# December 16 *Lectures from this day: 12 recordings* --- **[[spoken/661216bg.ny|Bg 9.26-27 — December 16, 1966, New York]]** **Prabhupāda:** > patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ > yo me bhaktyā prayacchati > tad ahaṁ bhakty-upahṛtam > aśnāmi prayatātmanaḥ > [[bg/9/26|[Bg. 9.26] ]] Now, the Lord Kṛṣṇa says that "Anyone who offers Me in devotion these four things," *patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam,* "a bit of leaf and a bit of flower, a little fruit, a little water..." So He is pleased to take, accept. Why? Because we are offering Him with devotion and love. That is the only way. Just like if you offer me varieties of foodstuff and very palatable dishes, but if I am not hungry, then all these palatable dishes and varieties of foodstuff is useless. I cannot accept anything. Similarly, if you offer anything to the Supreme Lord, He is full; He does not require your offering. He is always being served by hundreds and thousands of goddess of fortune. *Lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānam* [Bs. 5.29]. --- **[[spoken/661216cc.ny|Cc. Madhya 20.245-255 — December 16, 1966, New York]]** **Prabhupāda:** > ananta prakāśe kṛṣṇera nāhi mūrti-bheda > ākāra-varṇa-astra-bhede nāma-vibheda > [[cc/madhya/20/172|[Cc. Madhya 20.172] ]] So Kṛṣṇa has innumerable expansions. So far potency of the Lord is concerned, in those expansions there is no difference of potency, but the different names are due to difference of manifestation. Sometimes the Lord is manifested with two hands, sometimes with four hands. And [in] the four hands there are different symbolic representation. So due to these different kinds of manifestation there are different names, but so far God's six potential opulences are concerned, they are always present in every form and manifestation. There is no difference. --- **[[spoken/681216bg.la|Bg 2.46-62 — December 16, 1968, Los Angeles]]** **Prabhupāda:** That's all right. You can come forward, that girl. Come on. Come forward, yes. Sit down. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Read. **Tamāla Kṛṣṇa:** 46, chapter [indistinct] "All purposes that are served by the small pond can at once be served by the great reservoirs of water. Similarly, all the purposes of the *Vedas* can be served to one who knows the purpose behind them." [[bg/2/46|[Bg. 2.46] ]] **Prabhupāda:** Now try to understand this. The long-standing system in India in the villages... India is originally village life. City life very few. Perhaps there was only big city, New Delhi now—in those days, Hastināpura—and next to that was Dvārakā. So very big city, they were only two or three. Mostly people used to live in villages. --- **[[spoken/701216sb.sur|SB 6.1.32 — December 16, 1970, Surat]]** So Ajāmila, at the point of his death, just remembered his youngest son, who was named Nārāyaṇa. So the Nārāyaṇa, very name, has got the full potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Nārāyaṇa. That is the secret of this *nāma-saṅkīrtana* movement. By chanting the holy name of Nārāyaṇa, you immediately contact with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. *Nāma cintāmaṇiḥ kṛṣṇaś caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ* [[cc/madhya/17/133|[Cc. Madhya 17.133] ]]. Nāma,* the Lord's name, is not material; it is spiritual. The sound is Brahman, *śabda-brahma.* Vedic sounds, they are *śabda-brahma.* They are not material sound. So *nāma cintāmaṇiḥ,* spiritual. Kṛṣṇa... Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's name, there is no difference. *Nāma cintāmaṇiḥ kṛṣṇaś caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ.* --- **[[spoken/731216mw.la|Morning Walk — December 16, 1973, Los Angeles]]** **Prabhupāda:** *Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām* [*Kaṭha Upaniṣad* 2.2.13]. Just like in the modern days, government, they have abolished monarchism, but still, why they elect a president? Why? **Prabhupāda:** Must be. That is the point. If you have abolished monarchy, then why you are electing another rascal to become a monarch? What is the answer? Why do you need it? **Prabhupāda:** Yes, there must be. In our organization... Just like in each temple we elect a president. Then we get GBC. Then above all, I am. So that is needed. It is not conventional; it is needed. Therefore above everything, there must be God. So if these people, they say, "There is no need of God. There is no use for Him," that means they are all rascals. --- **[[spoken/731216sb.la|SB 1.15.38 — December 16, 1973, Los Angeles]]** **Nitāi:** *Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya.* [leads chanting of verse] [**Prabhupāda and **devotees repeat] *sva-rāṭ*—the emperor; *pautram*—unto the grandson; *vinayinam*—properly trained; *ātmanaḥ*—his own self; *su-samam*—equal in all respects; *guṇaiḥ*—by the qualities; *toya-nīvyāḥ*—bordered by the seas; *patim*—master; *bhūmeḥ*—of the land; *abhyaṣiñcat*—enthroned; *gajāhvaye*—in the capital of Hastināpura. --- **[[spoken/741216sb.bom|SB 3.26.4 — December 16, 1974, Bombay]]** **Nitāi:** *Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya.* *Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya.* *Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya.* [devotees repeat] [leads chanting of verse, etc.] "As His pastime, that Supreme Personality of Godhead, the greatest of the great, accepted the subtle material energy, which is invested with the three material modes of nature and which is related with Viṣṇu." --- **[[spoken/751216le.bom|Engagement at Birla House, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.6.1 — December 16, 1975, Bombay]]** **Prabhupāda:** Hmm? I shall speak in English? Hmm. > śrī-prahrāda uvāca > kaumāram ācaret prājño > dharmān bhāgavatān iha... This is the instruction of Prahlāda Mahārāja to his class friend. Prahlāda Mahārāja was born of Hiraṇyakaśipu, great demon. He is described as demon because he was interested only in material comforts. *Hiraṇya* means gold, gold and very comfortable situation of material life. He was interested in that, and he wanted to teach his son about this economic development. But Prahlāda Mahārāja, when he was in the womb of his mother... There was fight between the demons and the demigods, so the demons... Sometimes when there is fight, sometimes one party is victorious, sometimes the other party is victorious. So the demigods' party became victorious, and they were harassing the demons like anything. So Hiraṇyakaśipu's wife, she was pregnant, she was captured by Indra, the king of heaven, and she was being dragged to take her in the house of Indra. In the way, Nārada Muni met them; he chastised Indra. Nārada Muni was *devarṣi, ṛṣi* amongst the demigods. So he said, "Why you are giving trouble to this woman? This is not good." So the demons replied..., demigods replied that "This woman is pregnant, and there is Hiraṇyakaśipu's son. So we want to kill that son also, because he is demon. So we are taking this woman to our place just to wait for the time of her delivering the child." At that time Nārada Muni said, "No, no. This child is not a demon child. This child who is within the womb of this woman, he is a great devotee, so don't try to kill him. Neither you can kill him; that is not possible." So they are demigods; they accepted Nārada Muni's proposal. So they offered respect to the woman, that "Here is, within the womb of this woman, a great devotee." So they circumambulated and offered respect to the wife of Hiraṇyakaśipu, and they went away. --- **[[spoken/751216mw.bom|Morning Walk — December 16, 1975, Bombay]]** **Dr. Patel:** Those four or five *ślokas*, five or four *ślokas,* original of *Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,* I want to learn from you. I have read all the commentary—You have written commentaries four, four pages—but I think I am little a *mūḍhā* to understand it. [laughing] So I will learn directly if you can teach me. I am now critically studying your..., this thing, commentary on this. **Dr. Patel:** Once I read it, but now I am doing a critical study of it. Both of Sanskrit as well of your comments. [break] **Dr. Patel:** The Sanskrit written in too much of *tat-puruṣa-samāsa* [determinative compounds]. The combination of this word is so difficult... --- **[[spoken/761216bg.hyd|Bg 16.8 — December 16, 1976, Hyderabad]]** **Prabhupāda:** > asatyam apratiṣṭhaṁ te > jagad āhur anīśvaram > aparaspara-sambhūtaṁ > kim anyat kāma-haitukam > [[bg/16/8|[Bg. 16.8] ]] So the beginning is, *na śaucaṁ nāpi cācāro na satyaṁ teṣu vidyate.* The *asuras,* they are *aśuci,* unclean. That is their misfortune, that they cannot understand what is the right way, what is the wrong way. So *śuci,* cleanliness, is the first qualification of the *daiva-prakṛti,* or *devatās.* There are two classes of men. One class is *devatā,* and the other class *asura.* So *asura* class, they will have to suffer. They cannot get liberation from the material bondage. *Mūḍhā janmani janmani mām aprāpya eva* [[bg/16/20|[Bg. 16.20] ]]. Unless we achieve the shelter of the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, our sufferings in the material world will continue. It will not stop. We are trying to stop all kinds of suffering by adjustment of this material world. That is not possible. That is stated in the *śāstra: durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ* [[sb/7/5/31|[SB. 7.5.31] ]]. Durāśayā,* hopeless. Big, big *asuras* like Rāvaṇa, he also wanted to be happy himself and others by material adjustment. He proposed that "There is no need of acting piously to go to the heavenly planet. I shall construct a staircase so anyone can go." *Rāvaṇera svargera siṅḍi.