# May 13 ## Spoken on May 13 *Lectures from this day: 13 recordings* --- **[1969: Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg](spoken/1969/690513r1.col)** > So he invented that *ahiṁsa,* nonviolence. And... Because people will give evidence, "Oh, in the *Vedas* there is..." They were not following, actually, the Vedic rituals, but just like crooked lawyers take advantage of law books, similarly... Therefore, Lord Buddha said that "I do not follow Vedic rituals. I have nothing to do with *Vedas.* It is my own formula." > Kikaṭeṣu* means in the Bihar province in India. *Bhaviṣyati.* Because *Bhāgavata Purāṇa* was written five thousand years ago, and Lord Buddha appeared about 2,600 years ago. So therefore it is stated, *bhaviṣyati:* "In future, just in the beginning of Kali-yuga, Lord will appear as Buddha. His mother's name will be Añjana, and his business will be to cheat the atheist." --- **[1970: Śrī Īśopaniṣad, Mantra 9](spoken/1970/700513ip.la)** > So there are two kinds of education: material education and spiritual education, *brahma-vidyā* and *jaḍa-vidyā. Jaḍa-vidyā* means material education. *Jaḍa. Jaḍa* means "which cannot move," matter. And spiritual education... Spirit can move. Our body is combination of spirit and matter. So long the spirit is there, this body is moving. Just like coat-pant is moving so long a man wears it. It appears that the coat is moving, the pant is moving, but actually the living entity is moving, and the covering, the dress, appears to be moving. > So these are all nonsense, that "You become still, you become silent, and you become God." Oh, how I can become silent? Is there any possibility of becoming silent? No. There is no such possibility. "You become desireless." So how I can become desireless? These are all bluffs. We cannot be desireless. We cannot be silent. But our desires, our activities, have to be purified. That is real knowledge. That is real knowledge. We shall desire only to serve Kṛṣṇa. That is purification of desire. Not that desireless. That is not possible. --- **[1971: Lecture at Wayside Chapel](spoken/1971/710513le.syd)** > So by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa *mantra,* your heart, the mirror of your heart, becomes cleansed so that you can see. Just like mirror, when it is dusty, you cannot see your face nicely, similarly, when our heart is contaminated with the material infection, we cannot understand our real position. But if we chant this Hare Kṛṣṇa *mantra,* then it will be possible to understand, to see our constitutional position. *Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam*. > And therefore it's perfectly natural that this evening we should have in our presence such a renowned world leader of a religious movement, which we have watched with great interest from the Wayside Chapel, and we are very honored that the Swami should be in our presence this evening. And in a few moments' time we're going to invite him to speak just as long as he wishes to speak to the whole community which is present. And after that, as usual, in connection with our Family of Man meetings here on Wednesday night, there will be ample opportunity for questions and discussion. --- **[1972: Room Conversation on Bhagavad-gītā 6.11–14](spoken/1972/720513bg.hon)** > "In this way one should be engaged in meditation, thinking always of Me," *mat-paraḥ.* This is *yoga.* What is he has recommended? He can do whatever he likes. And *haṭha-yoga* also, *aṣṭāṅga-yoga*, according to Kapila Muni, that is also *yaṁa*. Why? Immediately beginning, *yaṁ, yaṁ, āsana, dhyāna, dhāraṇā, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra*, eh? Then *samādhi.* [indistinct]. This means this man is cheating everyone. This man is cheating; he does not know what is *yoga.* And because these Western rascals, they want to be cheated, they come and take money, and they think they are *yogī*. They are not *yogī.* Give them a challenge: quote these verses from *Bhagavad-gītā, Bhagavat*. One cannot manufacture a science out of his own brain. > When he was asked by Parīkṣit to get him places, whether *dyūtaṁ pānaṁ striyaḥ sūnā yatrādharmaś catur-vidhaḥ*. "Where there is gambling, where there is drinking, where there is illicit sex, and where there is animal slaughter—go there." *Yatrādharmaś catur-vidhaḥ.* These four kinds of sinful activities are going on. And this is the whole world. Gambling and drinking, illicit sex and slaughterhouse. The whole Western world especially... No, everyone. In India also the same thing—but still less. --- **[1973: Morning Walk at Cheviot Hills Golf Course](spoken/1973/730513mw.la)** > The police is there, just like the police car was there. We have nothing to do with it. But if you do anything criminal, immediately you will be arrested, under police custody. The *māyā* may be there, but *māyā* captures him who is not a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. That's all. Therefore, *mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te* : "Anyone who surrenders unto Me, *māyā* does not interfere anymore." > This is a *yantra*, machine. And we are traveling many species of life, all riding on this car given by nature. *Yantrārūḍhāni māyayā. Māyā* has given this vehicle, anywhere wandering, up and down, sometimes