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Today marks the most auspicious appearance day of our dear grand spiritual master, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Maharaja. Here is an excerpt from the upcoming authorized biography of Shrila Prabhupada, describing Bhakisiddhanta's early life. Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Goswami Maharaja steals mangos from the deity THE RAY OF VISHNU One should beget a child who can perform the duties of Vishnu, otherwise there is no need to produce children. There are two kinds of children born of good fathers: one is educated in Krishna consciousness so that he can be delivered from the clutches of maya in that very life, and the other is a ray of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and teaches the world the ultimate goal of life. As it is described in the chapters of Shrimad-Bhagavatam, Kardama Muni begot such a child-Kapila, the incarnation of the Personality of Godhead who enunciated the philosophy of Shankya. Great householders pray to God to send His representative so that there may be an auspicious movement in human society. In the same order as Kardama Muni, Takura Bhaktivinoda also wanted to beget a child who could preach the philosophy and teachings of Lord Chaitanya to the fullest extent. As Lord Advaita very much lamented prior to Lord Chaitanya's appearance, Bhaktivinoda Thakura similarly lamented being afflicted by the deterioration of the society: "Lord Chaitanya's movement has been so defamed. As soon as people see the devotees who belong to the Chaitanya sampradaya, they deride them, thinking they are all rascals who only indulge in sex pleasures." And as Advaita Prabhu called upon Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, similarly, when Bhaktivinoda Takura saw the condition of pseudo Vaishnavas spreading all over the country, he prayed to Lord Chaitanya: "Kindly send somebody from Your personal staff so that I can start this movement." And by the grace of Lord Chaitanya, Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Takura appeared as the son of Bhaktivinoda Takura. For this reason, devotees pray: shri-gaura-karuna-shakti-vigrahaya namo 'stu te "I offer my respectful obeisances unto Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Takura, who is the personified energy of Shri Chaitanya's mercy. Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura appeared in February 1874 as the child of Bhaktivinoda Takura. The house of his appearance is still preserved in Jagannatha Puri. When he appeared, his umbilical cord was wrapped around his body as though a brahmin thread. This is the sign that he was a brahmana from the very beginning of his life. When he was six months old, there was a Ratha-yatra festival and the cart carrying the Deities stopped in front of the house, where Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta's family lived. When Jagannatha's cart is carried, sometimes it stops, and the devotees have difficulty to push it again. This generally happens in Jagannatha Puri. But it is nice. When this happened at the time of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, He used to push the cart with His head, and this was a wonderful pastime. When the cart stopped before Bhaktivinoda Takura's house, Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Takura, as a child, was present in the lap of his mother, who took the opportunity and got onto the cart. Since she was the magistrate's wife, she had that extra facility, and everyone respected that. People immediately gave her way to go on the top of the cart, and she placed the child on Lord Jagannatha's lotus feet. There were many garlands hanging on the Lord and one of them immediately fell on Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, signifying a blessing. Bhaktivinoda Takura could thus understand that this child was not ordinary. He knew that because he prayed to Gaurasundara to send someone to help his mission, the Lord sent this child, and, therefore, he took care of him very nicely. Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta was thus named Bimala Prasada Datta, the mercy of the transcendental potency of Lord Jagannatha. When Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta was three years or four years old, he took a mango from the Deity room and ate it. When Bhaktivinoda Takura saw what happened he said, "Oh, you have done a great wrong. You have taken the mango of the Deity before offering? It is a great offense." The child took it very seriously, and since that time Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta never took a mango throughout his whole life. Whenever mango was offered to him, he would say, "Oh, I am a offender. I cannot take." One can understand what a perfect exemplary householder Bhaktivinode Takura was since he produced such a nice child as Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Takura. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Takura took all inspiration from his great Vaishnava father, and that is the way of all lucky Vaishnava families. The life history of many such devotees is almost the same, because there is always symmetry between the early lives of all great devotees of the Lord.

The following is a conversation taking place between Carol Cameron and Shrila Prabhupada from 1975 about the need for understanding that God is a person as a prerequisite for sincere emotion to arise which leads to a genuine and sustained surrender. Krishna and the Gopis Carol Cameron: How can ignorance be removed? Prabhupada: The ignorant people can also learn from the learned. If you have got this idea that creator is impersonal, that means you are not a learned. You have no knowledge. And this is the simple answer. As soon as you say "creator," He has so many qualities. The bell... Suppose I am ringing. Now, when the spring is loose [rings bell], it does not sound. So others may not know, but one who has created -- "Oh, the spring is loose. Now we wind it again." That means I know, ins and outs and everything. That is creator. So if one is cognizant of everything, how He can be impersonal? What is this philosophy? Hmm? Answer. You are philosopher. Amogha: He says if the creator is..., if one is cognizant of everything, then how can He not be a person? The creator is cognizant of everything. So if He is cognizant, how can He not be a person? Carol Cameron: Well, He would incorporate personal attributes... Prabhupada: Hmm? She says "He." Carol Cameron: ...not be governed by them. Prabhupada: She says "He," but He is impersonal. [laughter] Carol Cameron: Yes. [laughs] It's the intellect and the emotion. Prabhupada: How vague ideas. And they are passing on philosophy. "He" contradicts. You say "He." And again He is impersonal. Carol Cameron: At the emotional level it's a very personal... Prabhupada: Why should you emotional? You are a philosopher. You should talk very nicely. Carol Cameron: Talk? Amogha: He said, why be emotional? You are a philosopher, so talk very nicely. Carol Cameron: Oh. [surprised] I don't philosophize. Amogha: What she just said was that He is impersonal, but He incorporates personal features. Carol Cameron: If God is in everything, then the personal attributes must be part of Him, it, whatever. Amogha: She says personal attributes are part of God. Carol Cameron: But God is not just limited to... Prabhupada: You have no idea of God. Carol Cameron: No. I don't think... Prabhupada: He must be person. As soon as you say "He knows everything," "He creates," and so many other things, then these are all personal. You say "He." "He." These are all personal. Carol Cameron: This is only our idea of God, though, not necessarily... Prabhupada: That means you have no clear idea of God. You have vague idea. So you have to learn what is God. Carol Cameron: You think you can know the nature of God? Amogha: She says do you think you can know the nature of God? Prabhupada: Yes. You can know also. Carol Cameron: In an intellectual way? Prabhupada: You can know also. Carol Cameron: You might know something in your heart, but not be able to express it. Prabhupada: Why not express it? You can express it. If whatever is within your heart, if you cannot express, then you are not perfect. You must express what is within your heart very clearly. Not that I have got something within my heart and I cannot express. That means my knowledge is imperfect. Carol Cameron: So often our understanding moves sort of separately, the emotional, the heart. Prabhupada: Emotion is not required for scientific knowledge. Emotion is not... Useless. It must be factual. Emotion is no use. Emotion is useful in high, ecstatic love. Not for scientific study of something you require emotion. No. Carol Cameron: But in the bhakti way of doing things, this emotion and love are very closely entwined, aren't they? Prabhupada: Yes. That is higher stage. Not in the beginning. In the beginning devotion means I should be devoted to you. Why should I be devoted to you unless you are worthy? Just like Krsna says, "You surrender unto Me." So unless I understand that Krsna is worth for my surrendering, He is worthy, why shall I surrender to Krsna? If I demand, immediately you have come, that you surrender, would you like to do that? Carol Cameron: To surrender? Prabhupada: If I ask you that "You surrender." I am meeting you for the first time. Would you like to surrender? Carol Cameron: Yes. Prabhupada: I don't think. [laughter] Carol Cameron: To want to and to do it is different. Prabhupada: No, unless you are fully aware of my abilities,  [no audio] Prabhupada: ...qualities, why should you surrender? [indistinct] So before surrendering, one has to study the person where he is going to surrender. Then he surrenders. That is real surrender. And blindly surrender, that will not stay. So our first business is to surrender to God; therefore we must know what is God. Then you must surrender. And the emotion is good. That means you are advanced. If you understand that "God is giving us everything," so that emotion is very good. If one from the very beginning becomes emotional, "Oh, God is so kind. God is so great that He is giving us everything, our necessities. I must serve Him," this emotion is very good. But for ordinary man, this emotion does not come. He wants to study what is God. Then when he fully understands, "Oh, God is so great," then that emotion is very nice. That is genuine emotion. Otherwise emotion is sentiment. That will not stay. That will not endure. It is temporary. Carol Cameron: Would the intellect be helpful in knowing God? Prabhupada: Yes. Unless you have got the necessary intellect, then you are no better than the animals. The animals have no intellect to understand God, but the human being has got that intellect. That is the distinction between animal and human being. Room Conversation with Carol Cameron – May 10, 1975, Perth

An article compiled by Red Willow Radha and Krsna, the Divine Couple Beneath all of your temporary ideas and designations about who you are, exists an incredibly beautiful, pure, spiritual being. You are actually a devotee at your very essence. The nature of the soul, of the eternally blissful spiritual spark, is to be situated as a loving servitor engaged in intricately nuanced loving exchanges with a Supremely Loving Master. "Spontaneous loving service to the Lord is called devotional service with an intimate attachment between the servitor and the served. This intimacy is called mamata. Between the servitor and the served there is a feeling of oneness. This mamata begins with dasya-prema, service rendered to the master by the servant. Unless there is such a relationship, the loving affairs between the Lord and His devotee are not actually fixed. When the devotee feels "The Lord is my master" and renders service unto Him, Krishna consciousness is awakened. This fixed consciousness is on a higher platform than simple cognizance of love of Godhead." (Madhya 8.71, Purport) Simply, we must begin rendering some little service to our most compassionate Master. This is very easy to begin, and one can do so from anywhere, anytime– just by using their voice. We are already fully equipped with everything we need to be able to reawaken our original spiritual identity, because we are a part of the Supreme Whole and we are, in turn, whole and complete– in as much as we realize our actual position as a loving servant. Then we find that Krishna has given us everything we need to return our consciousness into His loving embrace. We learn the most direct path of re-connection from a bonafide spiritual master, who is sent directly by Radha Krishna Themselves in order to pick up the lost souls who are wandering in the material tabernacle, seeking Rama, that bliss, seeking Rama here and there and finding Rama nowhere. Therefore it is said, "brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva, guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija: "According to their karma, all living entities are wandering throughout the entire universe. Some of them are being elevated to the upper planetary systems, and some are going down into the lower planetary systems. Out of many millions of wandering living entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Krishna. By the mercy of both Krishna and the spiritual master, such a person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service." (Cc. Madhya 19.151) Let us begin by preparing the soil for this transcendental seed. We prepare the soil by the chanting of the Lord's nectarean names, "Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krsna Hare Hare/Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare." Shrila Prabhupada says, ""In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy the only means of deliverance is chanting of the holy name of the Lord. There is no other way. There is no other way. There is no other way." Simply by chanting the holy name of the Lord, one advances perfectly in spiritual life. This is the best process for success in life." (SB 7.5.23, SB 7.5.24, SB 7.5.23–24, Purport) "Master" refers to one who possesses great knowledge and skill in a particular area of expertise. Krsna is the Supreme Master of Love. And Hare, or Radha, is the Supreme Master of the Master of Love. Rama is that divine pleasure that is ever increasing, and which is like an overflow of ecstasy from the cup of loving exchanges between the Divine Masculine, Krishna, and the Divine Feminine, Radha. When we chant this Hare Krishna mantra, we are inviting the Divine Couple and Their Energy to descend upon our tongues and dance. So, how powerful, how sacred is this mantra? Which aims at the highest attainment possible in all of the material and spiritual worlds–Pure Love of God and Goddess. "Similarly, one has to follow the rules and regulations of devotional service as they are set down by the spiritual master; then one can come to the point of spontaneous loving service. This love is already there within the heart of everyone (nitya-siddha krsna-prema)." (Madhya 22.109, Purport) Everything you need is already within you, and anything you may think you lack is given to you unconditionally by Krishna, who says, "But those who always worship Me with exclusive devotion, meditating on My transcendental form -- to them I carry what they lack, and I preserve what they have." (Bg 9.22) The form of the Lord is manifest in this Age as the Holy Name, we must simply meditate on the perfect sound vibration, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare.

