The formula is that we have to become detached from the result of the work and must be situated in full knowledge, in full knowledge. Unless we are situated in full knowledge, it is not possible to be detached from the work which you are doing. And that detachment and that knowledge, to be situated in full knowledge, is possible when we perform yajña or sacrifice. Now, today’s subject matter is varieties of sacrifices, how we can perform different kinds of sacrifices. And what is the sacrifice? Sacrifice means yajñārthe karma. Just at the present moment our conception is that I am the proprietor of everything. Actually, I am not the proprietor. The Īśopaniṣad says that īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam: “The Supreme Lord, Personality of Godhead, or Kṛṣṇa, He is the proprietor.” But deluded by the illusory energy of the material existence, we are thinking that “I am the proprietor.” Therefore in the scriptures, in Vedic scriptures, sacrifice is recommended. Sacrifice means you give voluntarily. You give voluntarily. Because we have been so much attached to this material proprietorship, that… And without that attachment, there is no possibility of our becoming free from this material entanglement. But that attachment is very difficult to give up. Therefore sacrifice has been recommended, that “You sacrifice.”

Prabhupāda: Therefore His teachings, crude, teachings, cannot be now applied to the modern advanced educated people. That was suitable for those people. Now people have advanced in science, in philosophy. Now God consciousness …and should be presented on the basis of science and philosophy. Otherwise people will not accept.

Prabhupāda: Yes. So this… First of all one should know that I am neither American nor Englishman nor Indian. I am spirit soul. Then further education can be possible. So we teach from the Bhagavad-gītā this principle first, the basic principle of spiritual education, to understand that one is not this body, he is different from the… Actually, everyone can experience if he is a little intelligent. Just like dead man: a dead man is lying, and his relatives crying, “Oh, my father is gone, father is gone, father is gone…” So from argumentative point of view I can say, “Why you are crying? Your father is lying here.” “No, no, my father is gone.” Then you have not seen your father. You have seen this body. So this body is not your father. You have to admit. Therefore, the person whom you saw, the body, that was all based on ignorance. That is going on.

[break] People are engaged twenty-four hours—night duty, day duty, no rest, working like ass, for eating, sleeping, mating. That’s all. Ass…, karmī…, karmīs are compared with ass. I have several times described ass. In India, ass is engaged to bear the burden of cloth of the washerman. Tons of cloth is loaded on the back of the ass, and it takes to the, I mean to say, washing ghat, water place, and he is given little morsel, little grass, and he is satisfied standing there. And again in the evening he is loaded with tons of clothing, and he brings back to the shop of the washerman. This is ass. He is bearing so big burden, only for little grass. But he can go away from that place and eat grass anywhere—there is sufficient grass. But no, he will stick to that washerman’s place. He is under the impression that “This washerman is protecting me, giving this grass.” That is his impression. “If I go away, I may not get the grass.” So this is ass. Therefore, according to the Vedic system, the ass is forced to get out of this.

Prabhupāda: I am a human being. You accept that I have got soul. By what symptoms you accept that I have got soul? First of all you have to ascertain that. What is the symptom that we agree that I am human being, I have got…, I have… I have a soul? By what characteristic, analytical study, you accept that I have got soul and the dog has not got soul? What are these different characteristics? First of all, we have to enumerate that thing. If we find in the characteristics, then we can say there is no soul. But if we see that both the animal and the human being have the same characteristics of living condition, then how you can say the animal has not soul?

Prabhupāda: Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you very much for your kind invitation and reception. Spiritual value…, he has have spoken very nicely about the spiritual value of living entity. Actually, we are all spiritual entities. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, dehino ‘smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā tathā dehāntaraṁ-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati This is, in Sanskrit, it is said that within the body there is the proprietor of the body. The proprietor of the body is there within the body, but the body is changing from babyhood to childhood, to childhood to boyhood, boyhood to youthhood, similarly aged man. The body is changing. As we are experiencing different changes of the body, similarly, when this body will no longer exist, I or you, every one of us, will accept another body. I can remember, you can remember your childhood body, your boyhood body—but those bodies are no longer existing. But I remember; you remember. Similarly, when I give up this body, I accept another body. It may not be I remembering it, but that’s a fact. But the spirit soul, the proprietor of the body, is described, nityaḥśāśvato ‘yaṁ na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre. The spirit soul is eternal. It does not annihilate after the destruction of the body.

