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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/710813l2-london/
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"content": "\n [introducing tape] London lecture number 7. Evening, August 13th, Janmāṣṭamī evening. London Temple, 1971.",
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"content": "\n\n…svayaṁ rūpaḥ kadā mahyaṁdadāti sva-padāntikam\nhe kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho dīna-bandho jagat-pate\ngopeśa gopikā-kānta rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te\n[\"O my dear Kṛṣṇa, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the cowherd men and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṇī. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.\"]\ntapta-kāñcana-gaurāṅgi rādhe vṛndāvaneśvari\nvṛṣabhānu-sute devi praṇamāmi hari-priye\n[\"I offer my respects to Rādhārāṇī, whose bodily complexion is like molten gold and who is the Queen of Vṛndāvana. You are the daughter of King Vṛṣabhānu, and You are very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa.\"]\nSo actually, according to astronomical calculation, today is Janmāṣṭamī. But our gosvāmīs note that if in the Janmāṣṭamī, in the morning sunrise there is saptamī, then we don't observe that day as Janmāṣṭamī. Out of twenty-four hours, the morning sunrise, if there is still continuation of saptamī, then we take it as aṣṭamī[?]. The next day the whole day is not aṣṭamī, but in the morning, there is the sunrise, there is aṣṭamī. Very minute conclusion. Then we accept that as Janmāṣṭamī. Therefore the Janmāṣṭamī fasting will be observed tomorrow from morning—from sunrise to 12 o'clock at night. You all know it.\nSo before Lord's birth, the demigods came invisibly[?] at the house of Kaṁsa when the mother and father of Kṛṣṇa were kept prisoners. That was the condition. When Kaṁsa heard an omen that \"You are taking very jubilantly your sister to her husband's house, but you do not know—you are so fool—that she is the source of your death. The eighth child born of your sister will kill you...\" So demons, when there is a question of personal interest, the demon forgets any relative—it doesn't matter whether sister, father, mother. So he was ready to kill Devakī immediately, his sister.\nSo Vasudeva somehow or other saved her, because it is the duty of the husband to give all protection to the wife. Vedic marriage is not a farce; it is a spiritual obligation. The husband gives the wife all protection, all subsistence, and the wife serves the husband throughout the life so that the husband may feel always comfortable. This is the relationship between husband and wife.\nBut in this age, Kali-yuga, it is stated—they are also mentioned in the Bhāgavata—that dam-patye ratim eva hi: the relationship between husband and wife will continue only on sex life. That is very degraded. And actually we have seen many cases, as soon as there is some discrepancies in the sex life, there is separation. But according to Vedic scriptures there is no question of separation. Husband and wife must live throughout the life together, in distress and happiness, in the same condition.\nSo it was the duty of Vasudeva, Kṛṣṇa's father. Although he was newly married, immediately he took responsibility: \"She is married to me. I give protection to my new wife.\" So he made a compromise: \"My dear brother-in-law, I quite understand that your sister is the source of your [indistinct]. But after all, your sister is not killing you—her sons, one of her sons. It may be that she may not have any sons, so why you are dealing beforehand?\nThere are so many, that in future someone will come as a son and he may kill you. So…, and even though if you think that her son, any one of her sons, will kill you, I'll bring all my sons born of her before you as soon as he is born, and you may do whatever you like.\" He thought, \"By this time, Kaṁsa may change his mind.\"\nIn this way Devakī, mother of Kṛṣṇa, was saved from the imminent danger of being killed by her brother. But the brother was so rascal that Vasudeva regularly brought each and every child before Kaṁsa, and he killed them. So Kṛṣṇa is the eighth child, and He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.\nOne may argue that \"How God takes birth?\" There are many [indistinct]. And the answer is, \"Why God will not take birth?\" If God is all-powerful, why this power should be denied to Him, that \"You cannot take birth\"? Is God under the direction of any human being, that some philosophers think that God cannot take birth, therefore God will be obliged by his conception that He will not take birth? No. God is omnipotent, all-powerful—He can take birth as many times as He likes and wherever He likes. That is God's position: full independence, in whatever form He likes.\nadvaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam\nādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca\nvedeṣu durlabham adurlabham ātma-bhaktau\n[Bs. 5.33]\nSo God's appearance, birth, disappearance—all these things—it is very difficult to understand simply by academic study of the Vedas. The academic…, the academicians, they cannot understand Veda. They are described in the Bhagavad-gītā as veda-vāda-ratāḥ pārtha [Bg. 2.42]. Veda-vāda-ratāḥ. They are simply addicted to the Veda, but actually they cannot understand it. Nānyad astīti vādinaḥ [Bg. 2.42]. They simply say, \"We don't believe anything except the Vedas.\"\nBut what you understand about the Vedas? If you actually know Vedas, then you'll know Kṛṣṇa. If you do not know Kṛṣṇa, [chuckles] then you have no knowledge of Vedas. Because Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ [Bg. 15.15]: by studies of Vedas He is to be understood. Unless one understands Kṛṣṇa, there is no use of studying Vedas; he does not get any profit—he simply wastes his time: śrama eva hi kevalam [SB 1.2.8]. These are the śāstric…\nOn the other hand, Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ [Bg. 4.9]: \"My janma…\" Kṛṣṇa never says janma-mṛtyu. Janma karma. If somebody thinks that Kṛṣṇa took birth and He died also, that is mistake. That is the conclusion of the less-intelligent class of men. That is not a fact. Kṛṣṇa never dies. Why Kṛṣṇa? We also—part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa—we also never die. Death takes place, the change of body. But Kṛṣṇa has no material body; therefore even death, the death of the body, that is also not in Kṛṣṇa.\nHis body is sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ. His body is completely spiritual, eternal, sat, cit, full of bliss, and ānanda, bliss, ānanda. And cit means knowledge. Kṛṣṇa's body is full of knowledge, eternal and full of bliss. Our body is just the opposite—material body. Therefore Kṛṣṇa's body cannot be compared with our body. If we do so, then we are rascals.\nThat is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā:\navajānanti māṁ mūḍhā\nmānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam\n[Bg. 9.11]\n\"Because I appeared just like a human being, mānuṣīṁ, then fools, mūḍhā…\" This exact word is used. Mūḍhā means rascal, fool. So,\navajānanti māṁ mūḍhā\nmānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam\nparaṁ bhāvam ajānanto\n[Bg. 9.11]\n\"Because they have no deep knowledge about Me, therefore they consider like that.\"\nSo this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is very nice. One who takes to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he has the opportunity of understanding Kṛṣṇa in fact. Janma karma me divyam. And one who knows Him in fact—His activities, His appearance... Kṛṣṇa appeared, and He had many activities. Those who have read our book Kṛṣṇa, they know how He was always active—always active. So God is not impersonal, neither inactive. He is always active. Any living entity cannot be inactive. Inactive is dead stone, not alive.\nIn the Vedas it is said that He is the chief living entity. We are all living entities. Just like in this meeting in our small temple, you are considering me that I am the chief. Outside, the Queen is the chief living entity, and outside England somebody else; outside this planet, somebody else; outside this universe, somebody else. But the ultimate chief living entity is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya [Bg. 7.7]: \"My dear Arjuna, beyond Me there is no superior personality or superior truth.\"\nSo what is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa Himself, that is also being prayed by the demigods who have come to offer their obeisances to Lord Kṛṣṇa while He was supposed to be in the womb of Devakī. I say purposely \"He was supposed to be.\" Devakī was feeling that \"I have got a baby within my abdomen,\" but actually, when Kṛṣṇa took His birth, He did not took His birth from the abdomen of Devakī. He appeared before Devakī in four-handed Viṣṇu form. We shall discuss this more.\nAnd Devakī—of course, she is mother of Kṛṣṇa—she is far advanced devotee. In her previous life she undergone very severe penance and austerity for Devakī and Vasudeva, and they took benediction from God that He would appear as their child. Their demand was that \"We want a child like You.\" Then Kṛṣṇa said, \"Like Me, where is another child? Then I'll have to become your child.\" So this was the promise by Kṛṣṇa in her previous life, so He kept that promise.\nAnd the demigods, they are praying, satya-vrataṁ satya-paraṁ satyaṁ [SB 10.2.26]. Satya-vrataṁ. God, Kṛṣṇa, is always truthful. He is always truthful. He is not a liar. Just like we sometimes become…, speak lies. That is the one of the qualification of the conditioned souls—cheating. We conditioned souls, we have got a propensity to cheat others even in our ordinary dealings. Even in family affairs, we sometimes think that \"I am hiding this matter from my wife,\" and the wife is thinking that \"I am hiding this matter…\" That is a tendency. But in our relationship with Kṛṣṇa that is not; there is no such cheating.\nWhen Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that man-manā bhava mad-bhakto [Bg. 18.65]…, er,\nsarva-dharmān parityajya\nmām ekaṁśaraṇaṁ vraja\nahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo\nmokṣayiṣyāmi...\n[Bg. 18.66]\nSo when Kṛṣṇa says that \"You surrender unto Me and I give you protection from all resultant action of sinful life,\" so nobody should think otherwise, that \"Kṛṣṇa may cheat us. Kṛṣṇa is speaking—that's all right—but as soon as I surrender, He may cheat.\" No. Therefore His name is satya-vrataṁ. Another satya-vrataṁ: \"An old vow[?] is always truthful.\"\nIn the Bhagavad-gītā it is said by the Lord,\nyadā yadā hi dharmasya\nglānir bhavati bhārata...\ntadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham\n[Bg. 4.7]\n\"Whenever there is discrepancies in the religious life of the people in general, I appear.\" So Kṛṣṇa is appearing because at that time, due to the reign of Kaṁsa, the whole world was surcharged with sinful activities. Not by the people—by the king himself. And the demigods, headed by Brahmā, approached the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and He said that He was coming very soon in the family of the Yadus. So in order to keep that promise He was within the womb of Devakī. Satya-vrataṁ.\nThe next qualification says satyaṁ-paraṁ. Paraṁ means \"supreme.\" There are many relative truths, but the Absolute Truth is Kṛṣṇa, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, satyaṁ-paraṁ. The Bhāgavata, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, begins with this word satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi. The Vyāsadeva, the author of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, he is offering his obeisances to the Supreme Truth, Kṛṣṇa. In the beginning he writes, oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya [SB 1.1.1]. Satyaṁ paraṁ, the Absolute Truth, is Kṛṣṇa.\nIn the Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa Himself says that ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo [Bg. 10.8]: \"I am the origin of everything.\" So if there is any truth within this material world, or anywhere, He is the origin, satyaṁ paraṁ. He is the Absolute Truth. According to our Vaiṣṇava philosophy, we do not take anything untruth. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they say that this world is mithyā, untruth; but we do not say like that. We say, \"No, it is not untruth—it is truth.\"\nKṛṣṇa also says in the Bhagavad-gītā this material world, which is made of primarily eight elements and then diffused in twenty-four elements, they are defined as manifestations of Kṛṣṇa's energy. Just like a fire remains in one place and it diffuses its heat and light, and so many things are happening through heat and light, similarly Kṛṣṇa, although He is staying in one place as person, He can distribute Himself by His different energies.\nJust like the sun: sun is staying in a localized place—everyone can see. When you see sun, you see that it is lying in one corner of the sky—very insignificant portion—but still, by the heat and light of the sun all these planets and all the production in the planets, they are coming out. That's a scientific fact; everyone knows that as soon as there will be absence of heat and light, then it will be difficult to maintain ourselves. The heat and light is coming from the sun, but the heat and light, the origin of heat and light, is the sun globe, and within the sun globe there is the sun-god also.\nThat we get information from śāstra. Vivasvān, the name of that gentleman, the chief controlling deity in the sun globe, the name is also there in the śāstra: imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam [Bg. 4.1], Kṛṣṇa says. Kṛṣṇa not only says that \"I spoke this philosophy of Kṛṣṇa consciousness\"—Bhagavad-gītā—\"long, long ago to Vivasvān, the sun-god,\" He gives the name; He is so particular.\nTherefore those who are Kṛṣṇa conscious, their knowledge is perfect. Because the modern scientist, they can try to approach the sun globe—it is impossible for them. But they do not know actually what is there within the sun globe. They are thinking that there cannot be any living entities. And they are thinking that there cannot be any living entities in the moon planet. But that's not a fact. Everywhere there is living entities, because anything material is made of five elements: earth, water, fire, air, ether. That's a fact. Either you take sun globe or moon planet or this planet or that planet, the constituent ingredients are these five elements: earth, water, air, fire and ether.\nSo within this planet we have got experience that there is living entity within the earth. You dig some earth, you will find there are so many insects and ants are coming out, and on the land there is living entities. Then after land there is water. So water there are many living entities. You cannot say, seeing the surface of the water, you cannot say… Just like this ocean, Atlantic Ocean: you do not see any living entities—that does not mean that there is no living entities. That is your insufficiency of vision. There is living entities.\nSo there is living entity on earth, there is living entity in water, there is living entity in the air. So why there shall not be living entity in the fire? What is your reason? If you think, \"No, I am a living entity—I cannot live in the fire,\" your condition is different, because your body is differently made. Just like you cannot live in the water; that does not mean in the water there is no living entity. So it is your insufficiency of knowledge. Otherwise in every element there is living entity, and that is the information we get from Vedic literature: sarva-jña—the living entity is there everywhere.\nSo from śāstric vision… And that is our source of knowledge, śāstra-cakṣusā. One should see through the śāstra what is what. That is our, I mean to say, facility of those who are following the Vedic way of life. So we have to see everything through śāstra, and then we can understand, then we can get full knowledge. Śāstra-cakṣusā.\nSo here the demigods, they are praying: satya-vrataṁ satya-paraṁ tri-satyaṁ. Tri-satyaṁ. Tri-satyaṁ means Kṛṣṇa, or God, is truth in past, future and present. Before creation there is God, during the stay of the creation there is God, and after the annihilation of the creation there is God. It is therefore said that satya-vrataṁ… \n[aside to guest:] You have got some prasādam?\nSatya-vrataṁ satya-paraṁ tri-satyaṁ. Satyasya yoni: \"source of all truths.\" Just like our present experience. This table is wood [knocks on table], it is a fact. We cannot say that this is false. Now wherefrom this wood comes? If you trace out the original source, then you will find that Kṛṣṇa is the source—by Kṛṣṇa's energy.\nIn the Bhagavad-gītā it is stated in very clear language that bhūmir āpa anala vāyuḥ khaṁ buddhir mano eva ca [Bg. 7.4]. Apareyam. Bhūmi means earth, water. Bhūmir āpa anala. Anala means fire. Bhūmir āpa anala vāyuḥ. Vāyuḥ means air. Bhūmir āpa anala vāyuḥ khaṁ. Khaṁ means ākāśa, the sky. Mind, intelligence, ego. Kṛṣṇa says, bhinnā me prakṛtir aṣṭadhā: \"They are My separated energies.\" Therefore He is the source of all these elements, these gross elements and the subtle elements. The gross elements are the earth, water, fire, air, ether—these are gross elements; and finer elements are the mind, intelligence and ego. So altogether eight.\nSo all these material elements… Mind is also material. Sometimes we mistake that mind is spirit. No. Mind is matter. Sometimes they say intelligence is spirit. No. They are subtler, very subtle, finer. Ego, that is still subtler, but they are all material elements. So Kṛṣṇa says that me, \"My\":\nbhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ\nkhaṁ buddhir mano eva ca\nprakṛtir me…\nbhinnā prakṛtir me aṣṭadhā\n[Bg. 7.4]\n\"They are My separated energies.\"\nSo therefore the demigods accept. The demigods do not say that \"We are all-in-all.\" They are not so fool. They admit, \"Kṛṣṇa, You are the source of all truths,\" satyasya yoniṁ nihitaṁ ca satye [SB 10.2.26]. And the whole material world, according to Vaiṣṇava philosophy, Bhāgavata philosophy—not according to; it is the fact—that everything is truth, but it is temporary. Just like the sun.\nSun we can see in the daytime. At night we do not see the sun. That does not mean the sun is dead. Formerly, people used to believe that sun, after evening, it dies. There were some, I mean, primitive philosophers, they say like that. But actually that is not a fact. The fact is the sun is there in the sky, by… But this planet, being in a different position, we do not see the sun. That is the fact. Therefore sun is truth, and because sun is not visible at night by me, therefore sun cannot be untruth.\nSo this is our foolishness. God is truth. God is truth, and He is visible also, in due course of time. And..., but those who are rascals, they think that \"God is dead\" or \"There is no God.\" Therefore it is said, satyasya yoniṁ nihitaṁ ca satye.\nSo today is Janmāṣṭamī day. We should try to understand Kṛṣṇa philosophically. We should not go away because there is talk of philosophy. If there is story, they may be interested, [laughs] but hearing, hearing story only, we are trying to forget Kṛṣṇa. You see? Any religion, if it is not based on philosophy, one day it will be forgotten, it will be lost.\nSo that is happening. There are many, so many Kṛṣṇa temples, but there is no discussion of the Kṛṣṇa philosophy. Kṛṣṇa philosophy… They think Kṛṣṇa is an idol, just \"jaya jagadīśa hare\"—that's all; finished business. No. Janma karma me divyaṁ, yo jānāti tattvataḥ [Bg. 4.9]. That is the injunction in the Bhagavad-gītā: \"Anyone who understands Me, My transcendental activities, appearance and disappearance,\" anyone who can understand janma karma me divyaṁ, yo jānāti tattvataḥ, \"in truth.\" That requires philosophical understanding.\nReligion without philosophy is sentiment. Sentiment has no value. And philosophy without religion is mental speculation. That is also no value. Both of them should be combined. Religion should be combined with philosophy; then intelligent persons will stay with it. Otherwise they will be without religion, and without religion means animal. Animals, they do not have any religion, neither they have any understanding of religion. That is animal life.\nDharmeṇa hīnaḥ paśubhiḥ samānaḥ [Hitopadeśa 25]. That is the distinction between animal and man. Animals are not interested in religion. No animal—cats and dogs—however nicely, cordially invite the cats and dogs, they'll never [laughs] be interested in religion, you see, because they are cats and dogs. But any human being, this developed consciousness, they will come; he will come. Therefore in every human society—doesn't matter where it is, in any part of the world—there is some conception of religion according to the place, according to the people and according to the… Of course, preacher is always competent, but he does not speak fully if the audience is not, I mean, qualified to understand.\nThis philosophy of Kṛṣṇa consciousness cannot be preached in the desert. It is meant for advanced humans, the philosophy of God, the philosophy of Kṛṣṇa. Each word described herewith in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, before the appearance of Lord Kṛṣṇa:\nsatya-vrataṁ satya-paraṁ tri-satyaṁ\nsatyasya yoniṁ nihitaṁ ca satye\nsatyasya satyam ṛta-satya-netraṁ\nsatyātmakaṁ tvāṁśaraṇaṁ prapannāḥ\n[SB 10.2.26]\nŚrīmad-Bhāgavatam, each line, each word is so much impregnated with philosophical thoughts that you can study one word throughout your whole life—it is so philosophical. It is not a professional business, that you finish Bhāgavata within one week. One life is not sufficient to understand one word of Bhāgavata, it is so big philosophical thing. But it has become a profession, Bhāgavata-saptāha. What you will understand within one week, the whole Bhāgavata? One word requires explanation one life.\nSo, satyasya yoniṁ nihitaṁ ca satye. These truths, these elements, they are also the God there as Paramātmā. That is explained in the Brahma-saṁhitā: \neko 'py asau racayituṁ jagad-aṇḍa-koṭiṁ\nyac-chaktir asti jagad-aṇḍa-cayā yad-antaḥ\naṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-sthaṁ\ngovindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi\n[Bs. 5.35]\nThis Govinda, that is omnipotency. By His one plenary portion, eko 'py asau—one plenary portion, Mahā-Viṣṇu. Mahā-Viṣṇu, from His breathing many universes are coming out, exhaling and inhaling; many universes are going into the… This is the process of creation and annihilation. Such Mahā-Viṣṇu, viṣṇur mahān sa iha yasya kalā-viśeṣaḥ [Bs. 5.48], that Mahā-Viṣṇu is only a partial representation of Govinda. In the Bhagavad-gītā also, when Arjuna wanted to understand the extensive potencies of Kṛṣṇa, how it is working, He replied, bahunaitena kiṁ jñātena tavārjuna…\natha vā bahunaitena\nkiṁ jñātena tavārjuna\nekāṁśena sthito jagat...\n viṣṭabhyāham idaṁ kṛtsnam\nekāṁśena sthito jagat\n[Bg. 10.42]\nThe śloka is like that. He says, \"How extensively I am expanded, how I can explain you in this short time?\" Because He was speaking on the war field. \"Simply try to understand that by My one plenary portion I enter into this universe or this material world,\" ekāṁśena sthito jagat,\" and therefore the whole universe is eminated.\"\nTherefore here it is said, nihitaṁ ca satye: He is everywhere.\neko 'py asau racayituṁ jagad-aṇḍa-koṭiṁ\nyac-chaktir asti jagad-aṇḍa-cayā yad-antaḥ\n[Bs. 5.35]\nAnd He is not only in one universe, but there are innumerable universes—everywhere He is there. And not only in the universe, but everyone's heart. You are all sitting here; there are innumerable living entities:\nīśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ\nhṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati\n[Bg. 18.61]\nĪśvaraḥ, the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His Paramātmā feature, He is living within the heart of all living entities. You have got Kṛṣṇa within your heart. That is the yoga system, actually, to find out where you are sitting and where Kṛṣṇa is sitting. That is real meditation, not that gymnastics. Real meditation is to search out Kṛṣṇa within your heart.\nThere is a verse, Vedic verse: dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ [SB 12.13.1]. Yogīs, in their mediation, dhyānāvasthita—being situated in meditation—dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā: the mind being absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena. Meditation means to become absorbed in the thought of Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu.\nThat is meditation: dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ. This is the yogic practice. Yogic practice is not gymnastic. Actually yogic practice is this, that one has to become purified from all sense-gratificatory methods: sitting in a very nice, sacred place alone—not in a fashionable city or room.\nWe can, in our bhakti-yoga, we can do anywhere—that is the facility of this bhakti-yoga system. In other yoga system you have to create the required atmosphere; then you can practice yoga. But in this system, bhakti-yoga system, it is so nice, and especially recommended in this age, because you can sit down anywhere and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa immediately with [indistinct]. That is the advantage of this bhakti-yoga system.\nAnd actually it is happening. These boys and girls, they are not practicing any different kind of meditation—simply by hearing the word Kṛṣṇa and Hare immediately begin this meditating on Kṛṣṇa. And that is also recommended in the Bhagavad-gītā, that yoginām api sarveṣāṁ. There are different kinds of yogīs. Of all the yogīs, yoginām api sarveṣāṁ mad-gatenāntarātmanā [Bg. 6.47]. Within the heart also, within the mind, one who is always thinking of Kṛṣṇa.\nYou can do it. If you see this Kṛṣṇa Deity constantly, naturally there will be an impression within your mind. And if you think constantly about the Deity and Kṛṣṇa, and you hear about Kṛṣṇa—as soon as you hear about Kṛṣṇa, immediately you think of Kṛṣṇa—in this way if you live, then you become the topmost. We have written therefore this book, Kṛṣṇa Consciousness is the Topmost Yoga System.\nSo it is very fortunate that we meet on this auspicious evening to discuss about Kṛṣṇa. The more we discuss about Kṛṣṇa, the more we will become advanced. This is the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness: śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ. Kṛṣṇa…, in the presence of Kṛṣṇa we are discussing, having discourse about Kṛṣṇa. Śāstra says that when Kṛṣṇa sees that you are interested very much in such topics of Kṛṣṇa consciousness as we are trying to explain different ways—philosophically, scientifically… So actually the process is hearing.\nśṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ\npuṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ\n[SB 1.2.17]\nThis hearing process is so nice that even if you do not understand the philosophy, simply as you are hearing also you are becoming a pious…\nśṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ\npuṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ\n[SB 1.2.17]\nOne who is describing, śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ—śravaṇa means hearing, and kīrtanaḥ means chanting or describing. Just like I am describing; you are hearing.\nSo even we are all fools, simply by describing and simply by hearing, we are all becoming pious. Puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ. You take advantage of this hearing and chanting, puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ, become automatically pious. If you want to become pious man you have to give in charity so many things. Just like people are opening hospitals, those who have got money. But those who have no money, how he will become pious, free of charge, without any money? Simply hear about Kṛṣṇa and you become pious.",
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"content": "\nJaya! All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda!",
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"content": "\nThis is the cheapest method to become pious, religious, philosopher, everything: sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ [SB 5.18.12]. All good qualities will develop. Śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ.\nThen as soon as you become pious, what is the result? The result is hṛdy antaḥ-stho hy abhadrāṇi: all these dirty things which is accumulated within the heart, Kṛṣṇa helps to cleanse it. And mukti means to cleanse the heart. That's all. To come to the real understanding, that is mukti.\nAt the present moment, our heart being polluted in so many material contaminations, we do not know what is our actual position. We do not know it. They are ignorant, just like animals. But a human life is not meant for this purpose—to remain animal throughout the whole life. You should become pious, religious human being. That is success of life.\nThank you very much.",
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"content": "\nAll glories to Prabhupāda… [break]",
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"content": "\n …questions on the subject matter of speaking, if some portion of the speech is not understood, then questions will be given. Not a different matter should be known. That is not the system.\n[break] Yes. The nonsense human beings, the same thing [indistinct]: \"Let us kill them—there will be no disease.\" Do you think that that is a very nice philosophy, that a person is suffering from some disease, then kill him so that the disease and the sufferer goes away, finished? Would you like this? Hah?",
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"content": "\n I don't like it, but it is happening.",
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"content": "\n Happening? It does not happen; you are thinking it is happening. [break]",
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"content": "\n [indistinct]",
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"content": "\n You must know Kṛṣṇa. Na jāyate na mriyate vā [Bg. 2.20]. That is [indistinct; microphone problems] We are so foolish that still they are [indistinct].\n[break] …that Kṛṣṇa said those who are not taking to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness: na māṁ prapadyante… Kṛṣṇa consciousness means to surrender to Kṛṣṇa: sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁśaraṇaṁ vraja [Bg. 18.66]. So we are teaching these boys and girls to surrender to Kṛṣṇa. I have no difficulty. I have not manufactured anything. The thing is already there. Kṛṣṇa says, \"Surrender unto Me.\" I simply say, \"Surrender to Kṛṣṇa.\"",
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"content": "\nJaya! Haribol!",
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"content": "\nWhat is the difficulty? And [laughs] by simply doing this I have become a great spiritual master. [laughter] I am surprised why they worship me as spiritual master. I am a damn rascal, but I am… [loud laughter] But I know I have not adulterated the word of Kṛṣṇa. That's all.",
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"content": "\nHaribol.",
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"content": "\nI have not become a big yogī and commentator on Bhagavad-gītā and doing something rascaldom. I am simply saying the words of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says, \"Surrender unto Me.\" He's God; He's Kṛṣṇa. I am saying, \"Please surrender to Kṛṣṇa.\"",
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"content": "\nHaribol.",
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"content": "\nSo it is very simple to understand who is a rascal. Anyone who is not Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he is a rascal. Bring any scientist, any yogī, any jñānī before me, I will prove that he is a rascal number one.",
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"content": "\n Haribol! Jaya! [loud applause]",
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"content": "\n So that is my request, that to understand who is a rascal is not very difficult thing. Simply try to know whether he has got any Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or God consciousness. That will be known. How? Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ [SB 5.18.12]: \"Anyone who has got Kṛṣṇa consciousness, all godly qualities will develop.\" Not that a man is doing all nonsense, and he says, \"I am Kṛṣṇa conscious.\" No. If one is Kṛṣṇa conscious, then all godly qualities will develop.\nSo this is practical test. Anyone can understand. Bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt [SB 11.2.42]. These European and American boys, from their childhood they were accustomed to take meat, wine, and accustomed to so many nonsense things—according to our Vedic standard most abominable, condemned. But just see how they have given up very easily. Very easily. That is this test of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Not that I am doing all nonsense and I am Kṛṣṇa conscious. That is nonsense. There must be symptoms.\nJust like if one man is rich man, then there must be symptoms: he must have a good car, he must have good dress. Oh, yes, if he says, \"I am a very rich man,\" we cannot admit. Similarly, when one person is freed from all this material attachment—bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt [SB 11.2.42]—he will have aversion for all these nonsense things.\nAs Yamunacārya says: yad-avadhi mama cetaḥ kṛṣṇa…\nyad-avadhi mama cetaḥ kṛṣṇa-pādāravinde\nnava-nava-rasa-dhāmany udyataṁ rantum āsīt\ntad-avadhi bata nārī-saṅgame smaryamāṇe\nbhavati mukha-vikāraḥ suṣṭhu niṣṭhīvanaṁ ca\nŚrī Yamunacārya says, \"Since I have developed my Kṛṣṇa consciousness,\" yad-avadhi mama cetaḥ kṛṣṇa-pādāravinde, \"always thinking on the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa,\" yad-avadhi mama cetaḥ kṛṣṇa-pādāravinde nava-nava-rasa-dhāmany udyataṁ rantum āsīt, \"every moment I am getting new pleasure.\" And what about our material life? Bata nārī-saṅgame: \"The highest material pleasure is sex life—to enjoy woman. As soon as I think of it, I spite on it.\" These are the test, how we are advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You can test yourself, how we have become detestful to this material enjoyment.\nSo this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is pure, authorized, based on Vedic principles. So anyone who takes to it, he will be benefited surely; there is no doubt. And customer will increase gradually. But still you cannot have many customers for diamond—that is also another fact. Just like Kṛṣṇa also says in the Bhagavad-gītā,\nmanuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu\nkaścid yatati siddhaye\nyatatām api siddhānāṁ\nkaścin vetti māṁ tattvataḥ\n[Bg. 7.3]\n\"Out of many thousands of men, one may be trying to become perfect in his life; and out of many perfect men, one may know Kṛṣṇa in truth.\" But Kṛṣṇa is so kind that in this age He has given a special facility: that you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, your heart will be purified and you will be able to understand what is Kṛṣṇa.\nThank you very much. [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/690911ar-london/
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[
{
"content": "\n ...but I'm not very much fond of reception. I want to know how people give reception to this movement. That is my concern.",
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"content": "\n Haribol!\n How long will you be in England, sir?",
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"content": "\n England, I think I am coming for the second time. Last time, in 1967, when I was going to India, I stayed here for two days only and then went away. Practically, this is the first time I have come.",
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"content": "\n And for how long now?",
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"content": "\n That I do not know.",
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"content": "\n Haribol!",
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"content": "\n I have got so many fathers and mothers to take care. So as long as they keep me, I can be.",
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"content": "\n If any of you gentlemen have questions, you can ask them of Prabhupāda.\n Yes. Can I ask if this is a very special welcome for you, or is this a performance that you go through each day?",
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"content": "\n No. Wherever I go, I have got my disciples. In the Western countries I have got now about twenty centers, especially in America, Canada. So the American boys are very enthusiastic. I think...",
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"content": "\n Haribol!",
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"content": "\n I think I got in Los Angeles and San Francisco a very great reception. And in Ratha-yātrā festival about ten thousand boys and girls followed me for seven miles.",
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"content": "\n Haribol!\n What do you try and teach, sir?",
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"content": "\n I am trying to teach what you have forgotten.",
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"content": "\n Haribol! Hare Kṛṣṇa! [laughter]\n Which is what?",
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"content": "\n That is God. Some of you are saying there is no God, some of you are saying God is dead, and some of you are saying God is impersonal or void. These are all nonsense. I want to teach all these nonsense that there is God. That is my mission. Any nonsense can come to me, I shall prove that there is God. That is my Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. It is a challenge to the atheistic people. There is God.\nAs we are sitting here face to face, you can see God face to face. If you are sincere and if you are serious, that is possible. Unfortunately, we are trying to forget God; therefore we are embracing so many miseries of life. So I am simply preaching that you have Kṛṣṇa consciousness and be happy. Don't be swayed away by these nonsense waves from māyā, or illusion. That is my request.",
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"content": "\n Haribol!\n Is this singing essential to the sustenance of your faith?",
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"content": "\n This singing is the process for clearing the dust accumulated on the heart. Our relationship with God is eternal. It cannot be broken. But due to the contact of māyā we are trying to forget Him. But if we chant this holy name of God, Hare Kṛṣṇa, then māyā will not act, and we shall very quickly understand what is our relationship with God. That is the process. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam [Cc. Antya 20.12].\n[“’Let there be all victory for the chanting of the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṇa, which can cleanse the mirror of the heart and stop the miseries of the blazing fire of material existence. That chanting is the waxing moon that spreads the white lotus of good fortune for all living entities. It is the life and soul of all education. The chanting of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa expands the blissful ocean of transcendental life. It gives a cooling effect to everyone and enables one to taste full nectar at every step.’]\nThe Sanskrit word is \"cleansing the dirty heart.\" The dirty heart. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ [Bg. 7.15].\n[Those miscreants who are grossly foolish, lowest among mankind, whose knowledge is stolen by illusion, and who partake of the atheistic nature of demons, do not surrender unto Me.]\nThose who are miscreants, rascals, and lowest of the mankind, and taken all knowledge, and atheistic class of men, they do not know what is God. Others, those who are virtuous, those who are inquisitive, those who are wise, they will try, and they will understand what is God.\nSo my appeal to you is that you try to understand this movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. It is not a bogus movement. It is scientific, authorized. Any scientist, any philosopher, any logician may come and we shall prove that there is God and we have got eternal relationship with God.\nSo if you want to [be] happy, then you must take to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Otherwise the human race is doomed. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇā [SB 5.18.12].\n[All the demigods and their exalted qualities, such as religion, knowledge and renunciation, become manifest in the body of one who has developed unalloyed devotion for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva. On the other hand, a person devoid of devotional service and engaged in material activities has no good qualities. Even if he is adept at the practice of mystic yoga or the honest endeavor of maintaining his family and relatives, he must be driven by his own mental speculations and must engage in the service of the Lord's external energy. How can there be any good qualities in such a man?]\nAnyone who has no God consciousness, he has no qualification. However academically he may be very rich, he has no qualification. Manorathena asato dhāvato bahiḥ. His only qualification is mental concoction. Mental concoction. That's all. He has no other qualification. So we reject all these nonsense. We simply accept a sincere soul who wants to dedicate his life for God's service.\nSo it is not easy thing. These boys and girls who are following me, they are very elevated. They are not ordinary boys and girls. They have taken to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Their quality is greater than any mundane erudite scholar. It is a challenge. Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ [SB 5.18.12].\nAnyone who has developed Kṛṣṇa consciousness, love of God, all good qualities will automatically develop in him. All good qualities. Test any of our students, how they are good, how they are advanced. Test it. Bring anyone in this world and test any one of our boys, you'll find how much difference there is in their character, in their feeling, in their consciousness.\nSo this is the only thing. If you want peaceful society, then you must make them God conscious, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Everything will be automatically solved. Otherwise your so-called United Nation will not help.",
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"content": "\n Mr. Billy Graham makes people God conscious in a different way. Can you tell me what you think of him?",
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"content": "\n I do not know what is Billy Graham, but I am following the Vedic principle, Bhagavad-gītā as it is. Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja [Bg. 18.66].\n[Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.]\nGod says that \"You give up all nonsense occupation, simply surrender unto Me, and I take charge of you and give you protection.\" This is our philosophy.",
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"content": "\n Can I ask you some questions about your general attitudes on things going on around us? For instance, what do you feel about man going to the moon? [laughter]",
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"content": "\n This is simply a waste of time. I already commented on this when I was in San Francisco. The reporters asked me this very question. I flatly replied that it is simply waste of time and waste of money. That's all. [laughter]",
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"content": "\n What about something very much nearer to ourselves here in this country, and that is a war or civil disturbance is going on [indistinct]...",
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"content": "\n Well, war is going on.",
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"content": "\n ...between Christians?",
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"content": "\n No. We are not Christian nor Hindu nor Muslim. We are God's servant. That's all. Anyone who is God's servant, there is no disagreement. And when one is māyā's servant, servant of māyā, illusion, there is disagreement. So it doesn't matter. Our test is, sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje [SB 1.2.6]\n[The supreme occupation [dharma] for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self.]\nThat system of religion is first class which teaches how to love God.\nThat's all. It doesn't matter whether it is Christian religion, Muhammadan religion or Hindu religion. We shall see. If the follower of the religion has learned how to love God, then his religion is perfect. Otherwise it is useless.",
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"content": "\n But do you not think it's worth going to such places as Ireland and trying to talk to the people out there to stop warring?",
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"content": "\n Now, this is our talking, that the first-class religion is that which teaches how to love God. Try to understand this. This is the simple formula.",
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"content": "\n Yes, but don't you think it's worth going over there to try and help them?",
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"content": "\n We shall see. Suppose you are Christian. If you have developed your sense of loving God, then you are perfect, your religion is perfect. But instead of loving God, if you have developed your sense of loving dog, then you have wasted your time. That is our test. Yes. You want to ask any questions?",
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"content": "\n I think the lady wants to take you away somewhere. [Prabhupāda chuckles]\n I think that the room is up.",
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"content": "\n All right.",
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"content": "\n I should just like to know how old you are, sir.",
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"content": "\n I am? I am seventy-four years old. I was born in 1896.",
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"content": "\n Whereabouts?",
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"content": "\n In India, Calcutta.",
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"content": "\n Are you married, sir?",
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"content": "\n Yes. I have got my sons, grandsons, my wife, all living, but I have no connection with them. I am a sannyāsī, renounced order. I have got elderly sons.",
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"content": "\n You say you have no connection with your family?",
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"content": "\n No.",
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"content": "\n Why?",
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"content": "\n Because I have taken sannyāsa. I have dedicated my life for Kṛṣṇa.",
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"content": "\n I see.",
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"content": "\nThat is the Vedic system, that certain portion of your life you should simply dedicate for God. That is called sannyāsa.",
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"content": "\n To do this, did you have to divorce?",
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"content": "\n No. There is no question of. We have no... We do not know what is divorce. In our country there is no divorce, at least in Hindu law. Yes. Wife and husband, once combined, that is for life. There is no question of separation, in all circumstances.\nEither in distress or in happiness, there is no question of separation. Now our modern politicians, they have introduced this divorce law. Otherwise, according to Hindu, Manu-saṁhitā, there is no divorce law.",
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"content": "\n When did you renounce your family?",
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"content": "\n In 1959.",
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"content": "\n How are they managing without you?",
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"content": "\n They are managing. They have... My sons are grown up; they are earning. My wife is also rich man's daughter. She has got some property. So they have no problem.",
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"content": "\n Do you ever see them at all?",
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"content": "\n No. I cannot see. I cannot see, at least, my wife. But if my sons and daughters come to see me, they can see. But my wife cannot see me. That is stopped. That is the system of sannyāsa. A sannyāsī cannot meet his wife again. That is renouncement. Renouncement means renouncing connection with woman, or renouncing sex life. That is renouncement.",
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"content": "\n Coming this way, sir?",
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"content": "\n Yes. [cameras clicking]",
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"content": "\n Thank you very much.",
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"content": "\n Thank you.",
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"content": "\n All glories to Śrī Śrī Guru and Gaurāṅga! Haribol! [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/711129le-vrindavan/
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[
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"content": "\n[Loud kīrtana in background] engagement, November 28, evening [break] November 29, evening [break] Vṛndāvana.\nVṛndāvana is the place of Rādhārānī and Lord Kṛṣṇa. Rādhārānī and Lord Kṛṣṇa whenever they are pleased upon someone they call them to this holy place. Otherwise one has no right to come to this place. Yesterday Swamiji [indistinct] how he went to America and he said that when he went there he had only 40 rupees [indistinct] but he had one thing more, you perhaps know? And in India we call it a precious stone it is called pāragaś[?]. Pāragaś is a stone which turns iron into gold.\nThat pāragaś he had with him that pāragaś is the nama-saṅkīrtana of Lord Kṛṣṇa. This he had with him but you may just put the question is pāragaś always acting? No. Pāragaś is not always acting because from 1922 to 1965 he had to wait for that, where is pāragaś acting? Pāragaś is acting illusionary while Rādhārānīis free from sambandha. While Rādhārānī was free from [indistinct] that pāragaś became effective and that pāragaś has collected you all in its fold. You, you may say even when Rādhārānī is pleased, is there some way to approach Rādhārānī?\nThere is. You can't go directly to Rādhārānī as in courts of law you go through a bhakti[?], in the same way if you want to approach Rādhārānī you have to take help of sambandha. Who is that prabhu from whom you can take help? He is the gurudeva. If gurudeva can take you to Rādhārānī, Rādhārānī will accept you. And please keep in mind that it's by the grace of Rādhārānī and Lord Kṛṣṇa and by the kindness of your gurudeva you have come to see Rādhārānī. Take it for granted that Rādhārānī is actually pleased for you. You. He comes from Japan, he comes from Africa and.\nAmerica.\nFriend here comes from America and German. Do you think you could come here without the kindness of Rādhārānī? Or without the kindness of Kṛṣṇa? If you have come and if you have just received the elevations of bhakti[?] [indistinct] of this holy dhāma it is due to the kindness of your gurudeva. We, we are all very thankful to him for bringing you all here and on behalf of the people of this place, on behalf of our young mayor on behalf of the authority of the municipality of Vṛndāvana we all welcome you and we wish that you become so offered[?] to this place, this holy place of Lord Kṛṣṇa and Kulaśekhara[?] and dāsānu-dāsa dāsa [indistinct]\n[applause]\nThis is the mayor of Vṛndāvana speaking.\n[indistinct] to Svāmī Mahārāja. Appreciating the services he has done for the cause of Vaiṣṇava dharma, for the cause of nāma-saṅkīrtana, for the cause of [indistinct]. [Hindi] [break] [Hindi] Lord Kṛṣṇa is the only way [indistinct] of the earth. [indistinct] bhakti-bhāva is very important [break]\n[04:58]",
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"content": "\n[indistinct] My disciples there are gṛhasthas and sannyāsīs, brahmacārīs, like that. We are establishing daiva-varṇāśrama-dharma as Lord Kṛṣṇa has said in the Bhagavad-gītā;\ncātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ\nguṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ\n[Bg 4.13]\nSo, these eight divisions, four social orders and four spiritual orders, brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsa. So these eight divisions are called varṇāśrama-dharma and Indian or Vedic civilisation is based on this varṇāśrama. So Viṣṇu Purāṇa it is said;\nVarṇāśramācāravatā\npuruṣeṇa paraḥ pumān\nviṣṇur ārādhyate [panthā]\nnānyat tat-toṣa-kāraṇam\n[Cc. Madhya 8.58]\nThe human civilisation must be based on varṇāśrama-dharma. Well in the Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa says;\nmanuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu\nkaścid yatati siddhaye\n[Bg 7.3]\nSo when Śrīpāda Rāmānujācārya is explaining manuṣyā he says, śāstra adhikāra yajña. Unless one is conversant with the teachings of the lessons of śāstra, he is not to be considered as a human being. Actually that is so, unless one comes to the principles of dharma and āśrama, one is not to be considered as a human. So this institution the International Society for Kṛṣṇa Consciousness is trying to establish this daiva-varṇāśrama.\nDaiva-varṇāśrama as Kṛṣṇa says that, cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ, what is created by Kṛṣṇa the Supreme Personality of Godhead must be applicable universally. So this varṇāśrama-dharma is not limited in India or to the community who are known as Hindus. Because Kṛṣṇa claimed that, sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayaḥ [Bg 14.4] all species of forms, there are 8,400,000 species of life and Kṛṣṇa claims, ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā.\nHe is father of all, we should not consider that Kṛṣṇa is Hindu or Indian. Kṛṣṇa is for all, these foreigners they have taken to Kṛṣṇa consciousness by understanding that Kṛṣṇa is for all. They have not accepted a form of religious principles like Hindus or Muslims or Christians. These are designated religions, if I am calling myself a Hindu, this is not my religion this is my designation. Because I happen to take birth in a Hindu family therefore I call myself a Hindu. Or because I take birth in a particular land, I call myself Indian or American. But our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is not for such designative personalities.\nThis Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is, sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam [Cc. Madhya 19.170], when one becomes freed from all designations he can take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So long one is Hindu, so long one is Muslim, so long one is Christian, there is no question of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Because Kṛṣṇa he says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁśaraṇaṁ [Bg 18.66] that is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Only Kṛṣṇa really, Kṛṣṇa is my Lord and I am his eternal servant, this consciousness is called Kṛṣṇa consciousness.\nIf I keep myself as Hindu or as Muslim or Christian then I cannot take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is not a statement manufactured by me, it is a statement by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He says, \"I am not a brāhmaṇa, I am not a kṣatriya, I am not a vaiśya, I am not a śūdra, I am not a brahmacārī, I am not a gṛhastha, I am not a vānaprastha, I am not a sannyāsī. He declares all these designations, then what was He? That He explains himself, gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānu-dāsa [Cc. Madhya 13.80].",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\n[chuckles]",
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"content": "\nSo that is our real position, gopī-bhartuḥ Kṛṣṇa and the servant of Kṛṣṇa who is always engaged 24 hours in the service of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. If we accept such devotee as my master, gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānu-dāsa. So that is our real position, so these boys and girls or ladies and gentlemen who have joined they have given up their designations. They are no more Americans or Canadians or Australians they are thinking as eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa, gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānu-dāsa.\nSo without this consciousness there is no question of liberation from the material contamination but so long there is the material contamination we have to divide the social order and spiritual orders according to śāstra. As brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, vaiśyas, śūdras, brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha and sannyāsa. These are all material designations, so long we are not spiritually advanced, sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam. So long we are not nirmalam, nirmalam means without contamination of the three modes of material nature. That is called nirmalam or mukta.\nSo this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is for the nirmalam who are transcendental to these material designations. So these boys, these foreigners, they are being taught in that life but so long this body is there for gradual evolution—of course anyone who takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness immediately he becomes liberated. As it is said in the Bhagavad-gītā;\nmāṁ ca yo 'vyabhicāreṇa\nbhakti-yogena sevate\nsa guṇān samatītyaitān\nbrahma-bhūyāya kalpate\n[Bg 14.26]\nSo according to śāstric viddhi, if anyone takes to bhakti-mārga, devotional service, avyabhicāreṇa bhakti then at once he becomes transcendental to all these modes of material nature, sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. Still Vyāsadeva[?] situated them on the spiritual platform of sattva-guṇa we are accepting them as brāhmaṇas after being duly qualified. It is confirmed by Nārada Muni while he was instructing Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja, yasya hi yal lakṣaṇaṁ syād.",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\nYasya hi yal lakṣaṇaṁ proktaṁ..",
"role": "user"
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"content": "\nAw.",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\nvarṇābhivyañjakam.",
"role": "user"
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"content": "\nYasya hi yal lakṣaṇaṁ syād varṇābhivyañjakam.",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\nHm.",
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"content": "\n\nyad anyatrāpi dṛśyeta\ntat tenaiva vinirdiśet\n[SB 7.11.35]\nSo we are selecting according to that is considered to be the real[?]. In the Kali-yuga there is no scope for viddhic initiation because according to śāstra viddhic initiation is especially meant for the higher castes, brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, vaiśyas. But because in this age there is no garbhādhāna-saṁskāra therefore according to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The Nārada Muni instruction, if this saṁskāra, garbhādhāna-saṁskāra is not observed in the higher caste families then immediately he falls down to the category of śūdras. And as such according to śāstra at the present moment everyone has to be accepted, kalau śūdra sambhava.",
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"content": "\nHm.",
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"content": "\nTherefore the viddhic dīkṣā is not possible because śūdra cannot be initiated according to viddhic dīkṣā. But pāñcarātrikīviddhi dīkṣā is allowed in our Vaiṣṇava community, especially in our Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava samāja. So this pāñcarātrikīviddhi means that if anyone has a little instinct for serving the Lord he should be picked up and he should be trained up to become a qualified brāhmaṇa and then he should be initiated as Vaiṣṇava.",
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"content": "\nNāma-bhāṣya[?]",
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"content": "\nSo these boys and girls who are present here they are first of all admitted as ordinary human being. When I started my propaganda in New York, Second Avenue, 26 Second Avenue. At that time, only half a dozen boys were coming and hearing. That hearing means, I was singing, chanting this Hare Krishna mantra and reading some verses from the Bhagavad-gītā and they were patiently hearing because I will know if somebody patiently hears the holy name of Kṛṣṇa or about his pastimes.\nśṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ\npuṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ\nhṛdy antaḥ stho hy abhadrāṇi\nvidhunoti suhṛt satām\n[SB 1.2.17]\nSimply by hearing Kṛṣṇa's message, then Kṛṣṇa helps him to be purified within and Caitanya Mahāprabhu also says that, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam [Cc. Antya 20.12]. This chanting of Hare Krishna mantra means cleansing the dirty things accumulated in our hearts, due to the contamination of material nature. So actually it so happens, these boys and girls, I'm speaking boys and girls because in the western countries there is no distinction between boys and girls. They are given equal liberties, in our country still there is discrimination, I mean to say, grown-up boys and girls are not allowed to mix together although it is going now. But in European and American countries, western countries, there is no such restriction.\nSo there is no possibility of making any distinction between the boys and the girls. So both of them are attending. So by hearing the chanting of Hare Krishna mantra, I was chanting in the Park, Tomkinson's Square and these boys and girls used to surround me and dance and chant with the Hare Krishna mantra. In this way when some of them become a little advanced, purified they came forward, \"Swamiji, please accept me as your disciple.\"\nSo my condition was that anyone who wants to become my disciple must be free from the four kinds of sinful activities. Illegitimate connection with women, meat eating, intoxication and gambling. In this way on these conditions these boys and girls were are accepted as my disciples. And according to the pāñcarātrikīviddhi when they are fairly advanced they are given the sacred thread, upanayana-saṁskāra. Following the path and instruction of my guru mahārāja His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī GosvāmīPrabhu.\nSo actually according to śāstra they should not be considered as coming from families of mlecchas and yavanas. We should not consider like that because they are now purified. How they have become purified? That is also mentioned by Śukadeva Gosvāmī in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, you know of;\nkirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā\nābhīra-śumbhā yavanāḥ khasādayaḥ\nye 'nye ca pāpā, ye 'nye ca pāpā yad-apāśrayāśrayāḥ\nśudhyanti [tasmai] prabhaviṣṇave namaḥ\n[SB 2.4.18]\nHow to become purified? By taking shelter of a bona-fide spiritual master. That is to be answered that, prabhaviṣṇave. That is the extraordinary power of Lord Viṣṇu nobody can check it. So they are all purified according to the pāñcarātrikīviddhi. And, many of them have got the sacred thread, they are doubly initiated. The first initiation is given chanting Hare Krishna mantra, they are given the beads and they must chant a number, saṅkhyā-pūrvaka-nāma-gāna-natibhiḥ [Ṣaḍ-gosvāmy-aṣṭaka 6]. As the Gosvāmīs used to perform a fixed up number of chanting.\nSo I have not allowed them to imitate Haridāsa Ṭhākura who happened to take his birth in a Mohammedan family but he was chanting 300,000 holy names of the Lord. And He, Caitanya Mahāprabhu appointed him nāmācārya. Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared to put significance on the chanting of the holy name but he appointed his special representative to chant Hare Krishna mantra, Haridāsa Ṭhākura. Although he happened to take his birth in the Mohammedan family.\nSimilarly Rūpa-Sanātana Gosvāmī, you know all their names sad-gosvāmī, vande śrī rūpa-sanātanam raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau. So these Rūpa-Sanātana although they were born in brāhmaṇa families, sārasvata brāhmaṇa families. Because they accepted service of a Mohammedan King they were rejected from the brāhmaṇa community.\nAnd they changed their names, Sākara Mallika and Dabira Khāsa. And by the grace of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu they became the leaders of this viddhi, Vṛndāvana dhāma. And they were appointed the first gosvāmīs. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu's movement and Kṛṣṇa's instruction is not limited in India or in some particular community or country or climate or surroundings. It is universal, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is universal and Kṛṣṇa's desire was there, that;\nmāṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya\nye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ\nstriyo vaiśyās tathāśūdrās\nte 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim\n[Bg 9.32]\nSo the other day one young boy was asking, why this discrimination for the woman? But that is not discrimination, in the material world the such discrimination must be there because we are being ruled by the three modes of material nature, sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa.\nprakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni\nguṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ\n[Bg 3.27]\nWe are under the clutches of prakṛti, the three modes of material nature. So there must be distinction sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. But not distinction by birth, that distinction should be according to guṇa and karma. Just like Cait. Lord Kṛṣṇa said personally, guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ [Bg 4.13], cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ and Nārada Muni confirms it.\nyad anyatrāpi dṛśyeta\ntat tenaiva vinirdiśet\n[SB 7.11.35]\nAnd Śrīdhara Svāmī has commented on this point that birth is not important, the quality is important. Therefore our, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is a propagation to bring back the human society on its real consciousness. Real consciousness is Kṛṣṇa consciousness because every living entity is eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa. So when it comes to this understanding that I am eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa that is his mukti, that is his transcendental liberated stage.\nAs soon as he likes. So long he thinks otherwise, that I am Indian, I am American, I am brāhmaṇa, I am śūdra, I am this I am that. That means he is still contaminated. Even if he thinks that \"I am brāhmaṇa,\" even if he thinks that \"I am sannyāsī,\" he is contaminated. He is simply free from all contamination when he thinks that \"I am eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa,\" jīvera svarūpa haya nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa [Cc. Madhya 20.108]. That is mukti—the Bhāgavata says;\nmuktir hitvānyathā rūpaṁ\nsva-rūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ\n[SB 2.10.6]\nWhat is that svarūpa? That svarūpa is described by Lord Caitanya, jīvera svarūpa haya nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa. This is svarūpa, so as soon as you come to this understanding that I am eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa, that is liberation. That ahaṁ brahmāsmi, so 'ham they are all included, so 'ham means I am qualitatively one with Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is sac-cid-ānanda vigraha, I am also sac-cid-ānanda vigraha. But the difference is Kṛṣṇa is prabhu, vibhu and I am anu. That is the difference, that is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's philosophy, acintya-bhedābheda-tattva. Simultaneously one and different.",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\nYes.",
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"content": "\nSo this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is being propagated all over the world to make people understand that he is eternal servant God, Kṛṣṇa. When we say Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa means God and when we say God, God means Kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam [SB 1.3.28].\nSo all these boys they are convinced to this philosophy of life that I am eternal Kṛṣṇa's servant. And this realisation not very easily attained. Kṛṣṇa says personally;\nmanuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu\nkaścid yatati siddhaye\nyatatām api siddhānāṁ\nkaścin vetti māṁ tattvataḥ\n[Bg 7.3]\nSo to understand Kṛṣṇa is not very easy task but by Lord Caitanya's grace it has become easy. Otherwise Kṛṣṇa says that \"to understand Me is not very easy,\" yatatām api siddhānāṁ kaścin vetti māṁ tattvataḥ. But this chanting of Hare Krishna mantra is so powerful that it cleanses the heart, the dirty things, of all the dirty things accumulated since our contamination of this material nature and how we contaminated this material nature that is also described by one Vaiṣṇava kavi and Kṛṣṇa himself, icchā-dveṣa-samutthena sarge yānti parantapa [Bg. 7.27]. And the same verse is translated into Bengali in a nice way;\nkṛṣṇa bhuliya jīva bhoga vāñchā kare\npāśate māyā tāre jāpaṭiyā dhare\n[Prema-vivarta]\nAs soon as we forget Kṛṣṇa as our master, the supreme master, the Lord. Immediately the māyā captures you. Another place;\nkṛṣṇa—sūrya-sama, māyā haya andhakāra\nyāhāṅ kṛṣṇa, tāhāṅ nāhi māyāra adhikāra\n[Cc. Madhya 22.31]\nSo Kṛṣṇa is so nice as soon as one becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious, immediately he becomes liberated. Immediately he becomes liberated and, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇaṁ [Cc. Antya 20.12]. Then all anxieties, this material existence means full of anxieties, sadā samudvigna-dhiyām asad-grahāt [SB 7.5.5]. Prahlāda Mahārāja told because we have accepted something which is temporary asat, we don't say false. We don't see this world as false as the Māyāvādī philosopher says, brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā.\nNo, why jagan mithyā? Jagat is also a fact because Kṛṣṇa is the origin of this jagat, janmādy asya yataḥ [SB 1.1.1] Kṛṣṇa says ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ [Bg. 10.8]. So why anything emanating from Kṛṣṇa should be false? It cannot be. So therefore we don't accept this world as false, we accept it as reality but it becomes false when we try to enjoy it. Just like if I take away some other's property and want to enjoy it. That is, the thing is reality but my spirit of enjoyment is false. Therefore Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī says,\nanāsaktasya viṣayān\nyathārham upayuñjataḥ\nnirbandhe kṛṣṇa-sambandhe\nyukta-vairāgyam ucyate\n[Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.255]\nSo our philosophy is that we don't accept this world as false but we accept it, that it is not enjoyable by us. Then it is enjoyable by Kṛṣṇa, therefore whatever there is never mind, when it is employed in Kṛṣṇa's service that is yukta-vairāgya. On the other hand as the Māyāvādī philosopher says this world is false, that is also stated by the gosvāmī's.\nprāpañcikatayā buddhyā\nhari-sambandhi-vastunaḥ\nmumukṣubhiḥ parityāgo\nphalgu-vairāgya kathyate\n[Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.256]\nPrāpañcikatayā buddhyā that \"this is material\" or \"this is not working, I cannot touch money, my hands become polluted by touching money.\" No. Why? Money is Lakṣmī, Lakṣmī is to be enjoyed by Nārāyaṇa so therefore Lakṣmī should be, I mean to say, placed for the service of Nārāyaṇa.\nprāṇair arthair dhiyā vācā\nśreya-ācaraṇaṁ sadā\n[SB 10.22.35]\nTherefore our [indistinct] philosophy, just like in the western countries we are very luxuriously situated there. My disciples they have given me my residential quarters which even the governor cannot imagine.",
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"content": "\n[chuckles]",
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"content": "\nHow the luxurious apartments there because I remember sometimes back one night I was guest in the Lucknow Governor's house. At that time Biswanath Das was the governor. He was personally known to me, he came also here in Vṛndāvana. So I remember that this kind of luxurious apartment I enjoy, or I have the opportunity to lie down in such apartment one night. But they are giving me all it. So we cannot reject that because that is the standard of living there. If I say, \"no I shall not lie down in this nice apartment, I shall lie down on the street, I'm a sannyāsī.\" Then nobody will care for me, there the standard of living is like that.\nTherefore Rūpa Gosvāmī says, that you should not be attached to that room but for the service of Kṛṣṇa, if you are. If you have to use such room you should use it.\nThat was my guru mahārāja's philosophy and that is the real philosophy because bhoga and tyāga these conception of life is false. Bhoga, if the karmīs, they are trying to enjoy this material world and jñānīs after being fed up or being defeated in the matter of enjoying this material world they give it up as false. Just like the jackal in the orchard of grapes, he tried to get it by jumping, jumping, jumping and when he could not get—he leaves the garden, \"the grapes are sour.\" That kind of philosophical movement, why this world is nityā? It is also satya, if Kṛṣṇa is satya his creation is satya but this satya should be engaged for the satya's service, not for the māyā's service.\nPeople are engaged in the service of māyā but we want to engage everything in the service of the Lord. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, so we are using aeroplanes, we are using dictaphones, we are using typewriters, machines, electric machines so many things we are using. Even for cleansing our clothes we are using machines, so that is the system there. In each and every centre we have got four motor cars. We cannot do without, in Europe, in America practically no gentleman walks on the street. That is the system there, so we have to use it but we should not be attached to it. Our attachment should be only to Kṛṣṇa and for Kṛṣṇa's service we can accept anything.\nThat is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement it is not a sectarian religious movement even religious parties in European and American countries they are appreciating our movement. They are appreciating, they are not against, just like in this country some of our national, some of our countrymen they protest against Christian religion being spread here. But so far I am concerned I have never received any protest or any resistance by the Christian community. Rather they are appreciating, they are. It is I mean to say.mh.",
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"content": "\nQuote?",
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"content": "\nQuoted in the newspaper that \"these people are very nice people.\"",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\nHm.",
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"content": "\n\"We want more of them,\" that is said. One Christian priest he issued one pamphlet in which he said frankly that \"these boys these young boys they are so much after God that they are dancing on the street chanting and after being instructed by Swamiji but we could not give them.\" Rather they are admitting they never attended church, all these boys and girls, they never attended.\nNow gradually churches are being sold. So Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is so nice that if it is presented nicely all over the world, it will be accepted. Now in your Abhayananda Patra you have mentioned in the paramparā, Vivekananda. So we may differ in that sense because Vivekananda's principles and our principles is different. Our paramparā is Kṛṣṇa;\nevaṁparamparā-prāptam\nimaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ\n[Bg 4.2]\nThat paramparā, Kṛṣṇa says that \"I am the Supreme Personality of Godhead,\" ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo [Bg 10.8].\nmām eva ye prapadyante\nmāyām etāṁ taranti te\n[Bg 7.14]\nman-manā bhava mad-bhakto\nmad-yājī māṁ namaskuru\n[Bg 18.65]\nWe are preaching this paramparā, not that everyone is God. Not that God is loitering in the street, we don't say. That is not our paramparā, our paramparā is Kṛṣṇa as He says, we are presenting Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. Not with false commentary, no we don't do that. We are presenting. Our business is very easy because Kṛṣṇa says that;\nsarva-dharmān parityajya\nmām ekaṁśaraṇaṁ vraja\n[Bg 18.66]\nWe also said, give up everything surrender to Kṛṣṇa. So we have no difficulty, we are simply repeating the words of Kṛṣṇa. And Caitanya Mahāprabhu blessed that; āmāra ājñāya guru hañā, tāra’ ei, yāre dekha, tāre kaha ‘kṛṣṇa’. So our business is very easy we don't require to undergo very deep philosophy. The simple philosophy is that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, you surrender to Kṛṣṇa and these boys and girls because they are blank slates, simple hearted they accepted it and therefore they are making progress. But in our country it is very difficult, if I say Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.\nThere will be many protests, of course I don't expect that protest in Vṛndāvana but in other places.\nThey will say \"No, we have got our god's why Kṛṣṇa should be alone God?\" Therefore they are not making progress. They want to be cheated, they want to take false things, therefore there is no progress, spiritual progress. They are lacking behind [indistinct] but they had no false thoughts in their mind or hodgepodge in their head. I told them Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead they accepted it and it is going on.\nThank you very much.",
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"content": "\nHare Krishna. [applause and cheering] [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/670310sb-san-francisco/
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"content": "\n\naṣṭau prakṛtayaḥ proktās\ntraya eva hi tad-guṇāḥ\nvikārāḥ ṣoḍaśācāryaiḥ\npumān ekaḥ samanvayāt\n[SB 7.6.22]\n[The Supreme Personality of Godhead, the supreme controller, who is infallible and indefatigable, is present in different forms of life, from the inert living beings [sthāvara], such as the plants, to Brahmā, the foremost created living being. He is also present in the varieties of material creations and in the material elements, the total material energy and the modes of material nature [sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa and tamo-guṇa], as well as the unmanifested material nature and the false ego. \nAlthough He is one, He is present everywhere, and He is also the transcendental Supersoul, the cause of all causes, who is present as the observer in the cores of the hearts of all living entities. He is indicated as that which is pervaded and as the all-pervading Supersoul, but actually He cannot be indicated. He is changeless and undivided. He is simply perceived as the supreme sac-cid-ānanda [eternity, knowledge and bliss]. Being covered by the curtain of the external energy, to the atheist He appears nonexistent.]\nNow we are presenting self-analysis. What is that self? Prahlāda Mahārāja is describing. This is self-realization, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. A boy of five years old, because he has received the knowledge from the right source, he is presenting everything very competently and very scientifically. This is the beauty of knowledge received from the authorities.\nSo...\n[pause] So we have discussed this aṣṭau prakṛtayaḥ..., eight different, differential elements, material elements. What is that? Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego. And these eight elements are described in the Bhagavad-gītā as separated energy. Separated energy you'll understand: just like I am speaking, and my speech is being recorded in the tape recorder. So even I am not here, if you apply the machine, it will exactly speak like me. That is my energy, but now it is separated. It cannot be changed. Suppose I am personally sitting here. If I want to speak something and I can change into another, but that machine cannot change. It will simply produce the sound, what is recorded there. Therefore it is separated energy.\nSimilarly, these eight elements, they are called separated energy. God, from God's inconceivable potencies, this energy has come out, this material energy. And it is acting mechanically, just like the same way, tape recorder. Nobody has got power to change it, but it is working. It is working. And it is working so nicely because it is emanated from the Absolute Truth. It is appearing just like truth.\nJust like another example: if you find some beautiful doll in the shopkeeper's window, oh, it appears, oh, just like, exactly a beautiful, nice girl. But it is not. But how it looks so nice? It is the craftsmanship of the person who has manufactured that doll. Similarly, this separated energy, material energy, it is false, just like the doll. Nobody's attracted. Nobody's going to love offer..., offer love to that doll girl, because everyone knows, \"This is false.\"\nSimilarly, those who are intelligent, they are not interested to take any serious part in this material world, because it is separated energy, and it is acting so nicely, with the complication of three modes of nature, goodness, passion and ignorance... This is also discussed, that there are three guṇas, and if you multiply it with three, three into three equal..., it becomes nine. Then nine into nine equal to eighty-one. Then go on, eighty-one into eighty-one. It will..., increases infinitely.\nSo this energy is acting in such a way that those who are not in exactly knowledge, they are bewildered. They think, \"This is the end, nature, material nature.\" But this material nature is temporary—everyone knows it—as your body is temporary. It is born, it is stays for sometimes, it grows, it becomes very beautiful, and it produces some by-products, some children, or nice boys and girls, then becomes old and then vanishes. These six changes.\nSimilarly, you should know anything material, they are under these six changes, and when vanishes, it will never come back again. It finishes forever. Your this nice body, when it will vanish, nobody can get it back. Suppose one man's very beautiful son or daughter has died. There is no power in this world which can bring back that body again. That is not possible. Therefore any sane man, any intelligent man, they should understand that \"This is false. Behind this body, what is there?\" That is being analyzed. This is self-analysis.\nSo Prahlāda Mahārāja: vikārāḥ ṣoḍaśācāryaiḥ pumān ekaḥ samanvayāt [SB 7.6.22]. Now, these eight elements, they have changed by the interaction of the three guṇas into another sixteen items. What are those sixteen items? Ten items are the senses: five senses for acquiring knowledge and five senses for enjoying, and five tan-mātra, or objects of sense enjoyment. Just like you have got your eyes. This is the sense for enjoying. What is that? You want to see beautiful things, so there must be beauty.\nSo this beauty is another change, and this eye is also is another change—out of those eight elements. Similarly, you have got your nose. You want to smell very nice aroma. So there is. Nice aromas, there is. You have got nice flower, or you see rose flower, how nice aroma is there. But everything, whatever you see, they are simply interaction of those eight different..., differentiated energy and the three guṇas, three qualities.\nSo this analytical study is called sāṅkhya philosophy. Sāṅkhya philosophy, you have heard the name. They very nicely analyze these material elements, and this sāṅkhya philosophy of India is very much appreciated by European philosophers, because they are more or less materialist. But the sāṅkhya philosophy, sāṅkhya kara, has become very popular in European circle. So vikārāḥ ṣoḍaśācāryaiḥ pumān ekaḥ samanvayāt. Now, within this, these sixteen interactional presentation and eight differentiated energy, it makes twenty-four. Within these twenty-four interaction of this material energy, I am sitting. I am soul, spirit soul.\nDehas tu sarva-saṅghāto jagat tasthur iti dvidhā\n[SB 7.6.23].\n[There are two kinds of bodies for every individual soul—a gross body made of five gross elements and a subtle body made of three subtle elements. Within these bodies, however, is the spirit soul. One must find the soul by analysis, saying, \"This is not it. This is not it.\" Thus one must separate spirit from matter.]\nNow, these twenty-four, I mean to say, manifestation, is called this body. And that body are also two kinds. What are? That some bodies are moving and some bodies are stationary. Just like trees, plants, they are also living entities. They are also living entities, and we, human being or animals...\nThere are divisions. Several times we have discussed. There are 8,400,000's of species of life. Out of these, trees and plants they are 2,000,000's. And the aquatics, there are 900,000's. Similarly, the bacteria, worms and reptiles, they are... Sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati kṛmayo rudra-saṇkhayakāḥ [Padma Purāṇa], eleven..., 1,100,000's.\n[There are 900,000 species living in the water. There are 2,000,000 nonmoving living entities [sthāvara] such as trees and plants. There are 1,100,000 species of insects and reptiles, and 1,000,000 species of birds. As far as quadrupeds are concerned, there are 3,000,000 varieties, and there are 400,000 human species.]\nThere are analytical study in the Vedic knowledge. They are experimented, and if you like, can experiment yourself also. Just like the information is that there are 900,000's of aquatics.\nNow, if you have got power to study how many aquatics are there, you can corroborate. Or 2,000,000's of plants and trees and creepers—that also, you can corroborate. But we get from Vedic literature these informations. So these are the different manufactures, different presentation of this interaction of these twenty-four elements.\nDehas tu sarva-saṅghāto jagat tasthur iti dvidhā\n[SB 7.7.23].\n[There are two kinds of bodies for every individual soul—a gross body made of five gross elements and a subtle body made of three subtle elements. Within these bodies, however, is the spirit soul. One must find the soul by analysis, saying, \"This is not it. This is not it.\" Thus one must separate spirit from matter.]\nAnd this deha, this body, is divided into two classes of body: one class moving, and one class not moving, standing stationary.\nAtraiva mṛgyaḥ puruṣaḥ neti netīty atat tyajan [SB 7.7.23]. Now, if you are intelligent enough, then you can find out the puruṣa. Purusa means the enjoyer. We... I have got this body because I wanted a certain type of enjoyment. So nature has given me a certain type of body. You wanted certain type of enjoyment: the nature has given you a certain type of body.\nThe tiger wanted a certain type of enjoyment, so he..., it has got a certain type of body. Similarly, every one of us in the 8,400,000's of species of life, we have got different bodies. But the soul is there. The soul, the individual soul, is within the elephant, and the individual soul is within the bacteria. Bacteria you cannot find with your open eyes. You have to see with a microscope. It has got the same soul. As the elephant has got the same soul, similarly, the bacteria has also got the same soul.\nAtraiva mṛgyaḥ puruṣo neti neti. Now you have to analyze. You have to analyze what is soul and what is not soul. That requires intelligence. Just like the other day I explained to you that if you think yourself, meditate on your self, that \"Am I this hand? Am I this leg? Am I these eyes? Am I this ear?\" oh, you'll say, \"No, no, no, I am not this hand. I am not this leg.\" You'll understand. If you meditate, you'll understand. But when you come to the point of consciousness, you'll say, \"Yes, I am this.\" This is meditation. This is meditation, analytical study of yourself.\nSo anvaya-vyatirekeṇa vivekena uśatātmanā. Those who are advanced in knowledge, directly and indirectly, by contemplating, by meditation, they can find out. It is not difficult. The process is anvaya, directly, and vyatirekeṇa, indirectly, and vivekena... Vivekena means with deliberation. That \"This finger is..., I am this finger,\" no, you are not this finger, because if you cut your finger, then you'll live. Therefore you are not finger. This is viveka. This is deliberation. Similarly, you can study; it is not very difficult. Prahlāda Mahārāja says.\nSvarga-sthāna-samāmnāyair vimṛśadbhir asatvaraiḥ.\nanvaya-vyatirekena\nvivekenośatātmanā\nsvarga-sthāna-samāmnāyair\nvimṛśadbhir asatvaraiḥ\n[SB 7.6.24]\n[Sober and expert persons should search for the spirit soul with minds purified through analytical study in terms of the soul's connection with and distinction from all things that undergo creation, maintenance and destruction.]\nSo very soon, if you try to meditate what you are and what you are not, by this analytical self-study you can understand that you are not this body, you are this consciousness. And this consciousness, what is that consciousness? It is the effulgence of the soul. Consciousness is also not you are. It is just like this lamp has got some effulgence and illumination; similarly, the soul has got illumination. That illumination is this consciousness.\nSo this illumination, this consciousness, is also limited. Your consciousness, my consciousness, they are limited. You cannot perceive or understand what I am thinking; I cannot perceive or understand what you are thinking. If you are feeling, I mean to say, uncomfortable, I do not understand it. And if I am feeling happy, you do not understand it. In this way, if you make analytical study, you'll know that every one of us is individual, and we have got individual consciousness, limited consciousness, not extensive.\nThe Māyāvādī philosophers who mistake that \"I am unlimited consciousness,\" no. If you deliberate, if you think wisely, then you are not unlimited consciousness. Your consciousness cannot approach my perception. Therefore I am limited consciousness. But because I have got consciousness, you have got consciousness, we are living soul; therefore the Supreme Soul, He has got His consciousness, and that is unlimited consciousness.\nThis, this subject matter is very nicely described in the Bhagavad-gītā, Thirteenth Chapter. Those who have read Bhagavad-gītā, you'll find there that\nkṣetra-jṣāṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi sarva-kṣetreṣu pāṇḍava\n[Bg. 13.3].\n[O scion of Bharata, you should understand that I am also the knower in all bodies, and to understand this body and its owner is called knowledge. That is My opinion.]\nKṛṣṇa says that \"My dear Arjuna, this body is kṣetra, is field of activities. So your body is field of activities, and similarly, there are all the living entities, they have got their different kinds of field of activities. But the actor who is occupier of the field, he is called kṣetra-jṣā.\nAnd the field, or this body, is called kṣetra. So in every kṣetra, or in every field, there is a owner of this field of activity, but so far I am concerned, I am situated in all the kṣetras and all the fields.\" That means God is situated both within your heart, within my heart, in everyone's heart.\nĪśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati\n[Bg. 18.61].\n[The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy.]\nThis is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, that the Supreme Lord, by His plenary expansion, by Paramātmā expansion, He is situated in everyone's heart. Therefore, what you are feeling individually, that is known to God. What you are thinking individually, that is known to God. What I am thinking individually, that is known to God. Therefore we cannot hide anything from God. He is situated within.\nSo if you are sincerely in God's service, if you are sincerely in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, He knows it. He knows it that you are not anxious. So he will give you intelligence so that you can make progress towards God. And if you don't want, if you want to make progress in this material change of body, then God will give you such intelligence so that you can make your advancement materially. He has given you full freedom.\nSarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo\n[Bg. 15.15].\n[I am seated in everyone's heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas am I to be known; indeed I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.]\nIn the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find this verse, that He is situated in everyone's heart, and He is giving intelligence. If you want to enjoy this material world by changing different... Because you have to change your body. You are making your next body in this body. There is no certainty what kind of body you are making, but you are responsible for making your next body, as I have several times discussed that the, at the time of death, the mental condition will help you to have another next body, mental condition.\nSo if your mental condition is very nice, whatever you think, God has given you chance: you get next immediately. Similarly, if you think of Kṛṣṇa, then your next body is like Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa consciousness is so important.\nWhat is the advantage of Kṛṣṇa consciousness? If you acquire the body like Kṛṣṇa,\nsac-cid-ānanda vigraha\n[Bs. 5.1]\n[Kṛṣṇa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.]\nEternal, blissful and full of knowledge, then your botheration of this constant change of body, bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate [Bg. 8.19], you become relieved from this business.\n[Again and again the day comes, and this host of beings is active; and again the night falls, O Pārtha, and they are helplessly dissolved.]\nNobody wants this, but because we want to enjoy this material world, so we have to accept it. So this is going on.\nSarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo\n[Bg. 15.15].\n[I am seated in everyone's heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas am I to be known; indeed I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.]\nbuddher jāgaraṇaṁ svapnaḥ\nsuṣuptir iti vṛttayaḥ\ntā yenaivānubhūyante\nso 'dhyakṣaḥ puruṣaḥ paraḥ\n[SB 7.6.25]\n[Nothing is unobtainable for devotees who have satisfied the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the cause of all causes, the original source of everything. The Lord is the reservoir of unlimited spiritual qualities. For devotees, therefore, who are transcendental to the modes of material nature, what is the use of following the principles of religion, economic development, sense gratification and liberation, which are all automatically obtainable under the influence of the modes of nature? We devotees always glorify the lotus feet of the Lord, and therefore we need not ask for anything in terms of dharma, kāma, artha and mokṣa.]\nNow he's giving another hint, that \"We have got our three stages of activities.\" What are those? Intelligent. We are working intelligently while we are awake. Just like we are not asleep, so whatever we work, oh, we work very intelligently, as far as we have got intelligence. Then when you sleep, our intelligence stops. Then mind works.\nSo according to the mind, mind is taking me sometimes somewhere. I am thinking that \"I am flying.\" I am thinking, \"I am on somebody's place\" or \"I have become king.\" Or \"I have become poverty.\" Or \"Somebody is... Some tiger is eating me,\" and so many things, you sleeping, you dreaming. This is another stage, active stage. Then sleeping stage.\nAnd then another stage is which is called deep sleep. Deep sleep. Just like you are under chloroform or LSD. That is a kind of sleep only. It is not..., does not mean that you have become free from this material bondage. You are simply under some mental condition, sleeping condition. Suṣuptiḥ. Just like our death. What is this death? Death means a sound sleep for seven months. That's all. A sound sleep for seven months. As soon as I give up this body, I enter into another body in sound sleep. And sound sleep, just like you are sleeping sound, somebody is taking away to another place; you do not know.\nI have got experience. I have got..., underwent some, some surgical operation. So I was under chloroform. So I did not know when I was operated, when I was in the operation table, then who brought me again to my bed. And in this way I did not... But when gradually I got my consciousness, I remember still, that I am sleeping and then I am dreaming. Then I come to consciousness, active consciousness. This is the position.\nSo there are three stages. So when you are very sound sleep, you do not know what is happening, but you are still there; you are not dead. Therefore soul is never dead, even it is unconscious. Just remember this chloroformic condition. You were not dead. Similarly, when you change your body, by nature's way, you wanted certain kind of body, so nature takes you.\nNature takes you to such a father and mother and you are placed into the semina of similar father, and by sexual intercourse the father puts the semina in the mother's body, and the mother develops your body, particular. If you are put into the mother dog, then you develop the body of a dog. And if you are put in the mother god, then you develop the body of a god. This the process.\nDaive, uh, daiva-netreṇa. That carrying out, from this body to another body, that is not in your hand. That is not scientific..., scientist's hand or experimental, I say, philosopher's hand. It is completely under the hand of the material nature. Therefore Bhagavad-gītā says that\ndaivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā\n[Bg. 7.14].\n[This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.]\nThe material nature is so powerful that your so-called fighting against the material nature is simply waste of time. You cannot. You cannot, by material science, transfer yourself from this planet to another planet or according to your desire. No. That will be managed by laws of nature, material nature.\nSo you are transferred. You are transferred to a certain body, and you develop a similar body, and then you come out and enjoy. Because you wanted to enjoy certain type of things, so unless you have got certain type of body... Just like the hog: it wanted to eat certain types of nonsense, so therefore it has been given the body so that it can very pleasantly eat stools. You see? Without that hog's body, nobody can eat stool.\nSo our different kinds of body is being offered by material nature as we want it, and we are enjoying this material world. So Prahlāda Mahārāja says that,\nbuddher jāgaraṇaṁ svapnaḥ\nsuṣuptir iti vṛttayaḥ\ntā yenaivānubhūyante\nso 'dhyakṣaḥ puruṣaḥ paraḥ\n[SB 7.6.25]\n[Nothing is unobtainable for devotees who have satisfied the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the cause of all causes, the original source of everything. The Lord is the reservoir of unlimited spiritual qualities. For devotees, therefore, who are transcendental to the modes of material nature, what is the use of following the principles of religion, economic development, sense gratification and liberation, which are all automatically obtainable under the influence of the modes of nature? We devotees always glorify the lotus feet of the Lord, and therefore we need not ask for anything in terms of dharma, kāma, artha and mokṣa.]\nNow, our point is: never mind what kind of body we are getting next, but I am existing. Whether I am intelligently working during the time when I am awake, or whether I am working under dreams, or whether I am being transferred to another body—I am having sound sleep under chloroform—I am the same. I am the same. I am that eternal soul. This is self-realization. So under all circumstances, either this body or that body, either sleeping or working or under sound sleep, any condition, I am there. This is my identification.\nebhis tri-varṇaiḥ paryastair\nbuddhi-bhedaiḥ kriyodbhavaiḥ\nsvarūpam ātmano budhyed\ngandhair vāyum ivānvayāt\n[SB 7.6.26]\n[Religion, economic development and sense gratification—these are described in the Vedas as tri-varga, or three ways to salvation. Within these three categories are education and self-realization; ritualistic ceremonies performed according to Vedic injunction; logic; the science of law and order; and the various means of earning one's livelihood. These are the external subject matters of study in the Vedas, and therefore I consider them material. However, I consider surrender to the lotus feet of Lord Viṣṇu to be transcendental.]\nSo how I am being carried to different kinds of body, although I am this eternal and existing? How? Now, the very example is here, that gandhair vāyum. Just like vāyu. Vāyu means air. Air is passing through a, I mean to say, garden of rose. So air is carrying the flavor. The aroma of rose is being carried by the air. Now the air is passing through some filthy place, obnoxious, very bad smell, so everywhere is catching. So air has neither this flavor nor this bad or good, but as it is passing on, according to the association, it is getting certain time of..., certain type of flavor and aroma.\nSimilarly, by your association, you are getting different types of body. If you make your association with Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then you get next your Kṛṣṇa body. And if you make your association with non–Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then you'll have this material body, and you'll have to undergo birth and death repeatedly.\nThank you very much. Any question? [break]",
