View source for Gradations

<div id="compilation">
<div id="facts">
{{terms|"gradation"|"gradations"}}
{{notes|}}
{{compiler|Visnu Murti|RupaManjari}}
{{complete|ALL}}
{{first|11Jan12}}
{{last|13Jan12}}
{{totals_by_section|BG=0|SB=11|CC=6|OB=2|Lec=15|Con=11|Let=2}}
{{total|47}}
{{toc right}}
[[Category:gradations|1]]
</div>
<div id="Srimad-Bhagavatam" class="section" sec_index="1" parent="compilation" text="Srimad-Bhagavatam"><h2>Srimad-Bhagavatam</h2>
</div>
<div id="SB_Canto_1" class="sub_section" sec_index="1" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam" text="SB Canto 1"><h3>SB Canto 1</h3>
</div>
<div id="SB11122_0" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_1" book="SB" index="418" link="SB 1.11.22" link_text="SB 1.11.22">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 1.11.22|SB 1.11.22, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">To receive the Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa there were all grades of population, beginning from Vasudeva, Ugrasena and Gargamuni—the father, grandfather and teacher—down to the prostitutes and caṇḍālas, who are accustomed to eat dogs. And every one of them was properly greeted by the Lord in terms of rank and position. As pure living entities, all are the separated parts and parcels of the Lord, and thus no one is alien by His eternal relation. Such pure living entities are graded differently in terms of contamination of the modes of material nature, but the Lord is equally affectionate to all His parts and parcels, despite material gradation. He descends only to recall these materialistic living beings back to His kingdom, and intelligent persons take advantage of this facility offered by the Personality of Godhead to all living beings. No one is rejected by the Lord from the kingdom of God, and it remains with the living being to accept this or not.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="SB11620_1" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_1" book="SB" index="637" link="SB 1.16.20" link_text="SB 1.16.20">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 1.16.20|SB 1.16.20, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">And thus faithless societies of men will make the world uninhabitable for the saner section of people. There are gradations of human beings in terms of proportionate faith in the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The first-class faithful men are the Vaiṣṇavas and the brāhmaṇas, then the kṣatriyas, then the vaiśyas, then the śūdras, then the mlecchas, the yavanas and at last the caṇḍālas. The degradation of the human instinct begins from the mlecchas, and the caṇḍāla state of life is the last word in human degradation. All the above terms mentioned in the Vedic literatures are never meant for any particular community or birth. They are different qualifications of human beings in general. There is no question of birthright or community.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="SB_Canto_3" class="sub_section" sec_index="3" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam" text="SB Canto 3"><h3>SB Canto 3</h3>
</div>
<div id="SB3550_0" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="193" link="SB 3.5.50" link_text="SB 3.5.50">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.5.50|SB 3.5.50, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">You are the original personal founder of all the demigods and the orders of different gradations, yet You are the oldest and are unchanged. O Lord, You have no source or superior. You have impregnated the external energy with the semen of the total living entities, yet You are unborn.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="SB3550_1" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="193" link="SB 3.5.50" link_text="SB 3.5.50">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.5.50|SB 3.5.50, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The Lord, the Original Person, is the father of all other living entities, beginning from Brahmā, the personality from whom all other living entities in different gradations of species are generated. Yet the supreme father has no other father. Every one of the living entities of all grades, up to Brahmā, the original creature of the universe, is begotten by a father, but He, the Lord, has no father. When He descends on the material plane, out of His causeless mercy He accepts one of His great devotees as His father to keep pace with the rules of the material world. But since He is the Lord, He is always independent in choosing who will become His father.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="SB3550_2" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="193" link="SB 3.5.50" link_text="SB 3.5.50">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.5.50|SB 3.5.50, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">As confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (14.3), the Lord impregnates the external or material energy, and thus the total living entities later come out in different gradations, beginning from Brahmā, the first demigod, down to the insignificant ant. All gradations of living entities are manifested by Brahmā and the external energy, but the Lord is the original father of everyone. The relationship of every living being with the Supreme Lord is certainly one of son and father and not one of equality. Sometimes in love the son is more than the father, but the relationship of father and son is one of the superior and the subordinate. Every living entity, however great he may be, even up to demigods like Brahmā and Indra, is an eternally subordinate servitor of the supreme father.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="SB_Canto_4" class="sub_section" sec_index="4" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam" text="SB Canto 4"><h3>SB Canto 4</h3>
</div>
<div id="SB4115_0" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_4" book="SB" index="15" link="SB 4.1.15" link_text="SB 4.1.15">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 4.1.15|SB 4.1.15, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">In the Varāha Purāṇa it is nicely explained that some of the parts are svāṁśa and some are vibhinnāṁśa. Vibhinnāṁśa parts are called jīvas, and svāṁśa parts are in the Viṣṇu category. In the jīva category, the vibhinnāṁśa parts and parcels, there are also gradations. That is explained in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa, where it is clearly stated that the individual parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord are subject to being covered by the external energy, called illusion, or māyā. Such individual parts and parcels, who can travel to any part of the Lord's creation, are called sarva-gata and are suffering the pangs of material existence. They are proportionately freed from the coverings of ignorance under material existence according to different levels of work and under different influences of the modes of material nature.