Guest: How many minutes do you recommend a day? How many minutes do you chant?Prabhupāda: Constantly, without any cessation. Is it very difficult? You can chant while you are walking in the street, "Hare Kṛṣṇa." Who checks you? There is no tax, there is no price, and if there is some gain, why don't you try it? If there is any gain by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, oh, it is better to give it a trial. We are not charging anything; the government is not taxing anything. You can chant: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. Just see the result. At least for one week you chant. It is very nice thing. One does not require to be highly educated or very rich or very beautiful or very famous. No. Anyone. Anyone. Simply God has given us this tongue, we can vibrate nicely. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, just see the result. I think one of our students, Śrīman Hayagrīva brahmacārī, he will give you a nice experience, when he first came here in this class and chanted on the way, how did he feel. There are many instances. Yes. So our only appeal to you, all people of the world, that we are embarrassed with so many problems. So we say this is the only solution. There is no price; there is no tax; there is no, I mean to say, imposition of previous qualifications. Simply chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. This is our propaganda. And see the result. Sixteen words: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare. And... On the whole, there are three words only: Hare, Kṛṣṇa and Rāma. So these three words, they are nicely set up in sixteen words: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma... So we request everyone to chant this transcendental vibration and see the result. There is no question that you have to change your religion, you have to change your dress, change your occupation. No. Simply go on chanting. [break] ...pratyakṣa avagamaṁ dharmyaṁ su-sukhaṁ kartum avyayam [Bg. 9.2].In the Bhagavad-gītā it is stated that this, this process of devotional service to the Lord, is pratyakṣa avagamaṁ dharmyaṁ. There are many types of religious principles or religiousness, but here is the religion which you can directly perceive. Which you can directly perceive. Pratyakṣa avagamaṁ dharmyaṁ. And su-sukhaṁ. Su-sukhaṁ means very easy to perform, very easy. Anyone, even a child, can perform. Su-sukhaṁ kartum avyayam. Avyayam means imperishable. If you chant for a minute, it will never go in vain. Avyayam. It will never go in vain. A great opportunity. So we should take this opportunity. Pratya Rāja-vidyā rāja-guhyam. This is called rāja-vidyā, the knowledge, the king of all knowledge. Rāja-guhyam, the king of all confidential things. Rāja-vidyā rāja-guhyaṁ pavitraṁ paramam idam, and very pure, and sublime. Pratyakṣa avagamaṁ dharmyaṁ, and it is directly perceived, su-sukham, and very easy to perform, avyayam, never to be destroyed. Whatever you do, that is your asset. If you do one percent, that is your asset. So actually it is so. So our request is that you take up this chanting and be happy. 
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.9.10—Montreal, July 9, 1968

(interview with a Dawson college student)

Often students contact us because they want to write about the Hare Krishna movement for their school projects. Recently, Ryan from Dawson college approached us and the following is the conversation that took place.

Purujit: What attracts you to Hare Krishna?

Ryan: Well, I just find it very interesting.

Purujit: Is there anything that interests you specifically? Or If I may ask you what is your understanding of our philosophy?

Ryan: I don’t actually know what your philosophy is. That's precisely why I would like to interview you, to understand more about your philosophy.

Purujit: So what is your attraction?

Ryan: I wouldn't say I have a specific attraction. I'm just fascinated by the whole idea of renouncing your possessions…

Purujit: All your possessions...Well, you see that's actually not our philosophy.

Ryan: No?

Purujit: That's not at all philosophy. We don't say that. That's a misunderstanding. We say that everything belongs to Krsna. Krsna is God. God is the supreme possessor. Krsna is the supreme possessor. He possesses everything. So if you think that: “I possess something.” That is illusion. But if you think: “I can renounce it”. That’s also illusion because you were never the owner in the first place. You see? So our philosophy is that whatever we have, it does not matter whether you’re rich or poor, you use whatever you have in service to Krsna. For example we do a feast. Whatever we eat, we don’t eat ourselves, we offer it to Krsna. We cook nice delicious preparations and we offer it to Krsna and we distribute to everyone. So in this way, we are satisfied, we eat nice delicious foodstuffs, but the consciousness is purified. Instead of thinking I am the enjoyer, I am the center of the universe,  I transform that into Krsna is the enjoyer, Krsna is the center of the universe and because everyone whether it’s a human, or an animal, or plants, anything living is part of Krsna, that is the true universal brotherhood. That’s a real platform of unity for everyone. Just like if you water a root of a tree, automatically all the branches and leaves are nourished. You don’t have to go separately water every single branch and leaf. If you cover the root, automatically all the branches and leaves are included without separate endeavor. So similarly, if you understand Krsna, if you serve  Krsna, if you love  Krsna, then you love everyone regardless of race, gender, religion, and all these things. These things are keeping us apart. 

Sometimes rascals inquire, "Swamiji, if everyone becomes God conscious and goes back

to Godhead, then who will remain here?" What is the meaning of such a nonsensical question? Why is a fool anxious for everyone? Why is he not anxious for himself? It is the same to ask, "If everyone is honest, then who will go to jail?" As if maintaining the jail is a very important

business!

(Srila Prabhupada)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, we understand that in the Satya-yuga one hundred percent of the population was God conscious. But then again, we see many times it is stated that, for example, there were always prostitutes or there was always this or...

