At a Lecture on Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila 7.109-114—San Francisco, February 20, 1967:
Bhaktijana:
“Can I ever forget myself?”
Prabhupada:
“How you can forget yourself?”
Guest (2): “Not self”.
Prabhupada:
“You cannot forget. You simply purify it. In diseased condition, your identification of “I” is different. Sometimes you are in convulsion. You forget… Rather, that is forgetfulness. Sometimes if we are, I mean to say, deranged in brain, we forget everything of our relationship. But when you are cured, you remember, ‘Oh, I was forgetful in my that delusion. Yes.’ So your ‘I’ is always there. This ‘I” this ‘I”, remembering, is purified. So ego has to be purified. Ego has not to be killed. And that cannot be killed, na hanyate hanyamane sarire; because it is eternal. Bhagavad-gita 2/20,
“For the soul there is neither birth nor death at any time. He has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.”
How can you kill ego? It is not possible. So you have to purify your ego. The difference between is between false ego and real ego. Just like aham brahmasmi, aham... ‘I am Brahman’. Oh, this is also ego. This is, this Vedic version that ‘I am Brahman. I am not this matter’. so this ego is purified ego, that ‘I am this’. So that ‘I” is always there. Either in illusion or delusion or dream or in healthy stage, the ‘I’ is always there.”
Bhaktijana:
“When you’re typing, should you think of Krishna first and your typing second?”
Prabhupada:
“Well, when you type, at least in our Society, whenever we type, we type something which is describing Krishna’s form, quality, beauty. We are typing this. We are not typing any business letter or any political propaganda. We are typing, “Oh, Krishna is so beautiful. Krishna says like this. Krishna told Prahlada like that. Prahlada told Krishna like that.” Everything Krishna. As you are chanting Hare Krishna, that (makes typewriter sound:) “cut, cut, cut” is also “Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna.””
Bhaktijana:
“Can Krishna…? Is Krishna made out of atoms like we are?”
Prabhupada: “Eh?”
Bhaktijana:
“Is Krishna made out of atoms like we are? When He comes down and takes the food?”
Prabhupada:
“No. Krishna is not atom. Krishna is big. The biggest. We are atom. That is the difference between Krishna and yourself. We are atom.”
Bhaktijana:
“Krishna takes the, er, takes the spiritual matter from the food and leaves us the physical matter…?
Prabhupada:
“No. He takes, He takes…”
Bhaktijana:
“When we offer up…:
Prabhupada:
“…when He takes, He does not take anything material. He takes spiritual.”
Bhaktijana:
“And leaves the material for us…?”
Prabhupada:
“No. That is also spiritual. That is not material.”
Bhaktijana:
“What’s left, then?”
Prabhupada: “Eh?”
Bhaktijana:
“What’s left when Krishna takes…?”
Prabhupada:
“That is spiritual. Unless it is spiritual… Just like… First try to understand how it is spiritual. Of course, in our gross vision, we see, “Oh, we offer this capati to Krishna, and Swamiji said namo brahmanya devaya, and it becomes spiritual.” Yes. It becomes spiritual. How? That we have to understand by the result. Phalena pariciyate. If you eat this spiritual food, you’ll get spiritual strength. That is practical. Just like I’ll give you another example: milk. You take more milk preparation, you get diarrhea. You go to a physician, he’ll say, Yes. Today you take only yogurt mixed with little salt and black pepper.’ Cured, diarrhea cured. Now, you can say, ‘The same milk?’ But it is treated. Therefore it cures. You can say, ‘Oh, the same milk? Yogurt is also milk.” But it is treated. Therefore it cures. So you’ll find that your material disease is being cured by spiritual foodstuff. That is practical. Therefore it is spiritual.