A common question asked by many of our godbrothers is: What is the siddhanta on shaving? Well in this Chaitanya Charitamrta purport, Shrila Prabhupada gives the answer: A yogi meditates on a mountain bhadra karana tanre ganga-snana karaila sekhara aniya tanre nutana vastra dila SYNONYMS: bhadra karana -- making gentle; tanre -- him; ganga-snana -- bathing in the Ganges; karaila -- caused to do; sekhara -- Chandrasekhara; aniya -- bringing; tanre -- to him; nutana -- new; vastra -- clothing; dila -- delivered. TRANSLATION: Chandrasekhara then made Sanatana Gosvami look like a gentleman. He took him to bathe in the Ganges, and afterwards he brought him a new set of clothes. PURPORT: The words bhadra karana are significant in this verse. Due to his long hair, mustache and beard, Sanatana Gosvami looked like a daravesa, or hippie. Since Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did not like Sanatana Gosvami's hippie features, he immediately asked Chandrasekhara to get him shaved clean. If anyone with long hair or a beard wants to join this Krishna consciousness movement and live with us, he must similarly shave himself clean. The followers of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu consider long hair objectionable. >> Ref. VedaBase => Madhya 20.70

Pancha-Tattva amongst Their disciples All things aside, at the end of the day, we’re all going to die. We’re all going to leave our bodies and we have no idea when. There’s no guarantee that we will live 20, 40, 60, or 100 years. There’s no guarantee. Some people leave their bodies very early on when they are considered still young. Some people leave their bodies in the middle of their life, and some just keep hanging on. Today we have such a short duration of life. Human life is said to be around 100 years in Kali yuga, but half of that time is spent sleeping. So, if you are thinking, "maybe I will live 50 years..." half of that time is spent sleeping. "O learned one, in this iron Age of Kali men almost always have but short lives. They are quarrelsome, lazy, misguided, unlucky and, above all, always disturbed." (SB 1.1.10) We don’t have very much time at all, and as much as the idea of basically just following our hearts and following our intuition–letting that guide us through life as we do, we should not feel so completely secure in that position, because so many times our “heart” or "intuition" has led us so far astray down a path that, though learning along the way, could have been avoided. Had we heeded the knowledge received from higher powers, from higher authorities. We have no time to waste, which is why the path of surrender to a perfect authority is very wise. That surrender must be deeply informed by our life's experiences; not finding full satisfaction or perfect answers anywhere else, being constantly deluded by our own bodies and minds. By sincere inquiry, posing intelligent questions and receiving scientific answers, a real faith can begin to develop which is not a blind faith or a blind surrender. It is definitely not recommend to blindly follow some authority which you have not taken the time yourself to understand, to really understand, and to really ask the questions that you need to ask in order to have trust that, "OK I trust this person. I can follow this person, because the knowledge that they’re giving is coming from an unbroken line of a bonafide disciplic succession– an eternal chain of sound vibration coming directly from God Himself. Unchanged, unadulterated." So, this is really important to consider, when we’re looking for a proper source, an authority, to surrender to or to look to for guidance. Srila Prabhupada says, "That is a fact -- fact in this sense: even though we cannot understand, we have to accept the words of the authority. Just like I cannot understand how big is the sun globe. It is not possible for ordinary man to understand how much great is the sun globe. But when you go to the authority, he will say the sun globe is fourteen hundred times bigger than the sun. So you have to accept it; otherwise what is your knowledge? You cannot experience. Even now the people are going to the moon planet. I do not go with them, but when it is published by some authorities, we accept it. So not that everything I have to experience personally for each knowledge. I have to accept the authority; that is perfect knowledge. As I give you several times the example, that nobody knows who is his father, but his mother introduces, "Here is your father." So mother is authority; otherwise I cannot know who is my father. That is not possible. There are so many things not that by our direct experience we can know, we can see. Therefore according to Vedic principle, knowledge means, perfect knowledge means, to receive it from the perfect person, perfect source. That is knowledge. Otherwise it is not knowledge. Imperfect persons cannot give you perfect knowledge..." (Lecture – May 11, 1976, Honolulu) We are all constantly looking for an authority to surrender to–whether or not we are aware of it–we are constantly seeking knowledge. We're constantly seeking relief from bodily pain, mental pain, emotional pain–the pain of not knowing. "Everyone is turning to material subjects for enjoyment and is compiling as much knowledge as possible. Someone is becoming a chemist, physicist, politician, artist, or whatever. Everyone knows something of everything or everything of something, and this is generally known as knowledge. But as soon as we leave the body, all of this knowledge is vanquished. In a previous life one may have been a great man of knowledge, but in this life he has to start again by going to school and learning how to read and write from the beginning. Whatever knowledge was acquired in the previous life is forgotten. The situation is that we are actually seeking eternal knowledge, but this cannot be acquired by this material body." (BBD 1: We Are Not These Bodies) Though we came into this world with a deep level of sensitivity and accumulated impressions from our past lives, we still had to relearn everything from our parents. They taught us everything about the basics of life like how to eat, walk, ride a bike, how to cook or grow food, how to communicate our needs. So our parents were our initial authority in this lifetime, and if they were not able to satisfy our need for higher knowledge then we naturally sought that elsewhere, whether it was from our teachers in school, a relative in the family, or someone we looked up to. When the world situation became one of rapid-speed information through the internet and social media, we mostly turned to these sources to satisfy our natural tendency for inquiry. Google and ChatGPT are literally based on this universal tendency of the human mind to seek knowledge from an authority outside of our limited awareness. Or we turned to the plant medicines for these answers, but regardless, we are seeking an authority from which comes a perfect knowledge and we have no choice but to surrender to various authorities throughout our lives because we are limited in our understanding of so many things. That is the nature of the individual living entity, though they are one in quality with the Lord, they vary in quantity. "The small sparks generated by a blazing fire have no power to illuminate the original fire, nor can they burn it. The quantity of heat and light in the original fire is always superior to the quantity found in the insignificant sparks. Similarly, the minute living entity is generated from the internal potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as stated in Vedanta-sutra..." (SB 11.3.36) So, Krishna's knowledge is complete and unlimited, but ours is limited and incomplete, thus we must surrender unto some authority and if we are seeking real knowledge, knowledge of the soul and of God, then we will seek out some authority who is in direct connection with God. "The minute living entities, being amsah, or sparks of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, can never equal the Supreme Godhead in the quantity of their potency. The quantity of knowledge and bliss in the Supreme Personality of Godhead is always superior. Therefore, when a foolish conditioned soul tries to illuminate the subject matter of the highest truth with his tiny brain, he merely illuminates his own foolishness. The Personality of Godhead has personally spoken Bhagavad-gita, which is the blazing fire of perfect knowledge that burns to ashes the insignificant speculations and theories of so-called philosophers and scientists regarding the ultimate truth." (SB 11.3.36) "Becoming one with God does not always indicate that a living being merges into the existence of the Lord. To become one with God means to attain one's original, spiritual quality. Unless one attains one's spiritual quality one cannot enter into the kingdom of God. The members of the impersonalist school explain their idea of oneness by the example of the mixing of river water with the seawater. But we should know that within the water of the sea there are living beings, who do not merge into the existence of water but keep their separate identities and enjoy life within the water. They are one with the water in the sense that they have attained the quality of living within the water. Similarly, the spiritual world is not without its separate paraphernalia. A living being can keep his separate spiritual identity in the spiritual kingdom and enjoy life with the supreme spiritual being, the Personality of Godhead." (LoB verse 25) It's no accident that we are persons, no mistake. The Vedas tell us that God is a person, and that we are eternally related with God through a relationship of service, where God is the enjoyer and we are the enjoyed. So, we are meant to be in relationship. Our primary and central relationship is with God, or Krishna. Krishna literally means the all attractive one. Consider, if God is a person and we are supposed to believe that He is the best person that exists, and that we should want to have a relationship with Him, wouldn't it only make sense that He possess qualities that are so irresistible that we cannot find them anywhere else in full