Bhakti Vikasa Swami's Blog, page 147

Horrible condition in the womb

The precarious condition of the living entity within the womb of his mother is described here. On one side of where the child is floating is the heat of gastric fire, and on the other side are urine, stool, blood and discharges. After seven months the child, who has regained his consciousness, feels the horrible condition of his existence and prays to the Lord. Counting the months until his release, he becomes greatly anxious to get out of the confinement. The so-called civilized man does not take account of this horrible condition of life, and sometimes, for the purpose of sense gratification, he tries to kill the child by methods of contraception or abortion. Unserious about the horrible condition in the womb, such persons continue in materialism, grossly misusing the chance of the human form of life.

Srila Prabhupada, SB 3.31.17, Purport

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Moon landing

Dr. Patel: I have heard that the man could have first landed on Moon and then.

Prabhupada: Nobody landed. This is all bogus.

(Morning Walk, Bombay, November 3, 1975)

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Krsna’s stealing & our stealing

Krsna is stealing butter. That means Krsna has stealing propensity. But the difference is that Krsna’s stealing butter is worshiped, and my stealing is beaten with shoes. [laughter] That is the difference. So we should not imitate Krsna.

Srila Prabhupada /Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.26.19 – December 28, 1974, Bombay

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Krsna is ready to help us, provided we become little anxious

Krsna is always ready to help us, provided if we take His help. Krsna is so nice. As Paramatma, He is living within the heart, and He is always ready to give us good advice and guide us. Caitya-guru, the guru within the heart. And this external spiritual master, he is Krsna’s representative. When He sees that “This living entity is little serious. He wants to know Me. He wants to come to Me,” so He helps from within, and He sends His representative from without. So from within and from without, Krsna is ready to help us, provided we become little anxious.

Srila Prabhupada, Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.26.20 – December 29, 1974, Bombay

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Vedic civilization is different

In the modern civilization especially, they are being trained up to work very hard and to get strength, eat meat, and to digest meat, drink wine, and then become infuriated and work very hard. This is the modern type of civilization. But Vedic civilization is different. Vedic civilization is not meant for working so hard.

Srila Prabhupada, Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.26.19 – December 28, 1974, Bombay

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Take advantage of this Vedic literature

Kardama Muni is teaching Sankhya philosophy, Krsna is teaching Bhagavad-gita, and if we do not take advantage of these things, then again we are in the oblivion. Again this cosmic manifestation will be annihilated, and we will remain in slumbering state for many millions and millions of years. Again there will be creation: bhutva bhutva praliyate [Bg 8.19]. This is the mode of creation. So we should take advantage of this Vedic literature. Tad-vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet [Mundaka Upanisad
1.2.12].

Everyone should approach the bona fide spiritual master and take lessons from the Vedic literature. Then this life will be successful. We are rotting in this material world. Bhutva bhutva praliyate [Bg 8.19], getting one short type of body, live there for some time, again it is annihilated, again another body.

Srila Prabhupada, Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.26.17 — December 26, 1974, Bombay

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By chanting, everything will be revealed

… your chanting, the name, the form, the quality, the pastimes, everything will be revealed. As we go on cleansing our dirty heart by chanting Hare Krsna mantra, and as we chant faultless, offenseless harer nama, Krsna reveals. Sevonmukhe hi jihvadau svayam eva sphuraty adhah. By service attitude, if you chant Hare Krsna mantra without any offense, then Krsna will reveal Himself. You cannot try to see Krsna by your speculation or yogic practice. If you simply submissively, surrendering yourself, chant His holy name, there is no difference between Krsna’s name and Krsna. Abhinnatvad nama naminoh…

From Srila Prabhupada’s lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.11 — October 22, 1972, Vrndavana

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Krsna repays His debt by smiling

Devotional service to the Lord is very much obliging to Him. There are many transcendentalists in different fields of spiritual activities, but devotional service to the Lord is unique. Devotees do not ask anything from the Lord in exchange for their service. Even the most desirable liberation is refused by devotees, although offered by the Lord. Thus the Lord becomes a kind of debtor to the devotees, and He can only try to repay the devotees’ service with His ever-enchanting smile. The devotees are ever satisfied by the smiling face of the Lord, and they become enlivened. And by seeing the devotees so enlivened, the Lord Himself is further satisfied. So there is continuous transcendental competition between the Lord and His devotees by such reciprocation of service and acknowledgement.

