# September 8 *Lectures from this day: 8 recordings* --- **[[../../spoken/1966/660908le.ny.md|Lecture on Mahā-mantra — September 8, 1966, New York]]** *[Lecture file not found]* --- **[[../../spoken/1969/690908bg.ham.md|Bg 7.14 — September 8, 1969, Hamburg]]** *[Lecture file not found]* --- **[[spoken/710908sb.lon|SB 7.5.22-30 — September 8, 1971, London]]** **Devotee: [introducing recording] London lecture number 15, evening, September 8th, 1971, London temple. [break]Prabhupāda:** ...Prahlāda Mahārāja, at the age of five years only, he was a great devotee. Prahlāda Mahārāja is one of the *mahājana,* great authority of this line, devotional line. To understand God and to understand our relationship with God, it is not to be done by mental speculation. It is not possible. God is not so cheap thing that one can understand by mental speculation. In the present age people are very much fond of mental speculation. In the *śāstra* it is said, *tarko apratiṣṭhaḥ* [[cc/madhya/17/186|[Cc. Madhya 17.186] ]]: "Simply by arguing you cannot come to the right conclusion." You may be very good arguer, but another arguer may defeat you by his argument. So in this way, simply by dry arguments it is not possible to come to the conclusion. *Tarko 'pratiṣṭha śrutayo vibhinnāḥ.* Scripture. There are different scriptures, so if you simply... Scripture means Vedic, the *Vedas.* There are four *Vedas* and many other also, corollaries. So by studying at home these books, that is also not possible to understand. And *nāsau munir yasya mataṁ na bhinnam.* And if you follow philosophers, so one philosopher is differing from another philosopher. Just like our Śyāmasundara has brought one book, *Ideas of Philosophers,* different philosophers talking differently. So how you can take the conclusion? Even Aristotle, he is talking so many things nonsense. So mental speculators, philosophers, in this way you cannot. --- **[[spoken/720908bg.pit|Bg 2.13 — September 8, 1972, Pittsburgh]]** **Pradyumna:** *Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya.* [leads chanting of verse][**Prabhupāda and **devotees repeat] --- **[[spoken/730908bg.sto|Bg 7.1 — September 8, 1973, Stockholm]]** **Prabhupāda:** > ...yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ > asaṁśayaṁ samagraṁ māṁ > yathā jñāsyasi tac chṛṇu > [[bg/7/1|[Bg. 7.1] ]] *Śrī bhagavān uvāca. Bhagavān* means the Supreme Being. That is also dictionary word. In the... I consulted the *Oxford Dictionary,* "God." *God* means "the Supreme Being." And the Supreme means... That is also stated in the dictionary, "the greatest authority." So God means the greatest authority, Supreme, Supreme Being. We have got little idea of supreme. Suppose when you go to work in our office, the proprietor of the establishment or the managing director of the establishment, he's called the supreme. We have got experience of the Supreme Court. In India, we have got Supreme Court. If there is any judgment which is not accepted by the litigant, he can go to the Supreme Court. And in the judgment given in the Supreme is final. No more any appeal. That is final. Supreme means that—final. So *bhagavān uvāca.* Bhagavān means the Supreme Being. We are all beings. We are also living entities. Similarly, Bhagavān, or God, He's also a living entity. As living entity, we are the same. But He's the supreme living entity. No more greater than Him. Here, we can distinguish. I am here. You may be greater than me. Another person may be greater than you. Another person may be greater than him. In this way, you go on searching—greater, greater, greater, greater—and when you come to a person, nobody is greater than Him, that is God. Nowadays it has become a fashions, so many Gods. Especially, they come to your country, Western country. But God cannot be plural number. God is always singular number, one. If God is plural number, then that is not God. That plural-number god may be the living entities. We are living entities, and God is also living entity, but the supreme living entity. That is the difference. It is Vedic statement. --- **[[spoken/730908sb.sto|SB 5.5.1 — September 8, 1973, Stockholm]]** **Pradyumna:** *Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya.* *Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya.* *Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya.* [**Prabhupāda and **devotees repeat] *[break]* **Prabhupāda:** So this instruction of Ṛṣabhadeva is very, very important *[[sb/5/5/1|[SB. 5.5.1] ]]. Try to understand. Our this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is a protest to the modern way of civilization. The leaders of the modern society, they want that people should be engaged in working like dogs and hogs and asses; they should not understand what is the value of life, what is the object of life. Let them always remain intoxicated and sense gratification, and produce more product for sense enjoyment. This is modern civilization. All these factories... I understand that in this country the farmers are taxed so heavily that they are forced to work in the factory. This is a policy of the government leaders to engage people. If anyone wants to live peacefully, save time for developing Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then the leaders of the society or the government will not allow him to do so. This is the position. --- **[[spoken/750908sb.vrn|SB 6.2.4 — September 8, 1975, Vṛndāvana]]** **Nitāi:** *Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya.