(Click to enlarge photo of Srila Prabhupada preaching in London's Conway Hall, 1969)
"Regarding your questions about how and from where did the conditioned souls fall, your first question if someone has a relationship with Lord Krsna on Krsnaloka, does he ever fall down? The souls are endowed with minute independence as part of their nature and this minute independence may be utilized rightly or wrongly at any time, so there is always the chance of falling down by misuse of one's independence. But those who are firmly fixed up in devotional service to Krsna are making proper use of their independence and so they do not fall down.
Regarding your second question, have the conditioned souls ever seen Krsna? Were they with the Lord before being conditioned by the desire to lord it over material nature? Yes, the conditioned souls are parts and parcels of the Lord and thus they were with Krsna before being conditioned. Just as the child must have seen his father because the father places the child in the womb of the mother, similarly each soul has seen Krsna or the Supreme Father. But at that time the conditioned souls are resting in the condition called susupti which is exactly deep sleep without dream, or anesthetized state, therefore they do not remember being with Krsna when they wake up in the material world and become engaged in material affairs."
(Srila Prabhupada Letter, April 25, 1970)
"Regarding your question, a sinful person, never mind what kind of sinful man is he, is taken in subtle body to the place of Yamaraj, and there he is trained up in a particular type of suffering. As soon as he is trained up, he is given a particular body by which he can endure such sufferings.
You write to say that you look forward to that day when sense gratification will become simply insignificant, and yes that is the stage of pure Krsna Consciousness when our only desire is to be serving Krsna with no personal considerations whatsoever.
You want to do whatever is necessary for spreading this Krsna Consciousness Movement, so that desire will help you, and you will be able to serve my cause surely.
You ask how is it possible to actually become Krsna's servant; yes, it will be possible. Go on with your engagement, and it will be possible. Patiently go on."
(Srila Prabhupada Letter, April 26, 1970)
"Regarding your questions are the Spiritual Master and the Grand Spiritual Master consciously aware of the prayers of a sincere devotee who prays in love to Them?—the answer is that no conscious prayers go in vain. They are transmitted positively. But one thing you must know that any prayer you offer to your Spiritual Master and Superior Spiritual Master, all of them are conveyed to Krishna, so no sincere prayers go in vain. We shall always offer such prayers to Spiritual Master, Superior Spiritual Master, Vaisnava Acaryas, Lord Chaitanya, and at the end Radha Krishna, that is the system."
(Srila Prabhupada Letter, April 27, 1970)
"Regarding your first question, who is the speaker of Isopanisad? The speaker is the Vedas personified. In the Vedic age a disciple heard from the Spiritual Master messages which were coming down in disciplic succession, so a disciple, whatever he heard from his bona fide Spiritual Master, would recite. The Vedic mantras are known as Sruti, to hear from authoritative source and then repeat it, chanting. So there is no question of who wrote it, it is said that no human being has compiled them. Later on, before the beginning of Kali Yuga, all Vedic mantras were written in books, most of them were done by Srila Vyasadeva Mahamuni and his different disciples.
Regarding your second question, in reference to Isopanisad mantra 15, should a devotee ask the Lord to reveal Himself the answer is yes. Unless the Lord reveals Himself, the devotee cannot see Him, He reserves the right of being exposed or not being exposed. The yoga maya curtain is always covering the Lord, and in the Bhagavad-gita the Lord says, 'I am not visible to everyone.' Even in the material world, a man in the position of Presidentship is not visible to everyone. So one has to qualify himself by devotional service, then God will reveal Himself. So this Isopanisad mantra is an appeal by the devotee to move the veil of yoga maya or the glaring effulgence of Brahma so that the devotee can see Him face to face. The idea is one has to transcend the material conditions as well as the Brahma effulgence, then one can see the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Here the word 'face' means the Absolute Truth is a Person. That is the most important point, that God is ultimately a Person."
(Srila Prabhupada Letter, April 28, 1970)
"Regarding your questions how to offer respects to Sannyasis. Every Sannyasi, even if you see a Mayavadi Sannyasi, offer him your respects—there will be no harm. As you have observed we shall follow Lord Chaitanya's instruction that we give all due respects to others regarding their position, but there is no need of always associating with each of them. Even if one is Vaisnava, but not of good character, we can give him the Vaisnava respect, but we cannot associate with him.
Regarding how to act when there is a choice of either attending Aratrik ceremony without bathing first or bathing and thus missing attendance at the Aratrik ceremony, the answer is that the rules should be followed as far as possible. If it becomes necessary, simply wash your feet, and when possible also wash the face, head, hands, and rinse mouth with water."
(Srila Prabhupada Letter, April 30, 1970)
"Regarding your question about annamoya, pranamoya, etc. Yes, they are different stages of consciousness. Different living beings are situated in different consciousness, Some are satisfied in the matter of eating and sleeping, they are on the annamoya stage. Pranamoya means those who can simply survive in the struggle for existence. Manomoya means philosophical speculation. Jnanamoya means self-realization, vijnanamoya means application of that stage in practical life, and when there is the right perfection of life that is anandamoya stage or Krsna Consciousness.
So by the grace of Lord Caitanya, in this age our movement is giving directly the anandamoya stage, and anyone can visit our Temple and see how our students are in blissful life. Naturally they are in jolly mood by chanting, dancing, and taking Prasadam. Your regular chanting of Mahamantra and reading of books will keep you always fit for pushing on this movement. This formula should be rigidly followed by everyone of us."
(Srila Prabhupada Letter, May 1, 1970)
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