There are so many unnecessary things that people think they have to have: a TV, and a car, and a microwave oven, and video, and so many different things. Actually none of these things are necessary.
Lecture on “Simple Life on Farm Communities” (Pula Farm, Croatia, 20 October 2000)
Even electricity — Prabhupada was saying we don't even need this. If you want to live very simply, he was saying, you can grow the castor plants; then you get castor oil and you can use that for light.
Lecture on “Simple Life on Farm Communities” (Pula Farm, Croatia, 20 October 2000)
In the society now, people stay up till one o'clock, two o'clock, at night because there's electricity; otherwise, previously people used to go to bed early and get up early.
Lecture on “Simple Life on Farm Communities” (Pula Farm, Croatia, 20 October 2000)
I’ve seen in the villages in Bengal that now they have electricity and now they have TVs. But previously in the villages, you go in the village and after dark what do the people do? They chant Hare Krishna. What do you have to do after dark? Most of the people would chant Hare Krishna for hours; they had that habit.
Lecture on “Simple Life on Farm Communities” (Pula Farm, Croatia, 20 October 2000)