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We understand (Lectures, SB)

Expressions researched:
"we understand" |"we understood"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase query: "we understand" or "we understood" not "if you understand" not "if one understands" not "if they understand" not "if he understands" not "if we understand" not " If anyone understands" not "If i understand" not "if somebody understands"

Lectures

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.1.1 -- London, August 6, 1971:

Pradyumna: "And Brahmā, the original living being, has explained the subject of Śrī Kṛṣṇa substantially in his treatise named Brahma-saṁhitā. In the Sāma-veda Upaniṣad it is also stated that Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the divine son of Devakī."

Prabhupāda: Some of the foolish scholars, they say that Kṛṣṇa was a, I mean to say, powerful, what is called? Aborigine. And the Kṛṣṇa worshipers have taken Him because He was very powerful. Kṛṣṇa is always powerful. But they have misinterpreted in this way. Kṛṣṇa is mentioned in the Vedas. Just like these books, Brahma-saṁhitā. Brahma-saṁhitā is only description of Kṛṣṇa, and this book was composed by Lord Brahmā. Nobody knows how many millions of years ago this book was composed, but we understand that it was composed by Brahmā on the authority of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Our process is to take knowledge from the authority. We don't bother whether Brahma-saṁhitā was actually written by Brahmā or not. The so-called scholars and anthropologists and... What is called? Archaeologists, they may go on talking, but we have got a very nice process, to receive knowledge through paramparā system, Vedic succession, disciplic succession.

Lecture on SB 1.1.1 -- London, August 7, 1971:

If we take, try to understand Kṛṣṇa materially that... Just like if you take from some stock one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, like that, then the stock will be finished at a certain point. Kṛṣṇa is not like that. Pūrṇam. The Veda says Kṛṣṇa is pūrṇam, complete. What kind of pūrṇam? We understand also complete. But if you want to take something from the complete, gradually it will reduce, and ultimately it becomes zero. So Kṛṣṇa is not like that. The Vedas say that pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam eva avaśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation). He's complete. So many incarnations are coming from Him, just like the waves of the river; still, he's complete. Pūrṇasya pūrṇam. From original Kṛṣṇa so many incarnations are coming. But still, He's there.

Lecture on SB 1.1.1 -- London, August 7, 1971:

Can you say what is God?" The reply will be, "No. We don't believe in God. We don't believe." Why? You believe in the laws of God? "Yes, that we are studying." But the laws means somebody has made that law. That is our experience. Just like when we understand government laws, we understand also the government has enacted this law. We understand that. Just like on the street when you go, it is written there, "Keep to the left." It is the order of the government. You have abide by that. That is obedience to the government. Discipline. Discipline is the first law of obedience. If people do not care for the government laws, then there will be chaos.

Lecture on SB 1.1.2 -- London, August 17, 1971:

So that is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, that these laws, these material laws of nature, they are very strong. They are enacted by the Supreme Lord, as we understand from the Bhagavad-gītā, mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). Mayādhyakṣeṇa, "Under My superintendence." The laws... Just like laws are there; at the same time, the government has got a department which is called law and order department. The laws are going on nicely, the law and order department examines. So that examiner, departmental, may be, but the original examiner is the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, mayā adhyakṣeṇa: "Under My superintendence."

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

And Caitanya Mahāprabhu begins from there. Jīvera svarūpa haya nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109). When Sanātana Gosvāmī inquired from him, "What I am?" so He replied that "You are eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa." This is the beginning of bhāgavata-dharma. Unless we understand that we are eternal servants of Kṛṣṇa, there is no beginning of spiritual life. It is still material life. That conviction must be there. Go on.

Lecture on SB 1.2.5 -- Visakhapatnam, February 20, 1972, At Ladies Club:

What is dharma and Bhāgavata dharma? Bhāgavata dharma means the dharma of the soul, and ordinary dharma means the dharma of this body. Generally we understand the varṇāśrama-dharma, cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā śṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ: (BG 4.13) the brāhmaṇas, the kṣatriyas, the vaiśyas, and the śūdras, brahmacārī, gṛhasta, vānaprastha, and sannyāsa. So actually this is our..., Vedic principle is varṇāśrama-dharma. So this varṇāśrama-dharma is in relationship with this body. But we are not this body. Dehāntaraṁ prāp..., we are changing our body. So sometimes we may become a śūdra, sometimes we may become brāhmaṇa—that is change.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Montreal, August 3, 1968:

Now, this sṛjāmi, this word, is used in Sanskrit: "something manufactured." Something manufactured. Just like I make this spectacle case. Or you make. This is called sṛjāmi. But actually we understand like that, but here sṛjāmi, this word, as explained by Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa, a learned scholar who said that sṛjāmi means prakaṭāmi(?), "I appear." Now, if you say this word means manufactured... The Māyāvādī philosophers, they take advantage of this word, and they say that "Kṛṣṇa or anyone," I mean to say, "incarnation of God, that is created." That means they understand that as so many material things are created... Anything which we find here in this room, that is created.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Montreal, August 3, 1968:

And Rāma presented Himself as an ideal king. He did not manifest Himself as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but from symptoms of authentic literature we understand that He is God. But Kṛṣṇa personally said that "I am the Supreme Personality of God." Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya: (BG 7.7) "There is no superior truth beyond Me." The Rāmacandra never said that, that... He never said that "I am God." But those who are intelligent, they understood that He is God.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Hyderabad, November 26, 1972:

So, why the different bodies are there if there is not a superior endowment? Why different bodies? Can you answer this? Unless there is some superior endowment that "You accept this body, you take this body," you have to accept. You cannot deny it. Because in the Vedas we understand, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). You have to, after death you have accept another body. But what kind of body you are going to accept, that you do not know. But there is superior judgement that "You have done such-and-such karma, you accept this body." How can you deny it?

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Mauritius, October 5, 1975:

You cannot manufacture law at your home. That is not law. Similarly, religion means the law given by God. Therefore we must know who is God and what kind of law He is giving to us. This is religion.

So from Bhagavad-gītā we understand, Kṛṣṇa or God, says, yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata, tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham: (BG 4.7) "When there is discrepancies in the matter of discharging religion, then I incarnate, I descend." Why?

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Mauritius, October 5, 1975:

The superior engagement is explained here, sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo (SB 1.2.6). Superior engage means to remain engaged in devotional service of the Supreme Lord. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje. Bhakti. Bhakti means devotional service. When we understand the Adhokṣaja, the Supreme, the Absolute Truth, then we understand our position. Our position is eternal servant of God. This is our position. But at the present moment, because we are not in the superior energy, in the activities of the superior energy, we are struggling hard with this material energy.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Mauritius, October 5, 1975:

So Arjuna, he... Of course, sentiment... Just like theoretically we understand, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Still, when my son dies I become affected. That is temporary. That is temporary. But Arjuna, after hearing Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa gave him the liberty that "Now I have spoken to you everything. Now whatever you..." (break) ...under certain circumstances. But if your conviction is that "I shall act according to the order of God," that is final. That is final. He did not act against the will of the Lord. That is his victory. Temporarily he might have been disturbed when his son was killed. That is a different thing. Everyone becomes. But that does not mean he stopped work.

Lecture on SB 1.2.7 -- Hyderabad, April 21, 1974:

This human form of life is meant for jñāna and vairāgya. Jñāna means vairāgya, and vairāgya cannot be achieved without jñāna. These two are relative terms. So jñānam means that "I am not this body, and my relationship with my body, they are also not my necessities." This is called jñāna. And as soon as we understand that the simply necessities of my body are not required, that is called detachment, or vairāgya. Without jñānam, we are simply thinking that we must satisfy the senses. Body means the senses. Indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ (BG 3.42). So in the bodily concept of life, or in ajñāna, this ignorance, our business is to satisfy the senses, that is called ajñānam, ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8), sense gratification.

Lecture on SB 1.2.10 -- Bombay, December 28, 1972:

"Because that process of hearing from the right person is now broken, therefore I am speaking the same truth, Bhagavad-gītā, again unto you, because you are My very dear friend and devotee." So our process is that. We understand, we try to understand the absolute (break) ...imperfect, my knowledge is not perfect. But because I hear from the dear friend and devotee of Kṛṣṇa, therefore whatever I speak, that is perfect. I am not manufacturing. I may be imperfect—I am imperfect; actually I am imperfect—but I am carrying the message, Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says, "I am the Supreme Personality of Godhead"; we say, "Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead."

Lecture on SB 1.2.12 -- Delhi, November 18, 1973:

Here one who is black, nobody likes to see, naturally. But Kṛṣṇa is black, at the same time the most exquisitely beautiful. That we cannot adjust. In another place it is said, asitāmbuda-sundarāṅgam. Asitāmbuda-sundarāṅgam. Asitāmbuda-sundarāṅgam. His body is just like black cloud. Kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya. Kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya. We understand Kandarpa, the Cupid, as very beautiful, but if you millions of Kandarpas act together to increase the beauty, that is also not comparable with Kṛṣṇa's beauty. So these contradictory terms cannot be understood unless one has got the ointment of love of Godhead. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena. Añjana. Añjana we understand, a kind of ointment. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti (Bs. 5.38).

Lecture on SB 1.2.20 -- Vrndavana, October 31, 1972:

The jñānaṁ me parama-guhyam, the knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is very, very confidential. Jñānaṁ me parama-guhyaṁ yad vijñāna-samanvitam. It is not sentiment. It is full of scientific knowledge. So when we understand the truth, the Absolute Truth, scientifically, that is called bhagavat-tattva-vijñānam. That bhagavat-tattva-vijñānam is understandable by a person who is liberated. One who is very busy, anxious with politics, sociology, humanitarianism, one who is very busy always in politics, how he can become interested or how he can understand bhagavat-tattva-vijñānam? That is not possible.

