# July 17 ## Spoken on July 17 *Lectures from this day: 14 recordings* --- **[1968: Song & Purport to Śrī-Kṛṣṇa-Caitanya Prabhu [Partially Recorded](spoken/1968/680717pu.mon)** > "Because You have come to deliver fallen souls, so You will not find the most fallen soul like me." This is the humble prayer. We should be conscious of our fallen condition and pray to the Lord in that way, that "My dear Lord, somehow or other I am fallen. Now kindly pick me up." > This is a prayer to Lord Caitanya. The devotee is saying, "O Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, kindly show me Your causeless mercy." *Śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu doyā koro more.* --- **[1971: Bhagavad-gītā 6.41](spoken/1971/710717bg.det)** > Therefore our business, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, is to train the followers to Kṛṣṇa consciousness so that next life he gets Kṛṣṇa consciousness atmosphere, if not promoted immediately, directly to the abode of Kṛṣṇa. That is also possible. *Mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām :* "Those who are My devotees, they come to My place." Kṛṣṇa says. > When Arjuna asked Kṛṣṇa that "Persons who are trying to make perfection in the *bhakti-yoga*..." Because the *māyā's* influence is very strong. Anyone practicing *bhakti-yoga,* sometimes he may fall down. But there is assurance that even one falls down, there is no loss. That has been advised by Nārada Muni, that *tyaktvā sva-dharmaṁ caraṇāmbujaṁ harer bhajann apakvo 'tha patet tato yadi*. --- **[1971: Initiations](spoken/1971/710717in.det)** > So we should not make it a business that 'Let me go on committing sins, and it will be counteracted by chanting.' No. This is not good. This is the greatest offense. Sometimes in Christian Church there is confession, and again they go and commit the same sin, and next time, again confession. Not like that. That is not good. One confession admitting, excused. But not that you commit sins over and over again and it will be excused. Similarly, you cannot commit sins on the strength of chanting. That is the greatest offense. [end] > A non devotee cannot have any good qualifications. It is a fact. So one who is non devotee, you should take immediately that he is not a good man. Hm, come on. --- **[1972: Room Conversation](spoken/1972/720717r1.lon)** > But actually that is the fact. So our policy is that let people become Kṛṣṇa conscious—all problems solved. That is our [indistinct]. *Caitanya caritāmṛta* says, *ye jana kṛṣṇa*... [indistinct]. Anyone who is Kṛṣṇa conscious, he is first-class intelligent. *Kṛṣṇa ye bhaje sei baḍa catura*. Where is this word in the *Caitanya caritāmṛta*? Anyone who is Kṛṣṇa conscious, he is very intelligent. > He immediately surrendered to the Hindustanis, and the Pakistanis attacked Kashmir: "It is a Muhammadan country. We shall take it." So the ruler, he surrendered. So it was perfectly in order, because the British have gave [indistinct] selection. So when there was fight was going on, the Mountbatten, [laughs] Lord Mountbatten—he is still living—somehow or other he induced Jawaharlal to put the matter in the United Nations. So still it is not settled up, you see, but his duty was, "So why shall I go to the United Nations? The arrangement was that the ruler can select. He has selected already. Why should I go to them?" --- **[1973: Bhagavad-gītā 1.20](spoken/1973/730717bg.lon)** > If we are really Kṛṣṇa conscious, then our business is to repeat the words of Kṛṣṇa. That's all. What is the difference between a Kṛṣṇa's representative and non-representative? The representative of Kṛṣṇa will simply repeat what Kṛṣṇa says. That's all. He becomes representative. It doesn't require much qualification. You simply repeat with firm conviction. As Kṛṣṇa says, *sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja*. So one who has accepted this fact, that "If I surrender to Kṛṣṇa, my all business is successful," he is Kṛṣṇa's representative. That's all. > You don't require to be very highly educated or advanced. Simply if you simply accept that what Kṛṣṇa says... Just like Arjuna said, *sarvam etaṁ ṛtam manye yad vadasi keśava* : "My dear Kṛṣṇa, Keśava, whatever You are saying, I accept it, without any change." That is *bhakta.* Therefore Arjuna is addressed, *bhakto 'si.* This is the *bhakta's* business. Why shall I think of Kṛṣṇa as like me, ordinary man? This is the difference between a *bhakta* and not *bhakta.* A *bhakta* knows that "I am insignificant, a small spark of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is individual person. I am also individual person. But when we consider about His power and my power, I am most insignificant." This is understanding of Kṛṣṇa. --- **[1973: Room Conversation with John, A Baha'i Leader from the Isle of Wight](spoken/1973/730717r1.lon)** > Then what is my position? My position is, if I am real reflection, then how I am covered by something by which I have got a body which is not permanent, not blissful, not full of knowledge? So, that covering is called maya. Just like you are covered by your coat. This coat is not your identity. You are mister such-and-such. I ask you mister such-and-such, I don't ask you mister black coat or blue coat, no. This body is just like that. It is like a dress. Within this