Hare Krsna to all

Pranams

All glories to Srila Prabhupada

Below we have a short piece out a longer conversation where the devotees ask Srila Prabhupada

many of the same questions we get while trying to convince others about taking this life seriously.

I think anyone will find his answers very clear and easy to understand and accept.

Some topics covered below:

1.) Where’s the “enjoyment” here if you know you have to die. He says If I give you a

beautiful woman to enjoy and then afterwards, I will shoot you, where’s your enjoyment then?

2.) Demigod worship also means- sucking up to your boss, or anybody, for “favors”.

3.) Many people think they can help future generations-he says,help your self first because

you cant even help your own children when they get sick. So where’s the future help then?

4.) Best thing is to make your son/daughter Krsna Conscious-That you can do, but change their

destiny or keep them from getting sick or suffering, is out of our hands.

Hare Krsna

Damaghosa das

Mauritius Oct 4 1974 conversations

Cyavana: So if death is imminent, then I should simply try to enjoy myself as long as I can.

Prabhupāda: Enjoy. What is that enjoyment if you are going to die?

Harikeśa: It’s so incredible how crazy everything is.

Brahmānanda: Well, at least before I die, I can get as much pleasure as I can.

Prabhupāda: Nobody can, if he is actually afraid of death. Suppose if you are given a beautiful woman—”Enjoy, and as soon as you come out I will shoot you.” (laughter) Will you enjoy?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: That’s a great example. That example would change the world.

Prabhupāda: That is the difference between a man of knowledge and a fool. Man of knowledge, that is that he knows he has to die. “But I don’t wish to die. So what is the solution?” That is man of knowledge.

Harikeśa: Sometimes they say “Well, why worry about death? It’s gotta happen anyway, so why should we worry?”

Prabhupāda: But you… You… Because you are rascal number one, you don’t worry, but that is the psychology. This is the example.

Harikeśa: But I want to enjoy right now.

Prabhupāda: Suppose that you enjoy this woman for few minutes. Then you will be shot down. Then will you be able to enjoy?

Brahmānanda: Actually they do that. When some man is to be executed in the prison they give him one woman the night before as a special consolation.

Cyavana: But death is very far away from me. I am only thirty years old. I don’t have to worry about death.

Prabhupāda: What is the guarantee that you will live thirty-one years? What is the guarantee that you will live thirty-one years? There is no guarantee.

Cyavana: But everyone else around me appears to be having fun and enjoying.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: They can use this argument though, Prabhupāda. I’ve heard it before, that “So God has placed us in this world. Okay, there is God, and He has placed us in this world, and He has created the world also, and He has made these things very, very enjoyable, sex life, and this and that. So why not enjoy if God has created it?”

Prabhupāda: That is foolishness. That is foolishness. It is not enjoyable. That is… If a criminal says, “The prisonhouse is very enjoyable,” it is like that.

Cyavana: But all the travel brochures and the advertisements, they say it’s nice here. All the advertising and travel brochures, they say it is nice.
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Prabhupada: Perfection of life means ultimately you become lazy; you haven’t got to work. That is perfection, they say. Otherwise why they get a cottage in a secluded place and live? All these Americans, they go weekend. They leave aside all working, they become tired, hard working, and they go. That is the intention, that you should live peaceful life, not working very hard. That is human life. Huh? Otherwise why they go outside the city at the weekend? Why do they go? Hm?

Indian man (1): They want rest, I suppose. They want rest.

Prabhupada: So that means lazy.

Indian man (1): No.

Prabhupada: Yes. Rest means lazy; you don’t work.

Indian man (1): If one works five days a week, you rest for two…

Prabhupada: That is another thing. You have to work to become lazy. (laughter) That is another thing. But the goal is to become lazy. You work five days very hard just to become lazy for two days. That’s all. So if you have got means to become seven days lazy, you’ll prefer it.

Pusta Krsna: But I think people would… Most people would go crazy if they didn’t have any work.

Prabhupada: No, that means their life is not properly conducted. And therefore the word laziness has come. Laziness is not actually the word. Laziness means minimizing the bodily labor and engaged in spiritual work.If you ask people, “Please come to our temple,” who is coming? Because he says, “I have no time.” But we are not working hard. So real aim of life is to… In German, I think, or somewhere there is classification: “Lazy intelligent, busy intelligent, lazy fool, and busy fool.” So at the present moment (laughs) the whole world is full of busy fools. But the first-class man, he is lazy intelligent. Lazy and intelligent, that is first-class man. And second-class man, busy intelligent. And third class means lazy fool and fourth class means busy fool. When the fools are busy… Just like nowadays they are busy but they are fools. Like monkey, he is very busy. You see? And they prefer to be generation of monkey, busy fool. That’s all. Fools, when he is busy, he is simply creating havoc. That’s all. Better… Lazy fool is better than him because he will not create so much harm, but this busy fool will simply create harm. And first class-man is lazy intelligent. He knows the value of life, and soberly he is thinking. Just like all our great saintly persons. They were living in the forest, meditation, tapasya, and writing books. All, you will find, lazy intelligent. They are first-class men.

Indian man (1): Not like the monkey jumping from one …

Prabhupada: Busy fool, what is the value? He is fool, and he is busy. So nowadays the education is to make busy fool. That’s all.