no matter how hard and wide we search? And that’s why God is called Krishna, the all attractive. He possesses all the opulences in existence, they are all coming from Him. Anything we admire in this temporary material world is a small spark of His splendor. He is the most famous, the most beautiful, the strongest, most opulent, and He is the most renounced–and that right there is a really beautiful quality...Krsna is all attractive and He is also called "Bhagavan", which means the possessor of all opulences. That’s a really beautiful person... that He is fully and completely renounced, but at the same time, He’s breathtakingly beautiful, famous, wealthy and powerful. He’s all of those things, while being totally renounced. Being a soul, possessing a body or accepting a body as self, due to that decision to accept the body as the self in order to enjoy Krishna‘s energies–the material nature automatically puts us under stringent laws that we are powerless to affect. The only way that we can bend those laws is through mercy, a descendent mercy. We cannot just climb the ladder and force our way into God's bedroom, and exclaim, "here I am. I skipped all the steps and by my own power brought myself here, so have a relationship with me now!" That’s not.... that’s not how love works, that’s not how relationships work. Maybe some of them do here in the material world, but they’re sick and toxic. Krishna is renounced and so He’s given us free will to choose Him or not to choose Him, because without our choice, it’s not love. Krishna is a person also, and He also wants to be loved. If it’s forced, Krishna doesn’t accept that, He doesn't make us stay in the spiritual world with Him. He doesn’t make us do anything–but at the same time–our free will is not unlimited. It is very limited. "he clue is given there in the Bhagavad-gita that the living entities are fragmental parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord, this means that all the qualities of Krishna are therefore present in minute quantity in each of His parts and parcels. That is simultaneously one and different philosophy -- the living entities thus have free will because they are parts of Krishna and Krishna has free will, but the free will of Krishna is Supreme while the freedom of the parts and parcels is minute. So if the living entity out of love subordinates his free will to Krishna that is his liberation. He is no longer forced to act helplessly, but he acts freely rendering loving devotional service to Krishna in every way." (Letter to: Madhudvisa  --  Los Angeles 14 February, 1970) Our free will consists of, "I choose faith or I choose doubt/fear." We all have this choice at all moments in time, so that means, "I choose to depend on and trust God, or I choose to turn to the old familiar material energy, which I have become so addicted to– my mind, my body, my mundane relationships, my comforts, my bodily comforts," whatever it may be–that’s our free will. That is because we are not God, and we will never be God. We are as souls one in quality with Krishna , which means that we are the same as God but at the same time we’re different, because we are not one in quantity with Krishna . We are tiny sparks and Krishna is the Original Sacred Fire. Krishna is Bhagavan, full of all opulences, and he is the all attractive one for which there is no equal. We have a very small quantity of power compared to God. There would be no meaning to "God" if everyone was God, there would be no God, that simply does not make sense, it is common sense. God is the One in which everyone comes from and Whom is always God. God is always God, He always retains His individuality and His complete independence, and we are always completely dependent on God. We are always dependent and there’s no way to avoid this because it’s who we are, we are servants of the Divine. "In everyone's life there are two duties: one is to serve the illusion, and the other is to serve the reality. When one serves the reality, he is a real sannyasi. And when one serves the illusion, he is deluded by maya. One has to understand, however, that he is in all circumstances forced to serve. Either he serves the illusion or the reality. The constitutional position of the living entity is to be a servant, not a master. One may think that he is the master, but he is actually a servant. When one has a family he may think that he is the master of his wife, or his children, or his home, business and so on, but that is all false. One is actually the servant of his wife, of his children and of his business. The president may be considered the master of the country, but actually he is the servant of the country. Our position is always as servant -- either as servant of the illusion or as servant of God. If, however, we remain the servant of the illusion, then our life is wasted. Of course everyone is thinking that he is not a servant, that he is working only for himself. Although the fruits of his labor are transient and illusory, they force him to become a servant of illusion, or a servant of his own senses. But when one awakens to his transcendental senses and actually becomes situated in knowledge, he then becomes a servant of the reality. When one comes to the platform of knowledge, he understands that in all circumstances he is a servant. Since it is not possible for him to be master, he is much better situated serving the reality instead of the illusion. When one becomes aware of this, he attains the platform of real knowledge." (PoY 7: Yoga as Reestablishing Relations with Krishna)

The following is an excerpt from an article written by Shrila Prabhupada and published in His early editions of Back to Godhead Magazine which He compiled and distributed during His time preaching in India before coming to America. "What is the inborn quality of the living being? Let us first of all understand the nature of inborn quality. We can understand the inborn quality of the five elements. The inborn quality of earth is solidity. The inborn quality of water is liquidity. The inborn quality of fire is burning heat and light. The inborn quality of air is mobile humidity. The inborn quality of ether is all-pervading enuity. The inborn quality of mind is determination and rejection. The inborn quality of intelligence is thinking and feeling and the inborn quality of ego is identification of Existence. The living entity does not belong to either of the above eight different elements of material nature. These eight elements are called products of the inferior nature of Godhead. But there is another superior spiritual nature of Godhead, of which the living entity is made. Both the inferior and superior qualitative nature of Godhead are nondifferent from Him but the actions of the two different natures are completely different. The all powerful Godhead has innumerable different energies out of them the 'Para Prakriti' is known as His internal energy. The internal energy is always personally associated with the Personality of Godhead and therefore the inborn nature of the living entity is to remain personally associated with the Supreme Being. The Supreme Being is eternally existent along with His associated internal energy and therefore in the 'Sruti Mantras' it is said that the 'Supreme Lord' is the Primeval Eternal Personality amongst innumerable other personalities of living being. In other words every individual living being is an individual person. Everyone has his personal separate existence and nobody is equal with another living being, that is the variegatedness of the living world. The Supreme Lord is also the Supreme living Personality with His separate identity, Form, existence and mode of life. The living entities are therefore equal in quality of the Supreme Lord, but the Supreme Lord is one and the Absolute while the living entities are innumerable and relative. The Absolute Personality of Godhead has expanded Himself in his differentiated parts and parcels who are called by the name "Jiva" or the living being. Being one in quality, the living being has the proportionate fraction of the quality of overlordship propensity. When this relative overlordship propensity is manifested disproportionately in the living being, he falls in contact with the external energy of Godhead, called by the name material nature, and his ego is misidentified with the inferior nature. An appropriate example may be given here in connection with the disproportionate independant action of a state citizen. A citizen of an independant nation cannot be absolute. His independence is relative in terms of the state laws. When the citizen therefore disproportionately exhibits his independence, it becomes an act of civil disobedience and he is put under police action an inferior state of citizen life. The false ego is given to the material mind and the sense-perceptions thereof and as such, material sense-perceptions contact with material objects by form, taste, smell, sound and touch. That makes it possible for the living being to drag on a material existence with hard struggle for life. The hard struggle for life is manifest because the living entity is fallen in the material existence, a foreign and inferior quality of nature for the living being. It is something like a living being of the land thrown into the ocean of water, and thus a hard struggle for existence for the overthrown living being. The overthrown living being can be happy only when he is picked up from the ocean of material existence and reinstated again in his normal spiritual existence by the Grace of the Supreme Lord. That is his "Religion Real." Shree Chaitanya Mahaprabhu therefore teaches us to pray like this:- "Oh my Lord who is born out of the body of Nanda Maharaj, please consider me who is fallen in the ocean of birth and death, out of Your immense and causeless mercy, as one of the particle of dust remaining at Your lotus feet."" (BTGPY11a: Religiosity Real and Apparent)

Check out the brand new sitcom from the B.L.I.S.S London temple, touching on the subject of beards. This sitcom was directed by His grace Purujit Dasa and shot by various devotees. Dhananjaya Dasa is angry... Check out the video here !