Lecture on SB 1.2.23 -- Vrndavana, November 3, 1972:

So if we take shelter of Kṛṣṇa, according to the injunction of the śāstras and Vedas... Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15). That is stated in Bhagavad-gītā. The purpose of all Vedic Knowledge is to understand Kṛṣṇa, and as soon as we understand Kṛṣṇa, what He is, then tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9), then hariṁ vinā na mṛtiṁ taranti. If we want to stop this repetition of birth, death, old age and disease, then we must take shelter of Lord Viṣṇu. And Kṛṣṇa is the origin of all viṣṇu-tattva. That means we must become Kṛṣṇa conscious. That is our highest benefit of life.

Lecture on SB 1.3.11-12 -- Los Angeles, September 17, 1972:

And He deprecated Māyāvāda philosophy in so many ways. He was to establish the worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and He was exemplifying Himself, how to become a devotee. So He never mentioned that He is incarnation. But we understand from the features of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu that He (is) incarnation of Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on SB 1.5.9-11 -- New Vrindaban, June 6, 1969:

Just like the light's natural function is to give illumination. Prakāśa. Similarly, your natural function is to serve Kṛṣṇa. That's all. You have no other business. That is dharma. No other business. When we understand this convincingly, then we are situated in our religion. Just like Kṛṣṇa said. In the beginning of Bhagavad-gītā He says, dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya. Just to reestablish religion.

Lecture on SB 1.5.9-11 -- New Vrindaban, June 6, 1969:

In the beginning of Bhāgavata it is said vāstava-vastu. Vastu means substance, the summum bonum. And vāstava, in relation to the summum bonum.

So if we try to understand everything in relationship with Kṛṣṇa, then we understand vāstava reality. That is reality. If we study something minus Kṛṣṇa, that is not real knowledge. Actually, Kṛṣṇa is the original cause of all. Sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1). So unless we come to the point of Kṛṣṇa, any understanding, any knowledge is imperfect.

Lecture on SB 1.5.13 -- New Vrindaban, June 16, 1969:

Demons, they are mūḍha-mūḍha means rascal—and duṣkṛtina, always acting sinful. Their life is simply full of sinful activities. So Kṛṣṇa consciousness cannot be accepted by persons who are full with sinful activities. That is not possible. That is not possible because in the Bhagavad-gītā we understand, Kṛṣṇa says, yeṣām anta-gataṁ pāpam: "One who has finished his sinful activities, or sinful life...," yeṣām anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ janānāṁ puṇya-karmaṇām, "always engaged in pious activities..." If you don't engage yourself in pious activities, naturally you'll be engaged...

Just like this child. He wants some activities. He's fortunate by the association. He is engaged with Jagannātha, with Hare Kṛṣṇa, with Kṛṣṇa's picture, with Prabhupāda's picture. He's engaged.

Lecture on SB 1.8.20 -- Mayapura, September 30, 1974:

Such kind of literature is revolutionary. Revolutionary. Viplavaḥ. Viplava means revolution. What kind of viplava? Just like in the revolution one political party gains victory over another political party, or one kind of... We understand revolution means political revolution. One kind of political thoughts are overpowered by another kind of political thoughts. That is called revolution. So the English word is revolution, and the Sanskrit word is viplava. So tad-vāg-visargo janatāgha-viplavaḥ. If such literatures are presented... Just like we are presenting. We are not very big scholar. Our... We have no such qualification that we can compose very nice literature. There may be so many mistakes or... Whatever it may be. But it is revolutionary. That is a fact. It is revolutionary.

Lecture on SB 1.8.25 -- Vrndavana, October 5, 1974:

The rascals, they cannot understand that what is our real difficulty or suffering. Mūḍha. Therefore the mūḍhas, they do not know it, that what is our actual suffering.

We understand from Bhagavad-gītā, na jāyate na mriyate, that "This living entity is never born, never dies." This information we get, very simple information. We are taking information from whom? Kṛṣṇa, jagad-guru, the supreme guru, the original guru. Guru means Kṛṣṇa's representative. A guru cannot be manufactured. Guru means... Kṛṣṇa is jagad-guru, and one who speaks on behalf of Kṛṣṇa or one who speaks as Kṛṣṇa says, he is guru. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, āmāra ājñāya guru hañā: (CC Madhya 7.128) "You just become guru on My order."

Lecture on SB 1.8.29 -- Mayapura, October 9, 1974:

So Kṛṣṇa also, He was playing the part of ordinary human being, but He was, in His own life, He was demonstrating how Kṛṣṇa comes here, what for He comes, why He took part in the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra. These things are to be understood. Unless we understand these things, why Kṛṣṇa came, why He took part in the battlefield—and there are so many other things ordinarily done—then, if we simply take Kṛṣṇa as ordinary human being... Mūḍha, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam.. (BG 9.11).. Because He's playing the part of human being, if somebody derides, mūḍha, then it is viḍambanam-he'll be cheated. That is explained here: tavehamānasya nṛṇāṁ viḍambanam. Viḍambana.

Lecture on SB 1.8.30 -- Mayapura, October 10, 1974:

Viṣṇu-sahasra-nāma is recommended to be chanted by common man. But śāstra says that after chanting one thousand of Lord Viṣṇu's name—there are hundreds and thousands of names—it is equal to if you chant once Lord Rāma's name. Similarly, if you chant three times Lord Rāma's name, then it is equal to once chanting Kṛṣṇa's name. So we understand or not understand, if we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, the result is there. Without any offense, if we chant, then the result is... Once chanting of Kṛṣṇa's name is so powerful that immediately the chanting makes you free from all kinds of reaction of sinful activities. Eka kṛṣṇa-nāme yata pāpa hare, pāpī haya tata pāpa kari bare nare(?). The pāpīs, they are very much expert in committing sinful activities, but Kṛṣṇa, this holy name, once chanted, is so powerful that this expert sinful man cannot commit so many sinful activities. This is there. So some way or other, if we offenselessly chant Hare Kṛṣṇa name, it is so powerful.

Lecture on SB 1.8.32 -- Mayapura, October 12, 1974:

Sun does not rise nor set. Sun is already there. Your imperfect eyes—you see there is sunrise, there is sunset. Is it not a fact? Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is always there, but because we do not know Kṛṣṇa, therefore we understand that Kṛṣṇa is taking birth from Devakī, or Kṛṣṇa has taken birth in the family of the Yadus. Yes, He appears like that, that He has taken birth in the Yadu family. Because why? The purpose is to glorify the family because it belongs to the devotee, Mahārāja Yadu. That is His purpose. His real purpose is that the Yadu dynasty... Mahārāja Yadu was a great devotee. Here the yadoḥ priyasya. He appears to take birth in the family of Mahārāja Yadu. Just like Lord Rāmacandra. He took birth in the family of Mahārāja Raghu.

Lecture on SB 1.8.33 -- Los Angeles, April 25, 1972:

It doesn't matter, however fallen a man is. If he follows our instruction then he can be turned.

That is called dharma. Dharma means to bring one to his original position. That is dharma. So there may be degrees. But the original position is that we are part and parcel of God, and, when we understand that we are part and parcel of God, that is our real position of life. That is called brahma-bhūta (SB 4.30.20) stage, understanding his Brahman realization, identification. So Kṛṣṇa comes... This explanation...

Lecture on SB 1.8.34 -- Mayapur, October 14, 1974:

So possibility and impossibility does not depend on our understanding. We have to take knowledge from the authority. Here, in the Vedic literature, we understand that Brahmā was born directly from the father. So we have to accept it. That is called Vedic knowledge. You cannot argue. That is possible. That is omnipotency. All potencies are there.

So Brahmā was approached by the earth, mother earth. She felt overburdened by the sinful activities of the demons. So Brahmā approaches Nārāyaṇa, er, Viṣṇu—not directly he can see, but he can stand on the bank of the ocean of milk, and from there he can submit his petition. And Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu gives His order.

Lecture on SB 1.8.36 -- Mayapura, October 16, 1974:

So therefore they have been described in the śāstra: andha. Andha means blind, rascal They do not know. Actually they have no knowledge that without Kṛṣṇa consciousness the human society can be happy. That is not possible. They do not know this. But by Kṛṣṇa's grace, by our guru-paramparā's grace, we understand, we people who are conducting this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, that without being Kṛṣṇa conscious, nobody will be happy. Therefore our struggle is different. We are trying to make the people actually happy. Sarve sukhino bhavantu: "Everyone become happy." Otherwise, what is the use of collecting so much money and constructing such big building and inviting them, "Please come here. We have got nice room, and you shall get food without any hard work"? Why we are...? Still, they will not come.

Lecture on SB 1.8.45 -- Los Angeles, May 7, 1973:

Kṛṣṇa is the origin of everything. If this much we can understand, that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is the cause of all causes, He is the source of everything, these three, four things if we can understand, if we can understand... If we can understand one thing, we understand everything. If you simply understand Kṛṣṇa. That is the Vedic injunction. Yasmin vijñāte sarvam idaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavati. Simply by understanding Kṛṣṇa, everything becomes understood. The scientists, they are making research, so many things, but a Kṛṣṇa conscious person can understand very easily all the problems of the world.

Lecture on SB 1.10.11-12 -- Mayapura, June 25, 1973:

So once associating with these sat people, he cannot make anymore association asat. Here is a vivid examples: Hṛṣīkeśa. He left our company. He associated with some asat. Asat means nondevotees. Asat, generally, we understand rogues and thieves. But those who are devotees, they're less than rogues and thieves. Those who are not devotees, they're less than rogues and thieves. So he could not associate. It was struggle. At last, he had to leave.

So sat-saṅgān mukta-duḥsaṅgaḥ. Once you are associated sincerely with devotees, he cannot mix with nondevotees. This is the test. This is the test. Svalpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt. If once only... Sakṛt. Here it is said, kīrtyamānaṁ yaśo yasya sakṛd ākarṇya rocanam.

