8 kinds of spiritual knives Srila Prabhupada uses to cut our attachments‏

1.Feb 15 1971 Gorakhpur
Therefore Kṛṣṇa advises to his devotees that “Don’t plan anything. You rascal, you nonsense, you don’t give Me trouble. (laughter) Please surrender unto Me. Just go under My plan; you’ll be happy. You are making plan, you are unhappy; I am also unhappy. I am also unhappy. (laughter) So many plans are coming daily, and I’ll have to fulfill.”

2.Sept 4 1966 NY
And what is the result of good association? Now, because, if we make good association, the santāḥ chindanti. Santāḥ means thepersons who are sādhu, who are pious. They can cut off by their words our attachment with this material world. They can cut off. …Just like when a person cuts something, there is no mercy, similarly when a sādhu or a person saint, speaks to his student, he does not make, show any mercy. He speaks the truth so that his mind may be cut off from the unreal attachment.

3.SB 3.25.20 Purport
..because if one associates with a sādhu, the result will be that the sādhu will teach him how to become a devotee, a worshiper and a sincere servitor of the Lord. These are the gifts of a sādhu. If we want to associate with a sādhu, we cannot expect him to give us instructions on how to improve our material condition, but he will give us instructions on how to cut the knot of the contaminationof material attraction and how to elevate ourselves in devotional service. That is the result of associating with a sādhu

4.Madhya lila lecture NY 1976
So the Krsna consciousness movement is to make the nitya-baddhas again nitya-siddha, to bring them. It is a difficult task. Just I was talking in the morning, it is very difficult task to… Just like a madman. A madman, to again bring him to the normal life is very difficulttask. You have got in your country so many institutions. So the whole world, anyone who is in this material world, he’s amadman…
…The dull brain… Just like a madman cannot understand. So our task is very difficult. We have to cure so many. It is not possible tocure all of them, but as far as possible we are trying to cure, and simply one has to accept this philosophy seriously, then he’ll get knowledge. Sad-dharmasyāvabodhāya yesam nirbandhini matih.

5.NY Nov 23 1966
So sometimes, if Kṛṣṇa takes special care for you, He’ll do in such a way that you will have no other way than to go back. He’ll take charge, take charge. If we sincerely want Kṛṣṇa, if He sees that “Here is a person. He wants Me. But he’s a foolish. He wants Me; at the same time he wants to enjoy this material world. So crush this, crush this, his material propensities, and let him become simply devoted.” Yes. Sometimes we see like that.

6.Dec 13 1970 Indore
So the other devotees, (laughs) they cannot rise…, come at five o’clock. That is the test. Yes. One who cannot rise early in the morning, he is not spiritually serious. That is test. Brāhma-muhūrta, this hour, one hour before sunrise, is very auspicious moment.

7.Oct 26 1976 Vrn

I have got already one body which is kleśada. Everyone has got experience. No one is here who can say that “My body is very nice. There is no kleśa. There is no pains and pleasure. I am very perfect.” That is not possible. As soon as you get a material body, it must be subjected to so many sufferings: adhyātmika, adhibautika, adhidaivika. Tribulations there must be. Material body meanskleśada. Therefore the Vedic civilization is to stop getting this material body. That is Vedic civilization. Not that increase

8.NOD CH 10
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu also recommended this process of hearing as a means of self realization in the present age of Kali. In this age it is very difficult to follow thoroughly the regulative principles and studies of the Vedas which were formerly recommended.However, if one gives aural reception to the sound vibrated by great devotees and ācāryas, that alone will give him relief from all material contamination. Therefore it is the recommendation of Caitanya Mahāprabhu that one should simply hear from authorities who are actually devotees of the Lord. Hearing from professional men will not help.