remain with fire, you become warm, the quality of the fire. If you remain in sunshine, you become warm. And the more you remain, the more you become warmer, warmer. Then become hot. Yes. Just like you put one rod, iron rod in the fire. It becomes warm, warmer, warmer. Then it will be red-hot. When it is red-hot, it is no longer iron rod. It is fire. Touch anywhere, it will burn. (pause) So from Nairobi they import ghee here, I think.
Śrutakīrti: Yes. Brahmānanda Mahārāja was saying many fruits also get to England. He said in Africa they have many nice fruits, but you can't buy them in Africa. They ship them off to England. Although they're all grown there, you can't get nice fruit in Africa.
Prabhupāda: Neither the Africans like to eat.
Prajāpati: Spirit soul, it is also luminous like that?
Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) ...is luminous, how it is keeping your body warm? As soon as it goes away, immediately cold. Immediately cold. Finished, all temperature finished. These are the evidences.
Rūpānuga: It is said that the soul glows with a light brighter than a thousand suns. In the Vedas. Yes?
Prabhupāda: I do not remember. Maybe. (break) The soul is more valuable than the sun, because the sun is, after all, a matter, and the soul is spirit. Therefore the vast difference of value. You cannot revive the life of a dead body by thousands of suns' heat. It is not possible. It can burn, but it cannot give light.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Just like if we compare the velocity of light and the velocity of soul, it is...
Prabhupāda: Far, far greater.
Prabhupāda: No. (laughter) You don't like to go there?
Prajāpati: Oh yes, I like to go there. Actually, I would rather be here in the cold with you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, than be in the warm without you.
Prabhupāda: We get the information from Bhagavad-gītā. It is said, na tad bhāsayate sūryaḥ. There is no need of sunshine. So how it can be cold? Sunshine is required where it is cold, but there is no need of sunshine. Naturally, the conclusion should be it is neither cold neither hot. It is enjoyable. Cold, heat, all troubles, they are in the material world. The spiritual world is simply blissful life, enjoying. (break) As soon as the light is there, the darkness is gone. So why in the night there is darkness if he is light? Why in the night meeting these rascals require other light, electric light, if he is light? What kind of light he is? If he is light, at least they could save the expenditure of electric lights. But why does he use electric light?
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Even the material body is there, still he's to be taken as spiritual. That is the philosophy. The example is given: just like you have got an iron stick. You put it in the fire, and it becomes warm. And when it is red-hot, it is no more iron stick. It is fire. Do you accept this?
Dr. Patel: I accept it.
Prabhupāda: Then? Similarly, one who is always merged in Kṛṣṇa thought, his body is not material.
Dr. Patel: That way you say.
Prabhupāda: Yes! Yes, that is the way.
Prabhupāda: No, no. Vīta-rāga-bhaya-śoka, mad-bhāva upagamya. Bahu... What is that? I forget now, this... Vīta... Yajña... Pūtā. Mad-bhāvam adhigacchati. Mad-bhāvam means by devotional service one attains the nature of Kṛṣṇa, no more interested with the material distress and material happiness. That does not affect them. That is the... That is also stated in another place of Bhagavad-gītā.
- māṁ cavyabhicāriṇi
- bhakti-yogena yaḥ sevate
- sa guṇān samatītyaitān
- brahma-bhūyāya kalpate
- (BG 14.26)
He also becomes brahma-bhūta (SB 4.30.20). Just like if you be in touch with the fire, then you become also warm. The quality of fire is warmth. So if you keep yourself always, constantly in touch with the fire, you also become warm. So this Kṛṣṇa's qualification, that He's not affected by the material happiness and distress, can be attained by anyone who always keeps his association with Kṛṣṇa. Is it clear?
Girirāja: He received Gargamuni with the feeling of one who is worshiping God or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He offered him a nice sitting place and when he sat down Nanda Mahārāja offered him a warm reception."