Lecture on SB 1.15.21 -- Los Angeles, December 1, 1973:

That's a fact. It is dead from the very beginning. Because it is matter. Matter is always dead. So this body made of matter, bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ (BG 7.4)—earth, water, fire, air. This external body is dead, but it is living on account of that small spark of spirit. That is the real meant. That we understand from Bhagavad..., dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). Dehinaḥ, the small spark, spiritual spark, he is within this body. This is the first understanding of spiritual knowledge. You must know. This is the beginning of Bhagavad-gītā. When Bhagavad-gītā was taught to Arjuna, Arjuna was lamenting for this body. So Kṛṣṇa, when He was accepted Arjuna's spiritual master, śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam (BG 2.7), then He advised him that "You are talking like a very learned scholar."

Lecture on SB 1.15.31 -- Los Angeles, December 9, 1973:

Similarly, if one body has got inferior car, he thinks that "I am poor"; identifying with the car.

But he's not car. He's different from car. This knowledge is required. This is called viśoko brahma-sampattyā. When we understand our spiritual identity, then we are no more lamenting or jubilation, equilibrium. Read the purport. It is very important verse.

Lecture on SB 1.15.31 -- Los Angeles, December 9, 1973:

So sane man should take lesson from Bhagavad-gītā that "If I am as good as Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa is eternal, I am eternal; Kṛṣṇa is spiritual, I am spiritual; Kṛṣṇa never dies or never takes birth, I do not take birth; I never die," in this way actually we understand that I'm identical in quality with Kṛṣṇa. Then that is called brahma-sampattyā, this knowledge, brahma-sampattyā viśokaḥ. This is it. Then you become free from all lamentation.

Lecture on SB 1.16.1 -- Los Angeles, December 29, 1973:

There were no so many nations or no so many presidents or... No. Simply one king. Mahīm, this world. Mahīm means the earthly planet. This is the history. From Mahā-bhāgavata, er, Mahābhārata we understand that, that the whole world was under one flag, these Pāṇḍavas. Now United Nations means three thousand flags, three thousand nations. So that is not democracy, or that is not good ruling. The best ruling is monarchy, and monarch means he must be a perfectly trained-up person by the best brāhmaṇas. That is perfect government. Not that this democracy, some rascals and fools they are voting another rascal and fool, and by hook and crook he comes to the post. He does not like to give it up, and makes things very miserable.

Lecture on SB 1.16.4 -- Los Angeles, January 1, 1974:

Therefore the process is at least don't act sinfully. Then you will get higher-class birth. Ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthāḥ (BG 14.18). You will get chance of taking your birth in higher planetary system where the standard of living is many, many thousands better than this planet. Just like Svargaloka, Janaloka. From our śāstra we understand that the inhabitants of Candraloka, moon planet, they live for ten thousands of years, but these rascals are going there. They do not find any living entity. So that is the contradiction. But we believe that in the moon planet... And why we shall not believe? If the living entities are found everywhere, so why, what moon planet has done that there should be no living entity? From our experience we can see living entity is there on the land, in the air, in the water, even in the fire.

Lecture on SB 1.16.4 -- Los Angeles, January 1, 1974:

So whatever it may be, we have to follow our own principles, and there is no reason to disbelieve that in other planets there are no living entities. We cannot accept it.

So anyway, in every planet there is kingdom or there is government. Because in the Bhagavad-gītā we understand, Kṛṣṇa says,

imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ
proktavān aham avyayam
vivasvān manave prāha
manur ikṣvākave 'bravīt
(BG 4.1)

Kṛṣṇa said that "This philosophy, this Bhagavad-gītā yoga system, I first of all explained to the sun-god, whose name is Vivasvān."

Lecture on SB 1.16.7 -- Los Angeles, January 4, 1974:

Sahasra-yuga-paryantam ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ (BG 8.17). In the Brahmaloka, the duration of twelve hours, our twelve hours, morning to evening, that is many millions of years to our calculation. So even if you go to that planet Brahmaloka, as you are trying to go to the moon planet... From śāstra we understand in the moon planet, they live up to ten thousands of years according to heavenly calculation. In each planet, in each society, the calculation is different. So it is calculated that in the moon planet you can live for ten thousands of years, and that calculation is compared: our six months equal to one day in that planet. So just imagine how many years of our calculation they can live.

Lecture on SB 1.16.26-30 -- Hawaii, January 23, 1974:

Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā sarvair guṇaiḥ, all the good qualities. These are the good qualities, mentioned here: satyaṁ śaucam, śamo damaḥ santoṣa ārjavam, sāmyam, so many, twenty-six good qualities of Vaiṣṇava. These good qualities will be manifest. Then we understand, "Oh, here is actually a pure devotee." A pure devotee cannot be contaminated, just like God cannot be contaminated. But we are part and parcel, a small God. We can say, "God, I am God," but if you have got sense, you will say that "I am not the great God, but I am small God." That is sense. Because you have got the God qualities, you are not the Supreme.

Lecture on SB 2.1.1-5 -- Melbourne, June 26, 1974:

Madhudviṣa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, you spoke of inferior energy and superior energy. Those are two general categories. Are there other categories of energies besides that, and specifically how could we understand Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī? Is She...

Prabhupāda: She is spiritual energy.

Madhudviṣa: But is She jīva-bhūta or...

Prabhupāda: No, no, no. She is Kṛṣṇa. If everything is Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī is not Kṛṣṇa, what is that? Kṛṣṇa. He (She) is Kṛṣṇa. She is the Kṛṣṇa's pleasure potency.

Lecture on SB 2.1.2-5 -- Montreal, October 23, 1968:

Then it is perfect life. Otherwise it is crazy life. We may try to live by so much hard struggle of life, but we cannot exist. We can exist only when we understand "What I am." This is diagnosis. If I know that what is my actual need, if I know what is my actual position, if I know that wherefrom I have come and where I have to go, all these informations, if we are fully informed, that is perfection of life. Otherwise it is simply defeat, whatever we may do here. Apaśyatām. Teṣāṁ pramatto nidhanaṁ paśyann api na paśyati.

Lecture on SB 2.1.5 -- Delhi, November 8, 1973:

One who understands that "Here is Supreme Personality of Godhead," He is budha, he is in knowledge. Budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ.

So that bhāva required. Unless we understand what is God, what is His nature, how He acts, what is our duty, what is our relationship, then we are nothing better than cats and dogs, simply... śrotavyādīni rājendra nṛṇāṁ santi (SB 2.1.2), simply talking, talking, talking, and reading and reading, but no understanding of God. This is useless life, cats' and dogs' life. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is saving people from becoming cats and dogs just to make them human being.

Lecture on SB 2.2.5 -- Los Angeles, December 2, 1968:

This life of spiritual execution cannot be hampered by any material condition. From Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam we understand that sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje (SB 1.2.6). That is the highest type of religious performances by which one can achieve the perfection of loving God. Yato bhaktir adhokṣaje. Bhakti means to offer transcendental loving service to the Supreme Lord. Bhakti. Bhaj-dhātu sevayā(?). Bhaj. Bhaj-dhātu, it is a verb, bhaj. Bhaj means to render service just like servant renders service to the master, friend renders service to the friend, wife renders service to the husband, husband renders service to the wife. This service-rendering process is going on everywhere.

Lecture on SB 2.4.3-4 -- Los Angeles, June 27, 1972:

This is not human civilization, in one sense, because there is question of dharma. Dharma means religion. Religion... not exactly in the same way as we understand in English language: "a kind of faith." Dharma. Generally, people understand that "I have got my own dharma." "I am Hindu; I am Christian; I am Muslim; I am this; I am that." But in Sanskrit language, dharma does not mean like that, "a kind of faith." No. Faith is blind. Today you are Hindu, tomorrow you are Christian, today you are Christian. So this faith-changing is not dharma. Dharma means "which you cannot change." That is dharma. Not that whimsically I change. That dharma is service. Every one of us rendering some service to others. That is dharma.

Lecture on SB 2.9.1 -- Tokyo, April 20, 1972:

So this situation, our contact with matter, is just like dream. Actually we are not fallen. Therefore, because we are not fallen, at any moment we can revive our Kṛṣṇa consciousness. As soon as we understand that, "I have nothing to do with. I am simply Kṛṣṇa's servant. Eternal servant. That's all," immediately he becomes liberated. Exactly like that: as soon as you... Sometimes we do that. When the fearful dreaming becomes too much intolerable, we break the dream. We break the dream when it becomes intolerable. Similarly, we can break this material connection at any moment as soon as we come to the point of Kṛṣṇa conscious. "Oh, Kṛṣṇa is my eternal master. I am His servant." That's all. This is the way.

Lecture on SB 2.9.11-15 -- Tokyo, April 28, 1972:

Otherwise what is the meaning of king? "God is imperson. God is zero"—what is this nonsense God? If our great conception, king or president, we understand is a great personality, if in this tiny material world in one corner of this planet there is a big president like Nixon and he has got secretary, his staff, his this and that, so many things, and why God should be without any associates, nirākāra, nirviśeṣa, zero? What kind of God? He must be associated with so many associates. Then?

Lecture on SB 3.12.19 -- Dallas, March 3, 1975:

So Kṛṣṇa is not so very easily understood, but by the grace of Kṛṣṇa we can understand Him if we follow. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya: (BG 7.7) "My dear Dhanañjaya, there is no more superior power than Me, or greater than Me." So if we accept the statement of Kṛṣṇa, then we understand Kṛṣṇa immediately. Otherwise, by speculation, it is not possible. That is the fact. There are so many... Such a person, such a big, who is estimated as very, very big person, Mahatma Gandhi, he could not understand Kṛṣṇa. From his writing we see. He said, "I don't believe that there was any person Kṛṣṇa living ever."