body, my reality is there. That is soul. The soul is as good in quality as the Lord, because I am part and parcel of God. Therefore, my attempt should be how to get out of this temporary body, miserable condition without any bliss, and get back my original body, which is as good in quality as that of God. This should be the attempt of human life. Developed consciousness. > So, God is realised by perfection of knowledge. Those who are imperfect, they cannot realize God. God is there, even to the imperfect person. Just like this flower. This flower is present both to the perfect person and the imperfect person: so God's energy is present; the perfect person can understand that it is made of God's energy, and imperfect person says, they do not see God behind this, they see that it is the nature is working. That is the difference. The eyes of the perfect person is different from the eyes of the imperfect person. Just like, if there is an electric fan, just like in our childhood we used to think that there is a ghost within this fan. But one who knows, he does not find any ghost: he knows that it is running by the electric energy, which is coming from the electric powerhouse. So, the ignorant are also seeing the fan, and the man in knowledge is also seeing the fan, but their seeing is different. The perfect man is seeing in a different way than the imperfect man. So, the whole thing is present before the perfect and the imperfect. One who is imperfect, he is seeing in a different way, and the perfect is seeing in another. That is the difference. But the object of seeing is the same. --- **[1975: Morning Walk](spoken/1975/750717mw.sf)** > Why you are thinking independent? You are being carried away by the ear, pulling, "Come here." You are thinking there is no birth, but there is birth. Every moment you are having a new life, new birth, by the... You can say, "I will not become old man," but *prakṛti* will not allow you. You must become old man. You can say, "I will not die." You must die. So you are so dependent. Even if you accept only *prakṛti*, no father, you are a fatherless child, that's all right, but even the mother... You have to accept the authority of the mother. Where is your independence? You are thinking foolishly. >is finished, so-called religion is finished, so-called politics is finished—everything. *Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇā*. Because they have finished God, everything will be finished. Zero, only zero. --- **[1975: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.1.32](spoken/1975/750717sb.sf)** > There are three types of experience. One kind of experience is direct experience. That is third class. And another experience is by history, by books. And another experience is by hearing from the Supreme. So we are gathering experience by hearing from the Supreme. Just like here Śukadeva Gosvāmī is narrating *Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.* He has heard it from his father, Vyāsadeva. His father has heard it from Nārada Muni, his spiritual master. Nārada Muni has heard it from Brahmā, the first living creature within this universe. And Brahmā has heard it from Kṛṣṇa. This is called *paramparā* system. So this kind of knowledge is perfect knowledge. *Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ*. This Vivasvān... *Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ. Imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam*. > So ruling is there. You can say foolishly that "There is no ruling. I can do whatever I like." That you can do. Just like Ajāmila was doing. But now the two classes of messengers have come. The Yamadūtas have come to take him away because externally he is the most sinful man. Therefore they are protesting, "How is that? It is already settled up. This man has committed so many sinful activities. So they are under our jurisdiction. Who are you, you are forbidding us?" But the Viṣṇudūtas have come there because although he was sinful, although he was most impious, although he was a prostitute-hunter and cheater and so many good qualities, still, he has chanted the holy name of Nārāyaṇa at the end of his life. Immediately Viṣṇudūtas... This is the facility. Whole life sinful—*ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ*, but he has remembered Nārāyaṇa at the end of his life. Very painful life. At the time of death it is very, very painful. We have got experience. Therefore you do not wish to die, because it is very, very painful. --- **[1976: Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 20.110](spoken/1976/760717cc.ny)** > Akhilam,* "entire"; *jagat,* "universe." So this is the manifestation of the potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Just like we read in the *Bhagavad-gītā,* Kṛṣṇa says that *imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam* : "I first of all spoke this *yoga* system to Vivasvān, the sun-god." The sun-god, the present sun-god, predominating deity of the sun planet, is named as Vivasvān, and his son is called Vaivasvata Manu. This is the age of Vaivasvata Manu we are passing through. So Kṛṣṇa is person, and Vivasvān the sun-god is also person. Otherwise how Kṛṣṇa could speak to him? *Imaṁ vivasvate yogam.