Shrila Prabhupada in this wonderful excerpt from a class on the Bhagavad-gita as it is explains how to develop a thorough understanding of the soul as personal and possessing senses. Shrila Prabhupada smiles Happiness we feel through our senses. Because material, dead stone, has no sense, therefore dead stone cannot feel happiness or distress. Now, this consciousness, the developed consciousness, feels happiness and distress more than undeveloped consciousness. Just like the trees. The trees, they have got also consciousness, but it is not developed consciousness. Therefore the trees are standing on the road or anywhere, but they have no sense of feeling the miseries. Now, suppose a human being is asked to stand like the tree, at least for three days. Oh, it will be impossible for him because he cannot tolerate such kind of miseries. So therefore conclusion is that every living entity feels the pleasure and happiness according to the developed consciousness of his being. Similarly, the happiness which we are feeling now in the material mixture, that is not real happiness. That is not real happiness. If you ask the tree, "Are you feeling happy?" the tree will say, "Yes. I am feeling happy standing here the whole year, and the wind and snowfall I am enjoying very much." Oh. You see? So that sort of happiness the tree may enjoy, but you are human being. You will say, "Oh, this is the standard of his enjoyment." Similarly, there are different kinds and different grades of living entities. Their standard of feeling happiness and miseries are also different grades. Animal. In the animal kingdom, they have no sense. One animal is being slaughtered. The other animal is seeing because he has no knowledge the next turn is he is being turned..., being slaughtered, but he is chewing some grass. He is happy. He is thinking that "I am happy." Next moment it will be slaughtered, but he does not know. So these are all different grades of happiness. But the highest standard of happiness is described here, sukham atyantikam yat tad buddhi-grahyam atindriyam [Bg. 6.21]. Buddhi-grahyam atindriyam. Buddhi means intelligence. One has to be intelligent. If you want to enjoy life, then you must be intelligent also. Just like the animals, they are not intelligent enough. Therefore they cannot enjoy life as a human being can, standard. So here, in the Bhagavad-gita also, it is said that buddhi-grahyam atindriyam. Atindriyam. Now, just take the example of a dead man. The senses, the hands, the nose, the sense organs, and everything is there, but now he cannot enjoy. The dead body, it cannot enjoy. Why? This requires intelligence. Why the dead body cannot enjoy? What is the difference? The body is lying there. The hands and the nose and the legs and the eyes and all other sense organs are there. But why the dead body cannot enjoy? That requires intelligence. That means that the enjoying energy, the spiritual spark, that has gone away. Therefore it has no power to enjoy. Then, if you make advance further with intelligence, then you will understand that actually the body was not enjoying, but that little spark, spiritual spark, that was enjoying, not this body. This requires little intelligence. I am thinking that "I am enjoying with my sense organs," but you are not enjoying. The real enjoyer is that small spiritual spark within you. That spiritual spark has got the potency of enjoyment, but that is not being manifested on account of being covered by this material tabernacle, and therefore this enjoyment is not perfect. This requires little intelligence, that "Where is the enjoyment for the dead body?" The dead body no more can enjoy. Suppose if a man is offered a dead body of a beautiful woman, will he accept? Or a woman is offered the dead body of a beautiful man, will she accept? No. Because that enjoying spark is moved now. That requires intelligence. Who is enjoying? Who is enjoying? The enjoying, the enjoying spirit. The spirit is enjoying, not this body. That requires intelligence. Then again... Now, if that spirit is enjoying, then the spirit must have enjoying senses also. Otherwise how it can enjoy? If you have no enjoying sense organ, then how you can enjoy? A blunt cannot enjoy. Therefore it is accepted that the spirit soul, although it is very small, atomic, we cannot measure... Several times I have repeated here that the measurement of the small, infinitesimal spirit spark is just one ten-thousandth part of the upper portion of your hair. It is so small. But that does not mean... Just like we are incapable to measure something. We define that "Point has no length, no breadth," but actually it is not a fact. If you see a point with microscope, you'll find the point has increased to one inch round, and it has got length and breadth. Similarly, we have no capacity to make a measurement of the soul, but there is measurement. And there are senses of that spiritual spark. There are. Without having this... Without the spiritual spark having the senses, how this body is grown? This body is just like dress. When we speak of dress, the dress is made according to your body. If you go to a tailor, the tailor will take measurements of your body and the dress will be supplied to you, fit. Similarly, unless that spiritual spark has got body, how this, I mean to say, dress of this material tabernacle has grown? This requires intelligence. So the conclusion is that that spiritual spark is not impersonal. It is actually personal. The soul is actual person. As God is actual, personal, similarly, because we are part and parcel of the Supreme, therefore, if I am a person, then God must be person. God is the father of everyone. Now, if I am the son -- I have got personality; I have got individuality -- how can you deny the individuality and personality of the Supreme Lord? Bhagavad-gita 6.21-27 -- New York, September 9, 1966

Today marks the auspicious incarnation of Lord Nityananda, who is none other that Balarama himself. Here is one pastime of Sri Nityananda Prabhu, which outlines how the devotee of the Lord is more merciful than the Lord himself. Lord Nityananda is not an expansion of Balarama, but is Balarama himself... "Lord Nityananda, when passing on the street, saw a crowd of people howling at some incident, and on inquiry it was found that there were two rascals of the then name Jagai and Madhai. They were always disturbing people in drunken condition. Nityananda Prabhu thought it wise that these two brothers may be delivered so that Lord Chaitanya's mercy could be well known all over the world. When Lord Nityananda approached them He was immediately hurt by violent attack. On this incident Lord Chaitanya became very angry and He called for His Sudarsan cakra to kill these debauchees. Lord Nityananda then implored Lord Chaitanya not to kill Jagai and Madhai but to save them. By this time Jagai and Madhai came to their senses and immediately they surrendered unto both the Lords and were delivered by the mercy of Lord Nityananda. So Lord Nityananda or Baladeva. is the original Spiritual Master, and such pure devotee sometimes takes the risk of life in order to reclaim a person who might have otherwise been rejected by the Lord. The devotee knows that the Lord wants all the fallen souls to come back to Home, and therefore the devotees always try to induce the conditioned souls to take to Krishna Consciousness by various ways and means. Therefore the conclusion is that a devotee is more kind than the Lord Himself." Shrila Prabhupada Letter, January 21, 1970

Today marks the auspicious incarnation of Lord Varaha, the boar incarnation of Shri Krishna. Chapter 13 of the 3rd canto of the Shrimad Bhagavatam explains this divine pastime. Lord Varaha lifts the earth on his tusks Shri Shukadeva Gosvami said: O King, after hearing all these most virtuous topics from the sage Maitreya, Vidura inquired further on the topics of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, which he adored to hear. Vidura said: O great sage, what did Svayambhuva, the dear son of Brahma, do after obtaining his very loving wife? O best of the virtuous, the original king of kings [Manu] was a great devotee of the Personality of Godhead Hari, and thus it is worth hearing of his sublime character and activities. Please describe them. I am very eager to hear. Persons who hear from a spiritual master with great labor and for a long time must hear from the mouths of pure devotees about the character and activities of pure devotees. Pure devotees always think within their hearts of the lotus feet of the Personality of Godhead, who awards His devotees liberation. Sri Sukadeva Gosvami said: The Personality of Godhead Shri Krishna was pleased to place His lotus feet on the lap of Vidura because Vidura was very meek and gentle. The sage Maitreya was very pleased with Vidura's words, and, being influenced by his spirit, he attempted to speak. The sage Maitreya said to Vidura: After his appearance, Manu, the father of mankind, along with his wife, thus addressed the reservoir of Vedic wisdom, Brahma, with obeisances and folded hands. You are the father of all living entities and the source of their subsistence because they are all born of you. Please order us how we may be able to render service unto you. O worshipful one, please give us your direction for the execution of duty within our working capacity so that we can follow it for fame in this life and progress in the next. Lord Brahma said: My dear son, O lord of the world, I am very pleased with you, and I desire all blessings for both you and your wife. You have without reservation surrendered yourself unto me with your heart for my instructions. O hero, your example is quite befitting a son in relationship with his father. This sort of adoration for the superior is required. One who is beyond the limit of envy and who is sane accepts the order of his father with great delight and executes it to his full capacity. Since you are my very obedient son, I ask you to beget children qualified like yourself in the womb of your wife. Rule the world in pursuance of the principles of devotional service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and thus worship the Lord by performances of yagya. O King, if you can give proper protection to the living beings in the material world, that will be the best service for me. When the Supreme Lord sees you to be a good protector of the conditioned souls, certainly the master of the senses will be very pleased with you. