No such example
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Lecture on BG 2.59-69 -- New York, April 29, 1966: If you want self-satisfaction, then you try to do this. Don't be neglectful. Rāga-dveṣa-vimukta... Viṣayān indriyaiś caran... If you let loose your senses unrestrictedly for material enjoyment, then you cannot, cannot have that satisfaction. But if you want satisfaction, if you want real satisfaction, as we have already described, that ahaituky apratihatā yayātmā suprasīdati. If you want satisfaction of your self, then you must practice this devotional service. Engage your eyes, engage your ears, engage your nose... Then the arcanā-vidhi... Arcanā-vidhi is to engage all the senses in the service of the Lord. Of course, here there is no such example. But in India there are temples. There are temples in which the Lord is so nicely decorated, big, big temples. Especially in Vṛndāvana there are, where I have my headquarters, there are five thousand temples.
Lecture on BG 9.4-7 -- New York, November 24, 1966: The Lord says, mayādhyakṣeṇa. Mayādhyakṣeṇa means "under My superintendence. Under My superintendence." So material nature cannot play such wonderful things unless there is hand behind it, the Lord's hand. That is to be accepted. You cannot see. You cannot give an example where material things are automatically working. You have no such example in your experience. Matter is inert. Without spiritual touch, there is no possibility of acting. Matter cannot act automatically. Just like you take for example a nice arrangement of machine, wonderful, but unless a person touches that machinery, it cannot work. It cannot work. And what is that person? That person is spirit, the driver, the engineer. He's a spirit. So without spiritual touch, oh, nothing can move. It is simply ignorance that we say that matter is moving automatically. No, that is not possible. You cannot show any example within your experience or in the history that matter is moving automatically, no.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Lecture on SB 1.3.1 -- Vrndavana, November 14, 1972: Prabhupāda: So we can very easily understand by the example of our own body. This body, as we, spirit soul, enter into this body, the existence of body continues. Janmādy asya yataḥ [SB 1.1.1]. So the body is not created first. The... Because the living entity enters into the body, therefore the body's created. Similarly, this gigantic body, universal body, cannot come into existence automatically. That is not a very good theory. How...? There is no such example. Unless the living entity is there, this body... We get this experience—it does not grow. If a child is born dead, that body does not grow. Therefore it is to be concluded there is something. Even if we do not accept the spirit soul, there must be something on account of the presence of that something, the body's growing. Similarly, take this gigantic body of the universe; unless there is something like that, as we are in this body, how this gigantic universe can go? This is common reasoning. We do not find that a..., matter is growing automatically. No. A tree, a tree is growing, daily growing new leaves new twigs, new flowers. Because that living entity is within the tree. You cut the tree and throw it aside. There will be no more growing. It will dry. It will dry.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Conversation with Ambarisa and Catholic Priest -- June 14, 1976, Detroit:
Prabhupāda: So we thought that we shall use it as temple. That they disagreed. "No, you cannot keep it, you have to break it, then we can sell to you." Then why shall I break it? We shall pay for it and break it? No. Then the negotiation failed. But a huge land, and we are prepared to purchase. In England, in London, I was..., one, two churches I was negotiating, and one church, that man, he said, "I'll burn into ashes. I'll not sell it to Bhaktivedanta." (laughs) Recently we wanted to purchase in St. James Park one nice house. So they did not give us. They..., we offered better price; still they did not give us.
Stansky: Your Grace, the thing that impressed me the very most at the temple in Los Angeles.... Now you must bear in mind that I am very, very steeped in Catholicism, I'm very steeped in the New Testament. So when I observed what was happening at the temple in Los Angeles, I was seeing the Book of Acts coming to life. Something that died three hundred years ago in the Roman church. In 300 A.D. it died. Since then there's been no such example. And I was just amazed wandering around because there I saw the exact, the Book of Acts. And I was impressed.