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="SB4115_1" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_4" book="SB" index="15" link="SB 4.1.15" link_text="SB 4.1.15">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 4.1.15|SB 4.1.15, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The consciousness of the Lord is also in the part and parcel, and according to the proportion to which that consciousness is cleared of material dirt, the living entities are differently situated. In the Vedānta-sūtra, the living entities of different gradations are compared to candles or lamps with different candle power. For example, some electric bulbs have the power of one thousand candles, some have the power of five hundred candles, some the power of one hundred candles, some fifty candles, etc., but all electric bulbs have light. Light is present in every bulb, but the gradations of light are different. Similarly, there are gradations of Brahman. The Viṣṇu svāṁśa expansions of the Supreme Lord in different Viṣṇu forms are like lamps, Lord Śiva is also like a lamp, and the supreme candle power, or the one-hundred-percent light, is Kṛṣṇa.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="SB4115_2" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_4" book="SB" index="15" link="SB 4.1.15" link_text="SB 4.1.15">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 4.1.15|SB 4.1.15, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The viṣṇu-tattva has ninety-four percent, the śiva-tattva has eighty-four percent, Lord Brahmā has seventy-eight percent, and the living entities are also like Brahmā, but in the conditioned state their power is still more dim. There are gradations of Brahman, and no one can deny this fact. Therefore the words ātmeśa-brahma-sambhavān indicate that Dattātreya was directly part and parcel of Viṣṇu, whereas Durvāsā and Soma were parts and parcels of Lord Śiva and Lord Brahmā.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="SB4412_3" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_4" book="SB" index="129" link="SB 4.4.12" link_text="SB 4.4.12">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 4.4.12|SB 4.4.12, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Among the uncommonly good souls there are still gradations, and the best good soul is one who accepts an insignificant asset of a person and magnifies that good quality. Lord Śiva is also called Āśutoṣa, which refers to one who is satisfied very easily and who offers to any person the highest level of benediction. For example, once a devotee of Lord Śiva wanted the benediction that whenever he touched someone on the head, that person's head would at once be separated from his trunk. Lord Śiva agreed. Although the benediction asked was not very commendable because the devotee wanted to kill his enemy, Lord Śiva considered the devotee's good quality in worshiping and satisfying him and granted the benediction.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="SB42122_4" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_4" book="SB" index="852" link="SB 4.21.22" link_text="SB 4.21.22">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 4.21.22|SB 4.21.22, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">After many, many births in lower species, when a living entity evolves to the human form of life and in particular to the civilized human form of life, his society must be divided into four gradations, as ordered by the Supreme Personality of Godhead in Bhagavad-gītā (cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭam, etc. ([[Vanisource:BG 4.13 (1972)|BG 4.13]])). The four social orders—the brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, vaiśyas and śūdras—are natural divisions of human society, and as declared by Pṛthu Mahārāja, every man in his respective social order must have proper employment for his livelihood. It is the duty of the king or the government to insure that the people observe the social order and that they are also employed in their respective occupational duties. In modern times, since the protection of the government or the king has been withdrawn, social order has practically collapsed.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="SB_Canto_7" class="sub_section" sec_index="7" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam" text="SB Canto 7"><h3>SB Canto 7</h3>
</div>
<div id="SB71438_0" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_7" book="SB" index="611" link="SB 7.14.38" link_text="SB 7.14.38">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 7.14.38|SB 7.14.38, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Therefore we find the individual soul in different high and low positions. A living entity with the body of a bird or beast cannot take instructions from the Supreme Soul as adequately as an advanced human being. Thus there are gradations of bodily forms. In human society, the perfect brāhmaṇa is supposed to be the most advanced in spiritual consciousness, and further advanced than the brāhmaṇa is the Vaiṣṇava. Therefore the best persons are the Vaiṣṇavas and Viṣṇu. When charity is to be given, one should take instruction from Bhagavad-gītā (17.20):</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="Sri_Caitanya-caritamrta" class="section" sec_index="2" parent="compilation" text="Sri Caitanya-caritamrta"><h2>Sri Caitanya-caritamrta</h2>
</div>
<div id="CC_Adi-lila" class="sub_section" sec_index="1" parent="Sri_Caitanya-caritamrta" text="CC Adi-lila"><h3>CC Adi-lila</h3>
</div>
<div id="CCAdi371_0" class="quote" parent="CC_Adi-lila" book="CC" index="297" link="CC Adi 3.71" link_text="CC Adi 3.71">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:CC Adi 3.71|CC Adi 3.71, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Thousands of candles may be kindled by an original candle, and all will have the same candle power. In this way it is to be understood that although all the viṣṇu-tattvas, from Kṛṣṇa and Lord Caitanya to Rāma, Nṛsiṁha, Varāha and so on, appear with different features in different ages, all are equally invested with supreme potency.</p>
<p>Demigods such as Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva come in contact with the material energy, and their power and potency are therefore of different gradations. All the incarnations of Viṣṇu, however, are equal in potency, for the influence of māyā cannot even approach Them.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="CCAdi699_1" class="quote" parent="CC_Adi-lila" book="CC" index="929" link="CC Adi 6.99" link_text="CC Adi 6.99">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:CC Adi 6.99|CC Adi 6.99, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">A fraction of a particular thing is called a part, and that from which the fraction is distinguished is called the whole. Therefore the fraction, or part, is included within the whole. The Lord is the whole, and the devotee is the part or fractional part. That is the relationship between the Lord and the devotee. There are also gradations of devotees, who are calculated as greater or lesser. When a devotee is great he is called prabhu, and when he is lesser he is called bhakta, or a devotee. The supreme whole is Kṛṣṇa, and Baladeva and all Viṣṇu incarnations are His fractions. Lord Kṛṣṇa is therefore conscious of His superior position, and all Viṣṇu incarnations are conscious of Their positions as devotees.