The sufferings are there, here or India or hell or heaven -- anywhere within this material world -- there is suffering. But people are so foolish that simply having a nice motorcar or a skyscraper building, he thinks "My all problems are solved". He does not know that this life is a flash only. I am eternal.
San Francisco, March 1, 1967
Two Lords, Nityananda Prabhu and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, They have appeared just to reclaim the fallen souls of this age. They are more kind than Krishna. Krishna, He is also very kind. He comes to deliver. But Krishna demands that first of all surrender. He is so kind. (voice choking) So take shelter of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and be happy. Thank you very much. (weeping)
Atlanta, February 28, 1975
Sometimes when Radharani would go out, Krishna would attack Her, and when She would fall down, “Krishna, don't torture Me in that way”—They would fall down, and Krishna would take the opportunity and kiss her. Radharani was very pleased, but superficially Krishna was the greatest rascal. Unless rascaldom is in Krishna, how could rascaldom be existent in the world? Our formula of God is that He is the source of everything. But His rascaldom is so nice that everyone worships His rascaldom.
Mayapur, February 27, 1972
If somebody takes your legs and catches you and your head is down, then it is not very comfortable. This whole material world is like that. It is uncomfortable. It is perverted reflection. On the bank of a pond a tree is standing, but the reflection in the water of the tree is not real. Real tree is up. Similarly, real enjoyment, real varieties—everything is in spiritual world.
Calcutta, February 26, 1974
In the transcendental loving service of the Lord, it doesn't matter whether we are working, cooking, painting, writing, chanting, or whatever, they are all the same. There are no such distinctions of higher and lower on the transcendental platform. The important thing is that we are engaging our time and energy in the service of the Lord. After all, we are so tiny, what can we do? Krishna sees simply that this time is being spent in His service.
Letter to Karunamayi, Los Angeles, February 25, 1968
A man has served the family with heart and soul throughout the whole life, and when he is old man, if he asks permission from his wife, "My dear wife, now I have served so much. Let me take sannyasa now," the wife will never give permission. She will say, "What you have done? I have got to do so many things. Your, this son is not yet settled up; this daughter is not yet married. How you can take sannyasa? So you cannot do." So actually, he is the servant of the wife, but he is thinking, "I am master of the family." This is called maya.
Bombay, February 24, 1975
Women are by nature endowed with many artistic tendencies, and from the Vedic age we find that high grade women and girls were highly qualified in sixty-four arts. Srimati Radharani was fully qualified in those arts, and therefore, by Her super-excellent transcendental qualities, she could charm Krsna who is the charmer of the three worlds.
Letter to Syama dasi, February 23, 1970
Unless one becomes detestful of this material world, it is to be understood that he has not yet entered in the spiritual understanding. This is the test of bhakti. If one has entered the domain of devotional service, this material world will be not at all tasteful for him.
Mayapur, February 22, 1976
Suicide is not justified. It is violation of nature's law. Nature gives you a certain type of body to live in it for certain days, and suicide means you go against the laws of nature, you untimely stop the duration of life. Therefore he becomes a criminal. Suicide is criminal even in ordinary state laws. One cannot make suicide.
Auckland, February 21, 1973
An old father required massaging so all the children wanted to serve the father. The father divided the right and left portion of his body to be served by the children. Later along with the service, there was some quarrel between the children, and they were competing by hitting the parts of the father which was assigned to the opposing party. So the father said that you are hitting my different parts due to your opposition to one another, but I am therefore dying. Similarly, either this department or that department, if you quarrel amongst yourselves it will be detrimental to my missionary ambition. Please therefore stop this unnecessary strain. If there is any misunderstanding, it will be solved when I am present there in April. In the meantime, please live peacefully.
Letter to Rayarama, February 20, 1969