Prabhupāda: (break) ...presence of a brāhmaṇa, of a sannyāsī, in the household, in the house of a householder, means to enlighten. Mahad-vicalanaṁ nṛnām gṛhinām gṛhacet dīna-cetasām. The gṛhasthas, they are very cripple-minded. They are satisfied with the family, and they do not know that anything else to do. Therefore it is the duty of the sannyāsī and the brāhmaṇas to go to the householder's home and enlighten them spiritually. Therefore purohita. Go on. (break) ...pura. Purasara means "in the front", and hita means welfare. So one who conducts welfare of the householder. Guru-purohita. Every family must have guru and purohita for spiritual advancement. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya.
Prabhupāda: Bhakti means to be free from all sorts of material designation. "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am Italian,"—these are all designations of the body. So we have to become free from these designations. And that is called nirmalam, purification. And when we are nirmalam, without any contamination, then we can engage the senses in the service of the master of the senses. Master of the senses is Kṛṣṇa, or God. Actually, He is master of the senses. Just like I am feeling comfort by using this sense, touch sense, hand, in this way, but I am not master because at any moment this hand can be paralyzed. So I am not the master. The master is Kṛṣṇa. So if it is engaged in the service of the master, then it is in its normal condition. And then we are liberated. And this purification you can take very easily by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa—that means immediately associate with Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa's name and Kṛṣṇa, nondifferent. So as, if we associate with fire it becomes warm, the quality of the fire comes; as it is materially possible, spiritually it is possible in perfect order. Process is the same. You associate with Kṛṣṇa, and you become Kṛṣṇaite, as pure as Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is therefore advising, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65). So Kirpal Singh also studies Bhagavad-gītā? I am asking this. Kirpal Singh, he teaches on the Bhagavad-gītā?
Prabhupāda: ...and Roman climate the same? No.
Atreya Ṛṣi: Rome is a little warmer, isn't it?
Dhanañjaya: Yes.
Atreya Ṛṣi: Now the whole city is a little more humid.
Prabhupāda: Paris?
Satsvarūpa: It's sunny.
Atreya Ṛṣi: Sunnier than London. Very close to London.
Dhanañjaya: Not cold like London ever.
Prabhupāda: There is snow. (break) ...and Darjeeling. (break)
Yogeśvara: It was very cold. There was no plants, no nothing. They had to stay inside the plane just to stay alive, to stay warm. So they could not go and get food anywhere.
Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: And the bodies were already dead. And there were certain people that they knew their bodies, his fiance or his sister. They agreed that if they were going to eat the bodies they would eat them last. It's true. It was in the story. One man, he had his prospective wife. One man had his sister or sister-in-law, cousin. They said, "If we're going to eat the bodies, then we'll eat them the last." So they had a sense that this body is more important than that body, like that.
Prabhupāda: No, in last war they ate stool also.
Prabhupāda: No. It is just like, winter season. The season is winter, but still, you can keep yourself warm. If you like, you can keep yourself in warm. So daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). Nature's course is very strong, going on, according to the program, but mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te: "Anyone who surrenders unto Me, he's above this degradation." (French)
Yogeśvara: You tell Prabhupāda how he's (M. Lallier) helping with the translation work.
Pṛthu Putra: After we translate your books in French, he reads the copies over, and he arranges the style to make it flow and he corrects the errors, grammatical errors.
Prabhupāda: On the 29th.
Yogeśvara: One day, 29th of June. Ratha-yātrā festival like in Jagannātha Purī.
Professor La Combe: Today it is better here, little warmer. (indistinct) unusually cool for this time.
Yogeśvara: How are you feeling? When we went to visit you in your office, it wasn't sure whether you could come because you were not feeling very well.
Professor La Combe: I am not very well.
Prabhupāda: What is your age?
Professor La Combe: I got cold.
Prabhupāda: No, age.