Prabhupāda: The spiritual master is the representative of God. Haṁsadūta: [translates] Prabhupāda: So if he speaks what God speaks, then he’s spiritual master; otherwise, he’s a bogus. Haṁsadūta: [German conversation] What God has spoken in the scripture. Guest: [German] I understand now. Prabhupāda: So Mahesh Yogi does not speak of God. Therefore he’s bogus.

Prabhupāda: So our point of view is that we don’t allow killing any animal. Our Kṛṣṇa says, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati. Kṛṣṇa says, “Vegetable, fruits, milk, grains, all these things should be offered to Me with devotion. And you should take the remnants of the foodstuff.” So we take prasādam. And Kṛṣṇa says, “Give Me foodstuff prepared from this group.” That we do. Accepting that the fruits, they have got life. But fruits are by nature… There are many fruits, it is offered by the tree for eating. The tree’s not killed. So we accept this philosophy also that a, one animal, one living entity is meant for being food for another living entity. Jīvo jīvasya jīvanam. That we also accept. But that does not mean—one living entity is the food for another living entity—that does not mean I can kill my mother, my child… That is not… So at least this must be taken into consideration that cows, innocent, they give us milk, we take its milk, and we kill in regular slaughterhouse, this is not very good thing. It is sinful.

How Kṛṣṇa is truth, the Absolute Truth, although the Absolute Truth is described in three phases in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam… Just like vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ. This tattva. Here it is said, tattvataḥ. The truth, Absolute Truth, is called tattva. So vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ. Tattva-vid. Vid means knowledge. Vetti veda vido jñāne. One who has got complete knowledge, he is called vid, tattva-vid. So tattva-vid, they ascertain the tattva, the truth, in three ways. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam. So knowledge of the truth is nondual. Absolute means nondual—no relative—absolute, advaya-jñāna. So what is that advaya-jñāna? Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate. So to approach Kṛṣṇa, to understand, one has to go through the brahma-jñāna, brahmeti; then Paramātmā, paramātma-jñāna; then kṛṣṇa-jñāna. Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate. So generally, those who are inquiring about the Absolute Truth, they come to the point of brahma-jñāna. Brahma-jñāna. Then, if one makes further advance, then he can understand paramātma-jñāna. Paramātma-jñāna means the all-pervasive Personality of Godhead, localized aspect. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati. That is paramātma-jñāna. First of all, brahma-jñāna, then paramātma-jñāna, then bhagavad-jñāna. Bhagavān iti śabdyate. That bhagavān is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam. Bhagavān ...

Ātma-rajas-tamopahā. This is the perfection of life. We are now covered by the modes of material nature, tri-guṇamayī, three guṇas: sattva, rajas, tamas. So mukti means to get out of this entanglement of three guṇas. That is called mukti. We are suffering different modes of material nature. We have several times explained, kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgaḥ asya sad-asad-yoni-janmasu. There are different types of bodies. From specie point of view, there are 8,400,000 forms, and they are due to these material modes of nature. I have several times explained, there are three modes of material nature, and if you mix, three into three, it becomes nine, and nine into nine equal to eighty-one. So little more or less, there are 8,400,000 species of life. So in order to get out of this repetition of birth and death, we require to be freed from the influence of the modes of material nature. That is the perfection of life.

Prabhupāda: Pleasure… So that is child. Even a child also feels pleasure with something. But it is the duty of the parent to train him to the right point of pleasure. The child takes pleasure playing the whole day. But the father does not allow him. If you leave…, let the child seeks his own pleasure, then you are spoiling him. Then there is no need of becoming your father, guardian. Let him be spoiled by his whimsical pleasure. There is no need of training, schooling, colleges. There is no need. In my childhood I was not willing to go to the schools. My mother forced. By force she used to… My father was lenient, and my mother kept a special man, yamadhara[?], that “Your duty is to take him by force to the school.” Yes. My father…, my mother would complain that “Your boy did not go to school.” “Oh, he did not go to school?” And I was sure he was very affectionate. “Why?” “No, I shall go tomorrow.” Then father, “All right, he will go tomorrow, that’s all right.” But that tomorrow will never come. This is my practical. My mother forced me. So I thought, “It is pleasure. Why shall I go to school? Let me play whole day.” But it is the duty of the guardian to see that this is not pleasure, this is spoiling. A child may think something pleasure, but the guardian should not think that this is pleasure. This is spoiling him. Otherwise why the guardians are required? Why government is needed, why king is needed, why father is needed, why guru is needed? ...