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="CCAdi733_2" class="quote" parent="CC_Adi-lila" book="CC" index="979" link="CC Adi 7.33" link_text="CC Adi 7.33">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:CC Adi 7.33|CC Adi 7.33, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">He identified Himself as the Supreme Spirit. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, or for that matter any pure devotee, never identifies with these social and spiritual divisions of life, for a devotee is always transcendental to these different gradations of society. Nevertheless, Lord Caitanya decided to accept sannyāsa on the grounds that when He became a sannyāsī everyone would show Him respect and in that way be favored. Although there was actually no need for Him to accept sannyāsa, He did so for the benefit of those who might think Him an ordinary human being. The main purpose of His accepting sannyāsa was to deliver the Māyāvādī sannyāsīs. This will be evident later in this chapter.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="CC_Madhya-lila" class="sub_section" sec_index="2" parent="Sri_Caitanya-caritamrta" text="CC Madhya-lila"><h3>CC Madhya-lila</h3>
</div>
<div id="CCMadhya6156_0" class="quote" parent="CC_Madhya-lila" book="CC" index="1125" link="CC Madhya 6.156" link_text="CC Madhya 6.156">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:CC Madhya 6.156|CC Madhya 6.156, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The material energy acts on the living entity in different degrees, according to how he acquires the association of the three modes of material nature. There are 8,400,000 species of life, some inferior, some superior and some mediocre. The gradations of the bodies are calculated according to the covering of material energy. In the lower categories—including aquatics, trees, plants, insects, birds and so forth—spiritual consciousness is almost nonexistent. In the mediocre category—the human form of life—spiritual consciousness is comparatively awakened. In the superior life forms, spiritual consciousness is fully awakened. Then the living entity understands his real position and tries to escape the influence of material energy by developing Kṛṣṇa consciousness.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="CCMadhya15277_1" class="quote" parent="CC_Madhya-lila" book="CC" index="3471" link="CC Madhya 15.277" link_text="CC Madhya 15.277">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:CC Madhya 15.277|CC Madhya 15.277, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">A brāhmaṇa may be a very learned scholar, but this does not mean that he is free from material contamination. A brāhmaṇa's contamination, however, is in the mode of goodness. In the material world, the three modes are goodness, passion and ignorance, and all of these are simply different gradations of contamination. Unless a brāhmaṇa transcends such contamination and approaches the platform of unalloyed devotional service, he cannot be accepted as a Vaiṣṇava. An impersonalist may be aware of the impersonal Brahman feature of the Absolute Truth, but his activities are on the impersonal platform. Sometimes he imagines a form of the Lord (saguṇa-upāsanā), but such an attempt is never successful in helping one attain complete realization.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="CCMadhya2418_2" class="quote" parent="CC_Madhya-lila" book="CC" index="5334" link="CC Madhya 24.18" link_text="CC Madhya 24.18">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:CC Madhya 24.18|CC Madhya 24.18, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">“‘The prefix "niḥ" may be used for a sense of ascertainment, gradation, construction or forbidding. The word "grantha" means "riches," "thesis" and "composition."’</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="Other_Books_by_Srila_Prabhupada" class="section" sec_index="3" parent="compilation" text="Other Books by Srila Prabhupada"><h2>Other Books by Srila Prabhupada</h2>
</div>
<div id="Teachings_of_Lord_Caitanya" class="sub_section" sec_index="0" parent="Other_Books_by_Srila_Prabhupada" text="Teachings of Lord Caitanya"><h3>Teachings of Lord Caitanya</h3>
</div>
<div id="TLC14_0" class="quote" parent="Teachings_of_Lord_Caitanya" book="OB" index="20" link="TLC 14" link_text="Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 14">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:TLC 14|Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 14]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">According to the various divisions and gradations of devotees, permanent devotional attitudes can be divided into five categories: (1) peacefulness, (2) service to Kṛṣṇa, (3) friendship with Kṛṣṇa, (4) parental affection toward Kṛṣṇa, and (5) conjugal love for Kṛṣṇa. Each division has its own taste and relish, and a devotee situated in a particular division is happy in that position. Characteristic symptoms exhibited by a pure devotee are generally laughing and crying; when emotions are favorable, a pure devotee laughs, and when emotions are not favorable, he cries.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="Nectar_of_Devotion" class="sub_section" sec_index="1" parent="Other_Books_by_Srila_Prabhupada" text="Nectar of Devotion"><h3>Nectar of Devotion</h3>
</div>
<div id="NOD3_0" class="quote" parent="Nectar_of_Devotion" book="OB" index="12" link="NOD 3" link_text="Nectar of Devotion 3">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:NOD 3|Nectar of Devotion 3]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">The neophyte devotees are classified into four groups—the distressed, those in need of money, the inquisitive and the wise—according to their gradations of pious activities. Without pious activities, if a man is in a distressed condition he becomes an agnostic, a communist or something like that. Because he does not firmly believe in God, he thinks that he can adjust his distressed condition by totally disbelieving in Him.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="Lectures" class="section" sec_index="4" parent="compilation" text="Lectures"><h2>Lectures</h2>
</div>
<div id="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="0" parent="Lectures" text="Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures"><h3>Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures</h3>
</div>