Prabhupāda: The simplest method is to associate with the Father, or the Absolute Truth. By association. This association can be possible. God, His name, His form, His pastimes, His abode, His paraphernalia, everything is God, because absolute. First of all you should understand this Absolute Truth. Just like here in the relative world the name of a person is different from the person. But in the absolute world the name and the person the same. So we are teaching or preaching this, that you chant the holy name of God, you associate immediately with God. And if you associate immediately with God then gradually you become Godly. The example is, just like you put one iron rod in the fire it becomes warm, warmer, warmer and, at last, red-hot. When it is red-hot, it is no longer iron rod, it is fire. Similarly, if you simply associate with God then gradually you become Godly or or all the qualities of God. Then you understand God and your life becomes perfect. (German) (break)
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Devotee (1): For one period of two or three days we were going to the airport and simply... This was during the whole controversy about the cheating and the honesty and..., that controversy. So we just went and we just started preaching. And we actually didn't find that much of a diminution in the sales of the literatures. In fact one time a couple of us went out in dhotīs even to the airport, without wigs or anything, for a weekend. And we still did nicely. It was a little more difficult. They weren't so... Some of them weren't as warm. But we find that the businessmen, they can be convinced by just preaching.
Prabhupāda: Read it.
Śrutakīrti: "Dear Gurudāsa, Thank you for your letter of January 2nd and for your continued prayers for me in my work. As you perhaps do not know, I am now ambassador to Israel. I have been in the United States for a couple of weeks but have not been able to arrange for any free time in which I could meet with you and have not been on the West Coast or at any point except Washington and New York. I hope it may be possible at some future time for us to get together, since, as you know, I have great respect for you and your associates who serve the Lord according to your faith and perform many good deeds in these hectic days. Warm personal regards. Sincerely, Kenneth Keating."
Prabhupāda: So any sane man will appreciate our activities. We are doing simply to turn people's attention towards God, that's all. That will make him happy.
Tripurāri: Dallas is warm.
Prabhupāda: Warm, oh.
Tripurāri: Probably warmer than here.
Prabhupāda: New York is cold.
Tripurāri: Yes. Now in New York they're distributing 100,000 Back to Godheads every month, New York temple. And you saw the lugloo from New York?
Prabhupāda: (chuckles) Yes. Which lugloo?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I was thinking of just like Kṛṣṇa's pure devotees like Mother Yaśodā. They are always eternally remaining.
Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) ...strongly warm, then you do not become cool very soon. You must be strongly warm, fire temperature. Then you will act as fire.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And the process for heating up the fire?
Prabhupāda: You keep yourself with fire.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Jaya. That is you.
Prabhupāda: Don't go outside the fire. Then you keep yourself warm. And temperature increase exactly like fire. That is required. That is the motto of our Back to Godhead: "Godhead is light, nescience is darkness. Where there is Godhead there is no nescience." That is the beginning of our movement. Keep Kṛṣṇa always. Satataṁ kīrtayanto mām (BG 9.14). Then you remain Kṛṣṇized. And as soon as you give it up, then think of devils. This is going on. (break)
Prabhupāda: If you see my picture, you see me. This is material picture. But God is omnipotent. God's picture is also God. That is God's potency. Otherwise we are worshiping Deity. People may think: "This is the form of Kṛṣṇa." The form of Kṛṣṇa, the name of Kṛṣṇa, the quality of Kṛṣṇa—they are all Kṛṣṇa. That is Absolute. In the material world there is difference. Otherwise, why they are engaged in chanting, "Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare..." Have they become mad? Because Kṛṣṇa person and Kṛṣṇa's name, the same thing. That is Absolute. So here it is said, man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ. So if you chant Kṛṣṇa's name, that means you are directly associating with Kṛṣṇa. Therefore you are becoming purified. Just like if you associate with fire, you will remain always warm. Is it not? If you remain near the fireplace, you remain always warm. Similarly, if you chant Kṛṣṇa-Kṛṣṇa's name and Kṛṣṇa, not different—then you will remain always spiritual.
Prabhupāda: But the heater is not curing the suffering.
Amogha: But it makes us warm.