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Janardana [Lord Krishna], is the form to accept all the results of sacrifice. If He is not satisfied, then one's labor for advancement is futile. He is the ultimate Self, and therefore one who does not satisfy Him certainly neglects his own interests. Sri Manu said: O all-powerful lord, O killer of all sins, I shall abide by your order. Now please let me know my place and that of the living entities born of me. O master of the demigods, please attempt to lift the earth, which is merged in the great water, because it is the dwelling place for all the living entities. It can be done by your endeavor and by the mercy of the Lord. Sri Maitreya said: Thus, seeing the earth merged in the water, Brahma gave his attention for a long time to how it could be lifted. Brahma thought: While I have been engaged in the process of creation, the earth has been inundated by a deluge and has gone down into the depths of the ocean. What can we do who are engaged in this matter of creation? It is best to let the Almighty Lord direct us. O sinless Vidura, all of a sudden, while Brahma was engaged in thinking, a small form of a boar came out of his nostril. The measurement of the creature was not more than the upper portion of a thumb. O descendant of Bharata, while Brahma was observing Him, that boar became situated in the sky in a wonderful manifestation as gigantic as a great elephant. Struck with wonder at observing the wonderful boarlike form in the sky, Brahma, with great brahmaṇas like Marici, as well as the Kumaras and Manu, began to argue in various ways. Is this some extraordinary entity come in the pretense of a boar? It is very wonderful that He has come from my nose. First of all this boar was seen no bigger than the tip of a thumb, and within a moment He was as large as a stone. My mind is perturbed. Is He the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu? While Brahma was deliberating with his sons, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu, roared tumultuously like a great mountain. The omnipotent Supreme Personality of Godhead enlivened Brahma and the other highly elevated brahmaṇas by again roaring with His uncommon voice, which echoed in all directions. When the great sages and thinkers who are residents of Janaloka, Tapoloka and Satyaloka heard the tumultuous voice of Lord Boar, which was the all-auspicious sound of the all-merciful Lord, they chanted auspicious chants from the three Vedas. Playing like an elephant, He entered into the water after roaring again in reply to the Vedic prayers by the great devotees. The Lord is the object of the Vedic prayers, and thus He understood that the devotees' prayers were meant for Him. Before entering the water to rescue the earth, Lord Boar flew in the sky, slashing His tail, His hard hairs quivering. His very glance was luminous, and He scattered the clouds in the sky with His hooves and His glittering white tusks. He was personally the Supreme Lord Vishnu and was therefore transcendental, yet because He had the body of a hog, He searched after the earth by smell. His tusks were fearful, and He glanced over the devotee-brahmaṇas engaged in offering prayers. Thus He entered the water. Diving into the water like a giant mountain, Lord Boar divided the middle of the ocean, and two high waves appeared as the arms of the ocean, which cried loudly as if praying to the Lord, "O Lord of all sacrifices, please do not cut me in two! Kindly give me protection!" Lord Boar penetrated the water with His hooves, which were like sharp arrows, and found the limits of the ocean, although it was unlimited. He saw the earth, the resting place for all living beings, lying as it was in the beginning of creation, and He personally lifted it. Lord Boar very easily took the earth on His tusks and got it out of the water. Thus He appeared very splendid. Then, His anger glowing like the Sudashana wheel, He immediately killed the demon [Hiraṇyakṣha], although he tried to fight with the Lord. Thereupon Lord Boar killed the demon within the water, just as a lion kills an elephant. The cheeks and tongue of the Lord became smeared with the blood of the demon, just as an elephant becomes reddish from digging in the purple earth. Then the Lord, playing like an elephant, suspended the earth on the edge of His curved white tusks. He assumed a bluish complexion like that of a tamala tree, and thus the sages, headed by Brahma, could understand Him to be the Supreme Personality of Godhead and offered respectful obeisances unto the Lord. All the sages uttered with great respect: O unconquerable enjoyer of all sacrifices, all glories and all victories unto You! You are moving in Your form of the personified Vedas, and in the hair holes of Your body the oceans are submerged. For certain reasons [to uplift the earth] You have now assumed the form of a boar. O Lord, Your form is worshipable by performances of sacrifice, but souls who are simply miscreants are unable to see it. All the Vedic hymns, Gayatri and others, are in the touch of Your skin. In Your bodily hairs is the kusa grass, in Your eyes is the clarified butter, and in Your four legs are the four kinds of fruitive activities. O Lord, Your tongue is a plate of sacrifice, Your nostril is another plate of sacrifice, in Your belly is the eating plate of sacrifice, and another plate of sacrifice is the holes of Your ears. In Your mouth is the Brahma plate of sacrifice, Your throat is the plate of sacrifice known as soma, and whatever You chew is known as agni-hotra. Moreover, O Lord, the repetition of Your appearance is the desire for all kinds of initiation. Your neck is the place for three desires, and Your tusks are the result of initiation and the end of all desires. Your tongue is the prior activities of initiation, Your head is the fire without sacrifice as well as the fire of worship, and Your living forces are the aggregate of all desires. O Lord, Your semen is the sacrifice called soma-yajna. Your growth is the ritualistic performances of the morning. Your skin and touch sensations are the seven elements of the agniṣṭoma sacrifice. Your bodily joints are symbols of various other sacrifices performed in twelve days. Therefore You are the object of all sacrifices called soma and asoma, and You are bound by yajnas only. O Lord, You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead and are worshipable by universal prayers, Vedic hymns and sacrificial ingredients. We offer our obeisances unto You. You can be realized by the pure mind freed from all visible and invisible material contamination. We offer our respectful obeisances to You as the supreme spiritual master of knowledge in devotional service. O lifter of the earth, the earth with its mountains, which You have lifted with Your tusks, is situated as beautifully as a lotus flower with leaves sustained by an infuriated elephant just coming out of the water. O Lord, as the peaks of great mountains become beautiful when decorated with clouds, Your transcendental body has become beautiful because of Your lifting the earth on the edge of Your tusks. O Lord, for the residential purposes of all inhabitants, both moving and nonmoving, this earth is Your wife, and You are the supreme father. We offer our respectful obeisances unto You, along with mother earth, in whom You have invested Your own potency, just as an expert sacrificer puts fire in the araṇi wood. Who else but You, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, could deliver the earth from within the water? It is not very wonderful for You, however, because You acted most wonderfully in the creation of the universe. By Your energy You have created this wonderful cosmic manifestation. O Supreme Lord, undoubtedly we are inhabitants of the most pious planets — the Jana, Tapas and Satya lokas — but still we have been purified by the drops of water sprinkled from Your shoulder hairs by the shaking of Your body. O Lord, there is no limit to Your wonderful activities. Anyone who desires to know the limit of Your activities is certainly nonsensical. Everyone in this world is conditioned by the powerful mystic potencies. Please bestow Your causeless mercy upon these conditioned souls. The sage Maitreya said: The Lord, being thus worshiped by all the great sages and transcendentalists, touched the earth with His hooves and placed it on the water. In this manner the Personality of Godhead, Lord Vishnu, the maintainer of all living entities, raised the earth from within the water, and having placed it afloat on the water, He returned to His own abode. If one hears and describes in a devotional service attitude this auspicious narration of Lord Boar, which is worthy of description, the Lord, who is within the heart of everyone, is very pleased. Nothing remains unachieved when the Supreme Personality of Godhead is pleased with someone. By transcendental achievement one understands everything else to be insignificant. One who engages in transcendental loving service is elevated to the highest perfectional stage by the Lord Himself, who is seated in everyone's heart. Who, other than one who is not a human being, can exist in this world and not be interested in the ultimate goal of life? Who can refuse the nectar of narrations about the Personality of Godhead's activities, which by itself can deliver one from all material pangs?

"Bhakti" written in ancient Sanskrit Bhakti Yoga has become a widely used term in the yoga community. But what exactly does the term refer to? Bhakti Yoga means linking everything we are and everything we possess–all of our potentiality–with the Supreme Absolute Truth through loving service. Bhakti Yoga means to nurture and uncover our forgotten relationship with Krishna, or God. 'Bhakti' is not a term that can apply to just anyone or anything one has attraction for. Bhakti is clearly defined by Krishna Himself in the Bhagavad Gita, therefore, 'bhakti' is reserved exclusively for Krishna, for the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Krishna sings this truth: "Always think of Me, become My devotee, worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend."–Bg 18.65. Krishna explains very lucidly that this entire yoga system culminates in Bhakti Yoga, and the conclusion of Bhakti Yoga is to simply surrender to Him: "Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear." (Bg 18.66) Srila Prabhupada provides further clarification in case it was not already clear enough, "One cannot render bhakti to any demigod. Bhakti can be rendered only to Visnu (sravanam kirtanam visnoh [SB 7.5.23]). Thinking the Absolute Truth to be without form, the Mayavadis say that the word bhakti can apply to any form of worship. If this were the case, a devotee could imagine any demigod or any godly form and worship it. This, however, is not the real fact. The real fact is that bhakti can be applied only to Lord Visnu and His expansions. Therefore bhakti-lata is drdha-vrata, the great vow, for when the mind is completely engaged in devotional service, the mind does not fall down. If one tries to advance by other means -- by karma-yoga or jnana-yoga -- one will fall down, but if one is fixed in bhakti, he never falls down." (SB 4.28.32, Purport)Only by bhakti can we stay high forever. In all other systems of yoga, unless one is fixed in devotional service to Krishna, they are incredibly vulnerable to fall down from their position. "The very word yoga means connecting link with the supreme being. We accept Krishna as the supreme being, and nobody is equal to him or greater than him. How he is supreme is lucidly explained in the Bhagavad-gita, and we try to revive our eternal relationship with him. In the Bhagavad-gita itself there are different processes of yoga systems, karma yoga, jnana yoga, dhayana yoga, hatha yoga, bhakti yoga and so many patterns of yoga. Others may practice different patterns of yoga, and we can understand that everyone is trying to pass on the path of yoga, but bhakti yoga is the ultimate goal, and if anyone is actually interested to understand God as he is, he has to come to the platform of bhakti yoga." (Srila Prabhupada's Letter to: Sri Krishna C. Batra  --  Vrindaban 8 December, 1975) One has to use her mind and all her sense faculties to link with Krishna. Just as she thinks of her lover in his absence–in the same sense she must always be thinking of Krishna... "where is He, what is He doing now, what is He wearing, how can I serve Him better? How lovely He is, how funny He is, how kind and compassionate He is, how beautiful He is, His eyes are like this, His hair is like this, etc.. "The basic principle of bhakti-yoga is to think of the Supreme Lord always. The Lord says in Bhagavad-gita (18.65), man-mana bhava mad-bhaktah: "Always think of Me." It doesn't matter which way one thinks; the very thought of the Personality of Godhead is the basic principle of bhakti-yoga." (SB 3.16.31, Purport)One has to use her body to link with Krishna. Maybe by painting His enigmatic pastimes, by dancing in kirtan, by cleaning the temple, or by cooking nice food for Krishna. There are so many ways to utilize one's body in the process of Bhakti Yoga. “A person acting in the service of Krsna with his body, mind and words is a liberated person, even within the material world.” (Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu 1.2.187) One has to use her sense of hearing to hear from the bonafide Spiritual Master, and to hear Krishna Katha–glorification of Krishna–or kirtan. One must dovetail her sense of sight to look upon the beautiful form of the deity of the Lord in the temple, or anywhere one may be–to look upon everything as coming from Krishna. One must use her sense of smell to inhale the incense and flowers offered to the Lord, one should engage the tongue