760410 - Morning Walk - Vrndavana

Morning Walks by Date, 1976

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

760410MW-VRNDAVAN - April 10, 1976 - 15:23 Minutes

Akṣayānanda: One boy I recommended for second initiation, but during the fire ceremony he was away on traveling saṅkīrtana for Vṛndāvana. Will he be able to take initiation from you and have the ceremony later, before you go?

Prabhupāda: He can be given.

Akṣayānanda: And he can offer in the fire later on. Very nice. He's a very good boy.

Yaśodānandana: Prabhupāda, there has been discussion amongst many of the members of the Press and the Sanskrit editors regarding the actual place of Nṛsiṁha's pastimes. So I told them that on the occasion of our travel to South India we visited this place Ahobilam, and the paṇḍitas, they have scriptural reference from the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa and the Nṛsiṁha Purāṇa that the place is actually mentioned there, and it has been recognized by Rāmānujācārya and many of the great Ālwār saints. And yourself have already told me twice personally that this was the actual place where it happened. And on top of the mountain there, there is the pillar, iron pillar, which is the symbol of the spot where Lord Nṛsiṁha killed Hiraṇyakaśipu. So for the benefit of all of these devotees, they were just requesting your actual confirmation.

Prabhupāda: Confirmation or no confirmation, Nṛsiṁha-deva is our worshipable Deity, that's all. Why you are bothering where He killed Hiraṇyakaśipu? You worship Him, that's all.

Yaśodānandana: They just wanted . . .

Jayādvaita: The question came up because they have some pictures, photographs from these places, and we wanted to know if they were suitable for publishing or not.

Prabhupāda: So why you are bothering with that? Let it be accepted or not accepted. Worship Him.

Akṣayānanda: Not that important.

Prabhupāda: That is the important thing. A man is diseased. He has gone to the physician. So whether is the first duty to investigate wherefrom the disease came or to cure him? Which is important?

Yaśodānandana: To cure.

Prabhupāda: Similarly, Nṛsiṁha-deva might have done this or here or there, but He is our worshipable Deity, that's all. Why bother with unnecessary things? We know Nṛsiṁha is everywhere. Aṇḍāntara stha paramāṇu . . . (BS 5.35). That is the conclusion.

Jayādvaita: We were just afraid that if we published a picture that was not correct, then you might become like Nṛsiṁha-deva.

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Jayādvaita: We were afraid that if we were to publish a picture that is not correct . . .

Prabhupāda: So when it is disputed, why should you publish that picture? It is controversial, you should not print.

Yaśodānandana: The controversy is only amongst the . . .

Prabhupāda: Whatever it may be. As soon as there is little controversy . . . I explained yesterday.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: For dātun?

Prabhupāda: No, the crow, the crow and the tāla fruit. Somebody said this; somebody said this. Then what is that important thing? Crow and a tāla. You know the kāka-tālīya-nyāya?

Yaśodānandana: I never heard that story.

Prabhupāda: There was a tree, tāla tree, and . . . tāla tree. So one crow was there, and the tāla fruit fell down. Two paṇḍitas, they began, "Whether the tāla fruit fell down . . . because the crow sat down on it, therefore fell down." The other said, "No, the tāla fruit was falling down, and the crow could not sit on it." (laughter) And they began to fight: "No, this." He said, "No this, no this," go on.

Akṣayānanda: Or maybe the crow tried to eat it.

Yaśodānandana: I think in this case it was just a question that they never knew actually what was the actual position. But if Your Divine Grace does not wish anything to be published regarding that place, then we will not do.

Prabhupāda: As soon as there is some controversy, avoid it. That's all. Tāla fruit and crow. You worship Nṛsiṁha-deva. Ito nṛsiṁhaḥ parato, yato yato yāmi tato nṛsiṁhaḥ (Śrī Nṛsiṁha Praṇāma). Nṛsiṁha-deva is everywhere.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Bahir nṛsiṁho hṛdaye . . .

Prabhupāda: Why Nṛsiṁha should be confined: "He was here"? He is everywhere. And as He is everywhere, He is here also. That's all. Finish the business. And you are without . . .?

Yaśodānandana: I missed it. I could not get my cappalas (sandals) in time. They were lost. But that is okay.

Prabhupāda: No, no, it is not okay. It is not at all okay. Then you go and sit down. Don't . . . That is very risky. Then let us go to the road.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Go onto the road. (break)

Prabhupāda: Maybe. (break)

Jayādvaita: . . .that just as a capitalist sees money everywhere and a lusty person sees sex life everywhere, devotee sees Kṛṣṇa everywhere, even in a pillar.

Nalinī-kānta: I've been reading a lot in the different books about envy. You say that people kill cows only out of envy. I was wondering if you could give a definition of what envy is. I don't understand why they would kill animals out of envy.

