{"Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0001": "", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0002": "�\n\n\"'.;�·\",�;· \"'\n\nPc �\n\n\"�7:\\\n\nill)\n,,\n\nOn an ancie11t island in Bengal, betWeen the\nwaters of the Ganges and the Sarasvatl, a young\nPeace Corps. worker began a mystical, inner\njourney into a new and deeper reality\n\n•,\n\n.\n\n..•\n\n•\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0003": "", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0004": "His Divine Grace\nA. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada\n\nFounder-Acarya\nof the International Society for Krishna Consciousness\n..\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0005": "The world headquarters for the International Society for\nKrishna Consciousness in Mayapur, India.\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0006": "1\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0007": "", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0008": "", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0009": "Everyone is being controlled by the three modes of\nnature-goodness, passion and ignorance. (p. 32)\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0010": "Kn1.1a likes Radharal)i; therefore all the cowherd girls are\ntrying to push Her to Kn1.1a. (p. 62)\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0011": "", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0012": "BOOKS by\nHis Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta\nSwami Prabhupada\nBhagavad-gWi As It Is\n\nSrimad-Bhagavatam, Cantos 1-9 (27 Vols.)\nSri Caitanya-caritamrta (17 Vols.)\nTeachings of Lord Caitanya\nThe Nectar of Devotion\nThe Nectar of Instruction\nSri Isopani�ad\nEasy Journey to OtherPlanets\nKn1.1a Consciousness: The Topmost Yoga System\n\nKr�1.1a, the Supreme Personality of Godhead (3 Vols.)\nPerfect Questions,Perfect Answers\nTranscendental Teachings ofPrahlad Maharaja\nKr�1.1a, the Reservoir ofPleasure\nLife Comes from Life\nThePerfection of Yoga\nBeyond Birth and Death\nOn the Way to Kr�1.1a\nGeetar-gan (Bengali}\nRaja-vidya: The King of Knowledge\nElevation to Kn1.1a Consciousness\nKr�1.1a Consciousness: The Matchless Gift\nBack to Godhead Magazine (Founder)\nA complete catalog is available upon request\n\nBhaktivedanta Book Trust\n\n3764 Watseka Avenue\n\nLos Angeles, California 90034\n�·.\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0013": "Perfect Questions\nPerfect Answers\nCon versation s Between\nHis Divine Grace\nA. C. Bhaktivedanta\n\nSwami Prabhupada\nand Bob Cohen,\na Peace Corps worker\nin India\n\n>\n\ne\n\nTHE BHAKTIVEDANTA BOOK TRUST\nNew York Los Angeles London Bombay\n·\n\n·\n\n·\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0014": "Readers interested in the subject matter of this book\nare invited by the International Society\nfor Krishna Consciousness\nto correspond with its Secretary.\n\nInte�national Society for Krishna Consciousness\n3764 Watseka Avenue\n\nLos Angeles, California 90034\n\nCJ1977 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust\nAll Rights Reserved\n\nLibrary of Congress Catalog Card Number: 74-27525\nInternational Standard Book Num�er: 0-912776-62-5\n\nFirst printing, 1977: 220,000 copies\nPrinted in the United States of America\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0015": "I;\nContents\nIntroduction\n\nvii\n\nOne\nKp�IJa, the All-Attractive\nFebruary 27, 1972\n\nTwo\n\nVedic Culture: Van:ul.srama-dharma\nFebruary 28, 1972\n\n15\n\nThree\nThe Real Goal of Life\nFebruary 28, 1972 (continued)\n\n21\n\nFour\nThe Three Modes ot Nature\nFebruary 28, 1972 (continued)\n\n32\n\nFive\nBecoming Pure\nFebruary 29, 1972\n\n37\n\nSix\nThe Perfect Devotee\nFebruary 29, 1972 (evening)\n\n49\n\nSeven\nActing in Knowledge of Kp�IJa\nFebruary 29, 1972 (evening, continued)\n\n67\n\nEight\nAdvancing in Kr!?IJa Consciousness\n(an exchange of letters)\n\n83\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0016": "\\:\n\nNine\n\nDeciding for the Future\nNew York-July 4, 1972\n\n86\n\nConcluding Words\n\n97\n\nHis Divine Grace\nA. C. Bhaktivedanta\n\nSwami Prabhupada\n\n101\n\nGlossary\n\n105\n\nA Note from the Secretary\n\n6'r the International Society\n\nfor Krishna Consciousness\n\n109\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0017": "Introduction\nGod, spiritual life-those were such vague terms to me\nbefore I met Srila Prabhupada. I have always been interested in religion, but before I met the Kn1;1a conscious\ndevotees, somehow I did not have the proper perspective\nneeded to inquire fruitfully about spiritual life. The existence of a Creator is only common sense-but who is God?\nWho am I? I had been to Hebrew School and had studied\nOriental philosophy, but I could never get satisfying\nanswers to my questions.\nI first heard\n\nthe Hare Knl).a mantra in Greenwich\n\nVillage, New York, in late 1968.\nHare Knl).a Hare Knl).a\nKnl).a Knl).a Hare Hare\nHare• Rama Hare Rama\nRama Rama Hare Hare\nThe chanting was captivating, and it made me feel very\ncom-fortable. The mantra stuck in my mind, and I soon\nregretted that I had not taken a magazine from the devotees.\nAs explained to me later, a transcendental seed had been\nplanted that could eventually ripen into love of Godhead.\nSeveral months later, I came across a card with the Hare\nKnl).a mantra on it. The card promised, \"Chant these names\nof God, and your life will be sublime!\" I would occasionally\nchant, and I found that the mantra did, in fact, give me a\nfeeling of peace of mind.\nAfter graduating from college with a B.S. in chemistry,\nI joined the Peace Corps in 1971 and went to India as a\nscience teacher. In India I inquired about the Hare l{r�I).a\nvii\n\n..\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0018": "viii\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nmovement. I was attracted by the chanting and intrigued by\nthe philosophy, and I was curious about the movement's\nauthenticity. I had visited the KnQa temple in New York\nseveral times before going to India, but 1 did not consider\nthe seemingly austere life of a devotee for myself.\nIn India I first met the KJ;�IJ.a conscious devotees at a\nfestival they were holding in Calcutta during October of\n1971. The devotees explained to me the purpose of yoga and\nthe need to inquire about spiritual life. I began to feel that\nthe rituals and ceremonies they practiced were not dull,\nsentimental obligations, but a real, sensible way of life.\nAt first, however, it was very difficult for me to understand the philosophy of Kr�IJ.a consciousness. In so many\nsubtle ways, my Western upbringing prevented me from\nseeing things that were as plain as the nose on my face! Fortunately the devotees convinced me of the need to practice\nsome few basic austerities, and in this way I began to gain\nsome insight into spiritual life. I can now recall how distant\nand tenuous were my concepts of spirituality and transcendental existence. I met Srila Prabhupada briefly at this\ntime-in November of 1971-and shortly thereafter I\ndecided to become a vegetarian. (I was proud of being a\nvegetarian, but later Srila Prabhupada reminded me that\neven pigeons are, too.)\nIn February of 1972, I met some devotees in Calcutta\nwho invited me to a festival in Mayapur (a holy island\nninety miles to the north). The festival was to be· held in\nhonor of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who is considered an\nincarnation of KniJ.a Himself. I had then been planning a\ntrip to Nepal, but the Peace Corps denied me permission to\nleave India, and so I went to Mayapur.\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0019": "Introduction\n\nix\n\nI left for Mayapur planning to stay for two days at the\nmost, but I ended up staying a week. I was the only Western\nnondevotee on the island, and since I was living with the\ndevotees on their land, this was a unique opportunity to\nlearn intimately about KHQ.a consciousness.\nOn the third day of the festival, I was invited in to see\nSrila Prabhupada. He was living in a small hut-half-brick\nand half-thatched, with two or three pieces of simple furniture. Srila Prabhupada asked me to be seated and then\nasked how I was and whether I had any questions. The\ndevotees had explained to me that Srila Prabhupada could\nanswer my questions because he represents a disciplic succession of spiritual masters. I thought that Srila Prabhupada\nmight really know what is going on in the world. After all,\nhis devotees claimed this, and I admired and respected\nthem. So with this in mind I began to ask my questions. In­\n\n�\n\nadvertently, I had ap roached a guru, or spiritual master, in\nthe prescribed way-by submissively asking questions\nabout spiritual life.\nSrila Prabhupada seemed pleased with me, and over the\nnext several days, he answered my questions. I asked them\nmostly from an academic point of view, but he always gave\nme personal answers so that I would actually spiritualize\nmy life. His answers were logical, scientific, satisfying and\namazingly lucid. Before I met Srila Prabhupada and his disciples, spiritual life was always obscure and nebulous. But\nthe discussions with Srila Prabhupada were realistic, clear\nand exciting! Srila Prabhupada was patiently trying to help\nme understand that KHQ.a-God-is the supreme enjoyer,\nsupreme friend and supreme proprietor. I put forward\nmany impediments to accepting the obvious: that I would\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0020": "x\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nhave to become serious about God consciousness to understand God. But Srila Prabhupada relentlessly yet kindly\nurged me on. Even though I had little ability to express\nmyself, Srila Prabhupada understood my every inquiry and\nanswered perfectly.\nBob Cohen\nAugust 14, 1974\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0021": "ONE\n\nKr�.IJa, the All-Attractive\nFebruary 27, 1972\nBOB: What is a scientist?\nsRiLA PRABHUPADA: One who knows things as they are.\nBOB: He thinks he knows things as they are.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: What?\nBOB: He hopes he knows things as they are.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: No, he is supposed to know. We ap­\n\nproach the scientist because he is supposed to know things\ncorrectly. A scientist O:eans one who knows things as they\nare. Kni:J.a means \"all-attractive.\"\nBOB: All-attractive.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Yes. So unless God is all-attractive,\n\nhow can He be God? A man is important when he is attractive. Is it not?\nBOB: It is so.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: So, God must be attractive and at­\n\ntractive for all. Therefore, if God has any name, or if you\nwant to give any name to God, only \"Kni:J.a\" can be given.\nBOB: But why only the name Kni:J.a?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Because He's all-attractive. Kni:J.a\n\nmeans \"all-attractive.\"\nBOB: Oh, I see.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Yes. God has no name, but by His\n1\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0022": "2\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nqualities we give Him names. If a man is very beautiful, we\ncall him \"beautiful.\" If a man is very intelligent, we call\nhim \"wise.\" So the name is given according to the quality.\nBecause God is all-attractive, the name Kr��a can be applied only to Him. Kn�a means \"all-attractive.\" It includes\neverything.\nBOB: But what about a name meaning \"all-powerful\"?\nsRiLA PRABHUPADA: Yes. . . . Unless you are powerful,\nhow can you be �ll-attractive?\nSYAMASUNDARA [an American devotee, Srila Prabhupada's secretary] : It includes everything.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Everything.\n\nHe\n\nmust\n\nbe\n\nvery\n\nbeautiful, He must be very wise, He must be very powerful,\nHe must be very famous . . .\nBOB: Is Kr��a attractive to rascals?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Oh, yes! He was the greatest rascal\nalso.\nBOB: How is that?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA:\n\n[laughing] Because He was always\n\nteasing the gopis.\nSY AMASUNDARA: Teasing?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Yes. Sometimes when Radhara�i\nwould go out, Kn�a would attack Her, and when She\nwould fall down-\"Kn�a, don't torture Me in that way\"T hey would fall down, and Kn�a would take the opportunity and kiss Her. [He laughs.] So, Radhara�i was very\npleased, but superficially Kr��a was the greatest rascal. So\nunless rascaldom is in Kn�a, how could rascaldom be existent in the world? Our formula of God is that He is the\nsource of everything. Unless rascaldom is in Kn�a, how\ncan it be manifest . . . because He is the source of every-\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0023": "Kn�a, the All-Attractive\n\n3\n\nthing. But His rascaldom is so nice that everyone worships\nHis rascaldom.\nBOB: What about the rascals who are not so nice?\nSRILA PRABHUPAI>A: No, rascaldom is not nice, but Kr�1.1a\n\nis absolute.He is God. Therefore His rascaldom is also\ngood.Kn1.1a is aU-good. God is good.\nBOB: Yes.\nSRILA PRABHUPAI>A: Therefore, when He becomes a ras­\n\ncal, that is also good. That is l{r�l}.a.Rascaldom is not good,\nbut when it is practiced by Kn1.1a, because He is absolutely\ngood, that rascaldom is also good. \"fhis one has to\nunderstand.\nBOB: Are there some people who do not find Kn1.1a\n\nattractive?\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: No.All people will find Him attrac­\n\ntive.Who is not attracted? Just give an example: \"This\nman or this living entiry is not attracted to l{r�l}.a.\"Just find\nsuch a person.\nBOB: Somebody who wishes to do things i� life that he may\n\nfeel are wrong but who wishes to gain power or prestige or\nmoney ...\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Yes.\nBOB: .. .may find God unattractive.He may not find\n\nGod attractive, because God gives him guilt.\nSRILA PRABHUPAI>A: No, not God. His attraction is to be­\n\ncome powerful.A man wants to become powerful or richis it not? But nobody is richer than l{r�l}.a.Therefore Kn1.1a\nis attractive to him.\nBOB: If a person who wants to become rich prays to Kn1.1a,\n\nwill he become rich?\nSRILA PRABHUPAI>A: Oh, yes!\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0024": "4\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nBOB: He can become rich through this means?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Oh, yes. Because Knt:J.a is allpowerful, if you pray to Knt:J.a to become rich, Knt:J.a will\nmake you rich.\nBOB: If somebody lives an evil life but prays to become rich,\nhe may still become rich?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Yes. Praying to Knt:J.a is not evil.\nBOB: Oh, yes.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: [chuckling] Somehow or other he\nprays to Kr�t:J.a, so you cannot say that he is evil.\nBOB: Yes.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Kr�t:J.a says in Bhagavad-gitii, api cet\nsuduriicdro bhajate miim ananya-bhak. Have you read it?\nBOB: Yes. The Sanskrit I don't know, but the English I do.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Hm-m.\nBOB: \"Even if the most evil man prays to Me\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Yes.\nBOB: \". . . He will be elevated.\"\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Yes. As soon as he begins to pray to\nKr�t:J.;l, that is not evil. Therefore He is all-attractive. It is\nsaid .in the Vedas that the Absolute Truth, or the Supreme\nPersonality of Godhead, is the reservoir of all pleasure- raso\nvai sab. Everyone is hankering after someone because he\nrealizes some mellow in it.\nBOB: Excuse me?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Some mellow. Suppose a man is\ndrinking. Why is he drinking? He is getting some mellow\nout of that drinking. A man is hankering after money because by possessing money he gets a mellow out of it.\nBOB: What does mellow mean?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: [to Syamasundara] How do they define\nmellow?\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0025": "Kr,,..a, the All-Attractive\n\n5\n\nSYAMASUNDARA: Taste, pleasure.\nBOB: OK.\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Pleasing taste.So the Vedas say, raso\n\nvai sab. The exact translation of mellow is rasa. [Malati,\nSyiimasundara's wife, enters with a tray of food] What is that?\nMALATI: Eggplant, fried.\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Oh! All-attractive! All-attractive!\n\n[Laughter.]\nSYAMASUNDARA: How is Kn1,1a the greatest scientist?\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Because He knows everything. A\n\nscientist is one who knows a subject matter thoroughly.He\nis a scientist.Kn1,1a-He knows everything.\nBOB: I am presently a science teacher.\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Yes, teaching.But, unless you have\n\nperfect knowledge, how can you teach? That is our question.\nBOB: Without perfect tffiowledge, though, you can teachSRILA PRABHUPADA: That is cheating; that is not teach­\n\ning.That is cheating.\nJust like the scientists say, \"There was\na chunk ... and the creation took place. Perhaps.\nMaybe ...\n\" What is this? Simply cheating! It is not\nteaching; it is cheating.\nBOB: Let me repeat what you said this morning-that was\n\ninteresting. I asked about miracles, and you said that only a\nfool would believe in miracles because-let us say you are a\nchild and an adult lifts this table.That's a miracle.Or\nyou're a chemist and you combine acid and base and you\nmake smoke, an explosion or whatever.To somebody ignorant, that's a miracle.But for everything there is a process, and so when you see a miracle, it's just ignorance of\nthe process.So that only a fool would believe in miracles,\nand-you correct me if I say wrong ...\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0026": "6\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Yes, yes.\nBOB: You said when Jesus came the people then were\n\nsomewhat more ignorant and needed miracles as aid. I\nwasn't sure if that's quite what you said.\nsRiLA PRABHUPADA: Yes,\n\nyes.\n\nMiracles are for the\n\nignorant.\nBOB: I had asked this in relation to all the miracle men you\n\nhear about in India.\nsRiLA PRABHUPADA: Knt:ta is the highest miracle man.\nBOB: Yes.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: That\n\nis stated by\n\nKunti. .\n\nBOB: Without perfect knowledge, can I not teach some\n\nthings? For example, I maysRiLA PRABHUPADA: You can teach up to the point you\n\nknow.\nBOB: Yes, but I should not claim to teach more than I know:\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Yes, that is cheating.\nSYAMASUNDARA: In other words, he can't teach the truth\n\nwith partial knowledge.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Yes. That is not possible for any\n\nhuman being. A human being has imperfect senses. So how\ncan he teach perfect knowledge? Suppose you see the sun as\na disc. You have no means to approach the sun. If you say.\nthat we can see the sun by telescope and this and that, they\nare also made by you, and you are imperfect. So how can\nyour machine be perfect? Therefore, your knowledge of the\nsun is imperfect. So don't teach about the sun unless you\nhave perfect knowledge. That is cheating.\nBOB: But what about to teach that it is supposed that the\n\nsun is 93,000,000 miles away?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: As soon as you say \"it is supposed,\" it\n\nis not scientific.\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0027": "Kna,a, the All-Attractive\n\n7\n\nBOB: But I think that almost all science, then, is not\n\nscientific.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: That is the point!\nBOB: All science is based on, you know, suppositions of this\n\nor that.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Yes.They are teaching imperfectly.\n\nJust like they are advertising so much about the moon.Do\nyou think their knowledge is perfect?\nBOB: No.\nSRiLA PRABHUPAI>A: Then?\nBOB: What is the proper duty of the teacher in society? Let\n\nus say a science teacher. What should he be doing in the\nclassroom?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Classroom? You should simply teach\n\nabout Kr��a.\nBOB: He should not teach about ...\n\nA\n\nSRiLA PRABHUPAD : No.That will include everything.\n\nHis aim should be to know Kn�a.\nBOB: Can a scientist teach the science of combining acid\n\nand alkaline, and this kind of science, with Kn�a as its\nobject?\nSRiLA PRABHUPAI>A: How can it be?\nBOB: If you-when one studies science, one finds general\n\ntendencies of nature, and these general tendencies of nature\npoint to a controlling force....\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: That I was explaining the other day.\n\nI asked one chemist whether, according to chemical formulas, hydrogen and oxygen linked together become water.\nDo they not?\nBOB: It's true.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Now, there is a vast amount of water\n\nin the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean.What quantity of\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0028": "r\nI\n\n1\nI\n\n8\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nchemicals was required?\n\nBOB: How much?\nSRiLA PRABHUPAI>A: Yes. How many tons?\nBOB: Many!\nSRILA PRABHUPAI>A: So who supplied it?\nBOB: This was supplied by God.\nSRiLA PRABHUPAI>A: Somebody must have supplied it.\nBOB: Yes.\nSRiLA PRABHUPAI>A: So that is science. You can teach like\nthat.\nI\nI\n\nBOB: Should one bother teaching that if you combine acid\nand alkaline they form a neutral?\n\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: The same thing. There are so many\neffervescents. So, who is performing it? Who is supplying\n\nthe acid and alkaline? [There is a long pause.]\n\nBOB: So this comes from the same source as the water.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Yes. You cannot manufacture water\nunless you have hydrogen and oxygen. So, here is a vastnot only this Atlantic or Pacific: there are millions of planets, and there are millions of Atlantic and Pacific oceans. So\nwho created this water with hydrogen and oxygen, and\nhow was it supplied? That is our question. Somebody must\nhave supplied it, otherwise how has it come into existence?\n\nBOB: But should it also be taught how you make water from\nhydrogen and oxygen? The procedure of burning them\ntogether-should this also be taught? That is, you ourn hydrogen and oxygen together . .\n\n.\n\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: That is secondary. That is not very\n\ndifficult. Just like Malati made this puri [a kind of bread].\n\nso: there is flour, and there is ghee [clarified butter]. and\n\nshe made a puri. But unless there is ghee and flour, where is\n\nthe chance of making a puri? In the Bhagavad-gitii there is\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0029": "Kn_,a, the All-Attractive\n\n9\n\nthis statement: \"Water, earth, air, fire-they are My energies.\" What is your body? This external body-that is\nyour energy. Do you know that? Y our body is made out of\nyour energy. For example, I am eating . . .\nBOB: Yes.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: So I am creating some energy, and\n\ntherefore my body is maintained .\nBOB: O h , I see .\nsRiLA PRABHUPADA: So therefore your body is made out of\n\nyour energy.\nBOB: But when you eat the food , there is energy from the\n\nsun in the food .\nSRiLA PRABHUPAI>A: So , I am giving an example . I am\n\ncreating some energy by digesting the food, and that is\nmaintaining my body. If your energy supply is not proper,\nthen your body becomes weak or unhealthy. Your body is\nmade out of your o\\rvn energy. Similarly,' this gigantic cosmic body-the universe-is made of Kni).a's energy. How\ncan you deny it? As your body is made out of your energy,\nsimilarly the universal body must be made by somebody's\nenergy. That is Kni).a . [There is a long pause.]\nBOB: I'll have to think about it to follow that .\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: What is to follow? It is a fact . [He\n\nlaughs.] Your hair is growing daily. Why? Because you have\nsome energy.