Prabhupada: We Vaiṣṇavas do not say that there is no need of fighting. We never say. When there is need of fighting we must fight. Rather, somebody in New York, some Goldsmith, he was that, 'Why Krishna is advising Arjuna to fight, to become violent?'
So somebody protests like that. But there is no meaning of protesting against the action of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is our view. So we Vaiṣṇavas, we are chanting.
It does not mean that when there is need of fighting with avaiṣṇava (non-vaishnava) we shall lack in strength. We can fight. One gentleman inquired from me that 'Vaiṣṇavism makes one dull. He cannot act.' And, 'No. You have not seen a Vaiṣṇava.' In the two fightings, great fighting, the Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata, the hero was Hanuman and Arjuna, and they fought.
Guest: They fought.
Prabhupada: Yes. And who can be better Vaiṣṇava than them?
Guest: Nobody.
Prabhupada: So Vaiṣṇava does not mean he is dull. No.
Guest: No, that is well proved. If there is need...
Pr
atheists (2)
"vede ramayane caiva, purane bharate tatha ..." Sri Caitanya Caritamrta Adi 7.131
"In the Vedic literature, including the Ramayanam, Puranas, and Mahabharata, from the beginning to the end, as well as in the middle, only Hari, the Personality of Godhead, is explained."
But what of those who do not accept sastra, but depend upon their tiny brains instead? How can they be delivered? How can the agnostics take the Pure Names? I have had occasion to have to preach to some atheists lately. These persons, who are often devotees of modern science, try to influence innocent others by making cheap criticisms of the Christians, for example, so my tendency is to want to sway them with deeper reason.
It occurs to me, from seeing our Srila Prabhupada preach to scientists, that an honest person can be shown truth by a path of successive approximations. One starts out at a low enough level to capture their materialistic vision and reason, and then proceeds logically upward from there. An example o