demigod, sometimes dog. This is going on. And in this wandering process, if he gets in touch with a devotee, then his real spiritual life begins. Otherwise he has to go on rotating. --- **[1973: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.8.51](spoken/1973/730513sb.la)** > Anyway, the point is that Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, he, how responsible king, just think over. Arjuna was also thinking before fighting. He was arguing with Kṛṣṇa that "If I kill my brothers, all the my sister-in-laws, they'll be widow." And there was no such thing as widow marriage in India. No. No widow can marry. Why? Because the woman population is greater than the man. If widow again marries, then the unmarried girl does not get chance to have another husband. Therefore there was no widow marriage. Widow marriage was especially allowed only when the girl did not see her husband at any time or she had no children. > So a king must be very responsible for the citizens how they are happy. So Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja was that type of king. Every king was like that. It was the duty of the king to see. You have read already that during Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja's time there was no excessive heat or excessive cold, neither there was disease in the country. Because the king was so perfect, so pious, so God-conscious, that these things would not disturb. And the citizens, also, would abide by the orders of the king. So everything was very peaceful. Very peaceful. --- **[1975: Morning Walk](spoken/1975/750513mw.per)** > We are not saying just the "No sex." We don't say that. We simply say, "No illicit sex," and they do not like it. We don't say "No sex," but simply by saying, "No illicit sex," they don't like. Why? There is a Bengali song, c*okhe yadi lāge bhāla kena dekhbo nā.* "If I want to see something beautiful, why shall I not see?"* [Sang by Hemanta Mukhopādhyāya.] That is *pravṛtti*. "I want to do it. I like to do it. Why should you say, 'No'?" This is the position. "I like to do it. I must do it." This is called *pravṛtti mārga*. > Five thousand years ago Kṛṣṇa spoke of all these things very clearly. Later on, the things, from the beginning of Kali-yuga, the things are deteriorating, and therefore different types of religion has sprung up—the Buddhism, Christianism, Muhammadanism. They are not perfect understanding of religious principle. And gradually the number of so-called religious section are increasing. Our Mr. Nanda is presenting another religion, *mānava-dharma.* Everyone is manufacturing. And Vivekananda is supporting, "Yes, every type of religious system is as good." This is nonsense. Actually they do not know what is religion. [pause] *Harer nāma Harer nāma*... [*Bṛhan-nāradīya Purāṇa*] --- **[1975: Room Conversation with Justin Murphy [Geographer](spoken/1975/750513r1.per)** > The Aborigines lived in almost perfect harmony with their environment for thirty thousand years, thirty to forty thousand recorded years—that's how far our research can take us back—whereas in a little over a hundred years, European man in Australia has done in places irreparable damage to not only the vegetation but also the soils of arid Australia. It's damage that will probably never, ever be repaired because the environment is so delicate in central Australia that as soon as our cloven-footed animals, our sheep and our cattle, for example, are brought into the arid areas, they eat, they trample, they remove vegetation. This loosens the soil. The soil is very thin, it's very infertile, and it blows away. And virtually all you have left is rock. And nothing grows, of course, on rock. That's an over-simplification and perhaps an over-dramatization, but this has happened in Australia. It didn't happen when the Aborigines lived here, undisturbed by us. It has happened since European man has come. > In Perth, in this city, around this city, since Europeans have come, we have removed forests, we've cut down trees, we've tilled the soil, we have changed the natural order of things, we have increased the amount of water from rain that flows through the soil. It's getting more and more salty. We are affecting our coastal wetlands, as we call them, the lagoons and the lakes and the marshes, so that they are becoming both more salty and more clogged with silt and soil and debris. Water birds can, in some areas, no longer live there. Fish are dying. A lot of migratory fish and crabs, for example, are no longer migrating to their traditional breeding grounds. So our work, our approach, is—and I have to stress that it is scientific and therefore it's long-term, and we're only a very young group here in Western Australia—but our approach is to attempt first to understand what has happened, to understand what is happening, and then slowly to be able to suggest ways of improving or halting what is happening which is bad and putting forward ideas for what might happen which is good, which is good both for people... --- **[1975: Room Conversation](spoken/1975/750513r2.per)** > In a forlorn place he stand up for five thousand years and tolerate all the blast, wind, scorching heat, water. He doesn't know that "I may become a tree like this." Then he must be... Why there are varieties