\nBOB: The energy I obtain from my food .\nsRiLA PRABHUPADA: Somehow or other you have obtained\n\nthat energy! And through that energy your hair is growing.\nSo if your body is manufactured by your energy, similarly\nthe whole gigantic manifestation is made of God's energy. It\nis a fact! It is not your energy.\nBOB: Yes. Oh, I see that .\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0030": "10\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nA DEVOTEE: Just like-aren't the planets in this universe\nthe sun's energy-a product of the sun's energy ?\nSRILA PRABHUPAI>A: Yes, but who produced the sun?\nThat is Kt\"�t;J.a's energy. Because it is heat, and KnQ.a says,\n\nbhumir apo 'nalo vayub: \"Heat-that is My energy. \" The sun\nis the representation of the heating energy of Kt\"�t;J.a. It is not\ny our energy. You cannot say, \"The sun is made by me.\" But\nsomebody must have made it, and Kt\"�t;J.a says that He did.\nSo, we believe Kt\"�t;J.a. Therefore we are KnQ.a-ites.\nBOB: KnQ.a-ites?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Yes. Our knowledge is perfect. If I\nsay that heat is the energy of KnQ.a, y ou cannot deny it, because it is not y our energy. In y our body there is_ some certain amount of heat. Similarly, heat is someone's energy.\nAnd who is that person? That is Kr�Qa. KnQ.a say s, \"Yes, it\nis My energy.\" So my knowledge is perfect. Because I take\nthe version of the greatest scientist, I am the greatest scientist. I may be a fool personally, but because I take knowledge from the greatest scientist, I am the greatest scientist. I\nhave no difficulty.\nBOB: Excuse me?\nSRiLA PRABHUPAI>A: I have no difficulty in becoming the\ngreatest scientist because I take the knowledge from the\ngreatest scientist. [There is a long pause.] \"This earth, water,\nfire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and ego-they are My\neight separated energies.\"\nBOB: They are separated energies?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Yes. Just like this milk. What is this\nmilk? The separated energy of the cow. [Syamasundara and\n\nBob, stunned, laugh in realization.] Is it not? It is the\nmanifestation of the separated energy of the cow.\nSYAMASUNDARA: Is it like a by-product?\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0031": "KnJ;Ul, the All-Attractive\n\n11\n\nSRiLA PRABHUPAI>A: Yes.\nBOB: So, what is the significance of this energy's being\n\nseparated from KnQ.a?\nsRiLA PRABHUPAI>A: \"Separated \" means that this is made\nout of the body of the cow but it is not the cow.That is\nseparation.\nBOB: So, this earth and all is made out of !4�t:J.a but it is not\n\nKnQ.a?\nSRiLA PRABHUPAI>A: It is not f4�Q.a.Or, you can say,\nJ4�Q.a and not Ktwa simultaneously.That is our philosophy.One and different.You cannot say that these things are\ndifferent from 14�t:J.a, because without KnQ.a they have no\nexistence.At the same time, you cannot say, \"Then let me\nworship water. Why f4�Q.a? The pantheists say that because\neverything is God, whatever we do is God worship.This is\nMayavada philosophy-that because everything is made of\nGod, therefore eve\n\nrything is God.But our philosophy is\n\nthat everything is God but also not God.\nBOB: So what on earth is God? Is there anything on earth\n\nthat is God?\nsRiLA PRABHUPADA: Yes.Because everything is made out\nof the energy of God.But that does not mean that by\nworshiping anything you are worshiping God.\nBOB: So what is on earth that is not maya [illusion]?\n\nIt is ...\nsRiLA PRABHUPAI>A: Maya means \"energy.\"\nBOB: It means energy?\n\nsRiLA PRABHUPAI>A: Yes.Maya-and another meaning is\n\"illusion.\" So foolish persons accept the energy as the energetic.That is miiyti. Just like sunshine.Sunshine enters\nyour room.Sunshine is the energy of the sun.But because\nthe sunshine enters your room , you cannot say that the sun\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0032": "r\nI\n\n12\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nhas entered. If the sun enters your room, then your room\nand yourself-everything-will be finished. Immediately.\nYou will not have the leisure to understand that the sun has\nentered. Is it not?\n\nBOB: It is so.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: But you cannot say that sunshine is\nnot the sun. Without the sun, where is the sunshine? So you\ncannot say that sunshine is not the sun. But at the same\ntime, it is not the sun. It is the sun and not the sun-both.\nThat is our philosophy. Acintya-bhediibheda-inconceivable.\nIn the material sense, you cannot conceive that a thing is\nsimultaneously positive and negative. That you cannot\nthink of. That is inconceivable energy. And because everyII\n\nI\n\n(I\nII\n\nthing is Kr�t:ta's energy, Knt:ta can manifest Himself from\nany energy. Therefore, when we worship Knt:ta in a form\nmade of something-of earth, water or something like\nthat-that is Knt:ta. You cannot say that it is not'Knt:ta.\nWhen we worship this metal form ofKnt:ta [the Deity form\nin the temple], that isKnt:ta. That's a fact, because metal is\nan energy of Kr�t:ta. Therefore, it is nondifferent from\nKnt:ta, and Kr�t:ta is so powerful that He can present Himself fully in His energy. So this Deity worship is not\nheathenism. It is actually worship of God, provided you .\n\nII\n\nknow the process.\n\nBOB: If you know the process, then the Deity becomes\nKnt:ta?\n\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Not becomes-it isKnt:ta.\nBOB: The Deity isKnt:ta, but only if you know the process?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Yes. Just like this electric wire-it is\nelectricity. One who knows the process, he can derive\nelectricity out of it.\n\nSYAMASUNDARA: Otherwise it's just wire.\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0033": "Kr.J;lll, the All-Attractive\n\n13\n\nSRILA PRABHUPAI>A: Just wire.\nBOB: So if I build a statue of Kn1.1a, it is not Kn1.1a un­\n\nless ...\nSRILA PRABHUPAI>A: It is KHQ.a.But you have to know the\n\nprocess of understanding that it is Kr�1.1a.It is Kr�1.1a.\nBOB: It is not just earth and mud.\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: No.Earth has no separate existence\n\nwithout KH1.1a.KH1.1a says, \"My energy.\" You cannot separate the energy from the energetic.It is not possible.You\ncannot separate heat from fire.But fire is different from the\nheat, and heat is different from the fire.You are taking\nheat; that does not mean you are touching fire. Fire, in spite\nof emanating heat, keeps its identity.Similarly, althoilgh\nKHI.la, by His different energies, is creating everything, He\nremains Kr�1.1a.The Mayavadi philosophers think that if\nKr�Q.a is everything, then Kn1.1a's separate identity is lost.\n•\n\nThat is material thinking.For example, by drinking this\nmilk, little by little, when I finish, there is no more milk; it\nhas gone to my belly.Kr�1.1a is not like that.He is omnipotent.We are utilizing His energy continually; still He is\nthere, present.Just like a man begetting children unlimitedly, but the man is there.A crude example.It's not\nthat because he has produced hundreds of children, he is\nfinished.So, similarly, God or Kn1.1a, in spite of His unlimited number of children, is there.\npurtltlsya pu111am adaya\npu111am evava.Si$yate\n\"Because He is the complete whole, even though so many\ncomplete units emanate\n\nfrom Him,\n\nHe remains the\n\ncomplete balance.\" This is Kr�1.1a consciousness.KHI.la is\nnever finished. Kn1.1a is so powerful. Therefore He is\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0034": "14\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nall-attractive. This is one side of the display of Kn1.1a's energy. Similarly, He has unlimited energies. This study of\nl4�1_1a's energy is only one side, or a portion only. So in this\nway, if you go on studying Kn1.1a, that is l4�1.1a consciousness. It is not a bogus thing-\"maybe,\" \"perhaps not.\" Absolutely! It is!\n\nSYAMASUNDARA: And the study itself is never finished.\nSRiLA PRABHUPAI>A: No. How can it be? Kn1.1a has unlimited energy.\n\nii'\n\nli\n:r\n\n�\n\n---�\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0035": "TWO\n\nVedic Culture: VarQasrama-dharma\nFebruary 28, 1972\n\nBOB: I've asked devotees about how they feel towards sex in\n\ntheir relations, and I see the way they feel, but I can't see\nmyself acting the same way. See, I'll be getting married at\nthe end of this summer.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Hm-m?\nBOB: I'll be getting married at the end of this summer, in\n\nSeptember or August mhen I return to America. And the\ndevotees say that the householders only have sex to conceive a child, and I cannot picture myself at all in such a\nposition, and-What kind pf sex life can one lead, living in\nthe material world?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: The Vedic principle is that one\n\nshould avoid sex life altogether. The whole Vedic principle\nis to get liberation from material bondage. There are different attachments for material enjoyment, of which sex\nlife is the topmost enjoyment. The Bhagavatam says that this\nmaterial world . .\n\n.\n\npumsab striya mithuni-bhavam etam\n\nMan is attached to woman, and woman is attached to man.\nNot only in human society-in animal society also. That\nattachment is the basic principle of material life. So, a\n15\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0036": "I' '\n\nn\n\n16\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nwoman is hankering or seeking after the association of a\nman, and a man is hankering or seeking for the association\nof a woman. All the fiction novels, dramas, cinema and\neven ordinary advertisements that you see simply depict the\nattachment between man and woman. Even in the tailor's\nshop you will find in the window some woman and some\nman.\npravrttir e�ii bhutiiniim\nnivrttis tu mahiiphaliim\n\nSo this attachment is already there.\nBOB: Attachment between man and woman?\nI.\n\nI\n\nI\n\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Man and woman. So if you want to\nget liberation from this material world, then that attachment should be reduced to nil. Otherwise, simply further\nattachment-You will have to take rebirth, either as a\nhuman being or as a demigod or as an animal, as a serpent,\nas a bird, as a beast. You will have to take birth. So, this\nbasic principle of increasing attachment is not our business,\nalthough it is the general tendency. Grha, k�etra, suta [home,\nland, sons] . But if one can reduce and stop it, that is first\nclass. Therefore our Vedic system is to first of all train a boy\nas a brahmacari-no sex life. The Vedic principle is to reduce.\nattachment, not to increase it. Therefore the whole system\n\n·I\n\nis called va,.,asrama-dharma. The Indian system calls for vafl;la\nand iiSrama-four social orders and four spiritual orders.\nBrahmacarya [celibate student life] , grhastha [ married life] ,\n\n'I\n\nvanaprastha\n\n[retired life] and sannyiisa [renounced life] ­\n\nthese are the spiritual orders. And the social orders consist\nof briihmat:UJS [intellectuals] , k�atriyas [administrators] , vaiSyas\n\n[merchants and farmers] and sadras [ ordinary workers] . So\n�d\" thi• 'l''- the reguloti� principle. ue ., nke thot\n\n':•\n\nL\n\n.I\n\n.\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0037": "Vedic Culture: Varl}.israma-dharma\n\n17\n\neven if one has the tendency to enjoy material life, he is so\nnicely molded that at last he achieves liberation and goes\nback home, back to Godhead. This is the process. So sex life\nis not required, but because we are attached to it, therefore\n'\nthere are some regulative principles under which it is\nmaintained.\n\n[Chanting starts somewhere in the background, with exotic mrdailga\ndrumbeats amidst laughing and the loud blowing of horns.]\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: It is said in Srimad-Bhiigavatam that-\n\npumsab striyii mithuni-bhiivam etam\ntayor mitho hrdaya-granthim iihub\nato grha-k$etra-sutiipta-vittair\njanasya moho 'yam aham mameti\n[Bhiig. 5.5.8]\nThis sex life is the basic principle of material life-attachment for man or woman. And when they are united, when\na man and woman are united, that attachment becomes increased, and that increased attachment will induce one to\naccumulate grha (a home), k$etra {land), suta (children), iipta\n(friendship or society) and vitta. Vitta means money. In this\nway - grha-k$etra-sutiipta-vittaib- he becomes entangled.\n\nJanasya moho 'yam: this is the illusion. And by this illusion he\nthinks, aham mameti: \"I am this body, and anything in relationship with this body is mine.\"\nBOB: What is that again?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: This attachment increases. The ma­\n\nterial attachment involves thinking, \"I am this body, and\nbecause I have this body in a particular place, that is my\ncountry.\" And that is going on: \"I am American, I am Indian, I am German, I am this, I am that-this body. This is\nmy country. I shall sacrifice everything for my country and\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0038": "l\n\n18\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nsociety.\" So in this way, the illusion increases.And under\nthis illusion, when he dies he gets another body.That may\nbe a superior body or inferior body, according to his karma.\nSo if he gets a superior body, then that is also an entanglement, even if he goes to the heavenly planets.But if he becomes a cat or dog, then his life is lost.Or a tree-there is\nI•\n\nevery chance of it.So this science is not known in the\nworld-how the soul is transmigrating from one body to\nanother, and how he is being entrapped in different types of\nbodies.This science is unknown.Therefore when Arjuna\nwas speaking-\"Ifl kill my brother, if I kill my grandfather\non the other side ...\"-he was simply thinking on the\nbasis of the bodily concept of life.But when his problems\ncould not be solved, he surrendered to Knt:ta and accepted\nHim as spiritual master. And when Knt:ta became his spiritual master, He chastised Arjuna in the beginning:\nasocyan anva5ocas tvaril\nprajiiti-viidams ca b�ase\ngattisun agattisuriiS ca\nntinusocanti pa�;�4i tti/:1\n\"Y ou are talking like a learned man, but you are fool number one because you are talking about the bodily concept of\nlife.\" So this sex life increases the bodily concept of life.\nTherefore, the whole process is to reduce it to nil.\nBOB: To reduce it over the stages of your life?\n\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Yes.Reduce it.A boy is trained as a\nstudent up\n\nto\n\ntwenty-five years,\n\nrestricting sex\n\nlife.\n\nBrahmactiri. So, some of the boys remain nai�thika-brahmactiri\n[celibate for life].Because they are given education and\nthey become fully conversant with spiritual knowledge,\nthey don't want to marry.That is also restricted-he cannot\nI\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0039": "Vedic Culture: Van;tisrama-dharma\n\n19\n\nhave sex life without being married. Therefore in human\nsociety there is marriage, not in animal society.\nBut people are gradually descending from human society\nto animal society. They are forgetting marriage. That is also\npredicted in the siistras. Ddmpatye 'bhirucir hetu�: in the Kaliyuga [the present age of quarrel], eventually there will be\nno marriage performances; the boy and the girl will simply\nagree to live together, and their relationship will exist on\nsexual power. If the man or the woman is deficient in sex\nlife, then there is divorce. So, for this philosophy there are\nmany Western philosophers like Freud and others who\nhave written so many books. But according to Vedic\nculture, we are interested in sex only for begetting children,\nthat's all. Not to study the psychology of sex life. There is\nalready natural psychology for that. Even if one does not\nread any philosophy, he is sexually inclined. Nobody is\ntaught it in the sch&ols and colleges. Everyone already\nknows how to do it. [He laughs.] That is the-general tendency. But education should be given to stop it. That is real\neducation. [There is a long pause, filled with the sound of bicycle\n\nhorns, children playing, and throngs ofpeople calling to one another.]\nBOB: Presently, in America, that's a radical concept.\nSRILA PRABHUPAI>A: Well, in America there are so many\n\nthings that require reformation, and this l{r�l).a consciousness movement will bring that. I went to your country and\nsaw that the boys and girls were living like friends, so I said\nto my students, \"You cannot live together as friends; you\nmust get yourselves married.\"\nBOB: Many people see that even marriage is not sacred, so\n\nthey find no desire to marry. Because people get married,\nand if things are not proper, they get a divorce so very\neasily-\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0040": "20\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nSR.iLA PRABHUPADA: Yes, that also.\nBOB: -that some people feel that to get married is not\nmeaningful.\nSR.iLA PRABHUPADA: No, their idea is that marriage is for\nlegalized prostitution. They think like that, but that is not\nmarriage. Even\n\nthat\n\nChristian\n\npaper-what is that?\n\nWatch-?\nSYAMA.SUNDARA: Watchtower?\nSR.iLA PRABHUPADA: Watchtower. It has criticized that one\npriest has allowed a marriage between two men-homosexuality. So these things are all going on. They take it purely\nfor prostitution, that's all. So therefore people are thinking,\n\"What is the use of keeping a regular prostitute at such\nheavy expenditure? Better not to have this.\"\nSYAMASUNDARA: You use that example of the cow and the\nmarket.\nSR.iLA PRABHUPADA: Yes-when the milk is available in\nthe marketplace, what is the use of keeping a cow?\n[Everyone laughs.] It is a very abominable condition in the\nWestern countries-! have seen it. Here also in India,\ngradually it is coming. Therefore we have started this Kn1.1a\nconsciousness movement to educate\n\nPeople in the essential\n\nprinciples of spiritual life. It is not a sectarian religious\nmovement. It is a cultural movement for everyone's benefit.\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0041": "THREE\n\nThe Real Goal of Life\nFebruary 28, 1 a12 (continued)\nSRILA PRABHUPAI>A: This movement is especially meant\nto enable a human being to reach the real goal of life.\n\nBOB: The real goal . . . ?\nSRILA PRABHUPAI>A: The real goal of life.\nBOB: Is the real goal of life to know God?\nSRILA PRABHUPAI>A: Yes. To go back home, back to Godhead. That is the rea� goal of life. The water that comes\nfrom the sea forms clouds, the clouds fall down as rain, and\nthe actual goal is to flow down the river and again enter the\nsea. So, we have come from God, and now we are embarrassed by material life. Therefore, our aim should be to get\nout of this embarrassing situation and go back home, back\nto Godhead. This is the real goal of life.\nmam upetya punar janma\n\ndubkhalayam a5asvatam\nnapnuvanti mahatmanab\nsamsiJJhim paramam gatab\n['�er attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogis in devotion, never return to this temporary world; which is full of\nmiseries, because they have attained the highest perfection.\" ] That is the version of Bhagavad-gitti If anyone comes\nto Me-mtim upetya: he does not come back again. Where?\n21\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0042": "Perfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\n22\n\nTo this place\n\n-\n\ndu�khiilayam asiisvatam. This place is the\n\nabode of miseries. Everyone knows, but they have been\nbefooled by so-called leaders. Material life is miserable life.\nKnQ.a says, God says, that this place is dubkhiilayam-it is a\nplace of miseries. And it is also a5iiSvatam, temporary. You\ncannot make a compromise: \"All right, let it be miserable. I\nshall remain here as an American or Indian.\" No. That also\nyou cannot do. You cannot remain an American. You may\nthink that, having been born in America, you are very\nhappy. But you cannot remain an American for long. You\nwill have to be kicked out of that place. And your next life\nyou do not know! Therefore, it is du�khiilayam asiiSvatammiserable and temporary. That is our philosophy.\nBOB: But when you have some knowledge of God, then life\n\nis not so miserable?\n\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: No! Some knowledge will not do.\nYou must have perfect knowledge.\njanma karma ca me divyam\nevaril yo vetti tattvatab\nTattvatab means \"perfectly. \" Perfect knowledge is being\ntaught in Bhagavad-gitii. So, we are giving everyone in\nhuman society a chance to learn Bhagavad-gitd as it is and\nmake his life perfect. That is the KnQ.a consciousness\nmovement.\n\nWhat does your science say about the\n\ntransmigration of the soul?\nBOB:\n\nI\n\nthink . . . that science . . . cannot deny or\n\naffirm it. Science does not know it.\n\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Therefore I say that science ts\nimperfect.\nBOB: Science may, though, say something. It is said\n\nscience that energy is never destroyed; it is changed.\n\n�\n\nm\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0043": "The Real Goal of Life\n\n23\n\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: That's all right. But how the energy\nis working in the future-that science does not know. How\nis the energy diverted? How, by different manipulations, is\nthe energy w orking differently? For instance, electrical energy. By different handling it is operating the heater, and it\nis operating the refrigerator. They are just the opposite, but\nthe electrical energy is the same. Similarly, this energyliving energy-how is it being directed? Which w ay is it\ngoing? How is it fructifying in the next life? That they do\nnot know. But in Bhagavad-gita it is very simply stated.\nviisdmsi }in:tdni yatha vihaya\nYou are covered by a dress, by a shirt. When this shirt is\nunusable, you change it. Similarly, this body is just like a\nshirt and coat. When it is no longer workable, we have to\nchange it.\nBOB: What is the \"we\" that has to change? What is\nconstant?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: That is the soul.\nBOB: From one life to the next?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: That is the soul-1. What \"you\" is\nspeaking? You! What \"I\" is speaking? Identity: dtmd, or\nsoul.\nBOB: My soul is different from your soul?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Yes. You are an individual soul, I am\nan individual soul.\nBOB: You have removed yourself from karmic influences. If\nI was to remove myself from karmic influences, would our\n\nsouls be the same or different?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: The soul is of the same quality in all.\nYou are under a certain conception of life at the present\nmoment, and these countrymen of yours\n\n[the Kr��a\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0044": "24\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nconscious devotees] were under a certain conception of life,\nbut by training they· have taken to another conception of\nlife. So the ultimate training is how to become KHI:Ia conscious. That is the perfection.\n\nBOB: If two people are KHI:Ia conscious, is their soul the\nsame?\n\nSIULA PRABHUPAI>A: The soul is always the same.\nBOB: In each person? In each person is it the same?\nSIULA PRABHUPAI>A: Yes.\nBOB: [pointing to two devotees] If these two are KHI:Ia conscious, are their souls the same?\n.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: The soul is the same but always individual, even if one is not KHI:Ia conscious. For instance,\nyou are a human being, and I am a human being. Even if I\nam not a Christian, even if you are not a Hindu, still we are\nhuman beings. Similarly, the soul may not be KHI:Ia conscious, or he may be Kf�I:la conscious-it doesn't matter.\nBut the soul is the soul.\n\nBOB: Can you tell me more about this?\nSIULA PRABHUPAI>A: Soul-as pure spirit, all souls are\nequal. Even in an animal. Therefore it is said, pa�itab sama­\n\ndarsinab: those who are actually learned do not see the outward covering, either in a human being or in an animal.\n\nBOB: If I may ask another question on this?\nSIULA PRABHUPADA: Yes.\nBOB: I have considered the soul somewhat as part of God.