Prabhupāda: No, there were no prostitute in Satya-yuga.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No meat-eaters.

Prabhupāda: No meat-eaters.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: None whatsoever.

Prabhupāda: All paramahaṁsas. In the Satya-yuga they are all paramahaṁsa.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Every single person.

Prabhupāda: Every person was perfectly, spiritually...

Harikeśa: On the earth.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Then in Tretā-yuga one-fourth diminished. And then Dvāpara-yuga, half diminished. And in Kali-yuga, three-fourth diminished. Seventy-five per cent are all rogues, and twenty-five per cent... That is expected, but that is now diminishing. They are all rogues with the advancement of Kali-yuga. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ [SB 1.1.10]. Therefore there is no other method to save them. Harer nāmaiva kevalam. This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's gift. Incorrigible. Everyone will be incorrigible. Only hope is Hare Kṛṣṇa. The whole Vedic system is to make human being correct. Being incorrect, they are suffering in this material world repetition of birth, death. Sometimes man, sometimes dog. So to correct him so that he comes to his original position, Kṛṣṇa conscious, and go back to home. This is the whole Vedic civilization, to correct him. Therefore it is called saṁskāra. Saṁskāra means correction. Saṁskārād bhaved dvijaḥ. Veda-pāṭhād bhaved vipro brahma jānātīti brāhmaṇaḥ.(?)To correct him and bring him to the brahminical stage. From pig stage to brahminical stage. This is Vedic civilization. Everyone is like pig in this material world. Therefore Ṛṣabhadeva says, "Now don't live like pig." Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁnṛloke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye: [SB 5.5.1] "Now, you, My children... " He was advising, instructing His son that "Now this life is not to live like pig." This is the first instruction, because everyone is more or less pig, living like pig. Pig means he has no discrimination of eating and he has no discrimination of sex. That is pig. And everyone is like that. No discrimination of eating, especially in the Western. And no discrimination of sex. Pigs. Big pig or small pig, that's all. So Ṛṣabhadeva says, "Now My dear sons, don't spoil your life living like pigs." Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁnṛloke. Nṛloke means "In the human society you should not live like pig and very hard labor." So the whole civilization at the present moment they want to live like pig, and to live like pig they are working like an ass. And that is civilization, working like ass to become a pig. You tell them!

by purujit dasa

WHAT ABOUT AMINO ACIDS?

Objection might be raised that we have not created ant, but we have created an amoeba by combination of amino acids. Even if you did for argument’s sake, it would still be life comes from life situation, because you are alive. You have manipulated the conditions so the soul can enter. In order to prove the theory that life is made from matter, you would have to make a living entity alive again after it dies and at the same time prove that it is the same entity as before with the same taste, likes, dislikes, language, skills, talents, propensities. That would be a proof that our identity is simply a product of matter.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Then I asked, "Supposing I give you the chemical materials, say, the molecules likes amino acids and the big molecules like DNA and RNA..." These are the molecules, which they think necessary for the maintenance of life. "Supposing I give you all these chemical compounds, then do you think that you will be able to put life into it. If you get all the chemical materials necessary, but will you be able to put life into it?" Then he said, "I do not know."

Prabhupāda: Then why you are talking nonsense? (laughter)

Morning Walk -- May 2, 1973, Los Angeles

hare krsna!

narashimha caturdasi is a festival celebrating the appearance of the most wild transcendental form of krsna -lord narashimha deva. please stop by this friday , 24^th of may 2013, at 6pm for chanting, discussion and prasadam. 

Hariśauri: They're actually very expert at avoiding the real issues.

Prabhupāda: That is.... A child can also do that. That is not expert. A child can advance in foolishness without any guidance. If the child touches fire and if somebody says, "This is advancement of knowledge," then imagine what is the position. Similarly, all these rascals, they are endeavoring. Just like Hiranyakasipu. He endeavored all through how to become immortal, which is impossible. But he advanced in that foolishness. Hiranyakasipu was such a big demon, his only idea was that "The devatās, they attack us sometimes. But now I shall attack them and plunder them. But because I am now practically immortal, what they will do? They cannot kill me. So I will go on with my demonic activities, and then they cannot do anything." This is his foolishness. He did not know that he's the greatest foolishness that he was trying to become immortal. When it was said by Brahmā that "No, no, it is not possible," still, he expected that "I shall become immortal." Brahmā flatly said, "No, no, this is not possible. I am not immortal. How can I give you immortality?" But he would not hear even Brahmā. He thought that, "In an indirect way I shall befool this man, Brahmā." "All right, sir, then give me this benediction." "What is that?" "I'll not die in the land." "All right." "Not in the water." "Yes." "Not in the air." "No, yes." So he thought that "The three things finished. Then where shall I die? There are three things only, land, water, sky. So he has given me benediction I shall not die anywhere of these three. So I have cheated now." And then "I shall not die in daytime." "Yes." "I shall not die in nighttime." But māyā dictated that there is another space or another place between day and night. (laughs) That he forgot. That is called sandhyā. That is accepted. But he forgot that. And Kṛṣṇa is more intelligent. He.... Hiraṇyakaśipu was not killed in daytime or nighttime. He was killed in the sandhyā. And so far land, sky, and water is concerned, that also was played with tricks, that He killed him on the lap. You cannot say it is land; you cannot say it is sky, you cannot say it is water. So Kṛṣṇa is so kind that His devotee, Brahma, has given him this benediction.... Without touching all those points. Hiranyakasipu could not accuse Brahma that "Sir, you have cheated me." "No. Whatever you wanted, I have given you. You have cheated yourself. You do not know that your knowledge is imperfect. You cannot make it perfect. So that is your folly. But so far I am concerned, whatever you wanted, I said, 'Yes. Yes. Yes.' But I said also that 'In spite of all this, you'll never live.' That is not possible. But, you fool, you did not take care of it. So in spite of cunningness, you remained a fool. You thought that you are very intelligent, cunning. 'I am now fully equipped; nobody can kill me.' But I said that it is not possible. I never cheated you. You cannot say that I have cheated you."