* How He instructed him? Just like exactly Arjuna was instructed by Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is person and Arjuna is person. Person-to-person talk. Similarly, that predominating deity in the sun planet is also a person, and there are many other persons. Just like when Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna talked, there were many, many other individual persons. Similarly, in the sun planet, not only the sun-god himself is a person, but all the population there, they are like sun-god, made of fire, their body is made of fire, they can stay in the fire. Just like the fish, their body is so made that they can live within the water. Similarly, there also there are many, many living entities. The sun planet is very, very big, fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than this earth. So it is all congested with population. And because they are all fiery, everything made there fiery, therefore it is a blazing fire, and the illumination is coming all over the universe. > That is the qualification. As soon as you understand Kṛṣṇa—not thoroughly; at least partial, what is the nature of Kṛṣṇa—then immediately you become liberated. That is, Kṛṣṇa says personally. *Naṣṭa prāyeṣu abhadreṣu*. *Prāyeṣu. Prāyeṣu* means almost. We cannot become perfect in this material world, but to some extent if we become perfect, then our life becomes successful. To some extent. *Svalpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt*. These things are there. --- **[1976: Interview with Trans-India Magazine](spoken/1976/760717iv.ny)** > So actually this *varṇāśrama* system is meant for bringing the man in the lower status of life to the higher status of life. It doesn't matter one is born in a low-grade family. That is also said by Kṛṣṇa: *māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ*. Pāpa-yoni,* lower grade. *Striyo vaiśyās tathā śūdrāḥ*. In the human society, woman, the *vaiśya* and the *śūdra,* they are considered in the lower status, not very intelligent. *Te 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim.* They can also become. So in the Western countries, according to Vedic calculation, they are *mlecchas, yavanas,* low grade. But Kṛṣṇa says, *ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ:* "He can also be elevated, to that extent as he can go back to home, back to Godhead." So this movement is directly giving the opportunity of Kṛṣṇa's service so that they can become immediately bona fide to the position in the highest grade of life, Vaiṣṇava, so that he can go back to home, back to Godhead. > Kṛṣṇa said to Arjuna, "My dear Arjuna, this *Bhagavad-gītā* philosophy, or *yoga* system, first of all I spoke to the sun-god. And then he spoke to his son, Manu. Then Manu spoke to his son Ikṣvāku." In this way the knowledge comes down from the spiritual master to the disciple or from the father to the son. So unless one comes in this disciplic succession, he cannot become *guru.* Therefore... I do not know all of them. All the *svāmīs* and *yogīs* who came here, they do not belong to this *paramparā* system, so therefore they are not bona fide *guru.* They are presenting themselves as *guru,* but they are not *guru.* Therefore people are misled. People are misled. And this is the first time that we presented India's traditional philosophy and life as it is understood by the *paramparā* system. Therefore it is being so well received. Vivekananda came here, as you said, 1893, before my birth. I was born in 1896. But they have worked for, say, eighty-five years. What they have done? But I have worked here for seven or eight years, and it is now worldwide movement. Why? Because we presented the things as they are. *Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam*. Therefore it is effective. So if the things are presented as they are, the customers will automatically come. --- **[1976: Morning Walk](spoken/1976/760717mw.ny)** > Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh. [aside:] Prabhupāda took us to his place at Seventy-second Street the other day, also showed us this place.Rāmeśvara: He showed us the fruit store where he would buy fruit.Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He would like to go shop.Prabhupā > *Harer nāma* [*Cc. Ādi*7.76]. --- **[1976: Room Conversation](spoken/1976/760717r1.ny)** > "Here the Lord indirectly says that if anyone wants to know the Absolute Truth, 'Here I am, present as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. I am the Supreme.' One should know this. Although one cannot understand the inconceivable Lord who is personally present, He nonetheless exists. We can actually understand Kṛṣṇa, who is eternal, full of bliss and knowledge, simply by studying His words in *Bhagavad-gītā* and *Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.* The impersonal Brahman can be conceived by persons who are already in the inferior energy of the Lord, but the Personality of Godhead cannot be conceived unless one is in the transcendental position. Because most men cannot understand Kṛṣṇa in His actual situation, out of His causeless mercy He descends to show favor to such speculators. Yet despite the Supreme Lord's uncommon activities, these speculators, due to contamination in the material energy, still think that the impersonal Brahman is the Supreme. Only the devotees, who are fully surrendered unto the Supreme Lord, can understand, by the grace of the Lord, that He is Kṛṣṇa. The devotees of the Lord do not bother about the impersonal Brahman conception of God. Their faith and devotion bring them to surrender immediately unto the Supreme Lord, and out of the causeless mercy of Kṛṣṇa, they can understand Kṛṣṇa. No one else can understand Him. So even great sages agree, 'What is *ātmā*? What is the Supreme? It is He whom we have to worship.' " > So "Viṣṇu is creating all the planetary systems. He's in His *yoga-nidrā.