<div id="LectureonBG167LondonJuly111973_0" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="7" link="Lecture on BG 1.6-7 -- London, July 11, 1973" link_text="Lecture on BG 1.6-7 -- London, July 11, 1973">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 1.6-7 -- London, July 11, 1973|Lecture on BG 1.6-7 -- London, July 11, 1973]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So formerly, five thousand years ago, the same system, military—ordinary soldiers, then the captain, then the commander, the commander-in-chief—as there are gradations in the modern age, the same thing was there. But mahā-ratha, they had good qualification. Mahā-ratha means alone he could fight with many other charioteers. They are called ati-ratha, mahā-ratha. There are different grades of fighters.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonBG22738LosAngelesDecember111968_1" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="94" link="Lecture on BG 2.27-38 -- Los Angeles, December 11, 1968" link_text="Lecture on BG 2.27-38 -- Los Angeles, December 11, 1968">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 2.27-38 -- Los Angeles, December 11, 1968|Lecture on BG 2.27-38 -- Los Angeles, December 11, 1968]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Lord Śiva is a demigod, but he is higher than all other demigods. He's higher than Lord Brahmā also. But he's not the Supreme Lord. Just like there are different gradations. That is not difficult to understand. In society also, there are different gradations. Similarly, the living entities, there are different gradations. So all the living entities, they are, some of them are situated in higher planets, some of them are situated in lower planets, some of them are situated in high-grade life, in low-grade life. So the demigods are also, they are living entities, but they are enjoying better standard of life due to their acts of piety. But Lord Śiva is not amongst the living entities. He's above the living entities but he is counted as one of the demigods.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="1" parent="Lectures" text="Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures"><h3>Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures</h3>
</div>
<div id="LectureonSB1102MayapuraJune171973_0" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="269" link="Lecture on SB 1.10.2 -- Mayapura, June 17, 1973" link_text="Lecture on SB 1.10.2 -- Mayapura, June 17, 1973">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 1.10.2 -- Mayapura, June 17, 1973|Lecture on SB 1.10.2 -- Mayapura, June 17, 1973]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Then, when there is again creation, then the living entities again come out, according to their past position. We do not accept this rascal theory, Darwin's, that from lower-grade life they... There is a promotion like that, but in the creation everything is there. All the 8,400,000 species, they are all there. Although the gradations are there. So according to the past karma, karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa ([[Vanisource:SB 3.31.1|SB 3.31.1]]), everyone comes out again, gets a different type of body, and begins his work. Again another chance. "Yes. You come to the point of human understanding. Try to understand your relationship with Kṛṣṇa and get yourself liberated. Go home, back to home, back to..." If you lose this opportunity—this creation is made for that purpose—then again you remain.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonSB11620HawaiiJanuary161974_1" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="334" link="Lecture on SB 1.16.20 -- Hawaii, January 16, 1974" link_text="Lecture on SB 1.16.20 -- Hawaii, January 16, 1974">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 1.16.20 -- Hawaii, January 16, 1974|Lecture on SB 1.16.20 -- Hawaii, January 16, 1974]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Since dharma, or the principles of religion, would be lost in the proportion of three out of four, the symbolic bull was standing on one leg only. When three-fourths of the population of the whole world become irreligious, the situation is converted into hell for the animals. In the age of Kali, godless civilizations will create so many so-called religious societies in which the Personality of Godhead will be directly or indirectly defied. And thus faithless societies of men will make the world uninhabitable for the saner section of people. There are gradations of human beings in terms of proportionate faith in the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The first-class..."</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonSB11620LosAngelesJuly101974_2" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="335" link="Lecture on SB 1.16.20 -- Los Angeles, July 10, 1974" link_text="Lecture on SB 1.16.20 -- Los Angeles, July 10, 1974">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 1.16.20 -- Los Angeles, July 10, 1974|Lecture on SB 1.16.20 -- Los Angeles, July 10, 1974]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">And thus faithless societies of man will make the world uninhabitable for the saner section of people. There are gradations of human beings in terms of the proportionate faith in the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The first-class faithful men are the Vaiṣṇavas and the brāhmaṇas, then the kṣatriyas, then the vaiśyas, then the śūdras, then the mlecchas, the yavanas and at last the caṇḍālas. The gradation of human instincts begins from the mlecchas, and the caṇḍāla state of life is the last word in the human degradation. All the above terms mentioned in the Vedic literatures are never meant for any particular community or birth. They are different qualifications of human beings in general.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonSB2434LosAngelesJune271972_3" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="402" link="Lecture on SB 2.4.3-4 -- Los Angeles, June 27, 1972" link_text="Lecture on SB 2.4.3-4 -- Los Angeles, June 27, 1972">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 2.4.3-4 -- Los Angeles, June 27, 1972|Lecture on SB 2.4.3-4 -- Los Angeles, June 27, 1972]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">That is God. You'll always find God enjoying. God is not servant. Master. Kṛṣṇa says bhoktā. Bhoktā means enjoyer. Everyone should be engaged for His service, and He's the only enjoyer. Ekale īśvara kṛṣṇa ([[Vanisource:CC Adi 5.142|CC Adi 5.142]]). The only enjoyer, only master, is Kṛṣṇa, and all others, they are servants. Now, there may be gradation of servant, just like in your country, President Nixon is also a servant. And ordinary constable, he is also a servant. Everyone is servant; nobody is master. So there is gradation of service. That's all. Somebody is serving as President, somebody is serving as constable, somebody is serving as dog, somebody is serving as cat. And similarly, somebody is loving reciprocally.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonSB551TittenhurstLondonSeptember121969_4" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="512" link="Lecture on SB 5.5.1 -- Tittenhurst, London, September 12, 1969" link_text="Lecture on SB 5.5.1 -- Tittenhurst, London, September 12, 1969">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 5.5.1 -- Tittenhurst, London, September 12, 1969|Lecture on SB 5.5.1 -- Tittenhurst, London, September 12, 1969]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">As in the human society, the dog-eater human being is considered the lowest of the human society, similarly, in the animal society, the animal which eats stool is considered the lowest. So the gradation of human being is also calculated according to the eating process. This is... Modern thinker also says, in your country, Dr. Bernard Shaw? He has written one book. I think it is named You Are What You Eat. So eating is very important thing. If you eat like cats and dogs, then you'll become cats and dogs even in this human form of life. If you behave like cats and dogs, you become cats and dogs even in the human form of life. Similarly, if you work hard, very hard, like cats and dogs or hogs, then what is the value of your human life? Human life should be very sober, peaceful, full of knowledge, full of bliss, peaceful, devotee. These are the good signs of purity. Simply working hard like animal and eating like animal and...