Prabhupāda: But a heater, how many men will get heater?
Amogha: Well, we can make them cheaply so that practically everyone...
Prabhupāda: You can, but you do not, neither you can.
Amogha: But in this country everyone, all these houses have heaters.
Prabhupāda: In the... Why do you take in this country? Why not other country?
Amogha: Well, so many countries.
Paramahaṁsa: It's just like in some countries the diseased men, they suffer in the street, but here we give them a nice place to suffer.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Paramahaṁsa: They can suffer in a nice warm hospital...
Prabhupāda: So you are increasing this cancer. Very comfortable at home, but there is cancer.
Paramahaṁsa: But now we have almost got the cure.
Prabhupāda: You have, all right. My point is that you have so many things, but the suffering is going on. That is my point. You increase your means of diminishing suffering, but they are coming in a different way. So the sufferings cannot be stopped. That is not possible. This is the conclusion.
Prabhupāda: Yes. So that is God's omnipotency. When you offer sincere prayer, the words become spiritual. That is wanted. If you sincerely offer your prayers, God understands. Even though sound appears to be material it is no more material; it is spiritual. Just like... I will give you one example. Just you put one iron rod in the fire. So the iron rod becomes warm, warmer, warmer, and then it becomes red hot. When it is red hot, it is no more iron. It is fire. You touch that red hot anywhere; it will burn.
Jesuit: Hm. Transformed, it changes.
Prabhupāda: Yes. So actually there is nothing material. When God consciousness is there, it is spiritual. This... In association with God, everything becomes spiritual. Just like there is a church and there is an ordinary house. People say, " This is church, God's place, and this is house." What is the difference? That is also made of bricks; that is also made of bricks.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Gurukṛpa: Called mahā-tīrtha.
Prabhupāda: After that, I don't remember I ever took bath in the sea.
Gurukṛpa: The water is very warm here.
Bali-mardana: You were taking bath in Yamunā.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that I was regularly, when I was in Vṛndāvana. In childhood I was going with my father to take bathing in the Ganges, Calcutta. That I was going regularly.
Devotee (4): It requires a lot of strength to bathe in the sea. You're being tossed very much.
Prabhupāda: Yes, there will be no more material activities. Just like you take a iron rod and put into the fire. It becomes warm, warmer, and at last it becomes red hot. When the iron rod is red hot, it is no longer iron rod. It is fire. If you touch the iron rod, red hot, anywhere, it will act as fire. Similarly, if you engage your mind in Kṛṣṇa activity the mind becomes Kṛṣṇaized gradually, and when he is advanced, there is no material activities, all spiritual activities. Just like here in this temple there is no material activities. And material activities means based on this illicit sex, meat-eating, intoxication and gambling. Here you will not find anything of this.
Dr. Gerson: I would like to demonstrate through my study which will be going on for two years and then come out as a book, the benefits of giving up illicit sex, meat-eating, and the other things.
Prabhupāda: Spiritualize.
Prabhupāda: Oh.
Jayatīrtha: Europe is always cold.
Prabhupāda: Huh? Europe is always cold.
Jayatīrtha: Always cold. But this palace is in a fairly warm zone. It's got some sort of breeze coming from the Mediterranean Sea, I think. Anyway, it keeps it a little warmer than most places. And it does not snow very much during the winter, they say. Besides the palace, there are some other buildings also. One place they are going to use for a gośāla, and one place for a Gurukula. And then several householder houses.
Prabhupāda: And the land for farming?
Brahmānanda: Very cloudy today.
Jayatīrtha: Yeah, it's cloudy. (break) ...June in the history of Los Angeles.
Prabhupāda: Ācchā?
Jayatīrtha: Yes. It was warmer in January, the paper says, than now. During the day. (break)
Prabhupāda: ...this warm. But it is cold. (break)
Brahmānanda: In London, when I came there, the weather was very sunny and bright. It was very pleasant.