* So that was failure. Just like we are now trying, the modern scientists, we are trying to go to the moon planet. It is failure. They will never be able to go there. I have discussed this point. We are conditioned. We cannot live one place to another without being proficient or without being eligible. Just like even in this planet you cannot go to the other country. Suppose from India if we want to go to America, it requires arrangement, not that all of a sudden you can go to America or the Americans come here. There is international arrangement—visa, passport, immigration, so many things. So many obstacles are there even in this planet, and what to speak of going to other planet. It is not possible. You must be efficient; then you can go. That we get information from the *Bhagavad-gītā:* --- **[[spoken/761216pc.hyd|Press Conference — December 16, 1976, Hyderabad]]** **Indian reporter (1):** Obviously we have selected darkness. That is what we want to do. We want to go into light later on. **Prabhupāda:** You are requesting something... *Veda* says, "Come to the light." *Tamaso mā jyotir gamaya:* "Don't remain in darkness. Come to the light." **Prabhupāda:** Yes, that is desirable in human. Otherwise the animals are in darkness. They do not know what is God. But a human being, because he has got this human form of body, he can come to the light. So all the *śāstras* are for the human being, not for the cats and dogs. So if you do not take advantage of the *śāstras,* then you remain in the darkness. This is our position. The light is here. Just like apart from all other *śāstras,* if you take *Bhagavad-gītā,* it is the very brilliant light. It is not that changing. Five thousand years ago Kṛṣṇa said, what, that is still the same thing. Just like light. Millions of years ago, what was sun, the same sun is there. In the light there is no change. In the darkness there is change. If we do not accept the standard knowledge of *Bhagavad-gītā,* then we shall continue to remain in darkness, and there will be no solution of the problems of life. This is our propaganda. Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means that we are asking everywhere, all over the world, "You come to this light and be happy." That's it. --- **[[spoken/761216r1.hyd|Room Conversation — December 16, 1976, Hyderabad]]** **Prabhupāda:** Don't take that I am simply paying agent. Is that all right, that I shall simply go on paying? **Prabhupāda:** You have got so many trustees, and you all trustees and managing trustee and this trustee, and for payment I am responsible. Even for purchasing your utensils. What is this? I did not say at that time, but I talked this morning to them that what is this? I shall pay everything, and you are all big, big trustees? So you give me in writing that including the four *lakhs* already paid. Already, I am a debtor, and plus this money, whatever I shall, you shall return me within three years. Where is that letter? **Mahāṁsa:** Yes, this was fixed deposit which was in Madras, and since there is nobody in Madras now, **Gopāla Kṛṣṇa** wanted to transfer that amount to BBT in Bombay. So he told me to get it done. And both the signers, Bhavabhūti and Śravaṇānanda, are not available. So if you dictate to the bank as founder-*ācārya* of ISKCON, then they will send the money and I will direct it to BBT. --- ## Letters - [[../../letters/1967/671216_advaita.md|Letter to Advaita, 1967]] - [[../../letters/1967/671216_jadurani.md|Letter to Jadurani, 1967]] - [[../../letters/1967/671216_krsna_devi.md|Letter to Krsna Devi, 1967]] - [[../../letters/1967/671216_satsvarupa.md|Letter to Satsvarupa, 1967]] - [[../../letters/1967/671216_subalaa.md|Letter to Subalaa, 1967]] - [[../../letters/1967/671216_subalab.md|Letter to Subalab, 1967]] - [[../../letters/1973/731216_all_centers.md|Letter to All Centers, 1973]] - [[../../letters/1974/741216_bhakta_lance.md|Letter to Bhakta Lance, 1974]] - [[../../letters/1974/741216_bhakta_steve.md|Letter to Bhakta Steve, 1974]] - [[../../letters/1974/741216_christy_hendryx.md|Letter to Christy Hendryx, 1974]] - [[../../letters/1974/741216_durgesh.md|Letter to Durgesh, 1974]] - [[../../letters/1974/741216_jayatirtha.md|Letter to Jayatirtha, 1974]] - [[../../letters/1974/741216_rsabhadeva.md|Letter to Rsabhadeva, 1974]] - [[../../letters/1974/741216_s._k._roy.md|Letter to S. K. Roy, 1974]]