in tasting the food offered to the Lord as prasadam, and in constantly chanting the holy names, "Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare...""Everyone is part and parcel of Krsna (mamaivamso jiva-loke jiva-bhutah), and therefore everyone’s senses are also Krsna’s. When we use the senses for Krsna’s service, we attain the perfection of life. Therefore, hrsikena hrsikesa-sevanam bhaktir ucyate: when by our senses (hrsikena) we serve Hrsikesa, the real master of the senses, that service is called bhakti. This is a very simple definition of bhakti. Hrsikesa-sevanam, not hrsika-sevanam – service to the supreme master of the senses, not to the senses themselves. When we use our senses for sense gratification, we are in maya, illusion, but when we use our senses for the gratification of the master of the senses, that service is called bhakti." (Teachings of Queen Kunti, 6 – Master of the Senses, Purport) If one has proper intelligence, she takes to Bhakti Yoga knowing very well that her life is short lived, and full of inconveniences, miseries, and distractions... disease, old age, death. "From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My abode, O son of Kunti, never takes birth again." (Bg 8.16) There is no time to waste–one who is privy to waste precious time is the most unintelligent–for time is Krishna Himself. When we love someone, we don't want to waste their energy for nothing. "The culmination of all kinds of yoga practices lies in bhakti yoga. All other yogas are but means to come to the point of bhakti in bhakti-yoga. Yoga actually means bhakti-yoga; all other yogas are progressions toward the destination of bhakti-yoga. From the beginning of karma-yoga to the end of bhakti-yoga is a long way to self-realization. Karma-yoga, without fruitive results, is the beginning of this path. When karma-yoga increases in knowledge and renunciation, the stage is called jnana-yoga. When jnana-yoga increases in meditation on the Supersoul by different physical processes, and the mind is on Him, it is called astanga-yoga. And when one surpasses the astanga-yoga and comes to the point of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krsna, it is called bhakti yoga, the culmination. Factually, bhakti-yoga is the ultimate goal, but to analyze bhakti-yoga minutely one has to understand these other yogas. The yogi who is progressive is therefore on the true path of eternal good fortune. One who sticks to a particular point and does not make further progress is called by that particular name: karma-yogi, jnana-yogi or dhyana-yogi, raja-yogi, hatha-yogi, etc. If one is fortunate enough to come to the point of bhakti-yoga, it is to be understood that he has surpassed all other yogas." (Bg 6.47, Purport) So, for those of you who are highly intelligent, immediately take up this Bhakti Yoga, and test it out for yourself. See it's practicality, universality, see it's simplicity...and experience firsthand the bliss of Bhakti Yoga. Srila Prabhupada thus affirms, "Bhakti-yoga is the sunlike illumination for delivering the conditioned souls, whose general condition is described here. They have no eyes to see their own interests. They do not know that the goal of life is not to increase the material necessities of existence, because the body will not exist more than a few years. The living beings are eternal, and they have their eternal need. If one engages only in caring for the necessities of the body, not caring for the eternal necessities of life, then he is part of a civilization whose advancement puts the living entities in the darkest region of ignorance. Sleeping in that darkest region, one does not get any refreshment, but, rather, gradually becomes fatigued. He invents many processes to adjust this fatigued condition, but he fails and thus remains confused. The only path for mitigating his fatigue in the struggle for existence is the path of devotional service, or the path of Krsna consciousness." (SB 3.29.5, Purport)

The following is an exchange between Purujit Dasa and a devotee friend on Facebook. We highly recommend you read the whole exchange to understand this complex topic. His Grace Purujit Dasa, founder of BLISS QUESTION Hare Krishna, Purujit Prabhu I stumbled upon a now-very controversial topic that Shrila Prabhupada once (emphasis on once because there’s a lot of evidence that this should not take place) spoke on: rape. There’s a morning walk on which he says that “a woman likes a man who’s very expert at rape”, and if there’s pleasure then that means consent. Now, this at first sound quite hard and a little difficult to understand. I’m going to be honest, I was upset about this. Not only because of what Prabhupada said but because people where offending him and throwing away the whole sankirtana movement just by hearing this. So I became quite confused and perplexed. The thing is, in Mexico 10+ women are murdered every day and before this they are raped. Who would like to be raped and murdered? The government does little to nothing and most of the time they blame the women. Government does not protect women, there’s no protection to mothers (cow, earth, own mother etc). It’s something quite horrible. In Latin America, feminism is a very very strong movement (I do not consider myself feminist), and anything regarding this subject is like a time bomb: you push the wrong bottom and they’ll explode. People are very sensitive about this, so I became frightened on what they’d say if they hear this... what would they say about Prabhupada!? They’ll just think despicable things and offend and get mad. They’ll just throw angry statements and stop hearing about Krishna. How does one act? What’s our position when this happens? So I got quite sad and upset, Prabhu, because I’m so impotent. In the Bhagavad Gita’s 2nd chapter text 19 purport it’s stated that no one should hurt another living entity’s body. "ma himsyat sarva-bhutani". We also have text 21 from the same chapter: “vedavinasinam nityam ya enam ajam avyayam katham sa purusah partha kam ghatayati hanti kam” Now, why did Prabhupada say this? I tried to be most objective and asked for guidance to understand what he meant to say. I would never in my worst judgment like to offend a Vaishnava, much less my Spiritual Master... so please, kindly tell me your thoughts on this reflection: Both the man and woman taking pleasure in this action are in a very nether consciousness, animal-like consciousness, ultra tamo guna consciousness. What else is there to say? I don’t doubt that, somewhere in the material universe or even this planet, there are wicked minds that like that... I am very ignorant though, since I don’t really have that much knowledge on Vedic literature to support this thought. And I am sorry for bothering you with these mundane topics. Believe me, I tried to take my mind off of this, but what if someone argues against Srila Prabhupada with this? I surely must be somewhat ready... I also remember that you said that if we’re not being challenged then we’re not making progress... Sorry, Prabhu, I don’t have anyone else giving me a deep Vedic opinion on this, so if you could kindly explain or give me some feedback, or if somehow or other I’ve offended Prabhupada please tell me, I will most appreciate it. Hari bolo. -Victoria ANSWER Hare Krishna, dear Victoria Mataji. Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! Sorry for a little delay. I am getting back to your message about rape. I understand this is a controversial topic and also sensitive. There are many issues involved here and again please do not feel any discomfort raising these topics because they are important to understand and this will help you further in your Krishna consciousness. So far I have understood from your message, you feel disturbed because people nowadays might think Prabhupada says raping is ok and that it is the womens fault because they feel pleasure when it happens. Of course, this is not what Srila Prabhupada is saying here. Anyway, let me explain point by point. First of all, we must have faith that whatever Srila Prabhupada says is perfect. This is called surrender. We are free to associate with the spiritual master and observe him and try to see whether we can surrender to him, but after we accept him, we cannot go back and try to subject him to criticism, that would be an offense. Of course, if the guru is bogus, then we should reject him, but so long we have a relationship with the spiritual master, we must keep faith that whatever he says is not tinged by the four defects of material existence and whatever he says is perfect, although we might not always understand why he says something. Arjuna exemplifies such surrendered attitude of a disciple when he says: sarvam etad rtam manye yan mam vadasi kesava O Krsna, I totally accept as truth all that You have told me. Bg 10.14 At the same time we should not accept things blindly. If there is any doubt, we should clarify. I think you are trying to do this, which is most perfect. It is stated in the Caitanya Charitamrita: siddhanta baliya citte na kara alasa iha ha-ite krsne lage sudrdha manasa A sincere student should not neglect the discussion of such conclusions, considering them controversial, for such discussions strengthen the mind. Thus one's mind becomes attached to Sri Krsna. Adi 2.117 The life and teachings of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in 17 volumes translated and commented on by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (available at BLISS) So let us analyse the relevant quotes where Srila Prabhupada speaks of this controversial topic of rape. The first quote is not exactly from a morning walk, but from Srila Prabhupada's translation of the 4th Canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam. It is in the chapter about King Puranjana, who finds a single lady, whom he wants to marry. He asks for her hand and the lady agrees to marry him. She says: "O my dear hero, who in this world will not accept a husband like you? You are so famous, so magnanimous, so beautiful and so easily gotten." Srila Prabhupada comments: "Every husband is certainly a great hero to his wife. In other words, if a woman loves a man, that man appears very beautiful and magnanimous. Unless one becomes beautiful in the eyes of another, one cannot dedicate his whole life to another. The husband is considered very magnanimous because he gives as many children to the wife as she likes. Every woman is fond of children; therefore any husband who can please his wife by sex and give her children is considered very magnanimous." Ok. Let's start here. This is important. Every woman is fond of children. Male and female body is different. The most important difference is that female's body is most suitable for sheltering a baby and giving birth. It is a natural desire of every girl to have children. This desire to have children is stronger in woman than man and for this reason, the idea of sex life is slightly different from a woman's perspective than that of man's. Srila Prabhupada continues: "Not only does the husband become magnanimous by begetting children, but by giving his wife ornaments, nice food and dresses, he keeps her completely under submission. Such a satisfied wife will never give up the company of her husband. Manu-samhita recommends that to keep a wife satisfied a husband should give her some ornaments because women are generally fond of home, ornaments, dresses, children, etc. In this way the woman is the center of all material enjoyment." Since this desire to have children is so strong, men should not exploit it by having illegitimate sex life with a woman, but they must take care of her and the children. Woman desires all these things mentioned above because in this way she can create a suitable home atmosphere where a child can grow into a wonderful human being. If a man wants to derive inspiration, support and admiration from a woman who naturally gives these to a suitable man, he must in return give her all material facilities so her children can grow in peace and prosperity. It is for this reason we call her mother--she binds the man to matter. Srila