Jayatīrtha: Here the sun goes down at eleven o'clock and it gets up at four o'clock. (break)
Prabhupāda: Oh, that's very good. Winter?
Nityānanda: No snow, it's always rain. We can grow vegetables in the summer, and different vegetables in the winter. So the cows they can stay outside all year. They don't have to stay in the barn, it's warm enough.
Prabhupāda: Very ideal spot. Develop it and show how we can live peacefully.
Nityānanda: This combination of a temple in the city where they can preach and bring people out to their farm is very good.
Prabhupāda: ...healthy place.
Nityānanda: So mostly gṛhasthas should stay on the farms, or brahmacārīs also?
Prabhupāda: No. This is not good. Ghee should be prepared where there is no more use. The Indian village, simply by keeping cows, they... Just like Nanda Mahārāja was keeping cows. Similarly there are many villages. So the system is: they have got a big pan, and whatever milk is collected, put into that pan. It is being warmed. So they drink, the whole family members. They drink milk whenever they like. So whatever milk remains at night, they have to convert it into yogurt. The next day they use milk and yogurt also, as he likes. Then, after converting the milk into yogurt, still, it remains. It is stocked. So when there is sufficient old yogurt, they churn it and then butter comes out. So they take the butter, and the water separated from the butter, that is called whey? Whey, yes. So they... Instead of dahl, they use this whey, for capati. It will be very healthy and tasty. And then the butter they turn into ghee. So where is the loss, (indistinct)? You require (indistinct).
Prabhupāda: How long they can stay in the water?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: If it's warm weather they can stay all day.
Prabhupāda: Acchā?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: In the cold weather, a few hours. They put on these black suits made out of a certain fabric—it's called a wet suit—and they are able to stay in the water much longer. It insulates, insulates the body from the cold water.
Prabhupāda: Going for surfing?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: These gentlemen? No, I don’t think so. These young boys are. (break) …surf, we tell them, "Yes, we surf in the ocean of bhakti-rasa."
Prabhupāda: Anywhere.
Harikeśa: So in the warmer climates it seems like a better place for spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Prabhupāda: In warmer climate you can live inexpensively, and freely. In winter climate, there is no freedom, neither it is inexpensive. Very expensive. (break) ...some Phunsie(?). Phunsie.
Harikeśa: Oh, those potato balls.
Prabhupāda: Hm. With banana.
Harikeśa: With banana.
Prabhupāda: Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa nāmādi na bhaved grahyam indriyaiḥ (Brs. 1.2.234). By these material senses, you cannot understand God. Nāmādi. Even you cannot understand His holy name. Our understanding of God begins by chanting the holy name. So by chanting, chanting, because God is not different from the name, you associate with name..., er, with God, and then you become cleansed. This is the process. God is not different from His holy name. So you chant the holy name of God. That means you associate with God immediately. Just like you associate with the sun immediately, er, sunshine—you become warm—similarly, by associating with God, you become God conscious. This is our program. We are giving chance people to associate with God directly by chanting His holy name. God is omnipotent. His name is as omnipotent as He is. These fools, they do not know that.
Indian man (1): Coconut tree along this side. Prabhupāda asking.
Ambarisa: (break) ...warm weather in Florida.
Prabhupāda: Huh? In Honolulu. That means it depends on weather also, not only seaside. (break)
Lokanātha: We chant, "Gaura Nityānanda bol, haribol, haribol..."
Prabhupāda: That is all right.
Lokanātha: "Gaura śrī advaita..." Is it recommended by you? That is in our paramparā? And what about "jaya jagannātha, jaya jagannātha"?
Prabhupāda: Yes. That's all right. (break) ...anukīrtanam, to chant always the Lord's name. So these are Lord's name. Jagannātha is also Lord's name. Nityānanda is also Lord's name. (break) ...harer nāma harer nāma eva kevalam (CC Adi 17.21). So harer nāma can be chanted.
| Page Title: | Warm (Conversations 1968 - 1975) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 12 of Nov, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=43, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 43 |