In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says, “You know this—that all living beings subsist on food, and food is produced form rain, and rain comes from yajna, and yajna karma samudbhava: yajna comes when people follow their prescribed duties.” Do more kirtana.
Lecture on “Simple Life on Farm Communities” (Pula Farm, Croatia, 20 October 2000)
Prabhupada [used to have] big festivals in Hyderabad. And there was a severe drought; for two years they hadn't had any rain. It was hot. So they had big kirtana and had big festival in the city, and in two days there was good rain.
Lecture on “Simple Life on Farm Communities” (Pula Farm, Croatia, 20 October 2000)
When everything is going on nicely, when everyone is performing pious activities, this is what happens: the rains come at night and just in a nice proportion, not too much, not too little.
Lecture on “Simple Life on Farm Communities” (Pula Farm, Croatia, 20 October 2000)
Now there are so many sinful activities in the world; therefore there are droughts. In other parts there are floods.
Lecture on “Simple Life on Farm Communities” (Pula Farm, Croatia, 20 October 2000)
Scientific progress is making so many problems, huge problems and it will get worse too. All over the world there is, all the time, some drought, flood, cyclones. So the immediate cause, you can say, is the depletion of the ozone layer, or the melting of the ice at the North and South Pole. But the ultimate reason is that they are performing so many sinful activities.
Lecture on “Simple Life on Farm Communities” (Pula Farm, Croatia, 20 October 2000)
Prabhupada very much wanted that devotees come and live together. Of course he wanted them to also farm the land, protect cows and show a different kind of lifestyle by which people can live together simply without unnecessary things.
Lecture on “Simple Life on Farm Communities” (Pula Farm, Croatia, 20 October 2000)
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)