Srila Prabhupada, SB 3.8.27, Purport

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Missing dinosaurs and men from monkeys

Prabhupada: Our first proposition is that he says that there was no human beings some millions of years ago. That’s not a fact. Because we see all different species of life existing along with human beings. Therefore it should be concluded this is always existing. Human life is always existing. That is our first charge against him. He cannot say there was no human life.

Syamasundara: But we don’t see any dinosaurs existing.

Prabhupada: You do not see — your power is very limited — but we have to conclude in this way, when we see at the present moment all the different species of life are existing. Therefore it is existing always.

Syamasundara: But I don’t see all the

Prabhupada: You don’t see because you have no power to see. Your senses are very limited. You don’t see. And because you don’t see, it is not to be accepted. So many people say, “I don’t see God.” That does not mean we shall accept, “Oh, so many people say — majority of people will say like that — ‘We don’t see God.’ ” Then we are merely crazy fellow, we are after God?

Syamasundara: No. But dinosaurs

Prabhupada: But simply by dinosaur missing you cannot say that what about other all species of life, other.

Syamasundara: Many, many, many, many are extinct, according toi

Prabhupada: I am accepting many are extinct, but the evolutionary process, it means one extinct, and another comes. But we see that the monkey, from monkey, man comes. The monkey is there and man is there. The monkey is not finished.

Syamasundara: Oh, I remember last time when we discussed this, you said, “Well, then, why don’t we see men coming out of monkeys still?”

Prabhupada: Yes.

Syamasundara: “Why hasn’t some man been born out of a monkey?”

Prabhupada: Yes.

Syamasundara: “In our experience”

Prabhupada: The monkey is existing, the man is existing.

Syamasundara: “So if men came from monkeys, why don’t we see it still happening?” That’s what you said.

Prabhupada: Yes. That is our argument.

Syamasundara: So if you accept that there is an evolution, do you accept that the bodies change because of changing conditions of the natural surroundings?

Prabhupada: Body is not changing. The body is already there. The soul is changing bodies, transmigrating from one body to another.

Karandhara: Darwin doesn’t accept that there is a fixed number of species. Rather, the number of species may vary at any time, simply according to the natural selection. But he doesn’t give any axiom that there are a certain number of species from which all other variations come. We are saying that there are 8,400,000 species to begin with.

Prabhupada: But if first of all you give account for eight million species — you have no account. We say these are the fixed-up species. But your calculation of species, first of all give us account for eight millions, then you say, “The list is not complete.”

Syamasundara: Their idea is that there’s constant

Prabhupada: Whatever it may be, within that eight millions, but you cannot give us list.

Syamasundara: They say that there is new species always evolving.

Prabhupada: That is not new. That is within the eight millions. You could not find the same thing, you could not find, before that; now we are finding. Your species, you could (not) give us a complete list. What is the evolutionary process wherefrom it began and how it’s coming? You cannot give any fixed-up list. That is your imperfect knowledge. You are simply imagining. “It may be changed,” “It may be chance,” or this or that. That’s all.

Conversations with Shyamasundara das on Charles Darwin

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The birth of death

A son is born. Oh, you are very glad, “I have got a son.” But if you study it philosophically, no, birth is not… He is not born; death is born. Because the growing of the child means he is dying. It is dying. The dying process. The very day, the very moment the child is born, the dying process begins. So we do not know that it is not birth; it is death. This is called maya. This is called illusion, that death is born and we are jolly that there is birth of a child. This is called maya.

Srila Prabhupada/ Talk on Bhagavad-gita 2.51-55 – April 6, 1966, New York

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