</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonSBQuestionsAnswersHyderabadApril101975_5" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="514" link="Lecture on SB Questions &amp; Answers -- Hyderabad, April 10, 1975" link_text="Lecture on SB Questions &amp; Answers -- Hyderabad, April 10, 1975">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB Questions &amp; Answers -- Hyderabad, April 10, 1975|Lecture on SB Questions &amp; Answers -- Hyderabad, April 10, 1975]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">It is already described in the Bhagavad-gītā that kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu ([[Vanisource:BG 13.22 (1972)|BG 13.22]]). There are different forms of life, different species of life. What is the reason of these different gradations? A dog's life and a man's life is different. How it has so become? What is the scientist's reply? I don't think the scientists can reply this. Or they can reply, "Evolutionary process."</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonSB618LosAngelesJune211975_6" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="594" link="Lecture on SB 6.1.8 -- Los Angeles, June 21, 1975" link_text="Lecture on SB 6.1.8 -- Los Angeles, June 21, 1975">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 6.1.8 -- Los Angeles, June 21, 1975|Lecture on SB 6.1.8 -- Los Angeles, June 21, 1975]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that prakṛti, we are under the guidance or rulings of material nature. That is It is not a fact that "We are independent," "There is no life after death." These are all foolish man's theory. We are eternal, there is life after death, and that life also has got different gradation. So this has been described, and this is the fact.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonSB631617GorakhpurFebruary101971_7" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="721" link="Lecture on SB 6.3.16-17 -- Gorakhpur, February 10, 1971" link_text="Lecture on SB 6.3.16-17 -- Gorakhpur, February 10, 1971">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 6.3.16-17 -- Gorakhpur, February 10, 1971|Lecture on SB 6.3.16-17 -- Gorakhpur, February 10, 1971]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Yes. Because every relationship is very palatable. The gentleman, the head of the family, his relationship with wife and his relationship with servant is as much palatable. Maybe some degradation, but it is palatable. There is no question of changing. Not that "I am tasting this rasa at the present moment. Then I will get better rasas." No, that is not. Everyone thinks, "My rasa is the best." Although there is comparative gradation, but everyone thinks. These things are explained in Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Why don't you see?</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonSB7927MayapurMarch51976_8" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="834" link="Lecture on SB 7.9.27 -- Mayapur, March 5, 1976" link_text="Lecture on SB 7.9.27 -- Mayapur, March 5, 1976">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 7.9.27 -- Mayapur, March 5, 1976|Lecture on SB 7.9.27 -- Mayapur, March 5, 1976]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: "Like the ordinary living entity, my Lord, You have no such discrimination, thinking like 'He is my friend; he is my enemy; he is favorable; he is unfavorable.' Such conception of low grade and high grade You have not got. But according to one's gradation of service, You offer them benediction exactly like the desire tree offers fruits according to the desire of the person. The desire tree has no distinction of low grade and high grade position of the beggar."</p>
<p>Prabhupāda:</p>
:naiṣā parāvara-matir bhavato nanu syāt
:jantor yathātmā-suhṛdo jagatas tathāpi
:saṁsevayā surataror iva te prasādaḥ
:sevānurūpam udayo na parāvaratvam
:([[Vanisource:SB 7.9.27|SB 7.9.27]])
<p>It is very important verse. Discrimination. Sometimes the atheist class demons, they say, "Why God has made somebody so opulent and why somebody so poor?" This is the general question. Perhaps you have met, eh? So that is being solved. Parāvaratvam. Para means better, and apara means inferior. Superior and inferior. There are two things, superior and inferior, everywhere, but in the eyes of God, Kṛṣṇa, there is no such thing, superior or inferior. He's superior, and everything is superior. This should be understood.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="Nectar_of_Devotion_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="2" parent="Lectures" text="Nectar of Devotion Lectures"><h3>Nectar of Devotion Lectures</h3>
</div>
<div id="TheNectarofDevotionCalcuttaJanuary271973_0" class="quote" parent="Nectar_of_Devotion_Lectures" book="Lec" index="44" link="The Nectar of Devotion -- Calcutta, January 27, 1973" link_text="The Nectar of Devotion -- Calcutta, January 27, 1973">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:The Nectar of Devotion -- Calcutta, January 27, 1973|The Nectar of Devotion -- Calcutta, January 27, 1973]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">"These four types of devotees have been described in the Seventh Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā, and they, they have all been accepted as pious. Without becoming pious, no one can come to devotional service. It is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā that only one who has completely executed pious activities and whose sinful reactions of life have completely stopped can take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Others cannot. The neophyte devotees are classified into four groups: the distressed, those who are in need of money, the inquisitive and the wise—according to their gradations of pious activities. Without pious activities, if a man is in a distressed condition, he becomes an agnostic, communist, or something like that. Because he does not firmly believe in God, he thinks that he can adjust his distressed condition by totally disbelieving in Him.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="Sri_Caitanya-caritamrta_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="3" parent="Lectures" text="Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures"><h3>Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures</h3>
</div>