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"content": "\n ...how I become unconscious when I die?",
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"content": "\n You are never unconscious.",
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"content": "\n You mean I experience the seven months of being in a sleeping state?",
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"content": "\n Yes.",
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"content": "\n And I am aware of it?",
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"content": "\n Yes. You are aware, but you were a little deep, deep sleep. Just like I remember my chloroform case. So I remember very slightly, but there is remembrance. The consciousness is still there, but for some time it is curbed down. So if you become Kṛṣṇa conscious once, even if at that time you are so-called unconscious, still, Kṛṣṇa is with you; He is not forgetful. He is not forgetful. Therefore He will give you the proper result.\nDon't think that at the..., at the time of your death, because you are so completely out of consciousness, therefore there is frustration. No. There is no frustration. There is no frustration. Because your activities are already recorded by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is situated within your heart, so therefore there is no question of frustration. You just practice. While you are in good health, while you are in good body, while you are in good consciousness, just practice this Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, and the result is guaranteed.",
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"content": "\n Does any physical change take place in your body when you become Kṛṣṇa conscious?",
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"content": "\n Yes. There are so many physical changes. We have seen it practically. Yes. Some of our student, so long he was here, he was so nice. He was so glowing. And as soon as he has left, he has become just like damn rascal. Yes. We are experiencing practically. There are so many instances. Because my face is the index of mind, so similarly, what is going on within you, that will be reflected. That will be reflected.\nCaitanya Mahāprabhu was asked that \"How can I understand...?\" One of His disciple inquired from Caitanya Mahāprabhu, \"How can I understand that a man is in Kṛṣṇa consciousness?\" He immediately replied, \"If you see a man and at once you remember Kṛṣṇa, you must know that he is in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.\" It is such a nice thing. By seeing the face, by seeing the appearance of a person, if you remember Kṛṣṇa, you should know that \"This man is in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.\" So there is change of physical feature also.",
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"content": "\n Isn't that a mental manifestation, like if you feel that someone's Kṛṣṇa conscious? It's not a physical manifestation, right?",
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"content": "\n Yes. Yes, physical..., physical change, physical, I mean to say, body is no impediment, simply because you are aloof from physical body always. That we have explained. So if you take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then your physical impediments will not be a check.\nAhaituky apratihatā yayātmā suprasīdati\n[SB 1.2.6].\n[The supreme occupation [dharma] for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self.]\nYou'll feel yourself transcendentally joyful in spite of your physical..., present physical body. You'll... Just like if you eat, you'll know yourself that you are eating, you are feeling strength, you are getting enlightened, similarly, if you take this process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, in spite of your present physical body, you'll know that you are having something transcendental. That feeling will come with you.",
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"content": "\n Is that a feeling of unity with the universe?",
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"content": "\n Eh?",
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"content": "\n A feeling of oneness with the universe?",
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"content": "\n Well, when you feel Kṛṣṇa, that is, He is... Kṛṣṇa is the central point. If you know what is milk, then you know what is butter, what is cheese, what is yogurt, everything, because everything is milk product. So if you know Kṛṣṇa, everything is Kṛṣṇa product, so you know everything. That is universal knowledge. That is oneness.\nWhen you know what is milk, then, in spite of so many varieties of preparation of milk, you know it is milk. That is oneness. When you know, understand, Kṛṣṇa, that \"Whatever we are seeing in our presence, experiencing, they're all different energies of Kṛṣṇa...\" Just like you are sitting here, and if there is fire, you, you see the li..., by the light of the fire, it is illuminated. By the heat of the fire, you are feeling warm. So whatever there is, it is due to fire.\nTherefore Kṛṣṇa consciousness means to understand Kṛṣṇa, and as soon as you understand Kṛṣṇa, you understand everything. That is stated in the Vedic language, yasmin eva vijṣāte sarvam eva vijṣātaṁ bhavati [Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.3]:\n[If one can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the controller of all controllers, one can understand everything else.]\n\"One who understands that one Supreme, he understands everything, immediately.\" There is no need of understanding separately or analyzing things separately. That will defeat.\n[alarm clock sounds]\nSo Kṛṣṇa consciousness means real oneness. But that oneness is not of the oneness of the impersonalist. That oneness is a little different. It is called śuddhādvaita, pure oneness. In spite of that being one Kṛṣṇa, He is manifested by His different varieties of energies. Just like the fire. Fire is one, electricity is one, but it is acting in different varieties. It is acting in your refrigerator. It is acting in your heater. It is acting in your machine. It is acting in your television.\nAct... Everywhere. But the what is that? That electricity. Similarly, if you understand electricity, as of Kṛṣṇa, then you understand your whole thing one; but there are varieties. Just like in electricity there are so many varieties at work. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.\n[alarm clock buzzes for second time]\n[aside:] You stop this dis... [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/661228cc-new-york/
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"content": "\n\navatāra nāhi kahe-'āmi avatāra'\nmuni saba jāni' kare lakṣaṇa-vicāra\n[Cc Madhya 20.354]\n[An actual incarnation of God never says ’I am God’ or ’I am an incarnation of God.’ The great sage Vyāsadeva, knowing all, has already recorded the characteristics of the avatāras in the śāstras.]\nSo Lord Caitanya says that incarnation, He never advertises Himself that He is avatāra. But experienced muni, those who are liberated souls, those who are expert in Vedic knowledge, they understand that this is avatāra, or incarnation, by the symptoms, as they are stated in the scriptures. In the scripture, the color, the activities, the time and the place and the parents—everything is described about the incarnation.\nSo, so that just like everything has to be understood by the symptoms, that is the scientific advancement. Just like a drug is tested in the laboratory and the drug, the symptoms and the taste, how it is, how the color changes, how it tastes in the tongue, everything is described there, so scientists proves, understands, the genuineness of a particular chemical by testing. Similarly, nobody should be accepted as incarnation. That is foolishness. Incarnation, they are stated in the scriptures. Their symptoms, everything is there, and one should understand from that. The avatāra never advertise. And anyone who advertises himself that \"I am incarnation,\" he should be at once rejected. He should be at once rejected.\nyasyāvatāra jñāyante\nśarīriṣv aśarīriṇaḥ\ntais tair atulyātiśayair\nvīryair dehiṣv asaṅgataiḥ\n[Cc Madhya 20.355]\n[The Lord does not have a material body, yet He descends among human beings in His transcendental body as an incarnation. Therefore it is very difficult for us to understand who is an incarnation. Only by His extraordinary prowess and uncommon activities, which are impossible for embodied living entities, can one partially understand the incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.]\nThe first thing is that avatāra, incarnation, He hasn't got this material body. The first symptom is. And still, the avatāra appears before us. Because, so far our senses are concerned, we can see the material objects. We can see a stone. We can see, I mean to say, wood. We can see water. We cannot see even air, the finer material things. We cannot see mind. We know that mind there is in every soul, every body. Every one of us has got mind, but we cannot see. We cannot see the sky. So the..., in the material world also, there are so many finer things which we cannot see. And what to speak of spiritual?\nSo that spiritual, Supreme Spirit, when He appears before us, seeable, so that we can see, so that is His mercy. That is His mercy. Because we cannot see even the soul within ourself; we are seeing only the body. So what to speak of the Supreme Spirit? That is not possible. Yasyāvatāra jñāyante śarīriṣv aśarīriṇaḥ. Therefore it is the inconceivable power that the incarnation of God appears before us.\n'svarūpa'-lakṣaṇa, āra 'taṭastha-lakṣaṇa'\nei dui lakṣaṇe 'vastu' jāne muni-gaṇa\n[Cc Madhya 20.356]\n[By two symptoms—personal characteristics and marginal characteristics—the great sages can understand an object.]\nThe symptoms are analyzed in two divisions. Svarūpa-lakṣaṇa means the symptom which [is] always present. That is called svarūpa-lakṣaṇa. And taṭastha-lakṣaṇa, the symptoms which are sometimes present and sometimes not present. They are called... In this way, the experienced sages, they analyze the characteristics of the avatāra, or God—two symptoms. One symptoms is always there. As soon as there is God, that constant symptom is there. And there are other symptoms which may appear sometimes or may not appear.\nākṛti, prakṛti, svarūpa—svarūpa-lakṣaṇa\nkārya-dvārā jñāna—ei taṭastha-lakṣaṇa\n[Cc Madhya 20.357]\n[Bodily features, nature and form are the personal characteristics. Knowledge of His activities provides the marginal characteristics.]\nĀkṛti, prakṛti. The form and the activities, all uncommon. Just like Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa, He married sixteen thousand wives and He divided Himself into sixteen thousand Kṛṣṇa. This is called ākṛti. This is uncommon. God can expand Himself in any number of forms. We cannot do that. That is the symptom of God. Ākṛti, prakṛti. Prakṛti is His nature, supreme nature. As soon as He likes anything to do, He'll do it. There is no impediment. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyat... And He does in such nice way that we cannot conceive how it is being done, nature's way. Ākṛti prakṛti, these are taṭastha lakṣaṇa, uh, svarūpa lakṣaṇa, personal symptoms of God.\nAnd kārya-dvārā jñāna—ei taṭastha-lakṣaṇa. And the activities... Just like Kṛṣṇa, when comes as incarnation, His activities and activities of Rāma, or activities of Nṛsiṁha, activities of Vāmana, these activities may differ according to time, according to place, according to the mission. The activities may be different. But Their, Their ākṛti, Their feature and Their power—extraordinary. We should understand very nicely that incarnation means Their feature and Their nature, uncommon.\nThere may be difference. Just like Buddha's. Buddha's activities and Kṛṣṇa's activities, there is difference. Buddha's activity was different because, according to the place, according to the time, according to the audience, the activities are... Avatāra, incarnation, comes when there is necessity. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati [Bg 4.7].\n[Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion—at that time I descend Myself.]\nWhen there is discrepancies in the discharge of dharma... Dharma means the prescribed rules by which one can elevate himself to the transcendental life. That is dharma, religion.\nWhy in human society there is religion? The purpose is to elevate himself to the transcendental position. That is religion. Where there is no such aim to raise one from the fallen condition to the liberated state, that is not religion; that is sentiment. Religion means that one should be raised from the fallen condition to the highest elevated condition. Therefore there are so many rules and regulation. In the Bhagavad-gītā the Lord says, yad icchantam, yad icchantam brahmacaryaṁ caranti. Yad icchantam.\n[aside:] Just open the... I think it is in the Eighth Chapter. Eighth Chapter, fifteenth verse. Open it.\n[pause] Read it.",
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"content": "\n Mām upetya punar janma [Bg 8.15].\n[After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogīs in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection.]",
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"content": "\n No. Then, before that.",
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"content": "\n Ananya cetaḥ...",
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"content": "\n Before that.",
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"content": "\n Oṁ iti...",
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"content": "\n Yad icchantam. The śloka is yad icchantaṁ brahma... You don't find it? Let me. Let me have the book.\n[pause] Yes, here. Eleventh.\nyad akṣaraṁ veda-vido vadanti\nviśanti yad yatayo vīta-rāgāḥ\nyad icchanto brahmacaryaṁ caranti\ntat te padaṁ saṅgraheṇa pravakṣyāmi\n[Bg 8.11]\n[Persons learned in the Vedas, who utter omkāra and who are great sages in the renounced order, enter into Brahman. Desiring such perfection, one practices celibacy. I shall now explain to you this process by which one may attain salvation.]\nHere is the transla... \"I shall briefly describe to thee that state which the knowers of the Vedas call the imperishable, which the ascetics, freed from passion, enter, and desiring which, they lead a life of self-control.\" Not... Brahmacarya is celibacy. Translation is not here. Celibacy means completely ceasing from sex life. Yad icchanto brahmacarya. Brahmacarya means celibacy. No sex life. Therefore the brahmacarya āśrama is recommended.\nThe first basic principle of religious life, according to Vedic principle, the students are expected to go to the spiritual master's place and learn there how to live without any sex life. For twenty-five years or at least for twenty years, the student is trained up in that way. Then he's allowed to enter into the gṛhastha life to marry. So there is a process. Religion means there must be process. It is not simply mental speculation. Yad icchantaṁ brahmacaryaṁ caranti. Yad icchantaṁ brahmacaryaṁ caranti tat te padaṁ saṅgraheṇa pravakṣyāmi. These things are described in the Bhagavad-gītā.\nSo to understand, to elevate oneself from the fallen condition to the highest liberated condition, one has to be trained up, one has to follow the rules and regulation as they are prescribed. Otherwise, simply some recreation, spiritual recreation, talking something—\"This is that; this is that,\" \"Neti neti\"—and I lead my life like anything, that will not help us. Therefore the taṭastha lakṣaṇa. Therefore we accept anyone and everyone as incarnation, because we are not trained up who is incarnation, to see. And, because we want to be cheated, there are so many cheaters who comes as incarnation and this and that, and the society's going on like that. Not only here—in everywhere, every part of the world. They are not very serious, what is the ultimate aim of spiritual life.\nSpiritual life and material life is that when you want to enjoy, when we want to be lord of these material resources, that is material life. And when you want to become servant of God, that is spiritual life. They..., there is no much difference between the activities of material life and spiritual life. Only the consciousness has to be changed. When my consciousness is to lord it over the material nature, that is material life, and when my consciousness is to serve Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is spiritual life. So as there are rules and regulation for accelerating your material possession, material life, similarly, there are rules and regulation for spiritual life also.\nSo the basic principle is yad icchantaṁ brahmacaryaṁ caranti. One should be very regular. Vīta-rāgāḥ. Viśanti yad, viśanti yad yatayo vīta-rāgāḥ. Vīta-rāgāḥ. Vīta-rāgāḥ means completely separated from materialistic life. Vīta-rāgāḥ. Rāgāḥ means attachment, and vīta means completely freed. Yad akṣaram, yad akṣaraṁ brahma vido vadanti. Brahma-vida. Brahma..., those who are conversant in Vedic literature. Akṣaram. Akṣaram. Yad akṣaram. The God has His representation in three letters, a, u, m, which is sounded vibrated oṁ. There is no difference between oṁkāra and Kṛṣṇa. It is admitted in the Bhagavad-gītā that oṁkāra 'smi. Akṣaram oṁkāro 'smi: \"Of all the letters, I am the oṁkāra.\"\nSo Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare and oṁkāra, there is no difference, so far the transcendental sound vibration is concerned. But the objective is different. By oṁkāra one attains impersonal existence in the brahma-jyoti, and by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare, one attains the spiritual body, and he's situated in the spiritual planets. We have many times discussed that there are spiritual planets. That is the difference. So far quality is concerned, both of them are spiritual, oṁkāra or Hare Kṛṣṇa.\nSo,\nbhāgavatārambhe vyāsa maṅgalācaraṇe\n'parameśvara' nirūpila ei dui lakṣaṇe\n[Cc Madhya 20.358]\n[In the auspicious invocation at the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Śrīla Vyāsadeva has described the Supreme Personality of Godhead by these symptoms.]\nNow how the two different characteristics of God can be analyzed, that is mentioned in the beginning of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Lord Caitanya is referring. Lord Caitanya's mission as preaching was based on, cent percent, on the principles of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And Bhagavad-gītā is the basic, I mean to say, preliminary study of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Therefore in Caitanya-caritāmṛta you'll find most of the parallel passages and evidences offered by Lord Caitanya, they are from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Bhagavad-gītā and some of the Purāṇas. Just like Viṣṇu Purāṇa, Padma Purāṇa, they are called sattvika purāṇa, purāṇas in the modes of goodness.\nThere are eighteen purāṇas, six for each quality, modes of the nature. Six, six purāṇas for the persons who are in the modes of ignorance, six purāṇas for the persons who are in the modes of passion, and six purāṇas for persons who are in the mode of goodness, those who are actually qualified brāhmaṇas. So Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is called Mahā-purāṇa. Mahā-purāṇa means the topmost of all the purāṇas. You have seen the review by the Theosophical Society of India of my books. They have stated this very word, Mahā-purāṇa, Bhāgavatam, the Mahā-purāṇa.\nSo Lord Caitanya gives evidences from the Mahā-purāṇam, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that the Supreme Lord, the Absolute Truth, is analyzed in two characteristics. What are they? The, the personal characteristics and taṭastha characteristics. Taṭastha means they are sometimes manifested and they are not sometimes manifested. So this material world is the taṭastha characteristics, and the spiritual world is the personal characteristics.\nSo our effort is to get out of this taṭastha, or, I mean to say, taṭastha means marginal, marginal characteristics to the permanent characteristics. That is called spiritual elevation. We should not remain in the marginal state, but we should go to the permanent state.\nThank you very much. Any question? [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/700506ip-los-angeles/
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"content": "\n Hmm. Chant mantra. Om... \noṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṁ\npūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate\npūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya\npūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate\n[Īśo Invocation]\nīśāvāsyam idam sarvaṁ\nyat kiñca jagatyāṁ jagat\ntena tyaktena bhuñjīthā\nmā gṛdhaḥ kasya svid dhanam\n[Īśo mantra 1]\nkurvann eveha karmāṇi\njijīviṣec chataṁ samāḥ\nevaṁ tvayi nānyatheto 'sti\nna karma lipyate nare\n[Īśo mantra 2]\n Again from the beginning.\nAgain.\n[02:45]\nThis is very important verse. Evaṁ tvayi nānyathe..., nānyathā ato asti na karma lipyate nare. If you know it that everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa, in this way if you live for hundreds of years and do your duties, there will be no reaction. The very thing is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā: yajñārthāt karmaṇo 'nyatra loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ [Bg. 3.9]. Except working for Kṛṣṇa, any work will bind you, good or bad. If you do good work, you'll have to enjoy, so-called enjoyment. And if you do bad work, then you have to suffer. But if you work for Kṛṣṇa, there is no such reaction. Na karma lipyate nare. All right.\nThen next verse.\nasuryā nāma te lokā\nandhena tamasāvṛtāḥ\ntāṁs te pretyābhigacchanti\nye ke cātma-hano janāḥ\n[Īśo \nmantra \n3]\nNow you try it.\nYes. Again.",
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"content": "\n Asuryā nāma te loka...",
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"content": "\n This is... The first word is asuryā.\nYes, y-ā. Asuryā. Yes.",
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"content": "\n\nasuryā nāma te lokā\nandhena tamasāvṛtāḥ\ntāṁs te pretyābhigacchanti\nye ke cātma-hano janāḥ\n[Īśo \nmantra \n3]",
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"content": "\n \"The killer of the soul, whoever he may be, must enter into the planets known as the worlds of the faithless, full of darkness and ignorance.\"\nNow repeat again.\nThank you. Again from the beginning.\noṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṁ\npūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate\npūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya\npūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate\n[Īśo Invocation]\nīśāvāsyam idam sarvaṁ\nyat kiñca jagatyāṁ jagat\ntena tyaktena bhuñjīthā\nmā gṛdhaḥ kasya svid dhanam\n[Īśo mantra 1]\nkurvann eveha karmāṇi\njijīviṣec chataṁ samāḥ\nevaṁ tvayi nānyatheto 'sti\nna karma lipyate nare\n[Īśo mantra 2]\nasuryā nāma te lokā\nandhena tamasāvṛtāḥ\ntāṁs te pretyābhigacchanti\nye ke cātma-hano janāḥ\n[Īśo \nmantra \n3]\n Thank you.",
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"content": "\nHare Kṛṣṇa",
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"content": "\n Chant.\n[break] Again.",
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"content": "\n\nanejad ekaṁ manaso javīyo\nnainad devā āpnuvan pūrvam arṣat\ntad dhāvato 'nyān atyeti tiṣṭhat\ntasminn apo mātariśvā dadhāti\n[Īśo \nmantra\n 4]",
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"content": "\n \"The Personality of Godhead, although fixed in His abode, is more swift than the mind and can overcome all others running. The powerful demigods cannot approach Him. Although in one place, He has control over those who supply the air, rain. He surpasses all in excellence.\"\nThis is also confirmed in Brahma-saṁhitā: goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ [Bs. 5.37]. Kṛṣṇa, although He is always in Goloka Vṛndāvana, He has nothing to do. He is simply enjoying in the company of His associates, the gopīs and the cowherds boy, His mother, His father. Free, completely free. And those who are associates, they are still more free. Because when the associates are in danger, Kṛṣṇa has got some anxiety how to save them, but the associates, they have no anxiety: \"Oh, there is Kṛṣṇa.\" Just see. [chuckles] The associates, they have no anxiety.\nAny, anything happening, you will read in the Kṛṣṇa book—so many dangers. The boys, along with Kṛṣṇa, they used to go every day with their calves and cows and play in the forest on the bank of the Yamunā, and Kaṁsa will send some demon to destroy them. So you have seen; you will see also pictures. So they'll enjoy simply, because they are so much confident. That is spiritual life. Avaśya rakṣibe kṛṣṇa viśvāsa pālana [Śaraṇāgati]. This strong faith, that \"Any dangerous condition, Kṛṣṇa will save me,\" this is surrender.\nThere are six phases of surrender. The first thing is that we should accept which is favorable for devotional service; we shall reject anything which is unfavorable to devotional service. And the next is that to introduce oneself with the associates of the Lord. Just like Kṛṣṇa has got so many associates, you can... That will, of course... Not artificially. When you are advanced, you'll understand what is your relationship with Kṛṣṇa. Then if you introduce yourself with that association, then the next stage is confidence that \"Kṛṣṇa will give me protection.\"\nActually, He is giving protection to everyone. That is a fact. But in māyā we think that we are protecting ourself, we are feeding ourself. No. That's not the fact.\nprakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni\nguṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ\nahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā\nkartāham iti manyate\n[Bg. 3.27]\nTo the devotees, Kṛṣṇa takes charge Himself, and to the ordinary living entities, the charge is taken by māyā. Māyā is also Kṛṣṇa's agent.\nJust like good citizens, they are taken care of by the government directly, and the criminals, they are taken care of by the government through the prison department, through the criminal department. They are also taken care of. In the prison house the government takes care that the prisoners not in uncomfortable—they give sufficient food; if they're diseased they give hospital treatment—every care is there, but under punishment. Similarly, we in this material world, there is care, certainly, but in..., in a punishment way. If you do this, then slap. If you do this, then kick. If you do this, then this... This is going on. This is called threefold miseries.\nBut under the spell of māyā we are thinking that this kicking of māyā, this slapping of māyā, this splashing of māyā is very nice. You see? This is called māyā. And as soon as you get into Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then Kṛṣṇa takes care of you. Ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ [Bg. 18.66]. Kṛṣṇa, as soon as you surrender, Kṛṣṇa's immediate word is, \"I take care of you. I save you from all..., from all sinful reaction.\"\nThere are heaps of sinful reaction in our life, for so many life after life in this material world. And as soon as you surrender to Kṛṣṇa, immediately Kṛṣṇa takes care of you and He manages how to adjust all the sinful reactions. Ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mā śucaḥ. Kṛṣṇa says, \"Don't hesitate.\" If you think that \"Oh, I have committed so many sinful activities. How Kṛṣṇa will save me?\" No. Kṛṣṇa is all-powerful. He can save you. Your business is to surrender unto Him and, without any reservation, dedicate your life for His service, and thus you'll become saved.\nNow thank you chant, Hare Kṛṣṇa. Yes. Chant.\n[15:22] [kīrtana] [Prabhupāda plays gong] [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/740714chla/
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{
"content": "\nPrabhupāda:\n Ādi-līlā 14th Chapter\nkathañcana smṛte yasmin\nduṣkaraṁ sukaraṁ bhavet\nvismṛte viparītaṁ syāt\nśrī-caitanyaṁ namāmi tamc\nThings that are very difficult to do become easy to execute if one somehow or other simply remembers Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. But if one does not remember Him, even easy things become very difficult. To this Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu I offer my respectful obeisances.\njaya jaya śrī-caitanya, jaya nityānanda\njayādvaitacandra, jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda\nAll glories to Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Nityānanda Prabhu, Advaita Prabhu and all the devotees of Lord Caitanya!\nprabhura kahila ei janmalīlā-sūtra\nyaśodā-nandana yaiche haila śacī-putra\nI have thus described in brief the advent of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who appeared as the son of mother Śacī exactly as Kṛṣṇa appeared as the son of Mother Yaśodā.\nsaṅkṣepe kahila janmalīlā-anukrama\nebe kahi bālyalīlā-sūtrera gaṇana\nI have already briefly spoken about the pastimes of His birth in chronological order. Now I shall give a synopsis of His childhood pastimes.\nvande caitanya-kṛṣṇasya\nbālya-līlāṁ mano-harām\nlaukikīm api tām īśa-\nceṣṭayā valitāntarām\nLet me offer my respectful obeisances unto the childhood pastimes of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who is Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself. Although such pastimes appear exactly like those of an ordinary child, they should be understood as various pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.\nbālya-līlāya āge prabhura uttāna śayana\npitā-mātāya dekhāila cihna caraṇa\nIn His first childhood pastimes the Lord turned upside down while lying on His bed, and thus He showed His parents the marks of His lotus feet.\ngṛhe dui jana dekhi laghupada-cihna\ntāhe śobhe dhvaja, vajra, śaṅkha, cakra, mīna\nWhen the Lord tried to walk, in His small footprints the specific marks of Lord Viṣṇu were visible, namely the flag, thunderbolt, conchshell, disc and fish.\ndekhiyā doṅhāra citte janmila vismaya\nkāra pada-cihna ghare, nā pāya niścaya\nSeeing all these marks, neither His father nor His mother could understand whose footprints they were. Thus struck with wonder, they could not understand how those marks could be possible in their home.\nmiśra kahe,---bālagopāla āche śilā-saṅge\nteṅho mūrti hañā ghare khele, jāni, raṅge\nJagannātha Miśra said, \"Certainly child Kṛṣṇa is with the śālagrāma-śilā. Taking His childhood form, He is playing within the room.\"\nsei kṣaṇe jāgi’ nimāi karaye krandana\naṅke lañā śacī tāṅre piyāila stana\nWhile mother Śacī and Jagannātha Miśra were talking, child Nimāi woke up and began to cry, and mother Śacī took Him on her lap and allowed Him to suck her breast.\nstana piyāite putrera caraṇa dekhila\nsei cihna pāye dekhi’ miśre bolāila\nWhile mother Śacī was feeding the child from her breast, she saw on His lotus feet all the marks that were visible on the floor of the room, and she called for Jagannātha Miśra.\ndekhiyā miśrera ha-ila ānandita mati\ngupte bolāila nīlāmbara cakravartī\nWhen Jagannātha Miśra saw the wonderful marks on the sole of his son, he became very joyful and privately called for Nīlāmbara Cakravartī.\ncihna dekhi’ cakravartī balena hāsiyā\nlagna gaṇi’ pūrve āmi rākhiyāchi likhiyā\nWhen Nīlāmbara Cakravartī saw those marks, he smilingly said, \"Formerly I ascertained all this by astrological calculation and noted it in writing.\nbatriśa lakṣaṇa---mahāpuruṣa-bhūṣaṇa\nei śiśu aṅge dekhi se saba lakṣaṇa\n\"There are thirty-two bodily marks that symptomize a great personality, and I see all those marks on the body of this child.\npañca-dīrghaḥ pañca-sūkṣmaḥ\nsapta-raktaḥ ṣaḍ-unnataḥ\ntri-hrasva-pṛthu-gambhīro\ndvātriṁśal-lakṣaṇo mahān\n\"‘There are thirty-two bodily symptoms of a great personality = five of his bodily parts are large, five fine, seven reddish, six raised, three small, three broad and three grave.’\nnārāyaṇera cihna-yukta śrī-hasta caraṇa\nei śiśu sarva loke karibe tāraṇa\n\"This baby has all the symptoms of Lord Nārāyaṇa on His palms and soles. He will be able to deliver all the three worlds.\nei ta’ karibe vaiṣṇava-dharmera pracāra\nihā haite habe dui kulera nistāra\n\"This child will preach the Vaiṣṇava cult and deliver both His maternal and paternal families.\nmahotsava kara, saba bolāha brāhmaṇa\nāji dina bhāla,---kariba nāma-karaṇa\n\"I propose to perform a name-giving ceremony. We should observe a festival and call for the brāhmaṇas because today is very auspicious.\nsarva-lokera karibe ihaṅ dhāraṇa, poṣaṇa\n‘viśvambhara’ nāma ihāra,---ei ta’ kāraṇa\n\"In the future this child will protect and maintain all the world. For this reason He is to be called Viśvambhara.\"\nśuni’ śacī-miśrera mane ānanda bāḍila\nbrāhmaṇa-brāhmaṇī āni’ mahotsava kaila\nAfter hearing Nīlāmbara Cakravartī’s prediction, Śacīmātā and Jagannātha Miśra observed the name-giving festival in great joy, inviting all the brāhmaṇas and their wives.\ntabe kata dine prabhura jānu-caṅkramaṇa\nnānā camatkāra tathā karāila darśana\nAfter some days the Lord began to crawl on His knees, and He caused various wonderful things to be seen.\nkrandanera chale balāila hari-nāma\nnārī saba ‘hari’ bale,---hāse gaura-dhāma\nThe Lord caused all the ladies to chant the holy names of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra on the plea of His crying, and while they chanted the Lord would smile.\ntabe kata dine kaila pada-caṅkramaṇa\nśiśu-gaṇe mili’ kaila vividha khelana\nAfter some days the Lord began to move His legs and walk. He mixed with other children and exhibited various sports.\nekadina śacī kha-i-sandeśa āniyā\nbāṭā bhari’ diyā baila,---khāo ta’ basiyā\nOne day while the Lord was enjoying His playful sports with the other little children, mother Śacī brought a dish filled with fused rice and sweetmeats and asked the child to sit down and eat them.\neta bali’ gelā śacī gṛhe karma karite\nlukāñā lāgilā śiśu mṛttikā khāite\nBut when she returned to her household duties, the child hid from His mother and began to eat dirt.\ndekhi’ śacī dhāñā āilā kari’ ‘hāya, hāya’\nmāṭi kāḍi’ lañā kahe ‘māṭi kene khāya’\nSeeing this, mother Śacī hastily returned and exclaimed, \"What is this! What is this!\" She snatched the dirt from the hands of the Lord and inquired why He was eating it.\nkāndiyā balena śiśu,---kene kara roṣa\ntumi māṭi khāite dile, mora kibā doṣa\nCrying, the child inquired from His mother, \"Why are you angry? You have already given Me dirt to eat. What is My fault?\nkha-i-sandeśa-anna yateka---māṭira vikāra\neho māṭi, seha māṭi, ki bheda-vicāra\n\"Fused rice, sweetmeats and all other eatables are but transformations of dirt. This is dirt, that is dirt. Please consider. What is the difference between them?\nmāṭi---deha, māṭi---bhakṣya, dekhaha vicāri’\navicāre deha doṣa, ki balite pāri\n\"This body is a transformation of dirt, and the eatables are also a transformation of dirt. Please reflect upon this. You are blaming Me without consideration. What can I say?\"\nantare vismita śacī balila tāhāre\n\"māṭi khāite jñāna-yoga ke śikhāla tore\nAstonished that the child was speaking Māyāvāda philosophy, mother Śacī replied, \"Who has taught You this philosophical speculation that justifies eating dirt?\"\nmāṭira vikāra anna khāile deha-puṣṭi haya\nmāṭi khāile roga haya, deha yāya kṣaya\nReplying to the Māyāvāda idea of the child philosopher, mother Śacī said, \"My dear boy, if we eat earth transformed into grain, our body is nourished, and it becomes strong. But if we eat dirt in its crude state, the body becomes diseased instead of nourished, and thus it is destroyed.\nmāṭira vikāra ghaṭe pāni bhari’ āni\nmāṭi-piṇḍe dhari yabe, śoṣi’ yāya pāni\"\n\"In a waterpot, which is a transformation of dirt, I can bring water very easily. But if I poured water on a lump of dirt, the lump would soak up the water, and my labor would be useless.\"\nātma lukāite prabhu balilā tāṅhāre\n\"āge kena ihā, mātā, nā śikhāle more\nThe Lord replied to His mother, \"Why did you conceal self-realization by not teaching Me this practical philosophy in the beginning?\nebe se jānilāṅ, āra māṭi nā khāiba\nkṣudhā lāge yabe, tabe tomāra stana piba\"\n\"Now that I can understand this philosophy, no more shall I eat dirt. Whenever I am hungry I shall suck your breast and drink your breast milk.\"\neta bali’ jananīra kolete caḍiyā\nstana pāna kare prabhu īṣat hāsiyā\nAfter saying this, the Lord, smiling slightly, climbed on the lap of His mother and sucked her breast.\neimate nānā-chale aiśvarya dekhāya\nbālya-bhāva prakaṭiyā paścāt lukāya\nThus under various excuses the Lord exhibited His opulences as much as possible in His childhood, and later, after exhibiting such opulences, He hid Himself.\natithi-viprera anna khāila tina-bāra\npāche gupte sei vipre karila nistāra\nOn one occasion the Lord ate the food of a brāhmaṇa guest three times, and later, in confidence, the Lord delivered that brāhmaṇa from material engagement.\ncore lañā gela prabhuke bāhire pāiyā\ntāra skandhe caḍi’ āilā tāre bhulāiyā\nIn His childhood the Lord was taken away by two thieves outside His home. The Lord, however, got up on the shoulders of the thieves, and while they were thinking they were safely carrying the child to rob His ornaments, the Lord misled them, and thus instead of going to their own home the thieves came back to the home of Jagannātha Miśra.\nvyādhi-chale jagadīśa-hiraṇya-sadane\nviṣṇu-naivedya khāila ekādaśī-dine\nPretending to be sick, the Lord asked some food from the house of Hiraṇya and Jagadīśa on the Ekādaśī day.\nśiśu saba laye pāḍā-paḍasīra ghare\ncuri kari’ dravya khāya māre bālakere\nAs usual for small children, He learned to play, and with His playmates He went to the houses of neighboring friends, stealing their eatables and eating them. Sometimes the children fought among themselves.\nśiśu saba śacī-sthāne kaila nivedana\nśuni’ śacī putre kichu dilā olāhana\nAll the children lodged complaints with Śacīmātā about the Lord’s fighting with them and stealing from the neighbors’ houses. Therefore sometimes she used to chastise or rebuke her son.\n\"kene curi kara, kene māraha śiśure\nkene para-ghare yāha, kibā nāhi ghare\"\nŚacīmātā said, \"Why do You steal others’ things? Why do You beat the other children? And why do You go inside others’ houses? What do You not have in Your own house?\"\nśuni’ kruddha hañā prabhu ghara-bhitara yāñā\nghare yata bhāṇḍa chila, phelila bhāṅgiyā\nThus rebuked by His mother, he Lord would go in anger to a room and break all the pots within it.\ntabe śacī kole kari’ karāila santoṣa\nlajjita ha-ilā prabhu jāni’ nija-doṣa\nThen Śacīmātā would take her son on her lap and pacify Him, and the Lord would be very much ashamed, admitting His faults.\nkabhu mṛdu-haste kaila mātāke tāḍana\nmātāke mūrcchitā dekhi’ karaye krandana\nOnce the child, Caitanya Mahāprabhu, chastised His mother with His soft hand, and His mother pretended to faint. Seeing this, the Lord began to cry.\nnārīgaṇa kahe,---\"nārikela deha āni’\ntabe sustha ha-ibena tomāra jananī\"\nThe neighboring ladies told Him, \"Dear child, please bring a coconut from somewhere, and then Your mother will be cured.\"\nbāhire yāñā ānilena dui nārikela\ndekhiyā apūrva haila vismita sakala\nHe then went outside the house and immediately brought two coconuts. All the ladies were astonished to see such wonderful activities.\nkabhu śiśu-saṅge snāna karila gaṅgāte\nkanyāgaṇa āilā tāhāṅ devatā pūjite\nSometimes the Lord would go with other children to bathe in the Ganges, and the neighboring girls would also come there to worship various demigods.\ngaṅgā-snāna kari’ pūjā karite lāgilā\nkanyāgaṇa-madhye prabhu āsiyā basilā\nWhen the girls engaged in worshiping the different demigods after bathing in the Ganges, the young Lord would come there and sit down among them.\nkanyāre kahe,---āmā pūja, āmi diba vara\ngaṅgā-durgā---dāsī mora, maheśa---kiṅkara\nAddressing the girls, the Lord would say, \"Worship Me, and I shall give you good husbands or good benedictions. The Ganges and goddess Durgā are My maidservants. What to speak of other demigods, even Lord Śiva is My servant.\"\nāpani candana pari’ parena phula-mālā\nnaivedya kāḍiyā khā’na---sandeśa, cāla, kalā\nWithout the permission of the girls, the Lord would take the sandalwood pulp and smear it on His own body, put the flower garlands on His neck, and snatch and eat all the offerings of sweetmeats, rice and bananas.\nkrodhe kanyāgaṇa kahe---śuna, he nimāñi\ngrāma-sambandhe hao tumi āmā sabāra bhāi\nAll the girls became very angry at the Lord for this behavior. \"Dear Nimāi,\" they told Him, \"You are just like our brother in our village relationship.\nāmā sabākāra pakṣe ihā karite nā yuyāya\nnā laha devatā sajja, nā kara anyāya\n\"Therefore it does not behoove You to act like this. Don’t take our paraphernalia for worship of the demigods. Don’t create a disturbance in this way.\"\nprabhu kahe,---\"tomā sabāke dila ei vara\ntomā sabāra bhartā habe parama sundara\nThe Lord replied, \"My dear sisters, I give you the benediction that your husbands will be very handsome.\npaṇḍita, vidagdha, yuvā, dhana-dhānyavān\nsāta sāta putra habe---cirāyu, matimān\"\n\"They will be learned, clever and young and possess abundant wealth and rice. Not only that, but you will each have seven sons, who will all live long lives and be very intelligent.\"\nvara śuni’ kanyā-gaṇera antare santoṣa\nbāhire bhartsana kare kari’ mithyā roṣa\nHearing this benediction from Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, all the girls were inwardly very happy, but externally, as is natural for girls, they rebuked the Lord under the pretense of anger.\nkona kanyā palāila naivedya la-iyā\ntāre ḍāki’ kahe prabhu sakrodha ha-iyā",
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"content": "\n\nyadi naivedya nā deha ha-iyā kṛpaṇī\nbuḍā bhartā habe, āra cāri cāri satinī\n\"If you are miserly and do not give Me the offerings, every one of you will have an old husband with at least four co-wives.\"\nihā śuni’ tā-sabāra mane ha-ila bhaya\nkona kichu jāne, kibā devāviṣṭa haya\nHearing this supposed curse by Lord Caitanya, the girls, considering that He might know something uncommon or be empowered by demigods, were afraid that His curse might be effective.\nāniyā naivedya tārā sammukhe dharila\nkhāiyā naivedya tāre iṣṭa-vara dila\nThe girls then brought the offerings before the Lord, who ate them all and blessed the girls to their satisfaction.\nei mata cāpalya saba lokere dekhāya\nduḥkha kāro mane nahe, sabe sukha pāya\nWhen this cunning behavior of the Lord with the girls became known to the people in general, it did not create misunderstandings among them. Rather, they enjoyed happiness in these dealings.\neka-dina vallabhācārya-kanyā ‘lakṣmī’ nāma\ndevatā pūjite āila kari gaṅgā-snāna\nOne day a girl of the name Lakṣmī, the daughter of Vallabhācārya, came to the bank of the Ganges to take a bath in the river and worship the demigods.\ntāṅre dekhi’ prabhura ha-ila sābhilāṣa mana\nlakṣmī citte prīta pāila prabhura darśana\nSeeing Lakṣmīdevī, the Lord became attached to her, and Lakṣmī, upon seeing the Lord, felt great satisfaction within her mind.\nsāhajika prīti duṅhāra karila udaya\nbālya-bhāvācchanna tabhu ha-ila niścaya\nTheir natural love for each other awakened, and although it was covered by childhood emotions, it became apparent that they were mutually attracted.\nduṅhā dekhi’ duṅhāra citte ha-ila ullāsa\ndeva-pūjā chale kaila duṅhe parakāśa\nThey both enjoyed natural pleasure in seeing each other, and under the pretext of demigod worship they manifested their feelings.\nprabhu kahe, ‘āmā’ pūja, āmi maheśvara\nāmāre pūjile pābe abhīpsita vara’\nThe Lord told Lakṣmī, \"Just worship Me, for I am the Supreme Lord. If you worship Me, certainly you will get the benediction you desire.\"\nlakṣmī tāṅra aṅge dila puṣpa-candana\nmallikāra mālā diyā karila vandana\nOn hearing the order of the Supreme Lord, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Lakṣmī immediately worshiped Him, offering sandalwood pulp and flowers for His body, garlanding Him with mallikā flowers, and offering prayers.\nprabhu tāṅra pūjā pāñā hāsite lāgilā\nśloka paḍi’ tāṅra bhāva aṅgīkāra kailā\nBeing worshiped by Lakṣmī, the Lord began to smile. He recited a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and thus accepted the emotion she expressed.\nsaṅkalpo viditaḥ sādhvyo\nbhavatīnāṁ mad-arcanam\nmayānumoditaḥ so ‘sau\nsatyo bhavitum arhati\n\"‘My dear gopīs, I accept your desire to have Me as your husband and thus worship Me. I wish your desire to be fulfilled because it deserves to be so.’\"\nei-mata līlā kari’ duṅhe gelā ghare\ngambhīra caitanya-līlā ke bujhite pāre\nAfter thus expressing their feelings to each other, Lord Caitanya and Lakṣmī returned home. Who can understand the grave pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu?\ncaitanya-cāpalya dekhi’ preme sarva jana\nśacī-jagannāthe dekhi’ dena olāhana\nWhen the neighboring people saw the naughty behavior of Lord Caitanya, out of love for Him they lodged complaints with Śacīmātā and Jagannātha Miśra.\nekadina śacī-devī putrere bhartsiyā\ndharibāre gelā, putra gelā palāiyā\nOne day mother Śacī went to catch her son, wanting to rebuke Him, but He fled from the spot.\nucchiṣṭa-garte tyakta-hāṇḍīra upara\nbasiyāchena sukhe prabhu deva-viśvambhara\nAlthough He is the maintainer of the entire universe, once the Lord sat upon some rejected pots in the pit where the remnants of food were thrown, after the pots had been used for cooking.\nśacī āsi’ kahe,---kene aśuci chuṅilā\ngaṅgā-snāna kara yāi’---apavitra ha-ilā\nWhen mother Śacī saw her boy sitting on the rejected pots, she protested, \"Why have You touched these untouchable pots? You have now become impure. Go and bathe in the Ganges.\"\nihā śuni’ mātāke kahila brahma-jñāna\nvismitā ha-iyā mātā karāila snāna\nHearing this, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu taught His mother about absolute knowledge. Although amazed by this, His mother forced Him to take a bath.\nkabhu putra-saṅge śacī karilā śayana\ndekhe, divyaloka āsi’ bharila bhavana\nSometimes, taking her son with her, mother Śacī would lie down on her bed, and she would see that denizens of the celestial world had come there, filling the entire house.\nśacī bale,---yāha, putra, bolāha bāpere\nmātṛ-ājñā pāiyā prabhu calilā bāhire\nOnce mother Śacī told the Lord, \"Please go call Your father.\" Receiving this order from His mother, the Lord went out to call him.\ncalite caraṇe nūpura bāje jhanjhan\nśuni’ camakita haila pitā-mātāra mana\nWhen the child was going out, there was a tinkling of ankle bells from His lotus feet. Hearing this, His father and mother were struck with wonder.\nmiśra kahe,---ei baḍa adbhuta kāhinī\nśiśura śūnya-pade kene nūpurera dhvani\nJagannātha Miśra said, \"This is a very wonderful incident. Why is there a sound of ankle bells from the bare feet of my child?\"\nśacī kahe,---āra eka adbhuta dekhila\ndivya divya loka āsi’ aṅgana bharila\nMother Śacī said, \"I also saw another wonder. People were coming down from the celestial kingdom and crowding the entire courtyard.\nkibā kolāhala kare, bujhite nā pāri\nkāhāke vā stuti kare---anumāna kari\n\"They made noisy sounds I could not understand. I guess they were offering prayers to someone.\"\nmiśra bale,---kichu ha-uk, cintā kichu nāi\nviśvambharera kuśala ha-uk,---ei mātra cāi\nJagannātha Miśra replied, \"Never mind what it is. There is no need to worry. Let there always be good fortune for Viśvambhara. This is all I want.\"\neka-dina miśra putrera cāpalya dekhiyā\ndharma-śikṣā dila bahu bhartsanā kariyā\nOn another occasion, Jagannātha Miśra, seeing the mischievous acts of his son, gave Him lessons in morality after rebuking Him greatly.\nrātre svapna dekhe,---eka āsi’ brāhmaṇa\nmiśrere kahaye kichu sa-roṣa vacana\n\n\"miśra, tumi putrera tattva kichui nā jāna\nbhartsana-tāḍana kara,---putra kari’ māna\"\n\"My dear Miśra, you do not know anything about your son. You think Him your son, and therefore you rebuke and chastise Him.\"\nmiśra kahe,---deva, siddha, muni kene naya\nye se baḍa ha-uk mātra āmāra tanaya\nJagannātha Miśra replied, \"This boy may be a demigod, a mystic yogī or a great saintly person. It doesn’t matter what He is, for I think He is only my son.\nputrera lālana-śikṣā---pitāra sva-dharma\nāmi nā śikhāle kaiche janibe dharma-marma\n\"It is the duty of a father to educate his son in both religion and morality. If I do not give Him this education, how will He know of it?\"\nvipra kahe,---putra yadi daiva-siddha haya\nsvataḥ-siddha-jñāna, tabe śikṣā vyartha haya\nThe brāhmaṇa replied, \"If your son is a transcendental mystic boy with self-effulgent perfect knowledge, what is the use of your education?\"\nmiśra kahe,---\"putra kene nahe nārāyaṇa\ntathāpi pitāra dharma---putrera śikṣaṇa\"\nJagannātha Miśra replied, \"Even if my son is not a common man but Nārāyaṇa, still it is the duty of a father to instruct his son.\"\nei-mate duṅhe karena dharmera vicāra\nviśuddha-vātsalya miśrera, nāhi jāne āra\nIn this way Jagannātha Miśra and the brāhmaṇa discussed the principles of religion in the dream, yet Jagannātha Miśra was absorbed in unalloyed parental mellow and did not want to know anything else.\neta śuni’ dvija gelā hañā ānandita\nmiśra jāgiyā ha-ilā parama vismita\nBeing very pleased, the brāhmaṇa left after talking with Jagannātha Miśra, and when Jagannātha Miśra awakened from his dream, he was very much astonished.\nbandhu-bāndhava-sthāne svapna kahila\nśuniyā sakala loka vismita ha-ila\nHe related the dream to his friends and relatives, and every one of them was very much astonished to hear of it.\nei mata śiśu-līlā kare gauracandra\ndine dine pitā-mātāra bāḍāya ānanda\nIn this way Gaurahari performed His childhood pastimes and day after day increased the pleasure of His parents.\nkata dine miśra putrera hāte khaḍi dila\nalpa dine dvādaśa-phalā akṣara śikhila\nAfter some days Jagannātha Miśra inaugurated the primary education of his son by performing the hāte khaḍi ceremony. Within a very few days the Lord learned all the letters and combinations of letters.\nbālyalīlā-sūtra ei kaila anukrama\nihā vistāriyāchena dāsa-vṛndāvana\nThis is a synopsis of the childhood pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, placed herewith in chronological order. Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura has already elaborately explained these pastimes in his book Caitanya-bhāgavata.\nataeva ei-līlā saṅkṣepe sūtra kaila\npunarukti-bhaye vistāriyā nā kahila\nI have therefore made only a brief summary. Being afraid of repetition, I have not elaborated upon this subject matter.\nśrī-rūpa-raghunātha-pade yāra āśa\ncaitanya-caritāmṛta kahe kṛṣṇadāsa\nPraying at the lotus feet of Śrī Rūpa and Śrī Raghunātha, always desiring their mercy, I, Kṛṣṇadāsa, narrate Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, following in their footsteps.",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/680506in-boston/
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"content": "\n[Glenville Ave. Temple]\n We are very glad to receive Professor O'Connell in this auspicious meeting. And it will be very nice, because he's studying the process of Caitanya philosophy. And this ceremony is one of the function in devotional service. We have got a big book... I think, Professor O'Connell, you have secured that book, Hari-bhakti-vilāsa. Have you secured that book?",
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"content": "\n I have the book. I'm yet to be a professor or even get my degree beyond the... I have the book.",
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"content": "\n That's all right. So that Hari-bhakti-vilāsa is written by Sanātana Gosvāmī in the name of Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī. Because Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī was a very young boy, and Rūpa Gosvāmī and Sanātana Gosvāmī, they were very elderly. But because all the six Gosvāmīns happened to be direct disciples of Lord Caitanya, so Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, although very young, he was treated as younger brother of Sanātana Gosvāmī. So this book was actually written by Sanātana Gosvāmī, but it was published, or dedicated to, Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī.\nIn this book the rules and regulation of the Vaiṣṇavas are described—of the brahmacārīs, the students; of the gṛhasthas, householders; vānaprastha, retired men; and sannyāsī, renounced order—how gṛhastha should live, how brahmacārī should live, how vānaprastha should live, how sannyāsī should live. All the... It is called Vaiṣṇava smṛti.\nŚruti and smṛti. Śruti means Vedic literature, which is traditionally, from time immemorial, it is learned simply by hearing from authoritative sources. Just like in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in the First Canto, first verse, it is said, tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye [SB 1.1.1].\n[O my Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, son of Vasudeva, O all-pervading Personality of Godhead, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You. I meditate upon Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa because He is the Absolute Truth and the primeval cause of all causes of the creation, sustenance and destruction of the manifested universes. He is directly and indirectly conscious of all manifestations, and He is independent because there is no other cause beyond Him. It is He only who first imparted the Vedic knowledge unto the heart of Brahmājī, the original living being. By Him even the great sages and demigods are placed into illusion, as one is bewildered by the illusory representations of water seen in fire, or land seen on water. Only because of Him do the material universes, temporarily manifested by the reactions of the three modes of nature, appear factual, although they are unreal. I therefore meditate upon Him, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is eternally existent in the transcendental abode, which is forever free from the illusory representations of the material world. I meditate upon Him, for He is the Absolute Truth.]\nThe original authority of Vedic literature, Lord Brahmā, he was instructed about Vedic knowledge by Lord Kṛṣṇa. And he imparted Vedic knowledge to the world. So he was the first creature, living creature, after creation. So there was nobody to give him initiation, because he is the only living creature at that time. So the Lord Himself initiated.\nHow He initiated? Hṛdā, through the heart. Because He is situated in everyone's heart. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati [Bg. 18.61].\n[The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy.]\nHe is..., the Lord is seated in everyone's heart. So he initiated. Tene brahma hṛdā. Hṛdā means \"through the heart.\" And that is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā, that buddhi-yogaṁ dadāmi tam: \"I give instruction, buddhi-yogam, the yoga principle of intelligence, or bhakti-yoga.\" Whom? Teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam [Bg. 10.10]:\n[To those who are constantly devoted and worship Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.]\nOne who is engaged with love and affection in devotional service, to him He gives instruction. Not to all. Samo 'haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu [Bg. 9.29]. God is equal to everyone.\n[I envy no one, nor am I partial to anyone. I am equal to all. But whoever renders service unto Me in devotion is a friend, is in Me, and I am also a friend to him.]\nThat is a fact. So far eating, sleeping, mating, these four principles are concerned, God is giving everyone. Just like government provides maintenance, provision, even in the prison life. That is not very important thing for government. But education department or other higher cultural department, that is not for all. Similarly, although God is equal to everyone, he's especially inclined to the devotees. Ye tu bhajanti māṁ prītyā teṣu te mayi [Bg. 9.29].\nThose who are engaged in devotional service, He's specially inclined to him. And to him He gives instruction from within. Teṣāṁ satata-yuktānām [Bg. 10.10]. Satata means always. Twenty-four hours, one who is engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, to him He gives instruction from within, because he's qualified. Others, instruction He's giving, but other is not obeying the instruction.\nJust like a man is ready to commit some sinful activities. He thinks, \"Shall I do it?\" From within, \"No, no. Don't do it.\" Again he says, \"Why not? Let me do it.\" In this way, when he insists, oh, then He says, \"All right, do it. Do it.\" So the word that \"Nothing can happen without the sanction of God,\" that is a fact. Nobody can act anything... Then the question is why a man acts sinfully? Why...? Does God give sanction for sinful action? Yes. When one insists that \"I shall do it,\" \"All right, do it. And suffer the consequences.\"\nSo this purification process, according to Vaiṣṇava smṛti, ādau gurvāśrayaṁ tato sad-dharma-pṛcchāt sādhu mārgāṇugamanam. [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.1.74]\n[In the beginning one should accept the shelter of a bona fide spiritual master and inquire submissively about religious principles. He should then desire to follow in the footsteps of the great devotees of the Lord.]\nIn the beginning one has to accept a spiritual master, bona fide spiritual master. And who is bona fide spiritual master? That is also described in several Vedic scripture. In the Upaniṣad it is said, śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham [MU 1.2.12]:\n[To understand these things properly, one must humbly approach, with firewood in hand, a spiritual master who is learned in the Vedas and firmly devoted to the Absolute Truth.]\nOne who has come down in disciplic succession and as a result of such authorized succession one has become fully, firmly convinced in Brahman. Brahman, Paramātmā, Bhagavān, the same thing. Brahma-niṣṭham. He is transcendentally situated. So these things are there.\nAnd in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also it is said that who requires a spiritual master. That is also said. Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta [SB 11.3.21].\n[Therefore any person who seriously desires real happiness must seek a bona fide spiritual master and take shelter of him by initiation. The qualification of the bona fide guru is that he has realized the conclusions of the scriptures by deliberation and is able to convince others of these conclusions. Such great personalities, who have taken shelter of the Supreme Godhead, leaving aside all material considerations, should be understood to be bona fide spiritual masters.]\nOne..., let one surrender himself unto the spiritual master. Who is that one? Jijñāsuḥ. One who is inquisitive. What about inquisitiveness? Jijñā..., śreya uttamam. The highest perfectional stage of life. If one is inclined what is transcendental life, what is spiritual life, what is perfection of life, if one is inclined to this subject matter, for him there is necessity of approaching a bona fide spiritual master.\nTo accept a spiritual master is not a hobby: \"Because everyone accepts some spiritual master, let me have also a spiritual master, without following the instruction, without following the principle.\" That sort of acceptance of spiritual master is not required. He doesn't require to accept a spiritual master who is not inquisitive on transcendental subject matter. Jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam [SB 11.3.21]. \nUttamam means... Ut means surpassing, and tamam means the darkness. This material world is darkness. And one who has transcended the darkness region and has come to the region of light... Jyotir gamaḥ tamasa mā, \"Don't remain in this darkness. Go to the light.\" So that is called uttamam. Uttamam. Udgata tamaṁ yasmād.\nSo questions, jijñāsuḥ, inquisitive, of transcendental matter. There are many things to inquire. Śrotavyādīni rājan [SB 2.1.2], there is, in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.\n[Those persons who are materially engrossed, being blind to the knowledge of ultimate truth, have many subject matters for hearing in human society, O Emperor.]\nThere are many subject matter for inquiry and hearing. But one who is interested in hearing about the transcendental subject matter, ramante yoginaḥ anante [Cc. Madhya 9.29], the unlimited, infinite subject matter, for him a spiritual master is needed.\n[“‘The Supreme Absolute Truth is called Rāma because the transcendentalists take pleasure in the unlimited true pleasure of spiritual existence.’]\nNot for all. Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam [SB 11.3.21].\n[Therefore any person who seriously desires real happiness must seek a bona fide spiritual master and take shelter of him by initiation. The qualification of the bona fide guru is that he has realized the conclusions of the scriptures by deliberation and is able to convince others of these conclusions. Such great personalities, who have taken shelter of the Supreme Godhead, leaving aside all material considerations, should be understood to be bona fide spiritual masters.]\nAnd who is spiritual master? That is also stated. Śābde pare ca niṣṇāta. Śābde means the Vedic śruti, śruti. This is called śābda-brahma. One who has learned both śruti and smṛti. Śruti means Vedas, and smṛti means books derived from Vedic knowledge. That is called smṛti. And Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī says in his Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu that śruti smṛti...\nśruti-smṛti-purāṇādi-\npāñcarātriki-vidhiṁ vinā\naikāntikī harer bhaktir\nutpātāyaiva kalpate\n[Brs. 1.2.101]\n[Devotional service of the Lord that ignores the authorized Vedic literatures like the \nUpaniṣads, Purāṇas\n and \nNārada-pañcarātra\n is simply an unnecessary disturbance in society.]\nIf one poses himself a great devotee but does not follow the principles of śruti, smṛti, purāṇa and Nārada Pañcarātra, and the rules and regulation thereof, then his presentation as great devotee is simply disturbance.\nAccording to this Hari-bhakti-vilāsa and according to the direction of the Gosvāmīs in the Lord Caitanya's line, if one does not follow the principles of Vedas, principles of the smṛti or corollaries, Vedic literature... Just like Bhagavad-gītā is called smṛti, and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Mahā-purāṇa.\nSo śruti, smṛti, purāṇādi, and pāñcarātriki-vidhim, Nārada Pañcarātra. Without following the rules and regulation of these scriptures, if one poses himself as devotee of Kṛṣṇa, aikāntikī harer bhaktiḥ—harer means Lord; bhakti, devotional service—he is disturbance to the society.\nSo the general rule is that if one is inquisitive... Just as we follow in our this Kṛṣṇa consciousness Society, we ask everyone to come. We don't make any imposition that with such-and-such qualification one can sit here or hear. No.\nAll these students who are initiated, they know we don't impose anything, \"You must be such and such,\" \"You must be such and such educated,\" \"You must be Hindu\" or \"You must be brāhmaṇa\" or \"You must be white\" or \"black...\" No such restriction. Anyone. This is universal. Chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, everyone is welcome. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. That's all. And hear something from Bhagavad-gītā.\nSo following this principle, if one is a little more interested, then he offers himself: \"Swāmījī, I shall be initiated.\" So if I see that that boy or that girl is sincere and is following, then we say that \"You have to follow these four principles.\" What are these? Niṣiddhācāra. These are injunction by Lord Caitanya, that no illicit sex life, no intoxication, no, I mean to say, nonvegetarian dishes and no gambling. These four principles. So they agree, and he is given initiation for chanting beads, Hare Kṛṣṇa, at least sixteen rounds daily.\nSo if one follows the rules and regulation rigidly... And the next initiation is this dvijatvam. Dvijatvam means twice-born. Twice-born one becomes immediately when he approaches a spiritual master, but the sacred thread is offered as the symbol that he has a spiritual master. Just like there is some vast[?], there is some degree. So this sacred thread is offered after one year.\nOne who has followed strictly the rules and regulation and chanted sixteen rounds Hare Kṛṣṇa at least, so he is given the second chance. The third chance is to offer renunciation. If he wants to completely in the service of the Lord, there is sannyāsa. Just like the other day we were discussing, anāśritaḥ karma-phalaṁ kāryaṁ karma karoti yaḥ, sa sannyāsī [Bg. 6.1].\n[The Blessed Lord said: One who is unattached to the fruits of his work and who works as he is obligated is in the renounced order of life, and he is the true mystic: not he who lights no fire and performs no work.]\nOf course, these are formal regulative principles. Real life is within: how much one is sincere in the service of the Lord.\nSo according to rigid class of Hindus, this sacred thread ceremony, they say it is to be offered only to the person who are born in the brāhmaṇa family. Perhaps you have studied all these things while you were in India. But Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says no. There is no question of birthright, that because one is born in the brāhmaṇa family, therefore he can become a brāhmaṇa. Of course, the Vedic regulation is that unless one is born by a brāhmaṇa father, he cannot be initiated according to the Vedic regulation.\nBut to take birth in the brāhmaṇa family, that is now [indistinct] at the present moment. Because in the brāhmaṇa family formerly—not only in the brāhmaṇa; kṣatriya family and vaiśya family also—there was a garbhādhāna ceremony. Garbhādhāna ceremony means when the father goes to beget a child, there is a ceremony like this. It is not a secret service. It is open secret, that \"Today he is going to have sex life with his wife for begetting a nice child.\" It is not sexual enjoyment; it is to beget a nice child. So there is a ceremony which is called garbhādhāna ceremony, pregnancy ceremony.\nSo at the present moment this ceremony is not observed. Even in rigid families they have already given up. And the śāstra injunction is, as soon as one gives up this ceremony, garbhādhāna ceremony, he at once falls down to the classification of a śūdra. The whole family, no more. Because who knows by whom this child is born? Nobody knows whether he's a brāhmaṇa's son or a śūdra's son or a rascal's son or a paṇḍita's son. Because there is so much freedom.\nSo kalau śūdra-sambhava. Therefore the general enunciation is that in this age everyone has to be accepted as born śūdra. But this principle is accepted always. By birth everyone is śūdra. Janmanā jāyate śūdraḥ. Everyone is born śūdra. Then? Saṁskārād bhaved dvijaḥ. \n[By birth everyone is a śūdra, but by undergoing the purificatory ceremonies under the direction of a bona fide spiritual master, one may become a brāhmaṇa, and when one knows the Supreme Spirit, he actually becomes a truly learned brāhmaṇa.]\nDvijaḥ means this saṁskāra. This saṁskāra... By gradual process of cultivation of knowledge, of behavior, of rules and regulations, one becomes a dvijaḥ. Dvijaḥ means twice-born. The first birth is by the father and mother, and the second birth is by the spiritual master and Vedic knowledge. At that time, the second birth means mother is the Vedic knowledge and father is the spiritual master.\nSo Sanātana Gosvāmī says, because he has enunciated this rule for the so-called rigid brāhmaṇas, they say, \"Without taking birth in a brāhmaṇa family there is no possibility of one's becoming a brāhmaṇa.\" But Bhagavad-gītā does not say like that. Bhagavad-gītā says, cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ [Bg. 4.13].\n[According to the three modes of material nature and the work ascribed to them, the four divisions of human society were created by Me. And, although I am the creator of this system, you should know that I am yet the non-doer, being unchangeable.]\n\"These four principles of caste—brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra—I have created that division.\" Now, it is creation of God. Nobody can nullify it.\nSo that division is everywhere. Not only in India or Hindu society or... No. Everywhere. Guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ: by classification of quality and work. Here also the same thing is there. And Śrīmad-Bhāgavata also confirms this by Nārada Muni, when he describes about these four principles of social division, he says, yasya hi yal lakṣaṇaṁ syād varṇābhivyañjakam [SB 7.11.35].\n[If one shows the symptoms of being a brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya or śūdra, as described above, even if he has appeared in a different class, he should be accepted according to those symptoms of classification.]\nNow there is classification who is a brāhmaṇa, who is a kṣatriya, who is a vaiśya, the qualities. Because according to quality, the divisions shall be there. Now in the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find the brāhmaṇa's quality, the vaiśya's quality, the śūdra's quality.\nSo Bhāgavata also confirms that yasya hi yal lakṣaṇaṁ syāt. The symptoms of a person qualifying himself to become a brāhmaṇa or kṣatriya or vaiśya or śūdra, that is the main principle. If that symptom is found elsewhere, he should be accepted in that classification. Suppose a man is born in a śūdra family or less than a śūdra family, but if his qualities are just like brāhmaṇa, then he should be accepted as brāhmaṇa. That is Bhāgavata's...\nSo this process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is a manufacturing process of brāhmaṇa, Vaiṣṇava. Vaiṣṇava means surpassing the brahminical stage. Brahma jānātīti brāhmaṇaḥ. One who has realized Brahman, he is called brāhmaṇa. After realization of Brahman, then realization of Paramātmā, then realization of Bhagavān.\nAnd one who comes to the stage of understanding Bhagavān, the Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu, he is called Vaiṣṇava. A Vaiṣṇava means he is already a brāhmaṇa. Because in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said,\nbrahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā\nna śocati na kāṅkṣati\nsamaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu\nmad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām\n[Bg. 18.54]\n[And of all yogīs, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.]\nThe devotional service begins when one has already realized Brahman. Because to whom rendering devotional service? To the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Bhagavān. And Bhagavān is the last word in the Absolute Truth.\nvadanti tat tattva-vidas\ntattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam\nbrahmeti paramātmeti\nbhagavān iti śabdyate\n[SB 1.2.11]\n[Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān.]\nThe Absolute Truth is realized in three phases: first impersonal Brahman realization, then localized Paramātmā realization, and then the last word is to realize the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And that is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā:\nbahūnāṁ janmanām ante\njñānavān māṁ prapadyate\nvāsudevaḥ sarvam iti\nsa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ\n[Bg. 7.19]\n[After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.]\nOne who has accepted that Vāsudeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa—Kṛṣṇa is Vāsudeva—sa mahātmā, he is the greatest soul. And Bhāgavata confirms,\nvāsudeve bhagavati\nbhakti-yogaḥ-prayojitaḥ\njanayaty āśu vairāgyaṁ\njñānaṁ ca yad ahaitukam\n[SB 1.2.7]\n[By rendering devotional service unto the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, one immediately acquires causeless knowledge and detachment from the world.]\nIf one is engaged in the transcendental loving service to Vāsudeva, then automatically the stage of Brahman realization automatically becomes revealed.\nSo this ceremony is just according to the strict principle of Vaiṣṇava smṛti. And today... And Sanātana Gosvāmī confirms this, that yathā kāñcanatāṁ yāti kāṁsyaṁ rasa-vidhānataḥ [Hari-bhakti-vilāsa 2.12].\n[By chemical manipulation, bell metal is turned into gold when touched by mercury; similarly, when a person is properly initiated, he can acquire the qualities of a brāhmaṇa.]\nBy chemical process, one can turn the bell metal into gold. That is alchemistry, that bell metal, if it is treated with mercury properly, then it can become gold. Formerly people knew it. So the example is given that as bell metal, a base metal, can be turned into gold by a chemical process, similarly, yathā... [break] [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/710117r1-allahabad/
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"content": "\n Vivekananda has influence here in higher class, amongst educated class. They talk about Vivekananda and this and that, nonsense. In your country, fortunately, that opposition was not there. There was no influence of Vivekananda-class men. Here amongst the educated class there is influence of all these rascals—Vivekananda, Aurobindo, and... That is their one defect. But in the mass there is no influence. In the class, educated class.\nBecause educated class means wine, women, meat, and Vivekananda allows this. That is the point. Vivekananda has no distinction of eating: \"Eat any... All Brahman, all Nārāyaṇa. You are Nārāyaṇa. Goat is Nārāyaṇa. So Nārāyaṇa is going in the belly of Nārāyaṇa. What is the wrong? One Nārāyaṇa is going, being absorbed by another Nārāyaṇa.\" But he is not agreeable to be eaten by a tiger, another tiger Nārāyaṇa.",
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"content": "\n They actually say that?",
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"content": "\n Yes.",
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"content": "\n \"One Nārāyaṇa is being absorbed by another.\"",
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"content": "\n One respectable pleader in Allahabad, I said, \"Why you are eating this?\" We also find that he's a very religious man. So I inquired. He was just like our father; still, I inquired. He said, \"No, what is the wrong there? Nārāyaṇa, Brahman. So one Brahman is going into the belly of another Brahman. Brahman being absorbed, brahmeti.\"\nSo they have got so dangerous theory. But still, we shall not hesitate to kick on their face. But because they are making a propaganda, it should be peaceful. [chuckles] But I become very much agitated with this nonsense, because I know they are creating havoc.\n[aside:] Hare Kṛṣṇa. Come on. [door closes]\nSo many rascals.\n[devotees offer obeisances] [japa]",
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},
{
"content": "\n So yesterday we went to that place, that svāmī with the silver glasses and black beard that always gives his respect to you.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Well, he has become head svāmī of this temple, very big, very nice place.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Very nice place?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. Hodgepodge, but very...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n There.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. Yes. A big marble statue of Buddha, very costly, and tiles from Japan.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Tiles?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n This temple is made by one American.\n By an American?\n I was told it was built by one American. I don't know who.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n So why not give us that place?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n [laughs] I don't think he's prepared to do that.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n They have residential quarter? They have made some residential quarter?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n I didn't see any residential quarter. Mostly temple. They're just building.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Very big temple?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n It's one big temple with different rooms. Very large, very nice.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Better than this Gītā Bhavan?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n No, I don't think it's better than Gītā Bhavan. Not better.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n It was simply attempted, not finished.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n It's not finished. [break]",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Aiye. [japa] [guest enters] Oh, thank you. Why not spread those blankets? Then you can... They are being used?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n There is a blanket in your room.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Blanket or mattress?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n They have blankets in their rooms. They left them in their rooms.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Bring mattress and spread.\n[to guest:] [Hindi] Sit down. This is comfortable.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n In God's temple, what human wants? And what type of life he wants so that he can be happy?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n [to devotee:] Not upon that. You spread separately. You have no bed sheet? Bed sheet you can spread. The human demand is happiness.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Happiness, yes. But happiness means increase in which is already happy. It is...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. Now, the thing is, what is that happiness? That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, sukham ātyantikaṁ yat tad atīndriya-grāhyam [Bg. 6.21]: \"The absolute happiness, or the perpetual happiness, or the greatest happiness is that which is enjoyed by supernatural senses.\"",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Would that be by all the senses—mind, intelligence...?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, everything, but in their supernatural, not in this condition.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Not in this...?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Condition.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n You see, otherwise it is said that when a person is happy with the self, happy with others...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No, no. No, no. Try to understand. He has got his senses. These senses are now covered with the coating of material conception of life. Therefore this sense pleasure is not complete or perfect. Just like everyone has got... Now, you have got your tongue. Now the tongue, when it is coated, you cannot taste the things.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. I understand.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nSo this coating is māyā. ",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n What I was missing me was in this degree, that just like here, people, why we are..., because we are using our senses; our mind sees or perceives certain things...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n These are living, symptoms of living condition.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Living condition. So, but we are not affected by air, which is most required, and most special for our use. Because it is abundant, and it will be given to every person at all the times, in all circumstances, therefore we do not keep it under lock and key. Western countries, though they have...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No, no. There is no question of Western-Eastern.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n No, I was speaking of materialism and spiritualism. I was talking on that point, that though we see, I mean, I don't say have made it, but yet because, you see, there is no what kind of life they want, or in our Eastern countries, because they are...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No, no. If you study the whole thing in that way—Western-Eastern... There is no question of Western-Eastern. It is the question of the living entity.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, how to live in such a way where there is no dearth of thing as well as there is no continuing of that need that a man becomes lost? That is the...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n That is the point.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n That is the point. And for that, what kind of spiritual life should it be?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n That is... That I am going to explain, that... That is one line: sukham ātyantikaṁ yat tad atīndriya-grāhyam [Bg. 6.21]. This sukham ātyantikaṁ is being searched both by the Western, Eastern, everywhere—even cats, dogs, everyone. But the cats and dogs, animals, they cannot adjust what is that ātyantikaṁ sukham.\nBut human being can. So human being, there is no question of Eastern and Western. It is a question of degree only. But actually everyone is searching after that perpetual happiness. So it is a problem for everyone, and that problem can be solved by Kṛṣṇa consciousness.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n By...?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is the..., I mean to say, a rough scheme, rough estimation. Now, how Kṛṣṇa consciousness can solve this problem, that is a detailed thing. But this is a fact. It is not the question of Eastern-Western; it is the problem of all living entities.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, living entities. Human, actually we have.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Not even human life; even animal life. There are 8,400,000's of different kinds of bodies. So this is a problem for everyone. Now in other species of life than the human form, they cannot solve. They have no power. But a human being can solve.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. They have got understanding.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. And that solution is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n What do you mean by that?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n That is a detailed question, \"How it can be?\"",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n No, but are we satisfied with the past...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n You will be never satisfied without Kṛṣṇa consciousness.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n What I mean was, was it really or were we at that time...?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Which time? What do you mean \"that time\"?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n \"That time\" means at the time of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Were we completely...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n At the time of Kṛṣṇa... You are taking simply the portion of the time when Kṛṣṇa was present. You are saying about that. But Kṛṣṇa is present always.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, but if you say that, in that way, then he gets..., because... [indistinct].",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Just like Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, raso 'ham apsu kaunteya [Bg. 7.8]: \"I am the taste in the water.\" Now, this taste in the water is perpetual. When Kṛṣṇa was physically present or Kṛṣṇa is not physically present, this is a perpetual fact. Is it not? Do you think the taste in the water was different when Kṛṣṇa was present and the taste of water is different now?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n No, it cannot be.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Similarly, He says, prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ: \"I am the shining of the sun and the moon.\" In this way, if you study what is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then you'll find that Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the only solution for that highest perfectional stage of happiness.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n We are giving names; therefore we become confused. Because in our God incarnation...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No, no. If there is name, why you be confused if your name is Mr. Such-and-such? But you do not know the name. That is the confusion.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Because so many names have been given to these same things...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n But that is in the śāstra it is said, \"There are so many names of God. Out of all of them, 'Kṛṣṇa' is the principal.\" God's name is given... Just like Kṛṣṇa appeared as the son of Vasudeva; therefore He is called Vāsudeva. Kṛṣṇa played in Vṛndāvana as the son of Nanda Mahārāja and Yaśodā; therefore He is called Yaśodā-nandana. Kṛṣṇa acted as the driver, chariot driver Arjuna. Therefore He is known as Pārtha-sārathī.\nSo His name... All these names are according to His different activities. So He has got unlimited activities, and therefore He has got unlimited names. So out of all these names, 'Kṛṣṇa' is the supreme or the prime, because 'Kṛṣṇa' means all-attractive. 'Kṛṣṇa' means all-attractive. So God, if God is not all-attractive, He cannot be God. So one God is attractive for me, another God is attractive for him... that supreme God.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n We take the name of the God or anything his is to achieve the supreme happiness or...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n The supreme happiness is [indistinct]. We are talking of God's name. First of all let us understand that God's name, we have different God's name according to God's activities. Madhusūdana. Because He killed the demon Madhu, therefore His name is Madhusūdana. Mādhava. Because He is the husband of goddess of fortune—Ma means goddess of fortune—therefore He is Mādhava.\nAll the names you analyze. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is also the name of God because, He is all-attractive. Now, how you can deny that God is not all-attractive? Is it possible? God is all-attractive. Can you deny this fact?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n No, there is no denying, you see, because we only know that all-attractiveness in Śyāmasundaram.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Śyāmasundaram... Śyāmasundaram means He is blackish, still, He is so beautiful that thousands of Cupids cannot be compared with Him. Kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobhaṁ [Bs. 5.30]. Kandarpa-koṭi. Cupid is supposed to be the most beautiful, but about Kṛṣṇa it is stated that:\nveṇuṁ kvaṇantam aravinda-dalāyatākṣaṁ\nbarhāvataṁsam asitāmbuda-sundarāṅgam\nkandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobhaṁ\ngovindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi\n[Bs. 5.30]\nVeṇuṁ kvaṇantam: He is playing on flute. Aravinda-dalāyatākṣaṁ: His eyes are just like petals of the lotus flower. Barhāvataṁsam: He has got a peacock feather on His head. Asitāmbuda: and His color is just like black cloud. Sundarāṅgam: but His beauty, total beauty, is kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobhaṁ. Still, the beauty... As soon as we say blackish, we think that he..., if somebody is blackish, he is not beautiful.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n That is also charm in that.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. But still, He's still charming. Because it is all transcendental, we cannot compare the blackish cloud. It is simply given, an idea, that it is like blackish cloud. But immediately it is said, still, kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobhaṁ govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi [Bs. 5.30].\nSo God has many names, and according to your conception, you can have God's name also. But out of all those names, many thousands and unlimited different types of names, Kṛṣṇa is the principal name, because \"Kṛṣṇa\" means all-attractive. You cannot say that God is not all-attractive. And if you use that sense, all-attractive, this is the word, Kṛṣṇa.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n What I was... You see, I was trying to...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Now, the difficulty is, don't try to invention something about God. That is not good.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n No, not invention.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No. You have to take the version of the śāstras; then it will be possible. If you invent something, try to speculate on something, it will not be successful.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n I'm not, you see. In the middle, I may be speculating or I'm, you see, trying to... Coming to the human aspect itself, now so many want happiness. Happiness is checked up because of...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n That material coating.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Material things.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Now, we want... Because this want is there... Want is made by own nature, and there is no way throughout our... Now, when we earning means there's so much contami..., I mean, sea of...