Morning Walk
I say even if it is in the fire, there is no harm, because the living soul is not burned to fire.
Prabhupāda:
What is the time now?
Pañcadraviḍa:
[indistinct] 6:35.
Prabhupāda:
[break] …fire, explain.
Harikeśa:
Oh, because people can’t see life in fire, they think there’s no life in it, so therefore there’s no life in the sun. But it’s just like the Tata factory. When you see it from a distance there’s many flames and fires, but inside there’s many people who are working. Therefore just because you can’t see life in fire doesn’t mean it’s not there. We see life in the earth, we see life in the water, we see life in the air, so why not in the fire? Is that all right?
Prabhupāda:
Now question, answer.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa:
Well, one question is that the people in the Tata factory are not actually in the fire.
Prabhupāda:
Hmm?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa:
They are not actually in the fire.
Prabhupāda:
So they are also not in the fire. I say even if it is in the fire, there is no harm, because the living soul is not burned to fire. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Adāhyo ’yam. Dāhya. [Bg. 2.24] Dāhya means burned. It is not burned. These are wrong conception. Because they have no conception of the soul, they think bhaṣmi bhūtasya dehasya: “When the body is burned, then the soul is also burned.” [Sage Cārvāka] If the soul is burned, then where is the question of tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ [Bg. 2.13]? How? In the Hindu system they burn the body. So if the soul is also burned, then where is punar janma? You?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa:
We can accept that the soul is not burned, but what about the body?
Prabhupāda:
Body is burned.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa:
So how can any body live in the sun?
Prabhupāda:
So they are… No, if… They have got fiery body. As your body is made of earth, the fish body is made of water, and the so many others, different elements, so similarly, there the body is made of earth…, er, fire, fiery body. The so-called scientist, educationist, there… Everything they conclude according to his own position. Therefore avajānanti māṁ mūḍhāḥ [Bg. 9.11]. They think Kṛṣṇa also “like me.”
Acyutānanda:
The fish is in the water, but the fish is not water.
Prabhupāda:
No, fish is not water, but he has got a body suitable for the water.
Acyutānanda:
So the people on the sun have earthly bodies…
Prabhupāda:
Yes.
Acyutānanda:
…who can tolerate heat.
Prabhupāda:
Yes. There is no heat. They live… Just like… They are not suffocated. They don’t feel any inconvenience. They enjoy. Against the waves they enjoy. You cannot go against the waves. They can go, even small fish. You’ll find within this there are so many animals, so many. How they are living?
Acyutānanda:
Also, science cannot explain how it is burning. Where is the fuel supply?
Prabhupāda:
[laughs] Yes.
Acyutānanda:
And there is no smoke, no waste.
Prabhupāda:
Nothing. They are all… Therefore we say simply “rascals.” We have given this title to them everlastingly. All rascals, mūḍhā. Mūḍho nābhijānāti mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam [Bg. 7.13]. How Kṛṣṇa is working, they do not know. This is Bay of Bengal. Other side is Burma. [break] …they are so strong, it will never be drowned. Eh? [Transl. This doesn’t sink in the water?]
Indian man:
[Transl. It fills up with water.]
Prabhupāda:
[Transl. But it doesn’t sink.]
Indian man:
[Transl. No. It drowns.]
Prabhupāda:
[Transl. Oh, drowns.] [break] The scientist says there is no life. Just disagree with them.
Acyutānanda:
No life?
Prabhupāda:
Scientists, yes, they say there is no life in the sun.
Acyutānanda:
In the sun.
Prabhupāda:
No, they say in every planet there is no life.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa:
Yes, only the earth planet.
Acyutānanda:
Well, they have to qualify. They say, “life as we know it.”
Prabhupāda:
Hmm?
Acyutānanda:
They say, “There is no life as we know it,” but there’s some forms of life that they don’t know.
Prabhupāda:
So, but no, no. “As we know,” but what do you know? You are rascal.
Bāsu Ghosh:
They are trying by radio waves to reach people.
Indian man:
[Transl. No life in the moon. In the moon no life.]
Prabhupāda:
[Transl. Everywhere there is life. Everywhere. Therefore…] Sarva-ga, this word is. Sarva-ga. [Cc. Adi 5.18] Jivātmā [Transl. is present everywhere.]
