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Civilization and Transcendence

By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada replies to a Questionaire from Bhavan's Journal
June 28, 1976

RELIGION WITH NO CONCEPTION OF GOD ?

Pusta Krsna:Srila Prabhupada, this questionnaire was sent to you by Bhavan's Journal, a cultural and religious magazine in Bombay. They are questioning various religious and spiritual leaders, trying to get the answers to some of the important questions that are per

Srimati Jahnava Devi

shri-varuni-revata-vamsha-sambhave

tasya priye dve vasudha ca jahnavi

shri-surya-dasasya mahatmanah sute

kakudma-rupasya ca surya-tejasah

ananga-maïjarim kecij jahnavam ca pracakshate ubhayam tu samicinam purva-nyayat satam matam

Balaram’s wives Varuni and Revati became Vasudha and Jahnavi, the two wives of Nityananda Prabhu, in Chaitanya-lila. Both of them were the daughters of Surya Das, whowas as effulgent as the sun. He was Kakudman, the father of Revati, in hisprevious birth.

SRILA PRABHUPADA SPEAKS OUT

INCREASING POPULATION NO PROBLEM

This conversation between Srila Prabhupada and some journalists took place in London, England, on August 18, 1971.

Srila Prabhupada: Now India is faced with so many problems on account of imitating Western civilization.
Guest: Not simply because of the increased population?
Srila Prabhupada: There is no question of increased population. This idea, I say always, is foolishness.
Guest: Foolishness?
Srila Prabhupada: The birds and beasts are al

sri-bhagavan uvaca

mayy asakta-manah partha

yogam yunjam mad-asrayah

asamsayam samagram mam

yatha jnasyasi tac chrnu

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: Now hear, O son of Prtha, how by practicing yoga in full consciousness of

I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals.

- Thoreau

I do feel that spiritual progress does demand at some stage that we should cease to kill our fellow creatures for the satisfaction of our bodily wants.

- Gandhi

Each year about 134 million mammals and 3 billion birds are killed for food in America. But few people make any conscious connection between this slaughter and the meat products that appear

If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit, or water, I will accept it.

- Bhagavad-gita (9.26)

Beyond concerns of health, psychology, economics, ethics, and even karma, vegetarianism has a higher, spiritual dimension that can help us develop our natural appreciation and love for God.

Walking through a supermarket, people may forget a very basic fact of nature - it's not man but God who makes food. There's something mystical about the way food grows. You put

In human society, if one kills a man he has to be hanged [or punished]. That is the law of the state. Because of ignorance people do not perceive that there is a complete state controlled by the Supreme Lord. Every living creature is the son of the Supreme Lord, and He does not tolerate even and ant's being killed. One has to pay for it.

- Srila Prabhupada

Capital punishment is the state's ultimate act of reprisal, and no sacrifice surpasses offering one's life for the sake

The central question about vegetarian diets used to be whether it was healthy to eliminate meat and other animal foods. Now, however, the main question has become whether it is healthier to be a vegetarian than to be a meat eater. The answer to both questions, based on currently available evidence, seems to be yes.

- Jane E. Brody
New York Times News Service

Today, with increasing evidence of diet's critical effect on good health and longevity, more and more people are inv

In his 1975 bestseller, The Eco-Spasm Report, futurist Alvin Toffler, author of Future Shock and The Third Wave, suggested a positive hope for the world's food crisis. He anticipated "the sudden rise of a religious movement in the West that restricts the eating of beef and thereby saves billions of tons of grain and provides a nourishing diet for the world as a whole."

Solving the Hunger Problem

Food expert Francis Moore Lappé, author of the best-selling

(Excerpts from the writings of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada)

The Myth of Scarcity

With the good will of the Supreme Personality of Godhead there can be enough fruits, grains, and other food stuffs produced so that all the people in the world could not finish them, even if they ate ten times their capacity. In this material world there is actually no scarcity of anything but Krishna consciousness. If people become Krishna conscious, by the transcendental will