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n That is not happiness.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n I am just coming to that. I was...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. Now, one point is that earning or begging—beg, borrow or steal—that is not happiness. Because to acquire a standard of happiness you have to beg, you have to earn or you have to steal. So that is not happiness.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n No. What I am saying is that as long as a man lives, there are...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n But we are not talking of \"as long as man lives.\" He lives eternally.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, it is eternal.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n And it is eternal thing, bondage, there.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No. Bondage for so long you are in this material bondage.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n In some, you see, I mean form...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No, first of all you have to understand in the spiritual...",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, even there is spiritual form, one has to live in certain form, without which...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n That is natural form. That is not a conventional form. Just like you have dressed yourself with black coat. That is not... It is not your natural form. So material...",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Has a spirit no want?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nHuh?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Has a spirit no want?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nHas spirit...?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Has a spirit not a want?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n[aside:] Spirit? What is that?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nSpirit. Spirit.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, no want.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Without it, you see, I mean...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Everything you desire, it is present immediately.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n You see, even the spirit has got subtle form, though it may be abstact form.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, yes. Yes.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Though mind has got no form outside, but mind has a form.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n The spirit has a form.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Intelligence is also accepting...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n These are different..., different coating. Just like you have got your form, therefore your coat has got a form.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n No, I was thinking in this form.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Don't think like that way. First of all you try to understand. Because you have got a form, your coat has got a form. You try to understand this.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, water, though may not have form, but it has got form.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Why may not? You try to understand practically. You have got a form, therefore your shirt has got a form, your coat has got a form.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n That spirit has this form, no? That is what I'm saying.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. So because originally you have got hand, your coat has got hand. Because originally you have got hand, your shirt has got hand. Therefore this form, the material form which you are seeing, it is coating only.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Material form of what?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n You, me, everything.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n No, \"me\" means what? A spirit?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n That is what I say. Any spirit will have certain form.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Not certain form. He has got his original form.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Original means all the... We are living from the eternal...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. Eternally you have got a form.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n From the eternal we have got certain form.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n That is material. Past certain form, that is material. But you have got an original spiritual form.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Spiritual form is there, but due to the bond, man has taken this form.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n This form is being developed according to your mental condition.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Mental conditions are due to want.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Subtle form. Subtle form.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Those are again due to want.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Due to want? Yes.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n All these forms are due to want.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Want. That want, because you are in the material condition.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Every person in a material cond... Spirit in matter remains because both are there.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. Yes.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n It remains there. Now, as we have got a material form, that special form, material form...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Spirit has got no material form. Spirit has got spiritual form.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Spiritual form, but yet also it has got a material form.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Because he has come... Just like you have accepted this kind of coat. I have got a different kind of coat. She has got a different kind of coat.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. According to that there is...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. So as I liked, so I have got shirt and coat. This is material. But originally, spiritual form is the same as you have got, I have got, she has got a form, everyone. That is original form.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Now, our question... [indistinct] We try. Now, question of earning also, the definition is not here, being...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n The question of earning comes so long you have got this material form. But from the spiritual form there is no question of earning.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n In what way we will live in that spiritual form?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n That you have to know. That you have to know. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhiḥ [Bs. 5.37]. That spiritual form means complete blissfulness, complete knowledge, and eternity.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Turiya.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Turiya, yes.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n In that turiya...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n This is turiya life: complete blissfulness, complete knowledge, and eternity.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n You see, because it is a creation of the world... [indistinct] ...we have got beyond that. [indistinct] And that means that matter is there.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. Matter is always there.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Ah. We want to live and enjoy; therefore this universe and all these things. Now, in what perfect form? Because everywhere, in everything, there is a best. Now how everything should take?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. Yes.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n The universal form should come to the best. That is the point.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Don't talk of universal form. First of all talk of your form. Try to understand your form. Then go universal.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Am I separate from matter?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n You are not separate. Are you not separate? Then why you are talking with me? Are you not separate with me? Why you have come to inquire from me?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n No, no, because we...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n First of all try to... Are you not separate from me?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n In material way, yes.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Any way. Any way, are you not separate from me?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, every drop is separate from one another.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n That's all right. Every individual person is separate from one another. Every individual person. So how do you say they are one?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Every individual is separate, but when we come in the prema...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n ...then every person, until it is the best...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n ...is just an object of...[?]",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. That is possible. Even... Don't think that when that stage will come there will be no individuality.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Individuality will be there. I do not say that it will not be there.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n What I was saying was [indistinct] particular individual in a particular way. Therefore the shape of world is in today is off. But if every individual takes the destined way, which is good enough for every person, then all things can change at once.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Now, why do you say that thinking will be stopped?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n I do not say, sir. I...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n So then you say who will think? Thinking will be there; individuality will be there; but there will be no disagreement.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Individuality will be there for the self as well as for all.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n That is what I mean.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Now, how that kind of living or what kind of religion is that, on that, I mean to say...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n That you have to learn from the authorized Vedic literature. You cannot imagine. You cannot speculate. You have to learn from authority.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Authority...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. Suppose if you want to go to Germany. Now you have no idea how the German people live or their..., how they are, what is their custom. So you have to learn. Here is a boy, German. You have to learn from him what kind of life there is. Similarly, there is a life like that. Now, what kind of life that is, you have to ask from a person who has realized that life.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n There are two things. I am still, I'm still... We are raised upon this material life [indistinct] that may be available just like air. Air, we do not keep air under lock and key. There is no dearth of time, no dearth of energy, no dearth of resources. Only dearth is that we have no clear perspective [indistinct] we are under control.\nTherefore, to the suffering and all these things [indistinct] in the only because of power and our other things, and therefore we have become confused. So from Buddha's time we wanted there should be no sickness, old age and death, etcetera. But it is continuing. There is no such country [indistinct]...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n But how do you respect these words of Lord Buddha, first thing is?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n No, I have got one thing, you see, that it is through the diffusion [indistinct].",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No, no, no. Lord Buddha, we have to accept him as an authority, Lord Buddha. Now, he gives you idea that no misery. So how do you accept these words of Lord Buddha?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n No, I do not, because that was not..., has not come into humanity.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. That means he was giving that hint in spiritual life, not in this life.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. So I wondered that if we can create, when we are free from this. And we do not fight on the air. We fight on the things which are scarce. And why there is a scarcity? Because we are not [indistinct] people. Therefore there is a scarcity. Now if we think on that point, and all this is clear, then, when there is no want of life of a material even thing, then every person rises himself from this material...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n First thing is... May I ask your name?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Bateya.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Batel.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n \"Ya.\" Bateya [indistinct].",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nBatey",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Bateya.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nYou belong to this province?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n No, I came from Sindh, Karachi.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Oh, Bateya. I see. [indistinct], this process, this transcendental knowledge, super..., superhuman knowledge, you cannot think first of all. You cannot think. You have to learn.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n To realize all these things.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Realize after learning from the authority.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Because you see, this question I have asked from 1939. There was a little problem in Karachi. [indistinct] I was very fond of my father. He died when I was only ten. I thought on, \"What is this?\" and all these things, [indistinct] in foreign countries even. I thought, \"Why we are, humanity, is suffering all these things?\" It was this question in my mind and what other, I thought of these problems, even though [indistinct].\nThis appeared as invisible, you see, and material, but to me, inside, it is, you see, a teaching, because it was not taught for any individual or for any country. It is taught for all men beyond the world so that we can bring that kind of life...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Now you are thinking from your side.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Not just from my..., as a particular person, but as of the, our own humanity, as a spiritualist.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n The spiritual knowledge is called tat knowledge, tat, oṁ tat sat.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Oṁ tat sat. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. Oṁ tat sat. So the tat knowledge is recommended in the Bhagavad-gītā, tad-viddhi. Tad viddhi praṇipātena [Bg. 4.34]. Praṇipātena. You understand praṇipāta? Surrender.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Surrender.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n So tad viddhi. If you want to understand that transcendental knowledge, then you have to accept this process, praṇipāta. Praṇipāta means surrender, and surrender means there must be somebody to whom you surrender.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Whom you surrender, yes.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n There are two, not alone. So you cannot alone think of tat knowledge. You have to surrender to somebody. That is the process.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n There are eight kinds of all getting the knowledge, means bhakti...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No, no. Bhakti is a process. Bhakti is not knowledge. That knowledge you acquire by your sense perception, and bhakti is the pure activities of the senses.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n No, surrender means, in bhakti, one surrenders to...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No question of bhakti. That is the process. If you want to know about tat, then that is the process. You have to surrender. So long you will think that \"I can think of; I have got power,\" you'll be failed.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n That consideration of \"myself,\" \"I am thinking,\" that is not there.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Then who is thinking?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Thinking means...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No, no, don't use abstract knowledge. As soon as you are thinking, you are thinking.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n No, that sometimes thinking, when you are listening inside you, thinking comes...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Anyway, listening or thinking, these are different process of acquiring knowledge. But you are doing that.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, my outer form is doing that.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n But inner form may be...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n What is that inner form? You are inner form. Your outer, your coat, is not thinking. Your shirt is not thinking. What you mean by \"outward,\" \"inward\"? Inward you are. Outward, your coat and shirt. Do you think your coat and shirt is thinking? You are thinking.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, I am thinking, but, you see...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n There is no \"but.\" You are thinking.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n I am thinking. One is at the lower level, and one is at the higher...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n That is another thing. Either in the lower level or in the higher level, you are thinking.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, all right.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n And therefore, because you are thinking in the lower level, therefore your thinking is imperfect. So to be in higher level, you have to surrender to a higher personality.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Higher wouldn't be better than that?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Just like child is thinking something. His thinking is lower level. But when he inquires from his father, that is higher level. The same thinking is he, but one stage his thinking is lower level; in another stage his thinking is higher level. But thinking always, he.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, thinking is his always.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. So tat knowledge is higher level, and therefore you have to accept that tat knowledge from a higher-level personality, not from..., by yourself, because you are in the lower level.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n No, how do we know lower level and higher level?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Because you do not know; therefore you... Why you are thinking? Because you do not know.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n No, it is not that...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Then there is no question of asking me. Then you think yourself.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n No, we were trying...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Now first of all you try to understand the principle. Why you have come to ask me?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Not ask, but just...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Because you are thinking on the lower level.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n No, no, to configure over it, not to ask or...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Why configure? Configure does not mean that you have thought something in lower level, I have to confirm that.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Not even that. We have all...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Then, if you are thinking right, if you are thinking on the higher level, there is no question of coming to me.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n There is no question of coming or going. Just it was that...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Anyway, inquiry.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n No, no, spiritual endeavor. There is no use in that. It may be in lower level or higher level.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No, no. There is. There is. There is. Higher level, lower level, there is, as soon as there is thinking, feeling and willing. These are the activities of the mind, and there is higher level, lower level, etc....",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n In that we are missing the main twist out of whole thing.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n The main twist... But main you are not missing. The point is that if you continue to think on the lower level, then how you can reach to the higher level?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n What is the distinction between higher and lower?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n You do not know? A child is thinking.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n No, let us think of what is the highest thing.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n That you have to learn from the highest man. Yes. That is Bhagavad-gītā.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nNo, no. Let us hear it.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Therefore Bhagavad-gītā says that tad viddhi: \"You understand that transcendental knowledge by surrender.\" So if you do not surrender, there is no possibility.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n But I might have surrendered myself to my own...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n That is..., that is another foolishness. You are thinking lower level, and how you can surrender to yourself? Then how you can get advance? Your surrender means to a superior person, as soon as you call surrender. And without this, there is no possibility.\ntad viddhi praṇipātena\nparipraśnena sevayā\nupadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ\njñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ\n[Bg. 4.34]\nWe have to accept these principles; otherwise how it can make the... There is no possibility. Just like if you want to be educated, you have to be admitted to an institution, in school, in a college. If you say, \"I shall be educated at home,\" that is not possible.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Many have...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No \"many.\" This is the general process.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n No, general process sometimes have failed.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No, why fail? The schools are going on. Colleges are going on.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Therefore they are fearing also...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Still, they are not closed.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Closed... Today they are coming to that.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n That is another theory. But the process is, our Vedic process, tad-vijñānārtham sa gurum eva abhigacchet [MU 1.2.12]: \"In order to understand tat knowledge one must approach a spiritual master.\" Gacchet. If you don't accept these principles, then how you can make progress? Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsur śreya uttamam [SB 11.3.21].\nIf you don't accept this principle, there is no possibility. Then you can go on thinking in your own way. There is no question of going to anyone. You make yourself perfect by thinking, as many others are doing, speculating. That is possible. But never to the perfectional [indistinct].",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Perfectly, you see... What is the category of different perfection?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n That you have to learn. That you have to learn.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n No, no, learn from whom?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n From the higher authority.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n So how we know?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n That is another thing, who is higher authority. That you have to search out. That you have to search out.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n We must understand what is higher person and what is lower, and whether Buddha is correct or not.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Now, higher authority... Suppose we accept Kṛṣṇa as the higher authority. Our this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, we accept Kṛṣṇa as the higher.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n It is accepted.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Whatever it may be, we accept Kṛṣṇa as the higher authority. Do you accept that?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n I mean, I am shown the form. You see...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n There is no question... Kṛṣṇa is accepted higher authority not only by us, by big ācāryas like Śaṅkarācārya, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, those who are guiding our Vedic life in India, Caitanya. So Kṛṣṇa is accepted the highest authority.\nKṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nāsti [Bg. 7.7]: \"There is no more higher authority than Me.\" Then if you don't accept Kṛṣṇa as the higher authority, that is your business, but we accept Kṛṣṇa as the higher authority.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n So something is coming in that way because Kṛṣṇa, that was what He had said in a particular time or time frame...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No, no, no. Authority means..., it does not mean a time.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n No, for that time.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No, no. First of all try, try... Authority means...",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n For the time.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n All the time. That is authority.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n No, but later, later, many lights shining...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n [knock on door] [aside:] Yes, open it.\nAnyway, to make cut short, to make cut short, so far we are concerned, we have declared, \"International Society for Krishna Consciousness.\" Our process of propaganda is that Kṛṣṇa is the highest authority. That is our... You may take it that we are limited; that is your business. But we have taken this. Now, if you don't accept Kṛṣṇa as the higher authority, then there is no question of inquiring from us.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n What is the form, you see, I mean...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Kṛṣṇa is the form. Here is Kṛṣṇa's form.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n No, no, not that form.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Then what form?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n What I mean is we are accepting anything to bring ourselves to certain destination which will satisfy us all. For that we are...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Nothing can satisfy everyone. That is not possible. There is no such thing within this material world which can satisfy everyone. There is no such thing.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Because we are not...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No, no, because... There may be so many \"because.\" But the fact is that there is nothing in this material world which can satisfy everyone.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n There can be a method which can.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Maybe, but we do not know.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Therefore beyond that, you see, I came...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Just like Kṛṣṇa. We accept Kṛṣṇa the supreme authority. Kṛṣṇa says, mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja. Who is accepting this? We have accepted. Some others may have accepted. But you have not accepted. So therefore even Kṛṣṇa's injunction is not accepted by everyone, what to speak of others. So therefore you cannot find out within this material world anything which can satisfy everyone. That is not possible.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n We have not found that.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n You may think, but we have concluded that there is nothing, such thing, which can satisfy everyone. It is not possible.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Until we hear all, we may do that...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n That may be an ideal. But we take Kṛṣṇa as the highest authority. Even Kṛṣṇa's words are not accepted. That's a fact. Kṛṣṇa says, \"You surrender unto Me.\" So a few persons might have surrendered to Him. Even Kṛṣṇa was present, only the Pāṇḍavas and the inhabitants of the Vṛndāvana and Dvārakā, some of them understood that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme. But many did not accept Him. Many insulted Him. Just like Śiśupāla insulted Him. So even Kṛṣṇa could not be accepted.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Accept..., I accept every person. That is no question of accepting or...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No, no, your... I have summarized that first of all you have come to inquire from us that our standard of knowledge is Kṛṣṇa. If you accept Kṛṣṇa as the standard of perfection of knowledge, then there is possibility of our talking. Otherwise simply waste of time. Why should we waste our time? Our standard is Kṛṣṇa.\nIf you are agreeable to accept the standard of Kṛṣṇa, then there is possibility. Just like here is a lawyer. He goes to the lawyer. He speaks, he pleads, on the standard of the law books. If somebody comes, \"No, no, I don't accept this,\" then there is no question of argument. Both the lawyers are arguing. The central point is the law book. So you must have a central point on which we shall talk. If you have no central point...",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Central point of happiness is there now.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, your point is happiness; my point is happiness. That is all right. But what is that happiness? Just like the same example can be that two litigants, they have gone to the court. Their aim is justice. But how that justice can be had, that is an argument, and on the point of law. Similarly, everyone's point is happiness. And what is that standard of happiness, that you have to take from some authority. That authority we accept Kṛṣṇa.\nAnd if you don't accept Kṛṣṇa, then we cannot come to the conclusion what is happiness. So you will simply waste our time.\n[aside:] [indistinct]\n[break] You see? It was... Sometimes the light was coming, sometimes... That means they were adjusting. There was some meeting, adjusting. As soon as it is coming to the real point, it was light. And as soon as not in the real point, there is no light. So it is a science. Therefore the Vedas says, tad-vijñānam. It is a vijñāna. It is not a theoretical, whimsical...",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n It is to be felt.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Ah. Yes. It is to be learned, just like the electrician learns how to adjust the positive and negative wire, and as soon as it is rightly adjusted there is light. You cannot say, \"No, no, why it shall be adjusted like this? It can be done like this.\" Oh, that will not give you light. You cannot speculate on the science. One plus... Two plus two equal to four. You cannot speculate, \"Oh, can it not be three? Cannot be five?\" No, that is not possible. You have to accept this two plus two equal to four.\nThe same example: so long it was not being adjusted to the right point, there was no light. So this adjustment... Suppose there is failure in my home. For this adjustment I have to call an experienced man. You may be a lawyer, you may be very nice thinker, but so far electricity is concerned, you have to call for a mistrī, who may not be learned like you but he knows the art, how to do it, expert. Similarly, such a vast subject, to understand God, you do not require the help of an expert?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n I did not take that...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No, no, I don't mean you. Anyone. Anyone. If for ordinary things we have to call for an expert, to understand God is it not necessary to approach an expert? What do you think, Manuel?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, [indistinct].",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n That is... Therefore the Vedas says, tad-vijñānārthaṁ: \"In order to know that transcendental science,\" sa gurum evābhigacchet, \"he must go to a guru. He must approach.\" A guru means not bogus guru. One who knows, expert. But one has to do that. There is no other alternative. That is the injunction of every Vedic śāstra. And this order is from the Kathopaniṣad. Then, on the Bhagavad-gītā the same thing is said, tad viddhi praṇipātena [Bg. 4.34]. \nPraṇipāta means surrender. Surrender where? Where to surrender? To a coolie? No, to a superior person, guru. Similarly, Bhāgavata says, tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsur śreya uttamam [SB 11.3.21]: \"One who is inquisitive to understand the spiritual science,\" tasmād, \"therefore,\" guruṁ prapadyeta, \"must surrender to a guru.\" Just our this morning prayer is guru, beginning of life, beginning of day's work, first worshiping guru.\nsaṁsāra-dāvānala-līḍha-loka-\ntrāṇāya-kāruṇya-ghanāghanatvam,\nprāptasya kalyāṇa-guṇārṇavasya\nvande guroḥ śrī-caraṇāravindam **\nSo in our this Vedic way of life, to accept guru is essential. Even big, big ācārya... Even Kṛṣṇa, He accepted guru, Sandipani Muni. Lord Caitanya accepted guru, Īśvara Purī. They are perfect, but still, the ways They are showing because They are ācārya. Kṛṣṇa is teaching, taking the part of the ācārya, so He is also accepting, although the fact is as soon as went to, within a few days He learned everything. That is stated in our Kṛṣṇa book.\nWithin a few days He became expert warrior, expert magician, expert yogī, every..., so many things, all arts. But He learned from a guru. He is perfect Himself, Kṛṣṇa. He is called Yogeśvara. He knows all the yoga process, but still, in order to teach us, because He is playing the part of a teacher, He shows us that you must learn from guru: \"I am learning from guru.\"\nSo any science, you cannot learn it automatically by yourself. No. That is not. Then we shall create so many mental speculators, so many things. That will be not a science. Even all scientists, they accept a formula from an authority: \"Law of gravitation.\" They accept it. Then their physical, so many things they discover. But accept one formula. Just like this formula is given by Sir Isaac Newton. So they accept guru.\nSo from all practical point of view, the things which are unknown to us, we have to accept a guru. For things unknown to us. Now, there is another verse: parābhavas tāvad abodha-jātaḥ [SB 5.5.5]. Abodha-jātaḥ. We are all born ignorant. Is it not? What do you think? Are you not born fools? Is it not?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Jñānena [indistinct], not...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No, no. I mean to say, take our present position. You were born, I am born, he is born, everyone. Are we not born foolish? What do you think?",
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{
"content": "\n The only sense is cry...",
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"content": "\n So many ways we do not know. There is some trouble, I am crying, child is crying, and the mother knows that \"He is suffering. Give...,\" seeking the help of the mother. Then we are going to school. The father is training, mother is training. Are you not born foolish? In the Bhāgavata says, abodha-jātaḥ: \"born foolish.\" Everyone is born rascal. So if he does not take help from the authorities, how he can make progress? You have become lawyer by sitting at home?",
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{
"content": "\n No, no. I take tests for many time. I look at books and I take test for one year, twelve, fourteen hours.",
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"content": "\n That is the process. So how can you deny to understand the supreme science—you can do it independently? No, that is not possible. Therefore it is the verb, the form, gacchet. It is called vidhiliṅ. You know Sanskrit? Yes. This form of verb is... Perhaps you also know: gacchet, kuryāt, gadyat[?]. These are vidhilin. Vidhiliṅ means that is compulsory. Is it not?",
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{
"content": "\n Yes.",
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"content": "\n He knows Sanskrit very well. Compulsory. Therefore it is said gacchet, compulsory. Tad-vijñānārtham... Tat, the transcendental knowledge; vijñāna, that is science. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva niścayate [MU 1.2.12]. Eva is niścayate. Eva means \"certainly.\" And again gacchet, \"must go.\" Now, just like to be educated one must be admitted in a school. Must be. Now, what kind of school he has to select, that is another thing, but he must. That's a fact. Similarly, you have to accept a guru.\nNow, whom you will accept a guru, that is another thing. But you have to do it. That is the injunction of all śāstras. Vedic process is like that. This upanayana, the sacred thread, upanayana. Upa means near, and nayanam means bringing. Anayanam, coming or going, like that, nayanam. So \"to go near the spiritual master,\" upanayana.",
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"content": "\n Upanayana-saṁskāra.",
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"content": "\n Yes. And that sacred thread is the certificate that he has accepted a spiritual master. That is our Vedic system, identity, thread, sacred thread. So the upana... The saṁskāra is called upanayana-saṁskāra. Upanayana means he has gone near the spiritual master; therefore he is now dvija, second birth. When a person goes to the spiritual master, that is his second birth, because he is born foolish.\nTake birth by the combination of father, mother—that is material birth—that is a birth of ignorance, just like animals. The animals also take their birth in that way. There is no different process, the sex life. So what is the difference between animal and man? Therefore upanayana, dvija.",
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"content": "\n Janmanā jāyate śūdraḥ.",
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"content": "\n Janmanā jāyate śūdraḥ saṁskārad bhaved dvijaḥ. Unfortunately there is no saṁskāra at the present moment. So therefore they remain śūdra. A śūdra means fourth class. So how a fourth-class man can speculate on the science of God?",
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"content": "\n But śūdras are not allowed to upanayana-saṁskāra.",
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"content": "\n No. No, no, no. Now, don't take that way. One who does not take saṁskāra, he is śūdra. Because janmanā jāyate śūdraḥ. So everyone is born śūdra. But if one does not accept the saṁskāras, he remains a śūdra, not that śūdras are not allowed to take saṁskāra. Then how it is, that janmanā jāyate śūdraḥ?",
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{
"content": "\n [indistinct]",
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"content": "\n There are many instances. But this very word, \"by birth one is śūdra,\" so there is no discrimination that \"You are not śūdra. I am not...,\" by birth, abodha-jāto, because he is born foolish, rascal. Now, by saṁskāra, by culture, by education, he becomes a dvija, second birth.\nThe practical example is these European and American students. They were doing all nonsense, but since they have come to guru their life is reformed; therefore they are dvija. Saṁskārad bhaved dvijaḥ, veda-paṭhet... Now, when he becomes dvija, then he is allowed to study Vedas; not as a śūdra. When we say śūdra has no right to study Vedas, that means he will not be able to understand.\nJust like you became lawyer, but the condition is, unless you become graduate, unless you have graduated yourself, you cannot enter law court. That does not mean law is prohibited for anyone. It is open for everyone, but first of all you make yourself university graduate; then enter law. Similarly, everyone is śūdra.",
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{
"content": "\n A particular standard of understanding should be qualified.",
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"content": "\n Yes. So unless he has got saṁskāra, he is enlightened by culture and knowledge, unless he has become dvija, then there is no authority for studying Vedas. Veda-paṭhet. After one has become dvija, then he is allowed to study Vedas. Janmanā jāyate śūdraḥ saṁskārad bhaved dvijaḥ, and veda-paṭhed bhaved vipraḥ. Vipra. Then he becomes... Gradually increasing. From śūdra he comes to dvija, then vipra. And after being vipra, after studying all the Vedas, when he realizes Brahman, then he is brāhmaṇa. Brahmā jānātīti brāhmaṇaḥ.\nSo this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is that, gradual process, gradual process, and to make him a qualified brāhmaṇa. And when he becomes brāhmaṇa, then he knows Brahman. Then he makes spiritual progress. Without... Therefore, without becoming brāhmaṇa nobody can make spiritual progress. That is the door of spiritual knowledge. Then he makes progress, makes progress. So after understanding Brahman knowledge, then he comes to Paramātmā knowledge, then he comes to Bhāgavata knowledge.",
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"content": "\n Veda says, [indistinct Sanskrit].",
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"content": "\n Yes. Bala-mūrti-tejaḥ. So this is the scientific process. It is vijñāna. Tad-vijñānam. And in the Seventh Chapter in Bhagavad-gītā it is stated, jñānaṁ vijñāna-sahitaṁ [Bg. 9.1]. Jñānaṁ vijñāna-sahitaṁ. It is vijñāna. It is science.",
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{
"content": "\n Jñāna means knowledge.",
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{
"content": "\n No, no. Vijñāna is practical application.",
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"content": "\n When you apply jñāna and...",
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"content": "\n Yes. That is vijñāna. That is vijñāna. So jñāna knowledge, first knowledge, is what is God; what is God and what is my relation with Him. This is knowledge. Then you... When you act according to that knowledge, that is vijñāna. That is bhakti. When you understand fully well that \"God is great, and I am a small, minute part and parcels of God,\" and then you understand that the part and parcel's duty is to serve the whole... Is it not? Just like the finger is part and parcel of my body. Its duty is to serve the whole body. Similarly, if we accept, if we understand that \"I am part and parcel of God,\" then my duty is to serve God.\nBut people are being misled that he is thinking God himself, although he is under so many restrictions and stricture of the material nature. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāṇi guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ, ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā [Bg. 3.27]. He is so foolish and rascal that he is thinking, \"I am independent.\" Ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā karta aham iti manyate. He is strictly under the stringent laws of material nature, but still, he is thinking falsely that \"I am supreme. I am independent.\" So therefore surrender required, that \"I am not supreme.\"\nThat is knowledge. That is knowledge in the Bhagavad-gītā. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate [Bg. 7.19]: \"After many, many births of this speculation, when actually he becomes jñānavān, wise, then he surrenders.\" Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ. So unless we surrender, so long we think that \"I am independent. I am God. I am Supreme,\" these are all illusions. What do you think?",
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{
"content": "\n Yes.",
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{
"content": "\n It is illusion, simply illusion. If I am God, how I have become so much dependent on the laws of material nature? Why I have accepted this body, which I do not want? What kind of God I am? So the whole world is full of these ideas. So this movement is a revolutionary movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness.",
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{
"content": "\n [Hindi] What is the meaning of God.",
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"content": "\n He does not... He does not know what is meaning of God. He thinks that God is something plaything. Therefore he claimed that \"I am God.\" He does not know what is God. Therefore God personally showing, He's coming, Kṛṣṇa: \"What is God, see.\" God is from very beginning God. Kṛṣṇa, from the birth He is God. He hasn't got to meditate. He hasn't got to go to the forest and..., to become God. He is God.",
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{
"content": "\n God is made for [indistinct], sir.",
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{
"content": "\n Not \"God is made.\" God is never made. God is God.",
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"content": "\n But, sir, G means [Hindi?]",
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"content": "\n That is your speculation: G means this, O means this, this means this. That you can interpret in so many ways, [chuckles] but God is God. God is great, Brahman. Brahman means great. Para-brahman, the greatest. Paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān [Bg. 10.12]. That is Kṛṣṇa. Is it not stated in the Bhagavad-gītā?",
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{
"content": "\n Before the birth of Lord Kṛṣṇa, was God existing? God exhibit temporally...",
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"content": "\n Therefore you have to learn what is the birth of Kṛṣṇa. You do not know. Janma karma me divyam yo jānāti tattvataḥ [Bg. 4.9]. You do not know what is the birth. You are thinking that He is, like ordinary man, He has taken birth. Otherwise why does He say, janma karma me divyam yo jānāti tattvataḥ? Nobody knows what is His birth? He thinks He's...\nJust like a child sees daily that the sun rises from the eastern side—therefore eastern side is the father of sun. Is eastern side father of the sun? Sun is always there, but you see in the morning it is appearing from the eastern side. That's all. It is your angle of vision. Not that sun is born, taking birth from the eastern side. Sun is always there in the sky.\nSimilarly, Kṛṣṇa is always there, but to the foolish person it appears that He is born. Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā. Ajo 'pi: \"I have no birth.\" Ajaḥ. This very word is used. Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san. So how you can compare Kṛṣṇa's birth like ordinary birth? If anyone knows what is Kṛṣṇa's birth, he becomes liberated. Janma karma me divyam yo jānāti tattvataḥ.\nSo that knowledge is not tattvataḥ knowledge, that Kṛṣṇa's birth. Kṛṣṇa's birth is every moment. Like the sun. Now here it is not sunshine, but in another place the sunshine is rising. So is that the birth, or when the sun will rise here, that will be birth? Which will be the birth of sun?",
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"content": "\n It will always be there.",
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"content": "\n Yes. It is already there, but when you see, you see, you see that it is birth. The sunrise is already somewhere, and the sunset is also already somewhere, but in your angle of vision there is no sun. That is going on. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa's birth, every moment; Kṛṣṇa's disappearance, every moment; Kṛṣṇa's existence, every moment. You have to learn that. Therefore Kṛṣṇa said, janma karma me divyam [Bg. 4.9], transcendental. Yo janati tattvataḥ. Anyone who knows it perfectly, in truth, he becomes liberated. If you have known Kṛṣṇa, then you are liberated.\nBut Kṛṣṇa knowing is not so easy.\nmanuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu\nkaścid yatati siddhaye\nyatatām api siddhānāṁ\nkaścid vetti māṁ tattvataḥ\n[Bg. 7.3]\nIt is very difficult to understand Kṛṣṇa in truth. Then how one can understand? That is also stated: bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ [Bg. 18.55]. Not by speculation of knowledge. Bhaktya. And what is that bhakti?\nanyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ\njñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam\nānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-\nśīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā\n[Cc. Madhya 19.167 Brs. 1.1.11]\nSo these things you have to learn. Then there is possibility of knowledge, tad-vijñāna. The difficulty is at the present moment the theory that everyone can invent his way of understanding God. He can speculate. Therefore there is chaos. There is chaos. If you want to save yourself from this chaotic condition of life, you must take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is our proposal.\n[aside:] Give me that knife. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Not so many. Begin. Aiye.\n[break] ...friend of Kṛṣṇa. How much exalted he is, a great warrior, and he has the right to talk with Kṛṣṇa on equal level. Still, he accepted Kṛṣṇa as a spiritual master. And he said, \"The confusion which I have created, it is not possible for me to clear it. It is You only who can clear, I know. Therefore I accept You as spiritual master.\" Therefore it is required that one should know who can clear your confusion, and there you must surrender. [aside:] Anyone? Everyone. You come. Come on. Not in the left hand. Don't give anything by left hand; don't take anything. That is a etiquette. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Yes. Yes.",
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{
"content": "\n I'll will come here tomorrow.",
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"content": "\n That's all right. Oh, you haven't got. You have got? Hare Kṛṣṇa. [birds crying] The sunrise is declared: \"Koo-koo koo-koo koo.\" Yes. [laughter] Nature's way. They'll not sleep any more. Therefore anyone who sleeps after sunrise, he is a rascal. [laughter] He's a rascal. Yes. A child at once, early in the morning, rise. That is nature. But we have created such a life that we have to break all the nature laws, and therefore we suffer. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā, mām eva ye prapadyante [Bg. 7.14].\nAnd one who has surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, he is free. He is rising early. He has surpassed the māyā. And those who are in māyā, they are sleeping. And those who are not in māyā, they are rising early in the morning. Is it not? Mām eva ye prapadyante: \"Anyone who surrenders unto Me, he becomes free from the māyā's contamination.\" Just see. There is maṅgala ārati. In Vṛndāvana, just at four o'clock. You have heard?",
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"content": "\n I was just thinking, Prabhupāda.",
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"content": "\n Immediately there is \"dung, dung, dung, dung, dung,\" all temples. Immediately. And people are running. Oh, they will gather all to the Deity, temple. Hundreds of people will go automatically. The same man who was living at home, a very degraded condition, as soon as he goes to Vṛndāvana he becomes habituated to all these things automatically. Automatically. Yes. The society, association, is very important.",
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"content": "\n Those beautiful birds, the peacock birds, also at this time, they are flying in trees and waking up now and make that sound. Oh, Vṛndāvana.",
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"content": "\n So the society is very important thing. Any, anything, society... The businessmen, they have got their association, society, to improve. Therefore the standard of this International Society will be kept very carefully. Then who will come in touch with this Society will be improved automatically by association. All right.\nEven in the bird society there are swans and there are crows, by nature, and the crows will never go to the swans, and the swans will never come to the crows. \"Birds of the same feather flock together.\" Yes.\nTherefore society required. Unless you come to the Kṛṣṇa consciousness Society, how you can develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness? The same principle. Satāṁ prasaṅgān... Satāṁ prasaṅgān mama vīrya-saṁvido bhavanti hṛt-karṇa-rasāyanāḥ kathaḥ [SB 3.25.25]. Vīrya-saṁvidaḥ. It becomes very palatable, satāṁ prasaṅgāt, in the association of devotees; not otherwise. [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/cat/5/
|
[
{
"content": "\n Would you like to hear another question, Śrīla Prabhupāda?\n Yes.",
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"content": "\n “It is said that whereas the śrutis [the four original Vedas, the Upaniṣads, and the Vedānta-sūtra] embody eternal truths, the smṛtis [the Purāṇas, the Mahābhārata, the Rāmāyaṇa, and corollary Vedic literature] embody the rules of conduct and thus need to be revised according to the dictates of the changing times. Will such a view be acceptable to all sections of society, and if so, how can the new smṛtis come into being, and who will give them sanction and sanctity?”",
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"content": "\n The smṛtis are given by the Lord and His representatives. They come from spiritual authorities such as Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. The śāstra, or scripture, also gives this authority. For instance, for this age, Kali-yuga, the Lord has prescribed a special means of God realization – the chanting of His holy name. Smṛtis such as the Bṛhan-nāradīya Purāṇa say the same thing – that in this age of Kali-yuga, the only possible means of God-realization is chanting the Lord’s name. In the Bhāgavata Purāṇa [12.3.51] also, Śukadeva Gosvāmī directs,\nkaler doṣa-nidhe rājann\nasti hy eko mahān guṇaḥ\nkīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya\nmukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet\n“Although in this age there are so many faults – it is truly an ocean of faults – still, there is one very great advantage: simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, one becomes fully purified and is liberated from all material miseries.” So this smṛti injunction we should take up, and actually we see all over the world how it is purifying all sections of people. Take to this chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa; then śruti, smṛti, everything will be fulfilled. This is the easiest method. Kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet: chant the Lord’s holy name and you’ll be liberated.",
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"content": "\n So the śrutis are eternally relevant and constant?",
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"content": "\n Yes, everything is based on the śrutis. As the Vedānta-sūtra says, anāvṛttiḥ śabdāt: simply by chanting the Lord’s names and instructions – His sound vibration – one becomes spiritually realized. Śabda brahman means “spiritual sound vibration,” and as the Vedānta-sūtra instructs us, by chanting this spiritual sound vibration – the instructions and holy name of the Lord – one can become liberated.",
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"content": "\n Also, the smṛtis are directly based on the original śrutis?",
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"content": "\n Yes, for instance, Bhagavad-gītā is considered smṛti. And Bhagavad-gītā also says, satatāṁ kīrtayanto māṁ yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ: “Fully endeavoring with determination, the great souls are always chanting My glories.” And as the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, which is also considered smṛti, explains: śruti-smṛti-purāṇādi – the great devotees heed both the śrutis and the smṛtis. Another smṛti, Bṛhan-nāradīya Purāṇa, enjoins, harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam: “In this age of quarrel, the only way to realize the Lord is to chant His holy name, chant His holy name, chant His holy name.” So because He was in the role of a great devotee, Lord Caitanya followed these injunctions of śruti and smṛti. Kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam. Kṛṣṇaṁ varṇayati: Lord Caitanya was always chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. These examples are evidence that the smṛtis are directly based on the śrutis. So introduce this Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. Everyone will be purified.",
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"content": "\n Is smṛti more than just rules of conduct?",
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"content": "\n Yes. Here is what smṛti means:\nThe four original Vedas are considered śruti. But simply by hearing them, one cannot understand fully. Therefore, the smṛtis have explained further. Purayati iti purāṇa: by hearing the Purāṇas and other smṛtis, one makes his understanding complete. The Vedic mantras are not always understood. For instance, the Vedānta, which is śruti, begins with the mantra janmādy asya yataḥ: “The Supreme is that being from whom everything has emanated.” This is very abbreviated. But the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is smṛti, explains, janmādy asya yato ’nvayād itarataś cārtheṣv abhijñāḥ sva-rāt: “The Supreme Being, from whom everything has emanated, is directly and indirectly cognizant of everything and is fully independent.” In this way the smṛti explains the śruti.\nSo whether you take śruti or smṛti, the subject matter is the same. Both śruti and smṛti are spiritual evidence. We cannot do without either of them. As Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī says in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu [1.2.101],\nśruti-smṛti-purāṇādi-\npañcarātra-vidhiṁ vinā\naikāntiki harer bhaktir\nutpātāyaiva kalpate\nYou cannot become purified or actually God conscious without reference to both śruti and smṛti. So as we push on this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, it is not whimsical. It is based on śruti, smṛti, and pañcarātriki-vidhi, the principles of śruti, smṛti, and the Nārada Pañcarātra. Therefore, it is becoming effective",
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"content": "\n Nevertheless, Śrīla Prabhupāda, the question asks, “Do the smṛtis need to be revised according to the changing times?”",
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"content": "\n They cannot be changed.",
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"content": "\n The smṛtis cannot be changed?",
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"content": "\n Nothing can be changed. But according to the time, you have to apply the principles properly. For instance, in Kali-yuga the smṛti order is kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet: to obtain spiritual liberation, one must chant the holy name of the Lord, Hare Kṛṣṇa. So you have to do this. For instance, a doctor may order, “In the morning, take this medicine; in the evening, take that medicine.” It is not a change of the doctor’s orders. It is simply that according to the time, the doctor’s orders call for a particular medicine. But the particular medicine is recommended by the doctor, not by your whims. Śruti and smṛti cannot be changed, but they may recommend a particular process at a particular time. So there must be adherence to both śruti and smṛti – to scriptural authority. You cannot modify.",
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"content": "\n There is no question, then, of – as the magazine puts it – “new smṛti.”",
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"content": "\n No. New smṛti? They may take it as “new smṛti,” but smṛti is smṛti – it is not new. In any spiritual statement you have to give references to śruti and smṛti. Otherwise, it is not valid. There must be veda-pramāṇa, śabda-pramāṇa: evidence from the Vedas and from the explanatory Vedic literature. Otherwise, there is no evidence. Your statement is not valid: you cannot change the original śruti-smṛti. But you have to take their particular recommendation for the particular time, just as Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu did when He urged His followers to heed the injunction of Bṛhan-nāradīya Purāṇa [3.8.126]:\nharer nāma harer nāma\nharer nāmaiva kevalam\nkalau nāsty eva nāsty eva\nnāsty eva gatir anyathā\n“Chant the holy name, chant the holy name, chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. In the present age of quarrel and anxiety, there is no other way to attain God realization, no other way, no other way.” So śruti-smṛti-pramāṇa – citing evidence from the Vedas and the corollary literature – is the only method for making a spiritual statement. You have to take it.",
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{
"content": "\n Can anyone change …",
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{
"content": "\n No!",
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{
"content": "\n … the rules of conduct as described in the smṛtis?",
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"content": "\n Nobody can change them. But these particular rules and regulations in śruti-smṛti are for particular times, particular circumstances. So we have to take these rules and regulations. You cannot change them.",
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{
"content": "\n And who will sanction a particular application for a particular time and place?",
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"content": "\n Yes. This was done by Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya. When he appeared five hundred years ago, he sanctioned the application of śruti-smṛti because He’s a genuine authority. He’s a genuine ācārya. And we are following in the footsteps of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. It is not whimsical. You have to follow the authority in all circumstances.",
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"content": "\n Is this Vedic religion, this sanātana-dharma, so broad that everyone is included?",
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"content": "\n Yes. Sanātana means “eternal.” As Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre: “The living entity within the body is not destroyed when the body is destroyed, because he is eternal.” So that eternality belongs to everyone. Not that the Hindus, after giving up this body, exist, and the Muslims or Christians do not exist. Everyone exists eternally. So sanātana-dharma is meant for everyone.",
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"content": "\n Then is there anyone actually outside of sanātana-dharma?",
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"content": "\n Nobody is actually outside. Everyone is an eternal spirit soul, and therefore everyone is meant for the eternal religion, sanātana-dharma. You may think that you are not an eternal spirit soul, but that is simply illusion. There are so many rascals who think that with the death of the body everything is finished. They may think so, but that is not a fact. Similarly, you may think, “I am not a sanātana-dharmī – a follower of sanātana-dharma – I am a Christian,” but actually you are a sanātana-dharmī. Of course, if you wish to think otherwise, you can. Who can check it?",
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"content": "\n So whether one can be accepted as following sanātana-dharma depends on how one acts?",
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"content": "\n Yes. If one does not act accord to the rules and regulations of sanātana-dharma, that is his business. That’s all.",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/710201l1-allahabad/
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"content": "\n\n...karuṇā-sindho\ndīna-bandho jagat-pate\ngopeśa gopikā-kānta\nrādhā-kānta namo 'stu te\n[\"O my dear Kṛṣṇa, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the cowherd men and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṇī. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.\"]\ntapta-kāñcana-gaurāṅgi\nrādhe vṛndāvaneśvari\nvṛṣabhānu-sute devi\npraṇamāmi hari-priye\n[\"I offer my respects to Rādhārāṇī, whose bodily complexion is like molten gold and who is the Queen of Vṛndāvana. You are the daughter of King Vṛṣabhānu, and You are very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa.\"]\nLadies and Gentleman, we know Kṛṣṇa as Kṛpā-sindhu, the ocean of mercy: he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho. Dīna-bandho, and He is the friend of all submissive spiritual souls. Dīna-bandho. Dīna—this very word is used because we are in this material existence. We are very much puffed up—svalpa-jalā mātrena sapari phora-phorayate. Just like a small fish in the corner of the lake flaps, similarly, we do not know what is our position.\nOur position is very insignificant in this material world. This material world is described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, er, Bhagavad-gītā: ekāṁśena sthito jagat [Bg. 10.42]. This material world is only an insignificant portion of the whole creation. There are innumerable universes; that we get information—yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi [Bs. 5.40]. Jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi. Jagad-aṇḍa means this universe. So there are… Koṭi means innumerable.\nCaitanya Mahāprabhu stated that this universe is just like a mustard seed in the bag of a mustard. Just you cannot count how many mustard seeds are there in a big bag, and this is one of the mustard seeds. Jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi. Koṭi vasudhādi vibhūti-bhinnam [Bs. 5.40], and each universe is impregnated with innumerable planets. So just imagine this world is out of such innumerable planets in one universe. There are innumerable universes, and all together all these universes is considered the material world. There are many description in the śāstras.\nSo out of the innumerable universes, this universe is only an insignificant part, and within this universe there are innumerable planets, out of which this earthly planet is an insignificant portion. And within this earthly planet there are so many countries. So our India is only a portion. And in India there are so many provinces and cities and countries.\nOut of this, Allahabad is very insignificant, and we, what to speak of our position, we are very, very insignificant in the creation of the Lord. But we are puffed up—\"I am God\" We are so much puffed up, our position is so insignificant, but we are puffed up; we speak of that \"I am God\" That is called māyā. That is called māyā: which is not actually fact.\nTherefore Kṛṣṇa, although He is suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ… Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā,\nbhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ\nsarva-loka-maheśvaram\nsuhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ\n[Bg. 5.29]\nHe is friend of everyone. Because He is God, He is friend of everyone, samo 'haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu [Bg. 9.29]. But He is especially inclined to the devotee, ye tu māṁ bhajanti. Therefore Kṛṣṇa's name is Bhaktavatsala. And He is Dīna-bandhu. Bhakta means He is very humble. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says,\ntṛṇād api su-nīcena\ntaror api sahiṣṇunā\namāninā māna-dena\nkīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ\n[Cc. Ādi 17.31]\nHe has advised that one should become humbler than the grass—because we trample over the grass; it does not protest. So humbler than the grass, and tolerant than the tree.\ntṛṇād api su-nīcena\ntaror api sahiṣṇunā\namāninā māna-dena\nkīrtanīyaḥ sadā ...\n[Cc. Ādi 17.31]\nWe should not be puffed up. If we want to make success of our life, then we must revive our eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa. That is the movement of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If we actually want to be happy, there is no happiness, there is no peace, there is no prosperity without Kṛṣṇa. We must know it.\nSo Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, kṛṣṇa-bhakta—niṣkāma, ataeva ‘śānta'. Kṛṣṇa-bhakta, a devotee of Kṛṣṇa, he has no other desire than to serve Kṛṣṇa; therefore he is peaceful.\nkṛṣṇa-bhakta—niṣkāma, ataeva ‘śānta'\nbhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāmī sakali ‘aśānta'\n[Cc. Madhya 19.149]\nBhukti means the materialist; they want to enjoy this material world to the fullest extent. That is called bhukti. They are after money and all that. That's all. That is called bhukti. They are elevating themselves; they are doing pious activities, yajñas, performing yajñas, pious activities—why? They will be elevated to the heavenly planets; they will enjoy more comfortable life, more beautiful wife, more beautiful association. This is karmic. Bhukti—simply for material enjoyment.\nBut they forget, as Śrīmān, my disciple, Devānanda, was speaking, that the problems of janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi [Bg. 13.9], that cannot be solved even if you go to the Brahmaloka. Kṛṣṇa also confirms this: ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna [Bg. 8.16], kṣīṇe puṇye punar martya-lokaṁ viśanti [Bg. 9.21].\nSo anywhere you go, in any planet, either moon planet, sun planet or Brahmaloka, Janaloka, Maharloka—there are innumerable planets, and there are thousands and thousands times better comfortable life if you are elevated to such planets—but you cannot avoid these four principles: janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi. Even if you are born as Brahmā in the Brahmaloka you will have to die.\nWhat is Brahmā? That his life is also calculated in the Bhagavad-gītā:\nsahasra-yuga-paryantam\nahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ\n[Bg. 8.17]\nOur yuga multiplied by one thousand, so that is only twelve hours in Brahmā's life. In that way you make twenty-four hours, you make months, you make years, and such hundred years he lives—but he has to die.\nSo there are many instances, many informations of the Vedic literature you have to learn. But we do not learn. That is our misfortune. In India we have got so many valuable scriptures and Vedic information, but we have neglected. That is our education. We do not know what is our own culture. We are now going to beg from other countries. Our government men, ministers, go: \"Give me rice. Give me wheat. Give me money. Give me soldiers. Give me. Give me.\" But you haven't got anything to give to them?\nThis is Kṛṣṇa culture. If you want to give them, not to be beggar, then take up this Kṛṣṇa conscious movement seriously and give to the whole world. They will receive it with great [indistinct]. And you see the examples how these boys, these frustrated boys. Everyone in the younger generation is frustrated. You see the example: in Calcutta I have talked with so many nationalized boys, similarly nice, educated boys, but they are frustrated; they are desperate.\nSo our university education, our so-called education, is producing only confused, frustrated, desperate generation. So if you want to save yourself, you must take this Kṛṣṇa consciousness very seriously. It is a science, it is authorized, and it is India's gift to the whole world. So I think you shall seriously consider this movement. We are giving as far as possible in these books all the information, and be benefited by this movement.\nThank you very much. [applause]",
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"content": "\n [to tape] Prabhupāda has just spoken at the Government Centre, Pedagogical Institute, Allahabad, on the first of January [sic] 1971. [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/680821sb-montreal/
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"content": "\n[Warped audio]\n\nsarve hy amī vidhi-karās tava sattva-dhāmno\nbrahmādayo vayam iveśa na codvijantaḥ\nkṣemāya bhūtaya utātma-sukhāya cāsya\nvikrīḍitaṁ bhagavato rucirāvatāraiḥ\n[SB 7.9.13]\n[O my Lord, all the demigods, headed by Lord Brahmā, are sincere servants of Your Lordship, who are situated in a transcendental position. Therefore they are not like us [Prahlāda and his father, the demon Hiraṇyakaśipu]. Your appearance in this fearsome form is Your pastime for Your own pleasure. Such an incarnation is always meant for the protection and improvement of the universe.]\nPrahlāda Mahārāja is induced to pray Lord Nṛsiṁha-deva to pacify. He was in violent feature. So he's requesting, \"My dear Lord,\" sarve hy amī vidhi-karās tava sattva-dhāmno, \"now, all these demigods, they are Your assistants, and they are situated in transcendental position.\" Sattva-dhāmno. Sattvaṁ viśuddhaṁ vāsudeva-śabditam.\nOur situation are differently calculated. Not that every one of us is situated on the same platform. On the material platform, we are situated in three different positions: sattva-raja-tama. Sattva means goodness, raja means passion and tama means ignorance or darkness. So, so long we are in the material platform, the highest positional situation is in the modes of goodness.\nSo here it is stated that all these demigods, they are in the modes of goodness. Brahma jānāti iti brāhmaṇa. Modes of goodness means those who are brāhmaṇas. And who are brāhmaṇas? Brahma jānāti: one who knows what is Brahman, or the Absolute Truth, he is called brāhmaṇa. And he is situated in the modes of goodness. The less intelligent, that means those who are less aware of the Absolute Truth, according to the less awareness, the position is different.\nThe first-class position is one who is aware of the Absolute Truth, he is in the goodness. Less than..., less awareness is the kṣatriya, or in the modes of passion. Less awareness is the vaiśyas, the mercantile class of people. They are in the third position. And the śūdra, they are in the fourth position, in the darkness, unawareness.\nAnd again, the degree of unawareness makes more and more abominable condition of life, just like animal life. So here Prahlāda Mahārāja says that \"You have nothing to be disturbed by these people, because they are in the modes of goodness.\" Therefore if we can produce population in the modes of goodness, there will be no problem in this material world even.\nJust like in the Satya-yuga, they were all brāhmaṇas, in the modes of goodness, so there was no trouble. And again, Tretā-yuga, seventy-five percent modes of goodness. In the Dvāpara-yuga, fifty percent, and the Kali-yuga, seventy-five percent calculated to be in the modes of ignorance. Therefore we are feeling so much disturbances in the social condition, in the political condition.\nSo Prahlāda Mahārāja assures that brahmādayo sarve hy amī vidhi-karāḥ [SB 7.9.13]. \n[O my Lord, all the demigods, headed by Lord Brahmā, are sincere servants of Your Lordship, who are situated in a transcendental position. Therefore they are not like us [Prahlāda and his father, the demon Hiraṇyakaśipu]. Your appearance in this fearsome form is Your pastime for Your own pleasure. Such an incarnation is always meant for the protection and improvement of the universe.]\nVidhi-karāḥ means administrators. The demigods are different administrators appointed on behalf of the Supreme Lord. Just like the sun-god, he is also called god, because he is godly. So he is supplying us heat and light. Similarly, there is Indra; he is supplying us water. Candra is supplying us moonlight. Varuna is supplying us air. So there are different controllers. Don't think that there is no controller. There is controller.\nIn the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram [Bg. 9.10]:\n[This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kuntī, and it is producing all moving and unmoving beings. By its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.]\n\"All these natural rules and regulations, they are being conducted under My superintendence.\"\nIt is foolishness to understand that there is no director or no supreme controller or superintendent in these affairs. This is scanty explanation, that \"Nature is doing.\" No. Nature cannot do. Nature is dull. Nothing can move without spiritual touch. Matter is dull. A stone, however great it may be, without touch of a spiritual individual soul, the stone cannot move.\nSo similarly, the whole gigantic material cosmic manifestation is being moved by the spiritual touch, and there are different departments, and they are called vidhi-karāḥ. Vidhi means regulative, and karāḥ means the performer. So he says, sarve hy amī vidhi-karās tava sattva-dhāmno brahmādayo [SB 7.9.13]. And he specifically mentions now brahma adayo: headed by Lord Brahmā. Brahmā is considered to be the head of all demigods.\nSo brahmādayo vayam iveśa na codvijantaḥ. Vayam iva. He is taking the part of his father. He's born of a father, a first-class atheist. So he is taking the side of his father, although he's more than Brahmā. Because Brahmā could not pacify the Lord. Brahmā requested Prahlāda, \"My dear boy, the Lord has appeared to mitigate your trouble; so you try to pacify Him. We have failed.\" But just see. This is the behavior of Vaiṣṇava. He is the prominent personality in that assembly.\nStill, he says that \"All these demigods, they are not like us, disturbing. I am born of atheistic father. Our family, our community, our society\"—vayam, vayam means \"we\"—\"our society, country, family, they're all disturbing.\" Prahlāda Mahārāja says, \"We are all disturbing because we are atheistic.\" In other words, the more the population is atheistic, the more disturbance in the society.\nSo he says that these demigods... As I explained the other day, there are two classes of men everywhere: one godly and the other atheist. The atheistic are always disturbing, and godly persons, they're peaceful; they're not disturbing. Whenever we'll find disturbance, you must know there is atheistic population. And peaceful country or a godly persons, they are never disturbing.\nSo Prahlāda Mahārāja takes the side of the atheistic population because he was born of atheistic father, and he recommends that \"These brahmādayo, these demigods headed by Brahmā,\" he īśa, \"my dear Lord,\" vayam iva, \"just like us,\" na ca udvijantaḥ, \"they are not disturbing. They are very peaceful.\"\nSo they do not know the peace formula. They are creating atheistic population and they want peace. How it is possible? Just like I remember in a..., I read in a paper that Archbishop of Canterbury, he said in a lecture that \"You want kingdom of God without God.\" So similarly, the world is after peace. There are so many associations, societies, United Nation. They are after peace, but they are all groups of atheistic people.\nTherefore the members of the United Nation, they are themselves fighting some way or other. How there can be peace, because they are themselves disturbing? How they can be in peace? You cannot expect any peace in atheistic society or animalistic society. So they must be made godly, God conscious, Kṛṣṇa conscious. Then there will be peace.\nGod conscious and atheistic people, what is the difference? The difference is that atheistic person thinks \"my,\" everything \"my.\" \"I am the lord of all I survey. I am the king. I am the leader. I am everything, and everything belongs to me.\" This is atheistic temperament. And godly persons? They think everything God's. That is the difference. The thing is there. Take anything—your country, your home, your wealth, anything—as soon as you say \"It is mine,\" then it is atheistic. And as soon as you say \"It is God's,\" then you are godly. You are there; the things are there. Simply change of consciousness. That's all. Simply change of consciousness.\nJust like in India, twenty years ago, say, in 1947, we were under the British rule. Now, what is the independence? Independence means they're thinking that \"I'm not in British rule.\" That's all. The government is the same: the clerk, the minister, the secretary, the government house, the administrative, I mean to say, process—everything is there. Simply a change of consciousness. A change of rubber stamp. That's all. Formerly the rubber stamp was \"His Majesty's Government,\" and now the rubber stamp is \"Indian Government.\" That's all.\nSo Kṛṣṇa consciousness does not mean... God consciousness does not mean that you have to revolutionize everything. No. Simply you have to change. And actually that is the fact. When I think it is God's... Say, for my country. I am claiming now \"my country,\" but actually it is not my country. Everything God's. Who has created this country, this vast land, the sky, the sea, the ocean? I have not created. So how can I claim that this is mine? I have come empty-handed from the womb of my mother, and I shall go empty-handed. So why do I claim it is mine?\nSo this is ignorance. Actually, I am claiming others' property as mine. This is atheistic. Just like thieves. It is... Bhagavad-gītā it is said, stena eva sa ucyate [Bg. 3.12]. \n[In charge of the various necessities of life, the demigods, being satisfied by the performance of yajña [sacrifice], supply all necessities to man. But he who enjoys these gifts, without offering them to the demigods in return, is certainly a thief.]\nStena eva sa ucyate. One who thinks that \"The world belongs to me or \"to my nation\" or \"to my family\" or \"to my community,\" he is thief. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam [Īśo mantra 1].\n[Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong.]\nThe Vedic literature informs us that everything belongs to Īśa, God. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvaṁ yad kiñcit jagatyāṁ jagat. And by Him it is going on: the Supreme Spirit. In the Bhagavad-gītā also it is said, yayedam dhāryate jagat [Bg. 7.5].\n[Besides this inferior nature, O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is a superior energy of Mine, which are all living entities who are struggling with material nature and are sustaining the universe.]\nJust like what is the value of this city of Montreal? Because there are so many living entities. That's all. If the all men and women immediately becomes dead, what is the value of this city? Is there any value of the matter? No. Because the living entities, the living force, is there, therefore the city has value, the land has value. Suppose if everyone was dead, what was the value of this apartment? Nobody would come and ask for rent. Valueless.\nSo we have to understand that behind every value there is spirit, Supreme. And the Supreme Spirit is the real value. So Vedic instruction is īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam [Īśo mantra 1]:\n[Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong.]\n\"Everything belongs to God.\" The world is moving due to that Supreme Spirit or the small spirit. We are small spirit, and God is Supreme Spirit. So we are changing... We are under Him. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām [Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13].\n[The Supreme Lord is eternal and the living beings are eternal. The Supreme Lord is cognizant and the living beings are cognizant. The difference is that the Supreme Lord is supplying all the necessities of life for the many other living entities.]\nWe are under His control. So we are also moving; we are also creating. But He is the greatest creator, He's the greatest mover. God is great; we are small. Actually, it belongs to the great. Yat kiñcid jagatyaṁ jagat tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā [Īśo mantra 1]. Therefore tena. Tena means \"therefore.\" Tyaktena bhuñjīthā. Tyaktena bhuñjīthā means tyakta. Tyakta means \"sacrificing.\" Because it is God's, therefore you must go to the God. That mentality is Kṛṣṇa conscious.\nJust like suppose in this room there is one note, hundred dollars. Somebody finds: \"Here is a hundred dollar note.\" Now, it belongs to somebody. It has fallen some way. Somebody has lost. So how to utilize this hundred dollar found by me? If I take it in my pocket, then I am thief. And if I neglect it, somebody may take it away; it is misused. The best use is to find out the man, the owner, and hand it over to him. That is the best use. Similarly, if everything belongs to God, if I want to occupy it by force, I am thief. Stena eva sa ucyate [Bg. 3.12].\n[In charge of the various necessities of life, the demigods, being satisfied by the performance of yajña [sacrifice], supply all necessities to man. But he who enjoys these gifts, without offering them to the demigods in return, is certainly a thief.]\nEvery one of us who is trying to occupy some portion of land, country, in the name of \"It is my country,\" and fighting, both of them, they are thieves, because that land does not belong to anyone. No nation. It belongs to God. If we can understand, if the United Nation passed resolution that \"The whole planet belongs to God; we are sons of God, so let us live peacefully as sons of God,\" oh, there is no quarrel. But that they will never understand. They'll simply try to divide.\nJust like some gangs of thieves, they have stolen some property. Now they have come out, and they're dividing, and one of them is asking, \"My dear brothers, let us divide piously. Let us divide piously.\" [laughs] Nonsense. The whole property is impious. So what is the meaning of your piously divided?\nJust like in India, nonvegetarian diet, according to Vedic system, it is condemned. Nobody can eat any meat. But now they have learned how to eat meat, they are doing that. So somebody is saying, \"Yes, today I have cooked meat, but in the Ganges water.\" Ganges water is considered to be pious. So he thinks by cooking meat in the Ganges water, it has become purified. You see? This is our mentality.\nWe are bent upon doing all nonsense, and we want to get it supported by religious cover. Just like recently, the Christian world, they wanted support from the Pope of contraceptive method. That contraceptive method is condemned, but they want to be supported by the religious head. \"If you don't support, then you are not good man. And if you support my nonsense, then you are very good man.\"\nJust like that Maharshi came here, and he supported that \"Whatever nonsense you like, you do. You simply pay me thirty-five dollars and I give you one mantra, and within six months you become God.\" Oh, he looted your country. And after looting, he said, \"Oh, my mission is failure.\" Because he has got his money, now he'll go.\nThis is going on, because we want to be cheated. Therefore cheaters come and cheat us. And as soon as we say, \"No. Everything belongs to God, my dear friend. You don't claim anything as yours. Because it belongs to God, or Kṛṣṇa, you employ everything for His service\"—\"Swāmījī is very conservative.\" You see? So actually, it is the fact.\nSo brahmādaya. Prahlāda Mahārāja says that \"These demigods, they are not disturbing like that.\" Brahmādaya. Brahmādaya vayam means \"We are disturbing because we are atheistic. We do not accept God. My father never accepted God, and he wanted to teach me that there is no God. So I refused my father's teaching. So he tortured me so much.\" Still, he is taking his father's side.\nNow we have to study this fact, that a Vaiṣṇava is never proud of his assessment. He'll never think, \"Because I am Kṛṣṇa conscious, so I have become so great.\" No. He thinks always very humble and meek. This is the example. Just like Haridāsa Ṭhākura: He was so powerful devotee that Lord Caitanya used to come daily at his place. But he was thinking, \"Oh, I am born in Muhammadan family, so I cannot enter into Jagannātha temple.\"\nSimilarly Sanātana Gosvāmī, he was also not entering the temple of Jagannātha. That does not mean that they were lower than somebody else. No. But it is the, I mean to say, general tendency of a devotee that he always thinks that \"I am lower than the lowest. Lower than the lowest.\"\nPurīṣera kīṭa haite muñi se laghiṣṭha [Cc. Ādi 5.205].\n[I am more sinful than Jagāi and Mādhāi and even lower than the worms in the stool.]\nKṛṣṇa dāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī, the author of a literature, Caitanya-caritāmṛta, unique in the world, he said that \"I am lower than the worm in the stool.\" Purīṣera kīṭa haite. Purīṣa means stool, and kīṭa means worms. There are some worms in the stool. So he said that \"I am lower than that worm in the stool.\" Just see.\nSimilarly, Prahlāda Mahārāja says, \"My dear Lord, these demigods, they are all devotees. They are Your obedient servant, sattva-dhāmno. And they are not like us, disturbing.\" Kṣemāya bhūtaya utātma-sukhāya cāsya vikrīḍitaṁ bhagavato rucirāvatāraiḥ [SB 7.9.13].\n[O my Lord, all the demigods, headed by Lord Brahmā, are sincere servants of Your Lordship, who are situated in a transcendental position. Therefore they are not like us [Prahlāda and his father, the demon Hiraṇyakaśipu]. Your appearance in this fearsome form is Your pastime for Your own pleasure. Such an incarnation is always meant for the protection and improvement of the universe.]\n\"And Your appearance as Nṛsiṁha-deva is not for me, but for them. Because I am born in atheistic family. It is Your determination that You want to cut down the atheistic people. So it is automatically You have cut down, You have killed my father. But Your real business was to protect these demigods, Your devotees.\"\nIn the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām, yuge yuge sambhavāmi [Bg. 4.8]. \n[In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium.]\nDharma saṁsthāpanārthāya yuge yuge sambhavāmi. So the Lord appears with two missions. Paritrāṇāya sādhūnām: just to rescue the devotees, or the persons in goodness, sādhu. Sādhu... There is description, definition of who is a sādhu. Sādhu means saintly person. In French language, I think it is called saint? Saint? But actually the \"saint\" is in Sanskrit language also. Santa. Santa. Santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti [Bs. 5.38].\n[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is Śyāmasundara, Kṛṣṇa Himself with inconceivable innumerable attributes, whom the pure devotees see in their heart of hearts with the eye of devotion tinged with the salve of love.]\nIn Sanskrit language the saintly persons are called santa. Maybe it is Latin derivative, because in Latin there are many words resembling Sanskrit. And Professor Rowe, a great English scholar in India, an Englishman, professor in Presidency College, he wrote one grammar, English grammar. In our childhood we had to read. He has stated that \"Sanskrit is the mother of all languages.\"\nAnyway... So when God appears, incarnates, descends, His business is to protect the devotees, paritrāṇāya sādhūnām. That is His first business. Vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām [Bg. 4.8]:\n[In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium.]\nAnd to kill the unfaithful, miscreants. For them, God does not require to come Himself. But side by side, He does so. If God likes, He can kill thousands of miscreants by one stroke.\nSo that business does not depend on Him, that He would come to kill a demonic person. The real business is to protect the devotees, the faithful. Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja says, kṣemāya bhūtaya utātma-sukhāya cāsya vikrīḍitam: \"Actually, You have appeared for these persons, to protect them, for their happiness,\" sukhāya, \"and for their elevation.\"\nJust like Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, or Vedic literature, or any scripture. For whom they are meant? Those who are godly, for their elevation, so that they can elevate more and more. It is not for the atheistic persons. They do not believe in God. So Bible or Bhagavad-gītā or Śrīmad-Bhāgavata, they are not meant for the atheistic person. So whatever auspicious things are in the world, they are meant for the faithful, not for the atheistic person.\nThank you. Any questions? [break]",
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"content": "\n ...from the modes of ignorance to the modes of passion to the modes of goodness is a very gradual process?\n[Warped audio]",
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"content": "\n Why gradual? You can immediately transcend all the processes by becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious. Immediately.\nmāṁ ca vyabhicāriṇi\nbhakti yogena yaḥ sevate\nsa guṇān samatītyaitān\nbrahma-bhūyāya kalpate\n[Bg. 14.26]\n[One who engages in full devotional service, who does not fall down in any circumstance, at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus comes to the level of Brahman.]\nIn the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, the Lord says, \"Anyone who is engaged in unalloyed devotional service unto Me, so he is transcendental.\" Sa guṇān samatītyaitān. Guṇān means these modes, different modes—modes of ignorance, modes of passion, modes of goodness. Goodness is also material. That is not spiritual. If you become very good moralist or very religious, following all the rules and regulation, that is good but that is not spiritual. Spiritually, far above. So one... We have to transcend the position of worldly goodness.\nSomebody asked me this question, \"Swāmījī, if a person is moral and dutiful and benevolent, all the good qualification, so what is the use of worshiping God?\" My reply was that anyone who is not God conscious or Kṛṣṇa conscious, he cannot be good, cannot be moral. It is not possible. Harāv abhakta... I am not manufacturing this. This is the statement of Śrīmad-Bhagavatam. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇa mano-rathenāsati dhāvato bahiḥ [SB 5.18.12].\n[All the demigods and their exalted qualities, such as religion, knowledge and renunciation, become manifest in the body of one who has developed unalloyed devotion for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva. On the other hand, a person devoid of devotional service and engaged in material activities has no good qualities. Even if he is adept at the practice of mystic yoga or the honest endeavor of maintaining his family and relatives, he must be driven by his own mental speculations and must engage in the service of the Lord's external energy. How can there be any good qualities in such a man?]\nSo take for example that our, in our country, Mahatma Gandhi, he was considered to be a very good man...\n[break] ...religiosity. They may be good, but they are not ultimate good. The ultimate good is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is good for you and good for all. Anyone who is in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he is good in this sense, because he is in transcendental position, and whatever he speaks, because he speaks about God, therefore speaking is not adulterated.\nSo this position, as soon as you take it a principle of your life, that \"I shall simply be engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service, or God's service. I shall talk about Kṛṣṇa, I shall work for Kṛṣṇa, I shall write for Kṛṣṇa, I shall read for Kṛṣṇa. Everything for Kṛṣṇa,\" that is the transcendental position beyond goodness, better than goodness. So one can be situated in this position immediately by surrendering to Kṛṣṇa. It is not very difficult.\nYes, what is your...?",