Bāsu Ghosh:
[break] …sending radio signals to faraway galaxies.
Prabhupāda:
What is the meaning of their radios? Do you think that their radios are perfect? Do you think so? What, Acyutānanda Mahārāja? Radio perfect? It is not perfect.
Acyutānanda:
And I think the demigods and higher beings, they can disturb all their radio attempts.
Prabhupāda:
No, apart from that…
Acyutānanda:
Because they don’t want trespassers.
Prabhupāda:
…how you can accept their radio machine are perfect? Because it is made by imperfect person, so how it can be perfect? If the manufacturer is imperfect, how he can make perfect machine? Nothing is perfect.
Acyutānanda:
Actually, the United States government has a whole agency for unidentified flying objects that people have seen that they keep secret so as not to frighten the whole America thinking that visitors from other planets will come. But there are many incidents of pilots who fly around in airplanes who see other strange-looking objects coming at them, flying at them, or people from the ground have seen many.
Bāsu Ghosh:
One guy testified that he was picked up and taken away for four days.
Acyutānanda:
Well, that was…
Prabhupāda:
What they are? They are police? No. Mounted police?
Acyutānanda:
Yes, mounted police.
Prabhupāda:
[Transl. Is he a mounted police?]
Acyutānanda:
Saber. Sword.
Mahāṁsa:
Oh, it’s a stick.
Acyutānanda:
Oh, yes, lāṭhī, made like a stick. Yes.
Prabhupāda:
Why they are guarding here?
Acyutānanda:
I think for the horses.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa:
They’re exercising the horse.
Acyutānanda:
[break] …house in Bengali. Is this where Swami Vivekananda…
Prabhupāda:
Yes. After coming back from foreign countries, he made his position here in Madras.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa:
Beautiful building.
Acyutānanda:
In Calcutta we have a Life Member, Veni Shankara Sharma? You stayed at his house?
Prabhupāda:
Hmm, yes.
Acyutānanda:
So he wrote a book called An Unknown Chapter of the Life of Swami Vivekananda. And in there he openly says that he smoked a hukka and ate meat.
Prabhupāda:
Yes, that is known to everyone.
Mahāṁsa:
He also had one boy who supposedly…
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa:
Was he praising that?
Acyutānanda:
It was… You know…
Yaśodānandana:
In Hyderabad there is a cook who used to cook for the Ramakrishna Mission, and he said they used to cook any kind of meat.
Prabhupāda:
Yes.
Acyutānanda:
I said, “Did you ever cook human meat?” He said, “If they told me, I would have done that also.” There was nothing beyond their diet. “Anything they told me to cook…”
Prabhupāda:
This building belongs to Vivekananda’s society, no? Vivekananda House.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa:
What is that?
Acyutānanda:
That’s Bengali. “The house of Vivekananda.”
Prabhupāda:
[Transl. From where you have purchased this car?]
Indian:
[Transl. This is not mine, someone else.]
Prabhupāda:
[Transl. Okay someone else.]
Acyutānanda:
They say Swami Vivekananda walked barefoot all over India at some stage of his…
Prabhupāda:
Hmm?
Acyutānanda:
That… This statue here is his life as a wandering sādhu.
Prabhupāda:
Who is a sādhu? Then question is, who is a sādhu? Who is a sādhu? You cannot say?
Acyutānanda:
One who is Kṛṣṇa conscious.
Prabhupāda:
Api cet sudarācaro bhajate mām ananya-bhāk, sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ [Bg. 9.30]. Unless one is cent per cent Kṛṣṇa conscious, he is not a sādhu. Sādhu-bhūṣaṇa.
titiksavaḥ karuṇikaḥ
suhṛdaḥ sarva-bhūtānām
ajāta-śatravaḥ santaḥ
sādhavaḥ sādhu-bhūṣaṇaḥ
[SB. 3.25.21]
This is sādhu.
Yaśodānandana:
This is the vehicle in which we travel.
Prabhupāda:
Hmm?
Yaśodānandana:
This vehicle is the vehicle in which we travel to all the different cities for making the Life Members and arranging all the programs in South India, this vehicle.
Prabhupāda:
This is your own?
Yaśodānandana:
We are renting.
Prabhupāda:
When I was in South Africa…
Indian man (1):
South Africa.
