1.) April 1 1974 Bombay conversations

Prabhupāda: …important thing, mām, Kṛṣṇa. They practice it, always remembering Kṛṣṇa. Then at the end of life, ante nārāyaṇa-smṛti. That is perfection of life. But how one will remember, ante, then? There is a verse of… Just wait.

Chandobhai: Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran… [Bg. 8.6].

Prabhupāda: No. Just wait. There is a verse by Kulaśekhara. Kulaśekhara. Adyaiva viśatu me mānasa-rāja-haṁsaḥ. He says. He says, "My Lord…" The idea is that "Now I am in quite fit order. So let me remember You and die. Because at the end of… At the end of… Kapha-pitta-vāyu, there will be disorder. Smaraṇaṁ kutas te [MM 33]. At that time, it is…"

Dr. Patel: How can there be the smaran?

Prabhupāda: Yes. "Therefore, my Lord, I pray that adyaiva, immediately, because now I am fit."

Dr. Patel: Right now.

Prabhupāda: Right now. "Now I am fit. So let me remember You and die." So one must be fit. You see, even in daily, in dream, while sleeping, we forget so many things. Everything we forget.

Chandobhai: Yes.

Prabhupāda: So at the time of death, when everything is disordered, nothing is in order, unless one is very strongly practiced, how he can remember?

Dr. Patel: My father spoke, "Oṁ," and he stopped breathing and…

Prabhupāda: That's nice. Oṁ, oṁ ity eka… That is…

Dr. Patel: Then he stopped breathing.

Prabhupāda: That means he practiced. Therefore, either you practice Oṁ or Hare Kṛṣṇa, that is all right.

Dr. Patel: Whatever we do of our whole, all our whole, all day of life, it comes at the end. That is why you must continue to do for the life.

Prabhupāda: Twenty-four hours. Kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ [Cc. Ādi 17.31]. Always Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa… In this way practicing, if somebody is fortunate enough, he can remember.

Dr. Patel: Eṣā brāhmī sthitiḥ pārtha na… Sthitvā samanta-kāle 'pi brahma-nirvāṇam ṛcchati.

Prabhupāda: So…

Dr. Patel: Therefore at the last moment you… But you can't get that last moment in this position because you have, whole life, you have…

Prabhupāda: Yes, you have spoiled your life simply in material activities. How you can remember?

Dr. Patel: But even if you are doing material activities by your body, and by your mental activities you are bhaja kṛṣṇa…

Prabhupāda: But you are under the body… Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni [Bg. 3.27]. Body and mind is working… Unless you practice to be above body and mind… That is bhakti-yoga. Māṁ cāvyabhicāriṇi-bhakti-yoga…, sa guṇān samatītya. You cannot expect that you go on doing all these material activities and at the time of death you'll remember Kṛṣṇa. That is not possible.

Dr. Patel: That can't be done.

Prabhupāda: That is not possible.

Chandobhai: Should be a real concentrated difference

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Chandobhai: When you do the work, you should be a real concentration.

Prabhupāda: That is not possible.

Chandobhai: Therefore there is no… Because your attachment is more to the…

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Chandobhai: …reserves of that…

Prabhupāda: Vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhā man-mayā… [Bg. 4.10].

Chandobhai: Mad-bhaktaḥ.

Prabhupāda: Man-mayā mad-aśritāḥ. Unless he takes shelter of Kṛṣṇa, these things are not possible. Simply by talking it is not possible. There must be practice.

Chandobhai: Acaropanam.(?)

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dr. Patel: (Sanskrit)

Chandobhai: Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaram bhāvaṁ tyajanty ante… [break]

Prabhupāda: There is a risk. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi. If you are thinking of dog, then you become a dog. (How many devotees these days keep cats and dogs?Many!)

Dr. Patel: Just as Bhārata did it.

Prabhupāda: Yes. yes, that is example. Even Bhārata Mahārāja, such a great personality, simply due to little affection to a cub of deer, he became a deer. So these people are attached to so many things. So how much risk is there at the time of death they do not understand. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, mām ekam.

Chandobhai: Tasmāt sarveṣu kāleṣu mām eva… [Bg. 8.7].

Prabhupāda: Mām ekam: Then you…

Dr. Patel: Therefore every time, every moment…

Prabhupāda: That is… This is stressed. If you…

Dr. Patel: Mām smarata yudhya ca.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dr. Patel: Yudhya means "do your activity."

Prabhupāda: Yes. But always think. Just like these people are, these, they are doing that. They are doing their duty. Somebody's going to there, somebody's going there, somebody's there… But their chanting is there. That is not avoided. That is not avoided. Sadā tad bhāva-bhāvitaḥ [Bg. 8.6]. Then Kṛṣṇa favors, "Yes, he has done his best."

Chandobhai: Tasmāt sarveṣu kāleṣu… [Bg. 8.7].

Prabhupāda: Ah!

Dr. Patel: Yudhya ca. Yudhya ca.

Chandobhai: Mayy arpita-mano buddhir mām evaiśyasy asaṁśayaḥ [Bg. 8.7].

