
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Indian: I am reading GÄŤtÄ from my childhood. I like it.
PrabhupÄda: Very good.
Indian: Yes. So I think your GÄŤtÄ will give me some more reflection.
PrabhupÄda: Yes. I am explaining as it is. I am not interpreting. So it is being accepted.
Indian: So I should read it.
PrabhupÄda: Thank you.
Indian: That’s the inclination, that I should read the books.
PrabhupÄda: (laughing) Very good.
Indian: Very good.
Devotee: Hare KášášŁáša!
- Ĺravaášaáš kÄŤrtanaáš viᚣášoḼ
- smaraášaáš pÄda-sevanam
- arcanaáš vandanaáš dÄsyaáš
- sakhyam Ätma-nivedanam
- [SB 7.5.23]
Means that you must hear about God, you must chant about God. Then the spiritual life begins. We request you, therefore, to chant the transcendental vibration, Hare KášášŁáša, Hare KášášŁáša, KášášŁáša KášášŁáša, Hare Hare/ Hare RÄma, Hare RÄma, RÄma RÄma, Hare Hare. This is chanting. And for hearing about KášášŁáša, you can read our books. We have got about twenty books like this, as you are seeing in my front. So if you want to understand KášášŁáša through philosophy and knowledge, there are immense provisions for this philosophy and knowledge in these books. So if you are unable to read or if you have no knowledge, if you have no education, you can simply chant the Hare KášášŁáša mahÄ-mantra. This is open to all. There is no secrecy.
- Änanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhÄvitÄbhis
- tÄbhir ya eva nija-rĹŤpatayÄ kalÄbhiḼ
- goloka eva nivasaty akhilÄtma-bhĹŤto
- govindam Ädi-puruᚣaáš tam ahaáš bhajÄmi
- [Bs. 5.37]
So gopÄŤs are also expansion of KášášŁáša, KášášŁáša’s pleasure potency. GopÄŤs are not these ordinary women; neither KášášŁáša is ordinary man. So unless we understand KášášŁáša as were discussing this morning, the verse, kaĹcin mÄáš vetti tattvataḼ… Out of many millions of siddhas, one can understand KášášŁáša as He is. If we do not understand KášášŁáša, then how we can understand gopÄŤs?
So this is not the subject matter of the mental speculators. Better not to read all these books. Because they are not realized souls, neither they are devotees of KášášŁáša. Neither do they know what is KášášŁáša. So what they will understand about KášášŁáša? So if we want to understand KášášŁáša, er, gopÄŤs, then we have to learn it from the perfect devotee of KášášŁáša, not from the speculators, mental speculators. This is simply a waste of time.
So we request you to read our books. We have got many volumes of books, but we are giving information to the people of the world that “You can get out of this entanglement of birth, death, old age and disease and be transferred to the spiritual world, where you can live eternally with blissful life and full of knowledge.”
PrabhupÄda: What is the question about planetary system?
GurukášpÄ: This planet, where is it situated in the planetary system.
PrabhupÄda: You cannot understand it? The whole planetary system is just like a big tree, and there are many fruits. So here, this planet is one of the fruits of the planetary system.
Guest (1): The planets in our solar system, I mean.
PrabhupÄda: Yes, astrology. Astrology. There is planetary system. It is the Vedic system. You can see at night. The whole planetary system is moving like this, bunch of tree. And in Bhagavad-gÄŤtÄ it is said, ĹŤrdhva-mĹŤlam adhah-ĹÄkham [Bg. 15.1]. This, it is just like a big tree, and the root is upwards and the branches and fruits downwards. This is the… The Pole Star is the center of this root of this planetary system. So you read our books, Fifth Canto, ĹrÄŤmad-BhÄgavatam. You will get full description.
Guest (1): I’m sorry… You were talking about the higher planets?
PrabhupÄda: Yes, don’t you see higher planetary system? The sun planet, the moon planet. They are not higher on your top? There are many others, many others, millions. These are prominent. According to the Vedic system, the moon planet is higher than the sun planet. So these descriptions are there in the Fifth Canto. I shall request you to read them to understand.
SudÄmÄ: She says that how much comment should there be for reading the books. In other… Actually the situation is that to be proper ĹikᚣÄ, means that one must give instruction as the spiritual master. He has to follow your program, rising early…
PrabhupÄda: we have already sung. Ära nÄ kariha mane ÄĹÄ. Guru-mukha-padma **. What is that? Read.
Bhadra-vardhana: Ära nÄ kariha mane ÄĹÄ **.
PrabhupÄda: Ah. Mean do not think otherwise. Whatever guru has said accept it, finally. Ära nÄ kariha mane ÄĹÄ **. Don’t divert from this. This is the instruction. How you can divert from the instruction of guru?
Woman Devotee: So just read it, not comment.
PrabhupÄda: Yes. You read it or not read it, but you have to realize. Suppose one is illiterate. It cannot read. But he can follow…
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
SudÄmÄ: Close to. They’re doing many…, close to a hundred KášášŁáša books a day sometimes.
PrabhupÄda: Yes. So it is very good news that people are reading our books. They have already got about more than one dozen such books, four hundred pages each. And besides the smaller books, now we are immediately going to add six more books. And what are those? Three BhÄgavatams?
Bali-mardana: Three BhÄgavatam, Caitanya-caritÄmášta.
PrabhupÄda: One, all four hundred pages, like this. We don’t publish a book less than this volume. So just imagine how much we have to learn about our spiritual life. In no other systemâreligious system you may call, or cultural systemâcan give you so many books to read. There is no comparison. The Christians, they can present only one small Bible, and the Muslims they can present one little Koran. But here, the Vedic culture is so great that we can simply give you sixty volumes like this only for ĹrÄŤmad-BhÄgavatam. And BhÄgavata is the eighteenth PurÄáša. So there are seventeen PurÄášas, still more, not yet touched. Beside that, there are 108 Upaniᚣads. Then there is big MahÄbhÄrata, the great history of India. Then RÄmÄyaáša. There are so many books. So we are trying to present all these books into English translation.
- tášášÄd api sunÄŤcena
- taror api sahiᚣášunÄ
- amÄninÄ mÄnadena
- kÄŤrtanÄŤyaḼ sadÄ hariḼ
- [Cc. Ädi 17.31]
KÄŤrtanÄŤya, this is lÄŤlÄ-kathÄ, lÄŤlÄ-kathÄ, kÄŤrtanÄŤya. The… When you read or hear or chant about the pastimes of the Lord, that is also kÄŤrtana. And if you chant Hare KášášŁáša mantra with instrument, that is also kÄŤrtana. There is no difference. So we must engage kÄŤrtanÄŤyaḼ sadÄ hariḼ. Either we should chant Hare KášášŁáša mantra or we should read our books. This is wanted. Then we’ll be safe from mÄyÄ. Otherwise, at any time, we’ll be victimized.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
- manuyÄášÄáš sahasreᚣu
- kaĹcid yatati siddhaye
- yatatÄm api siddhÄnÄáš
- kaĹcid vetti mÄáš tattvataḼ
- [Bg. 7.3]
To understand KášášŁáša is not so easy, but if you follow the mahÄjana, if you try to understand the philosophy through the paramparÄ system, then you’ll realize KášášŁáša and your life will be successful.
Festival Lectures
Arrival Addresses and Talks
Initiation Lectures
General Lectures
Guest (5): Yeah. What do these people do for a living? Only grow food?
PrabhupÄda: No. Grow food for eating, and then they read all these books. They become spiritually advanced. That’s all. Deity worship.