Lecture on SB 3.25.5-6 -- Bombay, November 5, 1974:

So that is tattva-jñāna. Unless we understand the varieties of the Absolute Truth, if we simply stick to the indefinite, impersonal feature of the Absolute Truth, then there is chance of falling down. Generally, they fall down. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Because they are not allowed to enter into the Vaikuṇṭha planets, they simply remaining in the Brahman effulgence, and that does not stay. They fall down. Again they come down in these material varieties. We have seen many, many sannyāsīs. They first of all give up... Brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā:

Lecture on SB 3.25.18 -- Bombay, November 18, 1974:

If anyone hasn't got to serve anything, then he picks up a master, a cat and dog, and serves him. Because service is my nature. But we are missing where to put the service. That is Kṛṣṇa. That is, that is Kṛṣṇa.

So when we understand that we are missing... We are serving, but we are having no pleasure. Kāmādīnāṁ kati na katidhā pālitā durnideśāḥ. We are serving... Instead of serving Kṛṣṇa, I am serving my lusty desires. Kāma-lobhādi. If I go to serve any office, I am not going to serve that particular person, proprietor of the office, but I require some money. Therefore I am serving. So I am serving the money, not the person.

Lecture on SB 3.25.27 -- Bombay, November 27, 1974:

You cannot eat. You must put here. And then you get the benefit. And if you spoil the rasagullā in your hand and don't put into the mouth, then everything is spoiled. Similarly, we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Our business is to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. Ekaṁ bahu syām. The Vedas, we understand God has become many. Many... In many ways we are also part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. There are two kinds of manys. One many is called svāṁśa. Svāṁśa means personal expansions. And another expansion is differential expansion. The differential expansion are we, the living entities. We are also expansion of Kṛṣṇa, and the viṣṇu-tattva, They're personal expansions.

Lecture on SB 3.25.27 -- Bombay, November 27, 1974:

We have to learn how to forget to serve this material nature. That is bhakti-mārga. It is forced because we have kṛṣṇa-bahirmukha hañā bhoga vāñchā kare. Somehow or other we have forgotten Kṛṣṇa and trying to enjoy this material world under different position. That we have to forget. This is not my business. When we understand this position, that is called self-realization, that "I am not servant of anyone. I am not servant of my country, of my society, of my friend, of my dress, of my cat, of my dog. I am nobody's servant. I am servant of Kṛṣṇa." That is self-realization. That is self-realization. Asevayāyaṁ prakṛter guṇānāṁ jñānena. When one comes to this understanding, not by sentiment, but by real knowledge, jñānena.

Lecture on SB 3.25.41 -- Bombay, December 9, 1974:

When He says, imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam... (BG 4.1) Vivasvān, the name of the sun-god... At the present moment his name is Vivasvān. People do not know what is the sun planet, but we know the president of the sun planet. His name is Vivasvān. How do you know? We understand from Kṛṣṇa. Therefore our knowledge is perfect. You can say, "Have you gone to the sun planet?" No, there is no need of going there. Here is the authority. Kṛṣṇa says, so we accept it, that's all. Our business is finished. Kṛṣṇa is perfect. Whatever He says, it is perfect. Therefore... I am not perfect; that's a fact. But because I am speaking of the words coming from the perfect, therefore it is perfect. It is not speculation. It is very easy for us—because we accept the words of the perfect.

Lecture on SB 3.26.2 -- Bombay, December 14, 1974:

"Give me some mango." You can give. But when you are out of this body, then I ask the body, "Give me some milk or cow or...," no response. This is material and spiritual. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). So jñānam, real knowledge is that, when we understand that I am spiritual being, I am not this material, and I, my country, that is spiritual world. That is my place. That is jñānam, self-realization. Ātma-darśanam, ātma-darśanam. Suppose a foreigner is in America, an Indian is in America, or an American is in India, so he is conscious that "I am American," or "I do not belong to this country." Or Indian when he goes to America, he knows, "I am Indian.

Lecture on SB 3.26.9 -- Bombay, December 21, 1974:

He gets fresh energy. Especially the karmīs, they get energy by the behavior and service of the wife. Otherwise the karmīs cannot work. Anyway, the energy principle is there. Similarly, the Supreme Lord, He has got also energy. In the Vedānta-sūtra we understand that Supreme Personality of Godhead, the original source of everything, Brahman... athāto brahma jijñāsā. That Brahman... In one code Vyāsadeva describes that janmādy asya yataḥ: (SB 1.1.1) "The Brahman, Supreme Absolute Truth, is that from whom everything comes." So unless this principle is there, that Brahman, the Absolute Truth, is also energized or worked with His energies; otherwise why this conception comes within this material world?

Lecture on SB 3.26.16 -- Bombay, December 25, 1974:

Everyone is thinking differently, all living entities. Somebody is thinking, "I am Indian." Somebody is thinking, "I am American," "Hindu," "Muslim," "Christian," "black," "white." So many ways we are thinking. Viparyayo 'smṛtiḥ. Our real identity is when we understand that "I am not Hindu, not Muslim, not Christian, nor American, nor Indian, but I am eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa." Then there is no more fear. That is fear... Bhajahuṅ re mana, śrī-nanda-nandana-abhaya-caraṇāra...

Lecture on SB 3.26.18 -- Bombay, December 27, 1974:

Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). He moves by His energy. That is the difference between the Māyāvāda philosopher and Vaiṣṇava philosopher. Vaiṣṇava philosopher says the Bhagavān is staying in one place. Goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ (Bs. 5.37). He is staying. In the śāstra we understand that Kṛṣṇa... Vṛndāvanaṁ parityajya na padam ekaṁ gacchati: "Kṛṣṇa does not leave even by a step Vṛndāvana." He always remains there. So in the Brahma-saṁhitā also, it is stated that goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ. He is always living in Goloka Vṛndāvana. He does not require to move. That is His inconceivable potency. Suppose I am sitting here. Suppose I have got to do something in my apartment.

Lecture on SB 3.26.20 -- Bombay, December 29, 1974:

This is also slumber in darkness of ignorance. Real awakening is when we come to our spiritual consciousness. That is real awakened. Yā niśā sarva-bhūtānāṁ tasyāṁ jāgarti saṁyamī. This is not, this awakening stage, this is not real awakening. Real awakening comes when we understand, ahaṁ brahmāsmi. At the present moment we are not awakened, still sleeping, because we are thinking, every one of us, "I am this body," "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim." In this way we are conscious of the designation. So we have to get out of the designation, and when we shall understand our real identity, not this bodily identity but spiritual soul identity, that is called brahma-bhūtaḥ. Otherwise we are jīva-bhūtaḥ. So long we are identifying with this body, we are still sleeping.

Lecture on SB 3.26.23-4 -- Bombay, January 1, 1975:

So the process of creation, how, one after another, it takes place, that is described here. So the total energy, mahat-tattva, by interaction, the begins... The moving, the pushing, begins from the bhagavad-vīryatā. Bhagavad-vīrya-sambhavāt. Vīrya means energy. We understand vīrya sometimes—the semina. It is something like that; not exactly the material semina, but potency or energy, spiritual energy. That is the beginning of creation.

Lecture on SB 3.26.23-4 -- Bombay, January 1, 1975:

So wherefrom the creative energy begins? That is... In the Vedic literature we understand, sa aikṣata: "Simply by glancing." Not... When there is the word vīrya, it does not mean that, as in the material world, we discharge semina by sex intercourse. It is not like that. That vīrya, that energy, can be emanated from the Supreme Personality of Godhead any way. Therefore bhagavad-vīrya-sambhavāt. In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is said, aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti. Vīryatā we can understand as semina discharged from the genital. It is not like that. Vīryatā, that vīrya or that energy, can be emanated from any part of the body, of the transcendental spiritual body, everywhere. That is called omnipotency.

Lecture on SB 3.26.28 -- Bombay, January 5, 1975:

In the Brahma-saṁhitā we understand that the Lord is one, but He can expand Himself into multiforms. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam (Bs. 5.33). Nava-yauvanaṁ ca. This is... This expansion is going on from time immemorial. Still, the Lord is nava-yauvanam, very young, sixteen to twenty years old, that's all. Purāṇa. Although He is the ādi, origin of all living entities, still He is young. And although He has expanded Himself into multiforms, still He is one. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam (Bs. 5.33). Advaita. Advaita is one, not that because He has expanded Himself into many forms, therefore He has got many, He has become many. No. He is one still. Pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam eva avaśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation). That is absolute knowledge, that the Supreme Lord, if He expands Himself into supreme for..., er, unlimited forms, unlimited supreme forms, still He remains supreme.

Lecture on SB 3.26.40 -- Bombay, January 15, 1975:

So immediately, he sees anything, because he knows it is Kṛṣṇa's energy... Just like we, generally, as soon as we see in the morning light, we can understand there is sun, immediately. There is no delay. "Now there is sun." The sun may not be visible immediately, but because the darkness is gone and there is light, although glimpse light, now we understand this is morning, and now there is sun. Similarly, a advanced devotee, because he knows everything is Kṛṣṇa's energy... So this is energy study. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, raso 'ham apsu kaunteya: (BG 7.8) "Apsu, in the water, the taste I am," because every one of us becomes thirsty and we take water. And actually it is so; the taste of water is Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on SB 3.26.41 -- Bombay, January 16, 1975:

The modern scientists, they speak of manufacturing water by combination of two gases: hydrogen, oxygen. May be true to certain extent. But from Vedic literature we understand that by the interaction of form and touch through the agency of fire maybe there is perspiration. Just like when our body becomes too much heated, there is perspiration, the water comes out, similarly, the same process we get the water, ambu. And as soon as there is water there is jihvā, the sense of touch, rasa-graha, which can taste. Jihvā is meant for tasting. So this is the way of physical manifestation of different ways. But on the background there is daiva-codita. Everything is coming into existence on account of superior management or superior impelling.