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"content": "\n All right. You answered my question. Thank you very much for answering my question. You said that... I asked you what goodness was, Swāmījī, and you said goodness was knowledge.",
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"content": "\n Yes.",
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"content": "\n Now could you explain what you meant by knowledge? What? Spiritual knowledge or...?",
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"content": "\n No. First of all what is knowledge?",
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"content": "\n Knowledge is material.",
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"content": "\n Knowledge means that you must know what you are. This is knowledge. If you don't know what you are, then what is the meaning of your knowledge? So real knowledge means that ahaṁ brahmāsmi: \"I am not matter, I am a spirit soul.\" That is real knowledge. On the basis of this real knowledge, whatever is done, that is done in knowledge; otherwise it is done in ignorance. That is the difference. Knowledge and difference.\nKnowledge is not that you have to get degrees from the university, big, big degrees. No. Real knowledge is that \"I am...,\" ahaṁ brahmāsmi, \"I am spirit soul.\" If one has realized this one word only, then he is knowledge. He's in knowledge. One who has not realized this thing, he's in ignorance. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke [SB 10.84.13].\n[One who identifies his self as the inert body composed of mucus, bile and air, who assumes his wife and family are permanently his own, who thinks an earthen image or the land of his birth is worshipable, or who sees a place of pilgrimage as merely the water there, but who never identifies himself with, feels kinship with, worships or even visits those who are wise in spiritual truth—such a person is no better than a cow or an ass.]\nAnyone who has accepted this body, which is made of three elements, sva-dhiḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma-ijya-dhīḥ, and therefore accepted the bodily productions as his own or the place or the land where this body is produced is worshipable... There are so many other things. Naturally, at the present moment, knowledge means that \"This is my country.\" \"I am American,\" \"I am Indian,\" \"I am Chinese.\" Why? \"Because my body is produced from this land.\"\nSo this is ignorance. Your body... Why your body? The cow's body is also produced from this land. Why do you kill? It has got also right. But because he has no knowledge actually, therefore he is trying to protect his body, but he's not protecting the other's body produced from the land. This is want of knowledge. If he has real knowledge that \"I am Brahman, I am spirit,\" then he can see, samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu [Bg. 18.54]:\n[And of all yogīs, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.]\n\"Oh, the spirit. The cow is also spirit soul, the dog is also spirit soul, I am also spirit soul. Otherwise how I am moving?\" The cow is moving, the dog is moving. So,\nvidyā-vinaya-sampanne\nbrāhmaṇe gavi hastini\nśuni caiva śva-pāke ca\npaṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ\n[Bg. 5.18]\n[The humble sage, by virtue of true knowledge, sees with equal vision a learned and gentle brāhmaṇa, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater [outcaste].]\nThis equal vision is possible for a learned man who sees a learned brāhmaṇa, a dog, an elephant, a cow on the same basis. What is that basis? Spiritual understanding.\nSo unless you are in the spiritual platform, the so-called knowledge has no value. That is not knowledge; that is ignorance. So real knowledge means spiritual knowledge, that \"I am Brahman. I am spirit.\" Then,\nbrahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā\nna śocati na kāṅkṣati\nsamaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu\nmad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām\n[Bg. 18.54]\nOther things will follow, and he will be very jolly. This is... A person in knowledge should be in, I mean to say, happiness. That is a sign of knowledge. So one who is in knowledge, he is not disturbed. What was my answer? Huh?\n[break] yad anyat tad ajñānam iti matam. Bhagavad-gītā, Bhagavān said. He has given the definition of knowledge, eight..., eighteen items. You'll find in the Thirteenth Chapter. Ahiṁsā. What is called? There are eighteen items. You'll find in the Thirteenth Chapter. The most important point is māṁ ca vyabhicāreṇa bhakti-yogena sevate [Bg. 14.26].\n[One who engages in full devotional service, who does not fall down in any circumstance, at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus comes to the level of Brahman.]\nThe principal point is to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. That is knowledge. Then all knowledge will come automatically. Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcana [SB 5.18.12].\n[All the demigods and their exalted qualities, such as religion, knowledge and renunciation, become manifest in the body of one who has developed unalloyed devotion for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva. On the other hand, a person devoid of devotional service and engaged in material activities has no good qualities. Even if he is adept at the practice of mystic yoga or the honest endeavor of maintaining his family and relatives, he must be driven by his own mental speculations and must engage in the service of the Lord's external energy. How can there be any good qualities in such a man?]\nIf you take to this knowledge, that Kṛṣṇa, or the Supreme Lord, Absolute Truth, He is eternal master and we are all eternal servitors, this very knowledge will elevate you to other platforms of knowledge. Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcana sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ [SB 5.18.12]. Then all the symptoms of knowledge will automatically manifest in his person. Therefore this is the best process of becoming a man of knowledge, or wise..., wise man. [end]",
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"content": "\n We are teaching people how to love God. It is not our proposition that you are Christian, you become Hindu, or you are Muhammadan, you become Christian, increase our numerical strength. We don't want. We don't want any numerical strength. We want one sincere person who has learned to love God, Kṛṣṇa. That's all.\nI have come to your country with this mission, and if I find one or two boys or girls sincerely have learned how to love God, Kṛṣṇa, then my mission is successful. I'm not after any number of... Because if I can turn one soul to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he'll do tremendous work, because he'll be fire. You see? He can do tremendous work.\nEkaś candras tamo hanti na ca taraḥ sahasrasaḥ [Cāṇakya Paṇḍita].\n[\"If you keep one moon in the sky, that is sufficient for light. What is the use of millions of stars?\"]\nOne moon is complete to drive away the darkness of night. Not millions of stars required. What these millions of stars can do? One moon is sufficient. So our propaganda is to create one moon. You see?\nBut fortunately, by Kṛṣṇa's grace, many moonlike boys and girls have come to me. You see? Many moons. [chuckles] I was thinking of having only one moon, but Kṛṣṇa... I am hopeful that there are many moons, and in future they'll be doing very nice.\nThis is para-upakāra. To spread this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is the best service to the humanity. Please try to understand this. It is not a bluffing thing. To love God, premā pumartho mahān... [Caitanya-manjusa]\n[“The most important thing is how to love God.”]\nCaitanya Mahāprabhu said that the highest achievement in the human form of life is to attain perfectional stage to love God. That is the highest. Not dharmārtha-kāma-mokṣa [SB 4.8.41, Cc. Ādi 1.90].\n[Any person who desires the fruits of the four principles religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and, at the end, liberation, should engage himself in the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for worship of His lotus feet yields the fulfillment of all of these.]\nPeople are after becoming religious person or economically very well situated person or desiring all facilities for sense gratification. And when one is frustrated in all these attempts, he wants to become God. You see? By meditation, he wants to become God. You see? God is not so cheap thing that simply by meditation one can become God. People do not know what is God; therefore they accept.\nJust in Los Angeles airport, one boy was asking..., some person in your country is declaring himself as God, Meher Baba. So he asked him..., asked me, \"Whether you accept Meher Baba as incarnation?\" So I asked him, \"What do you mean by incarnation?\" So he replied that because Kṛṣṇa or God is everyone's heart, therefore everyone is incarnation. Then he... I said, \"Then what is difficulty? Then we are all incarnation. What is the specific quality of Meher Baba?\"\nBecause īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati [Bg. 18.61], the Lord is situated in everyone's heart.\n[The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy.]\nThe Lord is situated in the heart of cats and dogs also. Sarva-bhūtānām. Sarva-bhūtānām means all living entities. It is not that God is not situated in the cat's heart or dog's heart. He is there. Therefore he is also incarnation, if that is the formula.\nThese impersonalists... Because... Just like in Ramakrishna Mission, they say, \"Because Nārāyaṇa is in everyone's heart, therefore everyone is Nārāyaṇa.\" This is not very good logic. Even Nārāyaṇa, or God, He is omnipotent, omnipresent, He can be present everywhere, that does not mean everyone is God. This is not very good logic.\nAnyway, then when I asked him that \"If everyone is incarnation, then what is the speciality of Meher Baba?\" Then, \"He knows more than others.\" Then next reply is that somebody may be more than Meher Baba. So if you go on searching like that, you will find Kṛṣṇa. Nobody is greater than Kṛṣṇa.\nTherefore He is the Supreme. By logic. You go on by logic. If everyone is incarnation, and if everyone..., out of many, one who is still more advanced, he is accepted as God, then you have to search more—if there is any other person who is greater than that person.\nThat has been searched in Vedic literature by Lord Brahmā, and he says, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ [Bs. 5.1]\n[Kṛṣṇa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.]\n\"We have searched out all types of gods—all types of gods—but the Supreme God is Kṛṣṇa.\" \"Everyone is God,\" that's nice. But there is bigger God and little God also. So if you go on searching after bigger God, bigger God, bigger God, when you come to Kṛṣṇa you'll find nobody bigger than Him. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ [Bs. 5.1]. Mattaḥ parataraṁ nasti. In the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find, Kṛṣṇa says that \"Nobody is greater than Me.\"\nAnd actually when Kṛṣṇa was present on this earth, there was no contemporary who was greater than Kṛṣṇa. Neither even at the present moment, there is anyone who can claim that \"I am greater than Kṛṣṇa.\" In opulence... Greatness in six kinds of opulences: in richness, in reputation, in strength, in beauty, in wisdom and in renunciation.\nIf you analyze, you'll find nobody is greater than Kṛṣṇa even in material richness. Everyone wants to become rich, to have a nice family, nice wife, good bank balance, a nice house. But Kṛṣṇa married 16,108 wives. Is there any history, any instance? And each wife had a palace which did not require any lightning, electricity. It was jewel-bedecked. So at night, by the light of the jewel it was brilliant. You see?\nSo these description are there. And 16,100 palaces. And not only that. Nārada wanted to see how Kṛṣṇa is enjoying His family life, so he entered each and every palace, and he saw Kṛṣṇa is present there with His wife. That means He was enjoying, expanding Himself in 16,000. Not that one wife is lamenting, \"Oh, my husband is not here. He is in that apartment or that palace.\" No.\nShe is satisfied that Kṛṣṇa is there. This is called opulence. Compare His opulence. And so much strength is concerned, from when He was a child on the lap of His mother, He killed a great demon, Pūtanā—twelve miles long when she fell down.\nSo God is not created by such artificial meditation. God is God. Just like chemically you cannot produce gold. Gold is gold. Iron is iron. Law of identification. So His opulence, His strength, His reputation... His reputation, taking Kṛṣṇa as a great personality, I don't think any personality in this world is existing who is so reputed as Kṛṣṇa from historical points of view, five thousand years past. You may... \"Kṛṣṇa was Indian. He is famous in India.\" No. Kṛṣṇa is famous in every country all over the world for His Bhagavad-gītā. You'll find Kṛṣṇa's name in the dictionary also.\nSo in reputation nobody can compete, in wealth nobody can compete, in strength nobody can compete, in wisdom... Take Bhagavad-gītā. Such a book of wisdom, knowledge, there is no comparison in the world. Take it philosophically or religiously or any way, there is no comparison. And renunciation... When Kṛṣṇa was present, His Yadu dynasty consisted of many hundreds of thousands' members. And before His departure He finished them and went away. Renunciation.\nSo my request to you all, that don't accept God very cheaply. If you don't like God, that's nice. That's not... Nobody is blaming. But don't accept a false God. That will be great blunder. Don't do that. Try to understand actually what is God. And the man who is claiming, \"I am God,\" whether he has got such qualification? That can be tested by only three..., six things.\nTry—whether he's richest than all the people of his contemporary life. Is he the richest than all? Or is he the strongest man than all? Or is he the most reputed person than all? Or is he most beautiful? Or most wise? You have to test like that. Don't accept cheaply if some rascal comes, \"I am God,\" and \"Yes.\" Don't do that. You test like this.\nTest in six symptoms: wealth, strength, reputation, wisdom, beauty and renunciation. If he excels in all these qualification all other contemporary person, then he's God. Very simple description. If he is God, then who can be richer than him? And who can be stronger than him? These six things, six opulences:\naiśvaryasya samagrasya\nvīryasya yaśasaḥ śriyaḥ\njñāna-vairāgyayoś caiva\nṣaṇṇām iti bhagaṅganā\n[Viṣṇu Purāṇa 6.5.47]\n[Full wealth, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation-these are the six opulences of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.]\nBhagavān... Bhagavān means... Bhaga means fortune. So Bhagavān. Vān means possessing fortune. So these are the symptoms of becoming fortunate: wealthy, strong, wise, beautiful, reputed and, at the same time, renouncer, without any attachment. These things are to be tested. So don't accept cheap God, or don't try to imitate God, \"I am God.\" This is a great, what is called, standard of ignorance. Anyone falsely claiming that \"I am God,\" that is the last snare of māyā, that one is falsely claiming \"God.\"\nSo our students in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, wherever it is possible, try to preach this principle, that God is not so cheap that any rascal can come and claim that \"I am God,\" or anyone can claim as God. This is most foolish claim. Our Vedic literature gives hundreds and thousands of description how God is to be understood. In the Upaniṣad it is stated, eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām [Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13].\n[The Supreme Lord is eternal and the living beings are eternal. The Supreme Lord is cognizant and the living beings are cognizant. The difference is that the Supreme Lord is supplying all the necessities of life for the many other living entities.]\nHe is the chief amongst the living entities. He is the chief amongst the eternals. How He is chief? He is one. God is one. Eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. He is one living entity, supreme living entity, and He is supplying the necessities of all other living entities. That is God—whether He is supplying necessities of all other living entities. Eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān.\nSimilarly, there are many description about God.\nyasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya\njīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ\n[Bs. 5.48]\n[Brahmā and other lords of the mundane worlds, appearing from the pores of hair of Mahā-Viṣṇu, remain alive as long as the duration of one exhalation of the latter [Mahā-Viṣṇu]. I adore the primeval Lord Govinda of whose subjective personality Mahā-Viṣṇu is the portion of portion.]\nJagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ. In each universe there is a chief man, just like Lord Brahmā. Just like in your country the chief man is the president, Mr. Nixon, similarly, in this universe the chief man is Lord Brahmā. And in the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find, Brahmā's age you cannot calculate even, one day. He's living so long a duration of life.\nBut he's not independent. Yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya [Bs. 5.48]. His life, his duration life, although so long, still, it is said that that life is only a breathing period of Lord Mahā-Viṣṇu. Niśvasita-kālam. Just like we are breathing, exhaling and inhaling, coming out and again taking. So when Mahā-Viṣṇu exhales, all the universes coming, and when He inhales, it goes again within. And the duration of Brahma's life you can calculate.\nSo that God, that Mahā-Viṣṇu, is stated He is one portion of the portion of Kṛṣṇa. Yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ viṣṇur mahān [Bs. 5.48]. He is called Mahā-Viṣṇu. Viṣṇur mahān ya sa iha kalā-viśeṣo. This Mahā-Viṣṇu is portion of the portion of Kṛṣṇa. Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. In this way, there are different description of God, how great He is. That greatness cannot be had by any nonsense rascal. You see?\nSo don't be misled in that way. Even you don't take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, don't be misled by cheap Gods. That is our request. God is great, and try to understand how great He is. That description you'll get in Vedic literature sufficiently, how great He is. Don't be satisfied simply by understanding that God is great. That's nice, but as far as possible try to understand how great He is. Then you will not accept any cheap God. Otherwise you'll simply speculate on frog philosophy.\nYou know that frog philosophy? He's calculating the length and breadth of Atlantic Ocean from the small well. Somebody's saying there is Atlantic Ocean, very great, and the frog has never seen the Atlantic Ocean. He is always in the well. He says, \"How great? It is three feet? It may be ten feet?\" \"No, sir, it is very great.\" \"All right. Hundred feet.\" \"No, it is very great.\" \"All right. Thousand feet.\" So go on. Where is the comparison of Atlantic Ocean within the well? [chuckling]\nSo these rascals are calculating, speculating about God, how great He is by three feet, six feet, or ten feet, or hundred feet, thousand feet, like that. But He is greater than all your calculation, all your measurement. Avāṅ-mānasa-gocaraḥ. You cannot calculate how He's great. Simply you accept His greatness and surrender. That's your business. You just calculate yourself. Your infinitesimal identity is very small.\nKeśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadha kalpitasya ca\n[Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 5.9]\n[When the upper point of a hair is divided into one hundred parts and again each of such parts is further divided into one hundred parts, each such part is the measurement of the dimension of the spirit soul.]\nJust divide the tip of your hair ten thousand parts, and that one part is your identification, spiritual measurement.\nSo Caitanya Mahāprabhu therefore says that don't be falsely proud. Just become submissive. Namanta eva. Namanta. Namanta means submissive, meek. Lord Jesus Christ also advised, \"Those who are meek, the kingdom of God is for them.\" Is it not? So that's very nice qualification, to become humble and meek. Don't try to imitate falsely, \"I am God.\" That is simply rascaldom.\nSo Caitanya Mahāprabhu also advised that jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva. Giving up the false speculation of understanding God in your calculation, just become humble and meek.\njñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva\nsan-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām\n[SB 10.14.3]\n[Those who, even while remaining situated in their established social positions, throw away the process of speculative knowledge and with their body, words and mind offer all respects to descriptions of Your personality and activities, dedicating their lives to these narrations, which are vibrated by You personally and by Your pure devotees, certainly conquer Your Lordship, although You are otherwise unconquerable by anyone within the three worlds.]\nAnd try to hear about God from realized souls—from Kṛṣṇa or His bona fide representative. That is very nice qualification. Simply hear. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhir. In this way you remain in your position, try to understand how great is God through the authoritative sources, and your life will be so successful that one day you'll find God is within your hand. It is so nice thing. Just like you keep a child within your hand, just Mother Yaśodā kept Kṛṣṇa within his [her] arms always, you'll also have a similar position simply by hearing about Him.\nSo this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is for giving chance to everyone, hearing about God, Kṛṣṇa. This kṛṣṇa-kīrtana, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, is the beginning. And in that Hare Kṛṣṇa, hearing is everything. Then we speak something from Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Upaniṣad\n—\nmany hundred and thousands of books we have got.\nEven he, our Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, one cannot finish reading in one life, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is so great. Our project is for sixty volumes. So these sixty volumes, it will be very difficult for any person to read it carefully throughout the whole life.\nSo there is so much information about God that... But it is possible to understand Him if you associate with pure devotee of the Lord. Then svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ [Cc. Madhya 17.136], then God will reveal Himself.\n[“’Therefore material senses cannot appreciate Kṛṣṇa’s holy name, form, qualities and pastimes. When a conditioned soul is awakened to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and renders service by using his tongue to chant the Lord’s holy name and taste the remnants of the Lord’s food, the tongue is purified, and one gradually comes to understand who Kṛṣṇa really is.’]\nHe is sitting within everyone's heart, and as soon as He sees that one is very sincere and \"He's trying to understand Me,\" then He will teach you from within and you'll understand. Even without reading book, by His grace you will understand.\nBut anything we should not claim falsely. We should be very sincere and serious to understand God. Then God will help us. God is within everyone's heart. There is no difficulty. That is our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.\nSo I'm very glad that you are all coming to our this center. And these boys are trying to convince you in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Please try to cooperate with us so that we may be encouraged also.\nThank you very much.",
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"content": "\nHare Kṛṣṇa.",
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"content": "\n So we shall go now to the apartment? Hare Kṛṣṇa.\n[devotees offer obeisances]\nThis way? My shoe is there.",
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"content": "\n Oh, would you like to go through the [indistinct] store?",
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"content": "\nI have seen it. My shoe is there.",
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"content": "\n I'll get your shoes.\n[indistinct background comments by devotees] [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/710804bg-london/
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"content": "\n\nom ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā\ncakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave-namaḥ\n[\"I offer my respectful obeisances unto my spiritual master, who with the torchlight of knowledge has opened my eyes, which were blinded by the darkness of ignorance.\"]\nśrī-caitanya-mano-'bhīṣṭaṁ sthāpitaṁ yena bhū-tale\nsvayaṁ rūpaḥ kadā mahyaṁ dadāti sva-padāntikam\n[\"When will Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī Prabhupāda, who has established within this material world the mission to fulfill the desire of Lord Caitanya, give me shelter under his lotus feet?\"]\nvande 'haṁ śrī-guroḥ śrī-yuta-pada-kamalaṁ śrī-gurūn vaiṣṇavāṁś ca\nśrī-rūpaṁ sāgrajātaṁ saha-gaṇa-raghunāthānvitaṁ taṁ sa-jīvam\nsādvaitaṁ sāvadhūtaṁ parijana-sahitaṁ kṛṣṇa-caitanya-devaṁ\nśrī-rādhā-kṛṣṇa-pādān saha-gaṇa-lalitā-śrī-viśākhānvitāṁś ca\n[\"I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of my spiritual master and of all the other preceptors on the path of devotional service. I offer my respectful obeisances unto all the Vaiṣṇavas and unto the six Gosvāmīs, including Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī, Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, Jīva Gosvāmī and their associates. I offer my respectful obeisances unto Śrī Advaita Ācārya Prabhu, Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and all His devotees, headed by Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura. I then offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and all the gopīs, headed by Lalitā and Viśākhā.\"]\n[aside] You can take. All right.\nhe kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho dīna-bandho jagat-pate\ngopeśa gopikā-kānta rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te\n[\"O my dear Kṛṣṇa, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the cowherd men and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṇī. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.\"]\ntapta-kāñcana-gaurāṅgi rādhe vṛndāvaneśvari\nvṛṣabhānu-sute devi praṇamāmi hari-priye\n[\"I offer my respects to Rādhārāṇī, whose bodily complexion is like molten gold and who is the Queen of Vṛndāvana. You are the daughter of King Vṛṣabhānu, and You are very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa.\"]\nvāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca\npatitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ\n[\"I offer my respectful obeisances unto all the Vaiṣṇava devotees of the Lord. They can fulfill the desires of everyone, just like desire trees, and they are full of compassion for the fallen souls.\"]\nmayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha\nyogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ\nasaṁśayaṁ samagraṁ māṁ\nyathā jñāsyasi tac chṛṇu\n[Bg. 7.1]\nKṛṣṇa is speaking to Arjuna that mayy āsakta-manāḥ, \"You have to train your mind to become attached to Me, Kṛṣṇa.\" Actually, that is yoga system. Our mind... Mind has got two business: something accepting and rejecting. That's all. So we have to train our mind in such a way that we become simply attached to Kṛṣṇa. That is called mayy āsakta-manāḥ. Mayi, \"unto Me,\" āsakta, \"attachment,\" manāḥ, \"mind.\" Mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha, \"My dear Arjuna, you just become one of the persons who are attached to Me.\"\nMayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha yogam... This is the yoga. Yuñjan. \"If you execute this yoga...\" Mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ: \"This yoga can be practiced by taking shelter of Me or My representative.\" Not alone. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ. Āśrayaḥ means shelter. Kṛṣṇa says mat. Mat means \"Me.\"\nSo either you take shelter of Kṛṣṇa or you take shelter of a bona fide representative of Kṛṣṇa. Just like if you do a business, either you transact a business in agreement with the proprietor or the proprietor's representative, the business is all right. If the representative of the firm signs that agreement, then even the proprietor does not know, it will be accepted as bona fide agreement. Is it not?\nSo even though you cannot see eye to eye Kṛṣṇa, you can execute this yoga system, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, through the agency of His bona fide representative. Mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha. And how it is? Asaṁśayam. Asaṁśayaṁ samagraṁ mām [Bg. 7.1]. \"By practicing that yoga, you will understand Me, or God,\" asaṁśayam, \"without any doubt.\" Asaṁśayaṁ samagram, \"and in full.\" Not that partially. Yathā jñāsyasi, \"as you can understand.\" Tac chṛṇu, \"Now hear attentively.\" Kṛṣṇa is beginning to speak to Arjuna about this bhakti-yoga system, and He's drawing attention, śṛṇu, \"Please hear attentively.\"\nYesterday there was a question. Somebody—I do not know whether the gentleman is present here—\"Whether you have seen God, or Kṛṣṇa?\" Not only me; everyone has seen Kṛṣṇa. Everyone has seen Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is not that... You can see Kṛṣṇa in this form. He is playing flute and enjoying with Rādhārāṇī. That is His natural picture or natural form. But He has got multi other forms also. If you are not fortunate enough to understand this form, then you can turn your attention to other, many other forms, and you can see Kṛṣṇa.\nActually, we cannot see spirit. Spirit soul even we cannot see. The modern advancement of science, they cannot see even the particle of the spirit. They have no power. Just like I am, you are, we are all spirit souls. We are in this body. But the medical science, after dissection of the body, cannot find out where is the spirit soul. But there is. That's a fact. But you have no instrument or power to see it. In spite of your advancement of so many scientific instrument, you cannot see.\nTherefore in the śāstra it is said, ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ [Cc. Madhya 17.136]. Our these senses are so imperfect that we cannot perceive even what is spirit soul. We cannot see. That's a fact. And we cannot... It is very difficult to perceive also. But you can see also, you can perceive also, by accepting a certain method. That method is called yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ. \"You have to practice this yoga system under My shelter or My representative's shelter. Then you can understand samagram, fully, completely; asaṁśayam, without any doubt.\" That you have to practice.\nAnd that is..., that practice is also not very difficult. Simply one should be serious that \"I want to see God.\" Everyone is seeing God, but he does not know that he's seeing God. That is māyā. There are so many examples. Just like you can... Although you are in this room, you can know that sun is not yet set because you can see your watch and you can understand the sunset time is not yet there. So you can understand perfectly that there is sun in the sky. It is a method. Similarly, you can understand God is there. You have to accept the method.\nIf you accept... That method is recommended here, yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ: \"You have to practice this yoga system under the shelter of Me.\" \"Me\" means... Just like the same example, a business firm signs \"we.\" \"We agree to this point.\" The manager signs, the proprietor signs, he says \"we,\" means \"We, the company, any one of us.\" Similarly, when Kṛṣṇa says mad-āśrayaḥ, \"under My shelter,\" it means that taking shelter of Kṛṣṇa or anyone in the disciplic succession of Kṛṣṇa. The same example: anyone attached to that business transaction, he's as good as the proprietor or the manager.\nSo Kṛṣṇa says, jñānaṁ te 'haṁ sa-vijñānam... The yoga system... Yoga system is a type of knowledge. Jñānam. Jñānam means knowledge. Jñānaṁ te 'haṁ sa-vijñānam idaṁ vakṣyāmy aśeṣataḥ [Bg. 7.2]: \"I'm just trying to explain the knowledge, or the devotional knowledge, or the yoga system, by which you can understand Me perfectly. That I am speaking to you in full knowledge,\" jñānam, and sa-vijñānam, \"with scientific knowledge.\" Not that bogus knowledge. Sa-vijñānam. Vijñānam means science. With scientific knowledge.\nNow, modern days, people are advanced. They like to talk on scientific basis. And here is the Kṛṣṇa's statement: sa-vijñānam, \"with scientific knowledge.\" Vakṣyāmy aśeṣataḥ: \"And I shall explain,\" aśeṣataḥ, \"in full explanation, without any reservation.\" Not that summarily I say something, you do not follow, you do not understand; I finish. No. \"I shall fully explain,\" aśeṣataḥ. Yaj jñātvā, \"\nAnd if you fortunately can understand,\" yaj jñātvā neha bhūyo 'nyaj jñātavyam avaśiṣyate, \"if you understand this science, then you finish your process of acquiring knowledge.\" Every one of us acquiring knowledge. That is called experience, one after another. So Kṛṣṇa says that \"If you understand this science,\" sa-vijñānam, \"then your knowledge will be complete. You have nothing to hanker after any further knowledge. Knowledge is complete.\"\nThat is also Vedic injunction. Yasmin vijñāte sarvam idaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavati [Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.3]. Yasmin vijñāte, if you can understand the supreme knowledge, the Supreme, then sarvam idaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavati, everything becomes known to you. Just like in arithmetic, if you simply learn 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, then you learned all the arithmetic process. Because in the arithmetic there is nothing but 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6... That's all. Whatever you see, big, big calculation, that is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9... That's all. Similarly, if you simply understand Kṛṣṇa, then you'll see the whole arithmetic, whole world, whole universe is full of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That's all.\nTherefore in the Bhagavad-gītā you'll see that bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate [Bg. 7.19]. When actually one becomes wise, full of wisdom, jñānavān... How? After many, many births of speculation and calculation, when he actually becomes... Just like the same example. A very expert mathematician, he sees the whole mathematic, arithmetic, is full of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6... That's all.\nSo actually when one is in knowledge, then he can see Kṛṣṇa everywhere. Not that... Those who are in the lowest stage, they think that Kṛṣṇa is here in the temple and not anywhere else. That is the lowest stage of understanding Kṛṣṇa. But the highest stage of understanding Kṛṣṇa: the Kṛṣṇa conscious person sees everywhere Kṛṣṇa, even within the atom. Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham [Bs. 5.35]. Kṛṣṇa can be found within this universe, in everyone, as well as in the atoms also, within the atoms. Samagram.\nBut this knowledge is little difficult. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye [Bg. 7.3]. Out of many millions of human beings, one becomes interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or God consciousness. When I speak \"Kṛṣṇa,\" you should understand \"God.\" So Kṛṣṇa says manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu. Sahasreṣu is plural number, means among thousands and thousands of men, millions and thousands of men, one become interested. Manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye. Siddhaye means perfection. Perfection of life. One should be very cool-headed.\nSo distinction—the human being and animal—the animal does not know what is perfection of life. They are simply interested with four principles of bodily necessities: eating, sleeping, mating and defending. That's all. They have no other inquiries, \"What is the perfection?\" That means that is not possible in that body. In that animal body, cat's and dog's or hog's or elephant, very big body, or tiger, very powerful body, but they cannot inquire what is the perfection of life. That inquiry is possible in the human form of life.\nThe tiger has got body and a man has got body. Tiger may be very powerful, a man may be very weak, but there is a great distinction between this tiger and the man. Because tiger, becoming so powerful, he has no power to understand what he is or what is the perfection of life. But a human being, although he may be very feeble and very weak than the tiger, he has got the developed consciousness to understand what is perfection of life and what he is. That is the distinction.\nSo people are trying to be like tiger. In India, a certain section of people, the Muhammadans, they say that \"We want to be like śera.\" Śera means tiger. And more or less in the Western countries also, everyone is trying to become a tiger, very powerful. But one should be very cool-headed. A tiger is very powerful; a tiger can attack anyone and kill him. That is very good. But what is the use of tiger? Nobody is interested in tiger. Rather, if the tiger comes within the city, immediately it will be shot down, because it has no use. But a humble, meek cow... Of course, here there is no protection of cow, but in India the cow is protected.\nIt is the duty of the human being to give protection to the cow. Just like we offer Kṛṣṇa our obeisances, namo brahmaṇya-devāya go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca: \"Kṛṣṇa, You are worshipable by the brahminical culture, brahmaṇya-devāya,\" not by others, \"because You are go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca, You are well-wisher of the cows and the brāhmaṇas.\" Why Kṛṣṇa is not said tiger? Why this prayer is devoid of tiger? Hitāya ca. Kṛṣṇa is always, I mean to say, thinking how to protect the cows and the brāhmaṇas. When Kṛṣṇa appeared on this planet He became a cowherd boy to give protection to the cows. He was tending cows by His personal example. You will read in the Kṛṣṇa book how He was taking care of the cows. Therefore go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca.\nThe first prayer is that \"You are protector of the cows and the brāhmaṇas.\" Jagad-dhitāya: \"You are well-wisher of the whole universe, but Your special interest is to give protection to the cows and the brāhmaṇas.\" Why that special interest? Because if the human society does not give protection to the cows and does not cultivate the brahminical culture, then it is cats' and dogs' society. Therefore it is given. And as soon as the whole society becomes full of cats and dogs, how can you expect peace and prosperity? The dog's business is \"Gow gow gow gow! Why you have come here? Why you have entered in our neighborhood? Please get out. Please get out.\" Not \"Please\"; \"Get out. Gow.\" [laughter]\nSo we are..., we have cultivated a nice human society that there are all, I mean to say, what is called, dogs. The immigration department: \" Ohhh... Why you have come here? Gow!\" [laughter] \"Yes, sir, I have come here not to harm you. I have to speak something, nice thing.\" \"How long you shall stay?\" [laughter] \"Oh, not more than one month.\" \"All right. I give you...\" [laughter] So immediately watchdog. In every house, \"Beware of dog.\" \"Don't enter. Beware of dog.\" This is human civilization. You see?\nYou cannot enter anyone's house, you cannot enter anyone's country. And if you do... This means this want of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But the Vedic culture says, gṛham śatrum api prāptaṁ viśvastam akuto bhayam. Even if your enemy comes to your home, you should receive him in such a way that he'll forget that you are his enemy.",
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"content": "\n Haribol. Jaya.",
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"content": "\n Gṛham śatrum api prāptam. Śatrum means enemy. If you see that an enemy has come to your house, śatrum ap—śatru means enemy; api, although—you should receive him in such a way that he'll completely believe you that you are his enemy..., you are not his enemy. That was the system.\nIn the Kurukṣetra war, the two brothers, I mean to say, cousin-brothers are fighting. But after finishing the fighting there is no enmity. These people are going to their camp, they are coming, talking or taking lunch. Very friendly. Friendly. There was another fight, between Bhīma and Jarāsandha. The whole day there was fighting. It was decided that one should be killed. That's a fact. The fighting between kṣatriyas, that it will not end unless one of them is killed. That is kṣatriya spirit.\nSo they know... Bhīma and Jarāsandha knew it very well that this fighting is going on until one is dead, one of the belligerent party. But at night Bhīma is the guest of Jarāsandha, eating together, talking friendly. This is brahminical culture. For duty's sake, for some cause, we may fight. That's all right. But that does not mean we shall remain inimical always. Gṛham śatrum api prāptaṁ viśvastam akuto bhayam.\nThere is another example. The fighting was going on between Arjuna and Duryodhana. So Duryodhana criticized the commander-in-chief, Bhīma..., er, Bhīṣmadeva. \"My dear grandfather, you are affectionate to the other parties, my other cousin-brothers; therefore you are not fighting very nicely.\" \"Oh, you think like that, that I'm not fighting very nicely?\" \"Yes.\" Just to enthuse him. Yes. So he said, \"All right. Tomorrow I shall kill all these five brothers. Is that all right?\" \"Yes, that's nice.\" [laughter] \"So I'll keep these five arrows reserved for killing these five brothers.\"\nSo Duryodhana did not believe, that \"He may miss these five arrows,\" but he said, \"My dear grandfather, better I keep these five arrows with me. I shall deliver you tomorrow morning.\" \"All right, you keep it.\" Kṛṣṇa understood. Kṛṣṇa is all-pervading. He immediately said Arjuna, \"Tomorrow you are going to be killed. Be assured.\" Why? \"Now this is the position.\" \"Then what to do?\" \"Now, you go to Duryodhana and take away all those arrows. Otherwise you'll be killed.\"\nSo Arjuna remembered that Duryodhana once promised—Duryodhana was elderly; Arjuna is young, younger brother—that \"My dear brother, I promise, whatever you want I can give you.\" So Duryodhana [Arjuna] said, \"All right. I shall ask you some days later. Not now.\" So Arjuna thought, \"Now this is the opportunity. I shall go and ask Duryodhana to give me those arrows.\"\nSo Arjuna went to the other camp, and immediately Duryodhana received him as his brother: \"My dear brother, you have come? What do you want? You want the kingdom without fighting? Therefore you have come? I can give you. I can stop this fighting if you want without fighting.\" \"No,\" Arjuna said. \"No, I have come for some other purpose.\" \"All right. Whatever you want, you can...\" \"Yes, you some time promised that whatever I want you will give me.\" \"Yes, I am keeping my promise. What you want?\" He said, \"Give me those five arrows.\" [laughter] \"Yes, you take it.\" Immediately. This is kṣatriya spirit. This is brahminical culture. \"Yes, you take it. Promise.\"\nRāmacandra was going to be enthroned, and the stepmother said the same to Daśaratha Mahārāja, that... They were stepmothers, Mahārāja Daśaratha's three wives. So one wife wanted that her son should be king. So immediately she proposed that \"Instead of Rāmacandra, my son should be king.\" Mahārāja Daśaratha said, \"How it can be? It is already arranged. He is the eldest son.\" \"No, you promised sometimes that you will keep your promise and satisfy me. So this is my demand.\" \"So what do you want?\" \"That Rāmacandra should be banished immediately and my son should be enthroned.\" She [he] agreed.\nHe called Rāmacandra, \"This is the demand of Your stepmother. Kindly go to the forest for fourteen years, and Your stepbrother will be king.\" Rāmacandra agreed immediately: \"Yes, that's all right, father.\" This is brahminical culture. Is there any single instance in the history that a king which is going to be enthroned next morning, and by the order of his father immediately he goes away to the forest?\nTherefore there is no harm that we make materially very much advanced—but not like cats and dogs. Take brahminical culture. Then it will be perfect, the whole society. Go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca jagad-dhitāya kṛṣṇāya govindāya... That brahminical culture can be established only by understanding Kṛṣṇa. Without understanding Kṛṣṇa, whatever we do, we shall remain simply animals. That's all.\nSo how the animals can be interested in Kṛṣṇa? That is not possible. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu [Bg. 7.3]: \"Out of many thousands of people.\" Just like we have started this movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, in the Western countries for the last five years, but how many people have come to take to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement? Not very many. We have got about three thousand followers. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that it is not attractive for everyone. But if one is attracted, his life is successful. His life is successful.\nLord Caitanya also says the same thing: brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva. There are many, innumerable living entities. They are wandering within this universe in different forms of body and different planets, transmigrating from one body to another, one planet to another. Ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa, kona... Out of them, if one is fortunate enough to associate with a bona fide spiritual master and Kṛṣṇa, his life becomes successful.\nei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva\nguru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja\n[Cc. Madhya 19.151]\nBīja means seed. As from the seed a big tree come out, similarly, if one is injected with this Kṛṣṇa consciousness understanding, then gradually it will grow into a big tree. And when the fruits will be there, he'll enjoy life.\nSo although this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, God consciousness, yoga system is very easy, still, Kṛṣṇa says that,\nmanuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu\nkaścid yatati siddhaye\nyatatām api siddhānām...\n[Bg. 7.3]\nNot only perfect.Perfection of human consciousness is there when one understands that \"I am not this body; I am spirit soul.\" Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. That is perfection. But if you study scrutinizingly so many men, everyone is bodily conscious.\nIn Moscow I was speaking with a great professor, Kotovsky. He's in charge of Indology department of the government. He said... Although I defeated him in argument, he said that \"After finishing this body, everything is finished.\" Just see. No. The spiritual knowledge begins when one is perfectly aware that \"After finishing this body, I am not finished.\" That is perfection. Not that those who are in this concept of life, that with the finishing of this body everything is finished. That is nonsense.\nNa hanyate hanyamāne śarīre, Kṛṣṇa teaches. Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācin..., nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ purāṇo na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre [Bg. 2.20]. \"This ātmā is never born and he never dies.\" Na jāyate mriyate vā. Nitya, eternal; śāśvata, ever-existing, śāśvata. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre. \"Don't think that because the body is finished, therefore he is finished. No.\"\nIn another place Kṛṣṇa says, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ [Bg. 2.13]. As we are changing body from babyhood to childhood, childhood to boyhood, boyhood to youthhood, youthhood to grown-up and old age—this is our practical experience, I have several times explained—similarly, this old body, when I give it up, I shall accept another body. What is that body? That will be given to you by the laws of nature according to your mentality. As you create your mentality, yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran loke [Bg. 8.6], absorb your thought and mind at the time of death, then you are given a particular type of body, either in the womb of a human being or a cat or a dog or a demigod or a tree or so many.\nThere are 8,400,000's of species of life. If you want the body of a tiger, if you have exercised very nicely to become like a tigerlike, strong, then God will give you next life to become a tiger, actual tiger. \"Why tigerlike? Become a tiger. I give you all facility. Become a tiger.\" So what is the use of getting tiger's life? You know... Perhaps you all know, the tigers cannot get food every day. And naturally, if in the forest there is a tiger, the other animals, they are very careful.\nBut when he's too much hungry God provides him one animal. Because God provides everyone's food, so tiger also must have food. Eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān [Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13]. That one Supreme is maintaining all these living entities. So tiger is also part and parcel of God, and he has got that body. So God is kind even upon the tiger, and what to speak of the devotee.\nSo this human form of life, Kṛṣṇa is stressing on this point, that manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye [Bg. 7.3]. Out of many millions, at least at the present moment, nobody is interested to know what is the perfection of life. They think or one thinks that perfection of life means to enjoy the senses to the best capacity, and as soon as the body is finished, everything finished.\nJust like Professor Kotovsky told: with the body everything is finished. Therefore people are so much anxious to enjoy sensually, because he knows, \"As soon as this body is finished, everything is finished. So let me enjoy.\" This is the misconception, or illusion, or māyā. Body's not finished. You are creating another body. Janmaṇā daiva-netreṇa [SB 3.31.1]. And you'll get another body, karmaṇā, according to your karma.\nTherefore the intelligent person, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante... [Bg. 7.19]. That intelligence comes after many, many births. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān, one who is actually wise. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate. Kṛṣṇa says, \"He surrenders unto Me.\" Why? How he...? Because he's wise. How he's wise? Because he knows, vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ [Bg. 7.19]. He understands that Kṛṣṇa is everything. Not that he's falsely surrendering. He knows that Kṛṣṇa is everything. Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate [Bg. 10.8]. Kṛṣṇa says also that \"I am the root.\" Bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām [Bg. 7.10]. \"I am the root, I am the seed, of everything.\" Therefore, when one becomes actually wise, full of knowledge, then he surrenders to Kṛṣṇa.\nNow, intelligent person, they will see this instruction of Kṛṣṇa, \"Kṛṣṇa says...\" That is our method. Our method of acquiring knowledge is to hear from the authority. That's all. Now, who can be better authority than Kṛṣṇa? The Bhagavad-gītā is a book of authority, is acknowledged in every part of the world. Not that simply Indians or Hindus are interested. Any scholar, any philosopher, throughout the whole world..., any religionist, any scientist. Even Professor Einstein, he was interested in Bhagavad-gītā. He was reading it daily. So wise man means one who understands Kṛṣṇa.\nSo our formula is if one is not God conscious, or Kṛṣṇa conscious, we immediately reject him. We immediately accept that he has no qualification. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇāḥ. One cannot be qualified unless he is God conscious. His all qualities immediately become rejected. \"Why? He has passed M.A., Ph.D. and D.A.C., and he's honored...\" That's all right, but in spite of all his education, he will create simply havoc in the world. That's all.\nharāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇā\n mano-rathenāsati dhāvato bahiḥ\n[SB 5.18.12]\nBecause he is hovering over the mental plane, he'll simply create havoc. His education will be utilized for his sense gratification, and he will not care for anything.\nJust like great scientists have discovered the atom bomb by scientific research. What is the effect? Now, by one drop you can kill many millions of people. That is his advancement of science. \"Oh, why don't you create something that people will not die?\" That is not... \"I can assure death, but I cannot save death. That is not in my power.\" Then what kind of scientist you are? [laughter]\nYou create something, you create some medicine, that \"Take this tablet and no death, no more. At least no disease.\" That is not possible. There is disease, development of different kinds of disease, and they are discovering different kinds of medicine. That is a struggle. That is not scientific improvement. There is one problem before you, and you are creating some antidote. That's all. This is struggle, struggle for existence. This is not scientific advancement.\nBut how one can be stopped from repetition of birth and death? That is here in the Bhagavad-gītā. What is that? Kṛṣṇa says, janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ [Bg. 4.9]. You try to understand Kṛṣṇa only, what is Kṛṣṇa. Janma karma..., yo jānāti tattvataḥ: anyone who knows in truth, not superficially: \"Oh, Kṛṣṇa I know. In the 7..., there is a place, they have got an idol of Kṛṣṇa. They are worshiping. I know everything about Kṛṣṇa.\" Not like that. Try to understand Kṛṣṇa, what He is. He is Kṛṣṇa, undoubtedly, but people want to know actually what is Kṛṣṇa. That we are open.\nSo if one simply understands what is Kṛṣṇa, the result is tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti [Bg. 4.9]. Simply by understanding Kṛṣṇa, there is no more taking birth. Punar janma. If you take birth, then there is death. If you stop your birth, then you can stop your death also. Because birth and death is in relationship with this body. If you don't have a material body, then there is no question of birth, death, old age and disease.\nSo this is the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. People should be interested by hearing the words of Kṛṣṇa. That is intelligence. Kṛṣṇa says that \"In this way you can stop your birth and death process.\" So why don't you do that? Why you are after so many things? If you simply try to understand Kṛṣṇa, and if you perfectly understand, then immediately you can stop your birth and death process. You are eternal. That is intelligence. That is intelligence. Just like Kṛṣṇa says, \"After many, many births, one comes to this conclusion that Kṛṣṇa is everything.\" So why shall I wait for another many births? Why not accept Kṛṣṇa as everything? This is intelligence.\nKṛṣṇa is saying; He's not bluffing. So why not take Kṛṣṇa's word as truth and immediately, mam prapadyate, immediately surrender? \"Kṛṣṇa, I do not know anything. I simply surrender unto You. Please protect me.\" That's all. Finish business. Very simple thing, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Everyone can take. Doesn't require to become very highly, I mean, scientist, philosopher and something like that. Simply accept Kṛṣṇa's words and see the result. And the result is happening also. Those who are accepting Kṛṣṇa in that way and trying their best to please Kṛṣṇa with this human form of life, how much they are happy, how they are enjoying life.\nSo this is practical. So our request is that everyone should try to understand the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement and be happy.\nThank you very much. [break] Yes. Yes. What is that?",
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"content": "\n Why does Kṛṣṇa expanded Himself as māyā?\n[explaining] Why has Kṛṣṇa expanded Himself as māyā?",
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"content": "\n Kṛṣṇa has not extended māyā. You wanted māyā; therefore He has given the facility to enjoy māyā. Just like the government creates the prison department. It is not the government's desire that there must be some prisoners. But you are criminal, therefore there must be prison house. So you create the prison house, not the government. Government creates the university: \"Come there, take education.\"\nMāyā is created by you. As soon as you forget Kṛṣṇa, the māyā is there. Just like there is sunshine and darkness, side by side. If you want to keep yourself in the sunshine, there is no darkness. But if you voluntarily come to the darkness, what the sun will do? Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja [Bg. 18.66]: \"You surrender to Kṛṣṇa.\" But why don't you do it? That is māyā. It is up to you. Therefore you create māyā. Kṛṣṇa does not create.\nA man is hanged. Does it mean that the high-court judge who orders that \"This man should be hanged,\" the high-court judge is enemy of that man he's hanging? No. He has created his situation that he should be hanged. God is very kind to everyone, but we have created situation so that we suffer. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa [SB 3.31.1]—by our own work and under the supervision of the Supreme. Just like in the state you create some criminal activity. Under the supervision of the government you are punished.\nAll right. [break]",
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"content": "\n How do you recognize someone who has already a family and he's working and who wants to progress in Kṛṣṇa consciousness? I mean... Is he..., does he have to give up his job and shave his hair and wear robes?",
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"content": "\n No, no. No. Never. Simply you have to see what you are doing, by such action Kṛṣṇa is satisfied. That's all. You can do anything. The test is... That is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam:\nataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhā\nvarṇāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ\nsvanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya\nsaṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam\n[SB 1.2.13]\nThe example is... Just like Arjuna. Arjuna was a warrior, fighter. So when he proposed that \"I shall not fight. They are my brothers, my grandfathers, my nephews,\" that was his proposal. Kṛṣṇa said, \"Wherefrom you got this nonsense idea? You are in the war field and are denying to fight.\" That means by his nice proposal that \"I shall not fight,\" Kṛṣṇa was not pleased. But after understanding Bhagavad-gītā, when he saw that \"Kṛṣṇa wants this fight,\" \"Yes,\" kariṣye vacanaṁ tava [Bg. 18.73]. That is perfection. So he remained a warrior, and still he became perfect.\nSo everyone can remain in his own occupation, varṇāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ, but one has to see that whether Kṛṣṇa is satisfied. Then whatever he is doing, that is perfect. That is Kṛṣṇa conscious. [applause]",
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"content": "\n Is it possible for any living entity to do something until the Lord hears him?",
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"content": "\n Yes. God sanctions, but you desire. \"Man proposes, God disposes.\" Whatever you desire, if you insist, God will sanction. And without His sanction you cannot do. Therefore your doing something is dependent on God's sanction. But you desire something out of your own will. You are not a stone; you are a living entity. So you can desire anything. So Kṛṣṇa conscious, they do not do anything without Kṛṣṇa's sanction.",
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"content": "\n The Kṛṣṇa consciousness say you cannot do anything unless the Lord desires it.",
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"content": "\n Yes. Not God desires; God sanctions. Don't say like that. Desire is yours, but sanction is God's. Just like you want to do some business. You must take sanction from the government. You take license. You cannot do out of your own will. Similarly, you can desire and propose, \"God, I want to do this,\" and God will sanction.\nSo those who are not Kṛṣṇa conscious, they want. \"I want this. I want this. I want this. I want this.\" Kṛṣṇa says, \"All right. Take this.\" But Kṛṣṇa says that \"You give up all this nonsense.\" That we do not take. Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam [Bg. 18.66]: \"Simply take Me.\" But that we do not do. We ask Kṛṣṇa, \"Please let me do this.\" \"All right, do it.\" Yathecchasi tathā kuru [Bg. 18.63]. Kṛṣṇa inquires from Arjuna after teaching him Bhagavad-gītā, \"Now I have spoken to you everything. What you want to do, you can do.\" That is Kṛṣṇa's proposal.\nKṛṣṇa says that best thing is that you simply take to Kṛṣṇa. But Kṛṣṇa gives you the opportunity, liberty, that \"Whatever you do..., whatever you like, you can do. Now it is your choice\" Just like father, [and] grown-up son. He says, \"My dear boy, you do like this. That is my opinion.\" But when the son says, \"No. I shall do like this,\" \"All right, you do whatever you like.\"\nBut without father's sanction, as the son cannot do anything, similarly, without Kṛṣṇa's sanction you cannot do anything. But the proposal is yours. Therefore this maxim: \"Man proposes, God disposes.\" So God is not responsible for your work. If you act according to the order of God, then He's responsible. And if you act against the will of God, then you are responsible.\nYes?",
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"content": "\n [indistinct]",
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"content": "\n I cannot hear him.",
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"content": "\n [explaining] Is desire..., desire is due to the material contamination, or is it...?",
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"content": "\n Yes. Desire is according to association. You mix with the drunkards, you'll desire to drink. And you mix with us, you'll desire to worship Kṛṣṇa. Therefore we are giving you facility. You associate with us and desire only Kṛṣṇa. That's all. Yes.",
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"content": "\n But why there is so..., there is duality in this world?",
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"content": "\n There is no duality. There is one, Kṛṣṇa. But you have created duality. That is māyā. When you forget Kṛṣṇa, that is duality. When you think that there is something else other than Kṛṣṇa, that is duality. So people are not coming to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is duality. They are thinking that \"We can be happy without Kṛṣṇa.\" That is duality.\nIf they know it perfectly well that \"Kṛṣṇa is one, and therefore my interest is with Kṛṣṇa. My interest should not be different from Kṛṣṇa's interest,\" that is oneness. Just like in a family the head is the father. So if anyone acts according to the head of the family, there is no duality. If some of the members says, \"No. I'll act like this,\" then there is duality. So if every one acts according to the desire of Kṛṣṇa, there is no duality. There is oneness. But we don't act; therefore there is duality. Therefore duality is māyā.\nSo you have question? All right.",
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"content": "\n [indistinct]\n [explaining] If you must have a spiritual body in order to go back home, she asks, is it only with this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and by taking prasāda that we achieve that body?",
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"content": "\n Oh, yes.",
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"content": "\n Haribol! Jaya! Haribol!",
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"content": "\n You chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and eat nice kṛṣṇa-prasādam, you go back to home. Rest assured.",
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"content": "\n Jaya, Prabhupāda!",
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"content": "\n That's all right. It is so nice. And don't you feel how you are becoming nicer and nicer? Practically. The news reporter... One lady in Philadelphia, she saw our students and she was surprised. She inquired, \"Are you Americans?\" So we are creating such devotees that people are becoming surprised how this is possible.\nYes, it is possible by Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is simple method. Simply chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and take kṛṣṇa-prasāda. That's all. Don't require any education, philosophical theorizing. Simply do these two business: chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and take kṛṣṇa-prasāda. And our temple is open for everyone. No fee. No charge. So why do you lose this opportunity?\nYes?",
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"content": "\n Why do some people want to approach Kṛṣṇa in hatred?",
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"content": "\n What is that?",
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"content": "\n Why is that some people want to approach Kṛṣṇa in hatred?",
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"content": "\n Because... Hatred?",
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"content": "\n Yes.",
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"content": "\n That is always. Not today—every day. When Kṛṣṇa was born, there was a Kaṁsa, who was planning how to kill Kṛṣṇa. When Kṛṣṇa was born... You know that? So Kṛṣṇa... To kill Kṛṣṇa... There is a section of men who want to kill Kṛṣṇa always. They are called demons, or rākṣasas. So the rākṣasas... More or less, everyone in this material world are demons. But those who are intelligent, from this demonic life they come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.\nOthers who do not come God consciousness, they remain demons, and their business is just like Kaṁsa, Rāvaṇa—simply making plan how to kill God, or kill Kṛṣṇa. That's all. \"There is no God.\" That is their propaganda. \"I am God.\" That's all. So these demonic elements are always there. You have to do your own business. That's all.",
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"content": "\n Why is there soul and Supersoul in the body when soul is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa?",
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"content": "\n Not \"why.\" It is always there, soul and Supersoul. There is no question of why. But soul and Supersoul, they are qualitatively one. Just like you have got your body. If you say, \"Why there is hand?\" so how can I answer? As soon as there is body, there is hand, there is a leg, there is a mouth. That is the creation.\nThe creation is like that. There is soul and Supersoul. Just like you have got the whole body, and there are parts and parcels of the body, the limbs of the body. That is the beauty of the body. If you simply keep a lump of body, it is not beautiful. Therefore the body should be nicely constructed, and there must be different parts and parcels of body. There is a design.\nBut if simply there is soul, Super, and there is no undersoul, then how Kṛṣṇa becomes ānandamaya? About the Absolute Truth in the Vedānta-sūtra it is said, ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt: \"The Absolute Truth is full of bliss.\" So in order to enjoy bliss there must be Supersoul and undersoul. Otherwise it is not blissful. Is it clear? Yes. There must be. Yes.",
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"content": "\n Swāmījī, in India, among the Bengali society, many people worship demigods and demigoddesses. Now...",
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"content": "\n They have been explained in the Bhagavad-gītā as lost of intelligence. Kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ yajante anya-devatāḥ [Bg. 7.20]. One who does not worship the Supreme Lord but worships demigods or his officer in the office, his boss in the office, like that, but reject God, that person is considered as less intelligent.",
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"content": "\n How they can become God conscious?",
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"content": "\n By taking to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is... Therefore this movement. This movement is to make everyone... Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān [Bg. 7.19]. They have suffered under misconception many, many births, and here is the opportunity that they can stop their birth and death process and take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and go back to home. That's all.",
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"content": "\n Does that means they should not worship these demigods and goddesses?",
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"content": "\n Yes, there is no need.",
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"content": "\n Sarasvatī and Lakṣmī and...",
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"content": "\n There is no need. Just like here. Take practical example. They are not worshiping demigods. How they are advancing? You see practically. And what the Sarasvatī worshiper has advanced? They fight simply. During the immersion ceremony in Calcutta. So what is benefit? You should judge by the result, not by sophisticated ideas. There is no necessity.\nTherefore our ācārya Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says that you haven't got to take shelter of any other demigods. Why? If Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, if He is all powerful, then even if you want something from Kṛṣṇa, do you think that Kṛṣṇa is unable to deliver to you? Why should you go to demigods? That is also described in the Bhagavad-gītā: antavat tu phalaṁ teṣāṁ tad bhavaty alpa-medhasām [Bg. 7.23]. The benefit derived from the demigods, that is temporary.\nBut rascals who have got less substance of brain, they are after that. It is clearly said: antavat tu phalaṁ teṣāṁ tad bhavaty alpa-medhasām. Alpa-medhasām means one who has got brain substance very little, they are attracted by all these things. They are meant for third-class, fourth-class men. Because they will not worship God, \"All right you worship these demigods. At least, you try to worship something instead of becoming atheist.\" That is the process. But when one is actually intelligent, after many, many births, he should worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead.",
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"content": "\n Śrīla Prabhupāda, Rāmacandra also worshiped [indistinct] Durgā.",
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"content": "\n Well, Rāmacandra also, I mean to say, constructed a bridge over the ocean. Can you do that? So why do you bring Rāmacandra? He can do anything He likes. He's God. You cannot do. God is so kind, sometimes He worships His devotee.",
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"content": "\n Prabhupāda, what are the qualities of the holy name?",
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"content": "\nWhat is that?",
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"content": "\nWhat are the qualities of the holy name?\n What qualities is the holy name invested with? What qualities?",
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"content": "\n Transcendental qualities. What is the question?",
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"content": "\nWhat qualities is the holy name invested with?",
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"content": "\n It is not clear. Holy name of God is God Himself. As in this material world there is difference between the name and the substance, in the holy name, as soon as you call holy name, that name is not different from the substance. Is it clear or not? First of all answer this.",
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"content": "\n I want a quote for each.[?]",
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"content": "\n No, your first question was \"What is this holy name?\" First of all try to understand this. Then put another question. Don't disturb. First of all try to understand this question. Holy name means the name is nondifferent from the substance. Here if you become thirsty, you want water, the substance, if you simply chant \"water, water, water,\" it will not act. But holy name means if you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, then you are associating with Kṛṣṇa personally. That is holy name.\nHere the name is contaminated, whatever name you... But God's name, Kṛṣṇa's name, is holy name. That is nondifferent from God. Otherwise, don't you see, they are chanting \"Kṛṣṇa.\" If Kṛṣṇa name is not Kṛṣṇa, how they are making advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness? They are associating with Kṛṣṇa directly. That is the holy name.",
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"content": "\n Prabhupāda, is the best method to read Bhagavad-gītā?",
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"content": "\n To surrender to Kṛṣṇa. You do not know this?",
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"content": "\n[indistinct]",
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"content": "\nYou read Bhagavad-gītā? You'll see that is the best method: to surrender to Kṛṣṇa. That is the best method. What is the difficulty?",
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"content": "\n Prabhupāda, how can we [indistinct]?",
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"content": "\n That you have to practice and see.",
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"content": "\n We can persuade my family to my religion. Instead of worshiping...",
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"content": "\n First of all you persuade yourself; then you talk of your family and relatives. If you understand factually, then you will be able to convince others. But if you don't understand yourself, what is the use of talking family and friends? First of all you. Āpani ācari' prabhu jīvera śikṣāya. First of all you have to act accordingly; then you can teach others. And if you are not pure, if you indulge in all kinds of sinful activities and you talk of Bhagavad-gītā, what will be effect? There will be no effect. This is going on. They are doing all nonsense, and talking of Bhagavad-gītā. Therefore it is not effective.\nFor last one thousand years Bhagavad-gītā was known in the Western countries, but there was not a single kṛṣṇa-bhakta, because they did not act accordingly. Simply talked of Bhagavad-gītā. That's all. Simply talking will not do. You have to behave as these people are..., these boys and girls are behaving. Then you will understand Bhagavad-gītā.\nYes?",
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"content": "\n Prabhupāda, can you explain about taking a spiritual body after death?\nCan you explain about taking a spiritual body after death?",
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"content": "\n After death you take another body. Do you understand it? Similarly, you take spiritual body. What is the difficulty? Can you understand that you take another body?",
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"content": "\n Yes.",
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"content": "\n Then why do you don't understand another, spiritual body? What is the difficulty? You accept another body after death. Dehāntaram. So instead of accepting a material body, you accept a spiritual body. That's all. What is the difficulty to understand? Just like you have accepted now this body, American body or English body. You cannot say, \"I have an Indian body\" or \"Chinese body\" or \"Russian body.\" In the same way, after giving up this body you can accept spiritual body. What is the difficulty to understand? There is no difficulty.\nJust like if you take birth in the sun planet, you have to take a body of fire. There are different planets, and the climatic influence are different, but here the scientists, they are calculating from their own point of view. They do not know that God's creation there are different types of body, different types of atmosphere. Just like the fish, they are living in the water. But you take out the fish on the land, immediately it dies. So your body, you have got a particular type of body. If you are thrown in the water, you immediately die. But you can understand that within water there is life, on land there is life, there is body.\nSo when you go to a certain different atmosphere, you have to accept a different type of body. Similarly, when you go to the spiritual world, you'll accept a spiritual body. What is the difficulty to understand? Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti [Bg. 4.9]. One should be qualified to enter into certain association, atmosphere. That... If you spiritually qualify yourself, then after giving up this body you get a spiritual body and you enter in the spiritual world. That's all. It is very easy. You make yourself spiritualized in this life.\nThat example is... Just like you put one iron rod in the fire: it becomes warmer, warmer, warmer, and at the end it becomes red hot. At that time it is no longer iron rod; it is fire. You touch that iron rod anywhere, it will burn. Similarly, by spiritual activities you can make this body spiritual so that there will be no more material activities. That is spiritual body. Just like in this body we are training our boys and girls...\nThey are young boys and girls, but they are no more interested to go to the restaurant, hotel or nightclub or cinema or dancing party. They are simply interested to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. How they have given up all these young men's demand? How it is possible? You can see. So when your material activities are stopped, that is spiritual body.",
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"content": "\n It is written in Gītā the soul never dies. When the soul does not die, where does it go after that?",
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"content": "\n He goes as he likes. Yes. He can go to hell, he can go to heaven, he can go to God, he can go to China. Anywhere he likes. [laughter]",
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"content": "\n Śrīla Prabhupāda, what does it mean practically to surrender unto Kṛṣṇa?",
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"content": "\n Yes. Surrender to Kṛṣṇa means you have to accept things which is favorable for Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Just like we restrict our students, no illicit sex, no gambling, no meat-eating, no intoxication. If you surrender to this process, that is surrender to Kṛṣṇa. Is it clear? If you don't surrender, there is no surrender, you are not surrendered soul. Chant sixteen rounds, and if you follow, that is surrendering to Kṛṣṇa. Don't take anything except kṛṣṇa-prasādam.\nThat is surrendering to Kṛṣṇa. So many we have got. So if you surrender to these principles, that means you surrender unto Kṛṣṇa. Just like a good citizen surrenders to the state. What does it mean? He abides by the law. That's all. He does not do anything which is against the will of the state. That's all. So you surrender to the principles; then you surrender to Kṛṣṇa. That's all.\nAll right. Thank you very much. [devotees offer obeisances] [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/701220sb-surat/
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"content": "\nBack to Godhead means one must be completely pure. A slight impurity, He will not allow. Kingdom of God is so..., that no impure person can enter. Just like in your country... Do you belong to USA? There are in every country, and so many, especially in your country, there are so many immigration to check whether contamination. Even they do not allow plants to be carried. Is it not?",
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"content": "\nYes, yes.",
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"content": "\nFrom one port to another. Why? Checking the contents. So if in this material world such strict checkings are there, don't you think that one who enters..., one who wants to enter the kingdom of God, there is no checking? Anyone will be able to enter? It is a commonsense affair. So kingdom of God means purity. If there is slight impurity, he will not be allowed. \"Keep outside.\" And it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, yeṣāṁ anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ [Bg. 7.28]. Yeṣām, persons who have completely been freed from the contamination of sinful activities,\nyeṣāṁ anta-gataṁ papam\njanānāṁ puṇya-karmaṇām\nSimply engaged in pious activities, they can become a devotee.\nte dvandva-moha-nirmukt\nbhajante māṁ dṛḍha-vratāḥ\n[Bg. 7.28]\nThese are clear statements.\nAnd the pillars of sinful activities, that is also mentioned in the Bhāgavata:\nstriyaḥ sūnā pānaṁ dyūta\nyatrā pāpas catur-vidha\n[SB 1.17.38]\nFour kinds of sinful activities: illicit sex, and intoxication, and unnecessary killing of animals, and gambling. This..., all the slaughterhouses of the world are being maintained unnecessarily. That is recruiting simply sins. They are eating sin, and therefore the world is in trouble. Simply committing. There is no necessity of killing animals. But here in India they are killing ten thousand cows daily, what to speak of Western countries. The people are so much addicted to sinful activities. How they can be elevated? They are condemned. Only this movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, if they take to this movement, they can be saved.\nOtherwise, there is no saving. They must cycle round the 8,400,000 species of life—sometimes very happy, sometimes very sorry; sometimes Brahmā, sometimes the germ in the stool. This is going on, changing bodies one after another, just like if we change our dress. This will go on so long one is not completely free from the sinful activities. Unless he enters into the kingdom of God, this cycle of birth and death will go on. Only in the spiritual sky there is no birth, death, old age and disease. And as soon as you are out of the spiritual sky, these four things will... You may live for thousands of years—that doesn't matter—but you have to die. That is the law of material nature.\nYou may have very good medicines, drug shop, as you have got in your country, but still you have to suffer from diseases. You may have thousands of method for contraceptive, but the population is increased. Ah. And as soon as there is death, as soon as this body, the janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi [Bg. 13.9].\nIn the Bhagavad-gītā everything is clearly stated, that any intelligent person will put forward before him that \"We have solved all our miserable conditions of life, but not these four principles. That is not possible,\" janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi: the sufferings of birth, the sufferings of death, the sufferings of old age and the sufferings of disease. That cannot be stopped. That can only be solved if you become Kṛṣṇa conscious and go back to home, back to Godhead, that's all. Otherwise it is not possible.\nYou may be very great yogī, you may be very great meditator—all the things, they are very nice; they can elevate you from higher standard of life. Just like your country, USA, they have got higher standard of life than India, in one sense. But you can have thousand, thousand more higher standard of life in higher planets. Thousand, thousand times. As there is comparison between India and USA or any country, similarly, in planetary system also there is comparison: this planet is so much full of material pleasure and other planets so much, so much. But in no planet [laughs] there is the guarantee that there will be no death. That is not.\nThat is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā:\nā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokā\npunar āvartino 'rjuna\n[Bg. 8.16]\nEven if you go to the Brahmaloka, where one twelve hours means thousands of four yugas, but still there is death. So we cannot avoid this. The one who is serious... Hmm. Social [indistinct]. What is this name of this magazine?",
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"content": "\n[indistinct]",
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"content": "\nAsia?",
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"content": "\n[indistinct] Asia Magazine [indistinct].",
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"content": "\nHmm. Asia Magazine is published from London?",
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"content": "\nIt is published in Hong Kong.",