Where you get the information that this, from matter life is possible. "In future." But in future.... In inceptive condition you show something. Just like formerly they were flying balloons. So because they were flying, they could say that "Future we shall fly a big city." And in the history we can see that that is not impossible, because in the inceptive condition or initiative condition we see that big things can be flown. But here you cannot even prepare an ant. You have not been able to prepare even a small ant, germ. Show me. So why do you say, "In future I shall do it"?

Room Conversation -- April 20, 1976, Melbourne

(to be continued...)

Reporter: Your Grace, can I start by asking you what do you think of South Africa?

Prabhupāda: That you can reply. Just preach this cult, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. I was expected since a long time. So I could not come here due to my other engagements.

Reporter: Yes. What are your views of the country? What do you think of it?

Prabhupāda: Every country is all right. I don't find any fault. But only difficulty is that all over the world the civilization is being misdirected.

Reporter: Misguided.

Prabhupāda: Misdirected. They are not taking importance of the right thing. Just like we are in this body. Now, when the body is dead, we cry that "My father is gone away. My son is gone away." But if I reply that "Your father is lying on the bed. Why you're crying that your father has gone away?" what will be the reply? The father whom the son has seen since his birth, that body in the coat and pant, so that coat-pant and body is there on the bed, and why the son is crying, "My father has gone away"? What is the reply? What should be the reply?

by purujit dasa

CULTURING CELLS

Scientists in their desperate endeavour to make life out of matter also advocate for a technique called cell culturing, where they keep individual cells alive through artificial means. In this way, they hope they will be able to “create” organs and when they put the organs together, the body as a whole will become alive. Just like Frankenstein. The problem with this is that you need the soul to keep the body going, so even if you succeed to make a whole body through cell culturing, you end up with a zombie- a body which is alive but has no consciousness in it.

Sadāpūta: Śrīla Prabhupāda, would it be possible for them to make a body and have a living entity enter into it?

Prabhupāda: Yes, there is yogic principle. They can enter into a young body and act as young man.

Sadāpūta: So a scientist then could claim he created life. He could... The way they talk, if he made a cell...

Prabhupāda: First of all let them, these foolish rascals, let them understand what is the point who is missing. Then they will replace. They have no knowledge what is missing. They are so fool.

Dr. Wolf: Śrīla Prabhupāda, they would not create. They would only imitate.

Prabhupāda: That is not... It is never created. That is their missing point, that life is never created and they are trying to create.

Room Conversation with Svarūpa Dāmodara -- March 1, 1975, Atlanta

So, not only for Prahlada Maharaja, anyone in this material world who offers his obeisances before the Deity, don't think it is useless. It is taken into account. Therefore Krnna advises, if you cannot do anything, you do four things, man-mana bhava mad-bhakto mad-yaji mam namaskuru [Bg. 18.65]. At least come before Me, just like we do. We come in the temple, and offer our obeisances. It is so easy to go back to home back to Godhead. It is not very difficult task at all. If you cannot do anything, if you cannot read books, if you cannot understand philosophy, if your behavior is not on the standard, still if you simply offer your obeisances before the Deity you make progress. You make progress. Undoubtedly.In the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu you will find it that this worshiping method, come to the temple, offer obeisances, just like these boys, they are playing mrdangas, they are playing cymbals, dancing, every item is taken into account. Every item. Not that it is going futile. No. That is Krnna consciousness, that is bhakti-marga, sv-alpam apy asya dharmasya trayate mahato bhayat. Simply by playing on the cymbal, on the khol, taking little caranamrta, everything in detail there is in the Nectar of Devotion, you have read. So the foolish person, they do not take care. They think they are very much advanced, they have no need to attend arati, or to play on the mrdanga or cymbal, but that is not fact. So many items are there given by the acaryas. If not this, you do this, you do that, you do that, hundreds of items. Take any one of them and you'll be benefited. This is arcana-marga. There are many foolish person, they make propaganda, "There is no need of going to the temple." That is another rascaldom. Because if you come to the temple, you get so many facilities to make advance in spiritual life. This is our mission. We are opening, spending so much money for opening gorgeous temple. It is not new thing. This is very, very old, coming by parampara system. There are many thousands of temples in India, very old, five thousand, three thousand years old. Why? The acaryas wanted to give facility to the common man to enter into spiritual life. That is the idea.

Srila Prabhupada in a class on Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.9.5—Mayapur, February 12, 1976

by angela

I think we have to really understand this sentence. Once you get closer to Krsna the effect is really incredible!