Lecture on SB 3.26.43 -- Bombay, January 18, 1975:

Even a child can... If you teach the child that "When you drink water, you think of God..." Of course, one must have some knowledge what is God. So that according to different status of life... So here from Bhagavad-gītā or Bhāgavata we understand, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). So Kṛṣṇa is here in the temple. Kṛṣṇa is in my room in picture. So that is also not difficult. How easy it is, just try to understand, that if drinking water and if I think, "Here is Kṛṣṇa," and I have seen Kṛṣṇa in the temple, I have seen Kṛṣṇa in my room, my father has shown me, "Here is Kṛṣṇa," then where is the difficulty? And if you think Kṛṣṇa like that—"Here is Kṛṣṇa"—that is the beginning of spiritual life. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇam (SB 7.5.23), memorizing.

Lecture on SB 5.5.1 -- London, August 30, 1971:

King Ṛṣabhadeva... He was incarnation of God. Before His retirement He instructed His sons. He had one hundred sons. The eldest one was Bharata, and under, after his name, this planet was called Bhāratavarṣa. Bhāratavarṣa at the present moment, what we understand, that small piece of land, India, Bhāratavarṣa does not mean that piece of land. Bhāratavarṣa means this whole planet. So before that, before Emperor Bharata, this planet was known as Ilāvṛtavarṣa, and after the reign of Mahārāja Bharata this planet is known as Bhāratavarṣa. Gradually, the Vedic culture being forgotten, the whole planet is now divided. The seven islands, as already existing, they are mentioned in the Vedic literature also, sapta-dvīpa.

Lecture on SB 5.5.1 -- Delhi, November 28, 1975:

The higher planetary system begins from the sun. That is another subject matter. But so far we get information from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, there sun, then moon, according to Bhāgavatam. And I think... We were talking about these things, that whether the moon is the first planet or the sun is the first planet. So far we understand from Vedic literature, the moon is the second planet. The sun is the first planet. If we consider like that, then moon is beyond the sun planet. The estimation is there in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: 1,600,000 miles above the sun the moon is situated.

Lecture on SB 5.5.1 -- Delhi, November 28, 1975:

Prabhupāda: There are two, three Bhāratas. So Śakuntalā's son was Bhārata, and Rāmacandra's brother was Bhārata, and the Ṛṣabhadeva's son was Bhārata. But from the sastric information we understand this Bhārata-varṣa is meant from the name, from the name of Ṛṣabhadeva's son Bhārata.

Guest (1): Name of?

Prabhupāda: Bhārata.

Guest (1): And you say it has been derived from the twelfth son, Bhārata.

Prabhupāda: Yes. He had one hundred sons. The eldest son's name was Bhārata.

Lecture on SB 5.5.1-2 -- Bombay, March 25, 1977:

God is never opposed to sex. Who said? God said, dharmaviruddhaḥ kāmo 'smi: "Sex which is not against the regulative principle of religious life, that I am." God never says that "Stop sex." Otherwise, why there is gṛhastha āśrama? Āśrama means that there is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. As soon as we say, "Here is an āśrama," we understand that there is consciousness of Kṛṣṇa. So brahmacārī āśrama, gṛhastha āśrama, vānaprastha āśrama, sannyāsa āśrama, make it āśrama and follow the rules and regulations of āśrama. Then it is all right. Otherwise you are bound up by the laws of nature.

Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Boston, April 28, 1969:

Not that in the creation there was no human being. From Vedic history we understand that in the creation, when everything was all water, at that time, a lotus flower grew out of the abdomen of Viṣṇu and there was creation of Brahmā. So Brahmā is supposed to be the most intellectual personality within this universe. My point is that in the beginning the creation was the most intelligent personality, not that in the creation there was lower animals, no. Lower animals were there. The... Just like at the present moment all kinds of living entities are there.

Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Johannesburg, October 22, 1975:

By the presence of His energy. Just like sun is appreciated by the presence of heat and light, similarly, whatever we see in this world There are two energies working: material energy and the spiritual energy. We can understand there is God. Otherwise wherefrom this energy is coming? As soon as we get heat and light, we understand there is the sun. Similarly, tathedam akhilaṁ jagat.

Lecture on SB 5.5.3 -- Hyderabad, April 15, 1975:

That is called nirguṇa. But nirguṇa does not mean that He has no transcendental qualities. Just like Kṛṣṇa is bhakta-vatsala. That is His guṇa, but that is not material guṇa. That is spiritual guṇa. Kṛṣṇa is nirguṇa means, He is not controlled by the material qualities, but He has got innumerable spiritual qualities. That is called guṇavati. So unless we understand the distinction between matter and spirit, we cannot understand what is the meaning of nirguṇa. That is not possible.

Lecture on SB 5.5.5 -- Stockholm, September 10, 1973:

So that is not allowed. You cannot go. The moon planet, from the śāstra we understand that nobody can go there unless he is fit. Not only the moon planet, any other planet. It is said in the Bhagavad-gītā, yānti deva-vratā devān (BG 9.25). These are higher planetary systems. The demigods live there. So unless you are fit to live with the demigods, you cannot go there. Just like Kṛṣṇaloka. Unless you make yourself fit to enter into the Kṛṣṇaloka, you cannot go by force. That is not possible. Just like to enter into some foreign country, you have to take visa, you have to take passport, immigration. Then you will be allowed. So such attempt to go there.

Lecture on SB 5.5.9 -- Vrndavana, October 31, 1976:

And sevaka means the servant. If there is master and servant then there is sevā. This sevā is called bhakti. So, here mano-hṛdaya-granthir asya karmānubaddho dṛḍha āślatheta. When he decides no more these things. Ato gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittair janasya moho 'yam. When we understand that I am becoming more and more implicated, puṁsaḥ striyā mithunī-bhāvam etam (SB 5.5.8), by this sex desire I am becoming more and more implicated. This implication is engaging me more and more in karma, karmānubaddha. When we understand this, and try to get free from this business, then we become eligible for going back home back to Godhead. Tadā janaḥ samparivartate 'smād. Samparivartate, returns to his original position, asmāt. And when he turns back towards back home, back to Godhead, then he is mukta. That is liberation.

Lecture on SB 5.5.19 -- Vrndavana, November 7, 1976:

So God has form, but He is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. He is not... When it is said, the nirākāra, "no form," that does not mean that He has no ākāra. The ākāra, or the form which we understand, He hasn't got that form. He is sac-cid-ānanda vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Otherwise how He can accept your offerings? Kṛṣṇa says that patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati, tad aham aśnāmi (BG 9.26). He says, "I eat." So if He has no mouth, how He can eat? And therefore the Vedic literature informs us that paśyati acakṣuḥ: "He sees, but He has no eyes." When the Vedic literature says that He has no eyes, that means He has no eyes like us. But He has got eyes; otherwise how He sees? Paśyati acakṣuḥ śṛṇoti akarṇaḥ.

Lecture on SB 5.5.21-22 -- Vrndavana, November 9, 1976:

There are Gandharvalokas, Kinnaralokas, and the topmost is Brahmaloka, where Lord Brahmā lives. And other persons, many, everywhere... Not that simply the chief man lives. His assistant, his paraphernalia, everything, is there. Just like we understand from Bhagavad-gītā, imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam (BG 4.1). So Visvasvate, Vivasvān, is the sun-god. The sun-god, Kṛṣṇa instructed him this Bhagavad-gītā. He says personally, imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān. So do not think that simply there is sun. No. There are It is very, very big planet, fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than this planet. Don't think that there is vacant.

Lecture on SB 5.5.21-22 -- Vrndavana, November 9, 1976:

We get information from Bhagavad-gītā that every planet is full of living entities. It is not vacant, but they have got different types of body. It is not vacant. Different types of body. In Brahma-samita we understand, yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi-koṭiṣu aśeṣa-vasudhādi vibhūti-bhinnam (Bs. 5.40). Aśeṣa-vasudhā vibhūti-bhinnam. There are in each universe. Within the Brahmajyoti there are innumerable brahmāṇḍas, universes. When Caitanya Mahāprabhu was requested by one of His devotee, "My Lord, You have come here to deliver the fallen souls, so kindly take them with You. And if You think that 'They are sinful. They cannot go with Me back to home, back to Godhead,' so You kindly transfer all their sinful life to me. I shall suffer here. Let them go with You."

Lecture on SB 5.5.28 -- Vrndavana, November 15, 1976:

Bhagavaj-jana. He is the follower of devotees, bhagavaj-jana. Bhagavaj-jana and hari-jana, the same thing. Hari means Bhagavān, and here it is stated, bhagavaj-jana, and hari-jana, the same thing. But nowadays hari-jana means if somebody comes and presents himself as hari-jana, immediately we understand he must be a chamar or bhangi.

So this is the position. Hari-jana means persons like Nārada, Vyāsa, Asita, like that, the personal servant of Kṛṣṇa. By rubber-stamp—"hari-jana..." In Bengali it is said, kana chela nama padma locana (?): "One son is blind, and the father has given the name 'lotus-eyed.' " So that you can do out of affection.

Lecture on SB 5.5.33 -- Vrndavana, November 20, 1976:

Not all of a sudden you can understand. But if you stick to devotional service, sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ (Brs. 1.2.234), then He reveals. When you engage your tongue... It is also wonderful. To understand Kṛṣṇa, you require your tongue. Generally we understand by seeing or by hearing. Hearing is there, but here it is recommended tongue, especially. Why tongue is used? Because if you simply chant Hare Kṛṣṇa by your tongue and taste Kṛṣṇa prasādam, you will understand Kṛṣṇa. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ. If you make it a promise that "I shall not talk anything except Kṛṣṇa's message," and if you promise that "I shall not take anything which is not offered to Kṛṣṇa," these two things, this prasādam and chanting, will make you perfect to understand Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on SB 6.1.1-4 -- Melbourne, May 20, 1975:

And the proof is that why, if they are going to the moon planet, why they cannot stay there? Now, the argument is that "There is no vegetation. The atmosphere is different, where living being cannot stay." They say like that. But from the Vedic information we understand that moon planet influence the vegetation in all other planets. So if the moon planet helps vegetation in all other planets, how it is that there is no vegetation? So there are many thing, contradiction, and practically we see, they are going to the moon planet, but they cannot stay, uselessly going and coming. So let them do that, but we have got our other inform..., other sources of information, that we cannot go to the moon planet. It is not possible.