of life? This is different type of punishment for different kinds of sinful activities. And he doesn't care for sinful activities. He got the human form of body, he doesn't care. Saintly persons, they are coming as Caitanya Mahāprabhu or Buddha or Christ. They are warning, "You do not do this." No, they will do it. So who is responsible for his sufferings? He is responsible. And so long he has got this short duration of life, fifty or sixty years or utmost hundred years, he is thinking, "I am free. Whatever I want, I can do," and making life risky. *Ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā* [*Bg* 3.27*]. > One man is dying. A *dhīra* knows that he is changing his body; he is not dying. He will get another body. *Dhīra,* sober. And one who is not sober, he says, "No, life is finished." Or he can imagine he is going to heaven or hell. But a *dhīra* knows what is going to happen to him. If he was in the material modes of nature, goodness, then he is going to higher planetary system. *Ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti.* From *śāstra* we can understand. If he is in passion, then he will stay in this material world. And if he is in ignorance, then he is going to be animal. *Dhīras tatra na muhyati.* He knows. So he understood what is meant by first-class men? [referring to Justin Murphy] --- **[1975: Room Conversation with Gaṇeśa dāsa's Mother and Sister](spoken/1975/750513r3.per)** > "In the *Brahma-saṁhitā* it is stated that the Lord has many, many forms and incarnations: *advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam [*Bs* 5.33]. "Although there are many transcendental forms of the Lord, they are still one and the same Supreme Personality of Godhead. One has to understand this fact with conviction, although it is incomprehensible to mundane scholars and empiric philosophers. As stated in the Vedas: *eko devo nitya-līlānurakto bhakta-vyāpī hṛdy antarātmā:* 'The one Supreme Personality of Godhead is eternally engaged in many, many transcendental forms in relationships with His unalloyed devotees.' This Vedic version is confirmed in this verse of the *Gītā* personally by the Lord. He who accepts this truth on the strength of the authority of the *Vedas* and of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and who does not waste time in philosophical speculations, attains the highest perfectional stage of liberation. Simply by accepting this truth, one faith, one can, without a doubt, attain liberation. The Vedic version, *tat tvam asi,* is actually applied in this case. Anyone who understands Lord Kṛṣṇa to be the Supreme, or who says unto the Lord, 'You are the Supreme Brahman, the Personality of Godhead,' is certainly liberated instantly, and consequently his entrance into the transcendental association of the Lord is guaranteed. > "In other words, such a faithful devotee of the Lord attains perfection, and this is confirmed by the following Vedic assertion: *tam eva viditvāti mṛtyum eti nānyaḥ panthā vidyate 'yanāya* [Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 3.8*].* One can attain the perfect stage of liberation from birth and death simply by knowing the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There is no alternative, because anyone who does not understand Lord Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead is surely in the mode of ignorance. Consequently, he will not attain salvation simply, so to speak, by licking the outer surface of the bottle of honey, or by interpreting the *Bhagavad-gītā* according to mundane scholarship. Such empiric philosophers may assume very important roles in the material world, but they are not necessarily eligible for liberation. Such puffed-up mundane scholars have to wait for the causeless mercy of the devotee of the Lord. One should therefore cultivate Kṛṣṇa consciousness with faith and knowledge, and in this way attain perfection." --- **[1976: Room Conversation](spoken/1976/760513r1.hon)** > So Dr. Radhakrishnan's statement, it is wrong, and we protest that he does not know what is Kṛṣṇa. And therefore we condemn him, that he does not know what is Kṛṣṇa, and still he is writing commentary on *Bhagavad-gītā*. Just like Gandhi, he also, they... To understand Kṛṣṇa is not so easy job. Kṛṣṇa says, *manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye * : out of millions and millions people, somebody has tried to become perfect. That's a fact. Who is eager to become perfect, so many? Nobody cares for it. "Hah! Let me enjoy life." Kṛṣṇa also says the same thing: *manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye*, "Somebody tries to become perfect," and *yatatām api siddhānāṁ kaścin vetti māṁ tattvataḥ*, "and those who have become perfect, out of many of them, one may know Me." > Paramahaṁsa: The more dangerous you will be seen. You will be seen as a threat to the way of life, so there will be so many powers that want to stop. And universities are connected with the government. Universities are part of the..., actually government sponsored. The government is full of the biggest rogues, so, er... But on the university campuses there are some good people. In other words, there are some intelligent people in the universities who will be able to appreciate. --- **[1976: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.1.12](spoken/1976/760513sb.hon)** > So long one is in ignorance, the bodily concept of life, he is animal. When one knows that "I am not this body; I am... *Ahaṁ brahmāsmi,*" then civilization begins. So here it is recommended that unless we follow the rules and regulations, then there is no possibility of curing our material disease. The whole process is we are in materially diseased; otherwise we are as good as Kṛṣṇa. But because we are materially diseased, we are in the difficult position of birth, death, old age and disease. Kṛṣṇa says. This is real problem. *Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam .* > So real civilization is how to go back to home, back to Godhead. But they do not know. *Na te viduḥ.* The materialistic persons, they do not know. Therefore there must be organization, institution, to teach the human society how to go back to home, back to... That is real civilization. Otherwise cats and dogs, they are also eating, sleeping, mating, getting children and dying. That is not human civilization. In the next verse we'll find that human civilization can be attained. The first thing is, thirteenth verse, *tapas*ā, "by austerity." --- ## Letters on May 13 *Letters from this day: 15* --- **[1967: Letter to Mukunda](letters/1967/670513_mukunda)** > The devotees of the temple must keep themselves engaged otherwise they cannot make progress in Krishna consciousness. The *maya* is very strong and as soon as there is opportunity the Maya will come and attack. --- **[1969: Letter to Dayananda](letters/1969/690513_dayananda)** > There is a Bengali proverb that it is not wise to pick up quarrel with a crocodile while living in the jurisdiction of the water. We require nice compound around our temple. --- **[1969: Letter to Gopala Krsna](letters/1969/690513_gopala_krsna)** > I think that since you are willing to observe the four principal rules of spiritual life, you may be initiated by me as soon as you like. --- **[1969: Letter to Ishan](letters/1969/690513_ishan)** > Regarding the lease on the building, I think you may consult with Hansadutta in this matter and decide what is to be done. --- **[1969: Letter to Jayasri](letters/1969/690513_jayasri)** > Your name, Jayasri Dasi, means victory, and if you will simply continue to develop your Krishna Consciousness by following the rules and regulations, then surely your life will be very victorious in... --- **[1969: Letter to Tamala Krsna](letters/1969/690513_tamala_krsna)** > I am pleased to note that you are doing nicely for giving the student community to hear about our Krishna Consciousness Movement. --- **[1970: Letter to Balmukundji](letters/1970/700513_balmukundji)** > In my last letter I advised you that your Devanagari Lipi class should begin by chanting Hare Krsna Mantra, but if you find the time is short, then instead of reciting the Guru mantra quoted by you which is of impersonal mature, you can chant the following verse which we do along with others. --- **[1970: Letter to Brahmananda](letters/1970/700513_brahmananda)** > Regarding the dummy BTG, I compared with the Japanese BTG, and it appears that the present one is quite inferior. The price is higher and the subscription card is not to be included, and the size is smaller also. So considering all these points it is inferior to the Japanese BTG. --- **[1970: Letter to Damodara Maharaja](letters/1970/700513_damodara_maharaja)** > The money is there, the sanction is there, the land is there, and still if it does not take place, I shall understand it that this is not the desire of Srila Prabhupada. In the meantime, I have also advised my previous son, Sri M.M. --- **[1970: Letter to Pradyumna](letters/1970/700513_pradyumna)** > It appears that it is nicely done, but if I have to see it scrutinizingly, it will take some time. --- **[1972: Letter to Gurudasa](letters/1972/720513_gurudasa)** > In the Hindi BTG there are *so* many mistakes, spelling, grammar, and some places the philosophy is faulty with some other ideas mixed in; the printing is shabby, the second page is almost invisible. So you may inform Ksirodakasayi, and you try to help him for improving Hindi BTG. --- **[1973: Letter to Bhavananda](letters/1973/730513_bhavananda)** > Since I posted my last letter to you and Jayapataka Maharaja, jointly it has been decided that I'm returning to India by the 22nd or 23rd of this month. --- **[1977: Letter to Adi Kesava Swami](letters/1977/770513_adi_kesava_swami)** > I am very pleased to know that one Russian boy, Vladimir, has very sincerely taken to Krsna consciousness. Because it is very difficult of practice Krsna consciousness in Russia, we can be a little lenient in his case. I am very glad to accept him as my initiated disciple. --- **[1977: Letter to Dasanudasa](letters/1977/770513_dasanudasa)** > It appears that you have good talent for writing, so kindly continue to develop in this way and write more and more of your realizations based upon our books. You simply have to study carefully our books and then in your own words try to express what you have read. --- **[1977: Letter to Rajendra Sahai](letters/1977/770513_rajendra_sahai)** > Regarding Sri Beni Madho Temple, I have already advised Sri Acarya Omkar Giri to see my friend Dr. ---