In the Sri Isopanishad it it written He is the Maintainer of his devotees. And He also guides those with sincerity how to take steps to get closer to Him.

by purujit dasa

ISN'T THE DNA THE SAME?

The materialistic scientists bring up a material thing which does not change throughout one’s lifetime –DNA, or a genetic code. This DNA they argue is the reason why one man remains the same although his body changes. To this we can again answer that if the DNA was the source of life, then the scientists should be able to create life simply out of DNA, but that they cannot do, so such claims have no substantial value.

Prajāpati: I used that argument once, Śrīla Prabhupāda, and the scientists said to me, "It is the chromosomes, the tiny chromosomes that do that change."

Prabhupāda: That is their jugglery of words, these rascals. (laughter) "Chromosome, promosome." He will manufacture some word. But where is your chromosome of child body? What is that child body? Where it has gone? If you know, "chromosome, promosome," where has your child's body gone? That is the difficulty. These rascals, they do not know anything. Still, they are teachers and manufacture some jugglery of words. That's all. That is the difficulty. "Chromosome." What is that chromosome? What does it mean, chromosome?

Prajāpati: It is a tiny structure of organic matter that can constantly reproduce...

Prabhupāda: That's all right. When reproduce, the last body is gone.

Prajāpati: They say that the chromosomes that are transferred from father to son...

Prabhupāda: Still, the father's body is not the son's body. It is different body.

Prajāpati: It has come from father's body.

Prabhupāda: That all right, but the father's body is different. The father's pains and pleasure and the son's pains and pleasure are not the same. It may be that the father has given the ingredient of the body, but that does not mean the father's body and the son's body the same. Neither the mind is same, neither intelligence is same. It is all different. Otherwise why a son becomes disobedient to the father, "I don't agree with you"? That means, "Your intelligence, your mind, is different from my mind. I cannot agree with you." Therefore everything is different.

Morning Walk -- December 18, 1973, Los Angeles

(to be continued)

Pradyumna: (leads chanting, etc.) "Money is so dear that one conceives of money as being sweeter than honey. Therefore, who can give up the desire to accumulate money, especially in household life? Thieves, professional servants (soldiers) and merchants try to acquire money even by risking their very dear lives."

Prabhupāda:ko nv artha-tṛṣṇāṁ visṛjetprāṇebhyo 'pi ya īpsitaḥyaṁ krīṇāty asubhiḥ preṣṭhaistaskaraḥ sevako vaṇik [SB 7.6.10]So, the beginning of instruction was kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha [SB 7.6.1]. This material world, beginning, those who are not trained up, their beginning is hankering after union for sex. And puṁsāṁ striya mithuni-bhāvam, this is the material world, attraction, and when they are united the attraction increases, we have already discussed. In this way our attraction for material wealth, ato gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittair [SB 5.5.8]. In this way material possessions, material facilities, we increase. Modern civilization is that. They are simply increasing material wants. The process is pravṛttir eṣaṁ bhūtānāṁ nivṛttes tu mahā-phalaṁ. Natural tendency is, because we have come to enjoy this material world... Conditioned soul means we wanted to enjoy this material world, not to serve anyone. Although our constitutional position is to serve, but artificially we want to give up service and we want to enjoy. That is material disease. So gradually, if we want to enjoy material world, then we require money. Money is the via media for enjoyment of material world. People are working so hard, day and night, just to get money because money is the source or the means of sense enjoyment. That is the disease, sense enjoyment.But actually our life, especially in the human life we should be sober to understand... That has already been explained by Prahlāda Mahārāja, that this sense enjoyment, it can be obtained in any form of life. Sukham aindriyakaṁ daityā deha-yogena dehinām. 

by purujit dasa

WE CAN MAKE LIFE IN A TEST TUBE

Just as with cloning, the scientists simply change the environment for the soul to take shelter in. If they were really making life out of matter, it would be easy when a person dies, to manipulate matter and make that same person alive again. Why they cannot do that?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: They are trying to make babies in a test tube.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: In a few years.

Prabhupāda: What is that test tube?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: In the laboratory, the chemical laboratory, biological laboratory, so they'll take the combinations of the male and the female....

Prabhupāda: Then where is the test tube? It is taken from the living entities.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Then where is the test tube? Test tube is a place for combination. As it is combined in the womb. So that is not advancement.

Morning Walk -- April 19, 1973, Los Angeles

(to be continued....)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They say that the Vedas are written by man so they are imperfect.

Prabhupāda: So you are less than a dog. It is written by man. That's all right. But you are less than a dog. You have no reason, no right. What is your philosophy? What is the value of your philosophy? It is speculation. We don't say, "It is written by man." Apauruṣeya. They may say whatever they..., we don't say. If somebody says, "Your father name is that," and I know my father's name. "What you are? You are not authority to say what is my father's name. I know very well." So it is their suggestion like that, "Your father's name is this." We don't say that "My father name is..." Is that very good suggestion? You don't know anything of my family. How you say that "Your father name is this?" Is it not another rascaldom? You do not know anything about my family, and you say that "Your father's name is this." What is this logic? You cannot say what is my father's name. You do not know about my family.