<div id="LectureonCCMadhyalila20298NewYorkDecember201966_0" class="quote" parent="Sri_Caitanya-caritamrta_Lectures" book="Lec" index="90" link="Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.298 -- New York, December 20, 1966" link_text="Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.298 -- New York, December 20, 1966">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.298 -- New York, December 20, 1966|Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.298 -- New York, December 20, 1966]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Brahmā, viṣṇu, śiva—tina guṇa avatāra. Now on these three qualities, material modes of nature, the heads are Brahmā-Brahmā, the first living creature, Brahmā—and Viṣṇu—Viṣṇu, God Himself—and Śiva, Lord Śiva. Śiva's position is between Brahmā and Viṣṇu. Viṣṇu is God, and Brahmā is living entity. Gradation. Living entities, they are also parts and parcels of God. Śiva is also part and parcel of God. Viṣṇu is also part and parcel of God. But there are degrees of power. That we have already discussed. Kṛṣṇa is cent percent, Viṣṇu is ninety-four percent, Śiva is eighty-four percent, and we living entities, we are seventy-eight percent. So tri-guṇa aṅgīkari' kare sṛṣṭy-ādi-vyavahāra. They have nothing to do with these material modes of nature. Just like a person in charge of the criminal department or jail department, but we should not think that he is also one of the prisoners because he is in charge of the jail department. No.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="Arrival_Addresses_and_Talks" class="sub_section" sec_index="7" parent="Lectures" text="Arrival Addresses and Talks"><h3>Arrival Addresses and Talks</h3>
</div>
<div id="ArrivalSpeechNewVrindabanJune211976_0" class="quote" parent="Arrival_Addresses_and_Talks" book="Lec" index="39" link="Arrival Speech -- New Vrindaban, June 21, 1976" link_text="Arrival Speech -- New Vrindaban, June 21, 1976">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Arrival Speech -- New Vrindaban, June 21, 1976|Arrival Speech -- New Vrindaban, June 21, 1976]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Lower grade means less than the animal or the aquatics, the plants, the insects, the birds, then come to the beast, then come to the human form of life, civilized. Uncivilized, then civilized. In this way there is a gradation. So this happiness, sense gratification, that is already there. Prahlāda Mahārāja says, sukham aindriyakaṁ daityā deha-yogena dehinām. The sense gratification is there in different bodies, but the standard may be different. Standard means our calculation; otherwise, the standard is also the same. The sex life between dogs and sex life between human beings, the pleasure is the same. There is no change. There is no change.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="General_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="11" parent="Lectures" text="General Lectures"><h3>General Lectures</h3>
</div>
<div id="LectureNewYorkApril161969_0" class="quote" parent="General_Lectures" book="Lec" index="45" link="Lecture -- New York, April 16, 1969" link_text="Lecture -- New York, April 16, 1969">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture -- New York, April 16, 1969|Lecture -- New York, April 16, 1969]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So we should be very careful about our time. Don't spoil time. That is our request. Don't spoil time like animals. They have no responsibility because there is gradation. After this life, they get another life. After this life, they get another life. From aquatics they are promoted to the plant life. From plant life they are promoted to the insect life. From insect life they are promoted to the birds' life. Gradual evolution. They are coming by nature's way. Nature is helping. And nature has helped you to come to this life, to civilized form of life, where you can have education, where you can have nice compartment, apartment, nice food, nice association, nice car, nice city.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="section" sec_index="5" parent="compilation" text="Conversations and Morning Walks"><h2>Conversations and Morning Walks</h2>
</div>
<div id="1968_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="sub_section" sec_index="1" parent="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" text="1968 Conversations and Morning Walks"><h3>1968 Conversations and Morning Walks</h3>
</div>
<div id="RoomConversationJuly161968Montreal_0" class="quote" parent="1968_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="11" link="Room Conversation -- July 16, 1968, Montreal" link_text="Room Conversation -- July 16, 1968, Montreal">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Room Conversation -- July 16, 1968, Montreal|Room Conversation -- July 16, 1968, Montreal]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: Just like Arjuna, he was not a Vedantist, he was not a brāhmaṇa, he was not a sannyāsī. He was householder. He was military man. But he knew his business, how to do it nicely. So you do your business nicely. That is expert. And when it is dovetailed in Kṛṣṇa, there is no gradation that this business is better and that business is lower because everything is for Kṛṣṇa. So that business becomes Kṛṣṇa. Do it nicely and Kṛṣṇa is satisfied. And that is your success. Avyāpare suvyaparam yo naraḥ kartum icchati, sa-mulo hanyate 'khila pārthiva vānaraḥ.(?) Expert. There is a very nice story in Sanskrit. A monkey. A monkey... You might have some experience, that sawmen, who cut wood? Sawmen.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="1971_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="sub_section" sec_index="4" parent="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" text="1971 Conversations and Morning Walks"><h3>1971 Conversations and Morning Walks</h3>
</div>
<div id="RoomConversationwithDrWeiroftheMensaSocietySeptember51971London_0" class="quote" parent="1971_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="25" link="Room Conversation with Dr. Weir of the Mensa Society -- September 5, 1971, London" link_text="Room Conversation with Dr. Weir of the Mensa Society -- September 5, 1971, London">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Room Conversation with Dr. Weir of the Mensa Society -- September 5, 1971, London|Room Conversation with Dr. Weir of the Mensa Society -- September 5, 1971, London]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Mensa Member: But still it raises the danger of another (indistinct), it really does. This is a very (indistinct) you're trying to make but it's impossible to talk about physics in the language of chemistry. It's impossible, so when...</p>
<p>Śyāmasundara: So when he says there's a gradation, that we see gradation, that the soul is higher than the body, this is also (indistinct)</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Soul is higher than the body, mind and intelligence.</p>
<p>Dr. Weir: Yes. But that is only because we've learned, I think, when we were small to look up to higher people...</p>
<p>Mensa Member: (indistinct) on each side of them and in the middle, on the other side, before and after...</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="1973_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="sub_section" sec_index="6" parent="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" text="1973 Conversations and Morning Walks"><h3>1973 Conversations and Morning Walks</h3>