Prabhupada continues: "In this regard, the word vikhyatam is very significant. A man is always famous for his aggression toward a beautiful woman, and such aggression is sometimes considered rape. Although rape is not legally allowed, it is a fact that a woman likes a man who is very expert at rape." SB 4.25.42 Ok, so here is the controversial statement. Let us analyse carefully. "A man is always famous for his aggression toward a beautiful woman,..." Here is a hint of how the material relationships work. Men are attracted to beautiful women. Because a woman has a strong desire to beget children which is a natural desire triggered by her material body, she wants to "woo a man." This is why girls by nature want to keep themselves always beautiful. Srila Prabhupada explains in an interview: [Lady Interviewer:] The Krsna religion teaches that women are to be subservient to men always. Why? [Devotee:] The Krsna religion teaches that women should be subservient, should be subordinate to men. She is asking why. [Prabhupada:] Well, not "should be." They are, by nature. What do you think, your position? [Lady Interviewer:] [laughing] I don't believe in that, of course. I disagree. [Prabhupada:] But you voluntarily become subservient to a man. That is the nature. [Lady Interviewer:] Does that make them less of a being? [Prabhupada:] They are seeking to become subservient, attracting man: "Take me as subservient." That is natural. (The Acarya Part 2) Men do not need to do that because their role is different. They are supposed to control the woman in a meaningful way so she does not get diverted from her duties or from Krsna consciousness. For this reason women generally adore man who can conquer them. "...and such aggression is sometimes considered rape." Now, sometimes this endeavor of men to conquer or win over women is considered a rape. On one hand the girls want to woo men with the desire that men prove their worth by conquering them. On the other hand sometimes men step over the limits. This is the difficulty. It becomes difficult to say sometimes. "Although rape is not legally allowed, it is a fact that a woman likes a man who is very expert at rape." Rape means to have sex without the consent of the woman. Just analyzing what Srila Prabhupada is writing here: If a woman likes a man who is very expert in rape, then where is the rape then? It is an oxymoron. Either the woman is raped and she does not at all like it, or she likes it and then it is not a rape. The two are mutually exclusive. Here is a conversation from a morning walk where Srila Prabhupada discusses the matter: Ganesa: They said that the man cannot be convicted of rape if he honestly believes that the woman consented to his raping her. Prabhupada: Yes, that is law always. Rape means without consent, sex. Otherwise there is no rape. There was a rape case in Calcutta, and the lawyer was very intelligent. He some way or other made the woman admit, "Yes, I felt happiness." So he was released. "Here is consent." And that's a fact. Because after all, sex, rape or no rape, they will feel some pleasure. So the lawyer, by hook and crook, made the woman agree, "Yes, I felt some pleasure." "Now, there is consent." So he was released. After all, it is an itching sensation. So either by force or by willingly, if there is itching, everyone feels relieved itching it. That's a psychology. It is not that the women do not like rape. They like sometimes. They willingly. That is the psychology. Outwardly they show some displeasure, but inwardly they do not. This is the psychology. Morning Walk – May 11, 1975, Perth The psychology of man is that he wants to conquer, therefore the more the woman is restraining him, the more he becomes attracted. The psychology of a woman on the other hand is the opposite. She wants a man who is capable of providing for her, therefore the more he takes bold initiative, the more she becomes attracted. If a man is restraining himself from a woman, something is not right. He must be strongly attracted to her so he can commit and stay protecting her. Therefore, sometimes a girl shows outwardly displeasure when a man makes advances to her to invoke his lust more. For this reason, it is sometimes difficult to know whether there was an actual rape. Now, is an actual rape which is clearly against the consent of a woman ok? Of course not. It is a greatly sinful act. But Srila Prabhupada's idea of protection is not sentimental and superficial as feminism. It goes to the very root of the problem -women should not be independent, but always protected by a male figure. After the purport where the "expert at rape" is mentioned, there is the following verse and a purport: "O mighty-armed, who in this world will not be attracted by your arms, which are just like the bodies of serpents? Actually you relieve the distress of husbandless women like us by your attractive smile and your aggressive mercy. We think that you are traveling on the surface of the earth just to benefit us only." Srila Prabhupada comments: "When a husbandless woman is attacked by an aggressive man, she takes his action to be mercy. A woman is generally very much attracted by a man's long arms. A serpent's body is round, and it becomes narrower and thinner at the end. The beautiful arms of a man appear to a woman just like serpents, and she very much desires to be embraced by such arms. The word anatha-varga is very significant in this verse. Natha means "husband," and a means "without." A young woman who has no husband is called anatha, meaning "one who is not protected." As soon as a woman attains the age of puberty, she immediately becomes very much agitated by sexual desire. It is therefore the duty of the father to get his daughter married before she attains puberty. Otherwise she will be very much mortified by not having a husband. Anyone who satisfies her desire for sex at that age becomes a great object of satisfaction. It is a psychological fact that when a woman at the age of puberty meets a man and the man satisfies her sexually, she will love that man for the rest of her life, regardless who he is. Thus so-called love within this material world is nothing but sexual satisfaction." SB 4.25.43 Let's take now the example of a woman who gives consent to sex. From the materialistic point of view, such sex life is glorified since the pinnacle of material life is a happy sex life. From the spiritual point of view, however, it is also lust. As Srila Prabhupada says, the so-called love is nothing but desire for sex satisfaction. The real love is to love Krishna. Any other so-called love is nothing but lust. This lust can be spiritualized because in its essence it is the pure love for Krishna. But due to ignorance it manifests as lust for sex satisfaction. Srila Prabhupada writes: "When a living entity comes in contact with the material creation, his eternal love for Krsna is transformed into lust, in association with the mode of passion. Or, in other words, the sense of love of God becomes transformed into lust, as milk in contact with sour tamarind is transformed into yogurt. Then again, when lust is unsatisfied, it turns into wrath; wrath is transformed into illusion, and illusion continues the material existence. Therefore, lust is the greatest enemy of the living entity, and it is lust only which induces the pure living entity to remain entangled in the material world. Wrath is the manifestation of the mode of ignorance; these modes exhibit themselves as wrath and other corollaries. If, therefore, the mode of passion, instead of being degraded into the mode of ignorance, is elevated to the mode of goodness by the prescribed method of living and acting, then one can be saved from the degradation of wrath by spiritual attachment." Bg 3.37 purport The Vedic society is arranged in such a way that the citizens are protected from lust by executing their specific roles in that society for the pleasure of Krsna. The duty of the leaders is to protect the citizens from lust and engage them in the service of Krishna. Because the leaders in the materialistic civilisation want to exploit the citizens, they try to increase their lust as much possible. Thus, they have invited feminism, which is nothing but a very elaborate system how to exploit women not on individual basis, but wholesale by removing them from the natural protection of their male family members. Ravindra-svarupa: I think you really surprised them when you told them that this women's liberation is just a trick by the men just to increase the class of prostitutes, available prostitutes. Prabhupada: Free prostitutes. You go to a prostitute, you have to pay. Here they have arranged in such a way that free prostitute loitering on the street, and you can enjoy any one. This is their plan. They are rendered into beggar, and they are thinking equal rights. Morning Walk – July 14, 1975, Philadelphia The woman's body is endowed with more sensuality as this is required to give love to a baby. It is a practical experience that men cannot give as much affection to children as women. Prabhupada: The child does not go to the father for being taken care. It goes to the mother. Even animals. There are so many chicken, hens, they go after the mother. Hari-sauri: They get milk from the mother, not from the father. Prabhupada: Yes. How to stop it? Lokanatha: How could father feed even the child? Prabhupada: Just see, in our..., there are so many husbandless girls, and the children have not gone with the husbands, to the man. They are after the mother. This is natural. Morning Walk – April 8, 1976, Vrndavana Srila Prabhupada also writes: It is understood that the sexual appetite of a woman is nine times greater than that of a man. SB 3.23.44 purport Women must be engaged otherwise they will be inclined to think of sex only. They are called kamini. Unless there is sufficient engagement their only thoughts will be concentrated on sex. Letter to: Satsvarupa -- London 25 August, 1971 Prabhupada: Brahmacari... Man can remain without sex. It is not very difficult for him to. But women? Man can be trained up. He can remain throughout the whole life without sex. But it is a little difficult, unless they are given special protection. Special protection means strictly not to intermingle with any boy. Then they do. That is not possible in the Western... Otherwise she can remain brahmacarini under the protection of elder brother, or father and mother -- not to allow -- strict -- mix freely to the boys. Radha-vallabha: In this country if they are left under the protection of their father and mother, then their father and mother will order them to have sex life. Prabhupada: They make the girl prostitute to bring money. I have got experience. They do not like their young girls to marry. Better find out boys, and bring money. And once woman is trained up to prostitution, she will never become faithful wife. It is impossible. She is spoilt. Room Conversation – May 15, 1976, Honolulu The Vedic culture takes into consideration that woman's desire for children is stronger than man and therefore various rules and regulations within that society assures that every woman is married to a capable husband who can satisfy her lust but at the same time is able to maintain her and supply her and her children all the necessities she needs. For this reason, woman is protected by father in her youth, husband in her adulthood and her sons in her old age. Every responsible father makes sure that his daughter is protected from irresponsible men who simply want to use her for sex and that she is married to a suitable husband. Mothers in return teach their daughters how to take care of the husband, so the husband feels peace and inspiration in his home, which gives him great strength to pursue his work and thus be materially successful for the benefit of his family. In the present non-Krsna conscious society, since the parents have given up such responsibilities, girls are forced to attract their husbands themselves by exposing their bodily parts or flirting with them and thus sometimes they get raped, exploited, etc. It is not the fault of the girls, but of