Morning Walk -- July 11, 1975, Chicago

Instructions to the devotees of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement.

New York City, March 31, 1974

by His Holiness Viṣṇujana Svāmī

His Holiness Viṣṇujana Svāmī, joined the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement in San Francisco in 1967. He has recently returned to the U.S. from India, where he sailed down the Ganges, stopping at towns and villages along her banks to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, distribute food first offered to Kṛṣṇa and preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

"One may artificially repress the desires of the senses, although the taste for sensual enjoyment remains; but by ceasing such enjoyments, experiencing a higher taste, one is fixed in consciousness." (Bhagavad-gītā 2.59)

When one experiences ruci, which, means a taste for Spiritual life, he can rise above the attraction of the illusory energy by the mercy of the Lord. Then he is able to feel vairāgya. Vairāgya is the strength that protects us, even when we are neophytes in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, from breaking the Kṛṣṇa conscious regulative principles and being attracted to the flickering sensual enjoyments of the mundane world. Ruci, and vairāgya–the taste for spiritual life and the strength to maintain it–are rarely achieved.

    If you had a huge diamond and were carrying it around with you on the street, people might flock to see such a diamond. Ruci and vairāgya, however, are much more valuable diamonds. But although you are all walking through the streets with these valuable gifts, unfortunately no one is interested, in following you to take advantage of them. Ruci and vairāgya are such wonderful gems, however, that if you give them away to others, these gems will still stay with you. No one has everseen diamonds you can give to everyone and still keep with you at the same time. But that is the value of ruci and vairāgya, the taste for spiritual life and the energy to be protected from the pull of māyā.

One can achieve a spiritual taste and spiritual strength by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa, and to understand how this works is a great science. By the mercy of Kṛṣṇa, one gets the association of a guru. Kṛṣṇa is living with us–with all living entities, or jīvas–in the form of the Paramātmā, the Supreme Soul. This Supreme Soul accompanies every living entity as he wanders throughout the 8,400,000 species of life in his vain search for happiness. This Supersoul is a great friend–actually the only friend– of the living entity, and He arranges to fulfill the desires of His friend, the tiny living being, regardless of whether they are perverted or pure.

by purujit dasa

WHAT ABOUT CLONING?

Although the scientists think that cloning is a new thing, Srimad Bhagavatam, written 5000 years ago gives a vivid description of cloning in the following verse:

viniścityaivam ṛṣayo

vipannasya mahīpateḥ

mamanthur ūruṁ tarasā

tatrāsīd bāhuko naraḥ

TRANSLATION

After making a decision, the saintly persons and sages churned the thighs of the dead body of King Vena with great force and according to a specific method. As a result of this churning, a dwarf-like person was born from King Vena's body.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada:

That a person was born by the churning of the thighs of King Vena proves that the spirit soul is individual and separate from the body. The great sages and saintly persons could beget another person from the body of the dead King Vena, but it was not possible for them to bring King Vena back to life. King Vena was gone, and certainly he had taken another body. The saintly persons and sages were only concerned with the body of Vena because it was a result of the seminal succession in the family of Mahārāja Dhruva. Consequently the ingredients by which another body could be produced were there in the body of King Vena. By a certain process, when the thighs of the dead body were churned, another body came out. Although dead, the body of King Vena was preserved by drugs and mantras chanted by King Vena's mother. In this way the ingredients for the production of another body were there. When the body of the person named Bāhuka came out of the dead body of King Vena, it was really not very astonishing. It was simply a question of knowing how to do it. From the semina of one body, another body is produced, and the life symptoms are visible due to the soul's taking shelter of this body. One should not think that it was impossible for another body to come out of the dead body of Mahārāja Vena. This was performed by the skillful action of the sages.

SB 4.14.43 (first edition)

Professor (Hṛdayānanda): He's saying that in European history many, many people, in the name of looking for transcendence, there have been so many wars, hatred between men, and, you may know, in Spain they had what is called the Inquisition where they burned so many people. And so he's saying, psychologically, that his brain tells him that in the name of searching after transcendence there has been so much bad, so how is this different?

Prabhupāda: The difference is transcendence is beyond our mind, bodily activities, mental activities or intelligence. The European philosophers and transcendentalists, they do not know actually what is transcendence. They understand that there is something, but they do not know what it is. Therefore they speculate by their imperfect senses. Gradually it becomes craziness. Therefore you find that defect.

Professor (Hṛdayānanda): So do you mean to say that this is just a contemplative thing that doesn't really have a active influence upon the society to change the different...?

Prabhupāda: No, we must first of all understand that our senses are imperfect. Just like we are sitting in this room. We have got our eyes, but we cannot see what is there, going on, beyond this wall. The sun is fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than this earth, and we are seeing just like a disc. So the eyelid is just near the eyes, but we cannot see what is the eyelids. If the light is off, we cannot see. So we can see under certain condition. Then what is the value of our seeing? If we, even if we manufacture telescope, that is also manufactured by the imperfect senses, so it is also not perfect. So anything understood by manipulating our imperfect senses, that is not real knowledge. So our process of understanding real knowledge is to take it from the person who has the real knowledge. Just like if we contemplate or speculate who is my father, it is never possible to understand who is my father. But if we receive the words from mother that "Here is your father," that is perfect. Therefore the process of knowledge should be not to speculate but to receive it from the perfect person. If we receive knowledge from a mental speculator, that is not perfect knowledge.