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"content": "\nHong Kong. Oh, I see. So [laughs] our New Vrindaban, very nice. So you have published very nice picture. So [indistinct; movements in the room] you can take it to our [indistinct]. Just see. This is one picture and this is one picture. Bring it. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Side by side. Hell and heaven, one has to select. [break]\nAnd the spiritual world there is only one class of men; therefore spiritual world is called absolute. The center is Kṛṣṇa, or God, and everyone is engaged in His service in love. Not paid servants. Paid servants will always disagree, in proportion to the money he receives. But in the Vaikuṇṭha world there is no question of paid service. Everyone is free; everyone has got sufficient. Because as I told you yesterday that they are all liberated. They have got equal opulence like God. But still they serve. That is the superlative [indistinct]. Here, one serves, he needs; and there they serve without needs. There is no need of service; everything is there complete, cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa [Bs. 5.29].\nIt is said that there are kalpa-vṛkṣa, desire tree. Desire tree means a tree from which you can get anything you desire. Then why there should be service? Here, service is forced. If you don't render service, then you will starve. This nature is called avidyā-karma-saṅga anya tṛtīya-śaktīr iśyate [Cc. Madhya 6.154], karma saṅga. Here one may be king, but still he has to work, and what to speak of the poor man. Everyone has to work. This is called avidyā-karma-saṅga. But in the spiritual world there is no question of work.\nThere are two classes of men in this material world, not in the spiritual world. The spiritual world is one. They are all cognizant that \"We are eternally servant of God.\" Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām [Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13]. There are plural number living entities. They are all being provided with one cetana, the supreme cetana. So these two classes of men are known..., one is known as demigods, or servants of God, and another is called the servants of māyā. Both of them are servants. Nobody is master. That is not possible. Only one master is God, or Kṛṣṇa. That is stated in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, ekala īśvara kṛṣṇa [Cc. Ādi 5.142]: only īśvara, the controller, or the master, is Kṛṣṇa. Āra saba bhṛtya: and any other, other demigods or ordinary [indistinct], they are all servants.\nYāre yaiche nācāya, se taiche kare nṛtya: now under the direction of the Supreme Lord everyone is dancing, or working. In the common world we see that we are dancing dogs, because under the direction of the master. The master says, \"Please dance,\" the dog will dance. The master... Because the dog knows that \"He is my master. If I don't dance, then I will starve.\"\nSo actually that is the position. Nobody is master here, but when we falsely claim that \"I am master,\" that is māyā. Everyone is serving, but under the impression that he is master. The head of the family, he is thinking that \"I am the master.\" But he is..., actually he is serving each and every member of the family. The state executive officer—you may call a king or a president—he is thinking that \"I am king,\" \"I am president,\" but actually he is serving. That is his position. Unless he serves properly, immediately he will be dethroned, or next time he will not be elected.\nThat is our position. We are all serving, ekale īśvara kṛṣṇa, āra saba bhṛtya. This is a fact. Only master is Kṛṣṇa, and everyone is servant. Who can challenge this statement—is there anyone within this hall—that I don't serve anyone? Is there anyone? Eh? And somebody is claiming that \"I am God.\" You see?\nThis is called illusion, māyā. This claim is made by the illusioned living entities. Here, this material world means that everyone is trying to become the master. And that is competition between one master to another, because nobody is master. That competition that \"I shall become master,\" that is illusion. So in this illusory fighting and competition, where one fails, that \"I could not become the master...\" Eh?\nFor example, in our country we respected Mahatma Gandhi as the father of the nation, or the master of the nation; but actually he was servant. As soon as there was little discrepancy, immediately he was put to death. Immediately. So similarly, in the USA also, President Kennedy, he was very popular president. But as soon as there was little discrepancy, he was also killed. So this position we must know, that nobody is master here; everyone is servant. But his real position is to become the servant of God.\nThat he is, but because... Just like a criminal: he thinks that \"I don't care for any law,\" but he is forced to obey the laws in the prison house. Outside or inside, he has to obey the laws of the government. But under illusion he thinks that \"I don't care for the government.\" Similarly, those who are rascals, they think that there is no God, \"I am God. I don't care for any God.\" That is another process, demoniac process. And those who obey the laws of God, they are called demigods.\ndvau bhūta-sargau loke\ndaiva āsura eva ca\n[Bg. 16.6]\nThere are two classes of men in this world: one is called daiva and the other is called āsura. Āsura means rebelled against God, don't care for God: \"I am God,\" \"You are God,\" \"Everyone is God.\" \"Why you are searching after God? There are so many Gods in the street, lying on the footpath, daridra-nārāyaṇa. You serve these Gods.\" You see? This is the difference.\nDaridra-nārāyaṇa, serving God... So many subscriptions raised in America in the name of serving these daridra-nārāyaṇas, in India. Now these Americans are questioning that \"You take money for serving the daridra-nārāyaṇa. Why we see when we go to India, why we see so many daridra-nārāyaṇas are lying on the footpath?\" These questions are being made. One of the big Ramakrishna Mission svāmīs, Svāmī Nikhilananda, he told me. It is not my manufactured story.\nActually people are claiming welfare, society welfare activities, but what welfare they are doing actually? The welfare activities are increasing, and the candidates for receiving the welfare, they are increasing. They are trying to serve the daridra-nārāyaṇa, but actually this number of daridra-nārāyaṇas are increasing daily.\nSo that is the position. Here... Practically Nārāyaṇa cannot be daridra. That is another illusion, Nārāyaṇa is the husband of the goddess of fortune, Lakṣmī. How He can be daridra? It is also a manufactured word.\nlakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamāna\ngovindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajām\n[Bs. 5.29]\nHere we keep one Lakṣmī, but as soon as there is any little discrepancy the Lakṣmī immediately becomes angry and there is divorce. Practically there is no respect from the side of Lakṣmī to the so-called daridra-nārāyaṇa. But there, thousands and thousands of Lakṣmīs are very respectfully serving the Lord. You read the story, the Rukmiṇī, the prime Lakṣmī of Lord Kṛṣṇa. One day Kṛṣṇa was a little joking, and she took it very seriously and she immediately fainted. So much respect. So, \"Kṛṣṇa, why are You thinking of leaving me?\" She fainted immediately, so much [indistinct]. Lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṁ. These are the statements of scripture.\nAnd when Kṛṣṇa was actually present on this planet, He showed it, how much He respectfully served by His 16,000 wives, and how much comfortably He kept all of them in different palaces, and expanding Himself into 16,000 forms. That is God. That is God.\nSo everyone, even the Lakṣmīs, is servant, are servants of Kṛṣṇa; what to speak of others, dāsīs? So how one can claim that \"I am God\"? God is not so cheap. Only persons who are illusioned, they claim that \"I am God.\" He is servant. He is servant. Instead of becoming..., voluntarily rendering service to God... Because they claim to be God, they are more put into illusion. Māyār grasta jīvera haya se dāsa uday, it is said in the Vaiṣṇava literature.\npiśācī pāile yena mati-cchanna hay\nmāyār grasta jīvera se dāsa uday\n[Prema-vivarta]\nJust like a person when he is haunted by ghosts, he speaks all kinds of nonsense, similarly, when the living entity is engrossed by the illusionary aspects of this material nature, he also talks all foolishly. He also talks all fool... One of the greatest foolish things is that he claims that \"I am God.\"\nSo that is not [indistinct]. Therefore there are two classes of men: asuras and devatā. You have heard that there is always fight between asuras and devatās, because asuras are always against God, and devatās, they are servants of God. That is the difference. Even at home there are..., there was asura and devatā. The father was an asura, and the son was a devatā, Prahlāda Mahārāja, and the father became enemy of the son. Naturally father is always affectionate, but because he was an asura he became against his beloved son. That is the nature of the asuras. Even asuras just like tiger, also has got affection for the cubs.\nSo this Hiraṇyakaśipu was affectionate, because Prahlāda Mahārāja was very nice boy, five years old, very good looking. Natural affection, he was youngest. And one day he asked his son, \"My dear boy, what you have learnt, the best thing, tell me.\" Just like father asks sometimes. So he replied that \"One should sacrifice everything for realizing God.\" Tat sādhu manye 'sura-varya dehināṁ, asad-grahāt [SB 7.5.5]... Hmm. I forget that śloka, that, eh... But Prahlāda Mahārāja said, \"That is the best way of life, in the human form of life, to utilize this opportunity for realizing God.\" That was his version.\nAnd his father become very angry, and from that day father, the father taught, instructed the teachers that \"How is that, that you are teaching all this nonsense to my boy?\" They replied, \"Sir, we do not teach. This boy is naturally God-inclined. What can I do? Eh? As soon as he gets opportunity, he begins to preach God consciousness in the class.\" When the teacher is absent, immediately Prahlāda Mahārāja stands up on the bench and addresses his friends, \"My dear boys, this is the life for realizing God. Don't forget this.\" In this way he was lecturing. These are in the Bhāgavata. So the demigods means God-realized persons, or servant of God, they have dedicated their life for the service of the Lord, whereas the asuras, they are always against such principles.\nSo here also the same thing is happening.\nyūyaṁ vai dharma-rājasy\nyadi nirdeśa-kāriṇa\n[SB 6.1.38]\nThe Viṣṇudūtas challenged the Yamadūtas that \"If you are actually servants of your master, Dharmarāja...\" Yamarāja is Dharmarāja; another name is Dharmarāja. He is also a representative of God. Just like a magistrate, he has to deal with the criminal cases. But magistrate is not bad. Magistrate is representative of the government. Similarly Dharmarāja, although punishes all criminals, all sinful persons, but he is a pure servant of God; therefore his name is Dharmarāja. He is executing the order of the master.\nSo therefore the Viṣṇudūtas challenged the Yamadūtas that \"If you are actually serving your master, Dharmarāja...\" Just like a police constable is supposed to know the law, whom to arrest. If he arrests anyone and everyone, then he is a fool. He cannot arrest anyone and everyone. He cannot arrest a law-abiding man. Similarly, the Yamadūtas, they also cannot take away to the court of this Yamarāja everyone and anyone. No. Only the nondevotees are taken. Those who are devotees, they are not taken. That is, you will find in the Bhāgavata, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Yamarāja specially instructs that \"Those who are Vaiṣṇavas, you should not go there. You should offer your respect to them.\"\nSomebody asked me, Swāmījī, \"Why this tulasī beads on your neck,\" or \"your devotees' neck?\" So I replied, \"Just like a pet dog has got a collar, similarly, we are pet dogs of God, we have got this collar, and Yamarāja will understand that 'He is God's dog.' \" [laughter] \" 'He should not be shot down.' \" So actually that is the position. Anyone... Then here there is a verse... There is a verse that \"Don't go to the Vaiṣṇavas,\" the Yamadūtas are especially instructed.\nBut this Ajāmila was known as sinful, but everyone knew. But he had become, I mean to say, freed from all sinful contamination, because at the time of death he uttered the word \"Nārāyaṇa\" without any offense. So the Yamadūta, they could not understand that he is no more under the laws of criminal punishment; he is freed from all contamination. Actually that is the position. \"Kṛṣṇa,\" one who utters the name \"Kṛṣṇa,\" he immediately becomes freed from all sinful activities. Immediately. That is the power of Kṛṣṇa's name. But the difficulty is that after being freed, we again commit mistake in sinful activities. Kṛṣṇa's name has got the power. As soon as you utter the name \"Hare Kṛṣṇa,\" immediately you become freed from all contamination. Eh?\nTherefore if one thinks that \"I am chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, so even if I commit sinful activities, that will be counteracted by my chanting\" ah, that is another greatest offense. That we have discussed many times, that on the strength of holy name of Lord if one commit sinful activities, he is a greatest offender. Just like sometimes we find in Christian churches, they go on Sunday and they confess, and they are supposed to be excused from the sinful reaction. But again after coming back from the church, again commits the same sins, and it is expected that \"The next week when I shall go to the church, I shall confess, and it will be counteracted.\" These kind of, I mean to say, understanding is prohibited. This kind of understanding.\nOne... Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Caitanya Mahāprabhu accepted Jagāi and Mādhāi; they were very sinful. What is their sin? They're illicit sex, woman-hunter, drunkard, meat-eater—that is sinful activities according to Vedic scripture. So they became debauched and guṇḍā, disturbing element. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu delivered them. Caitanya Mahāprabhu delivered them on one condition. What is that condition?\nWhen they fell down on the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya and Nityānanda, \"Sir, we are so much sinful. Kindly deliver us\"—there is a long history, incident; I will tell you some day—this Caitanya Mahāprabhu made one condition, that \"I can accept you only on your promise that you shall no more commit sinful activities. What you have done, that's all right; I will excuse. But if you commit again, that will be greatest offense.\" So they said: āra nāre bāpa [CB Madhya-khaṇḍa 13.225], āra nāre, \"No more, Sir. This is the end of our sinful activities. No more we shall do it.\"\nSo our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, following the footsteps of Lord Caitanya, we are also following the same principles under the authority of Lord Caitanya. When we accept somebody in our Society as initiated member, we put forward these obligations, restriction, that no more illicit sex life, no more gambling, no more intoxication and no more animal food. That is necessary. If you accept spiritual life and at the same time go on committing sinful activities, then you will never be able to progress. That is not possible. Because in the Bhagavad-gītā it is clearly said by Kṛṣṇa,\nyeṣām anta-gataṁ papa\njanānāṁ puṇya-karmaṇām\n[Bg. 7.28]\n\"Persons who are completely freed from all contamination of sinful activities and simply engaged in pious activities, they only are admitted in devotional service.\"\nSo if you are actually serious about entering into the kingdom of God, Vaikuṇṭha, then we should be very much careful about these four principles of restriction: No illicit... You cannot have any sex life without being married. That is sinful activity. You cannot indulge in intoxication. You cannot eat anything which is beyond the jurisdiction of your food. For you, for a human being, the food is, I mean to say, given quota that you can eat grains, you can eat fruits, you can eat flowers, vegetables, you can eat milk. That is sāttvikā: foodstuff prepared from vegetables, fruits, grain, sugar and milk products, that's all. That is sāttvikā. That is allotted for the human being.\nYou cannot imitate the cats and dogs: \"Because they are eating meat, I can eat. Meat also is my food.\" They put forward everything is food. So why don't you eat stool? That is also food, for the hogs. So we have to... We must have discrimination that \"What sort of food we shall take?\" Not that like hogs, anything will be accepted. That is humanity. In this way... Actually if we enter..., if we want to enter into spiritual life, then these four principles, or restrictions, must be observed.\n[break] ...have to undergo the austerities, tapaḥ, divyam. That authority is meant for transcendental realizing, divyam. Then, when we have purified our existence, then we are admitted in the kingdom of God. Without that, it is not possible.\nSo therefore those who are trying to purify themselves and following the rules and regulation, they are devatās, or demigods. And those who do not believe in God and act according to whims, such persons are called asuras. In the Bhagavad-gītā you will find,\nna māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhā\nprapadyante narādhamāḥ\n[Bg. 7.15]\nIt is clearly stated,\nmāyayāpahṛta-jñāna\nāsuraṁ bhāvam āśritāḥ\nThis very word is very important: āsuraṁ bhāvam āśritāḥ. They have... Because they have taken to the shelter of āsura bhāva, atheist philosophy, inspite of advancement of education they are narādhamāḥ, lowest of the mankind. These words are exactly there, narādhamāḥ. You cannot say, \"How you can say these gentleman asura? He is so much educated, highly qualified, university degrees.\" The answer is there, māyayāpahṛta-jñānā. Here it appears that he's very learned, but his actual knowledge is taken away by the māyā on account of his being atheistic. And such atheistic person, bewildered by māyā as being lowest of the mankind, they cannot surrender unto God.\nna māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhā\nprapadyante narādhamāḥ\n[Bg. 7.15]\nSo these things may not be very palatable, but these things are there in the scriptures. We have to preach the scriptural injunctions. Therefore we say \"Bhagavad-gītā As It Is.\" You cannot play hide and seek with the problem of life. You must know your real position, and you must...\nTherefore here it is asked that brūta dharmasya nas tattvaṁ [SB 6.1.38]. So dharma and adharma: there are two kinds of activities. Dharma, dharma means one who is acting according to the order of God. That is dharma. And one who is not acting according to the order of, that is adharma. Therefore the challenge was there, \"If you are actually representative of Dharmarāja, you must know what is dharma and what is adharma. You will explain.\" That means they were also not aware in..., what was the actual position of Ajāmila. They did not know that although throughout his whole life he was sinful, but because at the time of his death he simply remembered Nārāyaṇa...\nBut that is also difficult. We may not think that \"Let me now go on committing all sinful activities. At the time of death I shall remember Nārāyaṇa, or Kṛṣṇa.\" That is not possible. It is only possible for persons who had some intimate relationship with Nārāyaṇa. This Ajāmila had very intimate relationship with Nārāyaṇa, when he was boy, when he was being trained up by his father. He was very faithful to Nārāyaṇa, to his father, up to twenty years. He served very nicely Nārāyaṇa; therefore he had the effect of remembering Nārāyaṇa at the time of death.\nTherefore in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said,\nsvalpam apy asya dharmasy\ntrāyate mahato bhayāt\n[Bg. 2.40]\nIf even slight of this Nārāyaṇa-dharma is practised, it can save you from the greatest dangers. So why not take to this Nārāyaṇa consciousness or Kṛṣṇa consciousness always, twenty-four hours; then there is no question of danger.\nnārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve\nna kutaścana bibhyati\n[SB 6.17.28]\nOne who has become nārāyaṇa-para, he is not afraid of anything. Na kutaścana bibhyati. Why he should be afraid? He knows, \"There is Nārāyaṇa, there is Kṛṣṇa. Why shall I be afraid?\"\n[aside:] So? It is past six.",
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"content": "\nShall we have some questions?",
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"content": "\nYes.",
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"content": "\nYou said that Ajāmila, because he chanted \"Nārāyaṇa\" offenselessly, so he went to Vaikuṇṭha. And then you said if we are chanting..., if we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, all our sinful activities are washed away.",
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"content": "\nHmm?",
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"content": "\nIs that... So even if we chant offensively?",
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"content": "\nOffenseless [offensive] means when you chant with this idea that \"Now I am chanting, all my sinful activities are gone, so again I can commit sinful activities and I shall chant Nārāyaṇa.\" That is offense. That is offense. Knowingly you are committing sinful activities. You know \"This sinful activity,\" but you are thinking, on the strength of chanting, that \"Even if I commit this offense, I...., sinful activities, it is counteracted by my chanting,\" that is offense.\nThat offense was not there in the case of Ajāmila. He was young man; he was being trained up by his father in the Nārāyaṇa philosophy, Nārāyaṇa life, but due to bad association he became a victim to all kinds of sinful activities. And that was not offense. You can fall down by, I mean to say, unworthy association, but if you are offenseless, then you will be saved. But if you purposely think that \"Because I am chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, it can counteract my sinful activities,\" that is the greatest offense. Knowingly. Ajāmila did not know. He was a boy. He fell a victim by bad association, but he was not offender. He did not dev..., do it purposefully. Therefore he was saved. Yes?",
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"content": "\nSwāmījī, sometimes the Vaiṣṇavas, they [indistinct] Dharmarāja was more prone to Vaiṣṇavas [indistinct] so why [indistinct]?",
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"content": "\nHmm?",
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"content": "\nWhy Vaiṣṇavas are..., they are very [indistinct]? Yamadūtas are not very... Even they are [indistinct], because there is some [indistinct].",
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"content": "\nYes.",
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"content": "\nSo they are [indistinct].",
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"content": "\nIt is not to be kept falsely, you see? Yamadūtas are there very intelligent. If you keep it falsely, they can catch you.",
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"content": "\n Ah! [laughter]",
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"content": "\nThey are not foolish persons, they can cheat him. No, it is not possible. You must be actually Vaiṣṇava; then you are excused. Otherwise not. You cannot cheat.",
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"content": "\n[indistinct]",
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"content": "\nSo they are being trained up to become actually Vaiṣṇava, not a pseudo-Vaiṣṇava, simply for earning livelihood.",
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"content": "\n[laughs]",
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"content": "\nNo. That is not our proposition. And those who are earning livelihood by presenting themself as false Vaiṣṇavas, their condition is more condemned. My Guru Mahārāja used to say that instead of earning your livelihood by presenting yourself as a Vaiṣṇava, better you become a sweeper in the street and earn your livelihood. Don't cheat. That was the order of my Guru Mahārāja. It is better to become a sweeper in the street than to become a false Vaiṣṇava. That is real philosophy.",
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"content": "\nPrabhupāda, you said that the greatest offense is to chant, thinking that \"My sins will be washed away,\" and commit sins wanted[?]. So what is the result that that person gets if he dies in that condition? What is...",
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"content": "\nHe dies a sinful—because he does not want to go back to Godhead; he wants to make some profit—so he dies sinful, and he has to be punished for that reason. In spite of his false this tilaka and false mālā, he will be punished. Yes?",
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"content": "\nŚrīla Prabhupāda, even if a person is completely engrossed in material activities and somehow or other they utter the name of \"Kṛṣṇa...\" Like you said my mother attained Kṛṣṇa's kingdom, although she was completely absorbed in material activities.",
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"content": "\nThat was..., that was due to your grace. You reminded your mother at the time of her death, Kṛṣṇa. You were a good boy of your mother, and she got the opportunity remembering Kṛṣṇa and got all the profit due to your..., having a good son like you. Yes. His mother... We do not wish to discuss, but you're not at all... Just like European ladies there. So he was visiting his mother and inspiring her, \"Mother, you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, whatever you have learned from me.\" She got some idea of Kṛṣṇa; later on developed some little affection for Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So at the time of death, by seeing him she simply enquired from him, \"Is your Kṛṣṇa here?\" and died immediately.",
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"content": "\n Ohh!",
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"content": "\nSo she was fortunate to have a good son like him to remind her by his presence, Kṛṣṇa, and [s]he become liberated. Therefore these things are required, Vaiṣṇava symptom. People will immediately remember Kṛṣṇa. By this tilaka, by this beads, by their features, immediately they will know, \"Here is the group of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.\" Yes?",
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"content": "\n[indistinct] Vaiṣṇava [indistinct].",
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"content": "\nEh?",
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"content": "\nWho can be told as a true Vaiṣṇava?",
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"content": "\nHah, that you have to learn. Not in a minute. That you have to be trained up. Just see how they are being trained up. You cannot ask, \"Who is... Who has passed M.A.\" You have to become M.A., then you shall... Not that simply asking for a minute you can understand. It is a long course of training. You have to admit yourself into the Vaiṣṇava school and become trained up; then you will understand what is Vaiṣṇava. Yes?",
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"content": "\nIn Indore, if I understand it proper, that you said that first Ajāmila saw [indistinct] his son's name was Nārāyaṇa, and he remembered, \"Oh, Kṛṣṇa.\" By calling for his son, he remembered Kṛṣṇa.",
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"content": "\nThat is the commentary by Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura. So we have to accept our ācāryas. That is the commentary. But some way or other, Nārāyaṇa, the very name, the holy name, has got so much power. That you have to understand. So those who are always chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, they are saved. This is not a show, but offenseless chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra will always keep us safe and sound from the attack of māyā.\nAnd there is no expenditure; there is no loss. Why people should not take? Why this obstinacy, I ask. Eh? They are thinking that \"I have become civilized, I have become educated; therefore I cannot do this.\" So are they not educated? Are they not civilized? Why Indian boys are refusing? That is my question. They are losing the opportunity of taking birth in India. They are so much obstinate—to take their birth in India, and they are refusing this culture. That is the effect of this modern education.\nĀpana-dhana bhuliyā diye bhikṣā bhaja paraḥ[?]. You know... What is the position of India? Nobody cares for India. Wherever I go, they say, \"Oh, India. That is poverty-stricken country.\" That is your good message. Because you are actually going. The ministers are going, \"Give me..., give me grains, give me money, give me weapons, so I can be saved from the slaughtering of China.\" The begging business. India's position is not very glorious outside India. You may be puffed up that you have become independent. But everyone is anxious to have your spiritual culture. Everyone. They know, even a Chinaman, he has written one book that is recommended in New York University. He says that \"If you want to know about spiritual culture and religion, then you must go to India.\"\nSo you are all young boys. You should be very responsible. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has stated specifically, bhārata-bhūmite manuṣya-janma haila yāra [Cc. Ādi 9.41]: anyone who has taken birth as a human being in the land of Bhārata-varṣa, janma sārthaka kari’ kara para-upakāra, just make your life successful and do welfare activities for others. So you must realize, because in India you have got this Kṛṣṇa science or spiritual culture so nicely left by so many sages, so many saintly persons. You do not make your life successful by following their path? Eh?\nWhat you can do for yourself or for others? You cannot be glorious simply by imitating them. When you have established some technological institution, you will find in the Western countries they are hundred years ahead than you. So in that way you cannot make competition. You should realize your own assets and distribute to the world, and that will make you glorious. [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/700514ip-los-angeles/
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"content": "\n [chuckles] Hare Kṛṣṇa. Chant. Oṁ pūrṇam adaḥ.\nLoudly.\noṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṁ\npūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate\npūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya\npūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate\n[Īśo Invocation]\nīśāvāsyam idam sarvaṁ\nyat kiñca jagatyāṁ jagat\ntena tyaktena bhuñjīthā\nmā gṛdhaḥ kasya svid dhanam\n[Īśo mantra 1]\nkurvann eveha karmāṇi\njijīviṣec chataṁ samāḥ\nevaṁ tvayi nānyatheto 'sti\nna karma lipyate nare\n[Īśo mantra 2]\nasuryā nāma te lokā\nandhena tamasāvṛtāḥ\ntāṁs te pretyābhigacchanti\nye ke cātma-hano janāḥ\n[Īśo mantra 3]\nanejad ekaṁ manaso javīyo\nnainad devā āpnuvan pūrvam arṣat\ntad dhāvato 'nyān atyeti tiṣṭhat\ntasminn apo mātariśvā dadhāti\n[Īśo mantra 4]\ntad ejati tan naijati\ntad dūre tad v antike\ntad antar asya sarvasya\ntad u sarvasyāsya bāhyataḥ\n[Īśo mantra 5]\nyas tu sarvāṇi bhūtāny\nātmany evānupaśyati\nsarva-bhūteṣu cātmānaṁ\ntato na vijugupsate\n[Īśo mantra 6]\nyasmin sarvāṇi bhūtāny\nātmaivābhūd vijānataḥ\ntatra ko mohaḥ kaḥ śoka\nekatvam anupaśyataḥ\n[Īśo mantra 7]\nsa paryagāc chukram akāyam avraṇam\nasnāviram śuddham apāpa-viddham\nkavir manīṣī paribhūḥ svayambhūr\nyāthātathyato 'rthān vyadadhāc chāśvatībhyaḥ samābhyaḥ\n[Īśo mantra 8]\nandhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti\nye 'vidyām upāsate\ntato bhūya iva te tamo\nya u vidyāyām ratāḥ\n[Īśo mantra 9]\nNext verse, verse number..., mantra 10.\nanyad evāhur vidyayā-\nnyad āhur avidyayā\niti śuśruma dhīrāṇāṁ\nye nas tad vicacakṣire\n[Īśo mantra 10]\nJust try.\nAgain.\nAgain.\n[05:47]\n\"The wise have explained to us that one result is derived from the culture of knowledge, and it is said that a different result is obtained from the culture of nescience.\"\nSo yesterday we have explained to some extent what is the culture of nescience and what is the culture of knowledge. Culture of knowledge means spiritual knowledge. That is real knowledge. And advancement of knowledge for comforts or to protect this material body, that is the culture of nescience. Because however you may try to protect this body, its natural course will take place. What is that? Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi [Bg. 13.9]. You cannot relieve this body from repeated birth and death and, while manifested, disease and old age.\nSo people are very much busy for culturing knowledge of this body, although they are seeing every moment that this body is decaying. The death of the body was registered when it was born. That's a fact. So you cannot stop the natural course of this body. You must meet the process of the body, namely, birth, death, old age and disease.\nSo Bhāgavata says, therefore, yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke [SB 10.84.13]. This body is made of three primary elements: mucus, bile and air. That is the Vedic version and Āyurvedic treatment. This body is a bag of mucus, bile and air. In old age the air circulation becomes disturbed; therefore old man becomes rheumatic, so many bodily ailments. So Bhāgavata says, \"One who has accepted this combination of bile, mucus and air as self, he is an ass.\" Yes.\nActually, this is the fact. If we accept this combination of bile, mucus and air as myself... So intelligent person, a very great philosopher, very great scientist, does it mean that he's a combination of bile, mucus and air? No. This is the mistake. He's different from this bile or mucus or air. He's soul. And according to his karma, he's exhibiting, manifesting his talents.\nSo they do not understand this karma, the law of karma. Why we find so many different personalities? If it is a combination of bile, mucus and air, why they are not similar? So they do not cultivate this knowledge. Why there are dissimilarities? One man is born millionaire; another man is born, he cannot even have full meals twice a day, although he's struggling very hard. Why this discrimination? Why one is put into such favorable condition, why the other is not? So there is law of karma, the individuality.\nSo this is knowledge. Therefore the Īśopaniṣad says that anyad evāhur vidyayā anyad āhur avidyayā [Īśo mantra 10]. Those who are in ignorance, they are cultivating a different type of advancement of knowledge, and those who are actually in knowledge, they are cultivating in a different way. Ordinary people, they do not like our activities, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They are surprised. Gargamuni was telling me yesterday evening that people ask, \"Where do you get so much money? You are purchasing so many cars and big church property, and maintaining fifty, sixty men daily and enjoying. What is this?\" [laughter] So they are surprised. And we are surprised why these rascals are working so hard simply for filling the belly [laughter].\nSo Bhagavad-gītā says, yā niśā sarva-bhūtānāṁ tasyāṁ jāgrati saṁyamī [Bg. 2.69]. We are seeing that these people are sleeping, and they are seeing we are wasting our time. This is opposite view. Why? Because their line of action is different, our line of action are different. Now, it is to be decided by an intelligent man whose actions are actually right.\nThese things are very nicely discussed in Vedic literature. There is another... Just like this is Īśopaniṣad. Similarly, there is another Upaniṣad, Garga Upaniṣad. So that is the talk between husband and wife, very learned. The husband is teaching the wife. Etad viditvā yaḥ prayāti sa eva brāhmaṇa gargi. Etad aviditvā yaḥ prayāti sa eva kṛpanā [Gargopaniṣad]. This real culture of knowledge, one who... Everyone takes birth and everyone will die. There is no difference of opinion about it. We shall die and they shall die. They can say that \"You are thinking of birth, death, old age and disease. So do you mean to say that because you are cultivating Kṛṣṇa consciousness knowledge, you will be free from these four principles of nature's onslaught?\" No. That is not the fact.\nThe fact is, the Garga Upaniṣad says, etad viditvā yaḥ prayāti. One who quits this body after knowing what he is, sa eva brāhmaṇa, he is brāhmaṇa. Brāhmaṇa... We are offering you the sacred thread. Why? Just you try to understand what is the mystery of life. That is brāhmaṇa. Vijānataḥ. We have read in this verse, vijānataḥ. One who quits this body after knowing things as they are, he is brāhmaṇa.\nAnd etad aviditvā yaḥ prayāti... And one who quits this body without knowing the mystery of life, he's a kṛpaṇā. Kṛpaṇā means miser. Just like if you get one million dollars and you could not utilize it, simply you see that \"Oh, I have got this bank balance\"—you are happy simply by seeing it—then you are kṛpaṇā. You do not know how to utilize. And one who has got one million dollars and utilizing it and making millions and millions of dollars, he is intelligent.\nSimilarly, this body is invaluable. One who is utilizing it for culture of spiritual knowledge, he is brāhmaṇa. That is the difference between brāhmaṇa and kṛpaṇā. And one who is utilizing this body like cats and dogs for sense gratification, he is miser. He does not know how to utilize one million dollars. Everyone does not know.\nBut it is the duty of the father, duty of the state, duty of the teachers to educate from the very beginning. Bhāgavata says that one should not become a father, one should not become a mother, one should not become a teacher, one should not become a king unless they are able to elevate their dependents to this spiritual knowledge, which can save him from repeated birth and death.\nThank you.",
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"content": "\n Jaya. All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda.",
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"content": "\n Hare Kṛṣṇa. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.\n[18:10]\n[kīrtana] [Prabhupāda plays gong] [prema-dhvani] [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/690416sb-new-york/
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"content": "\n[aside:] Where is that boy, Bīrabhadra? How we can..., he is not here?\n[pause] I shall read...\n[break] ...a chapter from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Second Canto. Second Canto is not yet published. First Canto is published, our English translation. So the Mahārāja King Parīkṣit, he was cursed by a brāhmaṇa to die within a week. That was the problem. So because he was emperor and... He was assured that he was going to die within a week, so he prepared himself.\nThat is the duty of every human being: to prepare oneself before death. That is the defect of modern civilization. They do not know what is life. They take it very easily, this life, just like animals: \"If I can eat nicely, if I can sleep nicely, if I can have sex life nicely and if I can defend my country or my home nicely, then my business is finished.\" This is the modern way of civilization. They take account of the small portion of our life.\nJust like in the cinema film spool there are hundreds and thousands of pictures, and that make one complete picture. Similarly, we are passing through the different phases of life. So out of many thousands of pictures within the film spool, if I simply take care of one picture, that is not very intelligent. That is foolishness. If we take, \"Oh, this picture is very nice,\" that's all... No.\nSo we are passing through many phases of life, different dresses. Vāsāṁsi. Bhagavad-gītā says, vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya [Bg. 2.22].\n[As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, similarly, the soul accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.]\nJust like I am putting on this dress. If it is dirty or if it is very old, then I change; I accept another dress. Similarly, this body is also like that. When it is dirty or when it is old enough, not to be used, then we change to another body, and this body we leave. This is the whole instruction of all Vedic literature.\nTherefore the activities of this body is not all. And as there are different types of body, as we have come to this body, this status of body, passing through many, many types of abominable body—aquatics, beasts, trees, plants, microbes, reptiles, so many... Repeatedly we have said, 8,400,000's of... So this is an opportunity. This life, this human form of life, is an opportunity to make further progress. It is not that after this human body is finished, then there is no life.\nThis misconception, this misleading philosophy, that after death there is nothing, void, is killing the human civilization. Is killing practically. They do not know, \"What is my next life?\" The next life is there. As there are..., you can see so many varieties of planets, so there are lives also, different grades of lives, different standard of life. Take for example the moon planet. What do they know about moon? They are trying to reach there by some mechanical means. That is not possible. Anyway, even if it is possible, one should know what is the standard of life there. That you can get from Vedic literature.\nThere is very vivid description. They are not ordinary human being like us. The scientist says that the temperature is 200 degree less than zero. Even here, in your Western countries, although sometimes the temperature goes down below zero, if it is below ten degree or twenty degree, you become suffocated. So how you can go there and live in a place where the temperature is below zero degree, 200 degree below the zero?\nSo it is not possible. Even if you go, it is not possible to live there. If you have to live, then you have to dress yourself nicely. Just like when men like us from tropical countries come to your country, we dress... In India, practically there is no dress. You see these pictures, they are without any dress, because there is no need of dress; it is tropical country. But in your country you require dress. You cannot go out without dress. You have to take precaution.\nSimilarly, in other planets the atmosphere is different, the standard of living is different, the duration of life is different. There are varieties. Yānti deva-vratā devān pitṝn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ [Bg. 9.25].\n[Those who worship the demigods will take birth among the demigods; those who worship ghosts and spirits will take birth among such beings; those who worship ancestors go to the ancestors; and those who worship Me will live with Me.]\nIn the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find that if you want to go to the higher planets, there is ways and means. So we have discussed this point in our small book Easy Journey to Other Planets\nSo there is life in other planet, there is standard of living. Now, in the moon planet we understand the duration of life is ten thousands of years according to our calculation. Scientifically, everything is relative. Just like nowadays, formerly, to come to your country it would take two months from India on the surface. And now the aeroplane is there, we come within one day, within fifteen hours or twenty hours.\nSo everything is relative. Just like the sputnik. The sputnik surrounded, circumambulated the earth, in one hour, twenty-five minutes, three times. That means by the sputnik speed, the three days... To circumambulate the earth three times means three day and night. That means according to our calculation, seventy-two hours. That seventy-two hours was finished in one hour and twenty-five. How? Because the thing is relative. If you accelerate your speed, the whole thing becomes relative.\nSo what is seventy-two hours on this planet, just above this planet, say about a few thousand miles up, it becomes one hour twenty-five minutes. Similarly, when we speak of that in other planet the life is ten thousand years, that ten thousand years is in our calculation on this planet. But on their calculation, the same hundred years.\nSimilarly, in the Bhagavad-gītā you'll learn, sahasra-yuga-paryantam ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ [Bg. 8.17].\n[By human calculation, a thousand ages taken together is the duration of Brahmā's one day. And such also is the duration of his night.]\nKṛṣṇa is instructing Arjuna that our one thousand yugas... One yuga, one aggregate of yuga, according to our this planet's calculation, it is forty-three hundred thousands of years. So that multiplied by one thousand becomes twelve hours of that planet.\nSo there are different calculation according to different planet, different situation. But there is life. Don't think that this planet is finished, that \"Oh, this life is finished.\" It is simply ignorance. We have to take information from higher authoritative scripture.\nSo there is life, and we are preparing for the next life. That is real knowledge. So we should not waste our this valuable life whimsically. That is the instruction of all Vedic literature. Don't spoil it. Even an ordinary moral instruction by one Cāṇakya Paṇḍita, he says, āyuṣaḥ kṣaṇa eko 'pi na labhyaḥ svarṇa-koṭibhiḥ.\n[Even one moment of life spent cannot be regained for millions of gold coins. Therefore, what greater loss is there than time spent uselessly?]\nYour one moment of your life cannot be returned back even if you are prepared to pay millions of dollars.\nToday is 16th April, 1969. Now it is about 8 o'clock. The 7 p.m. of 16th April, 1969, is gone. If you want to take it back again and if you are prepared to pay millions of dollars, that 7 p.m., 16th April, 1969, will never come back. That's a fact. That 7 p.m., 16th April, 1969, if you have spoiled, then just imagine how much money you have spoiled, because you cannot get it even in exchange of millions of dollars.\nTherefore if you have spoiled that point of time without any utility, then you have spent at least many millions of dollars for nothing. That should be our calculation. Āyuṣaḥ kṣaṇa eko 'pi na labhyaḥ svarṇa-koṭibhiḥ sa cen nirarthakaṁ nītiḥ. If that valuable time is spoiled without any benefit, then just imagine how much you are losing every moment.\nSo we should be very careful about our time. Don't spoil time. That is our request. Don't spoil time like animals. They have no responsibility. Because there is gradation. After this life, they get another life. After this life, they get another life. From aquatics they are promoted to the plant life. From plant life they are promoted to the insect life. From insect life they are promoted to the birds' life. Gradual evolution.\nThey are coming by nature's way. Nature is helping. And nature has helped you to come to this life, to civilized form of life, where you can have education, where you can have nice compartment, apartment, nice food, nice association, nice car, nice city.\nBecause... What is the difference between this nice and, I mean to say, not nice? Because you have got nice intelligence. In this land of America, when the Europeans did not come here to colonize, the Red Indians were there. They could not develop this American land so nicely, nice cities, because they are less intelligent. Now you are intelligent; you have developed it. That means if you have got nice intelligence, you can live nicely.\nNow what is the limit of that nice intelligence? That limit of nice intelligence is described in the Bhagavad-gītā. What is that? Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate [Bg. 7.19]. \n[After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.]\nAfter developing, going through many species of life, many intelligent human forms of life by cultivating knowledge, education, when one comes to the limit of education and knowledge, he understands what is God. What is God. That is the limit of... And to understand that knowledge, vidyā bhāgavatāvadhiḥ.\nThe most learned scholars, they have agreed that if you want to achieve knowledge, then you should study Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Vidyā bhāgavatāvadhiḥ. Limit of knowledge, limit of education, highest limit of education can be found in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.\nSo this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam was narrated by Śukadeva Gosvāmī and it was heard by Mahārāja Parīkṣit. At that time he was the emperor of the world. He was very big emperor. Formerly, at least five thousand years ago, there were not many flags. There was only one flag. Now, with the advancement of civilization and in the name of United Nation, we are simply increasing flags. You see?\n[chuckles] So we are not increasing our civilization; we are decreasing. Disunited. In the name of United Nation, we are becoming disunited. You see? So this is not actually advancement of civilization. Actual, we have to study, phalena paricīyate. We have to study things by the result, not by propaganda. By false propaganda if you study something, that is not studied. You have to see the result. Phalena paricīyate.\nSo the thing is that we should be very careful to utilize our life. This duration of life, it should not be squandered away for nothing, without any profit. Of course, the Western people, they are very busy making profit, undoubtedly. Economic development, that's very nice. But economic development is not actual advancement of civilization. Economic development means the material comforts: a better standard of eating, better standard of sleeping, better standard of sex life, and better standard of defending.\nBut we have got another. We are not this body. Better standard of living, sleeping, mating is meant for this body. But I am not this body. That is my first proposition, that I am not body. I am not this room, apartment. If I simply decorate this room with all my energies, forgetting about myself, then that is not very good intelligence. You decorate your body, decorate your room, decorate your dress—that's all right—but take information of your soul also.\nLord Jesus Christ said that, \"if after achieving everything one loses his self, then what does he gain?\" The same thing is also in the Bhāgavata. There is no difference between the instruction of Lord Jesus Christ and Bhāgavata, but Bhāgavata is very elaborately described, and Lord Jesus Christ gave you in nutshell. Just like he gave you the information of the kingdom of God. Now, what is that kingdom of God, how it is being conducted, what is the situation, that you will find here. That is the difference.\nSo this civilization, this civilized form of life, we should be careful.\n[no audio]\nJust like Mahārāja Parīkṣit is the instance, that he was cursed by a brāhmaṇa that he would die within seven days, and he was preparing. He was preparing himself, because \"I have to meet death.\" But we are so forward that we do not think of our death. But death is in... \"As sure as death.\" Everyone has to meet death. And we have to consider what we are preparing for our life after death. That is intelligence. That is intelligence. Not that to be absorbed in simply only this small duration of life, say fifty years, sixty years or hundred years. You are not hundred years or sixty years, fifty years. You are soul. You are eternal. So what is your eternal life? How you can...\n[break] ...become eternally happy? How you can have eternal life? That is your problem. That is your problem.\nSo Parīkṣit Mahārāja, therefore, when he was preparing... Because he was emperor, many great sages, saintly person, many great kings and emperors assembled there, because everyone knew that \"He is going to die within seven days.\" So he had some notice that \"My dear sir, you'll die within seven...\" But we can die any moment, because there is no notice. Even if I stepping down on the street I may die. There may be some accident. Even if we are sitting here, there may be some accident; we may immediately die.\nSo we have no notice. So we should be more careful and cautious than Parīkṣit Mahārāja, who had seven days' notice at least, that at least he was not going to die within seven days. So he was preparing. At that time he was asking all saintly persons there that \"What is my duty? Now I am going to die. What is my duty?\" So in that way... Because he was from the very beginning Kṛṣṇa conscious and devotee of Kṛṣṇa, so he also questioned, \"Whether I shall simply remember Kṛṣṇa?\"\nyac chrotavyam atho japyaṁ\nyat kartavyaṁ nṛbhiḥ prabho\nsmartavyaṁ bhajanīyaṁ vā\nbrūhi yad vā viparyayam\n[SB 1.19.38]\n[Please let me know what a man should hear, chant, remember and worship, and also what he should not do. Please explain all this to me.]\nHe said, yac chrotavyam: \"Now my time is limited. So what is my duty to hear?\"\nBecause our life is śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam. We hear something, we chant something. Maybe our business chanting and hearing, or maybe some educational chanting, hearing, or something else, the whole life is chanting and hearing. Therefore he [is] asking question from Śukadeva Gosvāmī, yac chrotavyam: \"What is to be heard just now, now I'm going to meet death?\"\nYac chrotavyam japyam: \"What shall I meditate upon?\" Japyaṁ yat kartavyam, \"Or what shall I do now?\" Smartavyam, \"Or what shall I remember or what shall I worship?\" So many things he said. Brūhi yad vā viparyayam: \"Or you can explain what is my duty.\" That was his...\nSo because he inquired about Kṛṣṇa, therefore the speaker, the Śukadeva Gosvāmī, who was inquired from Parīkṣit Mahārāja, he's first replying,\nvarīyān eṣa te praśnaḥ\nkṛto loka-hitaṁ nṛpa\nātmavit-sammataḥ puṁsāṁ\nśrotavyādiṣu yaḥ paraḥ\n[SB 2.1.1]\n[Please let me know what a man should hear, chant, remember and worship, and also what he should not do. Please explain all this to me.]\n\"My dear King, your question is very superexcellent.\" Superexcellent. [Sanskrit] \"You have inquired whether I shall now simply absorb my mind simply for hearing and chanting of Kṛṣṇa.\" That was his question.\nSo Śukadeva Gosvāmī affirms that \"This is a very nice inquiry, and your selection is also very nice.\" Śrotavyādiṣu yaḥ paraḥ. We have got to hear so many things. As soon as we get out of this Kṛṣṇa temple, many, many friends will ask me so many things, and I'll talk with him so many things about politics, economics, social affairs, this country's position, this, that.\nBecause without chanting and hearing, we cannot live for a moment. Either we shall talk nonsense or we shall talk about business or we talk of sex or talk some this or that. Talking and chanting. You talk, I hear, and I talk, you hear. That is the business going on everywhere.\nNow here Śukadeva Gosvāmī says that \"You wanted to hear about Kṛṣṇa. That is your superexcellent proposal.\" Varīyān eṣa te praśnaḥ kṛto loka-hitaṁ nṛpa. \"And because you have inquired and I'll have to say something about Kṛṣṇa, so it is the most beautiful and superexcellent welfare activities for the all people of the world.\" Loka-hitam.\nAnd ātmavit-sammataḥ. And this sort of question and answer is confirmed by persons who are self-realized, ātmavit. Ātmavit. Ātmā means soul, or self, and vit means one who knows. So \"Your this proposal, this inquiry, is approved by persons who are self-realized.\" Ātmavit-sammataḥ puṁsāṁ śrotavyādiṣu yaḥ paraḥ. Paraḥ means transcendental. There are many things, many subject matter for hearing, but this subject matter, Kṛṣṇa, is transcendental.\nThen he said,\nśrotavyādīni rājendra\nnṛṇāṁ santi sahasraśaḥ\napaśyatām ātma-tattvaṁ\ngṛheṣu gṛha-medhinām\n[SB 2.1.2]\n[Those persons who are materially engrossed, being blind to the knowledge of ultimate truth, have many subject matters for hearing in human society, O Emperor.]\nThere are very important words here. Gṛheṣu. Gṛheṣu means at home, and gṛha-medhinām, gṛha-medhinām means persons who are simply attached to home life. There are many persons, different grades of persons. Generally, people are very much attached. Why men? Even animals, they are also. Even a tiger, he has got a wife and few cubs. So he's happy there. Gṛha-medhinām. A serpent, he has got also wife, a few children. Or any animal, dog, cat—the husband and wife and few children. That is everywhere. It is not only in the human society.\nBut the human society, even they are with wife, home and children, they can talk about Kṛṣṇa. That is the facility. Otherwise, śrotavyādīni rājendra nṛṇāṁ santi sahasraśaḥ. There are thousands and thousands of subject matter for talking. Just like you take a newspaper in the morning. In your country, a bunch of paper. You see? Although you cannot read, you must get one newspaper.\nYou'll read only one column or one page, but there are thousands of pages. You see? You cannot finish even in one month such reading. [laughter] But what are those containing? The same thing—talkings about eating, sleeping, mating and defending. That's all. In different pictures, in different set-up, but the subject matter is eating, sleeping, mating and defending. That's all.\nSo those who are simply attached to this materialistic way of life, their subject matter of hearing and chanting are many, many thousands forms. There is no limit. Why? Why they do it? They have no attraction for these things, but still, they engage themselves in such topics. Just like the same example: actually, that newspaper tidings, whatever is brought before you, you are not interested, but you purchase one newspaper. Thousands of newspapers are selling. I see when I travel in the street the people are all engaged in reading newspapers.\nSo this is a fact, that every man is engaged in thousands of topics of hearing and chanting in different ways. Apaśyatām ātma-tattvam [SB 2.1.2]. But they are blind about their own self. They are spending so much time in different topics, but they are blind about their self-realization. Apaśyatām ātma-tattvaṁ gṛheṣu gṛha-medhinām. Gṛha-medhinām, because they have made their life only to engage in these four things: eating, sleeping, mating and defending.\nIn another place also, Prahlāda Mahārāja says,\nmatir na kṛṣṇe parataḥ svato vā\nmitho 'bhipadyeta gṛha-vratānām\n[SB 7.5.30]\n[Prahlāda Mahārāja replied: Because of their uncontrolled senses, persons too addicted to materialistic life make progress toward hellish conditions and repeatedly chew that which has already been chewed. Their inclinations toward Kṛṣṇa are never aroused, either by the instructions of others, by their own efforts, or by a combination of both.]\nThe same gṛha-vratānām, who has made their life, the aim of their life, simply for these things, eating, sleeping, mating and defending. For them, matir na kṛṣṇe, they cannot come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Matir na kṛṣṇe parataḥ svato vā. Parato means even after hearing instruction from some saintly person or from books, they cannot take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Matir na kṛṣṇe parataḥ... Parataḥ means by instruction of others, and svato means personally cultivating knowledge. Parataḥ svato vā. Mitho vā. Mitho vā means assembly, just like we are talking about this in assembly.\nSo Prahlāda Mahārāja says that matir na kṛṣṇe parataḥ svato vā mitho 'bhipadyeta gṛha-vratānām. Gṛha-vratānām, those who have fixed up their aim of life simply to enjoy these four things, eating, sleeping, mating and defending, they cannot be attracted by this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.\nAnd Śukadeva Gosvāmī also confirms here that apaśyatām ātma-tattvam: because they do not know what is the goal of his soul. That they do not know. Apaśyatām ātma-tattvam. And because they have not engaged themselves in the spiritual culture or cultivation of self-realization or advancement of the self, their business is simply on these four principles of life: eating, sleeping, mating and defending.\nSo how they are spending..., spoiling their life? That is stated by Śukadeva Gosvāmī: nidrayā hriyate naktam. We have got at our disposal twenty-four hours, say, twelve hours night and twelve hours day. So how these twenty-four hours is being spoiled by persons who are simply interested in sleeping, eating, mating and defending?\nSo Śukadeva Gosvāmī says, nidrayā hriyate naktam. At night they sleep. Nidrayā. Nidrayā means by sleeping; hriyate, spoiling. Spoiling the time of night by sleeping. Nidrayā hriyate naktaṁ vyavāyena ca vā [SB 2.1.3].\n[The lifetime of such an envious householder is passed at night either in sleeping or in sex indulgence, and in the daytime either in making money or maintaining family members.]\nOr by sex life. Two business. One has no opportunity... One who has no sex opportunity, he's sleeping. Or enjoying sex life.\nThen what about day? Divā cārthehayā rājan: and the whole day is being spoiled, \"Where is money? Where is money? Where is money?\" All right, you take money. Here is money. He gets, say, one thousand dollar, earns the whole day. Then? Divā cārthehayā rājan kuṭumba-bharaṇena vā [SB 2.1.3].\nThen shopping. As soon as you get money, there are nice shops, all advertising, \"Come here. Take this garment. Take this. Take that. Take that car.\" Always advertisement. Anyone who has got his money in the pocket, he's immediately spending. So for earning money and to spend them or to sleep at night or to enjoy sex life at night, so this is the engagement of a materialistic man throughout the whole day and night.\nSo dehāpatya-kalatrādiṣv ātma-sainyeṣv asatsv api [SB 2.1.4]. \n[Persons devoid of ātma-tattva do not inquire into the problems of life, being too attached to the fallible soldiers like the body, children and wife. Although sufficiently experienced, they still do not see their inevitable destruction.]\nBut they are so fool that dehāpatya. This body and these children and this wife, this home, dehāpatya-kala..., ātma-sainyeṣu. Just like one feels very confident when he has got a great number of soldiers. Suppose we are fighting somewhere. If I have got a nice arrangement for defensive measure, then I feel confident. Similarly, we are thinking that \"This home, this wife, this children, this society, this friendship, this love, this nation, that will give me protection.\"\nTeṣāṁ pramatto nidhanaṁ paśyann api na paśyati. But they are so mad that although they are seeing that others' children are dying, others' wife is dying, one..., another friend is dying, other nation is being defeated, other social custom or social friendship or any attachment, they are being spoiled, they are attached to all these things only. Dehāpatya-kalatrādiṣu. They have no other information.\n\"But you are not like that. You are, from the beginning of your life, you are given advantage by your parents, by your family, to develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness.\" Because Mahārāja Parīkṣit, when he was in the womb of his mother, the other side of the Kuru dynasty, they released atom bomb to kill him, and Kṛṣṇa saved him. And after his birth, the boy was playing with Kṛṣṇa statue. So he is from the very beginning Kṛṣṇa conscious.\nSo Śukadeva Gosvāmī is advising, \"My dear King, you are not this type of man, because as soon as you have heard..., you are sure that you are going to die, immediately you have come out from your home and all attachment of your kingdom, wife and children. So your business is,\" he advises, tasmād bhārata sarvātmā bhagavān īśvaro hariḥ [SB 2.1.5].\n[O descendant of King Bharata, one who desires to be free from all miseries must hear about, glorify and also remember the Personality of Godhead, who is the Supersoul, the controller and the savior from all miseries.]\n\"Therefore you have asked me what is your duty. Now I give you to understand that this is your duty.\"\nWhat is that? \"Bhārata...\" He's addressing Mahārāja Parīkṣit as Bhārata. Bhārata means he belongs to the dynasty of Mahārāja Bharata, under whose name this planet was known as Bhārata-varṣa. So he's also descendant of that dynasty. He's addressed as Bhārata. Tasmād. Tasmād means \"therefore.\"\n\"My dear King, you are descendant of Bharata Mahārāja.\" Sarvātmā bhagavān īśvaro hariḥ: \"The Lord, Hari, or Kṛṣṇa, Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead,\" śrotavyaḥ, \"you simply hear about Him,\" śrotavyaḥ kīrtitavyaś ca, \"and also chant about Him,\" śrotavyaḥ kīrtitavyaś ca and smartavyas, \"and remember always.\"\nSo here is the beginning of Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement: simply to hear and chant about Kṛṣṇa and remember Him always. Then you are safe. You have nothing to be disturbed. Your life is safe. Your next life is assured, very good life. And it is very simple. Simply chant,\nHare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare\nHare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.\nThank you very much. [devotees offer obeisances]\nAll right, chant, or you want to ask me any question, about this?\nYes.",
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"content": "\n Prabhupāda, Mahārāja Parīkṣit was a great devotee of Kṛṣṇa from his birth. So is he actually in need of these talks by Śukadeva, or is this for the benefit of others?",
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"content": "\n Yes. You never think that you have become very stalwart, you do not need any spiritual master's instruction. Don't think that. Then you are spoiled. You should always think that you are nothing, even you are very much advanced. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that \"My spiritual master saw Me a great fool.\" You see?\nSo we should remain always a fool. We should never think that we have advanced. Then we can advance. Then we can advance. And as soon as we think, \"Oh, I have advanced now. Nobody has to instruct me. Now I shall...\" That's not good.",
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"content": "\n Wasn't that the case with Arjuna?",
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"content": "\n Everyone. We should always be prepared to gain instruction from the authorities. We should never think that we have become perfect—although you are perfect.\nTṛṇād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā\n[Cc. Ādi 17.31].\n[“One who thinks himself lower than the grass, who is more tolerant than a tree, and who does not expect personal honor yet is always prepared to give all respect to others can very easily always chant the holy name of the Lord.”]\nOne should be very humble, meek, and always think that \"I am nothing.\" Just like the author of Caitanya-caritāmṛta, such a great, stalwart man, such a great devotee. Nobody has produced such literature as Caitanya-caritāmṛta. He is presenting himself that \"I am lighter than the worm in the stool.\" Purīṣera kīṭa haite muñi se laghiṣṭha [Cc. Ādi 5.205]. \n[I am more sinful than Jagāi and Mādhāi and even lower than the worms in the stool.]\nPurīṣ means stool, and kīṭa means worm. So \"I am lower than the worm in the stool. Anyone who takes my name, all his pious activities immediately becomes lost.\" In this way he is presenting himself. That does not mean that he's actually so, but that is the attitude of a devotee. He's always very meek and humble. And the opposite side is, \"I am God. Now finish all business.\"\nSo this māyā is very strong. He's [She's] always enticing me, \"Oh, you are so great, so big, so... You have nothing to learn. Finish all...\" That is māyā's instruction. But we should always be very humble, meek, and we should know always that \"What I know? I do not know anything.\"\nThe knowledge is unlimited. God is unlimited. And my position is very minute, fractional, infinitesimal. What I can accommodate? I shall go on. I shall go on. Remain. Gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ [Cc. Madhya 13.80]. \n[“’I am not a brāhmaṇa, I am not a kṣatriya, I am not a vaiśya or a śūdra. Nor am I a brahmacārī, a householder, a vānaprastha or a sannyāsī. I identify Myself only as the servant of the servant of the servant of the lotus feet of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the maintainer of the gopīs. He is like an ocean of nectar, and He is the cause of universal transcendental bliss. He is always existing with brilliance.’”]\nWe shall always try to remain servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the... Hundred times servant. Then it will be all right. The more you become humble, meek, the more you advance. That is real advancement.",
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"content": "\n If we're so much puffed up by our previous practice, how can we develop...",
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"content": "\n That is material life. We are falsely puffed up. Don't you see? Every... Majority of the persons, they'll say, \"Oh, what is God? What is God?\" The scientists, as soon as you say... Any foundation you approach, \"Sir, can you give us some money for spreading this Kṛṣṇa...?\" \"No. What is this?\" You see? They have practically forgotten what is God.\nSo anyway, we don't want many men. If there is one man to understand about this science of God, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is sufficient. He can deliver many men. You see. Chant always Hare Kṛṣṇa, remain humble, meek, pray to Kṛṣṇa, \"Please save me,\" then it is very nice. You should always...\n[child crying] [break]\n[no audio]\nYes, everyone, take, those who are to be... Chant, always chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. [devotees chant japa] That's all right. Now wash. Wash your hand. You should see how I've done it. Yes. You should be intelligent. That's all right. Once wash your hand.\nB\nī\nrabhadra:\n Like this.",
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"content": "\n Once more?",
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"content": "\n Yes. You have not seen it? You should be intelligent enough. Just see everyone. One, two, three. [sips] Now again. That's all. Finish. Hare Kṛṣṇa. [japa] That's it. Do everyone like that. Do. [kīrtana] [Prabhupāda several times says, \"Chant loudly. Loudly.\"]\n[kīrtana] [break] prabhu kahe,—tomāra kartavya, āmāra vacana nikaṭe āsiyācha tumi, yāha vṛndāvana. [Madhya 19.240]\n[Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu replied, “Your duty is to carry out My order. You have come near Vṛndāvana. Now you should go there.]\nSo Lord Caitanya informed Sanātana Gosvāmī that \"Your two other brothers, I met them at Prayāga, and they have started for Vṛndāvana.\" Lord Caitanya deputed this Sanātana Gosvāmī... [end]",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/710629r1-los-angeles/
|
[
{
"content": "\n So anyway, I was very much anxious to hear about Chidānanda. So he has written letter means he is not very bad.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Well, he was in the hospital. He was in the hospital and he got into a fight with the guard, I guess, and they arrested him for fighting and put him in jail for six months.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Fighting?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n But he is weak. With whom he'll fight?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. It was actually very... We have a lawyer working on it to get a suspended sentence. We've got a lawyer who is trying to get him a suspended sentence, because he was sick, and he..., they had him taking drugs and he was weak, and he had been in the hospital for four months. Why they should put him in jail? He just got a little irritable.\n They mocked him. I think they mocked him for having this, and finally he couldn't take any more, and he probably hit the guard, so they threw him in jail for six months.\n And in jail they won't give him anything to eat except... They won't give him a special diet, so all he can eat is just a little bit of vegetable. They have... The plate they give him mostly meat and a little vegetable. They won't give him any extra vegetables.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes? Where the jail is?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Which jail is it?\n County Jail, Los Angeles County Jail.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n So we cannot send our prasāda there?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n No. They won't let anything in. You can't even send books there. They won't let him wear his beads. They won't let him have his beads or anything, or his sacred thread. They took it all away from him.\n Can we go visit him?\n We can visit, yes. Visiting hours on Saturdays and Sundays. I went there the Saturday before last, before I came.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n So how is he there?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Well, he's doing all right. He says he chants and he prays.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Well, what can be done?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n We're trying to see the minister there and get some books in to him. If the minister will allow it, we can give him books. Otherwise they won't let him have any books.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n So you see, or else why this poor fellow should be given unnecessary trouble? What is this? Huh?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Cardamom seed. Cardamom.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Oh. Yes. [devotees offer obeisances]\n What is the price of a closet?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n A closet? How big, Prabhupāda?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Not very big.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Maybe forty dollars.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Steel?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Oh, steel. Probably more than forty. Like a locker? A locker like this or a closet like this?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Closet.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Closet. Probably sixty or seventy dollars.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n I don't think it is much.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n We can get it. Six feet high?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n A wardrobe for clothes.\n Like a chifferobe?\n Made out of steel instead of wood?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Steel is cheaper?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n No, steel is more. Wood is cheaper.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n So steel is, I think, nice.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Okay. We'll look for it.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n And one stove.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n A small stove?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Two burners?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Okay.\n Jaya. Hare Kṛṣṇa.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Hare Kṛṣṇa. [end]",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/711111r1-delhi/
|
[
{
"content": "\n[loud kīrtana in background]",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nHmm. I think U.P.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nU.P.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nYeah, the majority of the people from Mauritius are of Indian origin.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nThat's good.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nAnd Bhagavad-gītā is always there.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nJaya.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nAnd all.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nI see. [break]",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n...your blessings on Mauritius some time?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nYes, welcome. You arrange, we shall go. I'm going to Africa...",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nAh.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n...by the twenty-third. So if you can arrange, we can go.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nAll right, I'd be delighted to.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nHow far it is from Nairobi?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nFrom?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nNairobi. How far it is?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nAh. About two hours' flight.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nTwo hours?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nYes, only. Very close.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nAbout 1,000 miles?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nYes.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nNot very far.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nYes, not far. If you keep in touch with me, we shall try to see the... Who looks after the program of Śrīla Prabhupāda?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nHe is in charge of Africa.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nI see.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nBrahmānanda Swami.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nI see, very good.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nHe's American.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nAh-hah.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nBut he has taken to the mission for preaching in Africa. [break] [indistinct]",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nYes, I find them very devoted and loyal.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nIndians are not very forward.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nVery good.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n[to someone entering] Aiye! Aiye! ",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nHow many of... [break]\nI'm a Hindu.\n[Hindi]\nI'm a Hindu. [indistinct]",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n[indistinct]",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nI was teaching in a [indistinct] temple in South India[?] From India[?] [indistinct]. Face to face [?].",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nWhat is that?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n[indistinct] I been living for the last nineteen years in this district [indistinct] Holy Village [indistinct] Bengali....",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nHoly Village?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nHoly Village.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nIn Bombay?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nBombay, I mean he passed away in 1956, Bengali. Disciple of Svāmī [indistinct]. I'm a freedom fighter and a journalist. [Hindi] And then I've been a journalist [indistinct]. Now I'm representative of the [indistinct] to start a home center like an āśrama for aged freedom fighters. This Maṭha...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nEh?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nFor aged and for freedom fighters, to start. They are given the pension of [indistinct] and to give them more. Not only... These Christians, they have started..., I mean, Christians have laid the foundation stone for aged [indistict] and the government. There are so many, I mean in Bombay also there are so many also aged [indistinct].",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nYes, there are many [indistinct].",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nLet me take blessings of Lord Kṛṣṇa also, Hare Rāma, Hare Kṛṣṇa Mandir...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nKṛṣṇa's blessings are everywhere. [break]",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n...open[?].",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nBut nobody is prepared to take it. Kṛṣṇa says:\nsarva-dharmān parityajya\nmām ekaṁśaraṇaṁ vraja\nahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo\nmokṣayiṣyāmi\n[Bg. 18.66]\n\"Just take shelter of Me and I will protect you from the reactions of all sinful life.\" Because here in the material world everyone is sinful—and there is reaction. He gives assurance that \"I will give you protection from the reactions of sinful life. Just surrender unto Me.\" But nobody is doing it.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nSwāmījī, your blessings that I will surrender.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nEh?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nYour kindly blessings that I surrender.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nSurrender means this, that \"Kṛṣṇa, so long I was forgotten that missing You. Now I have gotten from this day I surrender unto You. Whatever You like, You can do it.\" That's all.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nSwāmījī, I will request you to kindly give me that feeling of dedication and surrender. Bless me to have that feeling.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nIt does not require—you simply [indistinct] let him come. Anyone wants to come, let him come. Just like one man has fallen in the well, and he's crying, \"Please get me..., get me out. Somebody please get some rope. Just catch it, I'll take it.\" Then where is the question now of getting a blessing? Here is the blessing: take it. But if you don't catch, or if you say that \"Give me the strength to catch,\" this is not very good argument. Here is the rope; you catch it. That's all. But nobody is prepared to do that. Otherwise, the solution is there.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nThe situation is the guru is the one who catches?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nThe guru is speaking... Guru is speaking, \"Here is a bag of million dollars. Take it,\" then if you take.... Why don't you take it? If you don't take it, then how you can get rich? Kṛṣṇa says that sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁśaraṇaṁ vraja ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo, but nobody is taking it.\nThese European and American boys, they are taking it up and they are advancing. But if you are not prepared to take, how you will advance? It is a plea, that \"You give me your grace so that I can catch this..., that goal of devotion,\" is that right? I'm already offering you the rope; you catch it. That is the difficulty.\nThese people, they have taken it, they have surrendered, they are making progress. It is not very difficult. Just see how they are dancing in esctasy. These European boys and girls, they are in ecstasy. There is a girl, her father is a very rich man in Chicago—that is a big businessman—and she is with us. She is married; she has got husband. I get them married.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nThat's good.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nThis is the first time in history that a sannyāsī is taking part in marriage making.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n[laughs] Hare Kṛṣṇa.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nWhat can be done? I have to. I cannot allow them to live as friends, you know. That is not.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n[indistinct]",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nIn Europe and America the boys and girls live as friends. I don't allow. They must get married. Kṛṣṇa can protect you from all the past sinful activities, but if you again commit, that is not good. So the illicit sex is sinful activity. As soon as you surrender, Kṛṣṇa excuses you from your past habits. But you don't commit again. That is our... Just like one is insolvent, so in insolvency the court hears his excuse, \"All right, but don't take any more debt.\"",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nThat is the one.\nAt the end of that.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nYes. So if he takes debt, that is criminal if he is insolvent person. Just like in the court if he takes again debt, that will be criminal. The court says that, \"You are unable to pay. All right, your former debts are all...\"",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nSquashed up.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n \"...cleared...\"",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nCleared of insolvency.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n\"...burnt up. But don't take again.\" Our is like that. Kṛṣṇa says, \"All right, whatever sinful activities are done, I clear, but don't do again.\" That is required. One must be determined that \"Whatever I have done, that's all right, that is being excused; but no more doing.\" And if we think that \"Now I have taken shelter of Kṛṣṇa and I will go on committing all sinful activities, and He'll excuse...\" Eh? Like the Christian people say...",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nAh.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n...that \"Our religion is very good because Jesus Christ suffered for all our sins, so we can go on committing our sinful life, and Jesus Christ will suffer.\" That is not very good proposal. Jesus Christ has once, for all, he has sacrificed his life for the sins of others, and if you make a contract that \"You go on suffering for us, and we will go on committing sin,\" that is not a very good proposition.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nSelfish motive. Self-interest.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nIn the Vedic scriptures it is said, nāmno balād yasya hi pāpa-buddhiḥ [Bhakti-sandarbhaḥ 173], that this chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa means you become free from all sinful activities. But it does not mean that you again commit sinful activities and you think that \"I will chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and it will be counteracted.\"\nOnce you are forgiven, twice you are excused, but not for the third time. It's like in criminal court also. The magistrate, if the criminal says, \"Sir, I did not know what was my [indistinct].\" \"All right, excused. Don't do it again.\" But if he every time says, that will not [indistinct].",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n[indistinct]",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nUnfortunately, people are kept in ignorance. The enlightenment is there, Bhagavad-gītā, but they are not taking it. They are not taking it. That is the difficulty. Otherwise, everything is there. You can become very happy, this life, next life and so on. They do not know how to become happy.\nThey want to become happy in their own way. It is entangling them, and people are suggesting, \"Yes, you can execute your religious principle in your own way.\" How it is that? That's where they go to it. You cannot execute law in your own way. You must accept the laws of the state and execute it properly. [indistinct] [break] [indistinct]",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n[indistinct] Hare Kṛṣṇa [break] [kīrtana concludes] [end]",
"role": "user"
}
] |
https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/690618sb-new-vrindavan/
|
[
{
"content": "\n[chants maṅgalācaraṇa prayers]\n...timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā\ncakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave-namaḥ\n[I offer my respectful obeisances unto my spiritual master, who with the torchlight of knowledge has opened my eyes, which were blinded by the darkness of ignorance.]\nśrī-caitanya-mano-'bhīṣṭaṁ sthāpitaṁ yena bhū-tale\nsvayaṁ rūpaḥ kadā mahyaṁ dadāti sva-padāntikam\n[When will Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī Prabhupāda, who has established within this material world the mission to fulfill the desire of Lord Caitanya, give me shelter under his lotus feet?]\nhe kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho dīna-bandho jagat-pate\ngopeśa gopikā-kānta rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te\n[O my dear Kṛṣṇa, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the cowherd men and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṇī. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.]\ntapta-kāñcana-gaurāṅgi rādhe vṛndāvaneśvari\nvṛṣabhānu-sute devi praṇamāmi hari-priye\n[I offer my respects to Rādhārāṇī, whose bodily complexion is like molten gold and who is the Queen of Vṛndāvana. You are the daughter of King Vṛṣabhānu, and You are very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa.]\nvāñchā-kalpa-tarubhyaś ca\nkṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca\npatitānāṁ pāvanebhyo\nvaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ\n[I offer my respectful obeisances unto all the Vaiṣṇava devotees of the Lord. They are just like desire trees who can fulfill the desires of everyone, and they are full of compassion for the fallen conditioned souls.]\nśrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda\nśrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda\n[I offer my obeisances to Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, Prabhu Nityānanda, Śrī Advaita, Gadādhara, Śrīvāsa and all others in the line of devotion.]\nhare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare\nhare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare\n[My dear Lord, and the spiritual energy of the Lord, kindly engage me in Your service. I am now embarrassed with this material service. Please engage me in Your service.]\ntato 'nyathā kiñcana yad vivakṣataḥ\npṛthag dṛśas tat-kṛta-rūpa-nāmabhiḥ\nna karhicit kvāpi ca duḥsthitā matir\nlabheta vātāhata-naur ivāspadam\n[SB 1.5.14]\n[Whatever you desire to describe that is separate in vision from the Lord simply reacts with different forms and names to agitate the mind, as the wind agitates a boat which has no resting place.]\nNow we are discussing instruction of Nārada to his disciple, Vyāsadeva. Such a learned scholar, Vyāsadeva. He's known as Vedavyāsa, the authority on all Vedic literature. And he's supposed to be incarnation of Nārāyaṇa, exalted position. Still, he requires the instruction of a spiritual master.\nThat is the way of Vedic way. Avaroha-panthā, āroha-panthā. Āroha-panthā means inductive process: to know from here, from the lower status to the higher status, speculative method, or ascending process. And avaroha-panthā is deductive process, getting knowledge from higher authorities. So our Vedic understanding is to receive knowledge from the authorities. That is perfect knowledge.\nThere are three kinds of processes to receive knowledge: pratyakṣa, aitihya and śabda. Pratyakṣa means by direct perception, experimental knowledge. And aitihya, or anumāna, anumāna, hypothesis, \"It may be like this,\" \"Perhaps like this.\" Just like modern scientists say, \"Perhaps it is like this.\" That is called anumāna, hypothesis. And another process is śabda-pramāṇa, śruti-pramāṇa. Śabda means sound vibration, and śruti means aural reception. So out of three processes, the śabda-pramāṇa, or receiving vibration, sound vibration from authorities by aural reception, that is considered to be the perfect.\nSo Nārada Muni says... Before this, Nārada Muni has advised Vyāsadeva that \"In order to release all these conditioned souls, you just describe the wonderful activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.\" Simply by hearing... Uttama-ślokasya guṇānuvādāt. Uttama-śloka. Uttama-śloka means the Supreme Lord who is described by transcendental literature or very fine, scholarly language. He's called Uttama-śloka. Uttama-ślokasya urukramasya. \"That will save all conditioned souls from being implicated in the clutches of māyā.\"\nNow, Vyāsadeva has already described... He has made many purāṇas, eighteen purāṇas. So there is mention of God's activities. Just like in Mahābhārata he has put this Bhagavad-gītā. So Nārada Muni says that,\npṛthag dṛśas tat-kṛta-rūpa-nāmabhiḥ\ntato 'nyathā kiñcana yad vivakṣataḥ\n[SB 1.5.14]\n[Whatever you desire to describe that is separate in vision from the Lord simply reacts with different forms and names to agitate the mind, as the wind agitates a boat which has no resting place.]\n\"If you do not exceptionally, exclusively describe simply the pastimes of the uncommon activities of the Lord, the other way, as you have given as a sidelight, as you have described Bhagavad-gītā, the activities of Kṛṣṇa as a sideline, not...\"\nActually, the whole Mahābhārata is full of activities of Kṛṣṇa, but Kṛṣṇa is only a scene in the Mahābhārata. He's speaking in the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra.\nSo Nārada Muni says, \"That sort of description will not be very much congenial, because the people are not steady. Their anxiety... Their mind is disturbed in so many ways, exactly like a boat moving in the tossing of the waves of the sea. So this sort of understanding of God will not give them much benefit. You describe completely on the pastimes, on the activities of the Supreme Lord. That will give people release from these material clutches.\"\nSo the next verse says... Vyāsadeva may say that \"Sir, I have already compiled so many books, eighteen purāṇas, Mahābhārata, even Vedānta-sūtra. So are they not sufficient literature to revive Kṛṣṇa consciousness?\" So in reply to that, Nārada says,\njugupsitaṁ dharma-kṛte 'nuśāsataḥ\nsva-bhāva-raktasya mahān vyatikramaḥ\n[SB 1.5.15]\n[The people in general are naturally inclined to enjoy, and you have encouraged them in that way in the name of religion. This is verily condemned and is quite unreasonable. Because they are guided under your instructions, they will accept such activities in the name of religion and will hardly care for prohibitions.]\nSva-bhāva-raktasya mahān vyatikramaḥ. Sva-bhāva-raktasya means by nature. Just like Vedic scripture says, \"By nature every living entity has a propensity for sex life, for intoxication.\" Loke vyavāyāmiṣa-madya-sevā nityā hi jantoḥ. Jantoḥ means living entities. Nitya. So long he is in contact with this material world, he has got a natural propensity for sex life and intoxication. Vyavāya means sex life, and āmiṣa means meat-eating. Āmiṣa, meat-eating. Sex life, meat-eating and madya-sevā. Madhya-sevā means intoxication, drinking liquor.\nIt is not unnatural. To drink wine or liquor or to eat meat and to have free sex life, that is the desire of all conditioned souls. Therefore, sva-bhāva-raktasya, \"by nature.\" Nobody is taught in the educational institution how to drink, or how to eat meat or how to enjoy sex life. Natural. That is natural. Sva-bhāva-raktasya. \"And if these things you describe as dharma, as religious principles, then they are doomed.\"\nJust like a man is addicted to commit theft. He has got a habit of stealing. And if I say, \"Stealing is very nice art. You can go on with you..., with it,\" then where is the reformation? There is no question of... He, he's already addicted. So it is encouragement. So similarly, in the dharma-śāstra... Just like in Mahābhārata there is...\n[aside:] Where is that \"cut-cut\" noise? Don't make that sound.\nJust like in marriage ceremony. Marriage ceremony... Of course, in your country, the marriage ceremony is different. In India still, the people spend as much as possible in the marriage ceremony—millions of dollars. If one man is rich, he'll spend for his son's marriage or daughter's marriage. That is a great credit: \"Oh, this man is very rich man. He's spending so much money.\" So there are so many religious performances, ritualistic performances. You have to spend money, so you must find out so many performances. So they have all these in the śāstras.\nSo Nārada Muni says that \"What is this, marriage ceremony? The marriage ceremony is to allow the boy and the girl for legitimate sex life. That's all. So that propensity he has already got. And what is the use of making such propaganda and spending so much money?\" Very practical proposition. But in the śāstras there are. Similarly, drinking or meat-eating. According to Vedic śāstra, meat-eating is not allowed by purchasing from the slaughterhouse. No. They... There is motive. The marriage ceremony or the meat-eating, the so much ritualistic performances, there is motive. What is that motive? Motive is restriction.\nJust like the same example, marriage: the real idea is to restrict the boy and the girl to one woman and one man. That is the idea, main idea. If he's not married, then he will be just like cats and dogs. So idea is very good. But Nārada Muni says, \"After all, you're coming to the point of sex life. So why so much propaganda?\"\nSimilarly, for meat-eating there is also sanction in the śāstras, tāmasika-śāstra, not sāttvika. There are three divisions of śāstra—sāttvika, rājasika and tāmasika. Those who are meat-eaters, cannot give up meat-eating, for them, the prescription is, \"All right, you can eat meat, but you have to sacrifice one goat, but not cow.\" The... For sacrifice the animal is recommended: goat. So you can, I mean to say, cut throat of a goat in the presence of Goddess Kālī and you can eat. There are so many prescriptions. But that is also restriction, that Kālī-worship is one day in a month, on the dark moon day. What is called, dark moon? Amāvasyā. Full moon and...? Eh?",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\n New moon?",
"role": "user"
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"content": "\n No, no, no. When there is... On that particular..., there is no moon in the sky.",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\n The dark of the moon.",