Prabhupāda: Envy means the cow has got right to live; he does not allow the cow to live. That is envy. You cannot understand this? Suppose you are walking. You have got right to walk, I have got, and if I kill you, you cannot walk. That is envious. Everyone has got right to live. Just like the camel. God has given their food. They are accustomed to eat these thorny twigs. So Kṛṣṇa has given that. Let them eat and live. Why should you interfere with his living condition? (break) . . . (indistinct) . . . Do not interfere with others' right. Why should you do it? (break)

Hari-śauri: You want to go back this way, Śrīla Prabhupāda? It's a little less . . .

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Over here. (break)

Prabhupāda: . . .think we shall take the car in Bombay?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes. I think it's a good idea, because there is no suitable place to store it here.

Prabhupāda: No, we can make a suitable place. What is that?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: It may take some time. I don't . . . Actually I haven't been to Bombay myself. I haven't seen the land at Juhu. Is there a suitable place for . . .?

Prabhupāda: There is many suitable place.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: The reason was that because whenever you come back to India, you always come back to Bombay first of all. So as soon as you come back to India, you'll have facility to use your car. Otherwise we should make arrangements for another car for Bombay also?

Prabhupāda: No. Another Mercedes?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: (laughter) Yes.

Hari-śauri: A Rolls Royce next time.

Prabhupāda: (laughing) No. (break) . . .land you can utilize. Where is . . . They say overpopulation. Where is man? Overpopulation in the city. Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). Kṛṣṇa has His own plan. Even overpopulation, Kṛṣṇa provides. Why you are worried, "overpopulation"? You chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Why you are worried about overpopulation?

Yaśodānandana: "We are less worried now with the family planning program."

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Yaśodānandana: "With the family planning program the worry is decreasing."

Prabhupāda: Decreasing?

Yaśodānandana: They will argue like that.

Prabhupāda: Oh. Family planning—why family planning? Family planning is already there, that don't marry. Why don't you accept this? Don't have sex. This is real family planning.

Jayādvaita: "That is horrible."

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Jayādvaita: "It is horrible."

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: "Might as well kill ourselves."

Prabhupāda: Not horrible. It is horrible for a particular person. Otherwise . . . (break) Karma-bandhana (BG 3.9). What is this?

Lokanātha: They are flowers. These are the flowers.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: In little pots.

Prabhupāda: Fruits also?

Devotee (1): They're just some kind of little string bean.

Akṣayānanda: Like a bean.

Devotee (1): Birds and camels eat the bean.

Jayādvaita: Our ISKCON population rate is less.

Yaśodānandana: However, in some of our centers it tends to increase quite a bit.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, you made the statement the other morning that if someone kills a young child, it is condemned. So if someone is killing the young child within the womb, that also should be condemned.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Simply that they have no clear idea what consciousness is and what life is. Therefore all these things are going on.

Prabhupāda: All rascals. How they are risking their own life, karma-bandhana. Just like a thief. He is thinking, "I am doing very nice business. Without any . . . I am getting so much money." But that is risky.

Hari-śauri: Perhaps we cut across this way? This is a dead end here.

Prabhupāda: No, we shall come back.

Jayādvaita: You gave that other example in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that Nṛsiṁha-deva let Hiraṇyakaśipu slip from His hands for a little while just to play with him.

Nalinī-kānta: The Vedic civilization is centered around villages, not cities?

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Nalinī-kānta: If we want to make the world Kṛṣṇa conscious . . .

Prabhupāda: Vedic civilization is in the forest. Go to the forest.

Hari-śauri: Renounce.

Prabhupāda: Neither in the city nor in the village. Go to the forest.

Lokanātha: But there were cities like Dvārakā.

Prabhupāda: That is another thing, but the ideal is vanaṁ gato yad dharim āśrayeta (SB 7.5.5). Go to the forest and depend on Kṛṣṇa and live there. And that is perfection. Vanaṁ gato yad dharim āśrayeta. Go to the forest and remain, depending on Kṛṣṇa. That's all.

Lokanātha: There are no forests left.

Hari-śauri: The whole material world's a forest.

Prabhupāda: There are so many forests in America—full of forests still. Africa, so many forests, big, big forests. (break)

Akṣayānanda: . . .Kali-yuga we cannot do that due to our conditioning.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Hari-śauri: Fifth Canto describes the whole material world is a forest.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Of enjoyment.

Lokanātha: Forest of enjoyment. (break)

Prabhupāda: They go in the village for begging little food, that's all. Just like you can live in this forest. And what you will eat? Two cāpāṭi. So you can go and beg. That's all. Whole day's business finished. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Lokanātha: It's too simple to understand.

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Lokanātha: It's so simple; we even cannot realize how simple it is.

Akṣayānanda: But if we tried to do that, wouldn't it be sort of artificial?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Akṣayānanda: Yes. (end).