Mukunda Goswami > Quotes

“Do you have a concept of hell in your religion?” Bilbow asked. Prabhupada paused briefly. “This is hell,” he said matter-of-factly. “London is hell. It’s always cold, damp, rainy and cloudy. In India the sun always shines.” He beamed at his questioner.”
― Mukunda Goswami, Miracle on Second Avenue: Hare Krishna Arrives in New York, San Francisco, and London 1966-1969

“Despite the billions spent on gerontology and arresting the ageing process, our time-worn adversaries, growing old and dying, persist like spots on the moon. Deep within us is the desire to live forever. We resist the concept of nothingness…the ‘dust to dust’ philosophy. This built-in aversion is an indirect indication of our sense of permanence. The advertising industry has jumped on the bandwagon of pursuing eternal life.”
― Mukunda Goswami, Spirit Matters: From the Hindustan Times

“Back at Tittenhurst that night we tried to remove our acrylic tilaka without success. “The conservatives had a point after all,” I thought. It took us five days to remove the paint.”
― Mukunda Goswami, Miracle on Second Avenue: Hare Krishna Arrives in New York, San Francisco, and London 1966-1969

“Why have you come all the way to London?” he asked in a booming voice. He spoke with impeccable Oxbridge English. “Why not focus on the Indian people and stay in your own country? You could influence the important politicians there.”
“You are a great politician,” Prabhupada instantly answered. “Therefore I have approached you.”
The man blinked. “Thank you,” he said quietly and sat down. From her place behind the harmonium, Yamuna let out a loud “Ha-haw!” which echoed through the silent hall. The other devotees giggled at the sound as she covered her mouth with her right hand and looked around embarrassed. Prabhupada indicated she should lead another kirtan, so she began to sing and the rest of us danced in clockwise circles around Prabhupada and the deities as we played our instruments.”
― Mukunda Goswami, Miracle on Second Avenue: Hare Krishna Arrives in New York, San Francisco, and London 1966-1969

“Inter-denominational violence’ is generally based upon the essentially atheistic greed for more land, power, and money.”
― Mukunda Goswami, Spirit Matters: From the Hindustan Times

“The Gita (7.5) informs us that the cause and content of the material world is due to the living beings. The passion to enjoy nature and create progeny comes from the immemorial longings to mate and raise children.”
― Mukunda Goswami, Spirit Matters: From the Hindustan Times

“Gandhi once said, ‘When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and I see not any ray of hope on the horizon, I turn to Bhagavad-gita and find a verse to comfort me… Those who meditate on the Gita will derive fresh joy and new meaning from it every day.”
― Mukunda Goswami, Spirit Matters: From the Hindustan Times

“The philosophy of the Bhagavad-gita holds that we don’t actually own anything – that our nation, cars, homes, and our families ultimately belong to God. Even our own senses don’t belong to us, according to the Gita.”
― Mukunda Goswami, Spirit Matters: From the Hindustan Times

“World peace and plans for universality ring hollow alongside exploitation and greed. Giving in a world of greed yields frustration and abuse. It makes sense to offer our time and love to God first. Then we can be sure of substantial return.”
― Mukunda Goswami, Spirit Matters: From the Hindustan Times

“In order for genuine affection to take place, knowledge of the lovable other is needed. An image has to become fixed in the mind – a face, a voice, a picture, a garment at the very least – some kind of reminder of the person. In other words, love requires lovable features, not lofty concepts, ethereal entities, or other vagaries devoid of attributes. This kind of ‘love’ is primitive, undeveloped, and usually self-deluding.”
― Mukunda Goswami, Spirit Matters: From the Hindustan Times

“Without voluntary and loving surrender to God, we will not know peace, and the most sustainable peace prescription is God’s own pronouncement that He is the proprietor of all lands (Gita 5.29).”
― Mukunda Goswami, Spirit Matters: From the Hindustan Times

“soon as a soul is ‘embodied,’ it becomes attached to its surroundings, particularly the body it inhabits. For this reason, dogs bark, cats meow, and cows moo. Human beings crave loving, eating, fighting, the arts, eating, sex, drugs, children, wealth, and intellectual prowess. But mostly, we work hard to gratify our senses. In today’s world where wants are defined as needs, and needs become ‘rights,’ the right to have what you want can be addictive. So accepting only what we really need requires discrimination and steady awareness of another dimension.”
― Mukunda Goswami, Spirit Matters: From the Hindustan Times

“In the Bhagavad-gita Lord Krishna tells us that true happiness ‘is within,’ and that perfectly satisfied, liberated persons experience this, because they are undisturbed by the rolling currents of the world.”
― Mukunda Goswami, Spirit Matters: From the Hindustan Times

“Spiritual intelligence is neither left nor right-brained. It is not merely logical, psychological, or emotional. It seeks answers to fundamental questions like ‘Why am I here?’, ‘Where am I going?’, ‘Who am I?’, and ‘Why do I keep going?’ This type of searching ensures that people’s inner existence has beauty and life, even when events outside generate hate and destruction.”
― Mukunda Goswami, Spirit Matters: From the Hindustan Times

“Unless there is substantive activity going both ways, love is merely a tired platitude without any substance – wishful thinking. In fact, love is another word for happiness and wholeness, but without features, it simply cannot exist.”
― Mukunda Goswami, Spirit Matters: From the Hindustan Times

“The word ‘Prabhupada’ is a term of the utmost reverence in Vedic religious circles, and it signifies a great saint even among saints. The word actually has two meanings: first, one at whose feet (pada) there are many prabhus (a term meaning ‘master,’ which the disciples of a guru use in addressing each other). The second meaning is one who is always found at the lotus feet of Krishna (the Supreme Master).”
― Mukunda Goswami, Miracle on Second Avenue: Hare Krishna Arrives in New York, San Francisco, and London 1966-1969

“The Bhagavata Purana (7.11.21) for instance lists some of the qualities of God-conscious humans. Generally they possess attributes like mind and sense control, voluntary austerity, cleanliness, satisfaction, forgiveness, simplicity, knowledge, mercy, and truthfulness. Because of their good habits, such persons can save entire countries considerable aggravation, time, and expense. Adhering to spiritual truths, like recognizing God as the owner of the entire planet (Gita 5.29), tends to make for harmony and peace. Great books of wisdom are there for us, if we choose to read them.”
― Mukunda Goswami, Spirit Matters: From the Hindustan Times