* He is the original Govinda, and I worship Him." So that is why both names are used so synonymously. And that is why people are questioning me, and I have difficulty to answer them. Although I accept Kṛṣṇa as original Personality of Godhead, but how to explain to them? --- **[1977: Room Conversation](spoken/1977/770717r1.vrn)** --- ## Letters on July 17 *Letters from this day: 18* --- **[1968: Letter to Brahmananda](letters/1968/680717_brahmananda)** > Regarding Kallman affairs: please try to get out of it, even at a loss. For us desiring to go back to Krishna, persons engaged in sense gratification business is more dangerous than poison. --- **[1968: Letter to Mukunda](letters/1968/680717_mukunda)** > I have already asked Hansadutta to open correspondence with you. Please do expedite the arrangement for London Yatra by mutual correspondence. --- **[1969: Letter to Satsvarupa](letters/1969/690717_satsvarupa)** > Now I shall expedite work on the *Krishna* book, as I have completed *The Nectar of Devotion. --- **[1969: Letter to Sri Goswami](letters/1969/690717_sri_goswami)** > Regarding the plot of land you have mentioned, I do not think it will be big enough for our purposes because we want at least 10 bighas and not 10 kottas. --- **[1970: Letter to Srilekha](letters/1970/700717_srilekha)** > I understand that you are a very sincere girl and you are also following the regulative rules and regulations as well as chanting sixteen rounds of Hare Krsna Mahamantra daily. So I am very glad to accept you as my initiated disciple as you have requested and you are recommended by Sriman Jagadisa. --- **[1971: Letter to Tribhuvanatha](letters/1971/710717_tribhuvanatha)** > I am so glad to hear how successful our Rathayatra festival was, with nearly 10,000 people participating in the procession. --- **[1973: Letter to Cintamani](letters/1973/730717_cintamani)** > You have written that you are not sure what Krsna wants you to do and that Palika dasi has invited you to go to Hyderabad to come help with the deities. So I think that is a good idea that you go to India and you can do so as soon as possible. --- **[1973: Letter to Isvara](letters/1973/730717_isvara)** > I beg acknowledge receipt of your undated letter and I have carefully considered the contents. --- **[1974: Letter to Madhudvisa](letters/1974/740717_madhudvisa)** > I may request you to send three men to go with Subaladas Swami to Fiji for preaching and opening a temple. There is one Indian man there who wants to give $50,000 for construction of a temple there. --- **[1974: Letter to Mr. Punja](letters/1974/740717_mr._punja)** > Please accept my best wishes. I wish to inform you that I am sending one of my elder sannyasi disciples to Fiji for preaching and opening a Krishna consciousness temple there. Three other men will also go there to assist him. His name is His Holiness Subaladas Swami. Please see that he is taken care of there. He will be arriving within one months time. --- **[1974: Letter to Vijayadhvaja](letters/1974/740717_vijayadhvaja)** > I may inform you that I am sending Subaladas Swami along with three other men Australia to assist you. So you should arrange for his ticket. I think you can have Mr. Punja arrange this ticket. --- **[1975: Letter to Brijratan S. Mohatta](letters/1975/750717_brijratan_s._mohatta)** > Enclosed please find herewith a copy of our latest issue of Back to Godhead containing the selection from Srimad-Bhagavatam as you had kindly suggested. We are making it a regular feature each month. --- **[1975: Letter to Gopala Krsna](letters/1975/750717_gopala_krsna)** > So it is all right that Aksayananda Swami travels and collects provided that the management of Vrindaban does not suffer. --- **[1976: Letter to Abhinanda](letters/1976/760717_abhinanda)** > There is a great future for making standing orders in India undoubtedly. So now this program must go on very nicely and Krishna will give you all support. --- **[1976: Letter to Damodara Pandita](letters/1976/760717_damodara_pandita)** > Concerning the recordings of Krsna dasa Babaji, how can I make any judgment as I have not heard them. --- **[1976: Letter to Dhrstaketu](letters/1976/760717_dhrstaketu)** > You can use the nickname Krishna-dasa, or Caitanya-dasa, etc., etc. when needed if you require some more simply name is distributing books. Everyone is Krishna-dasa, or Gurudasa, like that. --- **[1976: Letter to Gopala Krsna](letters/1976/760717_gopala_krsna)** > Enclosed please find the power of attorney which you requested over the telephone from Tamala Krishna Maharaja. --- **[1976: Letter to Ramesvara](letters/1976/760717_ramesvara)** > I herewith enclose three cheques for deposit in the Bank of America, ISKCON Mayapur-Vrindaban Fund, a/c # 6004-07143, in Los Angeles. The details are as follows: ---