Lilamrta - Prabhupada's childhood

As soon as there is comet, there will be some disaster. Very great disaster. In our childhood we saw the comet, not this like. That was small comet. Still, the first world war was there declared. That we have seen in 1914.

Gurukrpa: Forty-five minutes on the plane from Miami we saw the comet.
Yasodanandana: It was there for forty-five minutes.
Prabhupada: Yes, a bad sign...
Yasodanandana: As big as the sky.
Prabhupada: How big?
Yasodanandana: Big as the sky. It was flashing for forty-five minutes, this big...
Gurukrpa: Flashing in horizontal directions.
Devotee: The four or five first flashes were very, very big and regularly every thirty seconds it was big flash, bigger than lightning, brighter, very bright.
Gurukrpa: Very brilliant.
Prabhupada: One part like this?
Gurukrpa: Yes, very fast.
Devotee: Across the sky, shooot, shooot, shooot. Very fast.
Gurukrpa: About forty-five min..., we..., it was still going but the plane passed it and it stayed behind.
Prabhupada: Uh, so, this is a bad sign. Constellation. According to astronomical calculations. Therefore we, we follow the astrology according to the constellation. The child born, everything has connection, the constellation of the star has influence on the child. So therefore the horoscope-maker takes the calculation of the constellation and then calculate what is his future. This dhumaketu is described in Dasavatara-stotra, dhumaketum iva kim api karalam. Dhumaketum iva. Dhumaketum iva kim api karalam. As soon as there is comet, there will be some disaster. Very great disaster. In our childhood we saw the comet, not this like. That was small comet. Still, the first world war was there declared. That we have seen in 1914.
Nara-narayana: Halley's comet.
Prabhupada: Eh?
Nara-narayana: I think they called it Halley's comet. Halley's comet.
Prabhupada: Now the... You can expect at any moment disaster in this material world, but the comet is the sign that there will be some great disaster. It is... This material world, in every step there is disaster. Padam padam yad vipadam. But those who have taken shelter of Krsna, the disaster is not meant for them. Samasrita ye pada-pallava-plavam. Padam padam yad vipadam na tesam. So how big it is?
Gurukrpa: Very big.
Prabhupada: Eh?
Gurukrpa: It was very spectacular. Something like twenty miles.
Prabhupada: Twenty miles?
Yasodanandana: Maybe at least fifty, sixty miles the four, five first flashes, very big. Let's see. From this tree all the way to the end of this tennis court, all over the sky. Big white flashings. Like big huge incredible lightning. Then afterwards it decreased, and then regularly, every thirty, forty-five seconds, there was big lightning. Not lightning, big flashes. Very uncommon.

[S.P. Morning Walk, January 3, 1974, Los Angeles]

From the very beginning, when I was a student,

I did not believe this Darwin's theory.

From the very beginning, when I was a student, I did not believe this Darwin's theory.

[S.P. Morning Walk, July 11, 1975, Chicago]

Our education in Sanskrit was in college.

Of course, I was the best student in my

class of Sanskrit. I was standing first.

And Sanskrit language is no difficulty. Read and write, read and write, then he will learn. Our education in Sanskrit was in college. Of course, I was the best student in my class of Sanskrit. I was standing first. But we are not like the so-called Sanskrit scholars. But for our purpose we can read and write, that's all.

[S.P. Room Conversation, June 17, 1976, Toronto]

I was student of psychology in my college life.

Prabhupada: Yes. So psychology... I was student of psychology in my college life. Dr. Urquhart said, I remember still, that the brain substance has been found up to 64 ounce, while brain substance of woman has been found, highest, 34 ounce. Therefore woman class (laughs) is not so intelligent as man. There is no question of competition. It is actual, scientific fact.
Anyway, the word su-medhasah... Su-medhasah means one who has got good brain substance. But one thing I must explain here. So far spiritual life is concerned, it does not depend on the material brain substance. It is different thing. It is spiritual platform. It has nothing to do with this bodily construction. You must remember. We don't make any distinction that a man can be better Krsna consciousness than woman. No. A woman can be better Krsna consciousness because they are very simple. They can accept any religious system. Generally the women, they accept it because they are very simple. They have no crooked mind. Sometimes they are exploited therefore. So in the spiritual platform there is no such distinction, although in the material... Just like the bodily construction of man is different from woman, similarly, the brain substance may be also different, but that does not disqualify any woman for spiritual advancement in Krsna consciousness.

[S.P. Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.6, Montreal, August 3, 1968]

I was a student in Calcutta, Scottish Churches

College. So, I was student of philosophy also.

The superior judgement is there and the karma is there. Therefore because we are getting so many different types of bodies, each body is different from the another body. Unless there is superior judgement that one has to accept this body, another has to accept that body. And that judgement is given by karma and that is stated in the Vedas, karmana daiva-netrena. By one's karma and by superior judgement, one has to get another body. Tatha dehantara-praptih. So where is the wrong in this? There is superior judgement and there are different types of body, that is a fact. So how, you cannot deny. Sometimes Christians, they deny this karmavada. I was a student in Calcutta, Scottish Churches College. So, I was student of philosophy also. So Dr. Urquhart, he denied karmavada. That "I am punished at this present, present body, where is the witness? Where is the witness?" Because any judgement is done on the strength of witness. So that was his argument. But the witness is there. According to Vedic system the witness is the sun, the witness is the moon, the witness is the day, the witness is the night. And above all the supreme witness is God Himself. Isvarah sarva-bhutanam hrd-dese 'rjuna tisthati. The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart so how you can hide yourself from the vigilance of the Supreme Lord? The Supreme Lord is witness. So according to your karma...

[Srimad-Bhagavatam Lecture, 1.2.6, Hyderabad, November 26, 1972]

I was also a student of economics in my

student life, Scottish Churches' College.

Prabhupada: I think I may remember. There is economist professor, Marshall? Marshall's economics?
Mr. Surface: Yes.
Prabhupada: You know him? You must be knowing. I think he gives definition of economic impetus--family affection. I was also a student of economics in my student life, Scottish Churches' College. So we had to read this Marshall economics, I think. That definition, that what is the economic impetus, why people want to earn money? So the reason, he gives--due to some family affection.

[S.P. Room Conversations, July 26, 1975, Laguna Beach]

There was some arrangement for my going to

England after my college education to become

a barrister, but my father refused, no, my son

is not going to be a mleccha (meat-eater).

My father wanted me to become like this. Know everything that is going on. (everyone laughs). He never wanted me to be a worldly man earning money. He never wanted. There was some arrangement for my going to England after my college education to become a barrister, but my father refused, no, my son is not going to be a mleccha (meat-eater). [From Çréla Prabhupäda Acarya 1 Video]