\nAt times I think I feel God . I'm here, and you may say God\nis here. So if the soul is inside me, then should I be able to\nfeel God inside me? Not all of God, I mean, but a . . .\n\nSRiLA PRABHUPAI>A: Part of God.\nBOB: But I don't feel God in me, but God may be here,\nseparate-separate from me. But should I be able to feel\n\n'\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0045": "25\n\nThe Real Goal of Life\n\nGod inside me, since my soul is part of God?\nSRiL\\ PRABHUPADA: Yes. God is inside also. God is every­\n\nwhere. God· is inside and outside also. This is to be known.\nBOB: How do you feel God inside you?\nSRiiA PRABHUPADA: Not in the beginning, but you have\n\nto know from the siistras [scriptures), by the Vedic information. For example, in the Bhagavad-gitii it is said, isvarab\nsarva-bhutiiniim hrd-dese 'rjuna ti$fhati: God is there in every­\n\none's heart. Paramiir:tu-cayiintara-stham: God is also within\nevery atom. So this is the first information. And then, by\nthe yogic process, you have to realize it.\nBOB: Yogic process?\nSRiL\\ PRABHUPADA: Yes.\nBOB: Is chanting Hare Kn1.1a such a yogic process?\nSRiiA PRABHUPADA: Yes, it is also a yogic process.\nBOB: What kind of yogic process must I do to find out-to\n\nfeel this information-t� feel the soul inside?\nSRiiA PRABHUPADA: Yes, there are many different yogic\n\nprocesses, but for this age this process is very nice.\nBOB: Chanting.\nSRiiA PRABHUPADA: Yes.\nBOB: Through this I can feel not only God outside but God\n\ninside?\nSRiiA PRABHUPADA: You'll\n\n\\\n\nunderstand everything of\n\nGod-how God is inside, how God is outside, how God is\nworking. Everything will be revealed. By this attitude of\nservice, God will reveal Himself. You cannot understand\nGod by your endeavor. Only if God reveals Himself. For\ninstance, when the sun is out of your sight at night, you\ncannot see it by your torchlight, or any light. But in the\nmorning you can see the sun automatically, without any\ntorchlight. Similarly, you have to create a situation-you\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0046": "26\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nhave to put yourself in a situation-in which God will be\nrevealed. It is not that by some method you can ask God,\n\"Please come. I will see You.\" No, God is not your order\nearner.\n\nBOB: You must please God for Him to reveal Himself. Is\nthat correct?\n\nSR.ILA. PRABHUPADA: Yes.\nSYAMASUNDARA: How do we know when we are pleasing\nGod?\n\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: When we see Him. Then you will\nunderstand. Just as, when you eat, you do not require to ask\nanyone whether you are feeling strength or your hunger is\nsatisfied. If you eat, you understand that you are feeling energy. You don't need to inquire from anyone. Similarly, if\nyou ·actually serve God, then you will understand, \"God is\ndictating to me. God is there. I am seeing God.\"\n\nA DEVOTEE: Or God's representative.\nSR.ILA PRABHUPADA: Yes.\nDEVOTEE: It comes easier.\nsRILA. PRABHUPADA: You have to go through God's\n\nrepresentative.\n\nyasya prasiidad bhagavat-prasiidab\n\"By the mercy of the spiritual master one is benedicted by\nthe mercy of Knl)a. \" If you please God's representative,\nthen automatically God becomes pleased, and thus you can\ndirectly see Him.\n\nAN INDIAN GENTLEMAN: How to please God's representative?\n\nSR.ILA. PRABHUPADA: You have to carry out his orders,\nthat's all. God's representative is the guru. He asks you to do\nthis, to do that-if you do that, that is pleasing.\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0047": "The Real Goal of Life\n\n27\n\nyasyiiprasadan na gatib kuto 'pi\n\n\"Without the grace of the spiritual master one cannot make\nany advancement.\" If you displease him, then y ou are\nnowhere. Therefore we worship the guru.\nsak$iid-dharitvena samasta-siistrair\nuktas tathii bhiivyata eva sadbhib\nkintu prabhor yab priya eva tasya\nvande gurob sri-caratuiravindam\n\n[\"The spiritual master is to be honored as much as the\nSupreme Lord because of his being the most confidential\nservitor of the Lord. This is acknowledged by all revealed\nscriptures and is followed by all authorities. Therefore I\noffer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of such a\nspiritual master, who is a bona fide representative of Lord\nKr�J::la. \"] The guru should be accepted as God. That is the\ninjunction of all siistra.\nBOB: The guru should be accepted as a representative of\n\nGod?\nsRiLA PRABHUPAI>A: Yes, the guru is God's representative.\n\nThe guru is the external manifestation of Kr�J::la.\nBOB: But different from the incarnations of KnJ::�.a that\n\ncome?\nSRiLA PRABHUPAI>A: Yes.\nBOB: In what way is the external manifestation of the guru\n\ndifferent from the external manifestation of, let us say,\nKr�I:la or Caitanya when They come to earth?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: The guru is the representative of\n\nKnJ::�.a. So there are symptoms of who is a guru. The general\nsymptoms are described in the Vedas.\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0048": "28\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\ntad-vijiiiindrtham sa gurum eviibhigacchet\nsamit-piil;lib srotriyam brahma-ni${ham\nA guru must come in a disciplic succession, and he must\nhave heard thoroughly about the Vedas from his spiritual\nmaster. Generally a guru's symptom is that he is a perfect\ndevotee, that's all. And he serves Kn�a by preaching His\nmessage.\nBOB: Lord Caitanya-He was a different type of guru than\nyou are?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: No, no. Gurus cannot be of different\ntypes. All gurus are of one type.\nBOB: But He was-was He also an incarnation at the same\ntime?\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Yes, He is Kn�a Himself, but He is\nrepresenting the guru.\nBOB: I . . . I see.\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Yes.\nBOB: And then . . .\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Because Kn�a\n\nwas\n\nGod,\n\nHe\n\ndemanded:\n\nsarva-dharmiin parityajya\nmiim ekam sara�;�am vraja\n\"Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto\nMe.\" But people misunderstood Him. Therefore Kr��a\nagain came as a guru and taught people how to surrender to\nKr��a.\nSYAMASUNDARA: Doesn't He say in Bhagavad-gitii, \"I am\nthe spiritual master\"?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Yes, He is the original spiritual\nmaster because He was accepted as spiritual master by\nArjuna. So what is the difficulty? Si$yas te 'ham sadhi miim\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0049": "The Real Goal of Life\n\n29\n\ntvcim prapannam. Arjuna told the Lord, \"I am Your disciple,\n\nand a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me.\" So\nunless He is a spiritual master, how does Arjuna become His\ndisciple? He is the original guru. Tene brahma hrdci ya adikavaye: \"It is He only who first imparted Vedic knowledge\n\nunto the heart of Brahma, the first created being.\"\nTherefore He is the original guru.\nBOB: }4�1)a.\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Yes. He is the original guru. Then His\n\ndisciple Brahma is a guru, then his disciple Narada is a guru,\nthen his disciple V yasa is a guru-in this way there is agurupatamparci [disciplic succession of gurus] . Evam parampardprciptam: the transcendental knowledge is received through\n\nthe disciplic succession.\nBOB: So a guru receives his knowledge through the disciplic\n\nsuccession, not directly from Kr�IJ.a? Do you receive some\nknowledge directly from KnQa?\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Yes. KnQa's direct instruction is\n\nthere: Bhagavad-gitti.\nBOB: I see, but . . .\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: But you have to learn it through the\n\ndisciplic succession, otherwise you will misunderstand it.\nBOB: But presently you do not receive information directly\n\nfrom }4�Qa? It comes through the disciplic succession from\nthe books?\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: There is no difference. Suppose I say\n\nthat this is a pencil. If you say to him, \"There is a pencil;'\nand if he says to another man, \"This is a pencil;' then what\nis the difference between\n\nhis instruction and\n\nmy\n\ninstructions?\nBOB: KnQa's mercy allows you to know this now?\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: You can take\n\nKr�IJ.a's mercy also,\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0050": "30\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nprovided it is delivered as it is. Just as we are teaching\n\nBhagavad-gitd. In Bhagavad-gita Kr�I}.a says:\nsarva-dharman parityajya\nmam ekam sara�;�t�m vraja\n\n\"Just give up all other forms of religion and simply surrender unto Me.\" Now we are saying that you should give\nup everything and surrender to Knl}.a. Therefore, there is\nno difference between K\\'$I}.a's instruction and our instruction. There is no deviation. So if you receive knowledge in\nthat perfect way, that is as good as receiving instruction\ndirectly from Knl}.a. But we don't change anything.\nBOB: When I pray reverently, faithfully, does KnQa hear\n\nme?\nSR.ILA PRABHUPADA: Yes.\nBOB: From me to Him?\n\nSR.ILA PRABHUPADA: Yes , because He is within your heart\n.\nHe is always hearing you-whether you are praying or not\n\npraying. When you are doing some nonsense , He is also\nhearing you. And when you pray, that is very goodwelcome.\nBOB: To K\\'$I}.a's ear, is praying louder than nonsense?\n\nSR.ILA PRABHUPADA: No. He is all-perfect. He can hear\n\neverything. Even if you don't speak, even if you simply\nthink, \"I shall do it ,\" then He hears you. Sarvasya caham hrdi\n\nsannivi�.tab: Knl}.a is seated in everyone's heart.\nBOB: But one should pray-is that so?\n\nSR.ILA PRABHUPADA: That is his business-praying.\nBOB: Whose business?\n\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Every living entity's. That is the only\n\nbusiness. Eko bahunam yo vidadhati kaman. That is the statement of the Vedas.\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0051": "The Real Goal of Life\n\n31\n\nBOB: What does that mean?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: He supplies everything to everyone.\n\nHe is supplying food to everyone. So He is the Father. So\nwhy should you not pray, \"Father, give me this\"? Just as in\nthe Christian Bible there is, \"Father, give us ou r daily\nbread.\" That is good-they are accepting the Supreme\nFather. But grown-up children should not ask from the\nfather; rather, they should be prepared to serve the father.\nThat is bhakti [devotion].\nBOB: My questions you solve so nicely. [Everyone laughs with\n\naffection.]\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Thank you very much.\nBOB: So, should I ask you another question now?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Oh, yes. Yes!\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0052": "FOUR\n\nThe Three Modes of Nature\nFebruary 28, 1972\n(continued)\n\nBOB: I have read that there are three gu�as-passion, ig­\n\nnorance and goodness-in life. I was wishing that you\nwould explain this somewhat, especially what is meant by\nthe mode of ignorance and the mode of goodness.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: In goodness you can understand\nthings-knowledge. You can know that there is God, that\nthis world was created by Him, and so many things, actual\nthings-the sun is this, the moon is this-perfect knowledge. If one has some knowledge, even though it may not be\nperfect, that is goodness. And in passion one identifies with\nhis material body and tries to gratify his senses. That is passion. And ignorance is animal life-in ignorance, one does\nnot know what is God, how to become happy, why we are\nin this world. For example, if you take an animal to the\nslaughterhouse, it will go. This is ignorance. But a man will\nprotest. If a goat is to be killed after five minutes but you\ngive it a morsel of grass, it is happy because it is eating. Just\nlike a child-even if you are planning to kill her or kill\nhim, he is happy and laughs because he is innocent. That is\nignorance.\nBOB: Being in these modes determines your karma. Is that ,\n\ncorrect?\n32\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0053": "The Three Modes of Nature\n\n33\n\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Yes. According to the association of\nthe modes of nature, your activities are being contaminated.\nkiiratu�ril gut�a-satigo 'sya\nsad-asad-yoni-janmasu\nA man gets a higher birth or lower birth according to the\nassociation of the gutuJS, or the modes of nature.\nBOB: So cheating and like that-what mode is that?\nsRILA PRABHUPADA: Cheating is mixed passion and ignorance. Suppose one man cheats another. That means he\nwants to obtain something; he is passionate. But if he commits murder, he does not know that he will have to suffer\nfor it, so it is a mixture of passion and ignorance.\nBOB: And what about when somebody helps another\nperson?\nSBlLA PRABHUPADA: That is goodness.\nBOB: Why is that goodness\" What intelligence is that? I\nmean-this represents knowledge of what? You said that\ngoodness is when you have knowledge.\nSBlLA PRABHUPADA: Yes.\nBOB: Intelligence.\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Yes.\nBOB: So helping another person?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: That means that he is ignorant and\nyou are trying to enlighten him.\nBOB: So giving intelligence . . .\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Yes, that is goodness.\nBOB: And what about just giving assistance?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: That is also goodness.\nBOB: If a beggar has nothing and you give him alms\nSBlLA PRABHUPADA: So that may still be goodness. But\nin your Bowery Street, they give some charity, and\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0054": "34\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nimmediately he purchases one bottle of wine and drinks\nand lies down Aat. [All laugh.] So that is charity. But that is\nnot goodness; that is ignorance.\nBOB: Charity is ignorance?\n\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: There are three kinds of charitiesgood, passionate and ignorant. Goodness is giving charity\nwhere charity must be given. Just like this Kr�l).a consciousness movement-if anyone gives charity to this movement,\nthat is goodness because it is spreading God consciousness,\nKJ;$1).a consciousness. That is goodness. And if one gives\ncharity for some return, that is passion. And if somebody\ngives in charity in an improper place and time, without\nrespect and to an unworthy person, just like the Bowery\nman, that is ignorance. But l4$1).a says:\n\nyat karo# yad asndsi\nyaj juho# dadasi yat\n\"All that you do, all that you eat, all that you offer ·and give\naway, as well as all austerities that you may perform, should\nbe done as an offering unto Me.\" If l4$1).a takes, that is the\nperfection of charity. Or anyone who is a representative of\nl4$1).a-if he takes, that is perfection.\nBOB: And what kind of charity is it when you give food to\n.\n\nsomebody who is hungry?\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Well, that depends on the circumstances. For example, a doctor has forbidden his patient to\ntake any solid food, and if the patient is asking, \"Give me\nsome solids,\" and if you give him solid food in charity, then\nyou are not doing good to him. That is ignorance.\nBOB: Are the devotees beyond accumulating karma? These\n\ndevotees-do they feel karma? Do they work in these\nmodes? Are they in the mode of goodness?\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0055": "The Three Modes of Nature\n\n35\n\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: They are above goodness! Suddhasattva. The devotees are not in this material world.They are\nin the spiritual world.That is stated in the Bhagavad-glta:\n\nmilm ca yo 'vyabhicarttJa\nbhakti-yogena sevate\nsa gu�n samatityaitan\nbrahma-bhuyaya kalpate\n[\"One who engages in full devotional service, who does not\nfall down in any circumstances,\" at once transcends the\nmodes of material nature and thus comes to the level of\nBrahman.\"] Devotees are neither in goodness, passion nor\nignorance.They are transcendental to all these qualities.\n\nBOB: A devotee who is very faithful reaches this stage?\nSR.lLA PRABHUPAI>A: Yes.Devotee ...You can become\na devotee as they have become.It is not difficult.Simply\nyou have to engage yo�rself in the transcendental loving\nservice of the Lord, that's all.\n\nBOB: I wish to gain more knowledge of God and be able to\nfeel God's presence more.The reason for this is because I\n. feel life has little meaning without this.\n\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Yes! If you miss this human form of\nlife, then it is a great loss.That is a great chance given to the\nliving entity to get out of the entanglement of material\nexistence.\n\nBOB: I feel thankful that I've been able to ask these\nquestions ...\n\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Yes, you can learn more and more.\nBOB: But I still have ...my connections at home.Marriage is ...\n. I am engaged....\n\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: No, no.There are so many marriages.[He indicates Syamasundara.] He is married.Marriage\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0056": "36\n\nP�rfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nis no barrier. I told you that there are four different orders\nof spiritual life-brahmacdri, grhastha, vdnaprastha and sannydsa. So after brahmaciiri life, one can marry. That is not\nobligatory. One may remain nai�.tika-brahmacdri for his\nwhole life. But a brahmacdri can marry. And after marriage,\nthere is vdnaprastha life. This means that one is a little aloof\nfrom family-the husband and wife live separately. At\nthat time there is no sex life. Then when he is fully\nrenounced, detached from family life, he takes sannydsa.\nBOB: Does somebody forget his wife completely then?\nSRiLA PRABHUPAI>A: Yes. Forgetting is not very difficult,\n\nif you try to forget. Out of sight, out of mind. [All laugh. ]\nJust as I have my wife, children, grandchildren-everything. But, out of sight, out of mind, that's all. Therefore,\nvdnaprastha, san nyasa\nVedic system.\n\n-\n\nevery thing is nicely arranged by the\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0057": "FIVE\n\nBecoming Pure\nFebruary 29, 1972\n\nBOB: Thank you so much for allowing me to ask my\n\nquestions.\nSR.ILA PRABHUPADA: That is my mission. People should\n\nunderstand the science of God. Unless we cooperate with\nthe Supreme Lord, our life is bafBed. I have given the example many times that a screw which has fallen from a\nmachine has no value. B'ut when the same screw is again attached to the machine, it has value. Similarly, we are part\nand parcel of God. So without God, what is our value? No\nvalue! We should again come back to our position of attachment to God. Then we have value.\nBOB: I met a fellow today who came in the afternoon. His\n\nreason for coming-you may find it humorous-was that\nhe heard the hippies were in Mayapur.\nSR.ILA PRABHUPAI>A: What?\nBOB: He heard that hippies were in Mayapur. I was talking\n\nto him, and then some devotees were talking to him. He\nhad said some things to me which I could find no answer\nfor. And he said he would come back tomorrow and meet\nsome devotees. But let me tell you what he said. This is\nconfusing. When he was youngSRILA PRABHUPADA: He's Indian?\n37\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0058": "'\n\n\\\n\n38\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nBOB: Yes, Indian. He lives nearby and speaks English fairly\n\nwell. When he was young he worshiped Kali [a popular\ndemigoddess] every day very rigorously, and then the floods\ncame. When the floods came, the people saw hardship, and\nnow he has no religion, and he says he finds his happiness\nin trying to develop love among people. And I couldn't\nthink of what to say to him to add God and religion to his\nlife. He says that after he dies, \"maybe I'll become part of\n\nGod, maybe not,\" but he can't worry about it now. He says\nhe's tried these religious experiences, but they didn't work.\nOne reason I ask this is because when I go back to America,\na lot of people I come across are like this. They see that\nreligion, like his worship of Kali or other kinds of religion\nthey've experienced, doesn't work. Ar.d I don't know what\nto say to them to convince them it's ' •orth trying.\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Do not try at the present moment.\n\nYou try to be convinced yourself.\nBOB: Yes. I asked him to see devotees, but then on the way\n\nout, as he was leaving down the road, I met him again and\ntold him, \"Come back,\" but . . . Oh, I see.\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: You first of all be convinced. And\n\nthen try to convince others. Caitanya Mahaprabhu's instruction is that you can improve the welfare of others·\nwhen your own life is a success:\n\nbluirata-bhamite haila manu$ya-janma yara\njanma silrthaka kari' kara para-upakiira\nFirst·make your life perfect. Then try to teach others.\nBOB: The devotees have told me that without consciousness\n\nof KnQ.a all the time, you cannot be happy. But at times I\nfeel happy.\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: At times. Not always.\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0059": "Becoming Pure\n\n39\n\nBOB: Yes.\nSRILA PRABHUPAI>A: But if you become l{rg1a conscious,\n\nyou will feel happy always.\nBOB: They had implied that you cannot feel happy without\n\nl{r�l}.a consciousness.\nSRILA PRABHUPAI>A: That is a fact.For example, if you are\n\nan animal of the land and you are thrown into the water,\nyou cannot be happy in water in any condition.When you\nare again taken up to the land, then you'll be happy.\nSimilarly, we are part and parcel of l{r�l}.a.We cannot be\nhappy without being part and parcel of l{r�l}.a.The same\nexample: the machine part, without the machine, has no\nvalue, but when it is again put into the machine it has\nvalue.We are part of l{r�l}.a; we must join Knl}.a.And you\ncan join Knl}.a immediately by your consciousness, simply\nby thinking, \"I am K{�l}.a's, Knl}.a is mine:• That's all.\nBOB: What is that? Kr�l}.a is ...\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: l{r�l}.a is mine.\nBOB: Mine?\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Yes.Mine.My Kr�l}.a.\n\nBOB:Ah.\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: l{r�l}.a is mine.l{r�l}.a is mine.\nBOB: Yes.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: And I am l{r�l}.a's.That is our actual\n\nposition.\nBOB: We are part of l{r�l}.a.\nSRILA PRABHUPAI>A: Yes.Everything is part and parcel of\n\nl{r�l}.a.Because everything is generated by the energy of\nl{r�l}.a and everything is the energy of Knl}.a.\nAN INDIAN GENTLEMAN: Srila Prabhupada, r have one\n\nquestion.What is the status of service minus devotion?\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Hm�m? That is not service, that is\n\n----�-�=:�,�·�-\n\n-\n\n-�---\n\n�j\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0060": "�\n40\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nbusiness. [Everyone laughs.] For example, here in Mayapur\nwe have employed a contractor. That is not service-that is\nbusiness. Is it not? Sometimes they will advertise, \"Our\ncustomers are our masters:' Is it not? But in spite of the\nflowery language-\"Our customers are our masters\"-this\nis business, because nobody is a qualified customer unless he\npays. But service is not like that. Service-Caitanya Mahaprabhu prays to Knr;ta:\n\nyathii tathii vii vidadhiitu lampato\nmat-priit;la-niithas tu sa eva niipara�\n\"You do whatever You like, but still You are my worshipable Lord:' That is service. \"I don't ask any return from\nYou:' That is service. When you expect some return, that is\nbusiness.\nBOB: I wish to ask you to advise me on how I can come to\n\nfeel closer to God. I'll be leaving you soon. And I'm­\n\nsRILA PRABHUPADA: You have to be purified.\nBOB: I come to the temple at times, and then I leave, and\n\nI'm not sure how much I take with me.