the whole rotten society that has given up on the ideals of the varnasrama dharma and simply pursuing sex as the aim of life at the expense of exploited girls. For this purpose Srila Prabhupada started his ISKCON centers. To give protection to Western girls, he allowed them to stay living in a barhmacarini asrama and practise Krsna consciousness in the association of devotees. In this way, the girl is given what her parents could not give and at the same time make advancement in Krishna consciousness. The brahmacari boys then could marry some of these girls to create Krsna conscious family. This was the whole idea of Srila Prabhupada and it worked nicely. Here are some of the points Srila Prabhupada raises on the topic of brahmacarini asrama: "I understand that you are trying to organize a Brahmacarini asrama. A Brahmacarini asrama is certainly a great necessity because there are so many girl devotees who are attached to our Krishna Consciousness movement. Those who are married couple, there is nothing to be said -- simply to live together as husband and wife. But those who are not married certainly such Brahmacaris and Brahmacarinis should not live together. That is a special restricted term of our cult. But because in your country there is no distinction between boys and girls, or man and woman, they can freely mix without any restriction, I did not give too much stricture on this point because by such stricture they might be annoyed, and whatever Krishna Consciousness they are trying to develop might have been checked. But factually if you can organize a Brahmacarini asrama, it will be very nice idea. And I think that our Jadurani or similar other girl students of a little bit advanced, they can manage such asrama. But there is another difficulty, that when the girls live together they will pick up quarrels. Anyway, that sort of quarreling will continue whenever there is a little bit individuality. That is the nature. Even such quarreling is visible in the spiritual world also. But the main thing is that in Boston, you are the only earning member. How you will maintain such a Brahmacarini asrama separately unless there is some source of income. I expected that the pictures painted by the Brahmacarinis would be a source of income to the society. If some arrangement for such sales organization can be made, then it will be a very excellent idea. The Brahmacarinis cannot go, of course, for begging, but if some of them agree to go out and sell our books and literature, that will also be helpful. Some source of income by honest endeavor must be there, otherwise, how a nice Brahmacarini asrama can be maintained? In the asrama we must supply all inmates necessary nutritious food. Especially in your country, because they were accustomed to take meat and some protein food, just like regular supply of dahl, capatis, rice, fruits and milk, must be properly administered. There is no need of eating more than necessity, but the minimum demands must be supplied. But if you can organize such nice Brahmacarini asrama it will be a great success of our society. There is a great need for this. And I wish sincerely that except for husband and wife, everyone should live separately, man separate from woman, and woman separate from man. I shall be glad to hear from you about further developments. But one thing can be very nicely utilized, if the Brahmacarinis learn typographic machine. That will be a great help because printing is one of our most important line of activities. And if the Brahmacarinis help us in the making of letter printing sheets for photo offset printing, that will be a great help. Letter to: Satsvarupa -- Montreal 12 July, 1968 I hope this answers your question. Of course this is a more complex topic and you can question me further if need be. Your Servant Purujit dasa More quotes: Woman reporter: Would you say that women are inferior to men? Prabhupada: Yes. Woman reporter: Why? Prabhupada: By physiological condition. Just like you are... Your bodily features are different from the man's features. You cannot deny it. So according to the bodily features, the psychological condition and everything is there. How you can deny it? Woman reporter: Do you think that I am inferior to you? Prabhupada: It is not the question of inferior or superior. Different. Now you take one inferior or superior. That is your calculation. But the bodily features are different. That is materially. But spiritually, they are all one. Materially... Just like your bodily feature and a man's bodily feature is different. Now, so far question of inferior, superior, that is your calculation. But we say that by nature, a woman and man is different. Woman reporter: What does this mean as far as whether women can do the same things that men can do, or whether women can lead people? Prabhupada: Well, women can bear children, but the man cannot. Is it possible to bear children, a man can become pregnant? Is it possible? Woman reporter: No. Prabhupada: Physically... Therefore there are so many things which is possible in man and which is not possible in woman, by nature. How you can say that they are of the same nature? Woman reporter: I'm not saying they're the same. What can... Prabhupada: Then if you not saying that, then they are different in their physiological condition. So now this physiological condition, you may calculate, "This is better or this is better." That is your calculation. Our calculation is the man and woman are different in their physiological condition. Woman reporter: But you say women are subordinate to men. Prabhupada: Yes, that is also natural. Because when the husband and wife are there or the father and daughter is there, so the daughter is subordinate to the father and the wife is subordinate to the husband. Woman reporter: What happens when women are not subordinate to men? Prabhupada: Then there is disruption. There is disruption, social disruption. If the woman does not become subordinate to man, then there is social disruption. Therefore, in the Western countries there are so many divorce cases because the woman does not agree to become subordinate to man. That is the cause. Woman reporter: What advice do you have to women who do not want to be subordinate to men? Prabhupada: It is not my advice, but it is the advice of the Vedic knowledge that woman should be chaste and faithful to man. Woman reporter: What should we do in the United States? We're trying to make women equal with men. Prabhupada: I am not trying. You are not..., already not equal with the man because in so many respects your functions are different and man's function are different. Why do you say artificially they are equal? As I told you that the husband and wife -- the wife has to become pregnant, not the husband. How you can change this, both the husband and wife will be pregnant? Is it possible? Is it possible? Woman reporter: No, it is not. Prabhupada: Then by nature one has to function differently from the other. Woman reporter: But why does this mean...? Prabhupada: So how you can change? Woman reporter: Why does this mean that women have to be subordinate? Prabhupada: Yes. Woman reporter: Just because they bear children and men can't? Prabhupada: Well, by nature... No, as soon as you get children, you require support from the husband. Otherwise you are in difficulty. Woman reporter: Many women have children and have no support from husbands. They have no husband. Prabhupada: Then they have to take support from others. You cannot deny that. The government is giving you support. But the government is embarrassed. If the husband supports the wife and children, the government is relieved of so much welfare contribution. So that is a problem. Woman reporter: What happens when women support men? Prabhupada: First of all try to understand that you depend. The... After man and woman unite, there is children, and the man goes away, and you are embarrassed. The woman is embarrassed. Why? Why this is..., is made possible? A man and woman unites, and the woman becomes pregnant, and the husband goes away. Then the poor woman is embarrassed with the child. She has to beg from the government. So do you think it is very nice thing? The Vedic idea is that woman should be married to a man, and the man should take charge of the woman and the children independently, so that they do not become a burden to the government or to the public. Woman reporter: Do you think the social unrest... Prabhupada: I am thinking like this. You give me the answer. Simply you go on questioning. I question you: do you think this burden to the government or the public is good? Woman reporter: I don't understand what you're saying. Nitai: Do you think that the burden caused when the husband goes away from the wife, that burden to the government is good? Woman reporter: No. Prabhupada: So that has happened. Because the woman does not agree to be subordinate -- she wants equal freedom -- so the husband goes away and the woman is embarrassed with the children. And it becomes a burden to the government. Woman reporter: Is there anything wrong when the woman works? Prabhupada: There are so many things wrong. But first thing is the wife, the woman, the wife of somebody, and the child born by somebody, they should become burden to the government or to the public? First of all answer this thing. Why she should become burden to the government? What is your answer? Woman reporter: Well, men are a burden to the government too. Prabhupada: Do you think, from social point of view, this position of woman and the fatherless children are very nice thing? No. Woman reporter: What I'm trying to say is that... This may happen to some women. I'm talking about women who are not... Prabhupada: Not... These are the general cases. You cannot say "some." I see in America mostly the woman... Woman reporter: Oh, then what you're saying is not all women should be subordinate to all men. Prabhupada: No, man should be subordinate to the man, woman, so that the man can take charge of the woman. Then that woman is not a problem to the public. Woman reporter: Is it true for all woman and all men? Prabhupada: Yes, that is the nature. You take even in the dogs. The dogs, they also take care of their children. The tigers, they take care of the children. So in the human society, if the woman is made pregnant and the man goes away and she is embarrassed, she has to beg from the government, that is not a very good situation. Woman reporter: What about women who do not have children? Prabhupada: Well, that is also another unnatural thing. Sometimes they use contraceptives. They kill children, abortion. That is also not very good. These are all sinful activities. These are sinful activities, to kill child in the womb and take shelter of abortion. These are all sinful activities. One has to suffer for that. Woman reporter: Is the social unrest in this country caused because... Prabhupada: Because of these things. They do not know that. Woman reporter: And if women were subordinate to men, it would solve all of our problems? Prabhupada: Yes. Man wants that woman should be subordinate, faithful to him. Then he is ready to take charge. The man's mentality, woman's mentality different. So if the woman agrees to remain faithful and subordinate to man, then the family life will be peaceful. Television Interview – July 9, 1975, Chicago As children are very prone to be misled, women are similarly very prone to degradation. Therefore, both children and women require protection by the elder members of the family. (-Srila Prabhupada, Bhagavad-Gita As It Is, Chapter 1, verse 40) A man’s psychology and woman’s psychology are different. As constituted by bodily frame, a man always wants to be superior to his wife, and a woman, as bodily constituted, is naturally inferior to her husband. Thus the natural instinct is that the husband wants to post himself as superior to the wife, and this must be observed. Even if there is some wrong on the part of the husband, the wife must tolerate it, and thus there will be no misunderstanding between husband and wife. (-Srila Prabhupada, Srimad Bhagavatam, Book 3, Chapter 23, verse 2)