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"content": "\n It is called dark moon, yes. So that Kālī-pūjā is recommended on the dark moon day. The... That is one day in a month. Similarly, according to marriage life, the sex life is also allowed one day in a month. The whole thing is restriction. Similarly, drinking wine also, there is Devī-pūjā. That is also once in a year, or something like that. The whole point is restriction. But after all, this is drinking and mating and meat-eating.\nSo Nārada Muni says that \"You have described these things for which a man has got natural propensity in a religious form. So it is jugupsitam. This is most abominable.\" Just see. Even the restricted system of marriage, drinking and meat-eating described in the śāstra, that is also condemned by Nārada. Jugupsitam. Jugupsitaṁ dharma-kṛte 'nuśāsataḥ: \"You are the leader of the śāstras. You are writing śāstras. People will follow you.\" Just like in Vedic..., Vedas, there is recommendation of sacri..., in the sacrifice, animal-killing, but that animal-killing is not killing. This...\nThere was a discussion between Lord Caitanya and Chand Kazi, the Muhammadan magistrate. That story perhaps you know, that He started civil disobedience movement. And the brāhmaṇas of Navadvīpa, they complained to the Muhammadan man... At that time, Bengal was being governed by the Pathans, Muhammadans, and so there was Muhammadan magistrate called Kazi Saheb.\nSo the brāhmaṇas, they lodged complaint to the Kazi Saheb that \"This boy, Nimāi Paṇḍita, He has started one movement, Hare Kṛṣṇa, and people are being enthused, excited, to chant this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, and He is making propaganda that \"Simply by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, you'll get all perfection.\"\nSo the brāhmaṇas thought that \"If this boy makes propaganda and popularize this Hare Kṛṣṇa movement, then, oh, what about ourself?\" They were priestly class. \"Then how we will live?\" So they lodged complaint to the Chand Kazi that \"He's doing something against our Vedic ritual. It is not Hindu religion. And...\" Of course, he was Muhammadan magistrate, but after all, he was meant for giving justice to the people. So when big brāhmaṇas complained, he took action and he sent some constables to warn the followers of Lord Caitanya that \"You are disturbing. You are disturbing, this Hare Kṛṣṇa chanting. You cannot do this. There is complaint.\"\nSo Caitanya Mahāprabhu was informed that \"The Chand Kazi has warned us not to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. What shall we do?\" Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, \"Don't care. Go on chanting. Go on chanting.\" So then, when the magistrate saw that they have not stopped, then he sent some constables and government police force, who broke their mṛdaṅgas and dispersed the crowd. So this information was given to Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and He said, \"All right, then we shall,\" I mean to say, \"issue this civil disobedience.\"\nSo He called for many thousands of people. He was very popular. This incidence shows that even He was at that time sixteen-years-old boy, He was so learned, Nimāi Paṇḍita, that He defeated a great scholar, and at the same time, He was very popular, because by His simple calling, many hundred thousands of people gathered with mṛdaṅgas, and they began kīrtana in the street and went to the house of that Kazi.\nSo at that time Kazi thought that \"This is a mass movement. So my order will not be... There will be some disturbance.\" So he came to his senses. Then he wanted to make some compromise with Caitanya Mahāprabhu. And first of all there was some discussion, because he was also very learned scholar, Chand Kazi, and Caitanya Mahāprabhu was also very learned scholar.\nSo first of all he compromised, Chand Kazi, \"Nimāi, You are a boy, and in our village relationship You are just my nephew because Your grandfather, Your mother's father, I call him 'Cācā.' \" Cācā means uncle. \"So, in that sense, Your mother is my sister. So You are my nephew. Why You are so angry upon Your uncle?\" So He said, \"Yes, My dear uncle, I have come My uncle's house to be received very nicely, but you went upstairs. Why? I am very glad that you have come down.\" In this way, the things were...\nThen He first of all asked Chand Kazi, \"Yes, My dear uncle...\" He was maternal uncle, māmu... Māmu or māmā. Māmā means maternal uncle. \"My dear māmā, Uncle, what is your religion, that you eat your father and mother?\" That was His challenge, first. Well, \"what sort of religion you have got?\" He said, \"What You say? We eat our father...?\" \"Yes, because you eat cows. So cow gives you milk. She's your mother. You drink milk and kill your mother. And the bull, she [he] helps you in agricultural..., producing grains, just like father gives you grain to eat. So you are killing your father and mother. How is that?\"\nSo Chand Kazi was also very learned scholar. He said, \"Well, this cow-killing is also recommended in Your Vedas, because there is cow sacrifice.\" So Caitanya Mahāprabhu replied... Now, we should know it that the animal sacrifice, according to the Vedic scripture, that is not killing. That is explained by Caitanya Mahāprabhu.\nHe said that \"In the previous time, this cow sacrifice was actually being done. That's all right. But that was not for killing. That—to give the cow, the old cow or bull, a new life. By the power of mantra, just to give evidence of the Vedic mantras, the brāhmaṇas would sacrifice a cow, old cow or old bull, in the fire and give..., give him, again, new life. That was...\n\"Now, in this age, there is no such powerful brāhmaṇa who can chant the mantras rightly and give again rejuvenation, another new life. It is not possible. Therefore in the śāstras, these sort of sacrifices are forbidden.\"\naśvamedhaṁ gavālambhaṁ\nsannyāsaṁ pala-paitṛkam\ndevareṇa sutotpattiṁ\nkalau pañca vivarjayet\n[Cc. Ādi 17.164]\n[“’In this Age of Kali, five acts are forbidden: the offering of a horse in sacrifice, the offering of a cow in sacrifice, the acceptance of the order of sannyāsa, the offering of oblations of flesh to the forefathers, and a man’s begetting children in his brother’s wife.’]\nSo there was nice discussion, and the compromise was that \"No more Your saṅkīrtana movement will be checked by my men.\"\nSo the point is that although in the Vedic scripture there is recommendation that animal sacrifice allowed, but that is not meant for killing. That is giving a new life. So when this animal sacrifice was going on simply for eating, simply for eating... Just like in a particular Mission they say that \"We are devotees of Goddess Kālī.\" Their real mission is to eat meat. Therefore they have become devotees of Goddess Kālī. But actually, these sacrifices were not meant, as explained by Caitanya Mahāprabhu, for killing the animals. That was to test the power, the strength, of the Vedic mantras.\nSo Lord Buddha's movement was therefore started... When people began to eat meat like anything on the plea of Vedic sacrifice, so Lord Buddha, at that time—Lord Buddha means he's also incarnation of Kṛṣṇa—he appeared to stop this animal killing. That is the prayer of Lord Buddha we sing:\nnindasi yajña-vidher ahaha śruti-jātaṁ\nsadaya-hṛdaya darśita-paśu-ghātam\nkeśava dhṛta-buddha-śarīra jaya jagadīśa hare\n[Śrī Daśāvatāra-stotra 9]\n[O Keśava! O Lord of the universe! O Lord Hari who have assumed the form of Buddha! All glories to You! Your heart filled with compassion, you decry animal slaughter performed according to the scriptural rules of Vedic sacrifice.]\nThe buddha-śarīra... Just like we offer prayer to Nṛsiṁhadeva,\ntava kara-kamala-vare nakham adbhuta-śṛṅgaṁ\ndalita-hiraṇyakaśipu-tanu-bhṛṅgam\nkeśava dhṛta-narahari-rūpa jaya jagadīśa hare\n[Śrī Daśāvatāra-stotra 4]\n[O Keśava! O Lord of the universe! O Lord Hari who have assumed the form of a half-man, half-lion! All glories to You! With the wonderfully sharp nails on Your beautiful lotus hands You have ripped apart the wasplike body of Hiraṇyakaśipu.]\nSimilarly, there is prayer for Lord Buddha also, that that prayer is: nindasi yajña-vidher ahaha śruti-jātam, \"Although in the Vedic literature there is recommendation for animal sacrifice, you are forbidding, 'No, this should not be done.' \" Therefore Buddhism is not Vedic religion, because he was against this Vedic sacrifice. Sadaya-hṛdaya darśi... His main business was to stop this animal killing, but people wanted to give evidence from the Vedas. Therefore he said, \"I don't care for your Veda.\" Veda nā māniyā bauddha haila nāstika. Therefore Śaṅkarācārya came, and he drove away the Buddhists from the land of India. That's a long history.\nSo this sacrifice, this animal killing, that is also forbidding, that... Nārada Muni said that \"Why you have bothered your head in that, that way, that you have made this, this is a type of religion?\" Jugupsitam: \"This is abominable.\" Jugupsitaṁ dharma-kṛte 'nuśāsataḥ: \"You are authority, and if you recommend animal sacrifice, they will take it. They have got already natural tendency, and they will accept it, 'This is the religious process.' And when they will be forbidden by other, saner persons, they'll not care for it. So it is jugupsitam. It is abominable.\"\njugupsitaṁ dharma-kṛte 'nuśāsataḥ\nsva-bhāva-raktasya mahān vyatikramaḥ\n[SB 1.5.15]\n[The people in general are naturally inclined to enjoy, and you have encouraged them in that way in the name of religion. This is verily condemned and is quite unreasonable. Because they are guided under your instructions, they will accept such activities in the name of religion and will hardly care for prohibitions.]\n\"It's a great mistake you have done.\" Yad-vākyato dharma itītaraḥ sthitaḥ: \"They'll accept you authority, and they'll be steady in that assertion, in that conviction.\"\nAnd na manyate tasya nivāraṇam: \"And if you say...\" Just like in other religious principles, if we say that \"Don't eat meat...\"\nI had some conversation with some Christian priest. They put forward this argument, \"Why should we not eat? Our Christ took flesh. And why should we not? We must.\" They say like that. But Christ said that \"You should... We shall not kill.\" So they cannot give any proper explanation why they kill. So in every religion... In Muhammadan religion, there...\nSo if..., if this killing process or this drinking process, or this, which a man has got natural, that is excited under the name of religion, then Nārada says, \"Then when actually they will be forbidden for higher elevation of life, they'll not accept it. Therefore your description in the śāstras of all these nonsense, jugupsitam, is abominable.\" Jugupsitaṁ dharma-kṛte 'nuśāsataḥ sva-bhāva-rakta... \"The natural tendency, this. You should not incite them more and more.\"\nHere it is said that patṛka viruddham eva. It is against... Jātam ita jugupsitam. Jugupsitaṁ nindaṁ kāma karmādi[?]. Jugupsitam. Śrīdhara Svāmī gives notes, nindam: abominable; kāma karma... Kāma karma means that fruitive result. You do, act something, and you want to enjoy the fruit. That is called kāma karma. Karma, akarma, vikarma.\nThere are three kinds of activities. First karma is prescribed duties. And akarma means to do act, but the result is not enjoyable by you. And there is vikarma. Vikarma means doing against. So this kāma karma... People are engaged in ritualistic ceremony for receiving some result for sense gratification. That is nindam. That is abominable. Nindam.\nSva-bhavata eva raktasya ragina puruṣasya dharma-kṛte, dharmārtham anuśāsas tataḥ mahān vyatikramaḥ[?]: \"So this is not good for you. It is most abominable.\" Kutaḥ iti utaḥ yasyeti vākyataḥ ayaṁ mukhya dharma: \"Because they will accept it as authority, and they will think this is religion.\" They will not make further progress. They will stick to that principle. So therefore it is abominable. Yatasya kāma karmādi anyayena tattva-jñānena kriyamānāya[?]. \nTattva-jñānena. When they'll be advised higher truths... Just like those who are addicted to killing process under the shadow of religious rights, if they are said that \"You don't kill. This is not good. After all, this living entity is as good as you are. As you are also part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, or God, similarly, this cow, or this animal, is also part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, but he has got a different dress only. That does not mean that you should kill...\" If these things are instructed for higher elevation of life, they will not accept. They will not accept. They will say, \"Oh, my religion says this. So I must do it.\" Tasya nivāraṇaṁ janaḥ. \nRaktasya karma nivāram nivāraṇaṁ samatam etad na manyate kintu pravṛtti mārgam anuviyukta veṣan tada vidhi kalpa vidhi[?]: \"Because he has got already natural tendency. And if he is..., there is sanction by religiosity, ritualistic, religious process, then he will stick to it. So you have not done very nice work.\" That is... Na manyate tasya nivāraṇaṁ janaḥ. Vicakṣaṇo 'syārhati vedituṁ vibhor ananta-pārasya nivṛttitaḥ sukham: \"Because actually, if anyone wants real happiness, that happiness is not by gratifying your senses.\"\nIn the Bhagavad-gītā also it is said that sukham ātyantikaṁ yat tad atīndriya-grāhyam [Bg. 6.21].\n[The stage of perfection is called trance, or samādhi, when one's mind is completely restrained from material mental activities by practice of yoga. This is characterized by one's ability to see the self by the pure mind and to relish and rejoice in the self. In that joyous state, one is situated in boundless transcendental happiness and enjoys himself through transcendental senses. Established thus, one never departs from the truth, and upon gaining this he thinks there is no greater gain. Being situated in such a position, one is never shaken, even in the midst of greatest difficulty. This indeed is actual freedom from all miseries arising from material contact.]\nReal happiness, that is not perceived by this gratification of these material senses. So nivṛttitaḥ. One has to cease from this material sense gratification, and then he can enjoy the real happiness, which is transcendental to sense enjoyment. That is... That is the instruction.\nIn the..., in the Padma Purāṇa also there is a verse, ramante yogino 'nante [Cc. Madhya 9.29]\n[“’The Supreme Absolute Truth is called Rāma because the transcendentalists take pleasure in the unlimited true pleasure of spiritual existence.’]\n\"Those who are yogī..\" Yogī means transcendentalist, not the so-called yogī. Those who have contacted the Absolute Truth, they are called yogī. So yoginaḥ, actual a yogī, ramante, they enjoy. They also enjoy. Why they are, I mean to say, undergoing so much austerities and penances and regulative principles? Because they are trying for being elevated to the real platform of happiness.\nSo ramante yogino 'nante. Everyone is hankering after happiness, either materialistic or spiritualistic. But the difference is that materialistic..., materialistic persons, they are satisfied with temporary happiness, and those who are transcendentalist, they are also seeking happiness, that is real happiness, spiritual happiness, eternal happiness. Therefore it is stated in the Padma Purāṇa that ramante yogino 'nante. Anante means unlimited happiness. They enjoy unlimited happiness. Ramante yogino 'nante.\nAnd satyānande. And that is real happiness. Happiness does not mean it is for few minutes. No. Happiness should continue, eternally. One should be situated in that happiness so that other, temporary happiness will not attract him. So ramante yogino 'nante satyānande cid-ātmani. Cit, cit means that he's full of knowledge. That is not in ignorance. This material happiness is in ignorance, and spiritual happiness is śuddha-sattva. Śuddha-sattva means pure goodness.\nIn the material world there are three stages: ignorance, passion and goodness. The goodness platform is very nice in the material world, but there is another platform, which is called śuddha-sattva. Sattvaṁ viśuddham, viśuddhaṁ vasudeva-śabditam.\nThat is transcendental platform, and in that platform you can understand God. God is Vāsudeva, and in the vasudeva platform... So ramante yogino 'nante satyānande cid-ātmani. That is cid-ātmani. Cit means knowledge; ātmani means self. In that platform. Iti rāma-padenāsau paraṁ brahmābhidhīyate [Cc. Madhya 9.29].\n[“’The Supreme Absolute Truth is called Rāma because the transcendentalists take pleasure in the unlimited true pleasure of spiritual existence.’]\nThis is the description, this is the meaning of the word rāma. Rāma, this word, comes from ramante, ram. Ram-dhātu. Ram means enjoyment. And rāma means the full of pleasure. If you contact with Rāma, or Kṛṣṇa, the absolute attractive, then you are placed in the absolute platform for eternal enjoyment.\nEnjoyment is the goal of everyone's life. But the difference is that the materialist is trying to hanker after flickering enjoyment, and the transcendentalist, they are hankering after the spiritual enjoyment, or eternal enjoyment. Enjoyment... Ānanda-mayo 'bhyāsāt [Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12].\n[By nature, the Supreme Lord is blissful.]\nBecause the enjoyment is our life. We cannot be void. That is not possible.\nTherefore the impersonalists..., about impersonalists this Bhāgavata version is that although they rise up almost to the spiritual platform, but because they cannot enjoy... Impersonalists means there is no enjoyment. There is simply light, a life of knowledge. But simply knowledge will not make me happy. I must enjoyment. I must have enjoyment. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt [Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12], because my nature is to enjoy. That enjoyment cannot be done in the impersonal or void philosophy. That is not possible.\nTherefore Bhāgavata says, ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninaḥ: \"If somebody thinks that he has become liberated after undergoing the process of impersonal philosophy and austerities and penances...\" The impersonalists, they also practice severe penances to attain to that Brahman stage. That is also nice thing.\nBut they cannot stay there, because there is no enjoyment. Therefore, as I was saying the other day, that many sannyāsīs, they say that \"This world is false; Brahman is truth.\" So in spite of their rising to that platform of Brahman understanding, they again come down.\nThat is described in the Bhāgavatam, āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ [SB 10.2.32]\n[[Someone may say that aside from devotees, who always seek shelter at the Lord's lotus feet, there are those who are not devotees but who have accepted different processes for attaining salvation. What happens to them? In answer to this question, Lord Brahmā and the other demigods said:] O lotus-eyed Lord, although nondevotees who accept severe austerities and penances to achieve the highest position may think themselves liberated, their intelligence is impure. They fall down from their position of imagined superiority because they have no regard for Your lotus feet.]\n\"After undergoing severe penances and austerities, they may rise to the Brahman platform but again falls down.\" Why falls down? Anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ: \"Because they do not enjoy Your association.\" They have neglected the association of Kṛṣṇa and company. Therefore they have no, I mean to say, shelter.\nThe same example can be explained: just like if you go on a plane or sputnik very high, very high, that is void, all side void. If you go very high, 25,000 miles up, you'll see void. But that, there you cannot stay. You can travel for many years in that void, but if you don't take shelter in a planet, then you'll come back again to this planet. Similarly, the impersonalist, they cannot stay in their impersonal understanding. Simply they suffer some trouble. Kleśa... Bhagavad-gītā says, kleśo 'dhikataras teṣām avyaktāsakta-cetasām [Bg. 12.5].\n[For those whose minds are attached to the unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme, advancement is very troublesome. To make progrese in that discipline is always difficult for those who are embodied.]\nThose who are attached, those who are attached to that impersonal feature of the Absolute Truth, they undergo greater trouble.\nWe transcendentalist, we personalist, we also, from the materialistic point of view, we are..., our standard of living is not very opulent. We lie down anywhere. We are... Our dresses are not so clean. Our rooms are not clean. So from the materialistic point of view, somebody comes, he says, \"Oh. How wretched these people are living!\"\nThat is also another kind of austerity they have adopted. But that is pleasing. Even they are in so-called wretched condition, they are happy. They are happy. So they're in both ways. But those who are simply attached to the impersonal feature, their trouble is more painful. That is described in the Bhagavad-gītā.\nSo vicakṣaṇo 'syārhati vedituṁ vibhoḥ. So one has to cease. One has to make a stop of this material enjoyment. Then one can approach to the spiritual enjoyment. You cannot enjoy spiritual life if you stick to the materialistic way of... Therefore we have got so..., a little restriction, that \"You cannot do this.\" Although those who are addicted to this life, this restriction is sometimes painful, but it is required.\nUnless... Just like to cure your disease, you have to follow some regulative principle of, prescribed by the physician, similarly, in order to cure yourself from this material disease, you have to accept. Nivṛtti. Nivṛttitaḥ means ceasing this process of material life. Nivṛttitaḥ sukham, pravartamānasya guṇair anātmanas tato bhavān darśaya ceṣṭitaṁ vibhoḥ.\nSo how it can be achieved, nivṛtti, ceasing this materialistic way of life? So Nārada Muni says that \"You simply describe the activities of the Lord, Kṛṣṇa, and by hearing simply the activities of Kṛṣṇa, one will be very easily able to cease from this materialistic way of life.\" Caitanya Mahāprabhu also recommended that people should be given chance to hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or kṛṣṇa-kathā. \nKṛṣṇa-kathā means speaking or, I mean to say, narration about Kṛṣṇa. So Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Caitanya Mahāprabhu also recommended that \"Let them be situated in their own position. There is no necessity of changing his position. Give him chance. Give him chance to hear. Then gradually...\" Paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam [Cc. Antya 20.12].\n[“’Let there be all victory for the chanting of the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṇa, which can cleanse the mirror of the heart and stop the miseries of the blazing fire of material existence. That chanting is the waxing moon that spreads the white lotus of good fortune for all living entities. It is the life and soul of all education. The chanting of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa expands the blissful ocean of transcendental life. It gives a cooling effect to everyone and enables one to taste full nectar at every step.’]\nSo our attempt is... We are opening so many branches. The idea is that people should get chance of hearing about the Supreme Lord, either by chanting this mahā-mantra or... This is also chanting. What I am speaking before you from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or Bhagavad-gītā, that is also chanting. This is also kīrtana. Kīrtana means describing. So you can describe the glories of the Lord either by musical instruments or by chant, singing, or you can describe the glories of the Lord by reading from authoritative scripture. Both of them are called kīrtana.\nThis, this Bhāgavata reading is also described as kīrtana by Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Abhavad vaiyāsakiḥ kīrtane. Kīrtane. It is called kīrtana. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtana [SB 7.5.23].\n[Prahlāda Mahārāja said: Hearing and chanting about the transcendental holy name, form, qualities, paraphernalia and pastimes of Lord Viṣṇu, remembering them, serving the lotus feet of the Lord, offering the Lord respectful worship with sixteen types of paraphernalia, offering prayers to the Lord, becoming His servant, considering the Lord one's best friend, and surrendering everything unto Him (in other words, serving Him with the body, mind and words)—these nine processes are accepted as pure devotional service. One who has dedicated his life to the service of Kṛṣṇa through these nine methods should be understood to be the most learned person, for he has acquired complete knowledge.]\nThe process is śravaṇa and kīrtana, hearing and chanting. So Parīkṣit Mahārāja, he attained salvation and perfection simply by hearing. And Śukadeva Gosvāmī attained salvation and perfection simply by chanting. This chanting means describing the glories of the Lord from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.\nSo he says,\npravartamānasya guṇair anātmanas\ntato bhavān darśaya ceṣṭitam\n[SB 1.5.16]\n[The Supreme Lord is unlimited. Only a very expert personality, retired from the activities of material happiness, deserves to understand this knowledge of spiritual values. Therefore those who are not so well situated, due to material attachment, should be shown the ways of transcendental realization, by Your Goodness, through descriptions of the transcendental activities of the Supreme Lord.]\n\"People are so much entangled by the modes of material nature. So in order to get them free from this entanglement, you show the path. Simply let them hear. Let them give aural reception to the wonderful activities of the Lord. That activity...\" Because absolute... Kṛṣṇa is Absolute Truth. So Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's activities are the same, because it is absolute; it is not duality.\nIn the material world, myself and my activities are different. But it is the... This world is dual world. But in the absolute world, Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's pastimes, Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's name, Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's quality, Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's fame, they're all Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's associates, they're all Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is cowherds boy. So Kṛṣṇa and the cows, they're all Kṛṣṇa. That we have to learn. They're not different from Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs, they're all Kṛṣṇa. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhiḥ [Bs. 5.37].\n[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, residing in His own realm, Goloka, with Rādhā, resembling His own spiritual figure, the embodiment of the ecstatic potency possessed of the sixty-four artistic activities, in the company of Her confidantes [sakhīs], embodiments of the extensions of Her bodily form, permeated and vitalized by His ever-blissful spiritual rasa.]\nSo we have to understand that. So any way if we try to associate, simply by chanting or hearing, that means we are associating with Kṛṣṇa. And the more we associate with Kṛṣṇa, the more we become purified. Just like more you remain with the fire, you become warmer, warmer, warmer. And one day you become so warm you exactly like fire.\nThe example I have given that if you put a iron rod in the fire, it becomes warm, warmer, warmest, and then it becomes red. And when it is red, it is no longer iron; it is fire. Similarly, simply by chanting and hearing you spiritualize yourself. So a day will come when this material body also will be fully spiritualized. The... That fully spiritualized means there will be no more material activities; simply these spiritual activities will be there.\nSo Nārada Muni is instructing Vyāsadeva, and we shall discuss next meeting. Thank you very much. [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/680710sb-montreal/
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"content": "\n\nviprād dvi-ṣaḍ-guṇa-yutād aravinda-nābha-\npādāravinda-vimukhāt śvapacaṁ variṣṭham\nmanye tad-arpita-mano-vacanehitārtha-\nprāṇaṁ punāti sa-kulaṁ na tu bhūrimānaḥ\n[SB 7.9.10]\n[If a brāhmaṇa has all twelve of the brahminical qualifications [as they are stated in the book called Sanat-sujāta] but is not a devotee and is averse to the lotus feet of the Lord, he is certainly lower than a devotee who is a dog-eater but who has dedicated everything—mind, words, activities, wealth and life—to the Supreme Lord. Such a devotee is better than such a brāhmaṇa because the devotee can purify his whole family, whereas the so-called brāhmaṇa in a position of false prestige cannot purify even himself.]\nThis verse we have been discussing.\n[aside:] You can open.\nSo vipra, vipra means one who is fully conversant with Vedic knowledge. He is called vipra. For spiritual elevation there are gradual evolutionary stages. Vipra stage is just before becoming a qualified brāhmaṇa. That is called vipra. The first stage, by birth, everyone is śūdra. Śūdra means affected by the miseries of this world. He is śūdra. Śocati.\nThe material condition is full of anxiety, so anyone who is full of anxiety, he is śūdra. This is the... So if you analyze the present society, that who is not anxiety, full of anxiety, oh, nobody will say that \"I am not full of anxiety.\" \"I have got so many anxieties.\" So that means he is a śūdra. Kalau śūdra-sambhavaḥ [Skanda Purāṇa]:\n[In the Age of Kali everyone is born a śūdrā.]\n\"In this age, everyone is śūdra.\" That is concluded.\nA brāhmaṇa is not afraid. He is not anxious, because he is dependent on God. He knows that \"I have surrendered unto God completely, and He is all-powerful. Therefore I have no anxiety.\" Just like a small child, he has no anxiety. Why? Because he is completely dependent on the parents. He knows confidently that in any danger, \"Oh, my mother is there.\" As soon as he feels there is some danger, \"Mother!\" That's all. Finished.\nSimilarly, one who is completely confident that \"The supreme father is there. He will protect me, give me protection,\" so he has no anxiety. Nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve na kutaścana bibhyati [SB 6.17.28].\n[Devotees solely engaged in the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa, never fear any condition of life. For them the heavenly planets, liberation and the hellish planets are all the same, for such devotees are interested only in the service of the Lord.]\nWhen one is fully confident about God consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he is not afraid, not even afraid of death, because he knows that he has no death; he is eternal.\nSo to come to this platform of confidence, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there is training. That training is called viddhi-mārga, regulative principles, following the regulative principles. So this whole varṇāśrama system, Vedic system, the different caste—brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, a brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsa—they are very scientifically designed to elevate one gradually to the standard of no fear, fearfulnessless, no more fear—confident. So vipra means just the previous stage of becoming completely a brāhmaṇa.\nJanmanā jāyate śūdraḥ:\n[By birth everyone is a śūdra, but by undergoing the purificatory ceremonies under the direction of a bona fide spiritual master, one may become a brāhmaṇa, and when one knows the Supreme Spirit, he actually becomes a truly learned brāhmaṇa.]\n\"By birth everyone is born a śūdra.\" Saṁskārād bhaved dvijaḥ: \"When he goes to the spiritual master and the spiritual master initiates him, at that time his second birth is there, dvija.\" Dvija. The birds are called also dvija, because they get twice birth. Once they come as egg, the form of birth in the egg, and then, when they come out from the egg and the shell, break the shell and come out, that is real life.\nSimilarly, we are in the egg, within the shell of ignorance. So when we come out from the shell of ignorance, that is our second birth. The first birth is by father and mother, and the second birth is by the spiritual master and Vedic knowledge. There is also mother. The Vedic knowledge is mother, and the spiritual master is the father.\nSo saṁskārād bhaved dvijaḥ.\n[By birth everyone is a śūdra, but by undergoing the purificatory ceremonies under the direction of a bona fide spiritual master, one may become a brāhmaṇa, and when one knows the Supreme Spirit, he actually becomes a truly learned brāhmaṇa.]\nThe spiritual master trains the student gradually. That is called initiation. That is called dvija. Janmana jāyate śūdraḥ: \"By birth by the father and mother, everyone is śūdra.\" It doesn't matter where he takes his birth, not that only India they are brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra. Everywhere. Cātur-varṇyam mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ [Bg. 4.13].\n[According to the three modes of material nature and the work ascribed to them, the four divisions of human society were created by Me. And, although I am the creator of this system, you should know that I am yet the non-doer, being unchangeable.]\nIn the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find that these four system of social division—brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra—they are all over the universe, not that... Don't think that it is in India. Everywhere.\nSo saṁskārād bhaved dvijaḥ. By reformation, by following the regulative principle of how to elevate oneself to the knowledge of Brahman... That is called saṁskāra. There are ten kinds of saṁskāras, reformatory. This Vedic system is very scientific system to elevate the humankind to the highest perfection of life. So saṁskārād bhaved dvijaḥ. Then, when the saṁskāra is given, when his..., the spiritual master sees that \"This boy is now competent to study Vedas...\" That requires a qualification. A śūdra is not allowed to study Vedas. There is restriction.\nSometimes they think injustice, that \"Why śūdras?\" That is modern convention. Actually, that is very nice. What a śūdra can understand Vedas? To the śūdras, a different type of knowledge... Just like the same thing, that the two plus two in the lower class is different from the two plus two in the higher mathematics. So śūdra cannot understand. So one has to become brāhmaṇa, vipra at least, dvija, twice-birth by initiation. Then he is allowed to study. Then he will be able to understand the language of... It is not injustice that śūdras are not...\nJust like... I do not know what is the system in your country, but in India, one who is not a graduate, he is not allowed to study law. If one, anyone, wants to study law, if he wants to enter into the law college, then he must be a graduate first of all, at least B.A. Otherwise he cannot. So if somebody says, \"It is injustice,\" \"Why?\" \"Everyone should.\" Everyone cannot understand. Similarly, without being initiated by proper spiritual master, nobody can understand. The Vedas is not like that: you purchase a book, the Bhagavad-gītā or Bhāgavata, and study at home, and you learn. Oh, it is not possible.\nJust like simply by purchasing some medical books and study at home you cannot become a doctor, medical man. That is not possible. Neither you can become a lawyer. The books are available in the market, but that is not the process. You have to enter yourself in an institution, take lessons from the professors, must attend lecture classes, seventy-five percent at least. Then you are allowed to sit in the examination.\nSo the gradual process... First birth is śūdra, anyone. It doesn't matter. Even if he is born of a brāhmaṇa father, he is considered a śūdra. So then, by initiation, he becomes dvija, second birth. Then he is allowed to study the Vedic literatures. And when he is conversant with the studies of Vedic literature, he is called vipra. And when one has become a vipra—because that is the just previous stage of becoming a brāhmaṇa—he acquires twelve kinds of qualities. Satya-śama-dama-titikṣa [Bg. 18.42].\n[Peacefulness, self-control, austerity, purity, tolerance, honesty, wisdom, knowledge, and religiousness—these are the qualities by which the brāhmaṇas work.]\nThe first quality is truthfulness. The second quality is controlling the senses, controlling the mind. Śama-dama-titikṣa, to be very tolerant; ārjava, very simple; full of knowledge; full of theism; so many qualities. These qualities are mentioned.\nSo here Prahlāda Mahārāja says, viprād dvi-ṣaḍ-guṇa-yutāt. When one is a vipra, that means he has got all the good qualities, material good qualities. He is truthful. He is conversant with the science of religion. He knows what is God, what is Brahman. He is self-controlled. He is not sensual. So many good qualities.\nSo Prahlāda Mahārāja says that \"Even one has attained the stage of becoming a vipra, and he has acquired all the good qualities required for becoming a vipra, but if he is lacking one quality...\" What is that? Viprād dvi-ṣaḍ-guṇa-yutā aravinda-nābha pādāravinda-vimukhāt [SB 7.9.10]:\n[If a brāhmaṇa has all twelve of the brahminical qualifications [as they are stated in the book called Sanat-sujāta] but is not a devotee and is averse to the lotus feet of the Lord, he is certainly lower than a devotee who is a dog-eater but who has dedicated everything—mind, words, activities, wealth and life—to the Supreme Lord. Such a devotee is better than such a brāhmaṇa because the devotee can purify his whole family, whereas the so-called brāhmaṇa in a position of false prestige cannot purify even himself.]\n\"But he is adverse to God consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He has got all the good qualities, he has studied Vedas, but if he is not God conscious...\"\nPādāravinda. Aravinda-nābha pādāravinda. Aravinda-nābha. Nabha means this navel, and aravinda means lotus. You know that the creation is made by the navel of Viṣṇu, the first sprouting of the lotus flower–like planet, and there is Brahmā, and he creates other things. So therefore, aravinda-nābha, \"the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose navel has the lotus flower,\" aravinda-nābha.\nAnd pādāravinda: \"And His feet is also just like lotus, aravinda.\" Aravinda-nābha aravinda-pāda. That means Supreme Personality of Godhead. So a vipra, a qualified person with all good qualities, material qualities, if he is lacking the simple quality that he is not conversant with the science of God, vimukhāt, he is not very serious to understand what is God... That is the position.\nNow, at the present moment, everyone is highly educated to the material standard, but they have no knowledge what is God. So even they become vipra, because they are lacking this knowledge, Prahlāda Mahārāja says that a person, a dog-eater who has God consciousness, is better than him. Śvapacaṁ variṣṭham. Śvapaca means a person who is born in the family of dog-eaters. Śvapacaṁ variṣṭham. \nManye tad-arpita-mano-vacanehitārtha. There is description, mauna-vijñāna-santoṣa-satyāṣṭika-dviṣād-guṇān, yad vā śamo damas tapo śaucaṁ kṣānti ārjava viraktataḥ. Mauna-vijñāna-santoṣa-satyāṣṭika-dviṣād-guṇān. The eleven..., twelve qualities, good qualities, is described in the Vedic literature. What is this? That śama. Śama means the equilibrium of the mind. Dama. Dama means controlling the senses. Śamo damas tapaḥ, austerity. Tapa means... Tapa means from tapa, \"heat.\" Just like this heat is not tolerable; I require the fan. So tapa means to accept voluntarily some physical trouble. That is called tapa.\nThere are many sages who, in..., during summer, they will burn fire all sides and meditate. There is already high temperature, 112 degrees in India. Sometimes 118 degree, and still they have fire all sides, all sides. Yes. And they are meditating, not disturbed. So this is called voluntarily tapa. And in winter season, when the temperature is forty degrees, fifty degrees—of course, not below zero—anyway, he goes to the water and dip into the water simply keeping the mouth up, and meditating. So there are some severe processes for tapasya. So this is one of the good qualities.\nBut in this age it is very difficult. To undergo such voluntary tribulations for realization, self-realization, meditation is not possible in this age. Therefore the Vedic injunction is that \"You simply chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.\" Harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma eva kevalam [Cc. Ādi 17.21].\n[”’In this Age of Kali there is no other means, no other means, no other means for self-realization than chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name of Lord Hari.’]\nYou don't have to take any botheration. In whatever position you are, you just try to consent in your mind to hear the sound \"Hare Kṛṣṇa,\" best type of meditation, because it is not possible to acquire all these qualities, tapa.\nSo śamo-damas-tapa-śaucam. Śaucam means cleanliness, hygienic principle, to take bath thrice—at least once—daily. Therefore to keep no hair is better. You wash, there is no question of, I mean to say, moisture in the hair. And those who have got big hairs, they cannot take daily bath. But if you keep your bald-headed, there is no trouble. Śaucam. So bathing is required, taking bath daily, śaucam.\nAnd kṣānti. Kṣānti means toleration. Because this world is full of miseries, and you have to execute Kṛṣṇa consciousness in this condition. Kṛṣṇa advised in the Bhagavad-gītā, Arjuna, that... Because the topic was on the body, so Arjuna said, \"Accepting that the soul is immortal and it never dies, still, if some relative dies, we feel pain. Is it not a fact?\" Kṛṣṇa said, \"Yes, it is a fact.\"\nEven if I know that my son is dead, my son is not dead. The soul of my son is departed from this body to another body. So there is no cause of anxiety. He has got another body, but still, I feel, \"Oh, my son...,\" for the body, because I am accustomed to love my son by the body. So this concession should be allowed. If somebody is crying, that does not mean he is a fool, but it is material affection.\nSo Kṛṣṇa advises that this kṣānti, titikṣa, toleration. How toleration? Śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ. Just like we tolerate there is severe cold. There is no use fighting and howling, \"Oh, there is so much cold, so much cold, so much.\" You have to tolerate. You cannot fight.\nmātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya\nśītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ\nāgamāpāyino 'nityās\ntāṁs titikṣasva bhārata\n [Bg. 2.14]\n[O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.]\nHe advised, \"Yes, I understand there are pains and pleasures like that, but they have to be tolerated. You cannot be disturbed. You have to execute your business of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If there is any trouble, you must know no trouble or no happiness exists, because this is material. It has come; it will go. So for the time being, don't be mad after happiness and don't be mad after miseries.\"\nĀgamāpāyina: \"They come and go.\" Just like nowadays it is very hot. This season will change, and again we will be disturbed by cold. So disturbance will continue, either heat or cold, due to this material body, mātrā-sparśā, due to this skin attachment. So we have to tolerate.\nSo one who is actually vipra, he is tolerant. He is not disturbed by these material tribulations, kṣānti, ārjavam. Simple, very simple. Duplicity is very bad qualification for spiritual advancement. We have got a tendency for cheating, everyone, conditioned soul. That should be minimized. This is called ārjavam. Ārjavam means sad-rata. And viraktata, detachment. The whole system is detachment from matter.\nIf we are too much attached... Or why too much? Even if we are slightly attached to this material life, then we have to accept this body, any kind of body, this body or that body. There are 8,400,000 types of bodies. So, so long we'll have a slight attachment for this material enjoyment, sense enjoyment, we will have to accept a certain type of body. Therefore this vairāgya, viraktata, detachment from matter, is the whole basic principle of spiritual realization.\nSo this Kṛṣṇa consciousness process is simultaneously detachment from matter and attachment for Kṛṣṇa. It is so nice system. It is so nice. Just like we have to increase our love for Kṛṣṇa. The proportionately we increase our love for Kṛṣṇa, we decrease our love for matter. So I have got a spirit to love. That I cannot stop. Similarly... There are many examples. Just like a boy or a girl. If he, she increases the love for another boy, another girl, he decreases the love for other boys and girls. This is natural. Similarly, if you increase your love for Kṛṣṇa, then you decrease your love for nonsense.\nSo vairāgya, this detachment from matter, is automatically done. We have got the propensity to love something, at least a dog if not God. So if we turn our face to the loving attachment to Kṛṣṇa, then paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate [Bg. 2.59].\n[The embodied soul may be restricted from sense enjoyment, though the taste for sense objects remains. But, ceasing such engagements by experiencing a higher taste, he is fixed in consciousness.]\nIf you are given better thing... Just like in children. He is loving something, but if you give him something better, something red, oh, he is attached immediately. He gives up the old thing and takes up the red thing.\nSo you cannot... The jñāna system, the yoga system is by force they are trying to detach. That is not possible. It may be possible for the time being. Just like Viśvamitra, a great sage. These are the historical references. He was a very great king, and he wanted to realize self, and he began to meditate in the forest alone, as it is, this yoga system, that \"He must be in secluded life. He must make his seat in a very sacred place and sit in this posture.\" There are... So he followed everything completely, perfect yogī.\nBut as soon as Indra saw that \"This man is performing a great yoga system. He may not acquire my position,\" so he sent one beautiful girl, Menakā, to entice him. So she came, she began to dance before her [him], and there was tinkling sound, and at once his meditation broke. And she was very beautiful, coming from heaven, so he became attached, and the woman became pregnant. Then she got a child, Śakuntala, and then Viśvamitra came to his senses: \"Oh, I left my kingdom, I came to forest for meditation. Again I am going to be another kingdom.\" So he decided that \"I shall go away.\"\nSo Menakā tried to entice him, \"Oh, why you shall go? You just see how nice girl you have got. Just see.\" There is a picture; perhaps you have seen. And Viśvamitra is doing like this: \"Don't show me anymore. Let me go away.\" Of course, he was very much advanced. He could go. But this allurement is always there.\nBut Kṛṣṇa is so beautiful and so nice that if you increase your love for Kṛṣṇa, then you have no more any attachment for anything, any beautiful thing of this world. Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate [Bg. 2.59].\n[The embodied soul may be restricted from sense enjoyment, though the taste for sense objects remains. But, ceasing such engagements by experiencing a higher taste, he is fixed in consciousness.]\nJust like Kṛṣṇa and these gopīs. They came to Kṛṣṇa, giving up their all engagements. Some of them were engaged in, I mean to say, loving children, some of them were engaged in serving their husband, or unmarried girls, they were engaged to serving her father, brother. But as soon as Kṛṣṇa blew His flute, they came, all.\nSo similarly, if our attachment becomes very nice, very mature, for Kṛṣṇa, then this viraktata, or detachment for material things, will automatically happen. But that is required, viraktata. And maunam. Mauna. Mauna means don't talk; grave. This is also very good qualification because generally, when we talk, we simply talk nonsense. That's all. We shall sit together, and some friends or family, some useless talks, we shall go on for hours together. But if you are called to talk about Kṛṣṇa or Bhagavad-gītā or Bhāgavata, this philosophy, nobody will come. So better not to talk. It is better not to talk than to talk nonsense, foolish.\nSo generally, we are accustomed to talks, enjoy foolish talks, which has no meaning, neither any benefit for this material world, neither any benefit for spiritual world. If you are, of course, gaining something material benefit... Just like businessmen talk. They talk seriously if there is any profit. Otherwise the secretary says, \"Oh, the Mr. Such-and-such has no time to see you.\" That is also some good, because time is so valuable. So why should we talk nonsense?\nSo that is also very good qualification if we don't talk nonsense. Either you talk about Kṛṣṇa or don't talk. That is called mauna. If there is no subject matter for talking on the subject of Kṛṣṇa, then it is better not to talk. But we have got very nice engagement. We can talk Hare Kṛṣṇa. If you have no other engagement, then we have got these beads, \"Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa...\" You can day and night, twenty-four hours, go on. This is called mauna.\nAnd vijñāna. Vijñāna means perfect knowledge. What is that perfect knowledge? Perfect knowledge means to know Kṛṣṇa. Yasmin vijñāte sarvam evaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavati [Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.3].\n[If one can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the controller of all controllers, one can understand everything else.]\nThe Vedic injunction is, \"If you can understand the Supreme, then you understand the whole thing, because Supreme is the whole, absolute.\" Just like if you can understand one, two, three, four, five, six, [seven], eight, nine, zero, then you can understand the whole mathematics, because what is mathematics? One, two, three, four, three, four, one, two, just like that. That's all. The same nine figures, that's all.\nSimilarly, the Vedas says, yasmin vijñāte sarvam evaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavati [Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.3]. If you simply try to understand the Supreme Absolute Truth, that is the purpose of Vedas. And it is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā also, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyam [Bg. 15.15].\n[I am seated in everyone's heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas am I to be known; indeed I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.]\nWhat is the use of studying Vedas? What is the use of studying this Bhāgavata or...? To understand Kṛṣṇa. That's all.\nSo here it is stated that maunaṁ vijñānaṁ santoṣa. Santoṣa. This is the result. If you are perfect in knowledge of Kṛṣṇa, then you are satisfied. Satisfied. Yasmin sthito guruṇāpi duḥkhena na vicālyate. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said,\nyaṁ labdhvā cāparaṁ lābhaṁ\nmanyate nādhikaṁ tataḥ\n[Bg. 6.22]\n[The stage of perfection is called trance, or samādhi, when one's mind is completely restrained from material mental activities by practice of yoga. This is characterized by one's ability to see the self by the pure mind and to relish and rejoice in the self. In that joyous state, one is situated in boundless transcendental happiness and enjoys himself through transcendental senses. Established thus, one never departs from the truth, and upon gaining this he thinks there is no greater gain. Being situated in such a position, one is never shaken, even in the midst of greatest difficulty. This indeed is actual freedom from all miseries arising from material contact.]\n\"If one attains to the perfection of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then he has no more to understand anything.\" Yaṁ labdhvā cāparam. He does not want any more profit in any way. He thinks that \"I am completely...\" Yasmin sthite, and the test is that if one is situated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then guruṇāpi duḥkhena...\nBecause the world, this material world, we are always in trouble. So a person situated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not troubled at all, even if he is put into very trying circumstances. Guruṇāpi duḥkhena. This is the test. That is called santoṣa; and satya, truthfulness; āstikya. Āstikya means belief, faith, faith in scripture, faith in God. That is called faith. This is faith.\nAnd when that faith is very much concentrated, then one can understand Kṛṣṇa. Viśvāsa śabde sudṛdha-niścaya, kṛṣṇe bhakti kaile sarva-karma kṛta haya [Cc. Madhya 22.62].\n[“Śraddhā is confident, firm faith that by rendering transcendental loving service to Kṛṣṇa one automatically performs all subsidiary activities. Such faith is favorable to the discharge of devotional service.]\nThis is called strong faith, or firm faith. What is that firm faith? When one is convinced that \"If I am Kṛṣṇa conscious, then all my duties will be perfect.\" And that is the fact.\nSaṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam [SB 1.2.13].\n[O best among the twice-born, it is therefore concluded that the highest perfection one can achieve by discharging the duties prescribed for one's own occupation according to caste divisions and orders of life is to please the Personality of Godhead.]\nAs I have several times spoken in this meeting, that \"Let everyone be engaged to his specific duty. It doesn't matter what it is. But if you want to see that whether your function is perfected, then you have to test it, whether by your activities Kṛṣṇa is satisfied.\" Saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam. Svanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam. So this santoṣa. If you think that Kṛṣṇa is satisfied...\nHow you can know Kṛṣṇa is satisfied? Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ: ** \"If you can satisfy your spiritual master, then you should know that Kṛṣṇa is satisfied.\" Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ. So if you are fortunate enough to have a bona fide spiritual master and if you can satisfy him, then you know that you have satisfied Kṛṣṇa. This is the process.\nSo we shall talk next week. Yes. Any question?\n[break] No question? You have understood everything?\nYes?",
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"content": "\n I'd like to ask, a vipra means he has the twelve qualifications, and he also has the qualification of faith. I don't understand exactly what it means when Prahlāda Mahārāja says that [indistinct] on a follower who has no faith in God or God watching him.",
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"content": "\n No. A vipra, because he is studying... Vipra means one who is engaged in the studies of Vedas. That is... Veda-pathād bhaved vipraḥ. So if he is studying Vedas, then must be qualified with all the good qualities. Because just like Bhagavad-gītā, it is said that \"These are the good qualities.\" So study means to accept the instruction. Study does not mean simply to become a bookworm. No. Study means to apply practically in life what you learn from the Vedas. So if anyone is seriously studying, then naturally he is qualified with all the good qualities.\nYes? No. You can say.",
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"content": "\n [indistinct] believe in themselves or have faith on that or believe on that [indistinct].",
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"content": "\n That in the material world there are three qualities: the quality of goodness, the quality of passion, the quality of ignorance. These three qualities are working. We see varieties in this material world due to the interaction of these three qualities. So there are varieties of men. Some of them are in good quality, some of them are in quality of passion, some of them are in the quality of ignorance. Therefore they have got different types of faith also, not that your faith or my faith may be the same, because you may be in the quality of goodness, I may be in the quality of passion or ignorance.\nSo faith is according to the particular quality of the person who is professing that faith. So the sattvic faith, the faith in goodness, that is faith in Brahman, the Supreme. That is called goodness, brahminical faith. And above this... This is sattvic. Sattvic means goodness. So goodness... In the material world, even goodness is sometimes contaminated with tinges of passion and ignorance. Therefore in the material world nothing can be in pure goodness.\nSo one has to transcend the goodness platform of this material world and come to the platform of pure goodness, śuddha-sattva, where there is no more contamination of passion and ignorance. That platform is called God consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness.",
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"content": "\n Is faith in God more necessary than proper protection? In other words, is this process actually more necessary?",
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"content": "\n Well, when one has got faith in God he must have the necessary activities. Otherwise, what kind of faith it is? Just like if I say that \"I have faith in you, but I don't trust you,\" what kind of faith I have got? [chuckles] If I say, \"My dear friend, I have faith in you,\" and if you want me to do something, I don't do it, then if I say, \"How can I do it?\" then what kind of faith that is? So this sort of faith is not required. Faith means real faith.\nSo whenever there is real faith, there is activity also. That is faith. When there is real Kṛṣṇa consciousness, God consciousness, then there is activity for pleasing the God. Simply I believe in God simply for exacting things from God, that is a different type of faith. That is in the lowest stage. Just like a small child, he has got faith, but if a learned, educated child, he has got different faith, \"Oh, my father, my mother, they have done so much for us,\" oh, he wants to repay. He wants to oblige the father. That is also another faith, the same faith.\nSo somebody is trying, \"O God, give us our daily bread.\" This is also faith. But somebody is trying how to please God. He is not asking... Because he knows that \"If God is father, then he is supplying bread to animals, to birds and beasts. Why not to me? So my bread is already guaranteed. So let me serve the father.\" This is higher type of faith. \"Why shall I ask, bother, my father? If he is father, then he has already made arrangement for my eating.\"\nThat is natural. Does it mean that every day the child asks father, mother, \"Mother, father, give me my bread\"? Oh, the father is already preparing bread for you. He'll call you. But he is lacking the faith. He is asking. Another is not asking; he is confident that \"Father will give me bread. Now let me serve my father.\" This is higher type of faith.\nSo the faith, there are different standards of faith. One faith is trying to exact, and one faith is trying to give everything. So these two types of faith. So which one is better? Anyone can judge. Just like Arjuna, in the beginning he had faith in Kṛṣṇa. He said, \"Kṛṣṇa, please give me instruction. I am not talking any more as friend. I accept You as my spiritual master.\" So he had faith, good faith.\nOtherwise, how he accepted Kṛṣṇa as spiritual master? But that faith in the beginning, and in the last faith, after learning Bhagavad-gītā, he said, \"Kṛṣṇa, by Your grace I have got my memory.\" That means, \"In the beginning I was thinking that I should give more importance to my grandfather, my teacher and my family, but I have learned that my only duty is to serve You. Therefore whatever You say, I'll do.\" This is another faith. The same man, the same Kṛṣṇa—in the beginning, one faith, and at the end, another faith.\nSo beginning faith is that God, understanding God. But unfortunately, at the present moment they don't believe in God, so there is no question of faith. They have lost all faith. This is the condition of the present society. What to speak of this faith or that faith, they have no faith. They have lost all faith, just like animal. Animal has no faith in God. That is the distinction between human being and animal. The animal has no faith, but in human society there is a kind of faith, either it is Christian faith or Hindu faith or Buddhist faith or Muhammadan faith. But when we give up this faith, then our position is just like animal.\nThe present society is just like animal. They have no faith, what to speak of this faith or that faith. That is the position. They are simply after sense enjoyment. That's all. Don't you see? The Pope says that it is not good, it is not God's law, that you should use contraceptive method. But they are so mad after sense enjoyment, they say, \"Oh, we don't care for your instruction.\" Just see how much they have lost their faith.\nSo at the present moment it is very difficult position, no faith at all.\n[break] ...have no good qualification. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇa [SB 5.18.12].\n[All the demigods and their exalted qualities, such as religion, knowledge and renunciation, become manifest in the body of one who has developed unalloyed devotion for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva. On the other hand, a person devoid of devotional service and engaged in material activities has no good qualities. Even if he is adept at the practice of mystic yoga or the honest endeavor of maintaining his family and relatives, he must be driven by his own mental speculations and must engage in the service of the Lord's external energy. How can there be any good qualities in such a man?]\nOh, their education, their scientific advancement, their so-called civilization... Don't you see? The everyone is expected to have national feeling, but the postal strike, mail strike, went on for twenty days. The whole nation become disturbed and harassed. Why? They wanted money. \"What is this? Go to... Your national feeling go to hell! You pay us, then we work.\"\nSo nobody has any faith. Simply he has faith in sense gratification. That's all. \"You satisfy my senses, then you are very good. Otherwise, go to hell.\" That's all. This is the position. And therefore they are denying the topmost head of Catholic Church, \"We don't care for your instruction,\" because they have become faithless. And that is not their fault. It is fault of the heads of the churches. They did not teach them properly. They were satisfied simply by money. That's all. They did not try to teach them. Now what is the use of teaching? They have gone out of hand. The same thing: if you want to bend bamboo, do it while it is green. And when it is dried, oh, it is not possible. So now the whole society is faithless, godless, very precarious condition.\nSo this process, our process, we don't impose any difficult rules and regulation. Please come here and chant with us and dance with us. At least, there is no loss on your part. If you think there is no gain, but at least there is no loss. So I should request you to come and join with us in our kīrtana. Then everything gradually will be clear.\nAny other question?",
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"content": "\n Does ārjavam, or simplicity, does that include making the truth palatable to someone who will not understand the truth directly?",
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"content": "\nHmm?",
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"content": "\n Does straightforwardness, that ārjavam quality, does that include making the truth palatable to someone who will not understand the truth directly?",
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"content": "\n Yes. When you speak of higher truths, you don't care whether it is palatable to others or not. In social formality you can see. That has happened actually. Because the Pope, he was not strong enough in the beginning... Because some other Pope, he thought, \"It may be unpalatable,\" he did not speak the truth. Now the other Pope is speaking the truth, they are not accepting.\nBut from the very beginning the priests should have preached in every church, \"My dear Christian brothers, you cannot use these contraceptive methods.\" They were never told in the churches. They were satisfied to get fees. That's all. Everywhere, not only in the Christian world. In the Hindu, in Christian, they don't care for any rules and regulation any more. But they profess that \"I am Christian,\" \"I am Hindu,\" \"I am Muhammadan.\" [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/680326bg-san-francisco/
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"content": "\n\nmayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha\nyogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ\nasaṁśayaṁ samagraṁ māṁ\nyathā jñāsyasi tac chṛṇu\n[Bg. 7.1]\n[Now hear, O son of Pṛthā [Arjuna], how by practicing yoga in full consciousness of Me, with mind attached to Me, you can know Me in full, free from doubt.]\nSo Kṛṣṇa is describing personally. Kṛṣṇa's name is Yogeśvara, and Lord Śiva's name is Yogīśvara. Yogeśvara means... Yoga, the connecting link between the soul and the Supersoul, or the Supreme and the minute living creatures—that is called yoga. Connecting. So the... Who is the Supreme Personality of Godhead? Yogeśvara. The ultimate object of yoga is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa's name is Yogeśvara. Yatra yogeśvaraḥ hariḥ. At the conclusion of the Bhagavad-gītā it is said by Sañjaya, yatra yogeśvaraḥ hariḥ [Bg. 18.78].\n[Wherever there is Kṛṣṇa, the master of all mystics, and wherever there is Arjuna, the supreme archer, there will also certainly be opulence, victory, extraordinary power, and morality. That is my opinion.]\nThe place where Yogeśvara, the supreme master of all yoga systems, Kṛṣṇa, is there... And yatra pārtho dhanañjaya, and where there is Arjuna, the greatest fighter, there is undoubtedly victory there.\nBecause Bhagavad-gītā was spoken... The narration which we are reading, it is the description of Sañjaya as secretary of Mahārāja Dhṛtarāṣṭra. Just like running from a radio. The play is going on in the auditorium, but you can hear from the room. Just like we have got now mechanical arrangement, similarly, at that time, maybe the same arrangement, but there was no machine.\nStill, the secretary of Dhṛtarāṣṭra could see what was going on in the battlefield, and he was just narrating to Mahārāja Dhṛtarāṣṭra, who was blind. In other sense it may be said that there was television, and Dhṛtarāṣṭra, being blind, he could not see, and Sañjaya, his secretary, was explaining what was seen in the television. But this is the position.\nAnyway, so the conclusion made by Sañjaya was this, yatra yogeśvaraḥ hariḥ [Bg. 18.78]. \nHari means the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The side in which the Yogeśvara, Kṛṣṇa... My point is that Kṛṣṇa's name is Yogeśvara. Nobody can be better yogī than, or the master of yoga. There are different systems of yoga, and Kṛṣṇa is the master of yoga.\nAnd Lord Śiva is called Yogīśvara. There are many different kinds of yogīs. Yoga means the system, and the yogī means the person who practices the system. So the object of yoga, ultimate goal of yoga, is to understand Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa consciousness means to practice the topmost type of yoga system.\nSo this yoga system is being described by Kṛṣṇa Himself. Why? Because He was teaching His most intimate friend, Arjuna. Vyākhyāta-lakṣaṇe svopasye mayy āsakta-mati-mātra vyākhyāta-lakṣaṇe svopasye saḥ. Now in the beginning, the Lord says that \"This system of yoga can be practiced by persons who have developed attachment for Me.\" This attachment I have described for the last three, four days in a different way. So this yoga system cannot be practiced by an ordinary man who has no attachment for Kṛṣṇa. This is different system. And the topmost.\nTvam anyo vā tadṛṣo mad-āśrayo mad-dāsya-sakhyādy-ekatamena bhāvena. What is that āsakti? There are five kinds of direct āsakti. Āsakti means attachment. And there are seven kinds of indirect attachment. Indirect attachment is not bhakti, but direct attachment is called bhakti. If you are attached with Kṛṣṇa by the direct method, it is called devotional service. And if you are attached to Kṛṣṇa by indirect method, then it is not devotional service. But that is also attachment.\nJust like Kaṁsa. Kaṁsa was the maternal uncle of Kṛṣṇa, and there was a foretelling that Kaṁsa would be killed by his sister's son, eighth son of his sister. So Kaṁsa became very anxious, and he wanted to kill his younger sister, Devakī, Kṛṣṇa's mother. So she was saved by her husband, Kṛṣṇa's father, Vasudeva, by some compromise. The last compromise was... That's a great long story.\nThe last compromise was that he informed his brother-in-law Kaṁsa that \"You are afraid of the son of your sister. So your sister is not going to kill you. So I request, don't kill your sister. Save her. And I promise that all the sons born of your sister will be brought to you, and if you like, you can kill.\" The compromise was made by Vasudeva. He was also a king.\nSo politically, that \"For the time being this poor girl may be saved, and it may be that time will change the mind of Kaṁsa. When her sons will be born he might change his mind.\" But he was such a great demon that he killed all the sons of Devakī. So the eighth son... It was foretold that the eighth son of his sister would kill him.\nSo when Kṛṣṇa was in the womb of his mother, Kaṁsa was always thinking of Kṛṣṇa. Now you see, he was also Kṛṣṇa conscious, but he was Kṛṣṇa conscious not directly, not for love's sake, but as an enemy. He was Kṛṣṇa conscious as enemy. So that is not devotional service. One who is Kṛṣṇa conscious and Kṛṣṇa's friend, Kṛṣṇa's parent, Kṛṣṇa's servant, Kṛṣṇa's lover, that is devotion.\nSo here it is clearly said, mayy..., mad-āśrayaḥ. Mad-āśrayaḥ means he..., one who wants Kṛṣṇa. You may want Kṛṣṇa as your lover. You may want Kṛṣṇa as your son. You may want Kṛṣṇa as your friend. You may want Kṛṣṇa as your master. You may want Kṛṣṇa as the supreme sublime. These five different kinds of direct relationship with Kṛṣṇa is called devotion, bhakti: without any material profit.\nNow the concept of accepting God as son is superior than the concept of accepting God as father. There is distinction. The relationship between father and son is that the son wants to take something from the father. But the father's relationship with the son is that father always wants to give something to the son.\nTherefore the relationship with God or Kṛṣṇa as father is better than relationship with Kṛṣṇa... Just like if I accept God as my father, then I am the son. Then my business will be to ask only for my necessities from the father. That is my business. But if I become father of Kṛṣṇa, then from the beginning of His childhood, my business will be to serve Kṛṣṇa.\nThe father, the parents, they serve the child from the beginning of his birth. Therefore this concept of Nanda-Yaśodā or Devakī and Vasudeva is very sublime. They... Kṛṣṇa... Yaśodā, mother, she is thinking that \"If I do not feed Kṛṣṇa sumptuously, He will die.\"\nShe is thinking that Kṛṣṇa... She forgets that Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord, is subsisting the three world, everywhere.\nnityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām\neko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān\n[Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13]\n[The Supreme Lord is eternal and the living beings are eternal. The Supreme Lord is cognizant and the living beings are cognizant. The difference is that the Supreme Lord is supplying all the necessities of life for the many other living entities.]\nThat only one God is supplying the necessities of all other living entities. Now this, that same, very same Personality of Godhead, has become the son of Yaśodā, and she is thinking that \"If I do not feed Kṛṣṇa nicely, He will die.\" This is love. This is love. She has forgotten that the Supreme Personality of Godhead has taken..., has appeared before him [her] as his little child, as her little child. But she forgets.\nSo this relationship of āsakti, of attachment, is very sublime. It is very sublime. It requires time to understand, but there is such position, that instead of asking God, \"O God, give me our daily bread, give us our daily bread,\" you can think that God will die if you do not supply Him bread. God will die if you do not supply. And this is the ecstasy of extreme love. So there is such relationship with Kṛṣṇa and His devotees. Rādhārāṇī, the greatest devotee, the greatest lover of Kṛṣṇa.\n[break] Nanda-Yaśodā, the lover as parent. Sudāmā, a friend, lover as friend. Arjuna, as lover as friend. Similarly, there are millions and trillions of different kinds of devotees of Kṛṣṇa. They are directly playing.\nSo this yoga system, as described herein, bhakti-yoga, it can be practiced by such persons who have developed such attachment for Kṛṣṇa. Others cannot. And if anyone is able to develop such attachment, then the result will be that he will understand God, or Kṛṣṇa, perfectly.\nHowever we may try to understand what is God by our different theories or speculation, it is a very difficult job to understand what is God. We may say that I have..., we have understood what is God, but it is not possible to understand God as He is, because we have got our limited senses and He is unlimited. How you can capture the Unlimited with your limited sense? But it is not possible.\nIt is said in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ [Cc. Madhya 17.136].\n[”’Therefore material senses cannot appreciate Kṛṣṇa’s holy name, form, qualities and pastimes. When a conditioned soul is awakened to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and renders service by using his tongue to chant the Lord’s holy name and taste the remnants of the Lord’s food, the tongue is purified, and one gradually comes to understand who Kṛṣṇa really is.’]\nOur senses are imperfect always. Even we cannot understand perfectly the material world. Just like we have seen so many planets and stars in the sky at night, but we do not know what they are. We do not know even what is this moon planet. We are trying for so many years, trying to go there in sputnik and... Even one planet. Even we do not know what varieties are there even in this planet. If you go on the sea, if you go on the sky, you are perfectly illusioned.\nSo our knowledge is always imperfect. That we must admit. If foolishly, if we think we have acquired all sorts of knowledge, we have advanced in science, this is another foolishness. It is not possible. So when it is not possible to understand even the material things which we are daily seeing with our eyes and perception, what to speak of spiritual? And the Kṛṣṇa, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is the Supreme spiritual form. So it is not possible for us to understand Kṛṣṇa by our limited senses.\nThen why we are bothering so much for Kṛṣṇa consciousness if it is not possible? The answer is ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ. These imperfect senses cannot realize Kṛṣṇa as He is. Then the process is sevonmukhe hi jihvādau. If you become submissive, if you develop the spirit of service to Kṛṣṇa—either as servant or as friend or as parent or as lover, if you begin to give service to the Supreme Lord... The beginning of service is chanting. Therefore it is said, jihvādau. Jihvādau means..., jihva means tongue. Tongue. Your service begins by the tongue. How? By the tongue you can chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, and by the tongue you can taste Kṛṣṇa's prasādam.\nSo the beginning process is very nice. You chant Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, and whatever little prasādam is offered to you by Kṛṣṇa by His kindness, you accept it. Then the result will be that sevonmukhe hi jihvādau. If you become submissive and if you begin this service, chanting and eating prasādam, then svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ, simply by these two kinds of practices, Kṛṣṇa will Himself reveal Himself before you: \"I am like this.\" You cannot understand Kṛṣṇa by speculation. No. That is not possible, because your senses are imperfect. But if you begin this process of service, then it will be possible that one day Kṛṣṇa will reveal to you, \"I am like this.\"\nJust like Kṛṣṇa is revealing in the Bhagavad-gītā to Arjuna. Arjuna is a devotee, and he is submissive. And he is friend also. He is in contact with Kṛṣṇa as friend. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is revealing to Kṛṣṇa..., ah, to Arjuna. This Bhagavad-gītā is spoken to Arjuna, not to any Vedāntist or speculationist.\nIn the beginning of the Fourth Chapter, you know that Kṛṣṇa says that \"I'll speak to you that old system of yoga, bhakti-yoga,\" in the beginning of the Fourth Chapter, \"unto you.\" Why? Kṛṣṇa was not a Vedāntist... Ah, Arjuna was not a Vedāntist or a great philosopher or a brāhmaṇa or nothing. He was a kṣatriya. He was a fighter and a householder, not even a sannyāsī. So these are not qualifications to understand Kṛṣṇa.\nSuppose... Just like I have become a sannyāsī, mendicant. This is not qualification that I can understand Kṛṣṇa. Even in your white dress, as gṛhastha, you can understand better than me. Then what is the qualification? This qualification: sevonmukhe hi jihvādau [Brs. 1.2.234].\n[No one can understand the transcendental nature of the name, form, quality and pastimes of Śrī Kṛṣṇa through his materially contaminated senses. Only when one becomes spiritually saturated by transcendental service to the Lord are the transcendental name, form, quality and pastimes of the Lord revealed to him.]\nOne who has developed the service spirit with love and devotion, he can understand Kṛṣṇa. Nobody else. Nobody... Not Dr. Radhakrishnan or similar person. No. But a child can understand Kṛṣṇa if he has full faith in Him.\nSo it is the faith and devotion that makes one qualified to understand God. Mad-āśrayaḥ. This is called mad-āśrayaḥ. Now by simply that faith and service, you'll understand that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Now just like we are preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We are not wasting your time or our time without having full faith that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, theoretically or practically. Theoretically, if you take that \"How Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead?\" theoretically, from the revealed scripture, we understand from the Vedic literature that great authorities in the past and in the present.\nTake for the present Lord Caitanya. Lord Caitanya is a great authority, recognized, great authority. Oh, He is mad after Kṛṣṇa. He is mad after Kṛṣṇa. Then after Him, His six disciples, Gosvāmīs, the Rūpa Gosvāmī, Sanātana Gosvāmī, they have written immense literature, valuable literatures—especially Jīva Gosvāmī—volumes of literature on Kṛṣṇa. So... Then, under disciplic succession also, we have come to this point, and if you take past history, bygone, long, long ago, Vyāsadeva, who is known as Vedavyāsa, he has written book, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, on Kṛṣṇa.\nŚrīmad-Bhāgavatam is nothing but description of Kṛṣṇa. Vyāsadeva is also writer of Bhagavad-gītā. The Bhagavad-gītā was spoken by Kṛṣṇa and noted down by Vyāsadeva. And he has put this Bhagavad-gītā in the Mahābhārata. So Vyāsadeva accepts Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality. He has, in the Bhāgavatam, he has specifically mentioned, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam. He has given description of different other incarnations of God. There are about twenty-five incarnations. In the conclusion he said that,\nete cāṁśa-kalāḥ puṁsaḥ\nkṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam\n[SB 1.3.28]\n[All of the above-mentioned incarnations are either plenary portions or portions of the plenary portions of the Lord, but Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the original Personality of Godhead. All of them appear on planets whenever there is a disturbance created by the atheists. The Lord incarnates to protect the theists.]\nThat \"All the descriptions that are given of different incarnations, they are partially or part of the partial representation of God. But this Kṛṣṇa whom I have mentioned, He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself.\" He is not part. Cent per cent. Cent per cent God.\nSo there is evidence of authority. And practically, if we believe the śāstras, the scriptures, authorities, then see who can be more powerful than Kṛṣṇa, who can be more beautiful than Kṛṣṇa, who can be more famous than Kṛṣṇa. Just like Kṛṣṇa appeared five thousand years before, but His knowledge, which He gave us in the shape of Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā, still it is worshiped. It is worshiped not only by the Hindus or the Indians, but this Bhagavad-gītā is read all over the world.\nIn your country there are at least fifty kinds of different editions of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam [Bhagavad-gītā] written by different American thoughtful men. Similarly you'll find in England, in Germany, in France, in, I mean to say, all other countries you'll find hundreds of editions of Bhagavad-gītā. Just see, who can be more famous and who can be more wise than Kṛṣṇa? There are many other evidences if we believe śāstra—that Kṛṣṇa married 16,108 wives, and He provided each one of them with big palaces, and each one of them had ten children, and from ten children there were many other children also.\nSo these are the evidences from revealed scripture. And in the Brahma-saṁhitā also, Kṛṣṇa is accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is a very old book, supposed to be written by Brahmā. It is called Brahma-saṁhitā. In that Brahma-saṁhitā it is said that īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ [Bs. 5.1]. Īśvaraḥ means God.\n[Kṛṣṇa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.]\nThere are many gods, but... In Sanskrit language, about God, there are many demigods, and there is Supreme God. So this Brahma-saṁhitā says, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ, \"Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme God. He is the God of gods.\" Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ. \"And His body is eternal, and full of bliss and knowledge.\" This is the description of the body.\nĪśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ [Bs. 5.1]. Anādi, \"He has no beginning, but He is the beginning of everyone.\" Anādir ādir govindaḥ. \"And His name is Govinda.\" Go means senses and go means cow and go means land. So He is the proprietor of all land, He is the proprietor of all cows, and He is the, I mean to say, pleasure for all senses.\nWe are after sense pleasure, but our perfection of sense pleasure can be achieved when we reciprocate our pleasure with Kṛṣṇa. Therefore His name is Govinda. Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi **. Govinda is the Supreme original Personality of Godhead.\nSo the same Personality of Godhead, He is speaking to Arjuna personally about Himself. Then how you can say that somebody, by simply by speculation, speaks something about God which is more important than what is being spoken by Kṛṣṇa Himself? It is not possible. Nobody can speak better than Kṛṣṇa about God, because God Himself is speaking about Himself. If you speak about yourself personally, who can speak more than you? So if we have faith, if we believe theoretically and practically Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then by the speeches which is being delivered by Kṛṣṇa in this chapter, you can understand God. There is no difficulty.\nMat-parataṁ yanis cayāvanityārthaḥ, samagraṁ sādhiṣṭhānaṁ sāvibhūtiṁ sāparikaram. And if you believe Kṛṣṇa, then the result will be that you can understand God, how He is working, how His energies are acting, how He is manifested, what is this material world, what is the spiritual world, what are these living creatures, what is their relationship—so many things in God's creation.\nThe whole Vedic literature are dealing in three things. First thing is that what is your relationship with God. Then the next step is that as soon as we understand our relationship with God, then we can act in that way. Just like a man and woman: they are not known to each other, but as soon as the relationship is established that one is husband and the other is wife, then the reciprocal dealing begins.\nSo unless you understand what is your relationship with God... Generally, people believe that God is the father. Therefore son's business is to ask from father whatever we need. But that is very minor relationship. If you understand God perfectly well... And there is intricate relationship also. That relationship will be revealed when you are perfectly liberated.\nEach and every living creature has got a particular relationship with God. We have forgotten that. So when that relationship will be revealed in the process of devotional activities, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you should know that is the perfection of your life. That is the perfection of our life.\nSo Kṛṣṇa consciousness is a great science. It is not a sentiment or mental speculation or bluff. It is based on scientific proposition, as described in the Bhagavad-gītā, as described in the Vedas, as described in the Saṁhitās, as accepted by the authorities like Lord Caitanya, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Nārada, Asita, Vyāsa. There are so many authorities. So Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not an ordinary, bluff-making or a money-making business. It is something reality. And if you take to it seriously, your life will be successful.\nThank you very much. Any questions?",
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"content": "\n If you want, if you want to go to other... [rattling sound] ...if you want to encourage us to enter into spiritual knowledge in the material world, is it necessary to live in a place that's free of grief... [rattling sound] ...or just to change?",
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"content": "\n If you want to transfer yourself to other planets, yes. Kṛṣṇa consciousness means transferring yourself to other planets. The ultimate perfection or success is go back to Godhead, back to home. So when Kṛṣṇa consciousness will be perfect, you'll be transferred from this planet, or from this material world, to the spiritual world, and you'll talk with Kṛṣṇa just you are talking with me.",
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"content": "\n Swāmījī, I think she means that do you have to do any kind of breathing exercising besides chanting?",
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"content": "\n No. There is no breathing exercise or gymnastic. No. Nothing. The breathing exercise is there. When you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa there is breathing. There is nice breathing. Yes?",
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"content": "\n Swāmījī, is there higher devotional service than chanting?",
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"content": "\n Higher devotional service... What do you mean by higher devotional service? Huh?",
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"content": "\n Would serving your spiritual master be higher than even chanting, serving Kṛṣṇa more than...",
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"content": "\n Higher devotional service means first of all you have to understand... Just now I explained that you have to understand your relationship with Kṛṣṇa. Then your service begins. So as soon as you are in eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa, that is higher... [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/700513ip-los-angeles/
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"content": "\n\nandhaṁ tamaḥ praviśantiye\nye 'vidyām upāsate\ntato bhūya iva te tamo\nya u vidyāyāṁ ratāḥ\n[Īśo mantra 9]\n\"Those who are engaged in the culture of nescient activities shall enter into the darkest region of ignorance. Worse still are those engaged in the so-called culture of knowledge.\"\nSo there are two kinds of education: material education and spiritual education, brahma-vidyā and jaḍa-vidyā. Jaḍa-vidyā means material education. Jaḍa. Jaḍa means \"which cannot move,\" matter. And spiritual education... Spirit can move. Our body is combination of spirit and matter. So long the spirit is there, this body is moving. Just like coat-pant is moving so long a man wears it. It appears that the coat is moving, the pant is moving, but actually the living entity is moving, and the covering, the dress, appears to be moving.\nSimilarly, this body is moving because the spirit soul is moving. This is only... Just like a vehicle. A motorcar is moving; that means the driver is moving. So foolish people will think that the motorcar is moving. Motorcar does not move. In spite of all mechanical arrangement, it cannot move. That is the wrong way of education. People who are thinking that this material nature is working, moving and manifesting so many wonderful things... Just like in the seaside we see the waves are moving. But the waves are not moving; the air moving it. But air is not moving. In this way, you go back, back, back, what is the ultimate cause, then you'll find Kṛṣṇa is the cause of all causes. That is called philosophy, to search out the ultimate cause.\nSo here it is said, andhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti ye avidyām upāsate. Avidyā means those who are captivated by the external movements, they are..., they are worshiping avidyā, nescience, which will not help him. The modern civilization is engaged... There are big, big institution for technology, how a motorcar can move, how aeroplane can move. So many machinery they're manufacturing. But they are... There is no educational institution how the mover, the spirit soul, is moving. That is... That is called avidyā, nescience. The actual mover is not being studied, but the external movement is being studied.\nBig, big institution, universities, there are. As I told you the other day, when I lectured in the Massachusetts Technological College, so I inquired that \"Where is that technology to study the mover?\" But they have no such arrangement. They could not answer satisfactorily. So that is avidyā.\nSo here, in the Īśopaniṣad, it is said, andhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti ye avidyām upāsate. Those who are engaged only in material advancement of education, the result will be that they will go to the darkest region of existence, andhaṁ tamaḥ. It is very dangerous position that at the present moment there is no arrangement in any state, all over the world, about spiritual education. It is pushing the human society to the darkest region of existence. Actually, it is happening so. In... In your country, your rich country, you got nice educational system, so many universities, but what class of men you are producing? The students are coming to become hippies. Why?\nSo leaders should think over it, that \"What we are producing, in spite of so many educational institution?\" That is hinted here, that because you are worshiping avidyā... That is not knowledge. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has sung very nicely: jaḍa-vidyā saba māyāra vaibhava. Jaḍa-vidyā. Jaḍa-vidyā means this material education. He says they are expansion of this māyā. Jaḍa vidyā. Jaḍa vidyā sa māyāra vaibhava, tomāra bhajane bādhā. The more we shall advance in this material education, the more we will be hampered to understand what is God. And at last we shall declare, \"God is dead. I am God. You are God,\" this, all this nonsense.\nThat is hinted here: andhaṁ tamaḥ. Andham means darkness. There are two kinds of darkness. If you remain in ignorance, that is also darkness, and if you remain actually in darkness, where there is no sunlight, there is no electric light, that is also darkness. So avidyām upāsate. Another, tato bhūya iva te tamo ya u vidyāyāṁ ratāḥ [Īśo mantra 9].\nSo these materialists, they are certainly being pushed in the darkness. But there is another class, who are so-called philosopher, mental speculators, religionists, yogīs, they are going still more in the darkness, because they are defying Kṛṣṇa. They are posed as if culturing spiritual knowledge, but because they have no information of Kṛṣṇa, or God, their advancement of education is also more dangerous. More dangerous, because they are misleading people.\nThe yoga system, the so-called yoga, not the real yoga system... The so-called yoga system, they are preaching, misleading people that \"You meditate and you'll understand that you are God.\" By meditation one becomes God. [chuckles] You see? So Kṛṣṇa never meditated. Neither He had any chance of meditation, because from the very beginning of His appearance, Kaṁsa was prepared to kill Him. Then He was transferred by His father to the house of Nanda-Yaśodā. There also, when He was sleeping, a baby, three-months-old baby, the Pūtanā demon attacked. So Kṛṣṇa had no chance to meditate to become God. He is God from the very beginning. That is God. God is God and dog is dog. That is the law of identity.\nSo these are all nonsense, that \"You become still, you become silent, and you become God.\" Oh, how I can become silent? Is there any possibility of becoming silent? No. There is no such possibility. \"You become desireless.\" So how I can become desireless? These are all bluffs. We cannot be desireless. We cannot be silent. But our desires, our activities, have to be purified. That is real knowledge. That is real knowledge. We shall desire only to serve Kṛṣṇa. That is purification of desire. Not that desireless. That is not possible.\nHow I can be desireless? How I can be silent? That is also not possible. For a second, I cannot be silent. So then our activities should be engaged, dovetailed in Kṛṣṇa's service. This is real knowledge, that \"I, as living entity, I have all these things: activities, desires, loving propensity. Everything is there. But that is being misguided.\" We do not know where to place all these things. That is avidyā.\nSo this Īśopaniṣad teaches us that we should be very careful. We should not be very much advanced... We may be advanced. That doesn't matter. We don't say that you don't advance in material education. You advance, but, at the same time, you become Kṛṣṇa conscious. That is our propaganda. We don't say that you don't..., you do not manufacture motorcar or you do not manufacture these so many machines. We don't say.\nBut we say, \"All right, you have manufactured this machine. Employ it in Kṛṣṇa's service.\" That is our proposal. We don't say stop it. We don't say that you have..., don't have any sex life. But we say, \"Yes, you have sex life—for Kṛṣṇa. You produce Kṛṣṇa conscious children. Hundred times you have sex life. But don't create cats and dogs.\" That is our proposal.\nSo education..., education required, but if education is wrongly diverted, it is very, very dangerous. That is the purport of this verse.\nandhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti\nye avidyām upāsate\ntato bhūya iva te tamo\nya u vidyāyāṁ ratāḥ\n[Īśo mantra 9]\nSo-called education has no value.\nThank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa.",
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"content": "\n All glories. [end]",