</div>
<div id="RoomConversationwithIndianGuestOctober41973Bombay_0" class="quote" parent="1973_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="79" link="Room Conversation with Indian Guest -- October 4, 1973, Bombay" link_text="Room Conversation with Indian Guest -- October 4, 1973, Bombay">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Room Conversation with Indian Guest -- October 4, 1973, Bombay|Room Conversation with Indian Guest -- October 4, 1973, Bombay]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: I've got... I made...</p>
<p>Guest (1): And another can be a lower form. But both of them are true. For me, even in the lower poetry's true, the higher is true. But it is a question of gradation merely, where the man has reached to.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Well, everything is true, but higher true, or lower true?</p>
<p>Guest (1): Both are true.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Both are true, but both are not the same thing. Then why higher and lower?</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="RoomConversationwithIndianGuestOctober41973Bombay_1" class="quote" parent="1973_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="79" link="Room Conversation with Indian Guest -- October 4, 1973, Bombay" link_text="Room Conversation with Indian Guest -- October 4, 1973, Bombay">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Room Conversation with Indian Guest -- October 4, 1973, Bombay|Room Conversation with Indian Guest -- October 4, 1973, Bombay]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: Why "no"? One time you say, "No..." No, no, this is contradictory.</p>
<p>Guest (1): Yes, sir, this is part (indistinct) higher and lower.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Eh?</p>
<p>Guest (1): Gradations, you can use words.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes, that will exist always.</p>
<p>Guest (1): Always?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Always exist.</p>
<p>Guest (1): They will always exist? Gradations will always exist?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes. That is a fact. Now where that evolution will end?</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="RoomConversationwithIndianGuestOctober41973Bombay_2" class="quote" parent="1973_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="79" link="Room Conversation with Indian Guest -- October 4, 1973, Bombay" link_text="Room Conversation with Indian Guest -- October 4, 1973, Bombay">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Room Conversation with Indian Guest -- October 4, 1973, Bombay|Room Conversation with Indian Guest -- October 4, 1973, Bombay]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: But Bhagavad-gītā says, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya ([[Vanisource:BG 4.9 (1972)|BG 4.9]]). Bhagavad-gītā says that if you understand the Kṛṣṇa consciousness philosophy, janma karma me... First of all, you always remember that whatever we are talking, we are talking on the Bhagavad-gītā, on the basis of Bhagavad-gītā. The Bhagavad-gītā says, janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti ([[Vanisource:BG 4.9 (1972)|BG 4.9]]). If you simply understand Kṛṣṇa, what is Kṛṣṇa, then tyaktvā deham, giving up this body, you'll not have to accept another material body. This is the statement of Bhagavad-gītā. But so long you'll accept this body, material body, you'll remain imperfect. There cannot be any perfection. It may be gradation.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="MorningWalkDecember161973LosAngeles_3" class="quote" parent="1973_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="102" link="Morning Walk -- December 16, 1973, Los Angeles" link_text="Morning Walk -- December 16, 1973, Los Angeles">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Morning Walk -- December 16, 1973, Los Angeles|Morning Walk -- December 16, 1973, Los Angeles]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: Mother chicken.</p>
<p>Prajāpati: The head chicken. Or monkeys. There is also what's called pecking order. One is at the top, and then there's one at the end who gets the least, and all these gradations in-between. In any group there is always like that. So they say simply the reason we have government with one man head is because that's the natural pecking order like chickens.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes, that's all right. Why this natural order has come? It is needed.</p>
<p>Karandhara: Well, they say chance. Chance in nature...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: There is no chance. That is rascaldom. There is no chance. There is no chance.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="1975_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="sub_section" sec_index="8" parent="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" text="1975 Conversations and Morning Walks"><h3>1975 Conversations and Morning Walks</h3>
</div>
<div id="RoomConversationwithJesuitMay191975Melbourne_0" class="quote" parent="1975_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="81" link="Room Conversation with Jesuit -- May 19, 1975, Melbourne" link_text="Room Conversation with Jesuit -- May 19, 1975, Melbourne">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Room Conversation with Jesuit -- May 19, 1975, Melbourne|Room Conversation with Jesuit -- May 19, 1975, Melbourne]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: That's all right.</p>
<p>Jesuit: A man has life, for me that is a gradation of life, you've got to start...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: That gradation so far, just like there are gradation of motor cars. This is made by Ford, this is made by (indistinct), but the petrol is the same.</p>
<p>Jesuit: The petrol is the same.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes.</p>
<p>Jesuit: Hm, even that can vary, but still...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: There is no still, petrol is the same. The machine</p>
<p>may be different.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="RoomConversationwithJesuitMay191975Melbourne_1" class="quote" parent="1975_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="81" link="Room Conversation with Jesuit -- May 19, 1975, Melbourne" link_text="Room Conversation with Jesuit -- May 19, 1975, Melbourne">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Room Conversation with Jesuit -- May 19, 1975, Melbourne|Room Conversation with Jesuit -- May 19, 1975, Melbourne]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: Body and soul different.</p>
