Hare Krsna to all

Pranams

All glories to Srila Prabhupada

Below is a few statements by Prabhupada where he is trying to get us all to wake up and understand that “simple living high thinking” is not just some catchy slogan he invented. No.

Prabhupada wanted us to use our intelligence to figure out (obviously by hearing from him) the best way to live in this world AND by doing that, how our spiritual life becomes much easier. He made a statement once, to paraphrase…” your material life increase when one gives up the desire to go back to Godhead in this lifetime, by simply making arrangements to be comfortable here.”

Below we have some of his words of wisdom to this effect.

Hare Krsna

Damaghosa das

SB 8.19.21 P The aim of the varnasrama divisions–brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya,
sudra, brahmacarya, grhastha, vanaprastha and sannyasa–is to train
one to control the senses and be content with the bare necessities.
Here Lord Vamanadeva, as an ideal brahmacari, refuses Bali Maharaja’s
offer to give Him anything He might want. He says that without
contentment one could not be happy even if he possessed the property
of the entire world or the entire universe. In human society,
therefore, the brahminical culture, ksatriya culture and vaisya
culture must be maintained, and people must be taught how to be
satisfied with only what they need. In modern civilization there is no
such education; everyone tries to possess more and more, and everyone
is dissatisfied and unhappy. The Krsna consciousness movement is
therefore establishing various farms, especially in America, to show
how to be happy and content with minimum necessities of life and to
save time for self-realization, which one can very easily achieve by
chanting the maha-mantra–Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare
Hare. Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

751211SB.VRN                   Lectures
Rupa Goswami, the chief minister of the government of Bengal, most opulent position: tyaktva turnam
asesa-mandala-pati-srenim. They became mendicant, voluntarily
accepting, tyaktva turnam asesa-mandala-pati-srenim sada tucchavat.
“What is this nonsense position, minister, opulent life? Kick it out.”
They are not fools. They are politicians. But why they “Kick it out.”
Then what they became? Bhutva dina-ganesakau karunaya
kaupina-kanthasritau. They become mendicant.
So voluntarily accepting poverty, this is Indian civilization, this
is Vedic civilization. Not to increase material opulence but to
decrease. The more you decrease, you are civilized. And the Western
countries, if you decrease, if you instruct them that “Decrease these
nonsense activities. No more tire(?) civilization,” they’ll say “Oh,
this is primitive, primitive.” This tendency is present. But actually,
the primitive civilization… Not primitive; that is very sober
civilization, anartha. Instead of increasing unwanted necessities,
decrease it. That is Srimad-Bhagavatam. Anarthopasamam saksad
bhakti-yogam adhoksaje. Lokasya ajanatah vidvams cakre satvata
samhitam. This satvata samhitam bhagavata is there, simply to decrease
this unwanted so-called material civilization. It is very difficult to

understand, but our Krsna consciousness movement is for that purpose.
We are interested to construct a nice temple, but we are not
interested to construct a very big skyscraper building for people’s
generally No. We should live very humbly. But for Krsna we can In
India you’ll find there are so many valuable temples which cannot be
constructed at the present moment.

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Amogha: He was saying that your solution was too simple. He said that
people will not accept it because it is too simple.
Prabhupada: That is his ignorance. They will say it is primitive. That
is the only solution.

770322rc.bom

Economic question? Annad bhavanti bhutani. Grow food. Practical. Just like when I was going to the pandals, millions of clerks were coming–“Education. Educated.”

And who is growing food? And they have to be provided in these pigeon

holes and depend on ration. Is that civilization? And throngs of

people are coming, just like machine, ants. Ants are coming. I saw

like that. And go to the village side–all vacant land. Nobody’s

interested to produce food. Everyone is interested to live within the

city, in these pigeonholes, and go to the cinema and go to the

brothel, go to the club and learn how to drink, how to become

gentleman. Is that civilization? Human life’s aim is lost. You do not

know why you are going to the office, why you are eating, why you

are… Keeping them all pet animal’s mentality, doggish mentality.

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Prabhupada: Wasteful, yes. Therefore I say they have no brain. All,
they are rascals. Rascal leaders. A little labor in agriculture will
be sufficient to produce the family’s food stock for the whole year.
You can stock. You work only three months, and you get sufficient food
for your whole family. And less nine months, you chant Hare Krsna. But
these rascals will not do that. They will work hard like ass simply
for eating. Nunam pramattah kurute vikarma yad indriya-pritaya
aprnoti. They will not accept easy life.

►750403mw.may               Conversations
There are so many land. Come here and grow food. Grow
fruit. That is… That is the desire of Krsna. Annad bhavanti bhutani.
Produce food and eat in sufficiently, be strong, and chant Hare Krsna.
That is our philosophy. Why you are producing bolts and nuts, tire and
tubes? Eat. Rascal. They do not know that first of all you must eat.
No, everyone is engaged in industry. Why? Krsna does not say that
“Take to industry.” Krsna says, “Produce foodstuff.” Annad bhavanti
bhutani. If you produce foodstuff, then both your animals, yourself,
will be happy, becoming strong. Why do they manufacture other things?

►760731r2.par               Conversations
… little cottages, grow little vegetable, little barley or wheat and
milk. That is sufficient. We don’t require much. We don’t want luxury.
We want just to subsist. Yavad artha prayojana. We hate the idea of
luxury, unnecessary.

►770527rc.vrn                                            Conversations
…  There will be more water for gardening, and it will be moist, and
then produce fodder for the animals and food for you. And animal gives
you milk. That is … .. Don’t bother about big, big buildings. It is
not required. Useless waste of time. Produce. Make the whole field
green. See that. Then whole economic question solved. Then you eat …
is beneficial. Even the stool is beneficial. Therefore I am asking so
much here and…, “Farm, farm, farm, farm…” That is not my
program–Krsna’s program. Annad bhavanti bhutani. Produce greenness
everywhere, everywhere. Vrndavana. It is not this motorcar
civilization.

“We should utilize our time for elevating ourselves in Krishna Consciousness
than for so-called economic development.
If we are satisfied with plain living, with minimum time
and the balance time is engaged for elevating our Krishna Conscious program,
then every man can be transferred to Goloka Vrindavana, just in this very life.”

– Letter to:  Hamsaduta, Los Angeles, January 11, 1968