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"content": "\n\n...avidyā-karma-saṁjñānyā\ntṛtīyā śaktir iṣyate\n[Cc. Madhya 6.154, quoted from Viṣṇu Purāṇa 6.7.61]\n[“’The internal potency of the Supreme Lord, Viṣṇu, is spiritual, as verified by the śāstras. There is another spiritual potency, known as kṣetra-jña, or the living entity. The third potency, which is known as nescience, makes the living entity godless and fills him with fruitive activity.]\nThis is a verse from Viṣṇu Purāṇa. It is stated there that viṣṇu-śaktiḥ parā, \"The energy of the Supreme Lord is spiritual.\" Energy and the energetic, they are nondifferent. Just like the sunshine is the energy of the sun globe, but the quality of sunshine and the sun globe is the same. It is not different. The sunshine is bright, illuminating, hot. Similarly, we can understand the sun globe, the temperature may be very high, but the quality is the same.\nSo, viṣṇu-śaktiḥ parā proktā [Cc. Madhya 6.154]. God has got one energy. That energy is spiritual energy. And kṣetrajñākhyā tathā parā: and the same energy is manifested in another form, which is called kṣetrajña, or marginal energy, or the energy in which we living creatures are acting. Ksetrajñākhya tathā parā. And avidyā-karma-saṁjña anyā, and tṛtīyā śaktir iṣyate. And besides these energies, there is another energy, which is avidyā, ignorance.\nKarma-saṁjña: and it is based on fruitive activities. Anyā means besides these two energies, spiritual energy and the marginal energy, living entities, there is another energy, which is called avidyā. Avidyā means ignorance. And karma-saṁjña: and in that energy, one has to enjoy his..., the fruit of his own labor. This is the material world.\nThis material world is also energy of Kṛṣṇa, or God, but here ignorance prevails. Ignorance is prominent. Avidyā, ignorance. Therefore one has to work. Practically one hasn't got to work, but because he is..., one is in avidyā, ignorance, therefore he has to work. Avidyā-karma-saṁjña anyā tṛtīyā śaktir iṣyate.\nSo actually, there is one energy, spiritual energy. Kṛṣṇa, or God, is the whole spirit, and the energies emanating from Him, that is also spiritual. Śaktiḥ śaktimator abhinnaḥ. In the Vedic language we understand that the śaktimān, or the energetic, Kṛṣṇa, and the energy, they are nondifferent. So this material energy is also nondifferent from Kṛṣṇa. In other words of Vedic language it is said, sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma [Chāndogya Upaniṣad 3.14.1]\n[Everything, both matter and spirit, is non-different from the Supreme Personality of Godhead who is the Supreme Brahman.]\n\"Everything is Brahman.\"\nIn the Bhagavad-gītā also, Lord Kṛṣṇa says that māyā tatam idaṁ sarvam [Bg. 9.4]. \n[By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them.]\nSarvam means all; idam, this manifestation, this cosmic manifestation, whatever you are experiencing... Kṛṣṇa says that \"I am expanded as this cosmic manifestation.\" Māyā tatam idaṁ sarvam avyakta-mūrtinā. This impersonal feature, avyakta. Mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni nāhaṁ teṣu avasthitaḥ [Bg. 9.4]: \"Everything is resting on Me, or everything is expansion of Myself.\" Nāhaṁ teṣu avasthitaḥ: \"But I am not there.\"\nThis philosophy, acintya-bhedābheda, simultaneously one and different, is our philosophy, inaugurated by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, although it is in the Vedānta-sūtras. So everything is simultaneously one and different from the Supreme Lord. But there are two classes of philosophers. One class says that God and the living entities are different, and there is another philosopher, monist philosopher; they say God and the living entities are one.\nSo this acintya-bhedābheda philosophy adjusts that \"God and the living creatures, they are simultaneously one and different.\" They are one in quality, just like the energy and the energetic, the sun globe and the sunshine. In quality, in sunshine there is heat, there is illumination, light. In the sun globe also, there is heat, there is illumination. But the degrees are quite different. You can bear the heat and illumination of the sunshine, but you cannot go to the sun globe, or you can bear the heat and temperature there. The scientist says that so many millions miles away, if somebody goes or some planet goes near the sun globe, it will immediately burn into ashes.\nSimilarly, God and ourself, Kṛṣṇa and living entities, they are qualitatively one, but quantitatively, we are very minute. Aṇu. We are smaller than the atom. Nowadays there is atomic theory. We can see the atoms within the holes of the windows when there is focus of sunlight. That is called prasareṇu. Prasareṇu means six atoms combined together, then it is visible. Otherwise, atom is also not visible with our naked eyes. There is atomic theory, paramāṇuvāda, in Vedic literature also.\nAnd Bhāgavata says that the scientists may be one day able to count how many atoms are there within this universe. This is not possible, of course, but it is theoretically. The Vedic, er, Śrīmad-Bhāgavata says that \"It may be possible one day by scientific research, one can count how many atoms are there within this cosmic manifestation. Still, it is not possible to know the Supreme Personality of Godhead by our ordinary sense perception.\"\nAtaḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ [Cc. Madhya 17.136].\n[“’Therefore material senses cannot appreciate Kṛṣṇa’s holy name, form, qualities and pastimes. When a conditioned soul is awakened to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and renders service by using his tongue to chant the Lord’s holy name and taste the remnants of the Lord’s food, the tongue is purified, and one gradually comes to understand who Kṛṣṇa really is.’]\nKṛṣṇa, or God, is not perceivable by your material senses. It is not possible. Ataḥ, therefore, śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi. Nāmādi. Nāmādi means \"beginning from His name.\" Because we try to understand Kṛṣṇa beginning by chanting His holy name, Hare Kṛṣṇa. Then, after chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, when our heart is purified, then we can understand His form, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha [Bs. 5.1].\n[Kṛṣṇa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.]\nSo either His name or His form or His quality or His paraphernalia or His activities—none of these can be understood by your material senses. It is not possible. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ [Cc. Madhya 17.136]. Indriyaiḥ, the senses. Then how it is understood? Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ. When we take to the transcendental loving service of the Lord, then the Lord reveals Himself. We cannot understand. He reveals Himself. Therefore sevonmukhe hi jihvādau. Jihvā means tongue. The first business of us is to engage the tongue in the service of the Lord.\nSo how you can engage the tongue in the service of the Lord? By chanting and glorifying His name, fame, quality, form, paraphernalia, pastimes. This is the business of the tongue. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau. When the tongue is engaged, gradually all other senses are also engaged in the service of the Lord.\nThe tongue is the most important sense within our body; therefore for controlling our senses it is recommended that one should control first of all the tongue. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura sings in his song: tā'ra madhye jihvā ati lobhamaya sudurmati.\n[\"O Lord, this material body is a lump of ignorance, and the senses are a network of paths to death. Somehow, we have fallen into this ocean of material sense enjoyment, and of all the senses the tongue is most voracious and uncontrollable; it is very difficult to conquer the tongue in this world. But You, dear Kṛṣṇa, are very kind to us and have given us such nice prasādam, just to control the tongue. Now we take this prasādam to our full satisfaction and glorify Their Lordships Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, and in love call for the help of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda.\"]\nOur present conditional state is like this. Śarīra avidyā-jāl, we are packed up in the network of this material body. It is just like a fish is caught within a net. Similarly, we are caught up by this network of this material body. Not only this body—we are changing this net in various phases of life. There are 8,400,000's of forms of this network. This is a network of ignorance, avidyā-jāl. Avidyā means ignorance. Śarīra avidyā-jāl jaḍendriya tāhe kāl. And this network, my imprisonment within this network of ignorance, is being continued on account of these dangerous senses. Sense enjoyment.\nSo out of these dangerous senses, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says the tongue is the most dangerous. Tongue is the most dangerous. The tongue... If we cannot control the tongue, then the tongue will oblige me to take different types of body, one after another. If I am very much fond of satisfying my tongue by flesh and blood, then nature, material nature, will give me facility to taste flesh and blood fresh and give me a body of the tiger. If I do not discriminate of eating, then material nature will give me a body just like a hog, when we have to accept as our food stool.\nSo we are so-called materially suffering and enjoying according to this body. Therefore this body, this human form of body, is a great opportunity, because God realization begins by engaging the tongue. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau [Brs. 1.2.234]. By engaging the tongue in the loving service of the Lord, one can make advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, ultimate realization of God, the tongue. So this tongue in the human body can be engaged. In other body, in the cat's body, dog's body, tiger's body... Tiger may be a very powerful animal. No animal is powerful or better than human beings. That is accepted.\nSo this human form of life is a great boon to the living entity who is traveling through the cycle of birth and death, perpetually changing different sorts of body. Here is the opportunity, human form of body. We can utilize the tongue properly and get out of these clutches. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau. So sevā, sevā means service; jihvā ādau, beginning from the tongue.\nSo if we can keep our tongue engaged, always chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra... Because \"Kṛṣṇa,\" this sound, is not different from Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is absolute. Nothing is different from Him. Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's name is not different. In the material sense, everything is different. I myself is different from this body. I am not this body. But Kṛṣṇa is not like that. Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's body is the same.\nAvajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritāḥ\n[Bg. 9.11].\n[Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature and My supreme dominion over all that be.]\nKṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, \"Rascals and fools, they deride at Me because I appear as a human being. They are thinking just like I am ordinary human being.\" Paraṁ bhāvam ajananto. \"These rascals do not know what is My influence and what I am.\" Paraṁ bhāvam. \"What is My nature they do not know. Without knowing Me, they consider, 'Kṛṣṇa is an ordinary human being.' \" Avajānanti mūḍha. This very particular word has been used, mūḍha. Mūḍha means rascals.\nSo in spite of this warning, there are so many rascals passing as big scholars. They say like this. When there is order of Kṛṣṇa that \"You surrender unto Me,\" the rascals comment, \"It is not to Kṛṣṇa but the unborn spirit which is within Kṛṣṇa.\" He does not know that Kṛṣṇa is not different from His body, Kṛṣṇa is not different from His name, Kṛṣṇa is not different from His fame. Anything pertaining to Kṛṣṇa is Kṛṣṇa. They are monists, they are philosophizing that oneness, but as soon as they come to Kṛṣṇa, immediately they divide: \"Kṛṣṇa is different from His body,\" or \"Kṛṣṇa's body is different from Kṛṣṇa.\"\nSo ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi. So Kṛṣṇa's name and Kṛṣṇa is not different. Therefore, as soon as my tongue touches the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, that means immediately it associates with Kṛṣṇa. So if you constantly keep yourself associated with Kṛṣṇa by chanting this mantra, Hare Kṛṣṇa, then just imagine how you are being easily purified simply by this process, chanting, jihvādau, engaging the tongue in chanting.\nAnd your tongue wants very palatable dishes to taste. So Kṛṣṇa is very kind. He has given you hundreds and thousands of palatable dishes, remnants of foodstuff eaten by Him. You eat. In this way, if you simply make it a determination that \"I shall not allow my tongue to taste anything which is not offered to Kṛṣṇa, and I shall engage my tongue always chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa,\" then all perfection is within your hold. All perfection. Two simple things.\nDon't eat anything which is not offered to Kṛṣṇa. That's all. Our Kṛṣṇa prasādam are so variegated, nice varieties... The variety is the mother of enjoyment. How much enjoyment you want with your tongue? You can have simply by eating Kṛṣṇa prasādam. And the more your tongue is purified, the more you relish the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Relish. Ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam.\nIt is stated by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu that it increases the ocean of bliss, transcendental bliss. Ocean does not increase. We have no experience within this material world. If ocean would have increased, then all the lands would have been swallowed up many long, long years ago. Ocean does not increase. But this ocean, transcendental bliss, is increasing. Some of you must have experienced, those who are actually relishing.\nThe authorities like Rūpa Gosvāmī, he says that \"What I shall chant with one tongue? If I would have millions of tongues, then I could chant a little more. And what I shall hear with two ears?\" So he's expecting, he's aspiring to have millions of ears and trillions of tongue to relish this chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. So that is another stage, of course, when this chanting will be so melodious that we shall try to have more ears and more tongue to utilize it.\nAtaḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ\n[Cc. Madhya 17.136].\n[“’Therefore material senses cannot appreciate Kṛṣṇa’s holy name, form, qualities and pastimes. When a conditioned soul is awakened to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and renders service by using his tongue to chant the Lord’s holy name and taste the remnants of the Lord’s food, the tongue is purified, and one gradually comes to understand who Kṛṣṇa really is.’]\nBy our present senses, we cannot understand what is Kṛṣṇa, or what is God, what is His name, what is His form, what is His quality. Therefore immediately if we try to understand Kṛṣṇa by His picture, \"Oh, Kṛṣṇa is embracing Rādhārāṇī or the gopīs,\" we shall mistake. Because unless our senses are purified, we shall accept Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī as ordinary young boy or girl and their dealings. But actually it is not. It is pure.\nCaitanya-caritāmṛta-kar has distinguished that the loving affairs of the gopīs with Kṛṣṇa and ordinary, these lustful dealings of human beings, there is a gulf of difference. He compared that the gopīs' love with Kṛṣṇa is gold, and our so-called love here is iron. As there is difference between gold and iron, similarly there is difference between the loving affairs of gopīs with Kṛṣṇa and these mundane, so-called lusty affairs between man and women or boys and girls. It is never equal.\nTherefore,\nataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved...\n[Brs. 1.2.234].\n[No one can understand the transcendental nature of the name, form, quality and pastimes of Śrī Kṛṣṇa through his materially contaminated senses. Only when one becomes spiritually saturated by transcendental service to the Lord are the transcendental name, form, quality and pastimes of the Lord revealed to him.]\nThese present senses, these impure senses, contaminated senses, cannot understand Kṛṣṇa; therefore we should follow this principle: sevonmukhe hi jihvādau. First of all, engage chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. There is Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. Hara is Rādhā, and Kṛṣṇa there is. But don't try to understand by the present senses, but simply chant Their holy name, Hare Kṛṣṇa. Then ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam [Cc. Antya 20.12].\n[“’Let there be all victory for the chanting of the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṇa, which can cleanse the mirror of the heart and stop the miseries of the blazing fire of material existence. That chanting is the waxing moon that spreads the white lotus of good fortune for all living entities. It is the life and soul of all education. The chanting of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa expands the blissful ocean of transcendental life. It gives a cooling effect to everyone and enables one to taste full nectar at every step.’]\nWhen your the dust on the mirror of your heart will be cleansed, and it will cleanse by simply chanting, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇam, and there will be no more any material condition...\nThat is the next stage. If you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra without any offense, then immediately the stage will be that you are freed from all material anxieties. That is the test. How I am advancing in chanting will be tested how far you are free from material anxieties. That's all. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-māha-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇam [Cc. Antya 20.12]. Then real life begins. So long you are perturbed by material disturbances, you should know that your spiritual life has not begun.\nThis is confirmed in everywhere. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati [Bg. 18.54].\n[And of all yogīs, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.]\nPrasannātmā. Bhagavad-gītā says, \"When one is Brahman realized...\" Brahman realized means one who understands that \"I am not this body. I am pure spirit soul, eternal servitor of Kṛṣṇa.\" Simply understanding that \"I am not this body; I am spirit soul,\" is not enough. That is not sufficient knowledge. Of course, that is good. That is just on the marginal step between matter and spirit. But you have to transcend completely this material existence and come to the platform of spiritual understanding.\nSo for that purpose you have to go further after Brahman realization. Brahman..., brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā [Bg. 18.54]. If you are actually Brahman realized, the symptom will be that you are always joyful, no anxiety. Anxiety, why an...? Everything is very nicely discussed in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād [SB 11.2.37].\n[Fear arises when a living entity misidentifies himself as the material body because of absorption in the external, illusory energy of the Lord. When the living entity thus turns away from the Supreme Lord, he also forgets his own constitutional position as a servant of the Lord. This bewildering, fearful condition is effected by the potency for illusion, called māyā. Therefore, an intelligent person should engage unflinchingly in the unalloyed devotional service of the Lord, under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master, whom he should accept as his worshipable deity and as his very life and soul.]\nWhen you forget Kṛṣṇa, or God, and if we think there is something else than Kṛṣṇa, then we are afraid. And those who are convinced and realized souls that there is nothing but Kṛṣṇa, where is the cause of fearfulness?\nTherefore those who are pure devotees, they are not disturbed even in most distressed condition of life. What they think? They think, tat te 'nukampāṁ: \"My Lord, it is Your great mercy that You have put me into this distressed condition.\" Tat te 'nukampāṁ su-samīkṣamāṇaḥ [SB 10.14.8].\n[My dear Lord, one who earnestly waits for You to bestow Your causeless mercy upon him, all the while patiently suffering the reactions of his past misdeeds and offering You respectful obeisances with his heart, words and body, is surely eligible for liberation, for it has become his rightful claim.]\nSo in the distressed condition, the devotees take it an opportunity that \"I have got a very nice opportunity to remember God constantly. Kṛṣṇa, You are so kind that You have given me this distressed condition.\"\nSo this Kṛṣṇa consciousness is very nice. If we try to make progress on this line, we'll feel even... Yasmin sthite guruṇāpi duḥkhena na vicālyate [Bg. 6.20-23]. \n[In the stage of perfection called trance, or samādhi, one's mind is completely restrained from material mental activities by practice of yoga. This perfection is characterized by one's ability to see the Self by the pure mind and to relish and rejoice in the Self. In that joyous state, one is situated in boundless transcendental happiness, realized through transcendental senses. Established thus, one never departs from the truth, and upon gaining this he thinks there is no greater gain. Being situated in such a position, one is never shaken, even in the midst of the greatest difficulty. This indeed is actual freedom from all miseries arising from material contact.]\nBhagavad-gītā says if one is situated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, even in the terrible situation, fearful situation, he is not afraid. Just like Prahlāda Mahārāja. You see? Prahlāda Mahārāja, a five-years-old boy, his father tortured him like anything. But he was not afraid. He was not afraid. This is the Kṛṣṇa consciousness state. The boy is not afraid. Even in such tortured condition, when his father challenged him, \"Prahlāda, with whose strength you are so powerful that you do not care for me?\" he immediately answered, \"My dear father, by whose power you are talking like that?\"\nSo Kṛṣṇa consciousness is so nice that even one is put into the terrible condition of distress, he is not perturbed. Nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve... There are many verses like that. We can quote hundreds. Nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve na kutaścana bibhyati [SB 6.17.28].\n[Devotees solely engaged in the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa, never fear any condition of life. For them the heavenly planets, liberation and the hellish planets are all the same, for such devotees are interested only in the service of the Lord.]\nIf one becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious, he is not afraid, any condition of life. Na kutaścana bibhyati. Svargāpavarga-narakeṣv api. If he is put into the hell or in heaven or in spiritual world or any world, he is happy. Tulyārtha-darśinaḥ. He thinks everything is all the same. \"Either you put me in the hell or heaven or this or that, [it] is all the same.\" Because he is always with Kṛṣṇa, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is always with him. So where is the cause of being afraid that \"This place is not good; this place is very good\"? No. Wherever Kṛṣṇa is there is very good. That's all.\nSo we have to practice and train the tongue very nicely. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ [Brs. 1.2.234].\n[No one can understand the transcendental nature of the name, form, quality and pastimes of Śrī Kṛṣṇa through his materially contaminated senses. Only when one becomes spiritually saturated by transcendental service to the Lord are the transcendental name, form, quality and pastimes of the Lord revealed to him.]\nAnd the more our tongue is engaged in the loving service of Kṛṣṇa... It is very nice service. You simply chant and eat Kṛṣṇa prasādam. Is it very difficult service? Everyone will accept, \"Oh, yes.\" But unfortunately, everyone does not accept. [laughter] [chuckles] You see? Caitanya Mahāprabhu therefore says, etādṛśī tava kṛpā bhagavan mamāpi [Śikṣāṣṭaka 2]:\n[O my Lord, Your holy name alone can render all benediction to living beings, and thus You have hundreds and millions of transcendental names, such as Kṛṣṇa and Govinda, in which You have invested all Your transcendental energies. There are no hard and fast rules for chanting these names. O My Lord, out of kindness You enable us to easily approach You by Your holy names, but I am so unfortunate that I have no attraction for them.]\n\"My dear Lord, You are so kind that You have approached me in..., by transcendental sound. Or You are always with me.\" You can be. If I take, then Kṛṣṇa is always with me. If I reject, then... That is the ignora... \"Kṛṣṇa is everywhere\" means as soon as we accept, Kṛṣṇa is immediately with us. And as soon as we reject, oh, He is far, far away. So Kṛṣṇa can be with us very easily simply by this chanting or engaging the tongue in His service.\nSo Caitanya Mahāprabhu recommended this process, or He inaugurated this process in this age. Although it is not new system, but He especially introduced, because His incarnation is to reclaim the fallen souls of this age...\n[break] ...before advent of Kṛṣṇa he's simply planning, \"As soon as Kṛṣṇa will take birth, I will kill him.\" This is the plan of the demons, to kill God. Atheism. \"God is dead.\" That is also killing, one sort of killing. \"There is no God,\" \"I am God.\" These are all different processes of trying to kill. But God is never killed. Rather, they are killed. That is the whole history, everywhere.",
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"content": "\n I don't follow. Is it...? Whose choice, whose complete choice is it to be a demon? Is it the living entity's choice, complete choice, to be demonic, against God, or is it a part of Kṛṣṇa's energy to put demons, or to have created him that way?",
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"content": "\n No...",
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"content": "\n Is it completely each individual's choice to be demonic, or...?",
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"content": "\n Yes. Demon means when he is forgotten, when has lost his sense, that is demon. When has lost his sense, that is demon. Demon means māyayāpahṛta-jñānāḥ [Bg. 7.15]. \n[Those miscreants who are grossly foolish, lowest among mankind, whose knowledge is stolen by illusion, and who partake of the atheistic nature of demons, do not surrender unto Me.]\nMāyā, by the influence of māyā, the true aspect of knowledge is taken away. Anyone who is trying to establish it that \"There is no God,\" he is demon. That's all. There are so many philosophers, so many atheists, so many scientists, their only business is to deny God. They are demons. Yes.",
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"content": "\n Then is there individual complete choice?",
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"content": "\n That is ignorance. Yes. Apahṛta-jñānāḥ means just like a madman. For the time being, his natural knowledge is taken away. Crazy. What do we mean by crazy? For the time being, his knowledge is taken away. Similarly, when a living entity is in that position, as somebody has taken away his knowledge, that is demonic condition. But he can reestablished again in knowledge. Just like a crazy man is sent, mental disorder, to hospital for treatment; again he comes as a sane man. Similarly, the demons are just like crazy men. Even they are treated with Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they can be reverted to their own position.\nThis is temporary. This demoniac nature is temporary due to the contact with māyā. Therefore the whole business is how to get out of the clutches of māyā. Then there is no more demonic nature. It is artificial, superficial. It comes and goes. As it comes artificially, so it can go also. And the driving method is this Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Hmm.",
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"content": "\n So māyā is temporary, and the only thing that is eternal is Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual energies.",
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"content": "\n Yes. Spiritual energy. That is eternal. That is eternal. So we are... Due to our ignorance, we have been very much serious with the temporary situation of māyā and we have forgotten the eternal position. This is our present conditional life. Now this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means His treatment to reclaim the living entity from the clutches of māyā. Then he is situated in his natural position.\n[break] Apavitraḥ pavitro vā. One may be in impure condition and one may be in pure condition. Sarvāvasthām, in all conditions. Avastha means all condition. Gato 'pi vā, situated, in any condition situated; yaḥ, anybody; smaret, remembers; puṇḍarīkākṣam. Puṇḍarīkākṣam means \"the Lord, whose eyes are like the lotus petal.\" Lotus eyes. Puṇḍarīkākṣam. Sa, that person becomes; sa bahyābhyantaram. Bahya means externally, and abhyantara means internally. Bahyābhyantaraṁ śuciḥ. Śuciḥ means purified.\nAnother śuci means brāhmaṇa. A brāhmaṇa is called śuci. A brāhmaṇa means a purified person. Not that by birth one becomes pure. No. The purificatory process. There are purificatory processes. Just like in infectious condition, those who are vaccinated, given injection, he is supposed to be purified. He cannot be attacked or infected by the disease. Similarly, in spiritual life also one has to remain purified. The whole process, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, is to purify the people in general from the contaminated condition of material existence. Purifying. It is purifying process.\nA living entity by nature is pure because he is part and parcel of the Supreme Pure, God. But due to his impure condition, he has forgotten his eternal relationship with God. So this initiation means that one is being accepted as student by the spiritual master to promote him gradually to the purified state, where he can realize himself and God. This is the whole process.\nIn contaminated state we cannot approach. I have given this example many times. Just like if you want to enter into certain place, then you must be adjusted with the conditions. Just like people are going to the moon planet. There it is supposed to be it is very cold. So people go with a certain type of dress by adjusting.\nSimilarly, if you want to enter into the spiritual kingdom, the abode, the planet where Kṛṣṇa lives, so you must be purified, adjust yourself. Not only to the spiritual kingdom of Kṛṣṇa—any planet you want to enter, you must adjust yourself in that way. It is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā,\nyānti deva-vratā devān\npitṝn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ\nbhūtejyā yānti bhūtāni\nmad-yājino 'pi yānti mām\n[Bg. 9.25]\n[Those who worship the demigods will take birth among the demigods; those who worship ghosts and spirits will take birth among such beings; those who worship ancestors go to the ancestors; and those who worship Me will live with Me.]\nIf you adjust yourself, then you can go to the higher planetary system. Deva-vratā devān. Devān means the planetary system or the different planets where demigods are living. Just like this moon planet. This moon planet is also another planet of the demigod Candra. I do not know the modern expedition for going to the moon planet, how far it will be successful. I think it cannot be successful. According to Vedic literature, it cannot be successful, because people cannot adjust to enter that planet. One has to adjust, make the bodily condition in that way, so that one can live there.\nIn this planet also, there are different climates. In India the climate is different, and your Western country, the climate is different. So when one comes to the Western country, he also adjusts with different coats and shirts. In India we can remain naked body practically throughout the whole year, but you cannot live here. So there is adjustment.\nSo this adjustment, the Bhagavad-gītā says, mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām [Bg. 9.25]: \"Those who have adjusted themselves to come to Me, he can come.\" There is no obstruction. So this initiation process, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, means to adjust your condition so that after leaving this body, you can enter into the planet where Kṛṣṇa lives. These things are very nicely explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama [Bg. 15.6]: \"That supreme abode, where entering, one does not come back again to this material world, that is My supreme abode.\"\nThere is...\nna yatra bhāsayate sūryo\nna śaśāṅko na pāvakaḥ\nyad gatvā na nivartante\ntad dhāma paramaṁ mama\n[Bg. 15.6]\n[That abode of Mine is not illumined by the sun or moon, nor by electricity. One who reaches it never returns to this material world.]\nThese kind are explained. In that spiritual kingdom there is no need of sunshine, there is no need of moonshine, there is no need of electricity. And one who goes there, he does not come back. He lives there eternally, blissful life of knowledge.\nSo the initiation process means to give the conditioned soul a chance. This chance can be available in this human form of life. The cats and dogs, they cannot take chance of entering into the spiritual kingdom, or they cannot... It is not possible they can take initiation for purifying the body. So everybody, every human being, should take advantage of this form of life, human form of life, and cultivate this Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And it is very simple, and easy also. For this age, Lord..., by the grace of Lord Caitanya, we have got very easy method: simply chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa.\nThis mantra also which we uttered just now, it is said, yaḥ smaret puṇḍarīkākṣam: \"Anyone who remembers puṇḍarīkākṣam, Hari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, immediately he becomes purified.\" Śuci. Śuci. Śuci means purified. Śrī viṣṇu śrī viṣṇu śrī viṣṇu. Three times. So the Kṛṣṇa and Viṣṇu is the same thing. Kṛṣṇa is the original person of all viṣṇu-tattva.\nSo anyone who is keeping himself always in touch with the vibration of Kṛṣṇa consciousness—Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare—that is the only, I mean to say, guaranteed platform where you can keep yourself purified without any material contamination. And in this purified state, if we can leave this body ultimately, then there is no doubt we enter into the supreme abode of the Personality of Godhead. These things are very nicely explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, and you read carefully.\nThis initiation does not mean... Of course, this chanting will save you, only chanting. But if you read some literatures also, and the philosophy also, then it will be more and more convincing that you are making progress. And in the Ninth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā you will find that this is the process by which you can understand practically whether you are making actually progress in spiritual life. Pratyakṣam avagamaṁ dharmyam [Bg. 9.2].\n[This knowledge is the king of education, the most secret of all secrets. It is the purest knowledge, and because it gives direct perception of the self by realization, it is the perfection of religion. It is everlasting, and it is joyfully performed.]\nThis bhakti-yoga system is so nice that one can directly understand how he is making progress, and very quickly. That's a fact. All of our students who have taken to this process, within very short time they are realizing that actually they are making some progress. Therefore they are sticking to the principles and going on.\nSo my request to you all who are going to be initiated, that you keep always yourself in contact with this chanting, and that will make you, I mean to say, able to be always purified, śuci. Material contamination cannot... And you avoid these four principles: illicit sex life, meat-eating, intoxication of all description. Intoxication does not mean simply liquor.\nIntoxication means even tea-drinking. Tea is also intoxication, in slight degree. Tea, coffee, cigarette—everything should be avoided. In India they chew pān. So these things are to be give up, intoxication group, and meat-eating group. Then you make very quickly progress, and by the grace of Kṛṣṇa, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya [Bg. 4.9]\n[One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.]\nAfter leaving this body, one hasn't got to take another material body and suffer. So long we have got this material body, we have to suffer the material pangs. There cannot be any adjustment. So if anyone is serious for ending all troubles... Everyone wants to live peacefully and happily. That is natural, because spirit soul is ānanda-mayo 'bhyāsāt [Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12]: by nature joyful.\n[By nature, the Supreme Lord is blissful.]\nHe wants to keep himself joyful, but he does not know how eternal joyful life can be attained. That is spiritual life. You cannot become joyful by material adjustment. No. You may be joyful for the time being by drinking or by intoxication, but how long? So long the intoxication influence is there, you may feel something. That is artificially. But that is not actually the state of joyfulness. A real state of joyfulness is to be situated in spiritual life, and when you [are] actually in the spiritual kingdom, then you become sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha [Bs. 5.1], eternal life, joyful life, blissful life, with full knowledge.\n[Kṛṣṇa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.]\nSo on behalf of Kṛṣṇa, we are trying to distribute this knowledge at least in this part of the world. Now, those who are fortunate, they will take it and be benefited. Our business is to distribute. Now it is up to you. Every individual soul is independent. He may accept or may not accept. That depends on him. But if he accepts, it is good for him. Otherwise, he may make his choice. Kṛṣṇa never..., God never interferes with your independence. No. He will never do that. Then what is the meaning of living being? The dull matter, it has no independence. Even it is a big mountain or big thing, it has no independence. It will stand still. But a small ant, even a microbe, it has got independence, because it is living creature.\nSo God has made you or given you little independence. That independence does not mean that you shall misuse it. You shall use it properly. And what is that proper use? To be engaged in His loving service. Just like you citizens of this German state, what you are meant for? You are meant for rendering service to the state. Similarly, the whole... This is a small state. America is a small... Or this planet is a small state. But there is a huge state which is called the cosmic manifestation. That state belongs to Kṛṣṇa, or God.\nSo naturally, you have to render service to the supreme state, supreme will. Then it is all right. Your independence is there. So long you are rendering service to the state properly, your independence as citizen is there. But as soon as you rebel against the state, your independence is gone. Similarly, our this conditioned life is due to our rebellious condition towards God. And as soon as we agree surrender and be one with Him by transcendental loving service, the whole thing becomes adjusted.\nSo Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means to teach people and to give them practical suggestion and help to come to that stage those who are fortunate they'll take advantage of it otherwise we shall of course go on canvassing for this business. That's all. [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/711205r2-delhi/
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[
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"content": "\nThe old gate?",
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"content": "\nYes. This is a gate.\n[break] …petroleum, and old car also.\n[break] …headquarters for officers. [break]",
"role": "assistant"
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{
"content": "\nYes.",
"role": "user"
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"content": "\nSecretaries.",
"role": "assistant"
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{
"content": "\nMinisters and…",
"role": "user"
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"content": "\nSecretaries.",
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"content": "\n Prabhupāda, that is the Prime Minister's house, isn't it, Gurudāsa?\nNo. Home Minister.\nHunger strike.",
"role": "user"
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"content": "\n[indistinct]",
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"content": "\nPrime Minister is not there.\nOh, whoever it is, they're having a hunger strike. His… [break]\nHere's Jagjivan Ram's house over here. The Minister of Defense lives here.",
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{
"content": "\nOh.",
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"content": "\nMinister of Defense. [break] Central Secretary.\nVery impressive.",
"role": "user"
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"content": "\nThat is Parliament.",
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"content": "\nYes.",
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"content": "\nAnd in front, Rashtrapati Bhavan\n.",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\nYes.",
"role": "user"
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"content": "\nThat is India Gate.",
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"content": "\nVery impressive, Prabhupāda.",
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"content": "\nThis is British design.",
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"content": "\nThe British built these buildings.\nExcept that building. That building, J. M. Jolly built. That building, Mr. Jolly from Bombay built that. Adyar Bhavan.",
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"content": "\nOh.",
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"content": "\nIndians could never build such buildings.",
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"content": "\nTheir style is different. Just like temples.",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\nYes.",
"role": "user"
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"content": "\nGorgeous temples. That's a different style.",
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"content": "\nYes.",
"role": "user"
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"content": "\nThis style is European style.",
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"content": "\nGrecian.",
"role": "user"
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"content": "\nGrecian.",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\nGreece.\nOh. Greece, Grecian.",
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"content": "\nHah. European culture means Greece and Roman.",
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"content": "\nIt's called Doric.",
"role": "user"
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"content": "\n Hah?",
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"content": "\nDoric.",
"role": "user"
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"content": "\nDoric? Yes.",
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"content": "\nŚrīla Prabhupāda, should I try and arrange a meeting with the President?",
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"content": "\n[indistinct] simply waste of time [break] We have got already [indistinct]. Here's a Sikh temple.",
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"content": "\nGurudvara.\nVery nice.\nBut inside there's nothing. Inside there's [indistinct].",
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"content": "\nNobody goes inside.",
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{
"content": "\nOh. [laughs]",
"role": "user"
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"content": "\nEveryone is satisfied by [indistinct]. [laughter]",
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"content": "\nWhy can't we get land like that and build something like that in Delhi?",
"role": "user"
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"content": "\nIt is very conspicuous.",
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"content": "\nLooks like marble.",
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"content": "\nYes. That you can do with white cement.",
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"content": "\nWhite cement?",
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"content": "\nWhite cement, maybe. White cement.",
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"content": "\nPeople will know we are pretending.",
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"content": "\nNo, white cement is used now. You plaster with white cement, it becomes almost like marble.",
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"content": "\nNara-Nārāyaṇa said he could reproduce that sandstone, red sandstone, in cement also.",
"role": "user"
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"content": "\nSandstone?",
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"content": "\nLike that palace in Govardhana?",
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"content": "\nAha.",
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"content": "\nLike the government buildings. That's sandstone.",
"role": "user"
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"content": "\nSandstone, yes.",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\nThat's sandstone.",
"role": "user"
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"content": "\n[indistinct] [laughs] This is the fashion, to take the wife to the backside, and as soon as the sārī is entangled in the spokes… Dangerous.",
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"content": "\n[laughs] [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/710815sb-london/
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[
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"content": "\n Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat] [leads chanting of verse, etc.]",
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"content": "\ndharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo.",
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"content": "\n\ndharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ\nvedyaṁ vāstavam atra śivadaṁ tāpa-trayonmūlanam\nśrīmad-bhāgavate mahā-muni-kṛte kiṁ vā parair īśvaraḥ\nsadyo hṛdy avarudhyate 'tra kṛtibhiḥ śuśrūṣubhis tat-kṣaṇāt\n[SB 1.1.2]",
"role": "user"
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"content": "\n You read the translation, no?",
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"content": "\n Uh Yes.",
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"content": "\n And purport?",
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"content": "\n No. Purport: \"Religion includes four primary subjects, namely pious activities, economic development, satisfaction of the senses and, finally, liberation from material bondage.\" [SB 1.1.2]",
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"content": "\n So the ultimate aim is liberation from this conditional life, bondage. We are conditioned in every way, we can experience. As soon as we are embodied with a material body, immediately we are conditioned.\nJust like as soon as we enter in some state... Just like we have come from India. I have come from India in your state. So I am immediately conditioned by the immigration department.\nSo this is the material world, system. As soon as you enter a particular type of body you are conditioned. Just like while walking in the St. James Park the ducks and the swans, when they saw that we are coming near, they immediately dropped into the water. Because the duck is thinking that he's safe in the water. And if somebody snatches me to put me down in the water, then I shall protest.\nHe's also a living entity; I am also a living entity. I am afraid of being put into the water, and he is seeking shelter into the water. Water is the same. Why one is seeking shelter, and why one is afraid of? This is material world. Because I am conditioned in a separate body and the duck is conditioned in a separate body. The trees..., some trees are going upwards, and some trees are going downwards. These are the conditions. Deha-yogena dehinām [SB 7.6.3].\nSo we are being put into different conditions, under different types of body. So liberation means that one shall not be under any condition. Just like Kṛṣṇa: He is not under any condition. That is liberation. We can also, because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, we can also become without any condition. Just like Nārada Muni. Nārada Muni is traveling in the space because he's liberated soul. He's not conditioned. But because we are conditioned, we cannot travel in the space without the help of some machine or something else.\nThis conditional life is going on anywhere you go within this material world. There are innumerable universes, and each and every universe, there are innumerable planets of different climatic conditions. Just like we find the climatic condition in the moon is different from the climatic condition of this earth. The climatic condition of sun is different from the climatic condition in the earth or from the moon. Every, each and every planet, each and every universe is differently conditioned. That is the beauty of Kṛṣṇa's creation. Keśava tuwā jagat vicitra. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has sung, \"Keśava, my dear Lord Kṛṣṇa, Your creation is so full of varieties.\" That's a fact.\nBut all these conditions are not very liking to us. We are trying to be liberated from all conditions. Therefore liberation is the ultimate goal. As it is here stated, \"Religion includes four primary subjects, namely, pious activities, economic development, satisfaction of the senses and, finally, liberation from material bondage.\"\nSo the ultimate goal being liberation, we have to adjust things, targeting to that point. That is real human civilization. The Vedic civilization is based on this view, that all the conditioned souls, they have... Why they have become conditioned? The reason is they revolted against Kṛṣṇa. They wanted to imitate Kṛṣṇa. That is the mentality everywhere. You know, everyone says, \"Oh, I don't care for God. I don't care for anything. I am at liberty to do anything.\" Just the hippies, they say, \"We don't care for anything, state laws or convention or police or anything.\" The idea is that everyone is wanting liberation, \"Be high.\" Because that is our constitutional position. Liberation.\nSo everyone is trying to be liberated. So in the bodies lower than the human being, there is no question of liberation. There is no question. Out of the 8,400,000's of species of life, 8,000,000 and at least 300 species, ah, 3,000 species of life, there is no question of liberation. They must live under the conditions of material nature. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ [Bg. 3.27]. You have accepted this material body voluntarily for enjoying this material world.\nYou enjoy it to the fullest extent under the condition of stringent laws of material nature. Now, in the human form of life, civilized human form of life, your consciousness is now developed. There is a chance to understand why you are conditioned. You don't want condition; you want liberation. This question arises in the human form of life, not in the cat's life, dog's life. No.\nSo we should remember this is the difference between other bodies and this body. Here, we become awakened that \"Why I am conditioned?\" Just like Sanātana Gosvāmī, when he approached Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu... He was minister, great man, very opulent. So the first question was put before Lord Caitanya, 'ke āmi,' 'kene āmāya jāre tāpa-traya' [Cc. Madhya 20.102]: \"My dear master, I have come to You to ask the first question, that 'What I am? Why I am conditioned to suffer three kinds of miserable condition of life always?' \"\nWhy you are using this fan? Because I am conditioned; I cannot bear too much heat or too much cold. As soon as I go out in the park, I was covering. So these questions should arise, that \"Why I am conditioned? Sometimes I am covering, sometimes I want fan.\"\nSo this is the actual human life, not that simply imitating the animals: how to eat, how to sleep, how to sex. No. Śāstra says that is already established. Don't worry. Just like the swans and the ducks in St. James. They don't worry, \"Oh, what to eat?\" But they're getting their eatables. They don't go to office, to factory. Even the swans and ducks, and what to speak of human being?\nThis is nature's study, that the swans and ducks, they are getting at home, they are getting their sex life. Immediately, everything is there. According to their standard, everything is there. Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya, these are the four things required for this body. But even a small duck and swan, he has got everything ready there in St. James Park. He does not go to the Downing Street. So why don't you study?\nSo if a swan is provided with all the necessities of life, why I shall not be? I am so much developed human being. Why I am so much busy in economic development? This is called illusion. But one who is advanced in knowledge, he knows that \"If the swan is already provided with all the necessities of life, then I shall also be provided with all the necessities of life. There is no need of endeavoring for it.\" That is a fact. That is the fact.\ntasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido\nna labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ\ntal labhyate duḥkhavad anyataḥ sukhaṁ\nkālena sarvatra gabhīra-raṁhasā\n[SB 1.5.18]\nBy the force of time, just in due course of time, everything, whatever you require, it will come. Just like I was talking to you that in my childhood we heard so much about London city. So I was desiring, \"When I shall go to London?\" Now, in due course of time, I am walking in London. So Kṛṣṇa has provided everything for you. Don't worry. Therefore our main business should be how to develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We should not bother about other things. Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca. But the things are there.\nSo even these are the problems, therefore they must be based on religion. Religion means to become well-behaved, to abide... Just like good citizen means well-behaved, to abide by the state laws. So first thing is religion, to learn how to become God conscious. This is the first business of human society. But they have rejected religion. They have become secular. Secular..., what does it mean, \"secular\"? It means don't care for any kind of religion; just work very hard for economic development day and night. This is the modern civilization. No. That is misleading.\nFrom the very beginning of life... Just like Prahlāda Mahārāja advised, kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha [SB 7.6.1]. The boys... He was five-years-old boy. He said, \"My dear...\" He was preaching amongst his class friend. This is Vaiṣṇavism. Even a five... Just like our Sarasvatī, Śyāmasundara's daughter. She also preaches. She goes sometimes, \"Do you know what is Kṛṣṇa?\" If somebody says, \"No, I do not know\"—\"The Supreme Personality of Godhead.\" You see? This is natural. Simply one has to be given the chance.\nBecause this, I mean to say, small girl has got the chance to live amongst Kṛṣṇa conscious people from the very birth, she's developing that \"Oh, I shall also preach. I shall also preach.\" Developing. Similarly, advancement of Kṛṣṇa consciousness means you will be, I mean to say, pushed how to preach, how to preach. That is one of the signs. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam. If you have heard nicely about the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, then you must... Next stage is kīrtanam. Kīrtanam means preaching, chanting. Kīrtanam. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ [SB 7.5.23].\nSo that is our main business from the very beginning of life. Kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha [SB 7.6.1]. This human form of life is so rare, after many, many millions of birth, many, many millions of years rotating through different species of life, by the evolutionary process, we have come to this human form of life. In this life also, if you are simply engaged in the matter of eating sleeping, sense gratification and defending, then where is the advancement? No advancement.\nSo that inquiry should be there, that \"What I am? What I am put into these tribulations of conditional life under the laws of nature?\" Unless this question arises in one's mind, he's not a human being, he's animal. Just [like] Sanātana Gosvāmī went to Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and although he was minister, very learned scholar, he said, \"My dear Lord, people eulogize me as very big man, learned man, minister. But I know that I do not know what I am. This is my position.\" Grāmya-vyavahāre kaha ei paṇḍita, tāi satya māni [Cc. Madhya 20.100]: \"The people, the ordinary people, common people, they say that 'You are so great scholar, so rich man, minister.' They say like that. But I know that I am fool number one. I do not know what I am.\" This is the position.\nSo people should know... Everyone should know what he is, what is his constitutional position, why he is under so many conditions of life, how to get liberation. These are the questions. These are called... These questions are called brahma-jijñāsā. That is the beginning of Vedānta. Vedānta. Veda means knowledge; anta means end. So long we have acquired knowledge in so many departments, but that has become useless. Because either I am a great scientist or great botanist or great politician, I am conditioned by the laws of material nature. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā [Bg. 7.14].\nSo you become Professor Einstein or Nelson or Clive or this or that, you are conditioned by material nature. You cannot overcome this. Everything will be finished. You may stand as a statue in the Trafalgar Square. Not he; it is a lump of matter. But nobody can say where Mr. Nelson has gone, where Mr. Clive has gone. Nobody can say. Finished. You see?\nTherefore human civilization should be based on first of all religion, dharma. And what is that dharma? That I have several times explained. According to Prahlāda Mahārāja, dharmān bhāgavatān. Dharma means God consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is dharma. That is religion. Dharmān bhāgavatān. So from the very beginning, in school, in primary schools, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness should be taught. That is real civilization. Unfortunately, there is no such arrangement.\nSo you go to the authorities and the so-called authorities, rascals. Inform them that \"Take this education. Introduce in the schools, colleges. Then there will be peace and prosperity. Otherwise there will be hippies. That's all. You may have very big, big universities, educational system, but the production will be hopeless, confused hippies. That's all.\" From the very beginning, the whole system should be changed, rascal civilization.\nReligion first. First religion, then pious activities. \"I belong to this religion,\" but what is your activities? Now, \"I'm debauch number one.\" You see? And the other day the boy was asking religion, blasphemy, but from his appearance it looked like he's debauch number one. You see? So they fight simply on false prestige of so-called religion. Religion means pious life. That is religion. No meat-eating, no illicit sex, no gambling, no intoxication—that is religion, religious life, pious life.\nSo in the human society the first thing is that there must be religion, and religion means pious life. Every religion... Just like Christian religion teaches pious life: \"Thou shall not kill.\" And I am killing twenty-four hours, and still, I am proud of becoming a Christian. Just see. So religion means pious life. And on pious life, you earn your livelihood. Although your livelihood is already fixed up, your provision for living condition is already fixed up, still, because you think that \"Without working, I cannot live nicely,\" all right, economic development. But because first of all your life is religious, because you are living pious, then you can earn your livelihood according to your different status.\nThe status is brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra. In every human society these natural division of the society are already there. The intelligent class of men, they should study all the śāstras, all these Vedic literatures, thoroughly, and they should advise the politicians, \"My dear Mr. Minister, you get rule, make the rulings like this, on this principle.\" They will advise, the brāhmaṇas, intelligent class of men. And the kṣatriyas, they will administer and see that the people are executing actually religious life. That is the duty of the state.\nThe police is there not for harassing you if you take a twig from the tree and he'll come, \"Why you have taken?\" You have got that experience? Because they have no other business than trifle things, they are very busy: \"Oh, come on with me,\" arrested. They have built up their empire by exploiting the whole world, and if somebody takes a twig from the St. James Park, he's arrested. You see? Because there is no religious life. Fools, rascals, they do not know how to rule over. On trifle things they will, \"Come on.\" And when there is a pickpocket, they will go away. You ask police, they will pass by. You see?\nSo without religious life, so-called economic development, it means implication. He's becoming implicated.\nsat-saṅga chāḍi' kainu asate vilāsa\nte-kāraṇe lāgila ye karma-bandha-phāṅsa\n[Gaurā Pahū verse 3]\nWhy there should be thieves? If the society is based on religion, why there should be thieves? Why there should be rogues? There cannot be. Because they're not trained. The same boys and girls, European boys, American boys and girls... Just think of your past life and now this life. Why there is difference? Because it is based on religion. Based on religion. Therefore religion, then economic development. Dharmeṇa hīnāḥ paśubhiḥ samānāḥ [Hitopadeśa]. Ātma-dharma or bhāgavata-dharma.\nĀtmānaṁ sarvato rakṣet. The śāstra says to protect yourself, that is a... What is called? In English there is a proverb: \"Self-preservation is the first law of nature\"? What is that? So self means soul. Your soul may not fall down. That is your first business. Ātmā, ātmā means soul, mind and the body. So we have taken body. Everyone is prepared... Now people are not even anxious how to protect this body.\nThey violate so many laws of eating, sleeping, mating, and become diseased. Even they do not know how to protect this body, what to speak of the mind and the soul. They're so rascal. Ātmānaṁ sarvato rakṣet tato dharmaṁ tato dhanam.[?] That is the version in the Vedic literature, that \"Try to protect yourself first, then dharma, then your religious principle, then dhana, then money.\" But at the present moment they don't care for the self; they don't care for religion. They want simply money.\nSo our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is not one-sided. It is not that people may think that they are sentimentalist and simply chanting and dancing. No. There is volumes of philosophy of life, from all angles of vision. Dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa [SB 4.8.41, Cc. Ādi 1.90]. From the point of religion, from the point of economic development, from the point of sense gratification and from the point of ultimate liberation, go back to home, back to Godhead. It is so nice movement.\nUnfortunately... Of course, people are gradually trying to understand the gravity of this movement, but at least you should know the gravity of this movement. It is not ordinary movement. It is not a sentimental. It is most scientific, authorized movement, how to make people happy in this world and in the next. Dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa. Because ultimately, he must have liberation. This is the chance.\nNow, this liberation, there are different types of liberation, five kinds of liberation: sāyujya-mukti, sārūpya-mukti, sālokya-mukti, sārṣṭi-mukti..., hmm, sāyujya, sārūpya, sālokya, sārṣṭi, sāmīpya. Mukti, liberation. There are different kinds of liberation. The first liberation, as the jñānīs or the speculators want, it is another side of voidism, to merge into the existence of the Absolute. They don't want varieties.\nBecause they have got a very bad experience of the varieties in the material world, they, as soon as there is question of varieties, they become shuddered, \"Oh, again varieties?\" They do not know that there is blissful varieties in association with Kṛṣṇa. They cannot accommodate in their brain, on account of poor fund of knowledge. Therefore they want sāyujya-mukti, to merge into the existence of the..., to become one with the Supreme.\nThat is possible. You can have it. But if you lose your individuality, then you can get eternity, but you cannot get blissful life of knowledge, because you lose your individuality. So that is suicidal. But a living entity, being individual soul, he cannot remain in that impersonal state of life. Because the other two factors, namely acquire knowledge and acquire blissful life, is wanting there. It is simply negation of these material varieties. Or eternity only—sat. But there are two other parts, cit and ānanda. That is absent there.\nSo because it is not fully realized, therefore such living entities who take sāyujya-mukti, they again fall down in due course of time. Because he doesn't get in the sāyujya-mukti the other two parts, component parts of his life, blissfulness and knowledge, full knowledge.\nĀruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ\npatanty adhaḥ anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ\n[SB 10.2.32].\nThe impersonalist Māyāvādīs, they undergo severe austerities, penances, and rise up to the Brahman effulgence, becomes merged into it, but again falls down. Just like the spark: it enters the flame of the fire, but there is again chance of falling down.\nSo sāyujya-mukti... Sārūpya-mukti, to have the... For Vaiṣṇavas, they don't accept this sāyujya-mukti, to merge into the existence of the Lord. They accept sārūpya-mukti. Sārūpya-mukti means to have the same features of the body like Viṣṇu. In Vaikuṇṭhalokas all the living entities, devotees, they have got four hands.\nAnd only in Kṛṣṇaloka, Kṛṣṇa has got two hands and His devotees also have two hands. In other lokas, Vaikuṇṭhalokas... There are innumerable Vaikuṇṭha planets, Nārāyaṇa is the predominating Deity, Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa. And those who enter such planets, they get the same bodily feature, exactly looking like Nārāyaṇa.\nYou have seen the picture of the Viṣṇudūtas who came to deliver Ajāmila. They were exactly looking like Nārāyaṇa. The same helmets, the same ornaments, exactly. You can understand. Just like your president or queen, if you are also dressed, you'll also look like queen. Or if you are dressed, you'll look like the president. But that does not mean you are president or you are queen, simply by dressing.\nSimilarly, although the devotees and the living entities, they get the same feature of the body just like Nārāyaṇa, Viṣṇu, they're not viṣṇu-tattva. That is called sāyujya, sārūpya. Similarly, sālokya, to live in the same planet. Sāmīpya, to live nearby, near exactly with Nārāyaṇa. Just like we are living together, similarly, you can live with Nārāyaṇa, sāmīpya, side by side. These are the different kinds of liberation.\nSo this liberation should be the ultimate goal of life, how to get this liberation, go back to home, back to Godhead. That should be our mission. Not for this so-called economic development. That is already fixed up. Just like... In our Kṛṣṇa Society we are not very much anxious for economic development or sense gratification. We are simply interested how to develop our Kṛṣṇa consciousness.\nBut the economic question becomes automatically solved. It is not that we are serving, we have no sense gratification. The married couples are there. Nothing is prohibited; everything is there. But it is adjusted. Adjusted. Not like cats and dogs. It must be adjusted according to rules and regulations. That is required. That is religious life, that is pious life, and then you become advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and ultimately you get liberation.\nNext, read.",
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"content": "\n \"Irreligious life is a barbarous condition.\"",
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"content": "\n Hmm. Irreligious life is barbarous condition. That is not civilized life. There must be religion. And religion means to know God, that is religion.\nGo on.",
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"content": "\n \"Indeed, human life begins when religion begins. Eating, sleeping, fearing and mating are the four principles of animal life. These are common both to animals and to human beings. But religion is the extra function of the human beings. Without religion, human life is no better than animal life. Therefore, in human societies there is some form of religion which aims at self-realization and which makes reference to man's eternal relationship with God.\"",
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"content": "\n Now, at the present moment, religion is being sacrificed. So it is animal society. The other day, the gentleman was repeating, \"Then we are animals.\" I said that \"You are not only animals. There are other animals. You are Western animals; there are Eastern animals.\" They're all animals! We can challenge any scientist, any philosopher. Because they're godless, there is no religion, they're all animals. This is our declaration: animals. We don't take as human being. They're simply animals. Let them prove that they are not animals. Let them come here and prove that they're not animals. Mmm.",
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"content": "\n \"In the lower stages of human civilization, there is always competition to lord it over the material nature...\"",
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"content": "\n Hmm. That is going on. The great two wars began from Europe simply on this basis, the German and Englishmen. The Englishmen, by their colonization, they made the whole world red in the map: Africa and Asia, India and America, Canada. And the Germans thought, \"So this shopkeepers' nation...\"\nHitler used to say \"shopkeepers' nation.\" \"How they have occupied the whole world, and we are so intelligent? We are manufacturing so many things. We have no market to sell.\" That is the cause of the two great wars. This is a fact. Anyone, any politician, any gentleman knows what was the cause. The cause was Germany is always envious of England. Why this enviousness? Because England wants to lord it over, send Lord Clive to India to exploit. And the German wants that \"We have got so many things manufactured. We cannot sell.\"\nThat is the cause of war: lord it over. Everyone is trying to lord it over. The whole economic situation. Everyone is trying to become \"the lord of all I survey.\" Yes. \"In the lower stage of human civilization, there is always competition to lord it over the material nature...\" That is the lowest stage of human civilization. But that is passing on as the highest stage of...\nAnyone who has developed how to exploit the resources of nature, that nation is called to be very highly civilized, or advanced. But that is the lowest stage of civilization. Everyone is trying to make economic development by exploiting the world—digging the earth, the mines, the... This is lowest stage, just like animal civilization.\nNext.",
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"content": "\n \"Driven by such consciousness, man turns to religion.\"",
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"content": "\n Hmm? No, no.",
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"content": "\n \"...there is always competition to lord it over the material nature, or, in other words, there is a continuous rivalry to satisfy the senses.\"",
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"content": "\n Yes. The basic principle is to satisfy the senses. Sense gratification is there. There must be. We have got senses; that must be satisfied. But that sense gratification should be based on religion. Religion. Dharma, artha. Artha. The sense gratification means economic development.\nWithout economic development, we cannot enjoy our senses, but everything should be based on religion. That is human civilization. Without religion, simply gratifying the senses or so-called economic development, that is animal civilization.\nThank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa. [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/700614le-los-angeles/
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"content": "\n Hm. Hare Kṛṣṇa. [devotees chanting japa] So everyone feeling all right?",
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"content": "\n Jaya.",
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"content": "\n Ānanda-mayo 'bhyāsāt [Vedānta-sūtra]. Practice of Kṛṣṇa consciousness means you gradually come to the platform of blissfulness, ānanda-mayo 'bhyāsāt. That is our prerogative, right. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Now chant the mantras.\noṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṁ\npūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate\npūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya\npūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate\n[Īśo Invocation]\nīśāvāsyam idam sarvaṁ\nyat kiñca jagatyāṁ jagat\ntena tyaktena bhuñjīthā\nmā gṛdhaḥ kasya svid dhanam\n[Īśo mantra 1]\nkurvann eveha karmāṇi\njijīviṣec chataṁ samāḥ\nevaṁ tvayi nānyatheto 'sti\nna karma lipyate nare\n[Īśo mantra 2]\nasuryā nāma te lokā\nandhena tamasāvṛtāḥ\ntāṁs te pretyābhigacchanti\nye ke cātma-hano janāḥ\n[Īśo mantra 3]\nanejad ekaṁ manaso javīyo\nnainad devā āpnuvan pūrvam arṣat\ntad dhāvato 'nyān atyeti tiṣṭhat\ntasminn apo mātariśvā dadhāti\n[Īśo mantra 4]\ntad ejati tan naijati\ntad dūre tad v antike\ntad antar asya sarvasya\ntad u sarvasyāsya bāhyataḥ\n[Īśo mantra 5]\nyas tu sarvāṇi bhūtāny\nātmany evānupaśyati\nsarva-bhūteṣu cātmānaṁ\ntato na vijugupsate\n[Īśo mantra 6]\nyasmin sarvāṇi bhūtāny\nātmaivābhūd vijānataḥ\ntatra ko mohaḥ kaḥ śoka\nekatvam anupaśyataḥ\n[Īśo mantra 7]\nsa paryagāc chukram akāyam avraṇam\nasnāviram śuddham apāpa-viddham\nkavir manīṣī paribhūḥ svayambhūr\nyāthātathyato 'rthān vyadadhāc chāśvatībhyaḥ samābhyaḥ\n[Īśo mantra 8]\nandhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti\nye 'vidyām upāsate\ntato bhūya iva te tamo\nya u vidyāyām ratāḥ\n[Īśo mantra 9]\nanyad evāhur vidyayā-\nnyad āhur avidyayā\niti śuśruma dhīrāṇāṁ\nye nas tad vicacakṣire\n[Īśo mantra 10]\nvidyāṁ cāvidyāṁ ca yas\ntad vedobhayaṁ saha\navidyayā mṛtyuṁ tīrtvā\nvidyayāmṛtam aśnute\n[Īśo mantra 11]\nChant this verse again.\nvidyāṁ cāvidyāṁ ca yas\ntad vedobhayaṁ saha\navidyayā mṛtyuṁ tīrtvā\nvidyayāmṛtam aśnute\n[Īśo mantra 11]\nThe next verse.\nandhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti\nye 'sambhūtim upāsate\ntato bhūya iva te tamo\nya u sambhūtyām ratāḥ\n[Īśo mantra 12]\n[Prabhupāda corrects pronunciation] Again chant.\nandhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti\nye 'sambhūtim upāsate\ntato bhūya iva te tamo\nya u sambhūtyām ratāḥ\n[Īśo mantra 12]\nAgain.\nandhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti\nye 'sambhūtim upāsate\ntato bhūya iva te tamo\nya u sambhūtyām ratāḥ\n[Īśo mantra 12]\n[05:32]\n Hmm. So. “Those who are engaged in the worship of demigods enter into the darkest region of ignorance, and still more so do the worshipers of the Absolute.”\nIf we do not know how to worship, then first of all, the materialists, they worship some demigod for immediate effect. Just like even in our ordinary life, to get some immediate effect, suppose I want some business from somebody, so I worship him, I flatter him, just to satisfy him. Or if I serve some..., I want to satisfy my immediate boss, that is natural. But this satisfaction, trying to satisfy our immediate benefactor, that is described in the Bhagavad-gītā [Bg 7.20]: kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ.\nThose who are of lost of intelligence, kāmais. Why they have lost their intelligence? Kāmai: being greedy or lusty. I want something; I desire something for my sense enjoyment. So, just like in Vedic literature there is worship of goddess Kālī. Why they worship goddess Kālī? Eh? Because in the kālī-pūjā, in the worship of Kālī, there is a prescribed method of sacrificing a goat, animal.\nSo these devotees are actually after eating meat, but if they worship Kṛṣṇa, or Viṣṇu, oh, that is not possible. If somebody comes here, “Ah, give me prasādam meat,” that is not possible. So therefore they will not come. They will go to some mission who are worshiper of Kālī, a very good devotee. Because they are offering meat, and this—what is this called?—this turkey prasādam. So turkey prasādam means prasādam; for that purpose they go to worship this goddess of Kālī. Actual purpose is to eat meat. But Vedas is so broad that they are...\nYou may question, then, “Why in this Vedas this worship of Kālī is recommended?” Yes, it is recommended for the third-class men. Third-class men, they will not be able to give up. If a third-class man, if I say, just like we are preaching, “You cannot take meat,” or this is not very good advice to the ordinary men; therefore they are not coming here: “The Swamiji is very conservative. He restricts so many things.”\nSo this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is not for the third-class men, only first-class men—more than first-class men; those who are above first-class men. They will understand. So therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā it is stated, kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ [Bg. 7.20]. They do not know first-class…, what is the difference between the first-class man and the third-class man and fourth-class man. The first-class man knows what is the aim of his life. The third-class, fourth-class men, they do not know what is the aim of life. That is the difference. How a man becomes first-class? How? By quality: vyāvahāreṇa jāyante [Canakya Paṇḍita].\nJust like you treat somebody as enemy and you treat somebody as friend, but both the men have the same hands and legs and... Maybe whom you treat as enemy, he may be more beautiful; but why you treat him as enemy? Now, vyāvahāreṇa. Na kaścid kasyacid ripuḥ, na kaścid kasyacid mitro. Nobody is enemy or friend, but vyāvahāreṇa jāyante mitrāṇi ripavas tathā [Canakya Paṇḍita]., but by your dealings with him, if he acts favorably for you, then he is friend, and if he acts unfavorably for you, then he becomes an enemy. Similarly, this first-class, second-class, fourth-class men, how they are classified? By their behavior. Not that a man is born third-class or a man is born... Third-class man born may become first class.\nSo we are giving chance to everyone: “Never mind you are third class, fourth class, fifth class, tenth class. Whatever you are, you come to become first class.” We are inviting everyone. We have no distinction. Kṛṣṇa has no such distinction. That Kṛṣṇa says:\nmāṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya\nye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ\n[Bg. 9.32]\n“My dear Arjuna, if somebody takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, never mind he is born in an abominable family,”striyo vaiśyās tathāśūdrās, “or in the human society, less-intelligent class of men like śūdrā or women. Never mind. Whatever he may be or she may be, if he or she takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness,” te 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim, “they are also elevated to the platform wherefrom he can go back to home, back to Godhead.”\nSo for us there is no restriction. We don't say that “You don't come.” We invite everyone, “Take prasādam, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.” That is our program. But the śāstra says that those who are demigod worshipers, bahv-īśvara-vādīs, they take so many gods: “Everyone is God…” That philosophy is very palatable nowadays: “Everyone is God. You are God, I am God, and whomever I worship I get the…”Yato mat tato pat: “Whatever opinion you have got, that is all right.”\nThese things are going on. But the Vedas, the śāstras, they do not say like that. If you worship demigod, then you get the result which can be derived from that particular demigod. If you worship Kālī, all right, you can eat a little prasādam meat, but the thing is, this…, the question was, “Why the Vedas have recommended the kālī-pūjā, or worship of Kālī? Why not only Kṛṣṇa?”\nActually only Kṛṣṇa is to be worshiped. That is in the Bhagavad-gītā you will find, sarva-dharmān parityajya [Bg. 18.66]: give up all nonsense; simply surrender. That is real dharma. But the third-class, fourth-class men who cannot take it, for them, “All right, you worship goddess Kālī, the energy of Kṛṣṇa.” If you cannot go touch the fire immediately, just try to take…, utilize the heat of fire. You cannot go.\nJust like we are not eligible to enter into the sun planet—it is so fiery—but we can utilize the energy of sun by going to the sunlight. The Vedas recommend that you worship this god or this god. That means at least these third-class, fourth-class men recognize that there is some authority. Therefore, I am going to eat meat, so it should be with the permission of goddess Kālī; only for this purpose. The purpose is to restrict him; therefore it is recommended. Similarly, why you are recommending marriage?\nNo illicit sex life—that means restriction. If we allow unrestricted sex life, he will remain a dog, a cat. The purpose is restriction; otherwise one may argue, “Oh, why you say illicit sex? Here is also sex, there is also sex.” Why? This is for the purpose that if he indulges in illicit sex life as he likes, like cats and dogs, he'll remain cats and dogs forever. He will never be able to improve. It is meant for restriction.\npravṛttir eṣā bhūtānāṁ\nnivṛttis tu mahā-phalā\n[Manu-saṁhitā]\nEveryone has got this tendency for meat-eating, for sex life, for drinking; that is natural, pravṛttir eṣā. These, I mean to say, desires, propensities, are there in everywhere. Therefore somebody says that “Swamījī does not allow even the facilities of human life.” They think that illicit sex and intoxication and meat-eating and gambling, these are facilities for human life. You see? Therefore they are called in the ignorant. They are not facilities; they are the means of dragging you down to the hell. They are not facilities: facilities for going to hell.\nSo these facilities should not be allowed; they should be restricted if we want to elevate. That we explained the other, last Monday, that human life is meant for tapa divyaṁ. So you are hearing all these things. I am speaking also repeatedly. The same thing is here: andhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti ye 'sambhūtim upāsate [Īśo mantra 12]. Asambhūtim means these demigods. We are thinking that… Just like the sun—sun is also demigod. So sun, we are thinking, the materialist scientists, they are thinking that sun is the cause of this creation. But he is not cause of the creation. Cause of the creation, cause of everything, is Kṛṣṇa: sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam [Bs. 5.1], cause of all causes.\nBut because we do not know, we think that “He is the cause; here is the cause.” Just like scientists, they say: “Law of gravitation.” They advance in scientific progress accepting this axiomatic truth, but they do not know who has made this law of gravitation. You cannot deal with this law of gravitation. It is…, as soon as you say “law,” the law must have been made by somebody. So they have no eyes to see, or they have no intelligence to understand that behind everything there is Kṛṣṇa. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā:\nmayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ\nsūyate sa-carācaram\n[Bg. 9.10]\n“Under My superintendence the material nature is working.”\nSo here it is said, andhaṁ tamaḥ: those who do not know whom to worship, they enter into the darkest region. And if somebody says that “I know what is to be worshiped,” he also enters into the still more darkness. Therefore one has to take instruction:\ntad viddhi praṇipātena\nparipraśnena sevayā\n[Bg. 4.34]\nThese things are all stated in the Bhagavad-gītā; you read very carefully. Chanting is also… Those who have got still more intelligence, they should read also books. What for I am preparing so many books? It is especially for my students, not for making business that I have to... Business I can do so many other things; why I am taking so much trouble?\nSo try to understand these things, that if we do not worship Kṛṣṇa… Kṛṣṇa worship means…, that is not… Worship, there is two words: “worship” and “service.” Worship is meant for these demigods, but service is meant for Kṛṣṇa. Nobody can accept service—only Kṛṣṇa. Ekalāīśvara kṛṣṇa [Cc. Ādi 5.142]. He can accept service; nobody can accept service.\nSo today is the birthday of Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa? So Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa, you have seen in my Bhagavad-gītā his name: dedicated to Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa, who has written the commentary on Brahma-sūtra, Govinda-bhāṣya. Śrī Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa is our ācārya. Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa is a fourth-generation ācārya from Lord Caitanya—fourth or fifth. Anyway, he is one of the ācāryas. Just like Gosvāmīs, they are ācāryas; Śrīnivās Ācārya.\nSo ācārya paramparā, disciplic succession. So Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa is also ācārya in this Gauḍīya-sampradāya. So his special gift… Every ācārya means he gives some special things. Previous ācārya has given, and the next ācārya gives something more. That is the symptom of ācārya. In the incarnation also, just like Lord Buddha incarnation. Then Śaṅkarācārya, then Rāmānujācārya, then Madhvācārya then, in this way Caitanya Mahāprabhu.\nSo every ācārya is giving a further lift. So Śrī Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa also gave a further lift to this sampradāya. What is that? Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa wrote commentary on Brahma-sūtra, Vedānta-sūtra. Vedānta-sūtra, his Vedānta-sūtra commentary is known as Govinda-bhāṣya, commentary of Govinda. The history is that this Gaudiya-sampradāya did not write any commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra, because according to our sampradāya we accept this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as the commentary of Vedānta-sūtra: bhāṣyo 'yaṁ brahma-sūtrāṇām [Cc Madhya 25.143].\nLord Caitanya has recommended, it is stated in the Śrīmad..., that this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the real commentary of Vedānta-sūtra. Vyāsadeva is the writer of the philosophy, Vedānta-sūtra, and he personally, under the instruction of his spiritual master, Nārada, personally wrote this commentary, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, on his own book, on his own philosophy, Vedānta-sūtra. If a writer, if the author himself, writes some commentary, that is the perfect, because he knows what is what.\nTherefore because the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is there, the Gaudiya Vaiṣṇava, they did not attempt to write another separate commentary on the Brahma-sūtra. Any intelligent man can understand that this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra. The Vedānta-sūtra begins with janmādy asya [SB 1.1.1], athāto brahma jijñāsā, and Bhāgavata says jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā [SB 1.2.10]. Brahma jijñāsā and tattva-jijñāsā is same thing: “The human life is meant for inquiring for the Absolute.” In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is there. And the next aphorism in the Vedānta-sūtra is janmādy asya yataḥ...\n[break] This Gauḍīya-sampradāya did not take unnecessary trouble again. The ācārya's sampradāya... If my previous ācāryas has written something, so he will not touch those points, but he will write something which can develop further. That is ācārya, not that chewing the chewed: somebody has written something and he is also writing the same thing. No. If he at all writes, he will write something which will beautify, or glorify, or magnify the former idea. That is the...\nSo this Vaiṣṇava sampradāya did not write commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra, because they knew that already Vyāsadeva, our original guru, he has already written Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and Caitanya Mahāprabhu has recommended, and it is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, bhāṣyo ’yaṁ brahma-sūtrāṇām [Cc Madhya 25.143]. This is the real commentary on the Brahma-sūtra. But those who are smārta-brāhmaṇas, they objected in Jaipur.\nIn the Jaipur there is Govinda-seva temple of Govindaji. The king of Jaipur took away, when Aurangzeb was harassing Hindus and he was breaking some of the Hindu temple, at that time from Vṛndāvana the Govinda mūrti—not only Govinda, but Govinda Gopinatha and Madana-mohana—these mūrtis were taken from Vṛndāvana to Jaipur. The king of Jaipur, he was Vaiṣṇava.\nSo along with the Deity, the priest or the worshiper, I mean to say, those who were engaged in the temple worship, they were also taken. That is the system. So they were as usual worshiping, but some of the smārta-brāhmaṇas, they objected that \"Gauḍīya-sampradāya is not bona fide.\" Why not bona fide? Just like Dr. Staal objected that this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is not Vedic. Therefore I immediately protested, \"No, it is cent percent Vedic.\"\nSo when the smārta-brāhmaṇas, they objected that \"This Gauḍīya-sampradāya is not Vedic...\" How one is Vedic? Any sampradāya, if you inaugurate some party, then he must comment on the Vedānta-sūtra; otherwise that party is not bona fide. That is Vedic rules: one must understand what is Brahma-sūtra. So because there was no particular commentary on the Brahma-sūtra by the Gauḍīya-sampradāya on account of presence of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, so they objected.\nSo this information was given at that time to Vṛndāvana. Vṛndāvana..., Viśvanātha Cakravartī—you have heard the name of Viśvanātha Cakravartī; he is also ācārya and vastly great scholar. So all the Vaiṣṇavas requested him that \"Please write a commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra; otherwise they are objecting that we are not Vaidic.\" At that time he was very old, Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, so he thought it wise, he asked this Baladeva Vidyābhūṣana—he happened to be just like his disciple—that \"I am very old now. I cannot go out of Vṛndāvana. So you take up this job and write one commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra immediately.\"\nSo he took up the matter. He has written many other books, Baladeva Vidyābhūṣana. So he immediately started for Jaipur, Govindaji's temple, and... This is the ācārya, that \"Unless I am authorized, unless I am empowered, how I can write?\" This is Vaiṣṇava. Not that \"Because I have got some A-B-C-D knowledge I can write something.\" No.\nJust like one civil service officer, Mr. Gupta, sent me one commentary on the Bhagavad-gītā. Perhaps you know, we have delivered that..., returned that panacea[?]. So I immediately pointed out that \"There are so many discrepancies. We cannot publish this.\" So they have taken back. So he thought that because he is ICS officer, civil service officer, very big officer in India, therefore he can write commentary on Bhagavad-gītā or... These nonsense things are going on. Anyone, he has got some A-B-C-D knowledge, he thinks that \"I can write something.\" No. You cannot write anything unless you are authorized by the disciplic succession. You have no access in it.\nSo this Baladeva Vidyābhūṣana went to, I mean to say, Jaipur, and for three days continually he laid himself flat, just like we offer obeisances in that way, without taking any food and water, asking permission from Govinda, \"Whether I shall write?\" Of course he was ordered, but still, to confirm it, that \"Viśvanātha Cakravartī has asked me to write, but if You confirm it, then I shall begin writing.\" So Govindaji informed him, \"Yes, you write. I give you order,\" \"I immediately write.\" So he began to write this bhāṣya, commentary of Vedānta-sūtra, and it came out very, very successful.\nGovinda-bhāṣya commentary on Vedānta-sūtra available, this is in Sanskrit. But we are describing the same conclusion in our different books. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also the same conclusion is there. You don't require to read separately, but because the smārta-brāhmaṇas challenged that \"You are not Vaidic because you have no commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra,\" so this Baladeva Vidyābhūṣana gave us the Govinda-bhāṣya.\nOf course, other Vaiṣṇava ācāryas like Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, they have given commentary on Bhagavad-gītā. But we Madhva-Gauḍīya sampradāya, we are benedicted by this Baladeva Ācārya prabhu. And his life is that he..., he was..., he appeared in the family of a vaiśya community. His forefathers were agriculturists, but he became a great devotee and great scholar in Sanskrit, and he has got his commentaries on Bhagavad-gītā and Vedānta bhāṣya, and he has written many other books, all in Sanskrit.\nSo his birthday, appearance day, is today. So it is our duty to commemorate the memory, I mean to say, activities of the ācāryas and offer our respect and ask from them benediction for our progress. That is the system. Therefore we have listed the appearance and disappearance of the ācāryas. We should take advantage of these auspicious dates and offer our respect to the ācāryas.\nThank you very much.",
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"content": "\n All glories to Prabhupāda. [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/710129sb-prayaga/
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"content": "\n [introducing recording] Morning lecture, 29th January, 1971, Māgha-melā, from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. [break]",
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"content": "\n[maṅgalācaraṇa prayers]\n...cakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave-namaḥ\n[\"I offer my respectful obeisances unto my spiritual master, who with the torchlight of knowledge has opened my eyes, which were blinded by the darkness of ignorance.\"]\nśrī-caitanya-mano-'bhīṣṭaṁ sthāpitaṁ yena bhū-tale\nsvayaṁ rūpaḥ kadā mahyaṁ dadāti sva-padāntikam\n[\"When will Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī Prabhupāda, who has established within this material world the mission to fulfill the desire of Lord Caitanya, give me shelter under his lotus feet?\"]\nhe kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho dīna-bandho jagat-pate\ngopeśa gopikā-kānta rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te\n[\"O my dear Kṛṣṇa, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the cowherd men and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṇī. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.\"]\ntapta-kāñcana-gaurāṅgi rādhe vṛndāvaneśvari\nvṛṣabhānu-sute devi praṇamāmi hari-priye\n[\"I offer my respects to Rādhārāṇī, whose bodily complexion is like molten gold and who is the Queen of Vṛndāvana. You are the daughter of King Vṛṣabhānu, and You are very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa.\"]\nvāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca\npatitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ\n[\"I offer my respectful obeisances unto all the Vaiṣṇava devotees of the Lord. They can fulfill the desires of everyone, just like desire trees, and they are full of compassion for the fallen souls.\"]\nśrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu nityānanda\nśrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda\n[\"I offer my obeisances to Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, Prabhu Nityānanda, Śrī Advaita, Gadādhara, Śrīvāsa and all others in the line of devotion.\"]\nhare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare\nhare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare\n[\"My dear Lord, and the spiritual energy of the Lord, kindly engage me in Your service. I am now embarrassed with this material service. Please engage me in Your service.\"]\nevaṁ sa viplāvita-sarva-dharmā\ndāsyāḥ patiḥ patito garhya-karmaṇā\nnipātyamāno niraye hata-vrataḥ\nsadyo vimukto bhagavan-nāma gṛhṇan\n[SB 6.2.45]\n[Sanskrit] Here Śrīdhara Swami gives his comments that the whole situation of Ajāmila for falling down from the standard of pure brāhmaṇism was due to his becoming a husband of illicit wife, or a prostitute. That is the commentation.\nSo in the society, prostitution is so dangerous. It is clearly stated here that,\nnipātyamāno niraye hata-vrataḥ\ndāsyāḥ patiḥ patito garhya-karmaṇā\n[SB 6.2.45]\nDāsyāḥ patiḥ means one who is husband of a prostitute or one who keeps a prostitute. And to keep a prostitute means garhya-karma. Garhya means abominance, and karma means activities. As soon as one associates with a prostitute, immediately he becomes addicted to abominable activities, and that is the beginning of falldown.\nAccording to this formula, the system of arranged marriage of the boys and the girls is recommended, although that is not the guarantee; real thing is association. But still, when the boys and girls are grown, up it is a custom in Hindu society to get them married so that they may not fall prey to the prostitute or illicit sex life. That is very dangerous, such falling down. That is clearly stated here. Śrīdhara Swami says, [Sanskrit] Sva-dāra. Sva means calm; dāra means wife. So there is regulative principles how to remain husband and wife peacefully.\nSo Ajāmila broke those regulative principles; therefore he fell down from the standard of a real brāhmaṇa. But still, sadyo vimukto bhagavan-nāma gṛhṇan. Although he was so much in abominable condition, still offenseless chanting of the holy name of God is so powerful that he also became relieved from the hellish condition of life.\nnātaḥ paraṁ karma-nibandha-kṛntanaṁ\nmumukṣatāṁ tīrtha-padānukīrtanāt\nna yat punaḥ karmasu sajjate mano\nrajas-tamobhyāṁ kalilaṁ tato 'nyathā\n[SB 6.2.46]\n[Sanskrit] The conclusion is that in order to counteract all our sinful activities on account of fruitive activities, karma-nibandha, mumukṣatāṁ tīrtha-padānukīrtanāt.\nActually, those who want to get a relief from the entanglement of fruitive activities, for them there is no other better way than the chanting of the holy name of the Lord. Therefore Lord Caitanya has recommended that,\nkalau nāsty eva nāsty eva\nnāsty eva gatir anyathā\n[Cc. Ādi 17.21]\nSo long you are in this material world, it is very difficult to avoid karma-nibandha. Willingly or unwillingly, we shall be entangled in karma-nibandha, or the resultant action of our activities, and therefore sometimes we may commit actions which are abominable and become subjected to the resultant action.\nSo here it is recommended that nātaḥ paraṁ karma-nibandha-kṛntanaṁ mumukṣatāṁ. So mumukṣatāṁ, those who are desirous of getting salvation, or liberation, for them this is the best way. What is that best way? Tīrtha-padānukīrtanāt. Tīrtha-pada. Just like here is tīrtha, Prayāga.\nTīrtha-pada means the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, where thousands of tīrthas are there. Mahat-padam, tīrtha-padam: these are the terms which are used in connection with the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. Another tīrtha-pada means the lotus feet where great saintly persons take shelter. So tīrtha-pada, uttamaśloka—all these terms are applicable to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.\nSo the conclusion is, the best way of getting out of the clutches of material existence is to tīrtha-padānukīrtanāt. Anu. Anu means always; kīrtanaṁ, chanting. That is the best way. Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement recommends this process, that you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa always. Then everything will be gradually adjusted. Na yat punaḥ karmasu sajjate mano. The advantage of chanting is… This is the advantage: that the mind is not attracted by material activities.\nThis is very nice statement. But if you remain engaged in chanting the holy name of the Lord, tīrtha-padānukīrtanāt, always, twenty-four hours, as Caitanya Mahāprabhu recommends, kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ [Cc. Ādi 17.31]—sadā; sadā means always—samāne svapane: the practice will be so perfect that when you are sleeping, when you are dreaming, you should not forget this chanting. That is process. \nIf you practice, it is possible that when you are sleeping you will chant, because mind is not inactive even when you are sleeping. So if you become practiced up to the mind and intelligence platform of your life, then even when you are sleeping, even when you are dreaming, you will be chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare.\nAnd if this perfection is attained, then in the coma stage of life also, even if you cannot speak at the time of death, internally you will be able to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, and that will guarantee your transferring from this material world to the spiritual world. That is the process. \nAnd why we are active?\nna yat punaḥ karmasu sajjate mano\nrajas-tamobhyāṁ kalilaṁ tato 'nyathā\n[SB 6.2.46]\nIf you keep yourself always on the stage of the modes of goodness, then there is no chance of your being attacked by the other two modes, namely rajas tamaś. There are three qualities, modes of material nature, you know it. Out of these three, if you simply stick to the..., the modes of goodness nature, then there is no possibility of falling down to the other two modes. And material activities means to be attracted by these two qualities.\nAs it is stated in other places,\ntadā rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ\nkāma-lobhādayaś ca ye\n[SB 1.2.19]\nWhen you are attracted by the other two qualities, namely rajaḥ, the modes of passion, and tamaḥ, the modes of ignorance—tadā rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ—the resultant actions of passion and ignorance is lust and greediness.\ntadā rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ\nkāma-lobhādayaś ca ye\n[SB 1.2.19]\nIf you are not attracted by these qualities… To be very greedy, to be lusty; therefore we have to control our propensities for eating more. This is rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ: you can eat, but if you eat more than what you require, that is greediness. That is the result of rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ. So you should be very careful. We should eat whatever...\natyāhāraḥ prayāsaś ca\nprajalpo niyamāgrahaḥ\n[NoI 2]\nAtyāhāraḥ. This is the instruction of Rūpa Gosvāmī. Āhāraḥ means eating; ati means great or in greater quantity. That is against bhakti. \natyāhāraḥ prayāsaś ca\nprajalpo niyamāgrahaḥ\n[NoI 2]\nLaulyaṁ. Laulyaṁ—greediness.\nSo our… We should understand how we are making progress by chanting. You can, anyone, can examine himself, \"Whether I am being attracted by these two qualities, namely rajas-tamas, the passion of…, the modes of passion and modes of ignorance.\" Tadā rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ. So because the resultant action of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra without offense is that mind will not be attracted by these two material qualities, that is the test.\nIn the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, pratyakṣāvagamaṁ dharmyaṁ [Bg. 9.2]. In other methods of self-realization, namely karma, jñāna, yoga, you are not able to test whether you are actually making progress. But bhakti-yoga is so perfect that you can practically examine yourself whether you are making progress or not.\nExactly the same example, as I have repeated several times, that if you are hungry, and when you are given eatables, you can understand yourself how far your hunger is subsided and how far you are feeling strength and nourishment. You haven't got to ask anybody else. Similarly, you are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, and the test is whether you are actually making progress is if you know whether you are being attracted by these two lower qualities of material nature, namely the modes of passion and modes of ignorance.\nAnd what, what is the result of this attraction? Kāma-lobha.\ntadā rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ\nkāma-lobhādayaś ca ye\n[SB 1.2.19]\nKāma means lust, and lobha means greediness. So if you can protect yourself from these two qualities by the strength of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, then,\ntadā rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ\nkāma-lobhādayaś ca ye\nceta etair anāviddhaṁ\n[SB 1.2.19]\nThen your consciousness will be existing without being contaminated by these three qualities: ceta etair anāviddhaṁ. \nSo there are three qualities. If you are not attracted by these lower-grade qualities, then naturally you are situated in the higher-grade qualities, the sattva-guṇa. As soon as it… The test of sattva-guṇa is also there. Test of sattva-guṇa means you will be always in jolly mood. That is the test of sattva-guṇa. You will never be morose; you will be always jolly. Evaṁ prasanna-manaso. \nPrasanna-manaso means your mind is always jolly. That is the test of sattva-guṇa. Whether you are in sattva-guṇa or in rajo-guṇa, you can test yourself. If you are situated in rajo-guṇa and tamo-guṇa, then you will be attracted by lust and greediness. And if you are situated in sattva-guṇa, then you, your mind will be always jolly. That is nearer to the brahma-bhūta stage.\nevaṁ prasanna-manaso\nbhagavad-bhakti-yogataḥ\n[SB 1.2.20]\nAnd this is very easily accessible by the method of practicing this bhakti-yoga system. Therefore we shall, we shall be very much, I mean to say, determined to prosecute this system of bhakti-yoga system. The beginning of bhakti-yoga system every day is the maṅgala-ārātrika. Maṅgala means auspicious. If you perform this maṅgala-ārātrika nicely, then your routine work of the day begins very nicely.\nSo you should be very much careful about it. Not that it has become a hackneyed engagement. If you feel like that, then gradually it will be lost. If you feel like that. But if you feel that \"Here is a routine work, duty, so that I keep fit myself in the devotional service...\" Therefore these things are introduced. If you cannot take responsibility of these different items of devotional service, that means you are lacking. These are the tests.\nPratyakṣāvagamaṁ dharmyaṁ. Pratyakṣa means directly. There is no question of purity. Purity or not, it is practical.\npratyakṣāvagamaṁ dharmyaṁ\nsu-sukhaṁ kartum avyayam\n[Bg. 9.2]\nBut it is not very difficult. Su-sukhaṁ, very pleasant. Now, to perform the maṅgala-ārātrika with musical instruments, chanting, dancing before the Deities, nicely dressed—is it not very nice? But one who is in contamination of the other two qualities, passion and ignorance, for them, these things are not attractive.\nSo these are all practical. We should be very much careful to prosecute. Unless we prosecute the routine work of devotional service… It is called vaidhī-bhakti. Vaidhī… From viddhi, the word comes viddhi—regulative, regular principles. Vaidhī-bhakti. We should not jump over at once rāga-bhakti. There are two stages of bhakti: vaidhī-bhakti and rāga-bhakti. Rāga-bhakti means spontaneous. Spontaneous. There is no question of pushing one, that \"You do this. You do this.\" No. Automatically he becomes so much attached to devotional service that he automatically does. That is rāga-bhakti.\nBut you cannot have rāga-bhakti immediately unless you perform the vaidhī-bhakti. Vaidhī-bhakti means to follow the rules and regulation as they are prescribed in the scripture. The scripture is our Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu; we have translated into English, Nectar of Devotion. The everything is there.\nSo if we take care of these regulative principles, the idea is that everyone should be very serious. It is a very serious engagement, forging[?] the whole problem of material existence. So we should not be lacking. Although,\npratyakṣāvagamaṁ dharmyaṁ\nsu-sukhaṁ kartum avyayam\n[Bg. 9.2]\nWhatever you have done, it will be never lost. My Guru Mahārāja use to say—he was stressing on this point—that \"Do not wait for another birth. Finish this business in this birth.\" That was his recommendation. Although, whatever you are doing, it will never be lost. Suppose you have to do one hundred points. If you have finished fifty points, sixty points, that will never be lost.\nThat's a fact. But why should you wait for another thirty or forty points, another life? That is botheration. One…, everyone should be very serious that in this life we shall finish this hundred points or do some service and return back to Kṛṣṇa, back to home, back to Godhead.\nThank you very much. [devotees offer obeisances]\n [Hindi]",
