Real guru will not talk differently. Some guru says that, "In my opinion, you should like this." And some guru will say, "In my opinion, you'll do this."

One man, one boy, young boy, he asked me, "Why God has created this world?" And "Why don't you ask your father why he has created you? Then you'll understand." I told him like that. "Go and ask your father why he has created you."

Ramesvara: That was their sport, entertainment. Just like wrestling in India, but in the Middle East in Roman times the wrestling was fought until somebody had to be killed. That was their entertainment. They wanted to see them die. Even today, actually, all the entertainment in America and the Western world is based on violence. They have bull fighting. They want to see the bull tortured and killed. And they have chicken fighting, and they have...

The following is from Transcendental Diary, by Hari-sauri Prabhu (slightly edited). Monseigneur Kern [a Catholic dignitary who had come to meet Srila Prabhupada] seemed mainly concerned about the poor, needy and disabled.

Tamala Krsna: He says, "What is the actual meaning of the sacrifice of the cross, Jesus dying on the cross?" Prabhupada: It has no meaning. The people were so rascal that they attempted to kill him, because he was speaking of God. So we can understand the pollution of the then society, how intelligent they were.

Interviewer: As far as rites which you practice and demands upon you which Krsna makes, what are any of these rites or demands? That is must you eat special foods, wear special clothing, special..., anything special which you put upon your face, sign, symbols, and also, is there any connection of Krsna consciousness to the meditation of yoga or of Zen, and what of physical fitness? How does Krsna consciousness look at this?

The yogis are trying to control the senses by force. "I shall go to the Himalayas. I shall not see any more beautiful woman. I shall close down my eyes." These are forceful. You cannot control your senses. There are many instances. You don't require to go to Himalaya. You just remain in Los Angeles city and engage your eyes to see Krsna, you are more than a person who has gone to Himalayas. You'll forget all other thing.

London, 1977: "Produce books," said Srila Prabhupada. "These books are all the mercy of my Guru Maharaja. No author throughout the world has written so many books -- Shakespeare, Milton, Dickens. Neither their books have been so widely read or with such appreciation."

All sorts of puzzling questions will be solved if only we give our lending ear to those persons who have very little to do with this world.

The Supreme Lord is saying, “I have arranged so much misery, so much pain, so much trouble and danger, not to make you suffer, but to teach you that all this misery is unnecessary; so you will search for the happiness that is eternally desirable, the joy that is eternally adorable."

"Before writing these books, I never really wrote before," Swamiji [Srila Prabhupada] tells me. "I wondered, ‘How will I do it?' So I just sat down and repeated what I had heard from my spiritual master. I did not invent. If I'm satisfied, it is because I have delivered the message as it is, without any concoctions. But as for writing -- " He laughs. "It is all the mercy of my spiritual master, who is your grand spiritual master.

If you are not engaged in the service of Hari, then you will either be a jnani (follower of absolute monism) or a karmi (performer of scriptural rites for securing pleasures in this life or in the next), or an unabashed servant of worldly desires without restraint.