Professor (Hṛdayānanda): What would be the mechanism or process to get this perfect knowledge and to purify our senses?

Prabhupāda: First of all we have to accept this truth, that perfect knowledge can be received from the perfect person. Just like I have given the example, who is my father. You can understand it from the perfect person, mother. If somebody speculates, "This gentleman may be your father, this gentleman may be your father," that is not perfect knowledge. The perfect knowledge is with the mother. Mother says, "Here is your father." That is perfect knowledge. Just like, therefore, in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said,

tad viddhi praṇipātena

(aside:) Find out

paripraśnena sevayā

upadekṣyanti tad jñānaṁ

jñāninaḥ tattva-darśinaḥ

 [Bg. 4.34]

Now, what is the meaning of tattva-darśinaḥ?

Hṛdayānanda: "The seers of the truth."

Prabhupāda: Yes. You have to... Just like mother has seen the father. So her knowledge is perfect. But I have not seen my father. Because before my birth there was father, I do not know who is my father. The mother has seen the father. So you have to approach such a person who has seen the truth. That is the way of... Now you have to find out a person who has seen the transcendence and receive knowledge of transcendence from him. Then it is perfect.

Professor: (Spanish) What I mean is that, you know. We are all imperfect because we are imperfect. Right? So how can a master, a person who really understands or who claims to really understand be able to know perfection, to see the truth, how can he with his imperfect senses...

Prabhupāda: You are right, you are right.

Professor: ...know the real truth.

Prabhupāda: Yes, therefore I say...

Professor: How can I get with my imperfect senses the perfection brought by the master?

Prabhupāda: The same example. Just like the mother has seen the father, and the mother says not only to her son but other gentleman that "Here is the father of the son." So the other gentleman who has not seen the father but on the verification by the mother, he accepts the real thing. Hearing from the perfect is also perfect. If I get the chance of hearing from the perfect, then I may not be perfect, but because I have heard from the perfect, what I say, that is perfect.

by purujit dasa

WHAT ABOUT HEART TRANSPLANTS? WHEN WE REPLACE A HEART, IS THE SOUL REPLACED AS WELL? 

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Śrīla Prabhupāda, what about the heart transplant? The spirit soul is within the heart, but when the... in the medical science nowadays, the old heart can be replaced by a new one. So what happens with the spirit soul with the old one?Prabhupāda: But that does not mean that new ones will increase their duration of life. That is our challenge.Svarūpa Dāmodara: But the personality is changed?Prabhupāda: No.Svarūpa Dāmodara: Why not?Prabhupāda: Why changed? Suppose if I sit from this chair to this chair, why I am changed? I can change my seat. It does not mean that I am changed.
Morning Walk -- December 2, 1973, Los Angeles

The point is that the heart is not the source of life. It is simply a seat for the soul. 
Therefore when the soul goes away, these rascals says, "heart failure." Not heart failure, the soul has gone from the heart. Heart is also mechanical thing, but the sitting place of the soul is there. So heart failure means the soul has gone from the heart.
Bhagavad-gītā 13.3 -- Paris, August 11, 1973

Hanumān: Now they're doing this heart transplantation. They're taking the heart of one person...Prabhupāda: The soul changes from this heart to that heart. That's all. Just like you are running your car. It stops. Then you change, this car to that car. That's all. (laughter) This is it. It is very common thing.
Bhagavad-gītā 2.14 -- Mexico, February 14, 1975
Girirāja: Now they have machines that when the person is in coma, the machines artificially keep the heart beating and the other processes...Prabhupāda: Then heart beating will go on, either you apply machine or no machine. Heart beating. But when the heart stops, no machine can revive it. So what is the use of machine? But by nature's way when the heart beating will stop, no machine can help. That is not possible.
Morning Walk -- April 7, 1974, Bombay
(to be continued...)

The Personality of Godhead Sri Rãma assumed the form of a human being and appeared on the earth for the purpose of doing some pleasing work for the demigods or the administrative personalities to maintain the order of the universe. Sometimes great demons and atheists like Havana and Hiranyakasipu and many others become very famous due to advancing material civilization by the help of material science and other activities with a spirit of challenging the established order of the Lord. For example, the attempt to fly to other planets by material means is a challenge to the established order. The conditions of each and every planet are different, and different classes of human beings are accomodated there for particular purposes mentioned in the codes of the Lord. But, puffed up by tiny success in material advancement, sometimes the godless materialist chal­lenges the existence of God. Rãvana was one of them, and he wanted to deport ordinary men to the planets of Indra (heaven) by material means without consideration of the necessary qualifications. He wanted a stair­case to be built up directly reaching the heavenly planet so that people might not be required to undergo the routine of pious work necessary to enter that planet. He also wanted to perform other acts against the established rule of the Lord: He even challenged the authority of Sri Rãma the Personality of Godhead and kidnapped His wife Sita. Of course Lord Rãma came to chastise this atheist, answering the prayer and desire of the demigods. He therefore took up the challenge of Rãvana, and the complete activity is the subject matter of the Rãmãyana. Because Lord Rãmacandra was the Personality of Godhead, He exhibited superhuman activities which no human being, including the materially advanced Rãvana, could perform. Lord Rãmacandra prepared a royal road on the Indian Ocean with stones that floated on the water. The modern scientists have done research in the area of weightlessness, but it is not possible to bring in weightlessness any­where and everywhere. But because weightlessness is the creation of the Lord by which He can make the gigantic planets fly and float in the air, He made the stones even within this earth to be weightless and prepared a stone bridge on the sea without any supporting pillar. That is the display of the power of God.