\n\nSRlLA PRABHUPADA: It does not take much time. Within\nsix months you will realize your progress. But you have to\nfollow the regulative principles. Then it will be all right.\nJust like these boys and girls are doing.\nBOB: Yes, I see.\n\nSRlLA PRABHUPADA: They have no tendency for going to\nthe cinema or going to a hotel. No. They have stopped all\n\nanarthas, all unnecessary things.\nBOB: I-I feel that when I go back, they'll-\n\nSI;l.iLA PRABHUPADA: The whole human life is meant for\npurification.\nBOB: Yes;\n\niL�\n\n�\n\n-�\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0061": "Becoming Pure\n\n41\n\nSIULA PRABHUPADA:\ntapo divyam putrakii yena sattvam\nsuddhyed yasmad brahma-saukhyam tv anantam\nSattva means existence.So if you don't purify your existence, then you will have to change your bod y.From this\nbody to that.Sometimes it may be highe�; sometimes lower.\nFor example, if you don't cure a disease, it can put you into\ntrouble in so many ways.Similarly, if you don't purify your\nexistence, then you will have to transmigrate from one\nbody to another.There are very subtle laws of nature.Now\nthere is no guarantee that you will get a very comfortable\nbody or an American body.Therefore, it is essential for the\nhuman being to purify his existence.Unless you purify\nyour existence, you will hanker after happiness but will not\nalways be happy.\n\n•\n\nBOB: When I go to my job in New York, I hope I'll become\n\npure, but I'm sure that I won't become as pure as your devotees here.I-I don't see myself doing that.\n\n�RILA PRABHUPADA: You can do as they are doing.They\nwere not pure in the beginning; now they are pure.\nSimilarly, you can become pure.For example, in your\nchildhood you were not educated-but now you are\neducated.\nBOB: So, what are the things that I may do? When I go\n\nback, I must-\n\nsRILA PRABHUPADA: When do you go back?\nBOB: I'll be going back to Chaibasa to do my work there,\n\nand ...\n\nSIULA PRABHUPADA: What is there in Chaibasa?\nBOB: That is where I do my teaching. I live there.\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0062": "II._\n\n42\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nSRILA PRABHUPAI>A: So better not to teach-because you\ndo not know what to teach.\nBOB: [Laughs.] I'll be going-1 don't like this teaching so\n\nmuch, and I'll be returning to America in May, but while\nI'm here, this is my agreement for staying in India.\nSR.ILA PRABHUPADA: If you are serious, you can keep yourself pure anywhere. It doesn't matter whether you stay in\nAmerica or India. But you must know how to keep yourself\npurified. That's all.\nBOB: You mean by following these principles?\n\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Yes. I went to America, for instance,\nbut either in America or India, I am the same man.\nBOB: 1-1 have tried somewhat to follow since I met you\n\nthe first time [a brief visit in Calcutta during November,\n1971].\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Hm-m. But follow-you must strictly\nfollow if you are serious.\nBOB: Maybe-OK, maybe-what I say now is-well-the\n\nmost foolish of all I've said. But let me tell you how I feel.\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: No, no, not foolish. I don't say\nfoolish-but imperfect.\nBOB: OK. [He laughs.] Imperfect. But let me tell you. I feel\n\nthat right now I admire and respect your devotees, but I .\ndon't feel as if I am part of them, or even that I have a great\ndesire to be part of them. I feel that I just want-1 want to\ndo what is right, come closer to God, and if-and if ljust go\nto a better life next time-l'd be satisfied.\nSR.ILA PRABHUPADA: Very good.\nBOB: I guess it's material clinging, but . . .\n\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: So, you just follow in their footsteps,\nand your desire will be fulfilled. We are training them how\nto become purified and happy. That is our mission. We\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0063": "Becoming Pure\n\n43\n\nwant to see everyone happy. Sarve sukhino bhavantu. People\ndo not know how to become happy. They do not take the\nstandard path to become happy. They manufacture their\nown way. That is the difficulty. Therefore, R�abhadeva gave\nthis advice to his sons: \"My dear boys, just undergo\nausterity for transcendental realization.\" Everyone is performing austerity. This boy I know-he had to go to a\nforeign country to learn commercial management . Now he\nis well situated . In this way, everyone must undergo some\nausterity for future life. So why not take that austerity for\npermanent happiness? You have to purify your existence and\n\nyour body. As many times as you accept a material body,\nyou will have to change it . But as soon as you get a spiritual\nbody, there is no question of change. You already have a\nspiritual body. Now, due to our material contamination , we\nare developing the material body. But if we associate with\nspiritual life, then we sh.tll develop a spiritual body. The\nsame example I have several times given is that if you put\nan iron rod within fire, it will become like fire . Is it not?\nBOB: Put the iron rod into fire?\n\nsRiLA PRABHUPADA: Yes, and it will become like fire .\nBoB: Yes.\n\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Although iron.\nBOB: Yes.\n\nsRiLA PRABHUPADA: Similarly, if you always keep yourself\n\nspiritually engaged, your body will act spiritually, although\nit is material . The same example: when an iron rod is redhot , touch it anywhere, and it will burn. It takes on the\nquality of fire. Similarly, if you always keep yourself in\nKHI,J.a consciousness, then you will become spiritualized .\nYou will act spiritually. No more material demands .\nBOB: How do I do this?\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0064": "44\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: This process.They are doing it.You\nhave seen these boys, our six boys who have been initiated\ntoday.It is very simple.You have to follow the four restrictive regulations and chant these beads.Very easy.\n\nBOB: Well, but, see-when I am back in Bihar and following my lifestyle there, I-if I follow all these regulative\nprinciples-some I follow now, but not all-\n\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: \"Some\" means ...?\nBOB: \"Some\"?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: There are only four regulative principles.\"Some\" means three, or two?\n\nBOB: Two or three.\nsRiLA PRABHUPADA: So why not the other one?\nBOB: No, no.I mean I follow one or two.One or two I\nfollow now.\n\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: [Laughs.] Why not the other thre_e?\nWhat is the difficulty? W hich one do you follow?\n\nBOB: Which one do I follow? Well, I'm almost vegetarian,\nbut I eat eggs.\n\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Then that is also not complete.\nBOB: No, not even complete.Since last time [ November] .\nI've become vegetarian, but .. .\n\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Vegetarian is no qualification.\nBOB: Not much.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: The pigeon is vegetarian.The mon. key is vegetarian-the most rubbish creature . .\n,\n\nBOB: Well ...\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: The monkey is vegetarian. This\nn aked\n\nsannytisi lives\n\nin t h e f orest . . . t h e most\n\nmischievous ...\n\nBOB: I-I felt that it was a little bit of progress because it\n\nib\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0065": "Becoming Pure\n\n45\n\nwas somewhat difficult at first, then easy, and I had\nreturned to-\n\nSRiLA PRABHUPAI>A: No, you can stick to all the regulative principles, provided you take to the {4�Q.a consciousness process-otherwise it is not possible.\n\nBOB: Yes, this is it.I have-when I'm back in Bihar, andurn-my friends may say ...We're sitting in the evening, and there's nothing to do but fight mosquitoes, and\nthey say, \"How about smoking some marijuana?\" And I say,\n\"Sure, there's nothing else to do,\" and then I sit down, and I\nenjoy myself for the evening.Now we did this, we got carried away, we were doing it every day and realizing we\nwere hurting ourselves and stopped, but still on occasion\nwe ...\n\nSRiLA PRABHUPAI>A: You have to live with us. Then your\nfriends will not ask you, \"What about marijuana?\" [Bob\nlaughs.] Keep the associati\"on of devotees.We are opening\ncenters to give people a chance to associate with us.Why\nhave we taken so much land [in Mayapur]? Those who are\nseriously desirous-they will come and live with us.\n�ssociation\n\nis very influential. If you\n\nassociate with\n\ndrunkards, you become drunk; if you associate with siidhus,\nthen you. become a siidhu.\n\nSYAMASUNDARA [Srila Prabhupada's secretary] : He can\ncome and stay with you in Bombay.\n\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Yes, you can stay with us in Bombay.\nBut he wants friends with marijuana. That is the difficulty.\n\nBOB: Let me ask you about something else; then maybe I'll\ncome back to this. I find that I think of myself too much,\nand this way I can't think of God so much. I think of myself\nin too many places. How can I forget about myself so I can\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0066": "46\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nconcentrate on other, more important things?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: As they [the devotees] have done.\nBOB: [Laughs.] You are saying to me that my path-I think\n\nwhat you're saying is that my path to purity is to become a\ndevotee.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Do you hesitate?\nBOB: Well, I . . .\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Is it very difficult to become\n\na\n\ndevotee?\nBOB: For myself-it is. I-I don't feel so much the desire.\n\nFirst the devotees tell me that they have given up material\nlife. These four regulative principles, they have explained\nto me, mean giving up material life, and that I see. And in\nplace of this they have . . .\nsRiLA PRABHUPADA: What do you mean by material life?\n\n[Bob is silent] I am sitting on this bed. Is it material or spiritual?\nBOB: Material.\nsRiLA PRABHUPADA: Then how have we given up ma­\n\nterial life?\nBOB: I think how I interpreted it was \"a desire for our ma­\n\nterial gains . . .\n\n\"\n\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: What is material?\nBOB: Working towards material gains and not giving up all\n\nmaterials.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Material life means-when you\n\ndesire to gratify your senses, that is material life. And when\nyou desire to serve God, that is spiritual life. That is the difference between material life and spiritual life. Now we are\ntrying to serve our senses. But instead of serving the senses,\nwhen we serve God, that is spiritual life. What is the difference between our activities and others' activities? We\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0067": "47\n\nBecoming Pure\n\nare using everything-table,\n\nchair,\n\nbed,\n\ntape recorder,\n\ntypewriter-so what is the difference? The difference is\nthat we are using everything for Kr�J:ta.\nBOB: The devotees have said that the sensual pleasures they\n\nhave given up are replaced with spiritual kinds of pleasures,\nbut-see-I haven't felt this.\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Spiritual pleasures come when you\n\ndesire to please Kr�J:ta. That is spiritual pleasure. For example, a mother is more pleased by feeding her son. She's not\neating, but when she sees that her son is eating very nicely,\nthen she becomes pleased.\nBOB: Hmm-m. Spiritual pleasure, then, is pleasing God.\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Spiritual pleasure means the pleasure\n\nof KnJ:ta.\nBOB: Pleasing Kr�J:ta.\nSRlLA PRABHUPADA: Yes. Material pleasure means the\n\npleasure of the senses. That's all. This il the difference.\nWhen you simply try to please KnJ:ta, that is spiritual\npleasure.\nBOB: I had viewed this as-my thought of pleasing God was\n\ntoSRILA PRABHUPADA: Don't manufacture your ways of\n\npleasing God. Don't manufacture. Suppose I want to please\nyou. Then I shall ask you, \"How can I serve you?\" Not that\nI manufacture some service. That is not pleasing. Suppose I\nwant a glass of water. If you concoct the idea, \"Svamljl will\nbe more pleased if I give him a glass of milk, hot milk,\" that\nwill not please me. If you want to please me, then you\nshould ask me, \"How can I please you?\" And if you do\nwhat I order, that will please me.\nBOB: And pleasing Kf�J:la, then, is being a devotee of KnJ:ta.\nSRlLA PRABHUPADA: A devotee is one who is always\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0068": "r:\n48\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\npleasing Knt:ta. He has no other business. That is a devotee.\nBOB: Can you tell me some more about chanting Hare\n\nKniJ.a? I have for quite some time chanted, but never\nregularly-just a little bit here and there. I just got beads\nvery recently, and once in a while I feel comfortable chanting, and once in a while not comfortable at all. Maybe I\ndon't chant properly. I don't know.\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Yes, everything has a process. You\n\nhave to adopt the process.\nBOB: The devotees tell me of the ecstasy they feel when\n\nchanting.\nSRlLA PRABHUPADA: Yes, the more you become purified,\n\nthe more y ou will feel ecstasy . This chanting process is the\npurifying process.\n\n__;;._\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0069": "SIX\n\nThe Perfect Devotee\nFebruary 29, 1972, evening\nSYAMASUNDARA: Srila Prabhupada, this afternoon we\n\nwere discussing austerities.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Mm?\nSYAMASUNDARA: If we don't practice austerities volun­\n\ntarily, then we must involuntarily practice some austerities.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Yes, under the direction of the spiri­\n\ntual master one should ...You\nhave no mind to follow\n•\n\nausterities, but when you accept a spiritual master, you have\nto carry out his order. That is austerity.\nSYAMASUNDARA: Even if you don't want to practice\n\nausterity, you must.\nSRiLA·PRABHUPADA: Yes, you must.Because you have sur­\n\nrendered to your spiritual master, his order is final.So even\nif you don't like it, you have to do it.To please me.\nSYAMASUNDARA: Ah.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: But you don't like ..\n\n.\n\n[He laughs.)\n\nNobody likes to fast, but the spiritual master says, \"Today,\nfasting,\" so what can be done? [Syamasundara laughs.] A disciple is one who has voluntarily agr�ed to be disciplined by\nthe spiritual master. That is austerity.\nSYAMASUNDARA: Say, like our parents or many people in\n\nthe material world, completely enamored by the material\n49\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0070": "SO\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nlife-they don't want to undergo austerity or bodily pain,\nbut still they must. They are being forced by nature to\nsuffer austerities.\nsRiLA PRABHUPAI>A: That is forced austerity. That is not\ngood. Voluntary austerity will help.\nSYAMASUNDARA: If you don't undergo voluntary austerity,\nthen you must be forced to undergo austerity.\nSRiLA PRABHUPAI>A: That is the difference between man\nand animal. An animal cannot accept austerity. But a man\ncan accept it. There is a nice foodstuff in the confectioner's\nshop, so a man wants to eat it, but he sees that he has no\nmoney, so he can restrain himself. But when a cow comes,\nimmediately she pushes her mouth in. You can beat her\nwith a stick, but she will tolerate it. She will do that.\nTherefore an\n\nanimal\n\ncannot\n\nundergo austerity.\n\nOur\n\nausterity is very nice. We chant Hare Knl)a, dance, and\nKr�t:la sends very nice foodstuffs, and we eat. That's all.\nWhy are your people not agreeable to such austerity?\nChanting, dancing and eating nicely?\nBOB: What is that?\nsRiLA PRABHUPADA: Because we are following austerities,\nK.r�t:la sends us nice things. So we are not losers. When you\nbecome K.r�t:la-ized, then you get more comforts than at the\npresent moment. That's a fact. I have been living alone for\nthe last twenty years, but I have no difficulties. Before taking sannyilsa I was living in Delhi. So I had no difficulties,\nalthough I was living alone.\nSYAMASUNDARA: If you don't accept spiritual discipline,\nthen nature will force so many calamities.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Oh, yes. That is stated in the\nBhagavad-gita:\n\n,, '\n\n•.-.·-...... ___\n·-\n\n. _\n\n___________\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0071": "The PerfJct Devotee\n\n51\n\ndaivi hy e$ii gutuJmayi\nmama maya duratyayti\nmam eva ye prapadyante\nmaydm etdm taranti te\n[\"This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes\nof material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who\nhave surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.\"]\n\nMiiyti is imposing so many difficulties, but as soon as you\nsurrender to Knt:ta, no more imposition.\nSYAMASUNDARA: We were so foolish that we were always\n\nthinking, \"In the future I'll be happy. \"\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Yes, that is mayii, illusion. That is like\n\nthe ass. You sit down on the back of the ass and just take a\nmorsel of grass. The ass is thinking, \"Let me go forward a\nlittle, and I shall get the grass.\" [Bob laughs.] But it is always\none foot distant. That is ass-i;m, [They all laugh.] Everyone\nis thinking, \"Let me go a little forward, and I'll get it. I'll be\nvery happy.\"\nBOB: I . . .\n\nI thank you so much for . . .\n\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Hmm?\nBOB: Tomorrow I'll have to leave you andSRILA PRABHUPADA: Don't talk 1-e-a-v-e, but talk 1-i-v-e.\nBOB: I cannot yet, but I was thinking now of returning\n\ntomorrow to my town. But . . .\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Don't return.\nBOB: I should stay here tomorrow-here?\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Stay here.\nBOB: You tell me to, I'll stay.\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Yes, you are a very good boy. (There is\n\na long pause. It is now much quieter.] It is very simple. When\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0072": "52\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nthe living entities forget Kr�l).a, they are in this material\nworld. Kr�l).a means His name, His form, His abode, His\npastimes-everything.\nBOB: What was that last?\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Ah? Pastimes.\nBOB: Pastimes.\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: When we speak of a king, it means\n\nthe king's government, king's palace, king's queen, king's\nsons, secretaries, military strength-everything. Is it not?\nBOB: Yes.\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Similarly, Knl).a being the Supreme\n\nPersonality of Godhead, as soon as we think of Knl).a, this\nmeans all the energies of Kr�l).a. That is complete by saying,\n\"Ridha-Kr�l).a.\" Radha represents all the energy of Knl).a.\nAnd Knl).a is the Supreme Lord. So when we speak of\nKr�l).a, the living entities are also included because the living entities are energies, different energies of Kr�l).asuperior energy. So when this energy is not serving the energetic, that is material existence. The whole world is not\nserving Knl).a. They are serving Knl).a in a different way.\nThey are serving indirectly, just as disobedient citizens\nserve the government indirectly. Prisoners come to the\nprison house on account of their disobedience of the laws of\nthe state. So, in the prison house, they are forced to obey the\nlaws of the state. Similarly, all the living entities here are\ngodless, either by ignorance or by choice. They do not like\nto accept the supremacy of God. Demoniac; So we are trying to bring them to their original condition. That is the\nKnl).a consciousness movement.\nBOB: I'd like to ask y ou just something I talked with devo­\n\ntees about-medicine. I walked to the river with some\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0073": "The Perfect Devotee\n\n53\n\ndevotees today.fh ave a cold, so I said I shouldn't go in the\nwater.Some felt I should because it is the Ganges, and some\nsaid I shouldn't because I have a cold, and we were talking,\nand I don't understand.Do we get sick because of our bad\nactions in the past?\nSRILA PRABHUPAI>A: Yes, that's a fact.\nBOB: But when one ...\nSRILA PRABHUPAI>A: Any kind of distress we suffer is due\n\nto our impious activities in the past.\nBOB:\n\nBut when\n\nsomeon e is removed\n\nfrom karmic\n\ninfluence ...\nSRILA PRABHUPAI>A: Yes?\nBOB:\n\n... does he still get sick?\n\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: No.Even if he gets sick, that is very\n\ntemporary.For instance, this fan is moving.If y ou disconnect the electric pow&r, then the fan will move for a\nmoment.That movement is not due to the electric current. That is force-what is it called, phy sically, this\nforce?\nSYAMASUNDARA: Momentum.\nSRILA PRAB' UPADA: Momentum.But as soon as it stops,\n\nno more mo.., :ment.Similarly, even if a devotee who has\nsurrendered to KHI;la is suffering from material consequences, that is temporary.Therefore, a devotee does not\ntake any material miseries as miseries.He takes them as\nKr�Qa's, God's, mercy.\nBOB: A perfected soul, a devotee, a pure devotee . . .\nSRILA PRABHUPAI>A: A perfected soul is one who engages\n\ntwenty-four hours a day in KHQa consciousness.That is\nperfection.That is a transcendental position.Perfection\nmeans to engage in one's original consciousness.That is\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0074": "r\n\nJ\n\n54\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nperfection. That is stated in Bhagavad-gitd:\n\nsve sve karma�;�y abhiratab\nsamsiddhim labhate narab\n\"By following his qualities of work, every man can become\nperfect.\" Complete perfection. Samsiddhi. Siddhi is perfection. That is Brahman realization, spiritual realization. And\n\nsamsiddhi means devotion, which comes after Brahman\nrealization.\nBOB: Could you just say that last thing again please?\nSlliLA PRABHUPADA: Samsiddhi.\nBOB: Yes.\nSlliLA PRABHUPADA: Sam means complete.\nBOB: Yes.\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: And siddhi means perfection. In the\nBhagavad-gitii it is stated that one who goes back to home,\nback to Godhead, has attained the complete perfection. So\nperfection comes when one realizes that he is not this body;\nhe is spirit soul. Brahma-bhuta-that is called Brahman\nrealization. That is perfection. And samsiddhi comes after\nBrahman realization, when one engages in devotional service. Therefore if one is already engaged in devotional service, it is to be understood that Brahman realization is\nthere. Therefore it is called samsiddhi.\nBOB: I ask you this very humbly, but do you feel diseases\nand sickness?\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Hm-m?\nBOB: Do you personally feel disease and sickness?\nSRlLA PRABHUPADA: Yes.\nBOB: Is this a result of your past karma?\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Yes.\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0075": "\\\nThe Perfect Devotee\n\n55\n\nBOB: So one in this material world never escapes his karma\n\ncompletely?\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Yes, he escapes.No more karma for a\n\ndevotee.No more karmic reaction.\nBOB: But you must be the best devotee.\nSRILA PRABHUPAI>A: Hm-m ...No, I don't consider\n\nmyself the best devotee.I am the lowest.\nBOB: No!\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: You are the best devotee.\nBOB: [Laughs.] Oh, no, no! But, see, you say-what you\n\nsay ...always seems right.\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Yes.\nBOB: Then you must be the best devotee.\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: The thing is that even the best devo­\n\ntee, when he preaches, comes to the second-class platform\nof a devotee.\nBOB: What would the b�st devotee be doing?\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: The best devotee does not preach.\nBOB: What does he do?\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: He sees that there is no need of\n\npreaching. For him, everyone is a devotee. [Bob laughs\n\nheartily.] Yes, he sees no more nondevotees-all devotees.