Prabhupāda:
Yes, Johannesburg. This beach reminds me of that beach. You were with me?
Harikeśa:
Yes.
Prabhupāda:
All statues are crying here.
Acyutānanda:
This is Annie Besant. No?
Prabhupāda:
[break] …avatāra here, and she also came from Ireland to become avatāra here.
Acyutānanda:
I heard how she became interested in the Gītā. She was Christian, and her infant died. So she asked priests, “Where will this soul go, to heaven or hell? And why? Because he hasn’t done anything.” So she was never satisfied with their answers. So then she heard that there is transmigration of the soul. Then she became interested in the Gītā, India.
Prabhupāda:
So did she understand?
Acyutānanda:
Well, only up to transmigration of the soul.
Prabhupāda:
She admits.
Acyutānanda:
Yes. [break]
Prabhupāda:
It was open? Is there are any doubt? [break]
Indian man (2):
…all practical things…
Prabhupāda:
Yes.
Indian man (2):
…political things. Two and two will always be four. But we people don’t agree so far.
Prabhupāda:
Yes. You want five.
Indian man (2):
[laughter] We want five, correct. Four to make it five.
Prabhupāda:
There is a story that a grocer’s son was doing business, and when he was given a five rupees note, so he was giving four rupees. So the customer said, “Why you are giving me four rupees?” “No, I do not know what is the exchange.” “No, it is six rupees.” So “No, father will be angry.” [laughter]
Means he knows perfectly well what is five rupees, but he is innocent when he was giving four rupees. And when the customer wanted six rupees, he, “No, my father will be angry.” [laughter]
[break] …created a havoc by misinterpreting Bhagavad-gītā, all people. According to their whims, “Five rupees note means four rupees,” by imagination, they have created havoc all over the world. Otherwise everything is there. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhāḥ [Bg. 9.11]. If we take Kṛṣṇa’s instruction, then whole world becomes immediately happy. But they will not take it. They will manufacture their own: “Two plus two equal to five” or “three,” not exactly to four.
Indian man (3):
So all anxiety and duḥkha have been created by the man himself.
Prabhupāda:
Yes. They have created.
Indian man (3):
Nobody else is doing for him, but he created himself.
Prabhupāda:
Yes.
Indian man (3):
And then he said, “I am in misery. I am in trouble.” Trouble is created by you. Nobody has else created.
Prabhupāda:
So that is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, that mind is the enemy and mind is the friend. So we created our mind, enemy or friend, and we suffer for that.
Indian man (3):
Mind is very, very powerful. How to make use of that? Actually, mind is using the man; man is not using his mind.
Prabhupāda:
In the Bhāgavata it is said, yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ [SB. 5.18.12]. In another line…
Harikeśa:
Harāv abhakta?
Prabhupāda:
Eh? Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇā mano-rathenāsato dhāvato bahiḥ [SB. 5.18.12]. One who is Kṛṣṇa conscious, he has got all the good qualities. Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā sarvair guṇaiḥ: “All good qualities can be manifest.” And harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇāḥ: “And one who is not devotee, he has no good qualities.” “Why? He is so educated.” No, mano-rathena: “He is hovering over the mind.” Asato dhāvato bahiḥ: “He will stick to this asat.”
But the Vedic injunction is asato mā sad gamaya. He cannot go to the real platform of life. Asato. They do not understand that this godless civilization is the root cause of all calamities in the world.
Indian man:
[Transl. Can the mind be controlled by chanting the holy name? Chanting of the holy name?]
Prabhupāda:
[Transl. If you chant the holy name for two minutes and engage it in other things twenty-four hours, then what’s the use?]
Indian man (2):
[Transl. But with concentration. Chanting of the holy name is very powerful.]
Prabhupāda:
Kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ. [Śrī Śikṣāṣṭaka 3] The Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ. Twenty-four hours you have to do that. But where is twenty-four hours? You will not twenty-four minutes. [Transl. Yes, by chanting the holy name it is possible, but kirtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ.]
tṛṇād api sunīcena
taror api sahiṣṇunā
amāninā mānadena
kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ
[Cc Ādi 17.31]
[Transl. Everything is there, but people have forgotton it.] …Nectar of Instruction. [Transl. It has been published recently. Read it and you will know how it is possible.]