SB 1.3.22 purport (1972 edition)

Woman: I have just one more question, and that is also from an outsider's point of view. It appears to me that one of the most difficult aspects of Kṛṣṇa consciousness for someone to accept who's been brought up outside of that point of view is the Deities and the idea that they represent Kṛṣṇa. Could you talk a little bit about that?

Prabhupāda: Yes. At the present moment, because you are not trained up to see Kṛṣṇa, so Kṛṣṇa kindly appears before you as you can see. You can see wood, stone. You cannot see what is spirit. Even you don't see yourself. You are thinking, "I am this body." But you are spirit soul. You are seeing your father and mother daily, and when the father or mother dies, you cry. Why you are crying? "Now my father has gone." Where is your father gone? He is lying here. Why do you say he is gone? What is that thing which is gone? Why you say, "My father is gone," although lying on the bed? You have seen daily your father. Now you say, "My father is gone." So... But he is lying on the bed. So who has gone? What is your answer?

Woman: Where is God?

Jayatīrtha: Who has gone? If you see your dead father and you say that he is passed away, what has passed away?

Prabhupāda: Who is that father?

Woman: Only this material body is gone.

Prabhupāda: Material body is there, lying on the bed.

Ravīndra-svarūpa: His body is there. And you say, "My father is gone." So what is gone?

Woman: Well, his spirit is still...

Prabhupāda: But have you seen that spirit?

Woman: No.

Prabhupāda: Therefore you cannot see the spirit, and God is Supreme Spirit. Therefore, to show kindness upon you, He has appeared just like wood and stone so that you can see.

Woman: Oh, I see.

Prabhupāda: He is everything. He is spirit and matter, everything. But you cannot see Him as spiritual identity. Therefore He has appeared in material form so that you can see. This is Deity. He is God, but you cannot see Him in His original spiritual form at the present moment. Therefore, out of His unbounded mercy, He has appeared before you just like made of wood and stone so that you can see.

Room Conversation with writer, Sandy Nixon -- July 13, 1975, Philadelphia

by purujit dasa

SOUL MIGHT BE ETERNAL, BUT HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT THE SOUL TAKES ANOTHER BODY AFTER DEATH?

Too much absorption in the bodily concept of life means that our subtle body(mind, intelligence and ego) will have to be transferred into yet another body to fulfill our illusory bodily desires. This is the law of karma. Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita:

yaṁyaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ

tyajaty ante kalevaram

taṁtam evaiti kaunteya

sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ

Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, that state he will attain without fail.

Bg 8.6

Our present body is therefore the result of our mental state at the time of death of our previous body. How this process works is explained in the following verse:

The living entity in the material world carries his different conceptions of life from one body to another as the air carries aromas.

Bg 15.8

Prabhupāda: A neophyte or anyone who is not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he does not enjoy. He simply suffers. There is no question of enjoyment. Anyone who is not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he does not enjoy. He simply suffers. But he takes the suffering as enjoyment. That is māyā. That is māyā. Just like in your country, they are working day and night. Just like from the morning, gugugugugugugugugu (makes noise of machine that is on nearby) They are suffering, but the people are coming, enjoying golf. That is suffering only. From the morning, going here, is it not suffering? (laughter) But he's thinking, "I am enjoying." This is māyā.

Umāpati: Just like the doctor's...

Prabhupāda: Yes. This is māyā. He is suffering, but he's thinking I am enjoying. So any conditioned soul, he doesn't enjoy anything. He simply suffers. But he thinks that he is enjoying. Therefore the camel, camel example is given. Camel example. Camel, he is eating his own blood, eating thorns, and the thorns cutting the tongue, and from the tongue, blood is oozing out. So when the blood is mixed up with the thorny twigs, it becomes little tasteful, and he is thinking "Oh, it is very nice." Similarly, all these gṛhasthas, enjoying sex life, he is discharging his own blood, he's becoming weaker and weaker, he is thinking, "I am enjoying." He is thinking, "I am enjoying." And if he uses more, then he becomes diseased, tuberculosis. He is dying by that process, but he's thinking, "I am enjoying." Therefore it is example for the camel. He is enjoying his own blood by discharging. One drop of semen is made out of so many drops of blood. Do you know?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Forty drops.

Prabhupāda: Just see. And how many, how much drops of semen he is discharging... That means he's spoiling his blood. But he is thinking, "I am enjoying." Would you like to, by giving your blood to enjoy? Would you like?

Umāpati: No, I don't think I'd like.

Prabhupāda: But you are doing that, every night. And that is called māyā.