\nHe is called an uttama-adhikiiri. But while I am preaching,\nhow can I say I am the best devotee? Just like Ridhara�;�lShe does not see anyone as a nondevotee.Therefore we try\nto approach Radhara�;�l.\nBOB: Who is this?\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: RidharaQ.l, i{f$Q.a's consort.\nBOB: Ah.\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: If anyone approaches Ridhara�;�i, She\n\nrecommends to Kn�;�a, \"Here is the best devotee.He is\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0076": "56\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nbetter than Me,\" and Kn1,1a cannot refuse him. That is the\nbest devotee. But it is not to be imitated: \"I have become\nthe best devotee. \"\nisvare tad-adhine?U\nbali5e$U dvi?atsu ca\nprema-maitri-krpopek?ti\nyab karoti sa madhyamab\n[Bhag.\n\n11.2.46]\n\nA second-class devotee has the vision that some are envious\n\nof God, but this is not the vision of the best devotee. The\nbest devotee sees, \"Nobody is envious of God. Everyone is\nbetter than me.\" Just like\n\nCaitanya-caritamrta's author,\n\nl4�1.1adasa Kaviraja. He says, \"I am lower than the worm in\nthe stool.\"\nBOB: Who is saying this?\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Kn1,1adasa Kaviraja, the author of\n\nCaitanya-caritamrta: puri?era kita haite muni se laghi?tha. He is\nnot making a show. He is feeling like that. \"I am the lowest.\nEveryone is best, but I am the lowest. Everyone is engaged\nin l4�1.1a's service. I am not engaged.\" Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, \"Oh, I have not a pinch of devotion to Kr�1,1a. I\ncry to make a show. I f I had been a devotee of Kr�1,1a, I\nwould have died long ago. But I am living. That is the proof\nthat I do not love Kn1,1a.\" That is the vision of the best\ndevotee. He is so much absorbed in Kn1.1a's love that he\nsays, \"Everything is going on, but I am the lowest.\nTherefore I cannot see God.\" That is the best devotee.\nBOB: So a devotee must work for everybody's liberation?\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Yes. A devotee must work under the\n\ndirection of a bona fide spiritual master, not imitate the best\ndevotee.\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0077": "The Perfect Devotee\n\n57\n\nBOB: Excuse me?\nSlliLA PRABHUPAI>A: One should not imitate the best\n\ndevotee.\nBOB: Imitate. Oh. I see.\nSYAMASUNDARA: One time you said that sometimes you\n\nfeel sickness or pain due to the sinful activities of your\ndevotees. Can sometimes disease be due to that? Caused by\nthat?\nSRlLA PRABHUPAI>A: You see, KnQ.a says:\n\naham tvath sarva-papebhyo\nmok$ayi$ydmi ma suca�\n\"I will deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.\" So\n\nKHQ.a is so powerful that He can immediately take up all\nthe sins of others and immediately make them right. But\nwhen a living entity plays the part on behalf of i{r$Q.a, he\nalso takes the responsib�lity for the sinful activities of his\ndevotees. Therefore to become a guru is not an easy task.\nYou see? He has to take all the poisons and absorb them. So\nsometimes- because he is not KHQ.a-sometimes there is\nsome trouble. Therefore Caitanya Mahaprabhu has forbidden, \"Don't make many 5i$yas, many disciples.\" But for\npreaching work we have to accept many disciples-for expanding preaching-even if we suffer. That's a fact. The\nspiritual master has to take the responsibility for all the sinful activities of his disciples. Therefore to make many disciples is a risky job unless one is able to assimilate all the sins.\nvaiicha-kalpa-tarubhyas ca\nkrpa-sindhubhya eva ca\npatitanath pavanebhyo\nvai$tu�Vebhyo namo nama�\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0078": "58\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\n[\"I ofFer my respectful obeisances unto all the Vaigtava\ndevotees of the Lord. They are just like desire trees who can\nfulfill the desires of everyone, and they are full of compassion for the fallen conditioned souls.\"] He takes responsibility for all the fallen souls. That idea is also in the Bible.\nJesus Christ took all the sinful reactions of the people and\nsacrificed his life. That is the responsibility of a spiritual\nmaster. Because Knt:ta is Kr�t:ta, He is\n\napiipa viddha-He\n-\n\ncannot be attacked by sinful reactions. But a living entity is\nsometimes subjected to their influence because he is so\nsmall. Big fire, small fire. If you put some big thing in a\nsmall fire, the fire itself may be extinguished. But in a big\nfire, whatever you put in is all right. The big fire can consume anything.\nBOB: Christ's sufFering was of that nature?\n\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Mm-m?\nBOB: Was Christ's sufFering-\n\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: That I have already explained. He\ntook the sinful reactions of all the people. Therefore he\nsufFered.\nBOB:\n\nI see.\n\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: He said-that is in the Bible-that\nhe took all the sinful reactions of the people and sacrificed\nhis life. But these Christian people have made it a law for\nChrist to sufFer while they do all nonsense. [Bob gives a short\n\nlaugh.] Such great fools they are! They have let Jesus Christ\nmake a contract for taking all their sinful reactions so they\ncan go on with all nonsense. That is their religion. Christ\nwas so magnanimous that he took all their sins and sufFered,\nbut that does not induce them to stop all these sins. They\nhave not come to that sense. They have taken it very easily.\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0079": "The Perfect Devotee\n\n59\n\n\"Let Lord Jesus Christ suffer, and we'll do all nonsense.\" Is\nit not?\nBOB: It is so.\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: They should have been ashamed:\n\n\"Lord Jesus Christ suffered for us, but we are continuing\nthe sinful activities.\" He told everyone, \"Thou shalt not\nkill;' but they are indulging in killing, thinking, \"Lord\nJesus Christ will excuse us and take all the sinful reactions.\"\nThis is going on. We should be very much cautious: \"For\nmy sinful actions my spiritual master will suffer, so I'll not\ncommit even a pinch of sinful activities.\" That is the duty of\nthe disciple. After initiation, all sinful reaction is finished.\nNow if he again commits sinful activities, his spiritual\nmaster has to suffer. A disciple should be sympathetic and\nconsider this. \"For my sinful activities, my spiritual master\nwill suffer.\" If the spiritual master is attacked by some dis­\n\nease, it is due to the sinful activities of others. \"Don't make\nmany disciples.\" But we do it because we are preaching.\nNever mind-let us suffer-still we shall accept them.\n\nTherefore your question was-when I suffer is it due to my\npast misdeeds? Was it not? That is my misdeed-that I accepted some disciples who are nonsense. That is my\nmisdeed.\nBOB: This happens on occasions?\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Yes. This is sure to happen because\n\nwe are accepting so many men. It is the duty of the disciples\nto be cautious. \"My spiritual master has saved me. I should\nnot put him again into suffering.\" When the spiritual\nmaster is in suffering, KHJ;la saves him. Kn1;1a thinks, \"Oh,\nhe has taken so much responsibility for delivering a fallen\nperson.\" So KHJ;la is there.\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0080": "60\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nkaunteya pratijiinihi\nna me bhaktab prat�a5yati\n\n[\"0 son of Kunti, declare it boldly that My devotee never\nperishes.\"] Because the spiritual master takes the risk on account of Krg1a.\nBOB: Your suffering is not the same kind of pain . . .\n\nSIULA PRABHUPADA: No, it is not due to karma. The pain is\nthere sometimes, so that the disciples may know, \"Due to\nour sinful activities, our spiritual master is suffering.\"\nBOB: You look very well now.\n\nSIULA PRABHUPADA: I am always well . . .\n\nin the sense\n\nthat even if there is suffering, I know Kn�a will protect\nme. But this suffering is not due to my sinful activities.\nBOB: But let us say when l-in the town I live in, I take\n\nboiled water because some of the water has disease in it.\nNow, why should I drink boiled water if I have been good\nenough not to get a disease? Then I may drink any water.\nAnd if I have been not acting properly, then I shall get disease anyway.\n\nSIULA PRABHUPADA: So long as you are in the material\nworld, you cannot neglect physical laws. Suppose you go to\na jungle and there is a tiger. It is known that it will attack\nyou, so why should you voluntarily go and be attacked? It is\nnot that a devotee should take physical risk so long as he has\na physical body. It is not a challenge to the physical laws: \"I\nhave become a devotee. I challenge everything.\" That is\nfoolishness.\n\naniisaktasya vi$ayiin\nyathiirham upayunjatab\nnirbandhab kr$�-sambandhe\nyuktam vairiigyam ucyate\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0081": "The Perfect Devotee\n\n61\n\nThe devotee is advised to accept the necessities of life without attachment. He'll take boiled water, but if boiled water\nis not available, does it mean he will not drink water? If it\nis not available, he will drink ordinary water. We take\nKnQa prasiida, but while touring, sometimes we have to take\nsome food in a hotel. Because one is a devotee, should he\nthink, \"I will not take any foodstuffs from the hotel. I shall\nstarve\"? If I starve, then I will be weak and will not be able\nto preach.\nBOB: Does a devotee lose some of his individuality, in\n\nthatSRILA PRABHUPAI>A: No, he has full individuality for\n\npleasing Kt'�Qa. KnQa say s, \"You surrender unto Me.\" So he\nvoluntarily surrenders. It is not that he has lost his individuality. He keeps his individuality. Just like Arjuna-in\nthe beginning, he was declining to fight, on account of his\n•\n\nindividuality. But when he accepted !4g1a as his spiritual\nmaster, he became 5i$ya [a disciple]. Then whatever Kt'�Qa\nordered, he said y es. That doesn't mean he lost his individuality.\n\nHe voluntarily accepted: \"Whatever· Kr�Qa\n\nsay s, I shall do it.\" Just like all my disciples-they have not\nlost their individuality, but they have surrendered their individuality. That is required. For example, suppose a man\ndoes not use sex. It does not mean he has become impotent.\nIf he likes, he can have sex life a thousand times. But he has\nvoluntarily avoided it. Param dmva nivartate: he has a higher\ntaste. Sometimes we fast, but that does not mean we are diseased. We voluntarily fast. It does not mean that I am not\nhungry or cannot eat. But we voluntarily fast.\nBOB: Does the devotee who surrenders keep his individual\n\ntaste?\nSRILA PRABHUPAI>A: Yes, in full.\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0082": "62\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nBOB: Taste for different things?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Hm?\nBOB: Does he keep his individual likes and dislikes?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Yes, he keeps everything. But he\n\ngives preference to KntJ.a. Suppose I like this thing but\n!4�1J.a says, \"No, you cannot use it. \" Then I shall not use it.\nIt is for KntJ.a's sake.\nnirbandhab km;�a-sambandhe\nyuktam vairagyam ucyate\n!4�1J.a says positively, \"I like these things.\" So we have to\noffer to KnQ.a what He likes, and then we'll take prasada.\nI4$1J.a likes RadharaQ.i. Therefore all the gopis, they are trying to push RadharaQ.i to KntJ.a. \"I4$1J.a likes this gopi. All\nright, push Her.\" That is !4�1J.a consciousness. To satisfy\nthe senses of KntJ.a, not to satisfy my senses. That is bhakti.\nThat is called prema, love for KntJ.a. \"Ah, !4�1J.a likes this. I\nmust give Him this.\"\nBOB: There is some prasada [food offered to KntJ.a]. It's\n\noffered, and then we go and eat, and different prasadams are\nserved. Some I like, and some I find the taste not at all to my\nliking.\nSR.ILA PRABHUPADA: You should not do that. The perfec­\n\ntion is that whatever is offered to KntJ.a you should accept.\nThat is perfection. You cannot say, \"I like this, I don't like\nthis.\" So long as you make such discrimination, that means\ny ou have not appreciated what prasada is.\nA DEVOTEE: What if there is someone speaking of likes\n\nand dislikes? Say someone is preparing some prasada . . .\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: No disliking, no liking. Whatever\n\nI4$1J.a likes, that's all right.\nA DEVOTEE: Yes. But say someone prepares something,\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0083": "The Perfect Devotee\n\n63\n\nlike some prasada for 14�t:ta, but he does not make it so good;\nand it is�RILA PRABHUPADA: No, if made sincerely with devotion,\n\nthen Knt:ta will like it.Just like Vidu.Vidu was feeding\nKnt:ta bananas, but he was so absorbed in thought that he\nwas throwing away the real bananas and he was giving\nKnt:ta the skin, and 14�t:ta was eating. [All laugh.] Knt:ta\nknew that he was giving in devotion, and Knt:ta can eat\nanything, provided there is devotion.It does not matter\nwhether it is materially tasteful or not.Similarly, a devotee\nalso takes Kr�t:ta prasada, whether it is materially tasteful or\nnot.We should accept everything.\nA DEVOTEE: But if the devotion is not there, like in\n\nIndia ...\nSR.ILA PRABHUPADA: If devotion is not there, He doesn't\n\nlike any food, either tasteful or not tasteful.He does not ac•\n\ncept it.\n\nA DEVOTEE: In India ... SomebodySR.ILA PRABHUPADA: Oh, India, India.Don't talk of India!\n\nTalk of philosophy.If there is not devotion, 14�t:ta does not\naccept anything, either in India or in your country.Lord\nKnt:ta is not obliged to accept anything costly because it is\nvery tasty. Knt:ta\n\nhas\n\nvery\n\nmany\n\ntasteful\n\ndishes in\n\nVaikut:ttha.He is not hankering after your food.He accepts\nyour devotion, bhakti. The real thing is devotion, not the\nfood.Krsna does not accept any food of this material world.\nHe accepts only the devotion.\n\npatrath pu$pam phalam toyam\nyo me bhaktyii prayacchati\ntad aham bhakty-upahrtam\nasniimi prayatiitmanab\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0084": "64\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\n[\"If one offers Me with love and devotion a lea( a Bower,\nfruit or water, I will accept it.\"] \"Because it has been\noffered to Me with devotion and love\"-that is required.\nTherefore we do not allow anyone to cook who is not a\ndevotee. Kf�Qa does not accept anything from the hands of a\nnondevotee. Why should He accept? He is not hungry. He\ndoes not require any food. He accepts only the devotion,\nthat's all. That is the main point. So one has to become a\ndevotee. Not a good cook. But if he is a devotee, then he\nwill be a good cook also. Automatically he will become a\ngood cook. Therefore one has to become a devotee only.\nThen all other good qualifications will automatically be\nthere. And if he is a nondevotee, any good qualifications\nhave no value. He is on the mental plane, so he has no good\nqualification. [There is a long pause in the conversation.]\nSRlLA PRABHUPADA: And the time?\nSYAMASUNDARA: Six o'clock.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Questions and answers are required.\n\nThey are beneficial to all.\nBOB: I still have a question on the prasiida.\nSRlLA PRABHUPADA: Siita Gosvimi says:\n\nmunayab sadhu pmo 'ham\nbhavadbhir loka-matigalam\nyat krtab kmra-samprasno\nyenatma suprasidati\n[\"0 sages, I have been justly questioned by you. Your questions are worthy because they relate to Lord KnQa and so\nare relevant to the world's welfare. Only questions of this\nsort are capable of completely satisfying the self.\"] Kmrasamprasnab, that is very good. When you discuss and hear,\nthat is loka-matigalam, auspicious for everyone. Both tht\"\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0085": "The Perfect Devotee\n\n65\n\nquestions and the answers.\n\nBOB: I still do not understand so much about prasilda. But if\nyou like I'll think about it and ask y ou again tomorrow.\n\n�RILA PRABHUPADA: Prasada is always prasilda. But because\nwe are not elevated sufficiently, therefore we do not like\nsome prasada.\n\nBOB: I found specifically that what I mean-that some are\ntoo spicy, and it hurts my stomach.\n\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Well . . . That is also due to not\nappreciating, but the cook should have consideration. Km1a\nmust be offered first-class foodstuffs. So if he offers something last class, he is not performing his duty. But Kn1.1a can\naccept anything if it is offered by a devotee, and a devotee\ncan accept any prasada, even if it is spicy. Hiral_lyakasipu\ngave his son poison [and the son offered it to Kn1.1al. and\nthe son drank it as nectar. So even if it is spicy to others'\ntaste, it is very palatable t� the devotee. What is the question of spicy? He was offered poison, real poison. And\nPiltana Rak�asi-she also offered l4�1.1a poison. But Kn1.1a\nis so nice that He thought, \"She took Me as My mother,\" so\nHe took the poison and delivered her. Kr�1.1a does not take\nthe bad side. A good man does not take the bad side-he\ntakes\n\nonly\n\nthe good\n\nside. Just like one of my\n\nbig\n\nGodbrothers-he wanted to make business with my Guru\nMaharaja [spiritual master], but my Guru Maharaja did not\ntake the bad side. He took the good side. He thought, \"He\nhas come forward to give me some service.\"\nBOB: Business with your-what was that? Business with\n\nwho?\n\nSRILA PRABHUPADA:\n\nI\n\nam\n\ntalking\n\nabout\n\nmy\n\nGuru\n\nMaharaja.\nBOB: Oh, I see. I have another question on prasada, if I may.\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0086": "66\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nLet us say some devotee has some trouble and does not eat a\ncertain type of food-like some devotees do not eat ghee because of liver trouble. So these devotees, should they take all\nthe prastida?\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: No, no. Those who are not perfect\n\ndevotees may discriminate. But a perfect devotee does not\ndiscriminate. Why should you imitate a perfect devotee? So\nlong as you have discrimination, you are not a perfect devotee. So why should you artificially imitate a perfect devotee\nand eat everything?\nBOB: Oh.\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: The point is, a perfect devotee does\n\nnot make any discrimination. Whatever is offered to Knl)a\nis nectar. That's all. l{r�l)a accepts anything from a devotee.\n\"Whatever is offered to Me by My devotee,\" He accepts.\nThe same thing for a devotee. Don't you see the point? A\nperfect devotee does not make any discrimination. But if I\nam not a perfect devotee and I have discrimination, why\nshall I imitate the perfect devotee? It may not be possible\nfor me to digest everything because I am not a perfect devotee. A devotee should not be a foolish man. It is said:\n\nkr�t�a ye bhaje se ba!la catura\nSo a devotee knows his position, and he is intelligent\nenough to deal with others accordingly.\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0087": "SEVEN\n\nActing in Knowledge of Kr�oa\nFebruary 29, 1972\n(evening, continued)\n\nAN INDIAN GENTLEMAN: By what kind of actions does\n\none earn good karma?\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Goo d\n\nka rma means what is\n\nprescribed in the Vedas. Specifically, it is prescribed that one\nshould perform yajfia. Yajfia means actions for the satisfaction of Lord Vi�I:J,u, the �upreme Personality of Godhead. So\ngood karma means performance of the yajfias as they are\nprescribed in the Vedic literatures. And the purpose of this\n\nyajna is to satisfy the Supreme Lord. A good, law-abiding\ncitizen is one whose actions satisfy the government. So,\ngood karma is to satisfy Lord Vi�I:J,u, the Supreme Lord. Unfortunately, modern civilization does not know what the\nSupreme Personality of Godhead is, what to speak of\nsatisfying Him. People do not know. They are simply busy\nwith material activities. Therefore all of them are performing only bad karma and therefore suffering. They are blind\nmen leading other blind men. And both are then suffering\nby bad karma. That is very easy to understand. If you do\nsomething criminal, you will suffer. If you do something\nbenevolent for the state, for the people, then you are recognized; you are sometimes given a title. This is good and bad\n67\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0088": "68\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nkarma. So, good karma means you enjoy some material happiness; bad karma means you suffer from material distress.\nBy good karma you get birth in a good family; you get\nriches, good money.Then you become a learned scholar;\nyou become beautiful also.\n\n[Some time passes.]\nBOB: What about the person who-who is not very aware\nof God, but ...\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Then he is an animal.The animal\ndoes not know what is good.A person who does not know\nwhat is God, or one who does not try to understand what is\nGod-he is an animal.The animals are with four legs, and\nthat animal is with two legs.And Darwin's theory is they\nare monkeys.So anyone who does not know God, or does\nnot try to understand God, is nothing but an animal.\nBOB: What about the innocent people?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: The animal is very innocent.If you\ncut its throat, it won't protest.So innocence is not a very\ngood qualification.The animals are all innocent.Therefore\nyou get the chance to cut their throats.So to become innocent is not a very good qualification.Our proposition is that\none must be very, very intelligent, and then he can understand Kn�a.To become an innocent, ignorant simpleton is\nnot a very good qualification.Simplicity is all right, but one\nshould not be unintelligent.\nBOB: Can you tell me again what intelligence is?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Intelligence means ... One who\nknows what he is, what is this world, what is God, what are\nthe interrelations-he is intelligent.The animal does not\nknow what he is.He thinks that he is the body.Similarly, anyone who does not know what he is, he is not\nintelligent.\n\nll\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0089": "Acting in Knowledge of Kn,.aa\n\n69\n\nBOB: What about a person who does-tries to do-what· s\n\nright and is very conscientious instead of h.:ing unconscio.•s\nabout the things he does? Like the servant who is very\nhonest to his master but knows that if he were not honest he\nwould not be caught. If he stays honest anyway . . . a person like that? Is that some kind of good karma?\nsRiLA PRABHUPADA: Yes, to become honest is also good\n\nkarma. How to become a good man is described in the\nBhagavad-gitii very elaborately.\ndaivi sampad vimo/qiiya\nnibandhiiyiisuri matii\nSo if you become qualified with the daivi sampad (transcendental qualities) , then, vimok$iiya-you will be liberated.\nAnd, nibandhiiyiisuri-if you are qualified with the demoniac\nqualifications, then you will be more and more entangled.\nUnfortunately the moder n civilization does not know what\nis liberation and what is entanglement. They are so much\nignorant; they do not know. Suppose if I ask you what you\nmean by liberation, can you answer? [No answer.] And if I\nask you what you mean by entanglement, can you answer?\n\n[Again no answer.] These words are there in the Vedic\nliterature-liberation and entanglement-but, at the present moment, people do not even know what is liberation\nand what is entanglement. They are so ignorant and\nfoolish, and still they are proud of their advancement in\nknowledge. Can you answer what is liberation? You are a\nprofessor, teacher, but if I ask you, can you explain what is\n\n'I\n\nI\n\nliberation?\nBOB: Not adequately because if I could explain, then I\n\nwould become liberated very fast.\nsRiLA PRABHUPADA: But if you do not know what is\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0090": "71)\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nliberation, then how fast or slow liberation?