Lecture on SB 6.1.1-4 -- Melbourne, May 20, 1975:

Prabhupāda: Yes, human form. God is also human form. "Man is made after the shape of God." I think there is in the Bible. Is it not? So God is also like human form. Here you see Kṛṣṇa, two hands, two legs.

Hari-śauri: How do we understand, then, that there are peacocks and flowers and trees in the spiritual world? Are these not eternal forms?

Prabhupāda: Yes. They are more covered. Just like if you cover your body with blanket, the hands and legs are invisible. But you are not the blanket. So the trees and plants, they are more covered. They are not in full manifestation. The human form is the full manifestation of the soul.

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

Devotee (9): Will that mean taking initiation from another guru, or will he remain your eternal servant?

Madhudvīṣa: His question was when we take initiation from you, we understand that we become your eternal servitors.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Madhudvīṣa: But if we have to come again to another birth...

Prabhupāda: But if you remain eternally in the instruction... And if you fall from the instruction, how you can remain eternal? You have to stay on the platform. Then eternally you are safe. If you fall down from the platform, then it is your fault. Just like we are all in the Vaikuṇṭha planet.

Lecture on SB 6.1.6 -- Los Angeles, January 3, 1970:

So according to the mischievous activities, there are different kinds of suffering and there are different kinds of species of life. But māyā, the spell of māyā is so strong that one cannot understand that he is suffering. We understand that we are trying to be happy. Actually, this material world, there is no happiness, but to counteract the agency of distress, we accept, "That is happiness. That is happiness." Just like I have no apartment, but to counteract this inconvenience, if I try my utmost to get a good apartment I feel, "Oh, now I am happy. I am happy." What is this happiness? How long you shall remain in this apartment? Suppose you have got, purchased, now long you will live? So here happiness means to counteract the force of distress is called happiness.

Lecture on SB 6.1.6 -- Honolulu, June 8, 1975:

There are millions of universes. We do not know. We do not know even one universe. We cannot study even one universe. They are... They were—not are—trying to go to the moon planet, but that has become a failure. From śāstra we understand that the moon planet is situated 1,600,000 miles away from the sun, and the sun is situated in the middle of the universe. And the total diameter from one circumference to the other of the universe it is four billions of miles. So the sun is situated at the point of two billions of miles from the circumference of the universe, and above the sun planet, 1,600,000, there is the moon. And above that there is Venus, there is Jupiter, there is Mars—all difference of 1,600,000 of miles.

Lecture on SB 6.1.8 -- Honolulu, May 9, 1976:

So Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam. Ceto-da... Bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvā... Unless we cleanse our hearts of all the dirty things that we have accumulated, then we have to continue the sufferings of this material world. But if we cleanse, we understand what is our position. The position is that we are part and parcel of God. If God is good, we are also good. Just like gold and particle of gold. If gold is valuable, the little particle, it may be less valuable, but it is valuable. It is not ordinary thing. Similarly, we living entities, mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūta (BG 15.7). Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that "These, all these living entities, they are My part and parcels," means "as good as I am." But thing is that manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣ...

Lecture on SB 6.1.12 -- Los Angeles, June 25, 1975:

Better don't accept this 'There is no life,' and then go on doing whatever we like." This is modern civilization. But that is very irresponsible life, because from the śāstra we understand—by practical experience also—just if the boy does not go to school and he is not educated, then his future life is very dark. And a boy has to become a young man. A boy who says, "No, no, I am not going to be young man. I will remain a boy and go on playing whole day. I don't go to school, don't take education...,"that is not the fact. The fact is tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). Kṛṣṇa says, and we practically experience.

Lecture on SB 6.1.12 -- Los Angeles, June 25, 1975:

That is māyā. You are accepting something which is not.

So everyone should be careful, that "I have got this material body. This is disease. Why I shall get material body?" That they do not know. From Bhagavad-gītā we understand, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). We are not finished after the body is annihilated, no, or destroyed, no. So we are eternal. That is called brahma-jñāna. Unless one has the brahma-jñāna, that "I am not this body," ahaṁ brahmāsmi, aham, "I am brahman, spirit soul," so people will go on doing all irresponsible things. Because he does not know. So we human being should come to the understanding—that is knowledge—that so long we get this material body, this is my disease. And disease means suffering.

Lecture on SB 6.1.14 -- Bombay, November 10, 1970:

Guest: And that we understand by service.

Prabhupāda: Eh? Yes, that service. Yes, service. Therefore only by devotional service you can understand Kṛṣṇa. There is no other way. That I have explained, bhaktyā. Bhaktyā, by bhakti you can become perfect, you can understand Kṛṣṇa, God, and you can enter into the kingdom of God, make your life perfect. Only bhakti. There is no compromise. One who says that there are so many other ways, any way... Especially this Ramakrishna Mission, that whatever way you accept, that is complete. No. Only. That is the recommended process.

Lecture on SB 6.1.15 -- London, August 3, 1971:

One may be a first-class prisoner, just like sometimes big politicians, they are put into first-class prison arrangement. A second-class prisoner, a third-class prisoner, there are. But as soon as we understand this man is in the prison or prisoner, it should be understood that he's criminal. He has committed some criminal activity; therefore he is in prison. Now, you can compare between the first-class prisoner or third-class prisoner, that is another thing. But they're all prisoners. They're undergoing the duration of prison life. (break)

Lecture on SB 6.1.15 -- New York, August 1, 1971:

That smallest is thinking greatest that is false. The smallness is not false. The greatness is not false. But when the small thinks as great, that is false. That is māyā.

So long one is in māyā... Now our beginning is that we accept immediately the great the great and the small the small. We understand from the Vedic literature: mahato mahīyān aṇor aṇīyān. Aṇu means atom. The atom, he is, the Brahman, or the spirit, is smaller than the atom. Aṇor aṇīyān, still smaller. And mahato mahīyān: and the greater than the greatest. We have the conception of the greatest, the sky. But Kṛṣṇa showed that millions of skies were within His mouth. So therefore mahato mahīyān. So actually we, the living entities, we are part and parcel of God, but we are very minute quantity, infinitesimal. And God is infinite.

Lecture on SB 6.1.15 -- Nellore, January 8, 1976:

This understanding of the relationship between God and ourself is more clearly explained by Caitanya Mahāprabhu when He says, jīvera 'svarūpa' haya nitya kṛṣṇa dāsa (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109). Our real identity is that we are eternally servant of God. This understanding, pure understanding, is called mukti. When we understand that "Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is my eternal master, and I am eternal servant of Him," that is called mukti. The mukti definition is given in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: mukti hitva anyathā rūpaṁ sva-rūpeṇa avasthiti. Mukti means when we give up our wrong ideas and we stay in our real identification. That is called mukti. So a bhakta who understands clearly that "I am eternal servant of God, and God is my eternal master," this very understanding means mukti.

Lecture on SB 6.1.15 -- Nellore, January 8, 1976:

When we understand that Vāsudeva is the Supreme, sa mahātmā, then we become the great mahātmā.

So if you accept Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then life of ignorance will finish and you come to the light and become liberated. If you come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the light is there. Therefore the darkness of life is dissipated. Therefore it is said, ārādhito yadi haris tapasā tataḥ kim: (Nārada Pañcarātra) "If you have learned how to worship Hari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then there is no more use of your tapasya." (break) ...ārādhito yadi haris tapasā tataḥ kim: "And if you cannot understand Hari, then what is the use of your tapasya?"

Lecture on SB 6.1.18 -- Honolulu, May 18, 1976:

These examples outsider cannot understand, but it is said in the śāstra.

So we have to understand that what is the aim of life. Aim of life is go back to home, back to Godhead. Unless we understand this, our life is in darkness. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ (SB 7.5.31). We are trying to be happy in this place of miserable condition, manufacturing so many ways of life. In the modern age they are thinking that "If we have got a very nice car and nice residential quarter and nice wife..." Oh, people also do not care now for wife and children. They want car, of course. (laughter) That is essential, although at any moment he can meet accident and finish.

Lecture on SB 6.1.19 -- Los Angeles, January 15, 1970:

So there was a dvijaḥ. Dvijaḥ means he was born in the family of a brāhmaṇa. And he was sanctified also. From the life history of this man we understand that in his early age, when he was up to his youthful life, sixteen or seventeen or up to twenty years, he was very well behaved boy. He was under the care of his father and mother, and how by bad association he became a debauch, that is stated here. It is stated that, kānyakubje dvijaḥ kaścid āsīt dāsī-patir ajāmilaḥ. Ajāmilaḥ, his name was Ajāmila, and he was a brāhmaṇa. But he contacted some woman which is called dāsī, or prostitute, and he remained with her. Dāsī-patiḥ. In India also, still, the practice is that if anyone, any person, wants contact of more woman than his wife, then he cannot disturb in the society.

Lecture on SB 6.1.20 -- Honolulu, May 20, 1976:

The whole bunch of universe is just like a tree. At night you have seen, it is rotating. On each and every planet there is life, full of life. Don't think there is no life. There is life. Why not there life? If this planet contains so many living entities, why not in other planets? So from Vedic scripture we understand.

So we can go anywhere. There are three divisions: ūrdhva, madhya, and adhaḥ—upper planetary system, middle planetary system, and lower planetary system. So ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthāḥ (BG 14.18).