Indian man (1): About the busy intelligent?

Prabhupada: The second class.

Indian man (1): How does he behave?

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Lectures : Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures : Canto 7: Lectures : SB 7.9: Lectures : Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.9.28 — Mayapur, March 6, 1976 : 760306SB.MAY :
So “How it can be zero? I am a living being. How it can be zero? I am always thinking, planning. I have got so many desires,” they say. One who does not know what is the position of a living being, they say that “Give up desires. Desireless.” That is not possible. Desirelessness is not possible. Because I am a living being, I must desire. Therefore desires may be purified. That is wanted. You cannot make the desires zero. That is not possible. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam[Cc. Madhya 19.170]. Now our desires are there according to my designated position. “I am Hindu,” “I am Muslim. Why shall I take Kṛṣṇa consciousness?” Because I am designated, I have taken this designation, “I am Hindu,” “I am Muslim,” “I am Christian.” Therefore we cannot take Kṛṣṇa consciousness. “Oh, this is… Kṛṣṇa is Hindu God. Kṛṣṇa is Indian. Why shall I take Kṛṣṇa?” No. “You have to be desireless” means you have to purify your this false understanding that “I am Hindu,” “I am Muslim,” “I am Christian,” “I am Indian,” “I am this.” This has to be purified. One has to understand that “I am gopī-bhartur pada-kamalayor dāsa. I am the servant of the servant of the servant of Kṛṣṇa [Cc. Madhya 13.80].” That is purification. Then desire. Then you’ll not desire anything except Kṛṣṇa’s service. That is perfection. When you come to that platform, that you desire nothing but to serve Kṛṣṇa, always, twenty-four hours, then you are liberated. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam[Cc. Madhya 19.170]. Then you become nirmalam, without any material tinge. In that position only, hṛṣīkena hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate. Then… My senses will be there; not that I become senseless nonsense. No. My senses are there. They will act. They’ll act for simply to serve Kṛṣṇa. That is wanted. So that can be possible when you are trained up by the servant of Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise it is not possible.

So here Prahlāda Mahārāja said that… Prahlāda Mahārāja is alsomahājana because he follows mahājana. He says, viriñca–gītāḥ: “I’ll enjoy. I shall relish tava līlā–kathaḥ, Your pastime, the narration of Your pastime.” But it is not that narration, as it is written by some mundane dramatic drama writer or novel writer. No, not that. That is useless. You should not touch. If some ordinary person has written something about Kṛṣṇa’s līlā, you should not touch even. It must be in the sampradāya, must be authorized person. Otherwise it is useless. You should not touch even. Therefore he especially mentioned, līlā-kathās tava nṛsiṁha viriñca–gītāḥ: “which is given by mahājanas like Brahmā.” Just like we offer prayers from Brahma–saṁhitā. We cannot offer prayer from any other persons, written by any other nonsense. No, that is not possible. Viriñca–gītāḥ. There is power. If you recite the prayers composed by mahājana, it has got spiritual power. Just like in your country, Mr. Max Mueller, he’s very famous as translator of Vedas. But… Many scholars, they have read the translation of Max Mueller, but nobody could understand what is the purpose of Vedas because he’s not in the line. He’s useless.

(When I was in high school I read Max Muellers BG and could not understand anything from it at all-this is 100% correct)

Similarly, that French professor, he has mentioned specially… In comparison to my writing—he has rejected even Aurobindo and Dr. Radhakrishnan. Yes, that is right. What Dr. Radhakrishnan, Aurobindo, knows about Kṛṣṇa consciousness? Because they are not in the line. They simply tried to exhibit their erudite scholarship. So that is useless. Nāyam ātmā pravacanena labhyo na medhayā nabahunā śrutena. This is the injunction given in the Vedas. Ayamātmā, self-realization, God realization… Nāyam ātmā bala-hīnenalabhyaḥ: “One who has no spiritual strength, he cannot understand.” It is not possible. Nāyam ātmā bala hīnena… Na medhayā. If you have got very good fertile brain for manufacturing concocted ideas, that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to understand Kṛṣṇa. That is not possible.
…. Any literature, very nicely written, just like Shakespeare writing or some other, big, big mundane writers, their writing, it is very nicely written, grammatically very correct, and metaphorically very nicely meant… Na tad vacaś citra–padam. Citra–padam means very artistically written. There are literatures very artistical. Na tadvacaś citra–padaṁ harer yaśo pragṛṇīta karhicit. But there is no glorification of the Lord; simply literary presentation. Such kind of literature is described, tad vāyasa–tīrtham: “This kind of literature is preferred by the class of men who are like crows.” Crows. But the Vedic literature, which is sung by Lord Brahmā or Lord Śiva or a devotee, even that is broken language presented, tad gṛṇanti śṛṇvantisādhavaḥ: “They’ll be accepted by saintly person. They’ll sing it and they’ll accept it.” That is the secret of success. If your literature is exactly following the mahājano yena sa gataḥ, then it will be liked by highly advanced saintly person. And if it is a presentation of mundane literary career… Therefore that gentleman has rejected even Aurobindo and Dr… Others he has rejected: “They are useless.”