\n\n[Everyone\n\nlaugh] There is no question of liberation.It is neither fast\nnor slow.You should first know what is liberation.If y ou do\nnot know where the train is going, then what is the use of\nasking, understanding, whether it is going fast or slow? You\ndo not know your destination.What is liberation?\nBOB:Umm ...\nSRlLA PRABHUPADA: I am asking.You daily ask me. I am\n\nasking you.\nBOB: [Laughs.] Ah-okay ... I'll think for a moment.\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Liberation is described in the Srimad­\n\nBhagavatam. The exact Sanskrit word for liberation is mukti.\nSo that is defined in the Srimad-Bhagavatam.\nmuktir hitvanyatha raparil\nsvarapet:�a vyavasthitib\nOne should stop doing all nonsense, and he must be situated\nin his original position.But this is also more embarrassing\nbecause nobody knows his original position and how to act\nproperly.Because people are generally acting differently,\nbecause they do not know what is proper-the modern\npopulation is so much ignorant about their life-it is a very\nawkward position.They do not know.\nBOB: Can you tell me who is honest?\nSRlLA PRABHUPADA: If one does not know what is\n\nhonesty, how can he be honest? But if you know what is\nhonesty, then you can be honest.What is honesty? First of\nall explain.\nBOB: Aaah, ummm-Honesty is doing what you really feel\n\nis right.\nSRlLA PRABHUPADA: A thief is feeling, \"I must steal to\n\nprovide for my children.It is right.\" Does it mean that he is\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0091": "Acting in Knowledge of Kn�a\n\n71\n\nhonest? Everyone thinks-The butcher thinks, \"It is my\nlife. I must cut the throat of the animals daily. \" Just like\nthat-what is that hunter? And Narada Muni met him?\nSYAMASUNDARA: Mrgari.\nSIULA PRABHUPADA: Yes,\n\nMrgari. Narada asked him,\n\n\"Why are you killing in this way?\" And he said, \"Oh, it is\nmy business. My father taught it.\" So he was honestly doing\nthat. So a feeling of honesty depends on culture. A thiePs\nculture is different. He thinks stealing is honest.\nBOB: So what is honesty?\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Yes, that is my question.\n\n[Everyone\nlaughs.] Real honesty is that you should not encroach upon\n\nanother's property. This is honesty. For instance, this is my\ntable. If you want to take it away while going, is that\nhonesty? So therefore the simple definition of honesty is\nthat you should not encroach upon another's rights. That is\nhonesty.\n\n•\n\nBOB: So somebody who is honest would be in the mode of\n\ngoodness? Would that be correct?\nSIULA PRABHUPADA: Certainly,\n\ncertainly. Because the\n\n. mode of goodness means knowledge. So if you know, \"This\ntable does not belong to me; it belongs to Svamiji,\" you will\nnot try to take it away. Therefore, one must know-be\nthoroughly well conversant-then he can be honest.\nBOB: So, now you have said the mode of goodness was\n\nknowledge of God, but somebody may be honest without\nhaving very much knowledge of God.\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Hm-m?\nBOB: Without-without being honest-without thinking\n\nthey are honest because it is God's wishes-they just feel\nlike they ought to be honest.\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Mmm. God wishes everyone to be\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0092": "72\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nhonest. W hy should God think otherwise?\nBOB: So . . . so you may follow God's wishes without\n\nknowing you are following God's wishes? Like somebody\nmay be in the mode . . .\nSRiLA PRABHUPAI>A: No, following without knowingthat is absurd. You must know the order of God. And if you\nfollow that, then that is honesty.\nBOB: But somebody would not be honest without knowing\n\nGod?\nsRiLA PRABHUPADA: Yes, because God is the supreme\nproprietor, the supreme enjoyer, and He is the supreme\nfriend. That is the statement of the Bhagavad-gita. If anyone\nknows these three things, then he is in full knowledge.\nThese three things only: that God is the proprietor of\neverything, God is friend of everyone, and God is the enjoyer of everything. For example, everyone knows that in\nthe body, the stomach is the enjoyer. Not the hands, legs,\neyes, ears. These are there simply to help the stomach.\nEyes-the vulture goes seven miles up to see where there is\nfood for the stomach. Is it not?\nBOB: That is so.\n\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Then the wings fly there, and the\njaws catch the food. Similarly, as in this body the stomach is\nthe enjoyer, the\n\ncentral\n\nfigure of the whole\n\ncosmic\n\nmanifestation, material or spiritual, is Kr�Q.a, God. He is the\nenjoyer. We can understand this just by considering our\nown bodies. The body is also a creation. The body has the\nsame mechanical nature you will find in the whole universe. The same mechanical arrangement will be found\nanywhere you go, even in animals. In the human body or in\nthe cosmic manifestation-almost the same mechanism. So\nyou can understand very easily that in this body-my body,\n\nl\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0093": "Acting in Knowledge of Kn�a\n\n73\n\nyour body-the stomach is the enjoyer. There is a central\nenjoyer. And the stomach is the friend also. Because if you\ncannot digest food, you see, then all other limbs of the body\nbecome weak. Therefore the stomach is the friend. It is\ndigesting and distributing the energy to all the limbs of the\nbody. Is it not?\nBOB: It is so.\nsR.iLA PRABHUPADA: Similarly, the central stomach of the\n\nwhole creation is God, or Kr�t;ta. He is the enjoyer, He is the\nfriend, and, as the supreme prop�ietor, He is maintaining\neveryone. Just as a king can maintain the whole country's\ncitizens because he is the proprietor. Without being the\nproprietor, how can one become everyone's friend? So these\nthings have to be understood. Kt\"�t;ta is the enjoyer, Kr�t;ta is\nthe proprietor, and Knt;ta is the friend. If you know these\nthree things, then your knowledge is full; you do not re•\n\nquire to understand anything more.\nyasmin vijiidte sarvam evam vijiidtam bhavati\nIf you simply understand Knt;ta by these three formulas,\nthen your knowledge is complete. You don't require any\nmore knowledge. But people will not agree. \"Why should\nKnt;ta be the proprietor? Hitler should be the proprietor.\nNixon . . .\" That is going on. Therefore you are in trouble. But if you understand these three things only, then\nyour knowledge is complete. But you will not accept-you\nwill put forward so many impediments to understanding\nthese three things, and that is the cause of our trouble. But\nin the Bhagavad-gitti it is plainly said:\nbhoktaram yajna-tapasam\nsarva-loka-maheivaram\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0094": "illi\n\n74\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nsuhrdam sarva-bhutanam\njfuitvd mdm sdntim rcchati\n[\"The sages, knowing Me as the ultimate purpose of all\nsacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets\nand demigods and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attain peace from the pangs of material miseries.\"] But we won't take this. We shall put forward so\nmany false proprietors, false friends, false enjoyers, and\nthey will fight one another. This is the situation of the\nworld. If education is given and people take this knowledge, there is immediately peace\n\n(santim rcchati). This is\n\nknowledge, and if anyone follows this principle, he is\nhonest. He does not claim, \"It is mine.\" He knows everything: \"Oh, it is KHJ:.la's, so therefore everything should be\nutilized for KHJ:.la's service.\" That is honesty. If this pencil\nbelongs to me, the etiquette is-My students sometimes\nask, \"Can I use this pencil?\" \"Yes, you can.\" Similarly, if I\nknow that everything belongs to KHJ:.la, I will not use anything without His permission. That is honesty. And that is\nknowledge. One who does not know is ignorant; he is\nfoolish.\n\nAnd a foolish man commits criminality.\n\nAll\n\ncriminals are foolish men. Out of ignorance one commits\nlawbreaking. So ignorance is not bliss, but it is folly to be\nwise where ignorance is bliss. That is the difficulty. The\nwhole world is enjoying ignorance. And when you talk\nabout KHJ:.la consciousness, they do not very much appreciate it. If I say, \"Kr�J:.la is the proprietor; you are not the\nproprietor,\" you will not be very much satisfied.\n\n[They\n\nlaugh.] Just see-ignorance is bliss. So it is my foolishness to\nsay the real truth. Therefore it is folly to be wise where ignorance is bliss. So we are taking the risk of offending\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0095": "Acting in Knowledge of KnQa\n\n75\n\npeople,and they will think we are fools.If I say to a rich\nman,\"Y ou are not the proprietor.Kn1,1a is the proprietor,\nso whatever money you have,spend it for 14�1,1a,\" he will be\nangry.\n\nupadeso hi murkh�m\nprakopiiya na siintaye\n\"If you instruct a rascal,he'll be angry.\" Therefore we go as\nbeggars: \"My dear sir,you are a very nice man. I am a san­\n\nnyiisi beggar,so I want to construct a temple; Can you spare\nsome money?\" So he will think,\"Oh,here is a beggar.Give\nhim some money.\" [They laugh.] But if I say,\"Dear sir,you\nhave millions of dollars at your disposal. That is Kn1,1a's\nmoney. Give it\nhe'll .\n\nto me. I am l4�1.1a's servant.\" Oh,\n\n. . [Everyone laughs.] He will not be very satisfied.\n\nRather,if I go as a beggar,he will give me something.And\nif I tell him the truth,he will not give me a farthing.[They\nlaugh.] We convince him as beggars.We are not beggars.\nWe are Kn1,1a's servants.We don't want anything from\nanyone.Because we know Kf�l,la will provide everything.\nBOB: Oh-h ...\nsRiLA PRABHUPADA: This is knowledge.For instance,a\n\nchild will sometimes take something important,so we have\nto flatter him. \"Oh,you are so nice. Please take these\nlozenges and give me that paper.It is nothing; it is paper.\"\nAnd he will say,\"Oh,yes.Take.That's nice.\" Two-paise\nlozenges-very nice and sweet.So we have to do that.\nWhy? Because a man will go to hell by taking Kn1,1a's\nmoney.So some way or other,take some money from him\nand engage him in the Kn1,1a consciousness movement.\nBOB: And then he may not go to hell?\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Yes.You save him from going to hell.\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0096": "76\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nBecause a farthing spent for l{r�Qa will be accounted: \"Oh,\nthis man has given a farthing.\" This is called qjnata-sukrti\n[spiritual activity one performs unknowingly].They are\nvery poor in their thought.Therefore the saintly persons\nmove just to enlighten them a little.To give them a chance.\nGiving them a chance to serve KnQa.That is the saintly\nperson's duty.\n\nBOB: That is what?\nSRiLA PRABHUPAI>A: That is his duty.But if he takes\nmoney from others and utilizes it for his sense gratification,\nthen he goes to hell.Then it is finished.Then he is a\ncheater; actually he is a criminal.You cannot take money, a\nfarthing, from anyone, and use it for your own sense\ngratification.\n\nBOB: I think of people I know who are not l{r�Qa conscious.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: KnQa means God.\nBOB: They are just slightly God conscious, but still these\npeople are honest to the extent that they don't take from\nother people at all.And they try to be honest with other\npeople. Will these-\n\nsRiLA PRABHUPAI>A: He does not take from other people,\nbut he takes from God.\n\nBOB: So these people are half-good?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Hm-m?\nBOB: These people are then half-good?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Not good.If he does not learn this\nprinciple-that God is the proprietor ...Others' things?\nWhat do you mean, \"others' things\"?\n\nBOB: Like, people I'm thinking of-they're poor people\nwho need money and food but-\n\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Everyone needs money.Everyone\n\nb\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0097": "Acting in Knowledge of Kn�a\n\n77\n\nneeds it.Who is not poor? There are so many gentlemen\nsitting here.Who is not in need of money and food? You\nare also in need of money.So how do you distinguish poor\nfrom rich? Everyone needs it. If that is your definition ...If one needs money and food, then everyone\nneeds money and food.So everyone is poor.\nBOB: So, but, well-I was thinking in terms of just people\n\nwho are relatively poor.\nsRiLA PRABHUPAI>A: Relatively, relatively, maybe.You are\n\nmore hungry than me.That does not mean you are not\nhungry or I am not hungry.I do not feel hungry now.That\ndoes not mean I do not feel hungry or I am not hungry.For\nthe time being you may not be hungry.But tomorrow you'll\nbe hungry.\nBOB:\n\nWhat I feel is that-somehow these people­\n\nthat ...Everybody ar!>und them may be stealing, but\nthey still stand up and don't steal.These people somehow\ndeserve something good to happen to them.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: But the man who is thinking that he\n\nis not stealing is also a thief because he does not know that\neverything belongs to l4�1.1a.Therefore, whatever he is accepting, he is stealing.\nBOB: Is he less of a thief?\nsRiLA PRABHUPAI>A: You may not know that I am the\n\nproprietor of this wrapper, but if you take it away, are you\nnot stealing?\nBOB: But maybe if I know it is yours and I take it, I am a\n\nworse thief than if I do not know whose it is.I just think it\nmay be nobody's, and I take it.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: That is also stealing.Because it must\n\nbelong\n\nto\n\nsomebody. And\n\nyou\n\ntake\n\nit\n\nwithout\n\nhis\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0098": "78\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\npermission. You may not know exactly who is the proprietor, but you know, \"It must belong to someone.\" That is\nknowledge. Sometimes we see on the road so many valuable\nthings left there-government property for repairing roads\nor some electrical work. A man may think, \"Oh, fortunately these things are lying here, so I may take them.\" Is\nit not stealing?\nBCIB: It is stealing.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Yes. He does not know that this is all\n\ngovernment property. He takes it away. That is stealing.\nAnd when he is caught, he is arrested, and he is punished.\nSo, similarly, whatever you are collecting-suppose you are\ndrinking a glass of water from the river. Is the river your\nproperty?\nBOB: No.\nSRi LA PRABHUPADA: Then? It is stealing. You have not\n\ncreated the river. You do not know who is the proprietor.\nTherefore it is not your property. So, even if you drink a\nglass of water without knowing to whom it belongs, you are\na thief. So you may think, \"I am honest,\" but actually you\nare a thief. You must remember Kr�Q.a. \"Oh, KHQ.a, it is\nYour creation, so kindly allow me to drink.\" This is\nhonesty. Therefore a devotee always thinks of Kr�Q.a. In all\nactivities:\n\n,I1'1'\n\n\"Oh,\n\nit\n\nis Kr�Q.a's.\" This\n\nis\n\nhonesty. So\n\nwithout Kr$Q.a consciousness, everyone is a rascal, is a thief,\nis a rogue, is a robber. These qualifications. Therefore our\nconclusion is that anyone who does not understand Kr�Q.a\nhas no good qualifications. Neither is he honest, nor has he\nknowledge. Therefore he is a third-class man. Is that correct? What do you think, Giriraja?\nGIRIRAJA [a disciple]: Yes.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: This is not dogmatism. This is a fact.\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0099": "Acting in Knowledge of Kn�a\n\n79\n\n[Some time elapses.] So, you have understood what is knowledge ana what is honesty?\nBOB: l-in a way. In a way.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: And is there another way?\n\n(Bob\n\nlaughs.] Is there any other way? Defy it! [Bob laughs again.\nSri/a Prabhupada also laughs.] Another way? Giriraja?\nGIRIRAJA: No.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Is there an alternative? We do not\n\nsay anything that can be defied by anyone. That experience\nwe have. Rather, we defy everyone: \"Any questions?\" Till\nnow, Kn1.1a has given us protection. In big, big meetings in\nbig, big countries, after speaking I ask, \"Any questions?\"\nBOB: Now, I have none.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: In London, we had-how many\n\ndays' lectures in that-what is that? Conway Hall?\nA DEVOTEE: Twelve da)1. Conway Hall.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Conway Hall.\nA DEVOTEE: Twelve days.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Yes. So after every meeting I was\n\nasking, \"Any questions?\"\nBOB: Did you get many questions?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Oh, yes. Many foolish questions.\n\n[Everyone laughs.]\nBOB: Let me ask one more question. What is being foolish?\nsRiLA PRABHUPADA: One having no knowledge is to be\n\nconsidered foolish.\nAN INDIAN GENTLEMAN: Prabhupada, I have one personal\n\nquestion. Can I ask?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Yes.\nINDIAN GENTLEMAN: Some time ago in Calcutta they ob­\n\nserved a week-it was named \"Prevention of Cruelty to\nAnimals Week.\"\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0100": "80\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Mmm.(He gi:es a quick laugh.] This is\nanother foolishness. They are advertising prevention of\ncruelty,\n\nand t h ey\n\nare maintaining thousands of\n\nslaughterhouses.You see? That is another foolishness.\nINDIAN GENTLEMAN: So !wanted just to askSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Asking-before y ou ask, I give y ou\nthe answer.\n\n[All laugh.] That is another foolishness.They\n\nare regularly cruel to animals, �nd they are making a\nsociety ...\nBOB: Maybe this isSRILA PRABHUPADA: Suppose a gang of thieves has a\nsignboard-\"Goodman and Company .\" You sometimes\nfind such a signboard.\nSYAMASUNDARA: Our landlord in the San Francisco temple was named Goodman.\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: The philosophy is that when an\nanimal is not properly nourished, that is cruelty.Therefore\ninstead of allowing it to starve, better to kill it.That is their\ntheory.Is it not?\nBOB: Yes.\nSRlLA PRABHUPADA: They say, \"Oh, it is better to kill him\nthan to give him so much pain.\" That theory is coming in\ncommunist countries.An old man-grandfather-is suffering, so better to kill him.And there-in Africa there is a\nclass of men who make a festival by killing their greatgrandfathers.Is it not? Yes.\nSYAMASUNDARA: They eat them?\nSRlLA PRABHUPADA: Yes.(Sytimasundara laughs.] Yes?\nA DEVOTEE: I had an uncle and aunt.They were in the\nArmy.So when they went overseas, they could not take\ntheir dog with them.So they said, \"The poor dog.He will\n\nt\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0101": "Acting in Knowledge of Kn9a\n\n81\n\nbe so heartbroken not to be with us,\" so they put him to\nsleep-killed him.\n\nsRiLA PRABHUPADA: In Gandhi's life also, he once killed\none calf or some cow. It was suffering very much. So\nGandhi ordered, \"Instead of letting it suffer, just kill it.\"\n\nGIRIRAJA: Yesterday you said that the spiritual master may\nhave to suffer due to the sinful activities of his disciples.\nWhat do you mean by sinful activities?\n\nsRiLA PRABHUPADA: Sinful activities means that you\npromised, \"I shall follow the regulative principles.\" If you\ndo not follow, that is sinful. That is the promise. Very simple. You break the promise and do nasty things; therefore\nyou are sinful. Is it not?\n\nGIRIRAJA: Yes. [pause] But there are some things that we're\ninstructed to do . . .\n\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Hm-m?\n•\n\nGIRIR.AJA: There are other things which we're instructed\nto do which, even though we try to do, we cannot do perfectly yet.\n\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: How is that? You try to do and cannot do? How is that?\n\nGIRIRAJA: Like chanting attentively. Sometimes we try to,\nbut-\n\nsRiLA PRABHUPADA: Well, that is not a fault. Suppose you\nare trying to do something. Due to your inexperience if you\nsometimes fail, that is not a fault. You are trying. There is a\nverse in the Bhagavatam\n\n-\n\nhm-m-that if a devotee is trying\n\nhis best but due to his incapability he sometimes fails,\nKr��a excuses him. And in the Bhagavad-gita also it is said:\n\napi cet suduriiciiro\nbhajate miim ananya-bhiik\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0102": "82\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nSometimes not willingly but due to past bad habits-habit\nis second nature-one does something nonsensical. But that\ndoes not mean he is faulty. But he must repent for that-\"I\nhave done this.\" And he should try to avoid it as far as possible. But habit is second nature. Sometimes, in spite of your\ntrying hard, maya is so strong that it pushes with pitfalls.\nThat can be excused. KnQ.a excuses. But those who are\ndoing something willingly are not excused. On the strength\nthat I am a devotee, if I think, \"Because I am chanting, I\nmay therefore commit all this nonsense, and it will be\nnullified,\" that is the greatest offense.\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0103": "EIGHT\n\nAdvancing in Kr�r:ta Consciousness\n(an exchange of letters)\n\nSpringfield, New Jersey\nJune 12, 1972\nDear Prabhupada,\nI offer my humble obeisances.\nI have been associating with the devotees of the New\nYork temple. With th• association of such fine, advanced\ndevotees, I hope that I may make some advancement in\nKn1,1a consciousness. My fiancee has started to come to the\ntemple and is chanting a little. She knew nothing about\n}4�1,1a consciousness until I wrote her about it from India.\nAtreya �i has been kind enough to invite us to his home so\nthat we may see an ideal householder life.\nI went to Bombay the end of April for termination from\nthe Peace Corps. I was fortunate enough to come down\nwith a minor illness, so that I had to stay in Bombay for two\nweeks. I spent the time with the advanced and kind devotees\n\nat Juhu.\n\nUnfortunately\n\nyou\n\nhad left\n\nfive\n\ndays\n\npreviously.\nI understand so little, but I have faith in the process of\nKn1,1a consciousness and hope to take to it more and more.\nI look forward to Atreya l,t�i's description of the temple\n83\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0104": "Perfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\n84\n\nin Los Angeles and hope that I may personally hear you in\nNew York.\nThank you for the kindness you have shown to a very undeserving boy.\nSincerely,\nBob Cohen\n\nA. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami\nISKCON Los Angeles\nJune 16, 1972\nBob Cohen\nSpringfield, New Jersey\nMy dear Bob,\nPlease accept my blessings. I thank you very much for\nyour letter dated J�e 12, 1972. I have noted the sentiments expressed therein with great pleasure. I am very glad\nto hear that you are associating with us. I know that you are\na very good boy, very intelligent, and your behavior is gentle, so I have all confidence that very quickly Kn�a will\nbestow all His blessings upon you, and you will feel yourself\nbecoming perfectly happy in Kr��a consciousness. One\nmakes his advancement in Kn�a consciousness by voluntarily giving up his attachment to material nature, or maya.\nSuch renunciation is called tapasya. But we are not very\nwilling\n\nto\n\nperform\n\nausterities\n\nwithout\n\ngood\n\nreason;\n\ntherefore any man with a good scientific and philosophical\nmind, like your good self, must first appreciate what\ntranscendental knowledge is. If you get knowledge, automatically tapasya will follow, and then you make your ad-\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0105": "Advancing in Kn.,a Consciousness\n\n85\n\nvancement in spiritual life. So to get knowledge is the first\nitem for anyone who is hoping to find the perfection of his\nlife. Therefore I advise you to read our books daily as far as\npossible and try to understand the subject matter from different angles of vision by discussing it frequently with the\ndevotees at the New York temple. In this way you will\ngradually become convinced, and by your sincere attitude\nand devotional service you will make progress.