<p>Jesuit: But that's the point I was trying to make, that you have a gradation in your prayer of..., in the Jesus prayer, in which you speak and you can hear the noise, chanting. You might say something like this: (Sings softly) Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Now, that's a chanting, a singing, and it sums up everything I believe in, say, in the word Jesus. But then there can be the other where there's no sound is heard, but I'm still thinking it in my mind.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Similarly you can think of Hare Kṛṣṇa. (Sings) Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa... Same thing. Where is the difference? There is no difference.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="MorningWalkNovember131975Bombay_2" class="quote" parent="1975_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="239" link="Morning Walk -- November 13, 1975, Bombay" link_text="Morning Walk -- November 13, 1975, Bombay">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Morning Walk -- November 13, 1975, Bombay|Morning Walk -- November 13, 1975, Bombay]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: No science is perfect. Asato dhavato bahiḥ.</p>
<p>Dr. Patel: In imperfection also there can be gradations.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Gradations, that I give the example: stool, this side and that side, the dry side and the moist side. Somebody says, "Oh, this side is very good. It is dry stool." (laughter)</p>
<p>Dr. Patel: You have to examine in a different way.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes, this is very good example. Stool is stool, but they are thinking, "This side is very good because it is dried up.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="1976_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="sub_section" sec_index="9" parent="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" text="1976 Conversations and Morning Walks"><h3>1976 Conversations and Morning Walks</h3>
</div>
<div id="MorningWalkJanuary41976Nellore_0" class="quote" parent="1976_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="4" link="Morning Walk -- January 4, 1976, Nellore" link_text="Morning Walk -- January 4, 1976, Nellore">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Morning Walk -- January 4, 1976, Nellore|Morning Walk -- January 4, 1976, Nellore]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Indian man: They have taken up social work, isn't it? Everybody. Swamijī, I am now reminded. A few weeks back I was invited to Raj Bhavan. I went as an invitee of an invitee. And that Madhuben Shah(?) began to wax eloquent because he happened to be the president of the world union. And they said, "Oh, we want to integrate the entire world, and the emotion and gradation, all those things." And they invited the views of Aryans, of twenty-five persons. All spoke. I did not speak. I kept quiet. Somebody said, "Here is a person who really knows." I said, "I am sick of this talk.... (break) And why should we have another organization for the same purpose?" Then I said, "But anyhow, I don't know. If Kṛṣṇa..." Nowadays I use that...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: (break) There is Theosophical Society?</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="GardenConversationJune271976NewVrindaban_1" class="quote" parent="1976_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="166" link="Garden Conversation -- June 27, 1976, New Vrindaban" link_text="Garden Conversation -- June 27, 1976, New Vrindaban">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Garden Conversation -- June 27, 1976, New Vrindaban|Garden Conversation -- June 27, 1976, New Vrindaban]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: Then? It is the same thing. Suppose Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja has brought this car, so he says, "All of you can come." So I go, you go, does it mean that you and your spiritual master is equal? Do you think like that? It is same thing. Everyone can go to Godhead, there is no doubt, but still there is difference between brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, śūdras. So far going into the car, the equal right is there, but it does not mean that your spiritual master or the next group, they are not greater than you. Don't think like that. The same car, Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja is driving, I am also there, you are also there. Does it mean that we are all equal? There must be gradation. The right is given to everyone. It does not mean that immediately they become all one.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="Correspondence" class="section" sec_index="6" parent="compilation" text="Correspondence"><h2>Correspondence</h2>
</div>
<div id="1968_Correspondence" class="sub_section" sec_index="3" parent="Correspondence" text="1968 Correspondence"><h3>1968 Correspondence</h3>
</div>
<div id="LettertoJayagovindaLosAngeles8February1968_0" class="quote" parent="1968_Correspondence" book="Let" index="49" link="Letter to Jayagovinda -- Los Angeles 8 February, 1968" link_text="Letter to Jayagovinda -- Los Angeles 8 February, 1968">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Letter to Jayagovinda -- Los Angeles 8 February, 1968|Letter to Jayagovinda -- Los Angeles 8 February, 1968]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">We require a person who is in the knowledge of Krishna, that is the only qualification of a person speaking. It doesn't matter what he is. Materially a woman may be less intelligent than a man, but spiritually there is no such distinction. Because spiritually everyone is pure soul. In the absolute plane there is no such gradation of higher and lower. If a woman can lecture nicely and to the point, we should hear her carefully. That is our philosophy. But if a man can speak better than a woman, the man should be given first preference. But even though a woman is less intelligent, a sincere soul should be given proper chance to speak, because we want so many preachers, both men and women.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="1969_Correspondence" class="sub_section" sec_index="4" parent="Correspondence" text="1969 Correspondence"><h3>1969 Correspondence</h3>
</div>
<div id="LettertoMukundaLosAngeles17February1969_0" class="quote" parent="1969_Correspondence" book="Let" index="127" link="Letter to Mukunda -- Los Angeles 17 February, 1969" link_text="Letter to Mukunda -- Los Angeles 17 February, 1969">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Letter to Mukunda -- Los Angeles 17 February, 1969|Letter to Mukunda -- Los Angeles 17 February, 1969]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">The Bhagavata says that system of religion is the first class wherein love of Godhead is aroused spontaneously without any material impediment. So our movement gives practical proof that there is no impediment of body or mind. That is the proof it is enacted from the spiritual platform wherein there is no distinction of material higher or lower gradation. So we have to push our philosophy very nicely. This means we shall simply become sincere to Krishna and the teachings of the disciplic succession. Then everything will be all right. There is no doubt about it. So please keep yourself in your present standard, and I am sure you will come out successfully. I have learnt that in San Francisco there was an article published with the title, "Krishna Chant Startles London." You may ask Aniruddha to send you a copy of this.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>