Indian man:
[Transl. I heard there will be your books for sale? I haven’t seen.]
Indian man (4):
Book was not in sale yesterday.
Mahāṁsa:
That book is not available in India, Prabhupāda.
Acyutānanda:
It’s a brand new-book.
Prabhupāda:
No, no, other books, they are not…
Mahāṁsa:
Other books were there. They were on the book table. There was a book table.
Indian man (4):
Where it is?
Mahāṁsa:
Many people were purchasing books.
Indian man:
[Transl. I was looking for the book table, but couldn’t find any.]
Indian man (4):
[Transl. Anyway today is also there.]
Indian man (2):
[Transl. Yes, there is.]
Prabhupāda:
[Transl. Keep in prominent place.] Keep in prominent place so that others can see.
Yaśodānandana:
Should be right at the entrance.
Prabhupāda:
And any book which is not in stock, you can note down his order so that you can send him later on.
Indian man (5):
He will come every day.
Prabhupāda:
Yes.
Indian man (5):
Mostly he approaching every member.
Prabhupāda:
No, recently we have published very important book, Nectar of Instruction. For common man it is very nice. [break] Yesterday’s lecture you liked?
Indian men: Yes. [Transl. But much depends on how they can digest.]
Prabhupāda:
[Transl. It was very simple.]
Indian man:
[Transl. Yes, but still…]
Prabhupāda:
[Transl. The disease is such that even water cannot be digested.]
Indian man:
[Transl. Hard to concentrate.]
Prabhupāda:
[Transl. Sometimes it happens like that.] [break]
Dhṛṣṭadyumna:
…sleep on the streets. They’ve arranged this housing. It is very minimal. So what many of these slum-dwellers do when people are living on the streets is they come here, and they go back and live on the streets, but they rent out the apartment that the government has given them, and they keep the money. They go back and live on the streets.
Indian man (1):
This houses there? This is all rented by the government and given free of charge to the poor to clear the slums.
Prabhupāda:
Therefore Bhāgavata says,
tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido
na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ
tal labhyate duḥkhavad anyataḥ sukhaṁ
kālena sarvatra gabhīra raṁhasā
[SB. 1.5.18]
[Transl. One who is destined to suffer, he must suffer no matter how big house you give him. These foolish attempts go on.] So three classes of men are there: upper class, middle class… You cannot change it. It is laws of nature.
Indian man (1):
[Transl. In spite of being in the upper class they also suffer.]
Prabhupāda:
[Transl. Everyone must suffer.]
Indian man:
[Transl. Mental distress. They suffer from mental distress.]
Prabhupāda:
Just like Vivekananda philosophy, daridra-nārāyaṇa. [Transl. They made Nārāyaṇa poor. Does it mean Nārāyaṇa became poor? It is all manufactured. Do you understand? They cannot make a person gentleman, they make him Nārāyaṇa! Just see how big fool he is! They cannot make one a gentleman live in a house, don’t lie down on the street etc. But no. You become Nārāyaṇa!]
Indian man:
[Transl. To chant the holy name is not difficult, but to transform him is a difficult job.]
Prabhupāda:
[Transl. This foolishness is going on. They give which required.]
Indian man:
[Transl. Only śāstra or a guru can change the mind.]
Prabhupāda:
[Transl. Forget about here, our Indian government.] European, American hippies, [Transl. they also sleep on the street and their government request them so much that why are you sleeping on the street, live in a nice place. But they don’t go there. So they are destined.]
Indian man:
[Transl. They have no scarcity of money.]
Prabhupāda:
[Transl. They have no dearth of money in America. These hippies. Their government beg them so much to live decently. But they won’t go. It is just like the worm in the stool. You take it out from the stool and keep it in a nice place. But no. It will again go back to stool.] How you can change this?
Indian man:
[Transl. These people give their own house on rent and live in the slums.]
Prabhupāda:
[Transl. And whatever rent they collect they buy wine and drink.]
Indian man:
[Transl. Yes, drink wine. That’s what they do.]
Prabhupāda:
[Transl. Therefore the first duty is,] first of all enlighten them with knowledge. That is required, not by external bodily comforts. [Transl. If someone is destined to suffer nobody can forcibly make him happy. Duḥkhavad anyataḥ sukhaṁ. Come and sit inside.]
[gets into car] [end]