\nYes, having some faith in me and in this KH�a consciousness process is the first and only requirement for getting actual wisdom. If there is faith, understanding will\nfollow. And as your understanding increases, so will your\ndisgust with the spell of illusory energy. And when you\nvoluntarily give up your entanglements in the material\nworld, then the progress is assured.\nI think we are just now typing up the tapes of those conversations we held in Maya pur, and we shall be publishing\nthem as a book. It will be called Perftct Questions, Perftct\n\nAnswers. I shall send you a copy as soon as they are ready to\ndistribute. Meanwhile, I shall be stopping in New York for\ntwo or three days on my way to London for the Ratha-yatr a\nFestival there. I am not yet certain when I shall be ar riving\nin New York, but it will be some time in the early par t of\nJuly. You may keep in regular contact with Bali Mardana\nregarding the arrival date, and I shall be very much engladdened to meet with you in New York once again. Again we\nshall discuss if you have any questions.\nHoping this will meet you in good health and a happy\nmood,\nYour ever well-wisher,\nA. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0106": "NINE\n\nDeciding for the Future\nNew York-July 4, 1972\n\nBOB: I received your very kind letter.\n\nSR.ILA PRABHUPADA: Oh.\nBOB: About a week ago.\n\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Now, you are a very intelligent boy.\n\nYou can try to understand this philosophy. It is very important. For sense gratification people are wasting so' much energy. They are not aware of what is going to happen in the\nnext life. There is a next life, but foolish people are ignorant. This life is preparation for the next life. That they\ndo not know. The modern education and its universities are\ncompletely in darkness about this simple knowledge. We\nare changing bodies every moment-that is a medical fact.\nAfter leaving this body, we will have to accept another\nbody. How are we going to accept that body? What kind of\nbody? This can also be known. For example, if someone is\nbeing educated, one can understand that when he passes his\nexamination, he is going to be an engineer or medical practitioner. Similarly, in this life, you can prepare yourself to\nbecome something in the next life.\nBARBARA [Bob's wife]: Can we decide what we want to be\n\nnext life?\n86\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0107": "Deciding for the Future\n\n87\n\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Yes, you can decide. We have\ndecided that next life we are going to Knt.ta.This is our\ndecision-back home, back to Godhead.Suppose you want\nto become educated.After this decision that you are going\nto be an engineer or you are going to be a medical practitioner, with that objective you prepare and educate yourself.Similarly, you can decide what you are going to do next\nlife.But if you don't decide, then the material nature will\ndecide.\n\nBARBARA: Could I have been Kn1.1a conscious in my last\nlife?\n\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: It doesn't matter. But you can\nbecome. Take\n\nadvantage of\n\nour K��1.1a consciousness\n\nmovement.\n\nA DEVOTEE: She's asking if it was possible that in her last\nlife she was a Kn1.1a devotee and has come back again.\n\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: W'hen one is perfectly Kn1.1a's devotee, he does not come back.But if there is a little deficiency,\nthen there is a possibility of coming back.But even though\nthere is a deficiency, he comes back to a nice family.\n\n. Sucinam srimatam gehe yoga-bhra$.to 'bhijayate. [\"The unsuccessful yogi takes birth in a religious or aristocratic family.\n]\n\"\nHuman intelligence can decide for the future. That is\nhuman intelligence.The animal cannot decide.We have\ndiscriminatory power.If I do this, I will be benefited; if I do\nthat, I will not be benefited.This is there in human life.So\nyou have to use it properly.You should know what is our\ngoal of life and decide in that way.That is human civilization....\n\nBARBARA: Have you ever seen K��1.1a?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Yes.\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0108": "88\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nBARBARA: You have?\nSRlLA PRABHUPAoA: Daily.Every moment.\nBARBARA: But not in the material body?\nSRlLA PRABHUPADA: He has no material body.\nBARBARA: Well, in the temple here they have pictures of\nKr�I:J.a....\n\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: That is not a material body.You are\nseeing materially because you have material eyes.Because·\nyou have material eyes, you cannot see the spiritual form.\nTherefore He kindly appears to be in a material body so\nthat you can see.However, because He has kindly made\nHimself j ust fit for your seeing, that does not mean He has a\nmaterial body.Suppose the President of the United States\nkindly comes to your house.That does not mean that his\nposition and your position are the same.It is his kindness.\nOut of love, he may come to your house, but that does not\nmean he is on the same level as you.Similarly, because we\ncannot see KniJ.a with our present eyes, KJ,'�IJ.a therefore appears before us as a painting, as made of stone, as made of\nwood.And KniJ.a is not different from these paintings and\nwood because everything is KniJ.a.\n\nBARBARA: After we die, what happens to our spirit?\nSRlLA PRABHUPADA: You get another body.\nBARBARA: Immediately?\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Yes.Just as when you change your\napartment: you fix up your new apartment first; then you\nleave this one and go there.\n\nBARBARA: So do we know what type of body we will get?\nSRlLA PRABHUPADA: Yes, provided you are qualified.\nOtherwise nature will arrange for it.Those who knowthey know what is there.But for those who do not know,\nnature will arrange things.If you do not know, this means\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0109": "Deciding for the Future\n\n89\n\nyou have not prepared your life, so accidentally, at the time\nof death, your mentality will create another body, and\nnature will supply it.\n\nBARBARA: And chanting-what does chanting do?\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: That you can ask these boys [the\ndevotees]. They will explain.\n\nBOB: If Kn1:1a controls everything, how does Kn1:1a control\na nondevotee?\n\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: By maya. Just as the government controls everything. A kingdom is controlled by the king's\ndepartments.\n\nBOB: And how does Kn1:1a control a devotee?\nSRILA PRABHUPADA:Just as you control your beloved. For\nexample, if you have a beloved child, you control him for\nhis benefit. If he is going to touch fire, you will immediately\ntell him, \"No, no, my dear child. Don't touch it.\" So a\n!4�I:la conscious person: a devotee, is never misled, because\nKn1:1a is always guiding him, whereas those who are not\n!4�I:la conscious are in the charge of maya, and maya will do\nthe needful, as you have seen.\n\nBOB: Is it preset, when we're born, the time that we'll die?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: What?\nBOB: Is the time that I'm going to die, and others are going\nto die, preset before we are born? When I'm born, do I have\na certain given life span?\n\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Yes.\nA DEVOTEE: And he cannot change that?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: No, he cannot change it, but Kn1:1a\ncan change it.\n\nDEVOTEE: If he commits suicide, is that also preset?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Not preset. That you can do because\nyou have a little independence. It is not natural to commit\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0110": "90\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nsuicide; it is unnatural. So because we have independence,\nwe can go from nature to \"un-nature. \" A prisoner cannot\ngo out of the prison house naturally, but somehow or other\nhe arranges to jump over the wall and goes away. Then he\nbecomes a criminal for further imprisonment. Naturally,\nthe prisoner cannot go out of the prison house, but if somehow or other he manages to escape, that means he becomes\nagain a criminal. He will be arrested again, and his term of\nimprisonment will be increased, or he will be punished\nmore. So, naturally we cannot violate destiny. But if we do\nit, then we will suffer. But our destiny can be changed by\nKr�t:ta when we are Kr�t:ta conscious. We do not do it, but\nKHt:ta will do it. Kr�t:ta says: aham tviim sarva-piipebhyo mok$ayi$yiimi: \"I shall give you protection.\" That change takes\n\nplace for my protection.\nThere are two stages-nondevotee and devotee. The\nnondevotee is under the control of material nature, and the\ndevotee is under the direct control of Knt:J.a. In the office of\na big man, an executive of a big company, there are many\nemploy ees, and they\n\nar e co ntrolled\n\nby\n\ndifferent\n\ndepartmental superintendents. But although outside of\nhome he controls indirectly, the same man at home is controlling his children directly. But he is alway s a controller.\nSimilarly, God is the controller always. When one becomes\na devotee, he is controlled by God; when he is a nondevctee, he is controlled by His agent, miiyii. But he has to\nbe controlled. For example, every citizen of America is controlled by the government. When he is all right, the civil\ndepartment controls him; when he is not all right, the criminal department controls him. But he cannot say, \"I am\nnot controlled.\" That is not possible. Everyone is controlled. If somebody says, \"I am not controlled,\" he is not\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0111": "Deciding for the Future\n\n91\n\nsane; he is crazy. Everyone is controlled. So either you are\ncontrolled directly by God, or you are controlled by His\nagency, maya. Being controlled by maya, you spoil your life;\nyou remain in material existence one birth after another,\nchanging your bodies. But if you choose to be controlled by\nGod, then after this body, you go back home, back to Godhead. Then your life is successful. You cannot exist without\nbeing controlled; that is not possible. That is intelligence.\nAnd that is stated in the Bhagavad-gitii. Bahunam janmaniim\nantejfianavan math prapadyate: \"After many births of traveling\nor speculation, one surrenders unto Me.\" Viisudevab sarvam\niti: \"KHI:J.a, You are everything. So I have come. Accept me.\nI am now fully surrendered unto You, and You control me. I\nam controlled. For so long I have been controlled by these\nrascals. There is no benefit. I have been controlled by my\nsenses. So under the contrql of the senses I have served socalled family, society, country, nation-up to serving the\ndogs. But nothing has given me satisfaction. Therefore now\nI have good sense; I put myself under Your control. Instead\nof being controlled by dog, let me be controlled by God.\"\nThis is KHI:J.a consciousness. Have you not seen how a man\nis controlled by a dog? In the street the dog stops, passes\nstool, and his master will stand and wait. Is it not? He is\npassing stool and urine, and the master is thinking, \"I am\nmaster. \" But he is being controlled. That is mayii. He has\nbecome servant of the dog, but he is thinking, \"I am\nmaster.\" So unless one is Kni:J.a conscious, one cannot\nunderstand. We can understand that this rascal is being\ncontrolled by his dog, but he is thinking that he is the\nmaster. We can understand. What do you think? Has he\nnot become controlled by the dog?\nBOB: That is so.\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0112": "92\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nSRILA PRABHUPAI>A: But he is thinking, \"I am the master\nof the dog.\" A family man is controlled by his wife, his\nchildren, by his servants, by everyone, but he is thinking,\n\"I am master.\" President Nixon is thinking that he is master\nof his country, but he is controlled. At once he can be dismissed by the public, his servants! And he will take a position, claiming, \"I will give you very good service,\" and \"I\nshall be a first-class servant.'' Therefore people vote, \"All.\nright, you become president.'' And he is advertising:\n\"Reelect me! Reelect me!\" That means he is a servant. But\nhe is thinking, \"I am master.'' That is the position. Miiyd.\nOne who is controlled by maya is thinking himself master,\nbut he is a servant. And a devotee never thinks to himself,\n\"I am master,\" only \"I am servant.\" That is the difference\nbetween maya and reality. He at least knows: �·1 am never\nmaster. I am always a servant.'' When a servant is thinking,\n\"I am master,\" that is called illusion. But when a servant\nthinks, \"I am a servant,\" that is not illusion. That is mukti,\nliberation. Because he is not controlled by false thoughts.\nTry to think about this subject matter. A devotee is never\ncontrolled by false thoughts. He knows his position.\nSvarllpetJa vyavasthitib. Mukti, liberation, means to be situated\nin one's own constitutional position. I am a servant. So if I\nknow that I am a servant, that is my liberation. And if I\nthink that I am master, that is bondage. This is the difference between conditioned life and liberated life.\nSo these K\\'�Q.a conscious devotees are always thinking\nthat they are servants of K\\'�Q.a. Therefore they are all liberated. They do not endeavor for liberation. They are already\nliberated because they are situated in their constitutional\nposition. They are not artificially thinking, \"I am master.\"\nOtherwise, everyone is thinking, \"I am master.\" That is il-\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0113": "Deciding for the Fnture\n\n93\n\nlusion. You cannot be master in any state of your life; you\nmust remain a servant. That .is your position. When one\nthinks artificially ·that he is master, that is his conditioned\nlife. And when one voluntarily surrenders to the supreme\nmaster, that is his liberation. A devotee does not try for\nliberation separately. As soon as he surrenders to Kni:J.a or\nKr�I:J.a's representative, he is liberated.\nBOB: Prabhupada, people that engage in religions, like\n\nthese \"Jesus freaks\" and other people, claim that Jesus is\nguiding them. Can this be so?\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Yes, but they are not taking the guid­\n\nance. Just like the Christians. Jesus is guiding them, \"Thou\nshalt not kill,\" but they are killing. Where is the Jesus guidance? Simply saying, \"I am guided by Jesus Christ\"-will\nthat do? \"But I don't care for his words.\" Is that guidance?\nNobody is being guided by Jesus Christ. Their claim is\nfalse. It is very hard to find a man who is actually being\nguided by Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ's guidance is available,\nbut nobody is caring for him. They have taken Jesus Christ\nas contractor to take up their sins. That is their philosophy.\nThey commit all kinds of sins, and poor Jesu!I.Christ will be\nresponsible. That is their religion. Therefore they say, \"We\nhave a very good religion. For all our sinful activities, Jesus\nChrist will die.\" So is that good religion? TB.ey have no\nsympathy for Jesus Christ. He died for our sins. Why\nshould we commit sins again? Such a great life has been\nsacrificed for our sins, so we should be guided by Jesus\nChrist. But if you take it otherwise-\"Ah, we shall go on\ncommitting all sins, and Jesus Christ will make a contract\nto nullify all my sins; I'll simply go to the church and confess and coi:ne back and again do all nonsense\"-do you\nthink that shows very good intellige?ce?\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0114": "94\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nBOB: No.\nSRILA PRABHUPADA: Actually, one who is guided by Jesus\nChrist will certainly get liberation. But it is very hard to\nfind a man who is actually being guided by Jesus Christ.\nBOB: What about the \"Jesus freaks,\" the young people that\nhave joined the Jesus movement? They read the Bible very\noften, and they try toSRILA PRABHUPADA: But violence is against the Bible's injunctions. How can they kill if they are following the\nBible?\nBOB: I asked one this, and he claimed that Jesus was also\neating meat in the Bible.\nSRlLA PRABHUPADA: That's all right. He may eat anything. He is powerful. But he has ordered, \"Thou shalt not\nkill. You must stop killing.\" He is powerful. He can eat the\nwhole world. But you cannot compare to Jesus Christ. You\ncannot imitate Jesus Christ; you have to abide by his order.\nThen you are guided by Jesus Christ. That is actually obedience. That is explained in the Bhagavata. One who is\nisvara, who is empowered, can do anything, but we cannot\nimitate. We have to abide by his order: \"What he says to\nme, that I will do.\" You cannot imitate. You say that Jesus\nChrist ate meat. Admitting that, you do not know in what\ncondition he ate meat. He is himself eating meat, but he is\nadvising others not to kill. Do you think that Jesus Christ\nwas contradicting himself?\nBOB: No.\nSRlLA PRABHUPADA: He cannot do that. That is real faith\nin him-that he cannot do that. So why has he eaten meat?\nHe knows, but he has asked me not to kill. I have to follow.\nThat is the real system. You are not Jesus Christ; you cannot imitate him. He has sacrificed his life for God. Can you\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0115": "Deciding for the Future\n\n95\n\ndo that? So why shall you imitate Jesus Christ? You are\nimitating Jesus Christ by eating meat. Why not imitate\nJesus Christ and sacrifice your life for spreading God consciousness? What do you think? Yes, when you preach you\ncan say what you think. They are so-called Christians- but\nwhat are they doing for God? Just consider the sun. The\nsun is absorbing urine. Can you drink urine? If you want to\nimitate the sun-\"Oh, here is the sun absorbing urine. Let\nme drink urine\"-can you? Jesus Christ is powerful; he\ncan do everything. But we cannot imitate; we have to\nsimply abide by his order. That is real Christianity. We cannot imitate a powerful man. That is wrong. In our Vedic\nliterature, there was a poison ocean, so people could not\nfind out what to do with it. Then Lord Siva said, \"All right,\nI'll drink it.\" So he drank the whole poison ocean and kept\nit in his throat. Can you cirink poison? Not the ocean- just\none cup? So how can we imitate Lord Siva? Lord Siva never\nadvised that we drink poison. So you have to abide by the\nadvice, not imitate. These LSD and marijuana people say\nthat Lord Siva used to smoke gaiija. But Lord Siva drank the\nwhole poisoned ocean. Can you do that? Lord Siva's instructions should be taken. He says that the best worship is worship of ViglU. Vi$!JOr tiradhanam param. When he was asked\nby Parvati what method of worship is best, then he said,\n\"The best worship is worship of Lord ViglU [KnQa].\"\nThere are many demigods, but he recommended Vi�QU\nworship as the best. And better than Vi�QU worship is worship of a Vai�Qava. Tadiyantim-His servants, or those who\nare in relation to Him. For instance, we are worshiping this\nplant, tulasi. We are not worshiping all plants, but because\nthis tulasi has· a very intimate connection with KnQa, Vi�Qu,\nwe are therefore worshiping her. Similarly, if anything is\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0116": "96\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nintimately related with Knl).a, worship of that thing is better than worship of Vi�I).U.\n\nBOB: Why is that?\nSRiLA PRABHUPAI>A: Because Kn1.1a will be pleased. Suppose you have a dog and some friends come and pat your\ndog. [Sri/a Prabhupiida makes big patting motions.] You become\npleased. You become pleased: \"Oh, he is my good friend.\"\nYou see how they think. We see this-some friend come�\nand says, \"My, what a nice dog you have.\" [Laughter.]\n\n[Some Indian guests enter the room.]\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: Please have some prasiida.\n[Sri/a Prabhupiida continues speaking with his guests, sometimes in\nEnglish and sometimes Hindi. It is his last day in New York, and\nhis plane to London is scheduled to leave in only a few hours. Bob\nhas brought a car to drive Sri/a Prabhupiida to Ke�:�nedy Airport.\nThe devotees are scurrying about, bringing luggage to the car, putting\nthe manuscripts of Sri/a Prabhupiida's latest translating work in\norder, and making other last-minute arrangements.]\nSYAMASUNDARA: Everything's ready, Srila Prabhupada.\nThe car is waiting for us.\n\nSRiLA PRABHUPADA: So? We can go now? All right. Hare\nKt'�l.la!\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0117": "Concluding Words\n\nOn July 19, 1976, His Divine Grace Srila Prabhup:ida\naccepted my wife and me as his disciples and initiated us\nwith the names Bhakti-devi dasi and Brahmatirtha dasa. As\nI reflect back on that day, I can see how fortunate I was to\nhave met His Divine Grace and my Godbrothers in the\nHare Kn1.1a movement.\nWhen I was handed my beads at initiation, I promised to\nfollow the regulative principles and to chant God's names\ndaily. Four years previoully, Srila Prabhupada had advised\nme to follow these principles, and within six months, he\nsaid, I could be like the other devotees; all unnecessary\nthings (anarthas), such as mundane movies and restaurants,\nwould cease to attract me. \"The whole human life is meant\nfor purification,\" he said. I was interested in being purified,\neven though I did not really know what purification meant.\nI had gone to India with the Peace Corps hoping to find a\n\nhigher level of consciousness. I could not believe that\nsatisfying the senses was the all in all, yet I myself was\nbound by the senses. Later I could understand that yoga\nmeans becoming free from the dictation of the senses.\nUpon returning to America, I started graduate school in\ngeology, got married, and became somewhat entangled in\ndomestic responsibilities, but I would very often think of\n97\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0118": "98\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nmy conversations with Srila Prabhupada, and of his instructions. One of his primary instructions was simply to associate with the devotees, and this I gladly did. Devotees are\ndifferent: by understanding that loving service to the\nSupreme Lord is the goal of life, they avoid getting caught\nup in the petty affairs of sense gratification and false ego.\nVisiting the temple was most refreshing. Gradually, my\nwife and I became friends with many devotees and wanted '\nsomehow to do some service for the-movement. I sponsored\na Bhakti-yoga club at the university, and our apartment\nserved as a way station for traveling parties of devotees.\nAs we followed Srila Prabhupada's instructions, even\nour eating became purified. In India I had told Srila\nPrabhupada that I could not offer my food as the devotees\ndo because I did not understand that Kn1,1a i,s God. So he\ntold me simply to thank God for my food before eating.\nThis we did, and finally our devotion matured, and we\nstarted actually offering our food to the Supreme Lord.\nWhat a wonderful feeling, to be cooking for the Supreme\nLord! This actually freed us from the control of the tongue.\nFinally, we were ready to become involved fully in temple life. By Kn1,1a's grace, I obtained a job near a temple in\nTexas and began to take part in all the temple programs. In\nthis way, all the anarthas disappeared, just as Srila Prabhupada had predicted. It was like having a burden lifted from\nour shoulders. We were no longer servants of our senses,\nbut servants of God and His devotees. The value of Srila\nPrabhupada's instructions had become clear. A human\nbeing is not meant to labor like an ass and enjoy like\na dog. Purification means coming to a higher level of\nconsciousness.\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0119": "Concluding Words\n\n99\n\nEven though I have been initiated, I still admire my\nGodbrothers' spiritual awareness and wish to advance.\nActually, initiation is the beginning.