Prabhupāda: Ah! Asaṁśayaḥ. Because his mind is in Kṛṣṇa, it doesn't matter he's fighting. Fighting is superfluous. Real thing is mind is in Kṛṣṇa.

Dr. Patel: That is bhramara-nyāya.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Dr. Patel: Bhramara-nyāya. Because the small ant… [break]

Chandobhai: …nānya-gāminā.

Dr. Patel: Abhyāsa-yoga, by… We explained that…

Prabhupāda: One… Abhyāsa-yoga… You practice this. Therefore we say, "You must chant at least sixteen rounds." This is abhyāsa-yoga. When one becomes attached to chanting, he doesn't require to be under discipline. But so long he's not practiced, he must be under… Just like a boy. He's instructed by the teacher, "You must give me at least four pages handwriting." So four pages handwriting means writing, writing, he'll be practiced. So therefore these are the practice. You must…

Chandobhai: Nānya-gāminā.

Prabhupāda: Nānya-gāminā. Because cetāḥ, mind is very flickering. So unless you fix up your mind under some regulative principles, then it is not possible. (indistinct) Everyone becomes paramahaṁsa: "Oh, I am now advanced. I do not require all these regulative principles."

Dr. Patel: What is paramahaṁsa?

Prabhupāda: Paramahaṁsa means he's above. Paramo nirmatsarānām [SB 1.1.2]. That is paramahaṁsa.

Chandobhai: Paramaṁ puruṣaṁ divyaṁ yāti pārthānucintayan.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Paramaṁ puruṣaṁ divyaṁ yāti.

Dr. Patel: Pārthānucintayan. By thinking about… [break]

Prabhupāda: Smartavyaḥ satato viṣṇuḥ. Therefore one has to think of Viṣṇu always, twenty-four hours, in so many ways.

Chandobhai: Kaviṁ purāṇam anuśāsitāram.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Chandobhai: Aṇor aṇīyān anusmared yaḥ, sarvasya dhātāram acintya-rūpam…

Prabhupāda: This is the description of the param.

Chandobhai: Āditya-varṇaṁ tamasaḥ parastāt. Prayāṇa-kāle manasācalena…

Prabhupāda: [break] …varṇa. That is… Āditya-varṇa means self-effulgent. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi [Bs. 5.40]. That is āditya-varṇa. Āditya is never in darkness.

Chandobhai: Prayāṇa-kāle manasācalena…

Dr. Patel: Prayāṇa-kāle manasācalena. Acalena.

Prabhupāda: Again… Acalena. Acalena means he has been practiced to fix his mind to Kṛṣṇa. Then, if he's successful, the prayāṇa-kāle, he must remember.

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2.) November 2, 1975, Nairobi

Harikeśa: So if a devotee dies and remembers Kṛṣṇa, although he is not perfect…

Prabhupāda: Unless he is perfect, he cannot remember Kṛṣṇa. That is not possible. That is not possible. That is theory only. He must be perfect. Somehow or other, he fallen, so Kṛṣṇa gives him the chance. That is special concession for devotee. Some way or other, you become devotee. Even if you cannot finish the whole job, if you fall down, still, there is guarantee that you get your birth in a very good society. That is the prerogative."

3.) Oct 5 1975 Mauritius

Cyavana: But death is very far away from me. I am only thirty years old. I don't have to worry about death.

Prabhupāda: What is the guarantee that you will live thirty-one years? What is the guarantee that you will live thirty-one years? There is no guarantee.

Cyavana: But everyone else around me appears to be having fun and enjoying.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: They can use this argument though, Prabhupāda. I've heard it before, that "So God has placed us in this world. Okay, there is God, and He has placed us in this world, and He has created the world also, and He has made these things very, very enjoyable, sex life, and this and that. So why not enjoy if God has created it?"

Prabhupāda: That is foolishness. That is foolishness. It is not enjoyable. That is… If a criminal says, "The prisonhouse is very enjoyable," it is like that.

Cyavana: But all the travel brochures and the advertisements, they say it's nice here. All the advertising and travel brochures, they say it is nice.

Prabhupāda: Let him say, but prisonhouse, is it nice? That is foolishness.

Cyavana: But everyone else says it's nice.

Prabhupāda: Everyone? I don't say.

Cyavana: You are the only one who says it is not nice.

Prabhupāda: I am the only intelligent person. (laughter) That's a fact. Mūḍho nābhijānāti.

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Some Conclusions – Srila Prabhupada mentions above…"You cannot expect that you go on doing all these material activities and at the time of death you'll remember Kṛṣṇa. That is not possible". And in one other statement above he says unless we are perfect we will not be able to remember Krsna at the time of death.

Or in another place he says, in front of some devotees, and tossing his bead bag down, "there I have chanted my 16 rounds and now I can do any damn thing I want". So this very important business of leaving our bodies at the time of death is a great science and to do is successfully, we have to be working and thinking of Krsna 24/7 in some way or another. Of course some devotees just don't care about these things, but a few do. For those of us who do care and take these things seriously, we have to format our lives so that we are, under the directions of Srila Prabhupada, always thinking and working for the Supreme Lord.