Umāpati: I'm a brahmacārī, Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: No, you are...(laughter) I am giving an example. This is going on. He is going to die. He has adopted a process by which he will die, and he thinks that he is enjoying. This is called māyā. Māyā means things which is not, māyā. Mā means not, yā means this. "What you are thinking, it is not that." That is called māyā. So they are in māyā means, they are thinking, these rascals, they are thinking, improving, becoming happy, advancing this māyā word will finish everything, mā, yā: "Not this." Bhāgavata says that "You are thinking you are becoming victorious, but you are being defeated." Parābhavas tāvad abodha-jātaḥ. These rascal, abodha-jātaḥ, born fools and rascal, they are becoming defeated in every step. Parābhavas tāvad abodha-jāto yāvan na jijñāsata ātma-tattvam. So long he does not inquire about his self, "What I am," he is simply being defeated. That's all. This is the verdict.

by purujit dasa

ACCEPTANCE OF ANOTHER BODY AFTER DEATH IS A QUESTION OF FAITH

This objection is based on assumption that although the body changes throughout our life and yet we, the consciousness do not, there’s no continuation of the consciousness when the body disintegrates. People who assume like this often ask for a proof that the consciousness continues after death. We do have a nice proof that the consciousness is present when we see the symptoms of consciousness in a body in front of us, but what will prove that the consciousness is still going on after the soul leaves the body and the symptoms can no longer be perceived by our senses?

As we have mentioned in the introduction, in the example of seeing the sun as a yellow disc, our sense perception is actually imperfect. This brings us to a question of what avail is to us an evidence acquired through such imperfect blunt senses then? There is a chance that even if the evidence was bona fide, we would not be able to perceive it.

Dr. Singh. Opponents will say that according to their observation, the nature of consciousness is that it lasts for only one body.

Śrīla Prabhupāda. That is foolishness. In Bhagavad-gītā (2.13) Kṛṣṇa explains:

dehino 'smin yathā dehe

kaumāraṁyauvanaṁ jarā

tathā dehāntara-prāptir

dhīras tatra na muhyati

"As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change." Just as this body is always changing (as I can see in my daily experience), there is a similar change at the time of death.

Dr. Singh. But according to the scientists, we cannot actually observe this last change.

Śrīla Prabhupāda. Their eyes are so imperfect that they cannot observe many, many things. Their ignorance does not make the Bhagavad-gītā unscientific. Why don't the scientists admit the imperfection of their senses? They must first admit the imperfection of their senses. Their seeing power does not determine what is and what is not science. Dogs cannot understand the laws of nature. Does that mean the laws of nature don't exist?

Dr. Singh. Well, the scientists admit that argument, but they say the way to become perfect is through objective information and experience.

Śrīla Prabhupāda. No. That is not the way to become perfect. No one can become perfect through imperfect thinking, and our thinking must be imperfect because our senses and minds are imperfect.

Life Comes from Life

The Tenth Morning Walk:

May 14, 1973

Brahmānanda: These particles that they have just recently found, the life-span is incredibly small, one-millionth of a trillionth of a second.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Brahmānanda: That's their life-span.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Life...

Dr. Patel: How they measured it?

Prabhupāda: Whatever they say, we have to believe. That's all. (laughter) Except Kṛṣṇa, we shall believe everything. When Kṛṣṇa says something: "No, no, these are all fictitious. There is no Kṛṣṇa, and these are all imagination." And as a rascal says, "Oh, this is scientific." This is going on. So we are not so fools that we shall believe these scientific rascals. We believe Kṛṣṇa. That's all. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We are not going to believe the scientific rascals.

 Morning Walk -- November 11, 1975, Bombay

by purujit dasa

WITH THE “MY HEAD”, “MY ARM”, “MY LEG” ARGUMENT(SEE PART 4) IT’S JUST SEMANTICS; YOU MIGHT AS WELL SAY “MY SOUL.”

If there’s so many “my”, there must be a possessor. How we call the possessor is true, simply question of semantics, but the fact is that there is someone who possesses and that possessor is you.

SYMPTOMS OF CONSCIOUSNESS (SEE PART 7) : BIRTH, GROWTH, MULTIPLYING, DEATH CAN BE OBSERVED IN A COMPUTER VIRUS, WHICH IS COMPLETELY MATERIAL.

A few years ago, we had an internet discussion with a person, who claimed that a computer virus also takes birth when you accidentally download it. It “takes birth” in your computer and then “lives”, “multiplies” and finally “dies” by the workings of an anti virus.  Foolish people like that do not understand that a computer virus does not take birth on its own. It has to be downloaded and triggered by a living person. That person can activate it right away, but he might as well wait for some time and activate it later. The birth of a living being cannot be checked like that according to one’s whims. Therefore the virus is not living. I can delete the virus, download it again and again, delete it, download it as much as I can, it will do the same thing over and over, but can you kill a baby and then make it alive again? No. Why?

BUT THE HAIR GROWS SOMETIMES ON A DEAD BODY TOO! IT IS NOT A SYMPTOM OF THE SOUL.

Revatīnandana: But they say hair continues to come out sometimes from dead bodies.

Prabhupāda: Sometimes.

Śyāmasundara: I think you said once ... You answered that sometimes the fan turns a little bit after the plug.

Revatīnandana: Yes. Mechanism, bodily mechanism has pulled the plug. That's what I said. Some material mechanism is still functioning like a machine.

Prabhupāda: It has stopped, but maybe just like the fan is stopped, but still moving. Like that.

Room Conversation -- August 17, 1971, London

(to be continued...)