Lecture on SB 6.1.25 -- Honolulu, May 25, 1976:

This is right conclusion. Otherwise who is going to love a dead body? Nobody. Now if wife's husband has died, son has died, he's crying. You can say that "Why you are crying?" "Oh, my son is gone, my husband is gone." "Nobody gone. It is lying here." "No, no, no. He's not." So after death we understand that this dead body is neither my husband nor my son. Late experience. But in the beginning there is no such experience. That is called illusion. He's understanding that this dead body is not neither my father, nor my husband, nor my son. He's different from. That is practical example. Otherwise why not take the dead body of your husband or son and keep it? No. That is not possible.

Lecture on SB 6.1.25 -- Honolulu, May 25, 1976:

Go-kharaḥ. Go means cow and kharaḥ means ass. I repeatedly say this. So unless we understand that I and you, we are not this body, there is no question of spiritual understanding or spiritual education.

So here the Ajāmila, because, although he was a brāhmaṇa, but due to association of a prostitute, he lost everything. This is the version.

Lecture on SB 6.1.27 -- Honolulu, May 27, 1976:

What is that? I am just now forgetting. Oh, aprāṇasya hi dehasya maṇḍanaṁ loka-rañjanam. Aprāṇasya hi dehasya. Deha, deha means this body. So either it is dead or alive, it has no life. Aprāṇasya hi dehasya. Deha, he is not alive. It is always dead. Simply we understand, because we are foolish rascals, we understand that this body is dead when the soul is away. The body is always dead. So bhagavad-bhakti-vihīnasya jatiḥ japas tapaḥ kriyaḥ. If one is not Kṛṣṇa conscious, bhāgavata-bhakti-vihīnasya, then his big nationality, jatiḥ, his achievement, japas tapaḥ, his activities, everything bhagavad-bhakti-vihīnasya jatiḥ japas tapaḥ kriyaḥ, all these things are like decoration of the dead body. Aprāṇasya hi dehasya maṇḍanaṁ loka-rañjanam. Maṇḍanaṁ loka-rañjanam.

Lecture on SB 6.1.33 -- Honolulu, June 1, 1976:

This is fact. Vyāsadeva or big big saintly persons, they have no business to present before you something mythology. Why they should waste time in that way? It is simply rascaldom to think all the statement as mythology. Not mythology. We have no knowledge. In the śāstra we understand, yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi (Bs. 5.40). Yasya prabhā. The rays of Kṛṣṇa's body, when it is expanded, brahma-jyotir, within that brahma-jyotir there are innumerable universes. Just like within the sunlight, sunshine, there are innumerable planets. We are seeing daily. Similarly, there are innumerable universes in the brahma-jyotir. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi (Bs. 5.40).

Lecture on SB 6.1.38 -- Los Angeles, June 4, 1976:

"Māyayāpahṛta-jñāna. (laughter) Rascal, you have studied so long, simply waste of time. Your real knowledge is taken away because you do not know God." That is described. We have got very simple test in Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement how to distinguish between an intelligent man a rascal. As soon as we understand that he's not Kṛṣṇa conscious, he's a rascal. Bās. There is no need of testing. Even though he's M.A., Ph.D, D.H.C. and so on, so on, still we shall call him a rascal. This is open challenge; it is not secret. How? Cāṇakya Paṇḍita has said, tyaja durjana-saṁsargaṁ vidyayā 'pi alaṅkṛto san. He very nicely says that rascals and fools, must give up their company. Tyaja durjana-saṁsargam. "No, I have got many friends, they are university educated." But he says, vidyayālaṅkṛto 'pi san. Even they are with degrees of M.A. Ph.D., tyaja durjana saṁsargaṁ vidyayālaṅkṛto 'pi san.

Lecture on SB 6.1.39 -- Los Angeles, June 5, 1976:

Asaṁśayam samagraṁ māṁ yathā jñāsyasi tac chṛṇu (BG 7.1). Just like to study a subject matter, it takes some time, takes little endeavor to associate with person who knows the thing rightly. In this way we can understand God also. Just like we understand so many science, so many arts, by patience. Then that is Rūpa Gosvāmī's advice: niścayād dhairyāt. Dhairyāt means patience. We have to learn patiently. Niścayād dhairyāt tat-tat-karma-pravartanāt sato vṛtteḥ saṅga-tyāgāt ṣaḍbhir bhaktiḥ prasidhyati.

Lecture on SB 6.1.40 -- Surat, December 22, 1970:

So generally, when a father begets a son, he takes the advantage of his wife, the help of his wife. But here Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, although His wife is present, He did not take the assistance of the wife. A lotus sprouted from His navel, and there was Brahmā. That is all-powerful. Generally we understand that whenever there is birth, the man and woman must combine. But that is for ordinary entities or in this material world. But that is not possible in the case of God, or Viṣṇu. Therefore He is called sarva-śaktimān, all-powerful. He can do anything, whatever He likes.

Lecture on SB 6.1.40 -- Surat, December 22, 1970:

In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is stated, aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti paśyanti pānti kalayanti ciraṁ jaganti (Bs. 5.32). So we have to take the help of Vedic literature. Then we understand what is God. Aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti: "The limbs of Kṛṣṇa or God has got the potency of all other limbs." Just like with eyes we can see only, but Kṛṣṇa, or God, can eat also with eyes. With ears we simply hear, but... Just like this navel. The navel has got some purpose, but Kṛṣṇa can beget. Nārāyaṇa can beget a child also, Brahmā. Therefore, in the śāstras it is said, aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti. All the potencies of all other limbs can be found in... (aside:) Why it is closed?

Lecture on SB 6.1.41 -- Los Angeles, June 7, 1976:

So supreme controller is Nārāyaṇa, or Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa also explains... Here in the śāstra, we understand that Nārāyaṇa is the supreme controller. In many other places the same thing is explained.

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
anādir ādir govindaḥ
sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam
(Bs. 5.1)

So Kṛṣṇa explains in the Bhagavad-gītā: ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate (BG 10.8). So Nārāyaṇa... In the Vedic mantra also, the same thing: eko nārāyaṇa āsīt. In the beginning, Nārāyaṇa was there. So Nārāyaṇa is not alone. When you say the king is coming, it does not mean that king is coming alone. King is coming with his ministers, with his secretaries, with his military forces, bodyguards, many thousands. Similarly, when we speak eko nārāyaṇa āsīt, nārāyaṇa paraḥ avyaktāt, it does not mean that Nārāyaṇa is alone.

Lecture on SB 6.1.43 -- Los Angeles, July 24, 1975:

"Oh, why shall I practice austerity?" Now, yato śuddhyed sattva. Your existence will be purified. You are suffering in this material world because your existence is not purified. Therefore you are accepting death. Who dies? The diseased man dies. Of course, everyone dies. Everyone is diseased here. But generally, we understand, one who is not healthy, he dies. So why we die? We are eternal. Everyone knows. Nityaḥ śāśvato 'yam na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Then why I am dying? Why I am suffering from disease, from old age? This should be the human question, and they should try to solve this, and this opportunity is given by nature and God combined. God has ordered nature to give me this machine, human form of body. If we do not utilize it as human being, that is sinful. That is sinful.

Lecture on SB 6.1.44 -- Los Angeles, June 10, 1976:

Because the moon planet, who will go? Ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthāḥ. Unless one is in the modes of goodness, they cannot enter there. It is not possible. "By force," if you say, "Yes, we have gone; we are going," you may say, but we are followers of the śāstra. Śāstra-cakṣuṣaḥ. We see through the śāstra. We understand that these men, they are not even rajo-guṇa, or maybe in rajas-tamo-guṇa. But where is sattva-guṇa? Sattva-guṇa. So through the śāstra we can understand that who is who through śāstra. Therefore in my poetry, on the strength of śāstra, I said that rajas tamo guṇe erā sabāi ācchanna, vāsudeva-kathā ruci mahe se prasanna: (SB 1.2.16)

Lecture on SB 6.1.46 -- San Diego, July 27, 1975:

So do not conclude in your foolish way anything. Just refer to the śāstra, authority, śruti. Therefore it is called śruti. We cannot imagine that there is possibility of living entity in the sun planet or moon planet, but śruti... Just like Kṛṣṇa says that "I spoke to sun-god." So by hearing this śruti, we understand that there is also life and there is also system, the government, the chief executive. Everything is there. And that is by śruti anumīyate. Anumīyate means you can imagine it is a fact.

Lecture on SB 6.1.62 -- Vrndavana, August 29, 1975:

Especially in this age they are so fallen that they do not know what is the goal of life. All these big, big political parties, philosophers, scientists, they have no knowledge. They are in the darkness. Therefore it is called illusion, in the darkness. But we understand that kṛṣṇa sūrya sama: "Kṛṣṇa is just like sun." Kṛṣṇa sūrya-sama; māyā andhakāra: "And this darkness means māyā."

Lecture on SB 6.2.5-6 -- Vrndavana, September 9, 1975:

They are thinking the brain is working. The brain is not working. Brain is a machine. Just like typing. You are typing. The machine is not typing. You are typing. Unless there is touch of Brahman, nothing can work. So when we realize this, that is called brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54), when we understand that "I am simply instrumental." That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Bhramāyan sarva-bhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni māyayā (BG 18.61). Actually we are under the direction of Kṛṣṇa, and he has given us this machine, this body, and we are wandering throughout the whole universe. Ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kono bhāgyavān jīva. This is our position. We have got this machine, and we are wandering throughout the universe in different planets and different forms of life, and we do not know what is the aim of life.

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

He is so sinful that there is no limit of his sinful activities, and you say that it is clear immediately?" And therefore he says, janma-koṭy-aṁhaām api: "Not only one life's sinful activity, but many, many crores of births' sinful activities." So we do not know how many births we had previously, but from the śāstra we understand crores, many millions of times, we had to take birth. Therefore it is used, janma koṭi: not one birth or two birth or second birth or fifth birth. So unless we come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, this repetition of birth and death will continue. Therefore it is said janma koṭi... We are passing through many forms of different forms of life.