* *Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya.* [devotees repeat] *Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,* *Sixth Canto, Second Chapter, verse number four.* [leads chanting of verse, etc.]* > yad yad ācarati śreyān > itaras tat tad īhate > sa yat pramāṇaṁ kurute > lokas tad anuvartate > [[sb/6/2/4|[SB. 6.2.4] ]] **[break] [02:04] > yad yad ācarati śreyān > itaras tat tad īhate > sa yat pramāṇaṁ kurute > lokas tad anuvartate > [[sb/6/2/4|[SB. 6.2.4] ]] Very important verse. Ideal class of men therefore needed in the society. Therefore Vedic society is divided, ideal men: the *brāhmaṇas. Brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra.* The *brāhmaṇa,* the saintly person, the *sannyāsī,* the *rājarṣi,* this is required. *Imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ* [[bg/4/2|[Bg. 4.2] ]]. In the *Bhagavad-gītā* it is said that the *Bhagavad-gītā* was taught to the *rājarṣi,* not to the third-class men. *Rājarṣi: rājā* and *ṛṣi* at the same time. Although king, but they were saintly king, just like Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, the ideal king. Bhagavān, Rāmacandra, the ideal king. Ideal king, so ideal that because some citizen criticized that "Lord Rāmacandara, King Rāmacandra, has accepted His wife who was kidnapped by Rāvaṇa," and he was a low-class man, washerman, and still, the king, Lord Rāmacandra, thought that "My citizens are criticizing Me." Immediately He separated, Lakṣmī-devi, Sītā. This is ideal king, no criticism from the citizen, even Lord Rāmacandra. This is called *rājarṣi.* --- **[[spoken/760908sb.vrn|SB 1.7.9 [partially recorded] — September 8, 1976, Vṛndāvana]]** **Pradyumna:Translation:** "Śrī Śaunaka asked Suta Gosvāmī: Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī was already on the path of self-realization, and thus he was pleased with his own self. So why did he take the trouble to undergo the study of such a vast literature?" **Prabhupāda:** > śaunaka uvāca > sa vai nivṛtti-nirataḥ > sarvatropekṣako muniḥ > kasya vā bṛhatīm etām > ātmārāmaḥ samabhyasat > [[sb/1/7/9|[SB. 1.7.9] ]] So Śukadeva Gosvāmī, he is *ātmārāma.* He... This *śloka* will be explained in the next verse, *ātmārāmāś ca munayo. Ātmārāma,* there are many varieties of meaning of *ātmārāma.* Caitanya Mahaprabhu has explained in sixty-four different ways in the *Caitanya-caritāmṛta.* So how Caitanya Mahāprabhu was a great scholar—He is great in everything, but to make a show at least—He showed His scholarship in explaining this *ātmārāma* verse. *Sa vai nivṛtti-nirataḥ sarvatropekṣako muniḥ. Nivṛtti* means one who has ceased all material activities. He has practically nothing to do with this material world, and still it is said, *kasya vā bṛhatīm etām.* And still, he went out and preached *Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam* when Parikṣit Mahārāja was going to die. So this is the questions: how the *ātmārāma* becomes interested in other activities? He is *ātmārāma,* he is already satisfied. --- ## Letters - [[../../letters/1969/690908_gargamuni.md|Letter to Gargamuni, 1969]] - [[../../letters/1969/690908_tamala_krsna.md|Letter to Tamala Krsna, 1969]] - [[../../letters/1970/700908_punjab_national_bank.md|Letter to Punjab National Bank, 1970]] - [[../../letters/1974/740908_adi-kesava.md|Letter to Adi-Kesava, 1974]] - [[../../letters/1974/740908_dixit.md|Letter to Dixit, 1974]] - [[../../letters/1974/740908_jadurani.md|Letter to Jadurani, 1974]] - [[../../letters/1974/740908_jayapataka.md|Letter to Jayapataka, 1974]] - [[../../letters/1974/740908_ksirodakasayi.md|Letter to Ksirodakasayi, 1974]] - [[../../letters/1974/740908_mrs._singhal.md|Letter to Mrs. Singhal, 1974]] - [[../../letters/1974/740908_sarvabhauma_putanara_gandharvi.md|Letter to Sarvabhauma Putanara Gandharvi, 1974]] - [[../../letters/1974/740908_satsvarupa.md|Letter to Satsvarupa, 1974]] - [[../../letters/1974/740908_srutadeva.md|Letter to Srutadeva, 1974]] - [[../../letters/1974/740908_svarupa_damodara.md|Letter to Svarupa Damodara, 1974]] - [[../../letters/1974/740908_tamala_krsna.md|Letter to Tamala Krsna, 1974]] - [[../../letters/1974/740908_vibhavati.md|Letter to Vibhavati, 1974]] - [[../../letters/1974/740908_visala.md|Letter to Visala, 1974]] - [[../../letters/1975/750908_manager_central_bank_of_india.md|Letter to Manager Central Bank Of India, 1975]] - [[../../letters/1976/760908_david_b._richeter_hughes.md|Letter to David B. Richeter Hughes, 1976]] - [[../../letters/1976/760908_dixit.md|Letter to Dixit, 1976]] - [[../../letters/1976/760908_ramesvara.md|Letter to Ramesvara, 1976]] - [[../../letters/1976/760908_sri_kamal_krishna.md|Letter to Sri Kamal Krishna, 1976]] - [[../../letters/1976/760908_sri_santosh_kumar_pyne.md|Letter to Sri Santosh Kumar Pyne, 1976]] - [[../../letters/1976/760908_surendra_babu.md|Letter to Surendra Babu, 1976]] - [[../../letters/1976/760908_trivikrama.md|Letter to Trivikrama, 1976]]