Prabhupāda: If you find out sand and rocks, you must also [indistinct] there was water. And from water, vegetation comes. From vegetation, other life comes. What we speak, we don’t speak unscientifically. It is scientific. How this rascal says all of a sudden in the sky there is rock? Wherefrom the rock came? Hari-śauri: Well, they say originally from gas. Prabhupāda: Gas? Hari-śauri: Gas. Prabhupāda: So gas… Without water, there cannot be gas. Hari-śauri: Gas, and then it liquifies and then it solidifies. Prabhupāda: Liquid means water. So as soon as there is water, there is vegetation. You’ll find everywhere. Water dries up, vegetable comes. Parivrājakācārya: Today they are exploring Mars, and they are saying that they’re finding water on Mars. Prabhupāda: Water’s there. Everything must be there. Pañca-bhūta, mahā-bhūta. Ether, then fire, then water, then land. Everything is described in the Bhāgavatam. They cannot speak nonsense. They can speak nonsense through the other literatures, but we cannot speak. Without water, how there is possibility of sand? Sand means it is salt.

Prabhupāda: If we are offering prayer, so Allah must hear it. Then He will be pleased upon you. So if He has no capacity to hear, then what is the use of your prayer? This is the logic. He must have capacity to hear what I am offering, prayers: “My Lord, Your Lordship is so great. You have created this universe,” or “You are maintaining so many…,” these things are there. So what is the purpose? That appreciating the uncommon activities of the Lord. This is prayer. What else? What do they mean by prayer? What is the meaning of their prayer? Nandarāṇī: The Namaz, their prayers are for glorification of God, just like our chanting. Prabhupāda: Glorification means to recite the glorified activities. So He has got activities. Prayers describing the glorified activities. So just like our prayers also. Cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipā… The Lord is tending cows, and He’s surrounded by so many goddess of fortune, gopīs, these things are described. Cintāmaṇi-prakara. So the Lord’s activities, Lord’s place, how He is surrounded by other devotees or servitors, how He is tending, these are prayer. So what is their prayer? Did you try to understand? What do they offer? Nandarāṇī: Allah illallah is a common… Prabhupāda: That is their word, but what is the meaning? Nandarāṇī: “God is great.” Prabhupāda: God is great, but how He is great? Nandarāṇī: That is not emphasized, how He is great, ...

Prabhupāda: So the purpose of marriage is explained here. Putrātve kriyet bhāryā putra pinḍa prayojanam. For the purpose of one or two nice children one should marry, not for sense gratification. This is the Vedic purport of marriage. So in our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement we allow marriage on this principle, not for sense gratification. All the chief devotees of Lord Caitanya… Or even Lord Caitanya Himself, He married twice. So marriage is not prohibited, but everything should be under regulative principle according to the law. Then either one is sannyāsī or a married man or a brahmacārī, it doesn’t matter. Caitanya Mahāprabhu stressed, ye kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā, sei ‘guru’ haya. He never said that the sannyāsīs should be guru and not the gṛhasthas. He says, ye kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā, sei ‘guru’ haya. Anyone who knows the science of Kṛṣṇa, he can become guru. And that guru… Caitanya Mahāprabhu says everything very simplified: āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra’sarva deśa yāre dekha, tāre kaha ‘kṛṣṇa’-upadeśa Sarva deśa, or ei deśa, wherever you are living, it doesn’t matter. Just like our Atreya Ṛṣi, he’s gṛhastha, he’s living in Iran, Tehran, but it doesn’t matter. If he speaks kṛṣṇa-kathā, then he’s guru. It is very simple thing. We should not speak beyond what is spoken by Kṛṣṇa. Take Bhagavad-gītā and try to preach the principles, speak whatever is spoken in the Bhagavad-gītā. ...