Lecture on SB 6.2.9-10 -- Allahabad, January 15, 1971:

So if such person is required in ordinary government, why not a similar personality in the government of the Supreme Person? Because from the Vedānta-sūtra we understand that everything that we experience within this world, they are emanation from the Absolute Truth. So this intelligence, that one person should be in charge of the criminal department, has come from the Absolute Truth. Otherwise there was no possibility. It is not an human invention. We should always understand, whatever we experience within this world, that is emanation from the Absolute Truth. As Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ: (BG 10.8) "I am the original source of everything that you experience."

Lecture on SB 6.3.27-28 -- Gorakhpur, February 20, 1971:

Prabhupāda: ...ādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ. We should not transfer our service to somebody. The more we serve, the more we understand Kṛṣṇa. We should follow this principle. Sevonmukhe hi... The only means of understanding Kṛṣṇa is service. There is no other means. (break)

Devotee: Some day one person will do the floor, and the next day another person? Is that all right?

Prabhupāda: If one man can continue, that's nice. Why should we try for another man?

Lecture on SB 7.5.1, Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, January 12, 1973:

This Bhārata... Bhārata means this planet, not this small land now we are occupying. No. This whole planet is called Bhārata-varṣa. Since the time of Mahārāja Bhārata, he was the emperor of the whole world. Formerly we understand from history that the king of Hastināpura was the emperor of the whole world, up to Mahārāja Parīkṣit, five thousand years ago. After that, it became separated on account of depreciation of the Vedic culture. They could not control. Just like we could not control Pakistan. They have gone away. Pakistan, twenty years ago, it was India, but they have left you. The Mussulmans, they left you because you could not control them. That is your fault. And the fault is depreciation of the Vedic culture. In the Vedic culture there is no such thing that once one has become fallen, he cannot be reclaimed. He can be reclaimed.

Lecture on SB 7.5.30 -- Mauritius, October 2, 1975:

Vedas means the book of knowledge. Veda means knowledge. Vetti veda vido jñāne. Jñāna means knowledge. So human life is meant for taking knowledge, jñāna. Jñāna-vairāgya. So vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ janayaty āśu vairāgyaṁ jñānaṁ ca yad ahaitukam (SB 1.2.7). When we understand... We are now implicated in so many sinful life, and we have to reap the result. We have to suffer for it in dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). We are not going to die. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). It is not that everything... The atheists thinks like that—"When this body is finished, everything is finished." That is not the fact. There were atheists in India also.

Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- Montreal, June 12, 1968:

And as soon as you become bona fide, the response from within will come because Kṛṣṇa is within you. Kṛṣṇa is everywhere. Kṛṣṇa does not mean... Just like the sunshine, the sunlight, is everywhere, similarly, Kṛṣṇa is everywhere. As we understand from the Brahma-saṁhitā, aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham: (Bs. 5.35) "Kṛṣṇa, or God, is within this universe and within this room, within your heart, even within the atom." Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham. So Kṛṣṇa is within you. As soon as you become sincere, Kṛṣṇa responds from within. If you want Kṛṣṇa, or God, sincerely, then the help will come two ways: from without, from within. From without, by these books of knowledge, by the instruction of spiritual master, you will get help from without.

Lecture on SB 7.6.1-2 -- Stockholm, September 6, 1973:

We do not have any such information and there is no need of any action. And so far their finance is concerned, we understand that they are selling their literatures and public contribution." That is the fact, actually. We are selling our books about, three, more, not less than three thousand dollars daily, and that is giving us our financial help. We have no other means of income. Although we have got expenditure not less than one hundred thousands of dollars per month throughout the whole world.

Lecture on SB 7.6.2 -- Toronto, June 18, 1976:

Why one should seek after Viṣṇu? Tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padam. Because yadā eṣa sarva-bhūtānāṁ priya. Everyone's dearmost. That we have forgotten. Actually Viṣṇu or Kṛṣṇa, He's dearmost. He's also friend of everyone. When we understand this secret, bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaraṁ suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām (BG 5.29). Suhṛdam: He's actual friend. We go to friends for some help, but if we accept the natural friend, Kṛṣṇa, then there is no scarcity. Suhṛdam sarva-bhūtānām. Therefore we should learn how to love Kṛṣṇa, or Viṣṇu. That is the aim of life.

Lecture on SB 7.6.3 -- Montreal, June 16, 1968:

Then what is that? Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti ma eti kaunteya: (BG 4.9) he goes back to Godhead. This should be the, I mean to say, objective of human life: how to develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness and how to get away from this uncongenial atmosphere of material existence. Unless we understand that...

But people, they think that they are very happy. This is illusion. This is māyā.

Lecture on SB 7.6.3-4 -- San Francisco, March 8, 1967:

That is also doubtful. So therefore in this age, the sastric injunction... Therefore the injunction of the authorized scripture is that kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇum. In the golden age when people used to live for one hundred thousands of years, meditation was possible. Because we understand Valmiki Muni, he got perfection by meditation after meditating sixty thousands of years. And similarly, Kardama Muni, he got perfection by meditation after ten thousands of years meditation. So meditation process is difficult process, and it is not possible in this age. This is the injunction of the śāstra. Simply we can waste our time by so-called meditation, but real meditation is not achievable at the present age.

Lecture on SB 7.9.8 -- Seattle, October 21, 1968:

So however we may tackle these instruments perfectly in our way, basically they are imperfect. Therefore perfect knowledge you cannot have. If you want to have perfect knowledge, then you have to understand this authoritative scripture. Just like here, in this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, we understand that there is Brahma, or the demigods, and the siddhaḥ. So we have to accept. You cannot understand these things by experimental knowledge. Simply as it is. Therefore I am presenting this Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. Then you understand. That is knowledge, perfect knowledge. Otherwise, if you interpret, if you don't believe, then you don't get. There is no other way. The same example.

Lecture on SB 7.9.8 -- Seattle, October 21, 1968:

Similarly, so-called religion, nonsense religion, there are so many manufactured, who cares for? That is not religion. Religion means God's law. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). That is religion. Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā we understand Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja: (BG 18.66) "You give up all other things. Simply you become Kṛṣṇa conscious." This is religion. This is the order, this is the word. So to become Kṛṣṇa conscious is to become religious, is to remain in goodness, and is to make progress and advancement in self-realization. Everything is complete. There is no comparison of any religion with Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We can challenge any religionist, "Come and see, and test and compare." So the same advertisement: "You all, in '69, match this." So nobody can match Kṛṣṇa consciousness, it is so nice.

Lecture on SB 7.9.9 -- Montreal, July 6, 1968:

That is not possible. Just like the other day we were, I was reading one magazine. In the Bible it is said that God said "Let there be creation," and there was creation. Similarly, in the Bhagavad-gītā also, we understand that Kṛṣṇa says, bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca: (BG 7.4) "These eight gross and subtle material elements, they are My differentiated energy." So these statements of Bible or Bhagavad-gītā... We can understand that God created this cosmic manifestation. But in the paper we read the other day that the scientific men believe that there was a chunk in the beginning, and all of a sudden it burst out and the planets came out. (break) So anyone can understand that God is all-powerful.

Lecture on SB 7.9.33 -- Mayapur, March 11, 1976:

He knew himself, Sanātana Gosvāmī, that he was prime minister of Hussain Shah and he's coming of very learned brāhmaṇa family. He knew it. Then why he's asking, ke āmi: "Who am?" This is knowledge. This is knowledge. One has to understand himself. That is the basic principle of spiritual life. Unless we understand who I am... You go to the spiritual master, our first business is inquiry. That inquiry is "Who am I?" This is the... This is the beginning of inquiry. So our, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is authorized. We have printed one pamphlet, "Kṛṣṇa Consciousness Movement Is Authorized." It is not a sentiment, fanaticism. No. It is scientific, authorized.

Lecture on SB 7.9.36 -- Mayapur, March 14, 1976:

So in the previous verse we understood that Lord Brahmā executed severe austerity for hundreds of years just to become purified. Tīvra-tapasā pariśuddha-bhāvaḥ. Bhāva, situation, or nature, bhāva, nature also... So we have a bhāva, nature, at the present moment which is not real bhāva. We have acquired this bhāva on account of long, long years' material association. But this bhāva can be changed. That is spiritual. Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī also says bhāva, and another place, in Bhagavad-gītā, it is said, budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ, bhāva (BG 10.8).

Lecture on SB 7.9.49 -- Vrndavana, April 4, 1976:

This is the cause of anxiety. But as soon as I realize myself that "I am not this body; I am spirit soul," then all my anxiety is gone. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). I am always very much anxious to give protection to my body. But we understand that na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Even your body is annihilated, you are not annihilated. That understanding is lacking. One who understands-na śocati na kāṅkṣati, samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu. Then there is no fight between one nation to one nation, one animal to one animal, one man to one... There is no more. Samaḥ sarveṣu. Because that is the realization that "We are not this body." "I am neither dog, I am not man, I am not this, I am not that. This is all superficial. I am spirit soul.

Lecture on SB 7.12.2 -- Bombay, April 13, 1976:

We have Daily we understand what is guru. Guru-mukha-padma-vākya, citette kariyā aikya, āra nā kariya mane āśā **. This is that. This is wanted. If you have got real guru and if you follow him, then your life is successful. There is no doubt. But if you have a so-called bogus guru, and without any knowledge of the śāstra, then your life will be spoiled. Especially the Māyāvādī guru, Caitanya Mahāprabhu has warned, māyāvādī-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa (CC Madhya 6.169). Māyāvādī guru means one who thinks that everyone is God. That is Māyāvādī guru. If you approach such guru, then your life is spoiled.

Page Title:We understand (Lectures, SB)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:03 of Dec, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=124, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:124