\nBrahmatlrtha disa Adbikirl\n\n(Bob Cohen)\n\nHouston, Texas\nOctober 16, 1976\n\n[I\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0120": "", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0121": "His Divine Grace\nA. C. Bhaktivedanta\nSwami Prabhupada\n\nHis Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhu­\n\npada appeared in this world in 1896 in Calcutta, India. He\nfirst\n\nmet\n\nhis\n\nspiritual\n\nmaster,\n\nSrila\n\nBhaktisiddhanta\n\nSarasvati Gosvami, in Calcutta in 1922. Bhaktisiddhanta\n\nSarasvati, a prominent devotional scholar and the founder\nof sixty-four Gau4iya Ma�has (Vedic institutes}, liked this\neducated young man and convinced him to dedicate his life\nto teaching Vedic knowledge. Srila Prabhupada became his\n\nstudent, and eleven years later (1933) at Allahabad he became his formally initiated disciple.\n\nAt their first meeting, in 1922, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta\n\nSarasvati Thakura requestecf Srila Prabhupada to broadcast\nVedic knowledge through the English language. In the\nyears that followed, Srila Prabhupada wrote a commentary\non the Bhagavad-gita, assisted the Gau4iya Ma�ha in its work·\nand, in\n\n1944,\n\nwithout assistance, started an English\n\nfortnightly magazine, edited it, typed the manuscripts and\nchecked the galley proofs. He even distributed the individual copies freely and struggled to maintain the\npublication. Once begun, the magazine never stopped; it is\nnow being continued by his disciples in the West.\nRecognizing Srila Prabhupada's philosophical learning\nand devotion, the Gau4iya V ai��ava Society honored him\nin 194 7 with the title \"Bhaktivedanta.\" In 19 50, at the age\n\nof fifty-four, Srila Prabhupada retired from married life,\nand four years later he adopted the vanaprastha (retired)\n101\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0122": "102\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\norder to devote more time to his studies and writing. Srila\nPrabhupada traveled to the holy city of Vrndavana, where\nhe lived in very humble circumstances in the historic\nmedieval temple of Radha-Damodara. There he engaged\nfor several years in deep study and writing. He accepted the\nrenounced order of life (sannyasa) in 1959. At RadhaDamodara, Srila Prabhupada began work on his life's\nmasterpiece:\n\na multivolume translation and commen­\n\ntary on the\n\neighteen-thousand-verse\n\nSrimad-Bhagavatam\n\n(Bhagavata Purd�a). He also wrote Easy Journey to Other\nPlanets.\nAfter publishing three volumes of Bhagavatam, Srila\nPrabhupada came to the United States, in 1965, to fulfill\nthe mission of his spiritual master. Since that time, His\nDivine Grace has written over forty volumes of authoritative translations, commentaries and summary studies of the\nphilosophical and religious classics of India.\nIn 1965, when he first arrived by freighter in New York\nCity, Srila Prabhupada was practically penniless. It was\nafter almost a year of great difficulty that he established the\nInternational Society for Krishna Consciousness in July of\n1966. Under his careful guidance, the Society has grown\n\nwithin a decade to a worldwide confederation of almost one\nhundred asramas, schools, temples, institutes and farm communities.\nIn 1968, Srila Prabhupada created New Vrndavana, an\nexperimental Vedic community in the hills of West\nVirginia. Inspired by the success of New Vrndavana, now a\nthriving farm community of more than one thousand acres,\nhis students have since founded several similar communities in the United States and abroad.\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0123": "A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabbupida\n\n103\n\nIn 1972, His Divine Grace introduced the Vedic system\nof primary and secondary education in the West by founding the Gurukula school in Dallas, Texas. The school began\nwith three children in 1972, and by the beginning of 1975\nthe enrollment had grown to one hundred fifty.\nSrila Prabhupada has also inspired the construction of a\nlarge international center at Sridhama Mayapur in West\nBengal, India, which is also the site for a planned Institute\nof Vedic Studies. A similar project is the magnificent }4�QaBalar:i.ma\n\nTemple and International Guest House in\n\nVrnd:i.vana, India. These are centers where Westerners can\nlive to gain firsthand experience of Vedic culture.\nSrila Prabhup:i.da's most significant contribution,\nhowever, is his books. Highly respected by the academic\ncommunity for their authoritativeness, depth and clarity,\nthey are used as standard textbooks in numerous college\ncourses. His writings haTe been translated into eleven\nlanguages. The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, established in\n1972 exclusively to publish the works of His Divine Grace,\n\nhas thus become the world's largest publisher of books in\nthe field of Indian religion and philosophy. Its latest project\nis the publishing ofSrila Prabhup:i.da's most recent work: a\nsev enteen-volume translation and commentary-completed by Srila Prabhup:ida in only eighteen months-on\nthe Bengali religious classic Sri Caitanya-caritamrta.\nIn the past ten years, in spite of his advanced age, Srila\nPrabhup:i.da has circled the globe twelve times on lecture\ntours that have taken him to six continents. In spite of such\na vigorous schedule, Srila Prabhup:ida continues to write\nprolifically. His writings constitute a veritable library of\nVedic philosophy, religion, literature and culture.\n\n'[\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0124": "", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0125": "Glossary\nAcarya-a spiritual master who teaches by example.\nArati-a ceremony for greeting the Lord with offerings of\nfood, lamps, fans, flowers and incense.\nArcana-the devotional practice of Deity worship.\nAsrama-a spiritual order of life.\nAsuras-atheistic demons.\nAvatara-a descent of the Supreme Lord.\nBhagavad-gita-the basic directions for spiritual life spoken\nby the Lord Himself.\nBhakta-a devotee.\nBhakti-yoga-linking with the Supreme Lord in ecstatic\ndevotional service.\nBrahmacarya-celibate student life; the first order of Vedic\nspiritual life.\nBrahman-the Absolute Truth; especially, the imp�rsonal\naspect of the Absolute.\nBrahmai;UI-a person in the mode of goodness; first Vedic\nsocial order.\nDharma-eternal occupational duty; religious principles.\nEkadasi-a special fast day for increased remembrance of\nKf�t;ta, which comes on the eleventh day of both the\nwaxing and waning moon.\nGoloka\n\n(Kf�t;taloka) -the highest spiritual planet, con­\n\ntaining Kf�t;ta's personal abodes, Dvaraka, Mathura\nand Vfndavana.\n105\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0126": "W\\\n\nr\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\n106\n\nGopis-K��\\la's cowherd girl friends who are His most\nconfidential servitors.\nGrhastha-regulated householder life; the second order of\nVedic spiritual life.\nGuru-a spiritual master or superior person.\nHare K��\\la mantra-See: Maha-mantra\nJiva-tattva-the living entities, who are small parts of the\nLord.\nKali-yuga\n\n(Age of Kali) -the present age, which is\n\ncharacterized by quarrel. It is last in the cycle of\nfour, and began five thousand years ago.\nKaratalas-hand cymbals used in kirtana.\nKarma-fruitive action, for which there is always reaction, good or bad.\nKarmi-one who is satisfied with working hard for\nflickering sense gratification.\nKirtana-chanting the glories of the Supreme Lord.\nK��\\laloka-See: Goloka\nK�atriyas-a warrior or administrator; the second Vedic\nsocial order.\n\nI\n\nj\n\nMaha-mantra-the\n\ngreat ·chanting\n\nfor\n\ndeliverance:\n\nHare K��\\la, Hare K��\\la, K��\\la K��\\la, Hare Hare/\nHare Rima, Hare Rima, Rima Rima, Hare Hare.\nMantra-a sound vibration that can deliver the mind from\nillusion.\nMathuri-Lord K��\\la's abode, surrounding V�ndivana,\nwhere He took birth and later returned to after performing His V �ndivana pastimes.\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0127": "Glossary\n\n107\n\nya-this) , illusion;\n\nMaya- ( ma-not;\n\nforgetfulness of\n\none's relationship with Kr�JJ.a.\nMayavadis-impersonal philosophers who say that the\nLord cannot have a transcendental body.\nMrdanga-a clay drum used for congregational chanting.\nParampara-the chain of spiritual masters in disciplic\nsuccession.\nPrasada-food spiritualized by being offered to the Lord.\nSac-cid-ananda-vigraha-the Lord's transcendental form,\nwhich is eternal, full of knowledge and bliss.\nSankirtana-public chanting of the names of God, the approved yoga process for this age.\nSannyasa-renounced life;\n\nthe fourth order of Vedic\n\nspiritual life.\n\nSastras-revealed scriptures.\nSrava�m kirtanam vi?�ob -the devotional\n\nprocesses of\n\nhearing and chanting about Lord Vi�JJ.U.\n\nSudra-a laborer; the fourth of the Vedic social orders.\nSvami-one who controls his mind and senses; title of one\nin the renounced order of life.\nTapasya-austerity;\n\naccepting\n\nsome\n\nvoluntary\n\nincon­\n\nvenience for a higher purpose.\nTilaka-auspicious clay marks that sanctify a devotee's\nbody as a temple of the Lord.\nVaikuJJ.tha-the\n\nspiritual\n\nworld,\n\nwhere\n\nthere\n\nanxiety.\nVai�lJ,ava-a devotee of Lord Vi�JJ.u, or Kf�JJ.a.\n\n1s\n\nno\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0128": "108\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nVaisyas-farmers and merchants; the third Vedic social\norder.\nVdnaprastha-one who has retired from family life; the\nthird order of Vedic spiritual life.\nVa71Uisrama-the Vedic social system of four social and\nfour spiritual orders.\nVedas-the original revealed scriptures, first spoken by the\nLord Himself.\nVi�t:J.u, Lord-Kr�t:J.a's first expansion for the creation and\nmaintenance of the material universes.\nVrndavana-Kr�t:J.a's personal abode, where He fully\nmanifests His quality of sweetness.\nVyasadeva-Kr�t:J.a's incarnation, at the end of Dvaparayuga, for compiling the Vedas.\nYajtia-sacrifice, work done for the satisfaction of Lord\nVi�t:J.U.\nYogi-a transcendentalist who, in one way or another, is\nstriving for union with the Supreme.\nYuga-ages in the life of\nrepeated cycle of four.\n\nI\n'·\n\na\n\nuniverse, occurring in a\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0129": "A Note from t he Secretary\nof the International Society\nfor Krishna Consciousness\n\nDear Reader:\nAfter finishing Perfect Questions, Perfect Answers, you may\nwant to go further in understanding Kn�a consciousness.\nYou may want to find out more about the KH�a conscious\nphilosophy; you may want to practice some of the techniques of bhakti-yoga; you may even want to become a fully\nKH�a conscious devotee. In any case, there's much you\ncan do.\nFirst, we have a virtual library of Kr��a conscious books.\nWe generally recommend starting off with Bhagavad-gitii As\n\nIt Is, our spiritual master's translation and commentary for\nthe famous Bhagav'!d-gitii, to which he so often referred in\nhis talks with Bob. After the Gitii comes Srimad-Bhiigavatam,\na multivolume work that could be called a postgraduate\nstudy for spiritual life. All told, we've published some fifty\nlarge books of KH�a conscious philosophy, enough to read\nand stu\n\ndy for a whole lifetime. We also have a monthly\n\nmagazine, Back to Godhead, and records and tape cassettes of\ntranscendental chanting.\nIf you'd like to meet and talk with devotees and get some\nfirsthand experience of Kr��a consciousness in action, we\nhave about one hundred centers around the world, most of\nthem in the United States. Generally our centers are in\n109\n�\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0130": "110\n\nPerfect Questions, Perfect Answers\n\nlarge cities, although we also have some fifteen Kn!J.a conscious farm communities for \"simple living and high thinking.\" All of our centers have regular classes every day, feast\nprograms\n\nevery\n\nSunday,\n\nand\n\nalso\n\nspecial\n\nfestivals\n\nthroughout the year. For more specific information, you\ncan write or call the center nearest you. And if you ever\ntravel to India, you can visit our International Center at\nSridhama Mayapura, the holy city where the conversations\nin this book took place. We also have a wonderful International Center and Guest House in Vrndavana, the ancient Indian city of Lord Kn!J.a's eternal pastimes.\nOf course, wherever you are, you can always take advantage of chanting the Hare Kn!J.a mantra: Hare Kn!J.a, Hare\nKn!J.a, Kn!J.a Kn!J.a, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama,\nRama Rama, Hare Hare. Our spiritual master says, \"Just\nchant Hare Kn!J.a, and your life will be sublime.\"\nFinally, for any questions at all that you might have\nabout spiritual life in Kn�J.a consciousness, please feel free\nto get in touch with us here at our central office in Los\nAngeles, and we'll do whatever we can to be of service.\nYours in the service of Kn!J.a,\nSwarup das Adhikari\nSecretary\nThe International Society for Krishna Consciousness\n\n3764 Watseka Avenue\n\n�1\n\nLos Angeles, California 90034\nTelephone:\n\n�\n�\n\n(213)871-0717\n\nI\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0131": "International Society\nfor Krishna Consciousness\nCenters Around the World\nAFRICA\nDurban {Natal), S. Africa-P.O. Box 212, Cato Ridge, Natal\n3680, South Africa\nMombasa, Kenya, E. Africa-Maungano Rd., P.O. Box 82224\n\nNairobi, Kenya, E. Africa-Muhoroni Close, Ngara Rd., P.O.\n\nBox 28946 / 331568\n\nPort Louis, Mauritius-P.O. Box 718\n\nASIA\nAhmedabad, lndia-1687 Kadwa Pol, Dariapur,\nAhmedabad-1, Gujarat\nBombay, India-Hare Krishna Land, Gandhi Gram Rd., Juhu,\nBombay 400 054 / 579-373\nCalcutta, lndia-3 Albert Rd., Calcutta 700017 / 44-3757\nChandigarh, India-c/o ISK<CON, 103, Sector 23-A / 27996\nHong Kong-38 Mody Rd., 4th fl., Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon I\n3668061\n\nHyderabad,lndia-Hare Krishna Land, Nampally Station Rd.,\nHyderabad, A.P.\nJakarta, Indonesia- c/o Srimati Aravindak$i dasi, J1n Angkasa Dalam 11/19\nMadras, India-50, Aspiran Gardens, 2nd St., Kilpauk, Madras\n\n10 / 612515\nMayapur,lndia-ISKCON International Center, P.O. Sree\n\nMayapur Dham, W. Bengal (District Nadia)\n\nNew Delhi,lndia-21A Feroze Gandhi Rd.�Lajpatnagar Ill,\n\nNew Delhi 110024 / 382-742\nTaipei,Taiwan-158 Roosevelt Rd., Section 3, 2nd fl.\nTehran,lran-ISKCON, c/o P.O. Box 66-1540, Niavaran 1\n241-645\nTokyo, Japan-4-25-14, Chua Nakano-ku I (03)381-4174\n\nVrindavan,lndia-Krishna-Balarama Mandir, Chattikara Rd.,\nRaman Reti, Vrindaban, Mathura, U.P.\n\n'\nEUROPE\nAmsterdam, Holland-Herengracht 96 / 020-:249-410\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0132": "Dublin,lreland-5 Talbot St.. Dublin 1\nFrankfurt A. Main,W. Germany-6241 Schloss Rettershof,\nbei Konigstein-Taunus I 06174-21357\nGeneva, Switzerland- Chateau Banquet, 94, Rue de\nLausanne Ch. 1202 I (022)32.63.60\nLondon,England (city)-7 Bury Pl., Bloomsbury, London\nWC1/01-405-1463\nLondon,England (country)- Bhaktivedanta Manor, Letchmore Heath, Watford, Hertfordshire WD2 8EP I Radlett\n7244\nParis,France- 4 rue Le Sueur, Paris 75016/727-0202\nRome,ltaly-Viale Di Porta Ardeatina No. 53 (Cristo Foro\nColombo No. 2) 00154 I 57 40416\n\nStockholm, Sweden-Grev gatan 18, Stockholm 11453/\n08-607-881\nLATIN AMERICA\nBogota,Colombia- Carrera 4�. No. 54A-40\nBuenos Aires,Argentina-Galle Ecuador 473/ 86-36-73\nCarac\"as,Venez uela-G alle Luis Roche No. 61, Colinas de\nLos Chaguaramos\nGeorgetown,Guyana-ISKCON, c/o 78 Robb St., Bourda\nGuadalajara,Mexico- Avenida Vallarta 2035, Sector\nJuarez /157 498\n\nGuayaquil,Ecuador- Huacavilca 1204, Apt. 3\nLima,Peru-976 Jiron Juan de Ia Fuente, San Antonio\nMiraflores/471-810\n\nMexico City,Mexico-Gob. Tiburcio Montiel 45, San Miguel\nChapultepec, Mexico City 18 D.F./ (905)277-3124\nQuito,Ecuador-P.O. Box 181 A\nRio de Janeiro, Brazi i - Estrada Velha da Tijuca, 102, Usina\nSan Augustine,Trinidad and Tobago-Gordon St. at Santa\nMargarita Circular Rd., San Augustine, Trinidad and\nTobago /662-4605\n\nSan Juan,Puerto Rico-Calle ltalia 1957, Ocean Park,\nSanturce 00911\n\nSan Pedro,Costa Rica-c/o ISKCON, C.3a A.4, Montes de\nOca I 25-44-57\nSanto Domingo, Dominican Republic- Calle Cayetano\nRodriguez No. 36\nSao Paulo,S.P., Braz i i - Rua Pandia Cal6geras, 84, (Caixa\nPostal 4.855), Liberdade/278-0138\n\nTurrialba,Costa Rica-Gopi Bhumi Dham, Dulce nombre\nTayutic\n\n, ..\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0133": "SOUTH SEAS\nAdelaide, S. Australia-13-A Frome St./ 020-253-160\nAukland, New Zealand-67 Gribblehirst Rd., Mt. Albert I\n668-666\nLautoka, Fij i- P.O. Box 125\nMelbourne, Australia-197 Danks St., Albert Park, Melbourne, Victoria 3206 I 329-9844\nSydney, Australia-50 Buckingham St., Surry Hills, NSW\n2010/698-9141\nUNITED STATES AND CANADA\nAnn Arbor, Michigan-718 W. Madison St. 48103/\n(313)665-6304\nAtlanta,Georgia-1287 Ponce de Leon Ave. NE 30306/\n(404)378-9182\nBaltimore, Maryland-200 Bloomsbury Ave., Catonsville\n21228/ (301)747-9815\nBerkeley,California-2334 Stuart St. 94705/\n(415)843-7874\nBloomington,lndiana-214 No. Dunn St.\nBoston,Massachusetts-72 Commonwealth Ave. 02116/\n(617)247-7300\nBuffalo,New York-132 Bidwell Pkwy. 14222/ (716)882•\n0281\nCharlotte, North Carolina-1824 E. 7th St. 28204/\n(704) 596-5151\nChicago,lllinois-1014 Emerson St., Evanston 60201/\n(312) 273-3960\nCleveland, Ohio-15720 Euclid Ave., E. Cleveland 44112/\n(216)851-9367\nDallas,Texas-5430 Gurley A ve. 75223/ (214)827-6330\nDenver,Colorado-1400 Cherry St. 80220 I (303)333-5461\nDetroit, Michigan-383 Lenox 48215/ (313)824-6000\nGainesville, Florida-921 S.W. Depot Ave. 32601/\n(904) 377-1496\nHonolulu,Hawaii-51 Coelho Way 96817 I (808)595-3947\nHouston,Texas-1111 Rosalie St. 77004/ (713)528-9004\nLaguna Beach,California-644 S. Coast Hwy. 92651/\n(714)494-9172\nLas Vegas, Nevada-2600 Demetrius, Las Vegas 89101/\n(702)642-0968\nLos Angeles, California-3764 Watseka Ave. 90034/\n(213)871-0717\nMiami,Florida-10900 Coral Way 33165/ (305)552-1766\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0134": "Minneapolis, Minnesota-21.6 Ridgewood Ave. 55403/\n(612)874-8780\nMontreal, Canada-1626 Pie IX Blvd.,Que. H1V 2C5/\n(514) 527-1101\nNew Orleans, Louisiana-2936 Esplanade Ave. 70119/\n(504)488-7433\nNew York, New York-340 W. 55th St.,10019/\n(212)765-8610\nOttawa, Canada-224 Besserer St.,Ont./ (613)236-9091\nPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania-424 E. Woodlawn St. 19144/\n(215)849-1767\nPittsburgh, Pennsylvania-4626 Forbes Ave. 15213/\n(412)683-7700\nPortland, Oregon-2805 S.E. Hawthorne St. 97214/\n(503) 234-1755\nRadha-Damodara traveling temples-c/o ISKCON, New\nYork\nSt. Louis, Missouri-4544 Laclede Ave. 63108/\n(314) 361-1224\nSan Diego, California-3300 Third Ave. 92103/\n(714)291-7778\nSeattle, Washington-400 18th Ave. East 98102/\n(206) 329-9348\nToronto, Canada-243 Avenue Rd.,Ont. M5R 2J6/\n(416)922-5415\nVancouver, Canada-1774 W. 16th Ave., Vancouver, B.C. V6J\n2M1/ (604)732-8422\nWashington, D.C.-1 0310 Oaklyn Rd.,Potomac,Maryland\n20854/ (301)299-2100\nISKCON FARMS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD\nBuffalo, New Y ork-( c ont act ISKCON Buffalo)\nCarriere, Mississippi-At. No. 2, Box 449,39426/\n(60 1 )798-6705\nCosta Rica, South America (New Viraja)-Dulce Nombre\nTayutic Turrialba, Costa Rica, Central America (Contact\nISKCON Costa Rica.)\nDelaplane, Virginia-At. No. 1, Box 22,22025/\n( 703)364-2156\nDixon, Missouri (New Godruma)-Box 81 Tavern Route,\nDixon, Missouri 65459/ (314)422-3966\nlndre, France-Lucay-Le-Male, 36600 Valencay Chateau\nd'Oublaise\nLondon, England-Bhaktivedanta Manor, Letchmore Heath,\nWatford, Hertfordshire WD2 BEP I Radlett 7244\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0135": "Mayapur, lndla- ( contact ISKCON Mayapur)\nMoundsville, West VIrginia (New Vrlndavan)-R.D. No.1,\nBox 620, Moundsville 26041 I (304)845-2790\nMulberry, Tennessee (Murari Sevak)-Rt. No.1, Box 146-A\n373591 (615)759-7058\nPetropolls, Braz ll- ( contact ISKCON Rio de Janeiro)\nPort Royal, Pennsylvania- A.D. No. 1, 17082 I\n(717)527-2493\n\n�\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0136": "EXPAND YOUR AWARENESS\nThe classics offered below are presented for those seeking inner\npeace and happiness. They authoritatively show the way to selfrealization, and reveal many of the mysteries about God, soul,\nbirth, death and rebirth. The books are written by His Divine\nGrace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who is gradually\nbeing recognized as the leading scholar and authority on Vedic\nliterature and philosophy.\n\n(1) Bhagavad-gita As It Is\nA five-thousand-year-old book of spotless wisdom for man today.\nIt is the most comprehensible, readable and widely read translation of the Gita in the Western world. Both the practical and intellectual reader will enjoy it, because it reasonably answers\nmany important questions about God, philosophy, science,\npolitics, business, art, labor, education, sexuality and family life.\nAnd it conclusively deals with the problems of anxiety, duality, illusion and tension. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, \"I owed a magnificent day to the Bhagavad-gita. It was the first of books; it was as\nif an empire spoke to us, nothing small or unworthy, but large,\nserene, consistent, the voice of an old intelligence which in\nanother age and climate had pondered and thus disposed of the\nsame questions which exercise us.\"\n\n56 full-color illustrations\n37-page index\nGlossary of terms and characters\n330 pages ...$2.95\n\n(2) Beyond Birth and Death\nDid you ever wonder whether you could exist apart from your\nphysical body? What actually happens at the time of death? Is\nthere such a thing as reincarnation? In this book you will discover\nconvincing and authoritative answers.\n\n62 pages .. . S .95\n\n·-;:r..-\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0137": "(3) Perfection of Yoga\nAn enjoyable introduction to meditation. It gives a lucid explana­\n\ntion of the psychology, techniques and purposes of yoga. And it\n\nmakes a summary and comparison of the different yoga systems.\nDr. Frank Ledworth, University of St. Andrews, said of it, \"Most\nuseful for anyone wishing to understand the meaning of yoga.\"\n\n8 full-color illustrations\n56 pages . ..$ .95\n\n- (4) Sri isopani�ad\nThis is one of the famed 108 Upani$ads, ancient classical scriptures that explain the science of self-realization. Sri isopani$ad\n\nclearly describes in eighteen illuminating mantras the manifestations and characteristics of God, and man's inseparable relationship with Him. It also provides details on how one may overcome\nthe limitations of modern education, destroy spiritual ignorance,\n\ntranscend birth and death, achieve Immortality, and awaken to\nAbsolute Truth.\n\n8 full-color Illustrations\n\n141 pages ...$1.95\n\nA Complimentary Copy ...\nIf you order Nos.1, 2 and 3, you will receive No. 4 without cost.\nYour satisfact'\ntoday.\n\n•\n\n1 is assured.Just complete the coupon and mail it\n\nThe Bhaktivedanta Book Trust\n\n3764 Watseka Avenue\nLos Angeles, Ca. 90034\n\nPOPA\n\nPlease rush me postpaid the book numbers I have circled:\nin check or money order. If I\nwish, I may return the books In 10 days for a complete refund.\n\n1 2 3 4. I am enclosing $\nName\nAddress\nCity\n\n__\n\n________________________________________\n\n_\n____________________________________\n\nState\n\nZIP\n\n____\n\n�\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0138": "•\n\n.\n\n...·\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0139": "", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0140": ".\n\n\\{���������\n,&\n;I H�,'II;� .:�;·....;j �·�;.Ctili. �:i!V\n1 r·\n.l· � ·::·\n,\n\n·\n\n... �·.�� ·\n� I\n\n•\n\n'\n\nf\n\n,,\n\n·\n\n•\n\n�-\n\n-\n\n:· .\n\n�\n\n· ·�' ;�': · .f... � .. :; -�- ..\n\n�\n\n�\n\nw\n\n. -�\n\n_·\n\n-�-..\n\n.·\n;\n\n.\n\n;\n\n----' .\\: .. ... ' ....\n''\"'. .,t.'..-!�t· '!\".�· ..���\n\" -�\n·�\n� ,.-�;:. ·::\n� \\__\n••\n\n•\n\n�\n\n_, --·.\n\n-\n\n••\n\n!\n\nA True Account\n'\n\nA search for meaning carries\n\na young American Peace Corps\nworker halfway around\nthe world, to an ancient city in\nthe midst of West Bengal.\nThere, in a small bamboo house\nin the holy land of Mayapur,\nhe finds himself at the feet of\none of India's greatest saintly\nteachers, a teacher who seems able to tell him anything\nhe ever wanted io know....\n·\n\n:\n\n", "Perfect_Questions_Perfect_Answers-Original_1977_Edition-SCAN#p0141": ""}