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"content": "\n [indistinct] …the bhakti-yoga.",
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"content": "\n Bhakti-yoga is never finished. It is eternal.",
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"content": "\n [indistinct]",
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"content": "\n It is not material thing, that it begins and finishes. Is it clear? It never finishes.",
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"content": "\n If you say that it…",
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"content": "\n It increases.",
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"content": "\n …attains to the platform of spontaneous.",
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"content": "\n Yes, when it comes to the spontaneous stage, that is perfection, that you..., nobody has to push you or learn you, \"Oh, maṅgalācaraṇa. Please come. Please come.\" When you automatically do it, that is spontaneous. And so long you have to be pushed, you have to be pushed very vigorously.\nJust like a child: A child walks. So long the child does not walk freely, the mother, father takes the hand, \"Please walk like this, walk like this.\" But when the child walks spontaneously, there is no need of assistance by the parents.\nSimilarly, so long you are in the viddhi-mārga, the spiritual master has to ask you, \"Do this. Do that. Do that.\" But when you come to the spontaneous platform, there is no need of pushing. You do automatically, naturally, because the sense is there. The same example: the walking capacity of the child is there, so in the beginning it has to be held little long, that's all.\nEducation—anything you take—when a child is given education, he is forcibly sent to the school. But when he takes it seriously, that child comes out very successful in examination and passes the M.A. examination, another Ph.D. [indistinct]. The parents or teacher hasn't got to push you. That is spontaneous stage.\nSo you have to come to the spontaneous stage. Until you come to that, you have to follow strictly the viddhi-viṣaya, the regulative principle. Otherwise, devotional service has no end. It is eternal. The only stage is viddhi and rāga. Rāga means spontaneous attraction.",
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"content": "\n Is that stage covered? Is that stage characterized by the mode of goodness?",
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"content": "\n It is above goodness. That is called śuddha-sattva. Goodness means sat, sattva-guṇa. And the transcendental stage is śuddha-sattva. Sattvaṁ viśuddhaṁ, existence completely pure. In the material stage, although you are in the platform of goodness, sometimes you may be attracted with other two qualities; therefore it is not completely pure.\nJust like Ajāmila. Ajāmila was a brāhmaṇa by following the regulative principles, but he fell down, attracted by the other two qualities, raja and tama. So in this material world, although we are on the platform of goodness, there is chance of falling down. And when you are in the transcendental stage, which is called śuddha-sattva, that is the stage of devotional service. Then you do not fall down. Your situation is very secure. [break]",
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"content": "\n [aside to tape] The last lecture was recorded at Māgha-melā, the morning of the 29th, 1970, January..., 1971 January. [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/680820sb-montreal/
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"content": "\n[Fluctuating audio]\n\n...tasmād ahaṁ vigata-viklava īśvarasya\nsarvātmanā mahi gṛṇāmi yathā manīṣam\n[SB 7.9.12]\n[Therefore, although I was born in a demoniac family, I may without a doubt offer prayers to the Lord with full endeavor, as far as my intelligence allows. Anyone who has been forced by ignorance to enter the material world may be purified of material life if he offers prayers to the Lord and hears the Lord's glories.]\nPrahlāda Mahārāja is submitting that \"I do not require to be highly elevated to offer my prayers to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.\" Nobody requires any material acquisition to approach God. We have been discussing this point for the last few days. Simply bhaktyā tutoṣa gaja-yūtha-pāya [SB 7.9.9].\n[Prahlāda Mahārāja continued: One may possess wealth, an aristocratic family, beauty, austerity, education, sensory expertise, luster, influence, physical strength, diligence, intelligence and mystic yogic power, but I think that even by all these qualifications one cannot satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead. However, one can satisfy the Lord simply by devotional service. Gajendra did this, and thus the Lord was satisfied with him.]\nEven an elephant or any other animal can also satisfy the Lord. How? Bhaktyā, simply by feelings of love, that's all. So Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, he is offering his prayers to the Lord, haha prabhu nanda-suta, vṛṣabhānu-sutā-yuta [Iṣṭa-deve Vijñapti 4]:\n[O Lord Kṛṣṇa, son of Nanda, accompanied by the daughter of Vṛṣabhānu, please be merciful to me now. Narottama dāsa says, \"O Lord, please do not push me away from Your reddish lotus feet, for who is my beloved except for You?\"]\n\"My dear Lord, the son of King Nanda...\" Kṛṣṇa's foster father's name was Nanda Mahārāja. So He is very much pleased when He is addressed as \"the son of Nanda.\"\n[break] He is the original person. He has no father. But He accepts His devotee as His father. He accepts His devotee as mother. He is full in Himself, but still, He awaits the affection of father and mother. This is the beauty of Kṛṣṇa. So He takes pleasure when He is addressed as Nanda-suta, as Rādhā-ramana, like that.\nSo Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura is addressing, \"My dear Lord, the son of Nanda,\" and vṛṣabhānu-sutā-yuta, \"and present with the daughter of King Vṛṣabhānu...\" Rādhārāṇī's father was Vṛṣabhānu. He was also a king. So Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā is combined, and the devotees are addressing, \"My dear son of Nanda, You are now united with the daughter of Vṛṣabhānu.\" Karunā karaha ei bāra: \"Now You bestow Your mercy upon this fallen soul.\" Narottama dāsa kahe.\nThis prayer is offered by Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, a great ācārya of the Vaiṣṇava sampradāya. He is saying for himself, \"My dear Lord, don't kick me away.\" Narottama dāsa kahe, nā ṭheliho rāṅgā pāya: \"Don't kick me away. Accept me in the service of Your lotus feet.\" Tomā bina ke āche āmāra: \"I have no other shelter than Yourself.\"\nThis is the sum and substance of all prayer. If you submit to the Lord that \"I have no other shelter than Yourself,\" then He takes at once charge of you. But if you think that \"My dear Lord,\" or \"My dear God, I come to You for my daily bread, and as soon as You give me my daily bread, my business is finished with You...\" No. That is also very good, but this is not love. This is business. The Kṛṣṇa wants lover not for any business.\nWhen Prahlāda Mahārāja was offered benediction by the Lord, \"My dear Prahlāda, now whatever you want you can ask from Me,\" Prahlāda Mahārāja said, \"My dear Lord, You are so opulent and I am so poor. And I am addicted to this material enjoyment. You are offering me, 'Whatever you want, you can take from Me.' \" Just imagine.\nSuppose I am a poor man, and if a rich man says, \"Swāmījī, whatever millions of dollars you want, you can ask from me,\" then I shall put my claim, a big, very big amount: \"Oh, here is a great opportunity.\" But Prahlāda Mahārāja refused. Prahlāda Mahārāja said, \"My dear Lord, it is my duty to render service unto You not in exchange of something, gain. Oh, I am not a merchant that I am doing this.\" Vanig-vṛtti. So the Lord was very satisfied.\nThat is the way of pure devotion. That was taught by Lord Caitanya. Na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ kavitāṁ vā jagad-īśa kāmaye [Cc. Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4]:\n[O almighty Lord, I have no desire to accumulate wealth, nor do I desire beautiful women, nor do I want any number of followers. I only want Your causeless devotional service, birth after birth.]\n\"My dear Lord, I do not ask from You any amount of wealth,\" na dhanaṁ na janam, \"neither any number of followers.\" Because every one of us, we want to be the richest man in the world, the greatest leader of the world, and to have a very beautiful wife... This is our heart's desire in the material world, to control over a vast mass of people—I want to be prime minister, president or political leader, Hitler or Gandhi, like that—and to amass vast amount of wealth.\nBut Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, \"No, no, no. I don't want all these things.\" This is prayer. Na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ kavitāṁ vā jagad-īśa kāmaye. \"Then what for You have come to Me?\" Mama janmani janmanīśvare bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi: \"My dear Lord, I pray that birth after birth I may have unconditional, causeless devotion unto You.\"\nNot devotion for some purpose. That is not pure devotee. If you have got some purpose to... That is, of course, accepted in the Bhagavad-gītā, that if anyone goes to Lord to pray something with purpose, that is also good. But that is not pure. Pure devotee never asks anything from the Lord. That is pure devotion.\nSo Prahlāda Mahārāja was a pure devotee. Therefore he does not make any business with God, that \"I offer You my prayer to take something from You.\" We shall discuss these prayers of Prahlāda Mahārāja one after another, and in none of the paragraph you will find that Prahlāda Mahārāja is asking something, \"Give me this for my sense gratification.\" No. This is the sign of pure devotion.\nSo he says, mahi gṛṇāmi: \"I shall simply...\" You can pray. Anyone can pray. It does not require any education. If you simply feel, \"Oh, God is so great. Oh, He has created the sun. He has created this moon. Oh, He has created the ocean. He has created this air. He has created so many fruits, so many flowers.\" Go on. You don't require any education. Simply try to understand how great God is.\nThere is no other education required. In the Bhagavad-gītā the Lord says, prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ [Bg. 7.8].\n[O son of Kuntī [Arjuna], I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and the moon, the syllable om in the Vedic mantras; I am the sound in ether and ability in man.]\nHe says that \"I am the taste in the water.\" Who does not take water? Water is our life. So when you take water, quench your thirst, you can immediately thank God, because that taste is God. So immediately you can remember, \"O my dear Lord, You have created so nice thing, water. Oh, I am so thirsty. It is quenching my thirst. Thank You.\" Is it very difficult?\nBut the nonsense, they will not do even this. They'll say, \"Oh, God is dead.\" Therefore we are suffering. We are so ungrateful that we even do not give thanks. In the ordinary way, if somebody gives me a glass of water when I am thirsty—it is etiquette—I say, \"Thank you.\" And the God has given us so vast mass of water in the ocean, in the sea, in the sky—without water we cannot live—there is no thanksgiving.\nThere is no thanksgiving. Rather, we say, \"God is dead.\" There are so much profuse light. For this electric light you are paying bill to the electric company; and God is supplying so much light, in the night as moon, in the daytime as sun. Prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ [Bg. 7.8]. \n[O son of Kuntī [Arjuna], I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and the moon, the syllable om in the Vedic mantras; I am the sound in ether and ability in man.]\nŚaśi means moon, and sūrya means sun. So He is supplying so much light, everything, whatever we require, and there is no thanksgiving.\nSo only one has to become grateful. Prahlāda Mahārāja says that \"I don't require to be very educated or a learned scholar in Sanskrit or any other language, and very poetic so that I have to offer my prayers in a beautiful language and God may be pleased by the poetic idea.\" Just like some mundane poet thinks that they imagine some poetic ideas, and thereby God is pleased. No. Bhaktyā tutoṣa bhagavān gaja-yūtha-pāya [SB 7.9.9]: \"The God can be pleased only by the feelings of your love.\" That is required.\n[Prahlāda Mahārāja continued: One may possess wealth, an aristocratic family, beauty, austerity, education, sensory expertise, luster, influence, physical strength, diligence, intelligence and mystic yogic power, but I think that even by all these qualifications one cannot satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead. However, one can satisfy the Lord simply by devotional service. Gajendra did this, and thus the Lord was satisfied with him.]\nBut anyone can do that, provided he feels the gratitude that \"God is so kind.\" Prahlāda Mahārāja said, nīco 'jayā guṇa-visargam anupraviṣṭaḥ pūyeta yena hi pumān anuvarṇitena [SB 7.9.12].\n[Therefore, although I was born in a demoniac family, I may without a doubt offer prayers to the Lord with full endeavor, as far as my intelligence allows. Anyone who has been forced by ignorance to enter the material world may be purified of material life if he offers prayers to the Lord and hears the Lord's glories.]\nNow, God is so kind that He is giving you light, air, everything that you require for your existence. Either you give Him thanks or you do not give Him thanks, the supply will be there. But somebody says, \"Then what is the use of giving Him thanks?\" The use is for yourself. What is that? Prahlāda Mahārāja said, pūyeta yena pumān anuvarṇitena [SB 7.9.12]: \"If I give thanks to Lord, then I become purified.\"\nGod does not wait for your thanks. He has already created. But if you give thanks, then you become purified. What is that purification? The purification is that gradually you become liberated from the influence of the materialistic modes.\nThere are three modes of material nature. Somebody is in the modes of goodness; somebody is in the modes of passion; somebody is in the modes of ignorance. But in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, māṁ cāvyabhicāriṇi bhakti-yogena yaḥ sevate [Bg. 14.26]:\n[One who engages in full devotional service, who does not fall down in any circumstance, at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus comes to the level of Brahman.]\n\"Anyone who is engaged in transcendental loving service,\" sa guṇān samatītyaitān, \"he transcends the influence of these modes of material nature and,\" brahma-bhūyāya kalpate, \"he becomes Brahman realized.\" We are already Brahman, but we have to realize. And as soon as you realize... Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā [Bg. 18.54].\n[And of all yogīs, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.]\nAs soon as we realize Brahman, immediately we become anxiety-less, prasannātmā.\nSo it is for me. We are always suffering with anxiety. Beginning from President Johnson down to the small ant, or beginning from the greatest living creature, Brahmā, down to the ant, everyone is anxious. That is material consciousness. And to become free from anxiety is to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. So if you want to be benefited, what is that benefit? The benefit is to become anxiety-less. That's all.\nJust like this little child: he is anxiety-less because he is confident that there is his father, his mother, and they will protect him. He doesn't care for anybody. He is free. So that is the stage of pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Not that you shall become a foolish, but the Kṛṣṇa consciousness is so nice that you will be happy. You will be happy in the feeling, \"There is my protector. There is my protector.\"\nThere is one nice prayer by Yamunācārya. He says, apaharṣayiṣyāmi sa-nātha-jīvitaḥ [Stotra-ratnam 43]. \n[By serving You constantly, one is freed from all material desires and is completely pacified. When shall I engage as Your permanent eternal servant and always feel joyful to have such a fitting master?]\nMano-rathena... I... Exactly I don't remember. Sa-nātha-jīvitaḥ. Kadāpaharṣayiṣyāmi sa-nātha-jīvitaḥ. Bhavantam evānucaran nirantaraṁ praśānta-nihśeṣa-gato-manāntaram. He says, bhavantam eva caran nirantaram: \"My dear Lord, when I shall be always engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness?\" Bhavantam eva caran nirantaram. \nNirantaram means incessantly, without any partition that \"This much I am worldly conscious, and this much I am Kṛṣṇa conscious.\" No. Simply Kṛṣṇa conscious. Bhavantam eva caran nirantaram. How you can be so Kṛṣṇa conscious? Now, praśānta-nihśeṣa-mano-rathāntaram: \"I shall finish altogether all concoction of my mind.\"\nEverything is creating different consciousness by the concoction of mind. Sometimes I am feeling, \"Oh, I shall become a great businessman,\" \"Oh, I shall become the president,\" \"I shall become the minister,\" or \"I shall become this and that,\" so many. The mind is always agitating: \"I shall possess that thing. I shall possess that thing. I shall kill him. I shall finish him.\" So these are called mental hallucination. So one has to become completely free from this mental hallucination, or craziness. Then one can be fixed up in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.\nSo bhavantam eva caran nirantaraṁ praśānta. Praśānta means prakṛṣṭa-rūpeṇa śāntaḥ. Śāntaḥ means peaceful, completely peaceful. Bhavantam eva caran nirantaraṁ praśānta-nihśeṣa-mano-rathāntaram, kadāham aikāntika-nitya-kiṅkara. This can be achieved when we constantly engage ourself—our mind, our body, our action, our words—simply for Kṛṣṇa.\nSimply for Kṛṣṇa. If you talk, you talk for Kṛṣṇa. If you eat, you eat for Kṛṣṇa. If you sleep, you sleep for Kṛṣṇa. If you work, you work for Kṛṣṇa. Always. Bhavantam eva caran nirantaram praśānta-nihśeṣa-mano-rathāntaram, kadāham aikāntika-nitya-kiṅkaraḥ. Nitya means eternally. Kiṅkara means servant. Praharṣayiṣyāmi. \"Oh, you are becoming servant? How you can be happy?\" \"Yes.\"\nHow one can be happy by servant, becoming servant, there are many instances. Suppose you are working in a private firm. Fortunately you get a very good job in the government service, where there are so many regulations. You get pension, you get this, that. So everyone aspires to get some government service. And he becomes satisfied. So if you can become satisfied by becoming a government servant, how much satisfied you will be, just imagine, by becoming the servant of the supreme government, Kṛṣṇa.\nWhat is this government? A tiny government. But don't you know how big government is this? This planetary system is running on: the sun is rising in due course; the moon is rising in due course; there is seasonal changes; there are so many demigods, innumerable living entities; their foodstuff is being supplied; it is being produced in different planets, different varieties.\nSo there is a huge, big government of Kṛṣṇa. So if you become a servant of that big government, how much you will be satisfied, just imagine. If you can become satisfied by serving this tiny government, why not become satisfied being the servant of the supreme government?\nSo to become servant of Kṛṣṇa, or God, is the supreme satisfaction. It is not that..., that service is very valuable service. Sa-nātha-jīvitaḥ. Sa-nātha-jīvitaḥ means that service is not ended, only few minutes' notice. Just like government servant cannot be dismissed simply by saying, \"Oh, don't come..., come tomorrow. We don't want.\" So if government service cannot be terminated so whimsically, how Kṛṣṇa's service can be terminated whimsically? No.\nSo as soon as you become servant of Kṛṣṇa you get full satisfaction. Sa-nātha-jīvitaḥ. Sa-nātha-jīvitaḥ means you will understand that \"I have a master who is so full, who is so complete, who is so competent, who is so faithful and who is so nice, there is no injustice.\" Therefore, those who are mendicants, they are so much confident that \"Kṛṣṇa will provide for my subsistence. Kṛṣṇa will...\" Abhayam. Therefore they are not fearful. Abhayaṁ sattva-samśuddhiḥ [Bg. 16.1].\n[The Blessed Lord said: Fearlessness, purification of one's existence, cultivation of spiritual knowledge, charity, self-control, performance of sacrifice, study of the Vedas, austerity and simplicity; nonviolence, truthfulness, freedom from anger; renunciation, tranquility, aversion to faultfinding, compassion and freedom from covetousness; gentleness, modesty and steady determination; vigor, forgiveness, fortitude, cleanliness, freedom from envy and the passion for honor—these transcendental qualities, O son of Bharata, belong to godly men endowed with divine nature.]\nIn the Bhagavad-gītā you will find that one has to attain to that stage—no fearfulness. Fearfulness is due to our absorption in the material consciousness. Bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśitaḥ syād īśad apetasya viparyayāsmṛtiḥ [SB 11.2.37].\n[Fear arises when a living entity misidentifies himself as the material body because of absorption in the external, illusory energy of the Lord. When the living entity thus turns away from the Supreme Lord, he also forgets his own constitutional position as a servant of the Lord. This bewildering, fearful condition is effected by the potency for illusion, called māyā. Therefore, an intelligent person should engage unflinchingly in the unalloyed devotional service of the Lord, under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master, whom he should accept as his worshipable deity and as his very life and soul.]\nBecause we have got a different consciousness, therefore we are fearful. If you are Kṛṣṇa conscious, then we can never be fearful. Nārāyaṇa-paraḥ sarve na kutaścana bibhyati [SB 6.17.28]:\n[Devotees solely engaged in the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa, never fear any condition of life. For them the heavenly planets, liberation and the hellish planets are all the same, for such devotees are interested only in the service of the Lord.]\n\"One who is in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he is not afraid of anything.\" Several times I have given you this example: especially Lord Jesus Christ, he was not fearful. When he was punished to be crucified, he never cared for it.\nSo these are... There are many examples in the history, in the scriptures, that those who are Kṛṣṇa conscious, or God conscious, they are not fearful. Prahlāda Mahārāja himself, he was five-years-old boy, and his father was teasing him, \"Oh, you cannot become Kṛṣṇa conscious. Who is Kṛṣṇa?\" Atheistic: \"You cannot do that. It is my order.\"\nHe several times pleaded, \"My dear father, why you are talking like this? You are also servant of Kṛṣṇa.\" So he never cared for it. Ultimately he wanted to kill his five-years-old boy, and Lord Nṛsiṁha-deva appeared. And this prayer is in connection with that. So Prahlāda Mahārāja is beginning his prayer:\nsarve hy amī vidhi-karās tava sattva-dhāmno\nbrahmādayo vayam iveśa na codvijantaḥ\nkṣemāya bhutāya utātma-sukhāya cāsya\nvikrīḍitaṁ bhagavato rucirāvatāraiḥ\n[SB 7.9.13]\n[O my Lord, all the demigods, headed by Lord Brahmā, are sincere servants of Your Lordship, who are situated in a transcendental position. Therefore they are not like us [Prahlāda and his father, the demon Hiraṇyakaśipu]. Your appearance in this fearsome form is Your pastime for Your own pleasure. Such an incarnation is always meant for the protection and improvement of the universe.]\nSo he is praying, \"My dear Lord, here the demigods are present.\" The demigods means Brahmā, Lord Śiva and others, Indra. \"They all have come here because You have appeared. So they are not troublesome like my father. They are not troublesome. Because my father was a demon, so he was against always, always against God. But these demigods, they are not like my father. So You pacify Yourself. Now my father is killed. That business is finished. Now, these people, they will never create any trouble, so You become pacified.\"\nThat is the difference between the demons and demigods. There are two classes of living creatures always. Either in this planet or any planet within this universe, there are two classes of living creatures. One is called the demon, and the other is called the demigod. What is the difference?\nThe demigods are godly. They accept the existence of God, they obey the orders of God, they act in God consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, whereas the demons, they don't believe in God, they defy God's regulations, and they want to become imitation God. So Hiraṇyakaśipu was that type of demon, whereas the Brahmā and others, they were not that.\nSo Prahlāda Mahārāja is saying that he īśa. Amy udvijanto bibhrataḥ sarve brahmādayaḥ sattva-mūrtayaḥ: \"Now, because You have appeared in so fierceful appearance, these persons, these demigods, they have become afraid. So they are Your devotees. So for their pacification, please, You also become pacified.\"\nSo we shall discuss next meeting. Any question, you can ask. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Yes?",
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"content": "\n Is there a Christ-loka?",
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"content": "\n Yes. Why not? There are innumerable lokas. Why not Christ-loka? [break]\n...jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi-\nkoṭiṣv aśeṣa-vasudhādi-vibhūti-bhinnam\ntad brahma niśkalam anantam aśeṣa-bhūtaṁ\ngovindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi\n[Bs. 5.40]\n[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, whose effulgence is the source of the nondifferentiated Brahman mentioned in the Upaniṣads, being differentiated from the infinity of glories of the mundane universe appears as the indivisible, infinite, limitless, truth.]\nIn the effulgence, bodily effulgence of Govinda, just like the sunshine is effulgence of the sun planet, similarly, Govinda's planet, the original planet, which is called Goloka Vṛndāvana, that is the original effulgence, light. And when that light is distributed there are innumerable universes created. Just like within the sunlight there are innumerable planets. So in each and every planet there are different kinds of living entities, so why not a planet belonging to Christ? There is no doubt about it. There must be.\n[break] The Fifth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the description of different planets are there.\n[break] Question?",
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"content": "\n You're not supposed to ask from God anything for yourself. So you can ask from God maybe things to help improve your consciousness?",
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"content": "\n What is that?",
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"content": "\n He is asking this question. [break]",
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"content": "\n Ask anything for your necessities, that is pure consciousness.",
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"content": "\n [translates into French]",
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"content": "\n Just like a child. He does not ask anything from his parents. The parents are careful to supply everything he needs. Similarly, God is already careful to supply our needs. Just like in the beast society, bird society, they do not pray. They haven't got any church. They do not go to the church to pray, \"My dear Lord, father, give us our daily grains,\" but they are supplied without prayer. So that arrangement is already there.\nTherefore one who is intelligent, his prayer should be simply gratitude, that \"My dear father, You have supplied the necessities of my life so much amply, I must be feeling very grateful. So these preparations I have made for You because it is Your goods. You have supplied these grains, so You kindly first of all take. Then I will take.\" So kṛṣṇa-prasādam. This is kṛṣṇa-prasādam, acknowledgement.\nSo we are not prepared even to do that, neither we are prepared to follow the rules and regulation. We must follow the rules and regulation, what is allotted for us or what should be offered to Kṛṣṇa. If we want to offer Kṛṣṇa something, then we must offer such things which Kṛṣṇa wants to eat. So we do not know, neither we care to know. We simply ask, \"Oh, give me my bread or grains. Then my business is finished.\" No. That is the difference.\nBut this man who is going to church or temple to ask for food is better than that man who has no connection with God, so much better that he has some relationship with God: \"My dear father, You give me.\" At least, he accepts, \"The father sends the bread.\" That is very good. But when the son will be intelligent, he will know, \"The father sends the bread even without my prayer. Therefore I must offer my gratitude.\" That is intelligence. That is pure devotion.\n[break] ...father is not only my father; He is father of all living entities. So He is supplying other living entities. They cannot offer any gratitude. The beast, the birds, they cannot offer any gratitude. But I am human being, I have got developed consciousness. I must feel grateful for God's mercy and offer my gratitude. That is my duty. [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/cat/8/
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"content": "\n May I ask the next question, Śrīla Prabhupāda? “Are fasting and other dietary regulations necessary for leading a spiritual life?”\n Certainly. For advancement in spiritual life, such tapasya is essential. Tapasya means voluntarily accepting something which may be painful. For instance, we are recommending no illicit sex, no intoxication, no gambling, no meat-eating. So those who are accustomed to these bad habits – for them, in the beginning it may be a little difficult. But in spite of this difficulty, one has to do it. That is tapasya. To rise early in the morning – for those who are not practiced, it is a little painful, but one has to do it. So according to the Vedic injunctions, there are some tapasyas that must be done.\nIt is not “I may do it or not do it.” These austerities must be done. For example, in the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad it is ordered that if one wants to become self-realized, one must approach a spiritual master: tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet. So there is no question of “optional”; it must be done. And one must carry out the order of the spiritual master and the order of the śāstra, or scripture. When you follow without consideration of whether it is convenient or inconvenient, simply because it must be done, that is called tapasya. Tapo divyam: like other great spiritual authorities, Ṛṣabhadeva orders that this human life is meant for austerity aimed toward realizing God. Therefore in our Vedic civilization we find so many rules and regulations.\nAt the very beginning of life one must be a brahmacārī. He must go to the spiritual master’s place and act like a menial servant. If the spiritual master says “go and pick up some wood from the forest,” one may be a king’s son, but he cannot refuse the spiritual master’s order. He must go. Even Kṛṣṇa was ordered by His spiritual master to go and pick up some dry wood from the forest. So He had to go. Although His father was Nanda Mahārāja, a village vaiśya king, and although Kṛṣṇa was the Personality of Godhead Himself, still He could not refuse. He had to go. Nicavat – just like a menial servant. This is brahmacarya, spiritual student life. This is tapasya. Tapasya is so essential that one has to do it. There is no question of an alternative.\nAfter brahmacārī life, one may marry. This means he enters gṛhastha life, household life. That is also tapasya. He cannot have sex whenever he likes. No. The śāstra says, “You must have sex like this: once in a month and only for begetting children.” So that is also tapasya.\nPeople do not follow any tapasya at the present moment, but human life is meant for tapasya – regulative principles. Even in ordinary affairs – let us say you are driving your car on some urgent business and you see a red light. You have to stop. You cannot say, “I have to be there in a few minutes. I must go.” No. You must stop. That is tapasya.\nSo tapasya means following the regulative principles strictly, according to the higher order. And that is human life.\nAnimal life, however, means you can do whatever you like. On the road, animals may keep to the right or keep to the left; it doesn’t matter. Their irregularity is not taken as an offense, because they are animals. But if a human being does not follow the regulative principles, he is sinful. He’ll be punished. Consider the same example: When there is a red light, if you do not stop you’ll be punished. But if a cat or dog transgresses – “Never mind the red light; I shall go” – he’s not punished. So tapasya is meant for the human being. He must do it if he at all wants to make progress in life. It is essential.",
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"content": "\n And so, Śrīla Prabhupāda, tapasya includes dietary regulations?",
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"content": "\n That is also tapasya. For example, we prohibit meat-eating. So in your country this is a little troublesome. From the very beginning of life, a child is habituated to eating meat. The mother purchases powdered meat and mixes it with liquid and feeds it to the infant. I have seen it. So practically everyone has been brought up eating meat. Yet I say, “Don’t eat meat.” Therefore that is troublesome. But if one is serious about becoming self-realized, one must accept the order. That is tapasya.\nTapasya applies to diet, to personal behavior, to dealings with others, and so on and so forth. In every aspect of life, there is tapasya. That is all described in the Bhagavad-gītā. Mental tapasya. Bodily tapasya. Verbal tapasya – controlling vaco-vegam, the urge to talk loosely or whimsically. You cannot talk nonsense. If you talk, you must talk about Kṛṣṇa. That is tapasya. There is also tapasya in connection with krodha-vegam, the urge to express one’s anger. If one becomes angry and wants to express it by beating someone or doing something very violent, tapasya will restrict him – “No, don’t do it.” There is also tapasya with regards to the tongue, belly, and genitals. One cannot eat anything and everything, or at any time he pleases. Nor can one have sex freely, but only according to the scriptural injunctions. “I am sexually inclined, but I cannot do it. This is not the time.” That is tapasya.\nSo one should practice tapasya in every way – in body, mind, words, personal behavior, and dealings with others. That is human life. Tapo divyam: if you want to simply be a human being, and especially if you want to make progress in spiritual life, you must act according to the śāstric injunctions. That means tapasya. Before Brahmā could take part in creation, he had to undergo tapasya. Is it not stated in the śāstra? Yes. So tapasya is essential. You cannot avoid it.\nAnd what is the aim of performing tapasya? The aim is to please the Supreme Lord through the spiritual master. Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādo: “One can attain the mercy of the Lord only by attaining the mercy of the spiritual master.” This is the idea.\nNow, in today’s educational institutions, who is teaching this tapasya? Where is the school or college? The students are even smoking in front of their teacher, and it is tolerated. No offense. What can you expect from such students? This is an animal civilization. This is not human civilization. No tapasya, no brahmacārī life. Real civilization means tapo divyam, godly austerity. And this tapasya begins with brahmacārī life, learning to control the senses – that is the beginning of life. Not “A-B-C-D” learning, and maybe your character is less than an animal’s, though you have a degree from the university. “Never mind. You have become a learned man.” No – that is not accepted.\nEven from the standpoint of basic moral instruction, we must ask: Who today is educated? The educated person is described by Cāṇakya Paṇḍita:\nmātṛ-vat para-dāreṣu\npara-dravyeṣu loṣṭra-vat\nātma-vat sarva-bhūteṣu\nyaḥ paśyati sa paṇḍitāḥ\n“The educated man sees another’s wife as his mother and another’s property as untouchable garbage, and he sees all others as equal to himself.” \nThat is the paṇḍita, the learned man. In Bhagavad-gītā [5.18] Kṛṣṇa also describes the paṇḍita:\nvidyā-vinaya-sampanne\nbrāhmaṇe gavi hastini\nśuni caiva śva-pāke ca\npaṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ\n“The humble sages, by virtue of true knowledge, see with equal vision a learned and gentle brāhmaṇa, a cow, an elephant, a dog, and a dog-eater.” That is a learned man. Not this degree-holder. A degree-holder who has no tapasya and no character – Kṛṣṇa says he is māyayāpahṛta-jñānā, “his knowledge is stolen by illusion.” Although he has learned so many things, nonetheless, māyā has taken away his knowledge. He’s a rascal. He’s an animal. This is the perspective of Vedic civilization.",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/690424r1-boston/
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[
{
"content": "\n ...tree?",
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"content": "\n Puruṣottama.",
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"content": "\n How many rose trees Jayānanda has?",
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"content": "\n 108.",
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"content": "\n 108. So at least 108 flowers we'll have daily. Yes. So it is very nice. Our Hawaii, place is also very nice.",
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"content": "\n Hawaii. They have a new place?",
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"content": "\n Yes, the place where now Govinda dāsī is staying, a very nice place, just on the seaside. And the house is two stories, entire house among the fig trees. There is nice arrangement. So you had any correspondence with her?",
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"content": "\n A little.",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "\n So what does she say?",
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"content": "\n She said the flowers weren't out yet, but that was months ago. We have some mail for you. One letter is from her with up-to-date news.",
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"content": "\n Oh. Some devotees are coming. And in Honolulu, two boys, they are also doing. In Hawaii there are two branches now. Yes. One at Honolulu, one at Kauai. Kauai. That island's name is Oahu. Hawaii has five islands' stretch, and this is called Oahu. Oahu island, one side, Honolulu, and one side... This island means hill. And the valley of the hills are utilized for residential purpose.\nSo all sides, Pacific Ocean. And there is ample production of sugar cane and pineapple. I was chewing sugar cane as it is. [laughter] Yes. And there is so many coconut trees, palm trees, and mango. In mango season they throw away mangoes. So I have asked Govinda dāsī that \"You make mango pulp and dry it and send it.\" So they are doing nice, husband and wife, Gaurasundara. Yes. Trying their best. I do not know whether they are working now.",
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"content": "\n Govinda dāsī is working.",
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"content": "\n Working. She can work. She can earn $400 at least.",
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"content": "\n Typing?",
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"content": "\n Yes. She is good typist.",
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"content": "\n We have one boy in Montreal, he says that he wants to go to Florida the first of May. His father is a real estate man. So he wants to get a job and then get a temple, and he wants someone to come there. He said me preferably.",
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"content": "\n All right. This South, North Carolina, they are also doing... [laughs]",
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"content": "\n He wants to go to Palm Beach. Palm Beach is the richest place in the country.",
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"content": "\n That's all right. That's all right. So chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, and everything will be all right. And Boston..., Buffalo is also doing nice. Oh, yes. The students are educated circle. They are taking interest, both the boys and girls. And three meetings I attended. Every meeting was full, two hundred boys and girls.\nThey were dancing, chanting, asking very intelligent question. And Rūpānuga is holding class. There will be some examination of the students. They accept papers. Yes. Some Indians are coming from long distance. One Indian gentleman, he came to see me from..., what is that place? Ninety-two miles away from Buffalo.",
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"content": "\n Did you see Nauvanī? Nauvanī?",
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"content": "\n Nauvanī is there. Yes. He is there still. He is also very good. He works very nice in the temple.",
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"content": "\n Every day.",
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"content": "\n He's a very good man. Everyone who will come to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness will become good man, even he's a bad man. [laughs] That is the influence of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Sarvair gunaiḥ tatra samāsate suraḥ [SB 5.18.12].\n[All the demigods and their exalted qualities, such as religion, knowledge and renunciation, become manifest in the body of one who has developed unalloyed devotion for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva. On the other hand, a person devoid of devotional service and engaged in material activities has no good qualities. Even if he is adept at the practice of mystic yoga or the honest endeavor of maintaining his family and relatives, he must be driven by his own mental speculations and must engage in the service of the Lord's external energy. How can there be any good qualities in such a man?]\nAll godly qualities will develop in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the test. Now, our students, nobody can compare with their behavior, with their character, with their [indistinct]. Everything nicest. So don't worry. Simply go on chanting. Everything will be all right. Don't worry.",
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"content": "\n Sometimes I get concerned about temple affairs.",
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"content": "\n You... That's all right. For the time being you don't touch. You chant, and everything will be... Soon you will be in good health. Then you will again work. Yes. Śāradīyā, you are painting? No. All right, you finish your school. You are going to school?",
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{
"content": "\n Yes.",
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"content": "\n That's nice. You are painting? That's nice. You? That's nice. Practice painting nicely. We'll require so many pictures. We shall publish so many pictures, book. [to another devotee:] You are not painting. You have no time to paint. You have got enough engagement. So you can... So long you are here, you just show how to Deity worship, how you are doing that, and they will learn. Yes. She is doing that very nice. Yes. So you can, all of you, all girls, you take, how she is doing. Who is doing here temple worship?",
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"content": "\n Are you going to give some more instruction?",
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"content": "\n No. This is... In this age temple worship is not recommended.",
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"content": "\n It's not recommended. But Deity worship is temple worship?",
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"content": "\n It is Deity worship. Because nobody can actually very nicely perform. This age is not suitable. You see? Temple worship, the regulation, the engagement—at least four, five men must always be engaged, always, twenty-four hours.",
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"content": "\n In the temple worship. In the temple.",
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"content": "\n Yes. We haven't got sufficient men, neither we can arrange such a way. Besides that, your previous culture, everything is completely different. So in this age Caitanya Mahāprabhu has..., this saṅkīrtana, Hare Kṛṣṇa, harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma [Cc. Ādi 17.21].\n[“’In this Age of Kali there is no other means, no other means, no other means for self-realization than chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name of Lord Hari.’]\nThis is all round. But at the same time, if you can perform as far as possible, that's nice, Deity worship. In this age Deity worship is secondary. Saṅkīrtana is primary.",
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"content": "\n Does it matter who performs the Deity worship? Does it matter? I mean is it some particular person?",
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"content": "\n Oh, yes. That is called arcana-siddhi.",
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"content": "\n Who should do it? I mean, in the temple who should do it?",
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"content": "\n No, everyone should do it.",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\nEveryone should take part.",
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"content": "\nYes, everyone should learn. Everyone should learn. Sometimes somebody is doing something, somebody is doing something. Yes, like that. Everyone should be expert in every respect, twenty-six qualification. [car noise outside] You have got car here? No. Nobody has got car amongst our disciples?",
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"content": "\n No.\n Do you need a car, Swāmījī?",
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"content": "\n No, because the temple is here, just in front. So what is the use of car?",
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"content": "\n Prabhupāda, I found a place very likely for a new temple. And I've gone so far as... The lawyer even drew up a lease. So maybe tomorrow you could look at it.",
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"content": "\n Oh, yes. What is the description?",
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"content": "\n Very excellent location, right downtown. The things wrong with it is that the temple area is no bigger than the temple area we have now, but the location is just the greatest. Second floor. Still, right downtown.",
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"content": "\n Second floor. So what is the rent?",
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"content": "\n Three hundred a month. But we can do it as long as... Presently, Patita-pāvana is working and so am I, and sometimes the gopīs[?] get some money. So we wouldn't have any problem as long as Patita-pāvana would continue to work.",
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"content": "\n All right, Kṛṣṇa will solve the problems. But the space is not lesser than this temple?",
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"content": "\n Well, the temple room is maybe even smaller than the present temple room, but then there's another large, very large room for a kitchen, and then another space for where bunks could be for sleeping. So there's actually three different spaces. The thing is that the main temple hall is not too large.",
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"content": "\n That's all right. That doesn't matter. You have to take saṅkīrtana party. That should be the main business. And the..., at least sixteen men, four mṛdaṅgas. Practice mṛdaṅga like that. And twelve cymbals, and one chanting and all other responding. Oh, it will be tremendous. Take some flags, \"ISKCON, Hare Kṛṣṇa\" flag, red flag. You see? And conchshell, mṛdaṅga. In New York they are doing now, and they also one day collected 240 dollars or something like that. What is that?",
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"content": "\n Two hundred and forty-seven.",
"role": "user"
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"content": "\n Two hundred and forty-seven. You see? [chuckles]",
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"content": "\n I'll try in Montreal. We have new devotees now, lot of new boys.",
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"content": "\n Yes. Oh, you will get devotees. You just begin saṅkīrtana party, you will get many devotees. You see? In Los Angeles, daily the devotees, new devotees, are coming, and very nice boys. We are now searching after a bigger place. Yes. That temple is not sufficient, although that is the biggest center of all our centers. It has got compound.\nIt has got parking place. It has got two big halls, one big room, one big kitchen, and three, four, five small rooms. It is a nice situation, you see, just suitable for our purpose. And they decorate Jagannātha very nicely. Yes. So increase centers. And what is the name of the boy who went to... Nanda-kiśora[?]. He wants to open Toronto?",
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"content": "\n In Toronto. Toronto is a very good place to go.",
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"content": "\n So let him open.",
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"content": "\n Let him go?",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "\n Yes.",
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"content": "\n Okay. But not alone. He needs someone else, I think. He needs one more boy. I don't think by himself he can do it.",
"role": "user"
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"content": "\n That we shall arrange, somebody to go. Yes.",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\n Maybe you remember Mr. Saini[?] in Montreal?",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "\n Yes, yes.",
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"content": "\n Well, he approached me just recently. He wants to open a store, Indian store and goods, and he wants the boys in the temple to work there. He wants to make some arrangement so the temple will get some money.",
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"content": "\n He is very cunning man.",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\n Yes, I know. I don't trust him at all. So maybe I shouldn't...",
"role": "user"
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"content": "\n He wants to utilize our men.",
"role": "assistant"
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{
"content": "\n Yes. Don't deal with him, right? That's what I thought.",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "\n He wants a cheap, cheap price. [break] I don't believe all these things they have... They have come here to beg, to make money. You see? Their mentality cannot be good.",
"role": "assistant"
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{
"content": "\n I have another plea from Gopāla Kṛṣṇa.",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "\n Oh. Gopāla Kṛṣṇa is a good boy.",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\n Oh, he's very nice. Oh, he's getting so nice. He wants to come.",
"role": "user"
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"content": "\n Yes. Yes. Because he is serving.",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\n He lives in our house now.\n He lives with us now. You know we have another house, the whole house, and almost everyone now is a devotee there. And they're eating prasādam. He lives there.",
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"content": "\n Gopāla Kṛṣṇa is very nice boy. You give him good protection, and he will turn very good help. Sevonmukhe... This Kṛṣṇa consciousness can be, I mean to say, appreciated only by service. There is no other..., no other way. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau [Brs. 1.2.234].\n[No one can understand the transcendental nature of the name, form, quality and pastimes of Śrī Kṛṣṇa through his materially contaminated senses. Only when one becomes spiritually saturated by transcendental service to the Lord are the transcendental name, form, quality and pastimes of the Lord revealed to him.]\nYou cannot catch Kṛṣṇa by any way—by your riches, by your beauty, by your...—because He excels everything. How you can make Him under your control? You can simply make Him under your control by service, like the gopīs did. Yes. What is this? Prasāda? Oh, I think I cannot take any. All right, I shall take some.",
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"content": "\n The devotees have prasādam over at the temple that's ready.",
"role": "user"
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"content": "\n Oh, they can take. They can go. [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/660725bg-new-york/
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[
{
"content": "\n\nye yathā māṁ prapadyante\ntāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham\nmama vartmānuvartante\nmanuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ\n[Bg 4.11]\n[All of them—as they surrender unto Me—I reward accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Pṛthā.]\nThis śloka, this verse, we discussed last Friday evening, and I tried to explain the supreme leadership of the Supreme Lord. By nature we are destined to follow a leadership. Nobody is independent. Even in the animal society, the animals, they have also got a group, and there is leader of the group. Perhaps you know it. So in every group... We are trying to make some group according to the similarity of thoughts and propensities. There are association, you know, various association: mercantile association, bankers' association, lawyers' association, and there is a leader. That is the nature's way.\nNow, the supreme leader is Śrī Kṛṣṇa. That we do not know. Supreme leader, the leadership is accepted, but we do not know that the supreme leader is the Supreme Lord, or Kṛṣṇa. So that is informed in the Vedic literature, and in the Bhagavad-gītā also, the same thing is confirmed, that ye yathā māṁ prapadyante: \"Now, everyone is under My leadership. Everyone. There is no exception.\" Especially He mentions the manuṣya. Manuṣya means the human being.\nThe human being especially mentioned here, because amongst all the human beings in this lower status of our existence, the human being is considered the highest perfectional stage of living condition. And especially human being has the prerogative to understand the supreme leadership of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. The animals cannot understand it or the persons who are in the animal nature.\nJust like you will find in the Seventh Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, the Lord says,\nna māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ\nprapadyante narādhamāḥ\nmāyayāpahṛta-jñānā\nāsuraṁ bhāvam āśritāḥ\n[Bg 7.15]\n[Those miscreants who are grossly foolish, lowest among mankind, whose knowledge is stolen by illusion, and who partake of the atheistic nature of demons, do not surrender unto Me.]\n\"Those who are always engaged in mischievous activities, those who are fools, those who are lowest of the mankind and those whose knowledge has been deluded by the external energy, they do not make their surrender unto the Supreme Lord.\" But there are other persons, who are virtuous. They are considered that ārto jijñāsur arthārthī jñānī ca bharatarṣabha [Bg 7.16].\n[O best among the Bhāratas [Arjuna], four kinds of pious men render devotional service unto Me—the distressed, the desirer of wealth, the inquisitive, and he who is searching for knowledge of the Absolute.]\nThere are other persons who are distressed and in need of some wealth or inquisitive or really research worker in the field of understanding what is the Absolute Truth. And this morning we were discussing in the morning class that the person who are research scholar in the matter of understanding the nature of Kṛṣṇa, transcendental nature of Kṛṣṇa, he is called jñānī, or philosopher, and he is accepted, with bhakti, with devotional service, he is accepted as special for the attention of the Supreme Lord.\nNow, everyone... Therefore everyone is following the leadership or the representative of the leadership. Now you will find in the Bhagavad-gītā, when there is some specific qualification of a person, just like political leader or some spiritual leader... Leader there must be. So suppose a political leader or religious leader is there, and thousands of people are following him. So that is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā, that they are invested with certain power of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Yad yad vibhūtimat sattvaṁ mama tejo 'ṁśa-sambhavam [Bg 10.41].\n[Know that all beautiful, glorious, and mighty creations spring from but a spark of My splendor.]\nSo everyone is following directly or indirectly the supreme leadership of Kṛṣṇa. And the perfectional stage of accepting that leadership is when we accept Śrī Kṛṣṇa as our direct leader.\nWe are going to that path gradually, going to that path gradually, but in the middle we are hampered, because there is want of sufficient knowledge. When sufficient knowledge is there... You'll find in the Bhagavad-gītā, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate [Bg 7.19]:\n[After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.]\n\"After many, many births, when one is developed in his real consciousness, he can understand.\" What? What he understand? Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ: \"That Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme. He is all in all. So I have to surrender unto Him.\"\nThat is the perfection of knowledge. This stage one has to reach. Never mind whether he is following a principle of philosophical research, whether he is following the yogic principle or whether he is following philanthropic work or political leadership or... So many things are going on, but the whole thing is targeted toward Kṛṣṇa. How it is targeted? That is explained. I shall try to explain.\nNow, the whole material world is working under two energies: the lower energy and the higher energy. And the both of the energies, they have got different dimensions. Just like in this atomic age, you know, the material energy ends in the atomic portion: atom, paramāṇu. Similarly, this is... This material energy is called lower energy, and there is another energy, which is called spiritual energy. So both the energies, they are emanating from the Supreme Lord. In the Vedānta-sūtra also it is confirmed, janmādy asya yataḥ [SB 1.1.1]: \"All energies, they are coming, emanating, from the Supreme.\" In the Bhagavad-gītā also you will find the same thing confirmed. Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate [Bg 10.8]:\n[I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who know this perfectly engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.]\n\"I am the fountainhead,\" Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa says. \"I am the fountainhead of everything.\"\nSo now to understand how everything is He, so two energies are working in this world in our experience. One is superior energy, or the higher energy, and the other is the inferior energy. The inferior energy is matter, and the superior or the higher energy is the spirit soul.\nSo as we find... You have got now... We have no experience. Scientific advancement of knowledge, so far we have in this material world, that is bounded within the area of material energy. They have not succeeded in finding out the spiritual energy. Otherwise they would have given life to the dead man. That has not been possible. Suppose a man is dead. What is that death? Death means separation of two energies: the material energy and the spiritual energy. That is death. The supreme spiritual energy and the atomic part of it, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ... [Bg 15.7].\n[The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal, fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.]\nJust you have experience in this atomic age the minute quantity of atomic material existence, similarly, there is spiritual atomic existence.\nNow, this spiritual atomic existence... The other day I explained and several times that atom is also described in the Padma-Purāṇa, Vedic literature. And what is the form of that spiritual energy, I mean to say, atom, spiritual atom? It is ten-thousandth part of the upper portion of the hair. You have got experience up to the upper portion of the hair. It is just a little point. Now divide it into ten thousand part, and that one part is yourself, spiritual atom. This is our position. And that spiritual energy is so powerful that we, from that one ten-thousandth part of the upper portion of the hair...\nIt is not manufactured. So far what I am speaking to you, it is from authentic śāstras. The original verse is that,\nkeśāgra-śata-bhāgasya\nśatadhā kalpitasya ca\njīva-bhāgaḥ sa vijñeyaḥ\nsa anantyāya kalpate\n[Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 5.9]\n[When the upper point of a hair is divided into one hundred parts and again each of such parts is further divided into one hundred parts, each such part is the measurement of the dimension of the spirit soul.]\nThe exact verse is, in Sanskrit, that jīva, the living entities, they are ananta. Ananta means there is no limit how many there are. Ananta, unlimited. Unlimited. And a small. Just like in the material world also, you will find unlimited atomic existence, similarly, in the spiritual also, there are unlimited spiritual atoms. And one of the atom is myself and yourself or the ant or the elephant. Everyone is containing that atomic portion of spiritual energy. And from that atomic spiritual energy develops this material body—from that spiritual.\nThe matter cannot develop. Matter cannot develop. That you have got experience. A dead body does not develop. A living body develops. A child, when it comes out of the mother's womb, if the child is dead, oh, there is no further development, however you can keep the child in a very antiseptic way preserved. No. There is no development. Therefore it is concluded that the supreme spirit, Kṛṣṇa, from Him everything has come out. Everything has come out. Any stage you take, that is Kṛṣṇa.\nAnd whenever I surrender... Because my position is to surrender. I am spiritual, that atom, however big body I can develop. I can develop the body like an elephant, but the elephant is conducted under the direction of a man. You know? Such a big animal is controlled by a small boy of human being. So everyone is under control. We cannot deny that. So we have to... We are under control of different dimension of that spiritual energy covered by material energy. But the real control is from Kṛṣṇa. That we have to understand, either we follow this path or that path.\nNow, suppose there are impersonalist who believe in the ultimate, I mean to say, merging into the supreme effulgence, brahma-jyoti. And what is that brahma-jyoti? Brahma-jyoti is just the atomic spiritual combination of atomic spiritual portions. That is brahma-jyoti. Just like the sun ray. Those who are scientists, those who know what is the sun ray... The sun ray is a small molecular, glazing atoms, the sun ray. You have got experience of sun ray, but what is the sun ray? It is not homogeneous. It is heterogeneous. When you can analyze the sun ray, you'll find small particles of molecules. Similarly, brahma-jyoti is also spiritual atoms combined together. Just like the sun rays, different material molecules combined together, similarly, brahma-jyoti is also like that.\nNow, as in the sun rays there are different planets—they are also generated from the sun ray—similarly, from the brahma-jyoti there are different planets. But those planets we cannot see here. That is beyond this sky. So in that planets, and the spiritual planets, there are different forms of God, Kṛṣṇa. That is described in the Brahma-saṁhitā.\nadvaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam\nādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca\nvedeṣu durlabham adurlabham ātma-bhaktau\ngovindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi\n[Bs 5.33]\n[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is inaccessible to the \nVedas,\n but obtainable by pure unalloyed devotion of the soul, who is without a second, who is not subject to decay, is without a beginning, whose form is endless, who is the beginning, and the eternal \npuruṣa;\n yet He is a person possessing the beauty of blooming youth.]\nJust like Kṛṣṇa has expanded Himself with these molecular atomic portions of these living entities, similarly, He has got many other expansions as Viṣṇu. So that is the nice subject matter.\n[aside:] Raymond, you can get there light.\nSo in every way this is a subject matter for studying, scrutinizingly studying, Kṛṣṇa science. Kṛṣṇa science is a great science. Therefore Kṛṣṇa has said just in the beginning of this chapter, janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ. Yo vetti tattvataḥ. Anyone who understands Kṛṣṇa scientifically, what He is, how He is working, how His energies are acting... These things are to be known. And one who simply knows this science—what happens? Oh, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya [Bg 4.9].\n[One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.]\nSimply by knowing this science he becomes liberated soul. He becomes liberated soul. And what is the position of liberated soul? Liberated soul, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti. That person who is liberated simply by knowing the transcendental nature of Kṛṣṇa, he is liberated, and he at once transferred to the spiritual sky into that planet which I am describing, Vaikuṇṭha planet. There are innumerable Vaikuṇṭha planets, and each and every planet, Kṛṣṇa is there in different Nārāyaṇa form.\nSo this is the opportunity in the human life to understand this. We are submitting to different energies of Kṛṣṇa. But if we directly submit ourself to Kṛṣṇa, what He, Kṛṣṇa, what He is, that is not very difficult to know, because Kṛṣṇa comes in this material world and displays His real nature—anugrahāya manuṣyāṇām, in Bhāgavata—just to inform the human society that \"If you have no knowledge of Kṛṣṇa, just see. I have incarnated. How I am doing, you can see. You can have.\"\nJust like something extraordinary happening in India, and if there is some photograph, cinematograph, and you see in the picture by a scope, cinema, you see the actually, what is happening. But Kṛṣṇa's pastime is not like that. Just like originally, the incidence which is happening in India, you have got a photograph. You see in cinema. This cinema picture is a shadow of that actual picture. But when Kṛṣṇa comes, because He is absolute, the same picture which is in the spiritual world, the same picture is represented here. There is no difference.\nadvaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam\nādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca\n[Bs 5.33]\n[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is inaccessible to the \nVedas,\n but obtainable by pure unalloyed devotion of the soul, who is without a second, who is not subject to decay, is without a beginning, whose form is endless, who is the beginning, and the eternal \npuruṣa;\n yet He is a person possessing the beauty of blooming youth.]\nKṛṣṇa is described as nava-yauvana. Some of you must have seen the picture of Kṛṣṇa. He is always just like a boy of twenty years old, although He is the ādi-puruṣa. Ādi-puruṣa means He is the original person of all emanations. He is the oldest. Advaitam acyutam anādim, ādyaṁ purāṇa-pu... Purāṇa-puruṣam means the oldest. Purāṇa means old. Purāṇa-puruṣam; still, nava-yauvanaṁ ca, just like a young man of twenty years old, full energy, full youthfulness. This is the science of Kṛṣṇa.\nSo simply by knowing this science of Kṛṣṇa, if we can get liberation from these material miseries of life, why should we not try for this? Let us try for Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is a very nice subject matter and very easy. We are just trying to propagate this Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We don't ask you to have some troublesome or laborsome gymnastic. No. You simply come and hear. And this hearing, it is followed by nice music and singing. And beginning with music, ending with music, everyone will like it. And we have no means... Of course, whatever means I have got, I am distributing little fruit. But the process is—Lord Caitanya, who introduced this process—after this termination of this performance of chanting and reciting, distribution of prasādam, nice, palatable dishes for eating.\nSo Bhagavad-gītā says, su-sukham: \"This is a process is very palatable and very pleasurable and very easy.\" And still, you get Kṛṣṇa. Although it is the easiest and most pleasurable and happy mood, still you get the Supreme. And you don't require any qualification. It doesn't require that you have to become a great, learned scholar. No. Simply by the gift of Kṛṣṇa you have got these two ears. If you simply give aural reception to this transcendental word, that is sufficient. It does not require any extraneous education, that you have to pass M.A. examination or D.A.C. or Ph.D. or something like that. No. So why should you not take advantage?\nSatāṁ prasaṅgān mama vīrya-saṁvidaḥ. Kṛṣṇa says in Bhāgavata, \nsatāṁ prasaṅgān mama vīrya-saṁvido\nbhavanti hṛt-karṇa-rasāyanāḥ kathāḥ\n[SB 3.25.25]\n[In the association of pure devotees, discussion of the pastimes and activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is very pleasing and satisfying to the ear and the heart. By cultivating such knowledge one gradually becomes advanced on the path of liberation, and thereafter he is freed, and his attraction becomes fixed. Then real devotion and devotional service begin.]\nIf we actually take advantage of association of realized person, and if we hear from them, then the result is that it becomes very pleasing to the heart and the ear. Satāṁ prasaṅgān. [indistinct] asatām. One must be realized soul in describing the science of Kṛṣṇa. Then the result will be that the audience will feel that it is very nice to hear, and it is appealing to the heart. Satāṁ prasaṅgān mama vīrya-saṁvido bhavanti hṛt-karṇa [SB 3.25.25]. Hṛt means heart; karṇa means ear. Hṛt-karṇa-rasāyanāḥ, very pleasing.\nNow, we have received this news, very pleasing. Now next duty? Taj-joṣaṇāt. Now, if you little try to assimilate it. And what is that assimilation? Smaraṇam. Simply by thinking, \"Oh, this has been spoken.\" Try to argue whether it is true or not. So you have to think over. Satāṁ prasaṅgān, taj-joṣaṇād āśv apavarga-vartmani. And if you do that... Suppose you hear something of the Bhagavad-gītā, and it appeals to you, or even does not appeal to you. Just try to think over: \"What Bhagavad-gītā says? How Swāmījī has discussed this matter?\" Apply your arguments. Apply your logic. Don't take it as a sentiment or as in a blind faith. You have got reason; you have got argument; you have got sense. Apply it and try to understand it. Neither it is bogus. It is scientific. Then you will feel... Taj-joṣaṇād āśv apavarga-vartmani śraddhā bhaktir ratir anukramiṣyati. You will gradually develop your attachment for hearing it, and devotional service will be invoked in your heart, and then, gradually, you will make progress.\nBut one thing. It is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, once you begin, even one percent you can realize, that will never be lost. That will remain a permanent settlement. Now suppose if you are trying for B.A. examination, or you have passed your B.A. examination. Now, with the end of this body, that, your qualification as graduate of Columbia University or any university, is finished. Now your life begins in another body, and you have to acquire knowledge again to become qualified a graduate.\nBut this knowledge is not like that. Because it is spiritual knowledge, absolute knowledge, it goes with you, your spirit. That you will find, explanation. And another chance is that one who tries to assimilate this knowledge, even if he is not, I mean to..., perfect, so there is no harm. Because whatever he has learned, that remains an asset, and you get another chance of human body to begin from where you have ended in this life.\nYoga-bhraṣṭaḥ. Śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe yoga-bhraṣṭo 'bhijāyate [Bg 6.41].\n[The unsuccessful yogī, after many, many years of enjoyment on the planets of the pious living entities, is born into a family of righteous people, or into a family of rich aristocracy.]\nYou'll find in the Bhagavad-gītā. Śucīnām and śrīmatām. Śucīnām means purified family. Just like in India we have got the ideal purified family: a brāhmaṇa. Of course, nowadays, due to material advance of civilization, everything is polluted, but according to... Still there are some families very purified. If you go to their house, at once you will feel, \"Oh, it is a place fully purified.\" So śucīnām. Śucīnām means in the family of such purified brāhmaṇa. And śrīmatām. Śrīmatām means in the family of rich men.\nWhy these two chances are given? Because in the family of a pure cultural family, you get the chance of regenerating your lost spiritual consciousness which was unfinished in your last life. That you get chance. And in the rich man family you get chance because you haven't got to bother yourself how to maintain your body and soul together. Rich men get the opportunity that they haven't got to think over much about the maintenance of the body and soul together. Ordinary men, they have to seek how to earn the bread. Problem of bread is there. And for a rich man there is no such problem. He can advance in culture. He has the opportunity.\nBut unfortunately, a rich man's sons are misguided. They get some money without earning and they spend like anything for sense gratification. You see? But he should know, \"Oh, I have got this opportunity by the grace of Kṛṣṇa. Now let me peacefully advance myself in the science of Kṛṣṇa.\" This opportunity is offered by Kṛṣṇa, but we misuse.\nStill, but we should not wait for the chance of another birth. We should take the opportunity in this birth. Just like Kṛṣṇa prescribes here that simply by knowing the transcendental nature of Kṛṣṇa and His transcendental activities, one can get liberated. Why don't you do that? Why should you wait for another birth, either in the rich man's family or in the pure family of a brāhmaṇa? Because it is not exactly sure that because a person is born in the family of a pure brāhmaṇa, he is elevating spiritually. No. Sometimes we see that he is degrading because he is misusing or by bad association of the parents did not train him.\nSo we should not miss this opportunity of human life, and follow this instruction that janma karma me divyaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ [Bg 4.9].\n[One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.]\nAnyone who simply understands the transcendental nature of Kṛṣṇa, he becomes a liberated person. This opportunity we should take. And ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham [Bg 4.11].\n[All of them—as they surrender unto Me—I reward accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Pṛthā.]\nAnd we are already under the control of some leadership. That is a fact. Why should we not take exactly, directly, the leadership of Kṛṣṇa? This is the process. If you have got any doubt, that \"Why should I take the leadership of Kṛṣṇa?\" the answer is there in the Bhagavad-gītā. This is the real study of Bhagavad-gītā.\nIn the Bhagavad-gītā the Lord says that \"Arjuna, you are My dear friend. Therefore, although I have explained all the different branches of, I mean to say, spiritual cultivation, but the most confidential thing just I am telling you because you are My very dear friend.\" Sarva-dharmān parityajya [Bg 18.66]:\n[Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.]\n\"Just give up everything, and just be surrendered unto Me. I shall give you all protection.\" So instead of accepting so many infidel or imperfect leadership, let us accept the leadership of Kṛṣṇa and make our life perfect. That is the whole philosophy.\nNow, in the next śloka the Lord says,\nkāṅkṣantaḥ karmaṇāṁ siddhiṁ\nyajanta iha devatāḥ\nkṣipraṁ hi mānuṣe loke\nsiddhir bhavati karma-jā\n[Bg 4.12]\n[Men in this world desire success in fruitive activities, and therefore they worship the demigods. Quickly, of course, men get results from fruitive work in this world.]\nNow, I accept some particular class of leader because I belong to that status of ideas. So therefore you know that in the Vedic literature there are names of many demigods. Sometimes the Hindus are criticized that \"Hindus have got many gods.\" But they are not, I mean to..., the Supreme God. If somebody is a serious student of Upaniṣad, they will find that the demigods described, they are all, I mean to say, servants of the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa.\nBut here it is said, kāṅkṣantaḥ karmaṇāṁ siddhim. Sometimes we want something immediately by worshiping these demigod. Just like it is mentioned that if it wants..., if one aims to..., wants to be free from diseases, he has to worship the sun-god. If one has to become very beautiful or he wants a beautiful wife, then he has to worship Umā. Similarly, there are different gods' names in the Vedic literatures, and they become successful. That is not unreal. By worshiping those different demigods for particular purpose, they become successful. That is a fact.\nBut in another place you will find in the Bhagavad-gītā that it is said, I mean to say, kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ yajanty anya-devatāḥ [Bg 7.20]. \n[Those whose minds are distorted by material desires surrender unto demigods and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship according to their own natures.]\nKāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ: \"Those who are misguided by material desires, they take the shelter of other demigods.\" One goes to the worship of demigods because one is persuaded for a particular purpose. Just like one who wants to be very healthy man or to be free from all diseases, he worships the sun-god. Or one who wants to be..., to have a beautiful wife or becomes himself a very beautiful human, he worships the devī Umā.\nBut one who is convinced, one who is convinced that \"I am not this body...\" This is the thing: \"I am not this body.\" The material wants means bodily demands. Then he does not go to all these demigods. He takes at once shelter of the Supreme Lord. Jñānavān. Jñānavān, who has understood the problems of life. Jñānavān. Jñāna means who has understood the spiritual nature of the living being, he is called jñānavān. So jñānavān. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate [Bg 7.19].\n[After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.]\nOne who has become really learned, even after many, many births, and knows that \"I am not this body; I am spirit. My nature, my advancement, my happiness is depending on the advancement of my spiritual life,\" such a person only can take shelter of Kṛṣṇa, and perfectly.\nOthers, of course, as it is said, that those who are distressed or those who are in need of some wealth, they also goes to worship Kṛṣṇa, but for some temporary relief. But the benefit is that even such persons go to Kṛṣṇa worship for some temporary relief, but the benefit is that because he has gone to Kṛṣṇa, therefore, at the ultimate end, he will be devoid of all these material desires and will absolutely take shelter of Kṛṣṇa. There are many instances of that type, of that type.\nJust like Dhruva Mahārāja. Dhruva Mahārāja, he went to worship Kṛṣṇa just to have the property of his father. That's a long story. The property of his father... The father has two wives, and Dhruva Mahārāja mother, Dhruva Mahārāja's mother was neglected by the king. So he was going to be bereft of the father's property. So he wanted father's property. He went to in the forest to worship Kṛṣṇa just to ask Him, \"Give me my father's property.\" There was a desire. But, you will be glad to understand, when Dhruva Mahārāja, after finishing his tapasya, or penance, when he saw Kṛṣṇa, when Kṛṣṇa appeared before him as Viṣṇu: \"My dear boy, now whatever you want you can ask. I shall give you,\" now, he says, \"Oh, my Lord, I don't want anything anymore.\"\nNice... There is a verse, svāmin kṛtārtho 'smi varaṁ na yāce [Cc Madhya 22.42]:\n[”[When he was being blessed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Dhruva Mahārāja said:] ’O my Lord, because I was seeking an opulent material position, I was performing severe types of penance and austerity. Now I have gotten You, who are very difficult for the great demigods, saintly persons and kings to attain. I was searching after a piece of glass, but instead I have found a most valuable jewel. Therefore I am so satisfied that I do not wish to ask any benediction from You.’]\n\"My dear Lord, I am so satisfied that I have no desire to ask You.\" Why? Now, sthānābhilāṣi tapasi sthito 'ham: \"I came to accept this severe type of penance just to acquire the land of my father, or just desiring the possession of a few acres of land or any... But I have seen You. Who are You?\" Deva-munīndra-guhyam: \"Who is never seen even by the great demigods or great sages or great men by many years' penances. Therefore my profit is that I came to search out some particles of glass, broken glass, and I have got the diamonds. So what I have got to ask You? I am now satisfied.\"\nSo result is that even one is in need of money or he is in distress, as we'll find in the Seventh Chapter, that catur-vidhā bhajante māṁ sukṛtino 'rjuna [Bg 7.16], so even if you have got some desire within yourself, so the Bhagavad-gītā says, in spite of having that desire, you can worship Kṛṣṇa and ask, so that in future your desires will be desireless. You will not ask anything. Because that is pure devotion. So we have to wait.\nJust like jñānī. Jñānī, he does not desire anything to take in exchange, but he simply wants to know Kṛṣṇa, \"What is my relation with Kṛṣṇa?\" This is called jñānī. He has no other desire. Therefore, eko bhaktiḥ viśiṣyate. Jñānī has been eulogized. So even I am not jñānī, even I am a needy person, if I take to Kṛṣṇa and ask Him, that process is also recommended, because ultimately, when I shall be purified, I shall know my real nature. Then I shall say like Dhruva Mahārāja, svāmin kṛtārtho 'smi varaṁ na yāce: \"My dear Lord, I am fully satisfied. I don't want anything.\" Because spiritual consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is so bright, so illuminated and so valuable that in the presence of such consciousness you will directly deny to have any valuable things of this material world.\nSo we have to attain to that state. Now, that is the real aim of life, and Lord Kṛṣṇa personally is teaching in the Bhagavad-gītā. Why should we not take advantage of this? We should not refuse. If we refuse... We can refuse, because we are individual souls with independence. If you like, you can refuse. But we should not refuse. Here Kṛṣṇa says that \"Those who does not come to My leadership, but he goes indirectly to other leaders...\" We worship leadership—why? Because we want something from that leadership. Just like in our India during the, I mean the, Independence movement, so many people took part in the Congress movement, and later on, they became all ministers and high official, although they had no position in India's past life.\nSo it is possible that if we worship other demigods, we can get some temporary relief from our distress. But if you take to Kṛṣṇa, then the relief is permanent, and tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti, we can give up this body and go directly to the spiritual kingdom to be associated with Kṛṣṇa.\nNow, here Kṛṣṇa says, kāṅkṣantaḥ karmaṇāṁ siddhiṁ yajanta iha: \"People are deluded for temporary relief, and therefore they go to worship demigods.\" They get some immediate relief. That is their profit. But kṣipraṁ..., kṣipraṁ hi mānuṣe loke siddhir bhavati karma-jā. If you want some temporary relief, then you can worship this or that. But if you want really the ultimate relief... And that is the goal of human life, ultimate. Everyone is trying to get out of miseries. The whole struggle, either in the material field or in the spiritual field, the whole struggle is to get out of some miseries.\nSo perfect man or a very intelligent man, he should try to have the highest benefit of this life, and that is surrendering unto Kṛṣṇa. That is surrendering unto Kṛṣṇa. If we do that, then we are both materially and spiritually benefited. You will find in the later śloka that teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam [Bg 10.10].\n[To those who are constantly devoted and worship Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.]\nThe exact word, I forget now. It is said that \"Those who are engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness,\" Kṛṣṇa says, \"I supply them all that he needs. He hasn't got to ask anybody.\" He, Kṛṣṇa knows.\nJust like the father knows what is the necessity of his child who is depending fully on the father. The father may neglect of the grown-up children who is looking after his own business, but the child who is completely dependent on father and mother, the father-mother takes care.\nSimilarly, Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa says, yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham [Bg 9.22].\n[But those who worship Me with devotion, meditating on My transcendental form-to them I carry what they lack and preserve what they have.]\nAnyone who is fully in Kṛṣṇa consciousness without any consideration, then everything is taken care by Kṛṣṇa. This assurance is given. But if you don't believe in that assurance, if you don't believe in Kṛṣṇa, that is a different thing. But so far Bhagavad-gītā is concerned, if we become fully Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then our ultimate solution of all problems will be solved. That is a fact.\nNow if you have got any question, you can ask.\n[break] ...atomic, atom consistency of matter, have you got experience?",
"role": "assistant"
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{
"content": "\n Not experience.",
"role": "user"
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"content": "\n No, at least you have heard that there is atom.",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\n Yes.",
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"content": "\n As in the matter there is atom, similarly, spirit there is atom. Simply... Now, both these, beginning from the supreme down to the atom, this is, they are expansion of different energy of Kṛṣṇa—either this material atom or the spiritual atom. Now, we are spiritual atom. We living entities, we are spiritual atoms, and by material atomic combination we have developed this body, although this material body is foreign to me. Similarly, we can develop our spiritual body also in the spiritual world. Is it clear? Just like in the material world, in combination with matter we have developed this material body. Do you believe in this, that \"I am spiritual atom, and I have developed this material body on the basis of spiritual atom?\" It is a fact. It is a fact.\nJust like in the mother's womb when the spiritual atom takes place, then it grows; it forms the material body. Without that spiritual atom, there cannot be any growth of body. Simply sex intercourse does not give guarantee of pregnancy. Unless that spiritual atom is there, the body does not grow. That is... We get information from authoritative śāstra.\nSo the whole material world is also grown up upon the spiritual existence. And our whole problem is that instead of having this material body, we have to get our spiritual body. That is Kṛṣṇa conscious... That is the benefit of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti.\nNow, one who goes to Kṛṣṇa, do you mean to say, \"One who goes to Kṛṣṇa vacant\"? No. He goes to Kṛṣṇa with a body. Just like Kṛṣṇa has got body, so you also go before Him... Just like you come to me with a body; I go to you with a body. You are a spiritual atom; I am also spiritual atom. Now I have developed this body; you have developed this body. Our meeting is between these two bodies. Similarly, when you go to Kṛṣṇa, mad dhāma, or Kṛṣṇa's dhāma, His abode, we go there with spiritual body.\nYes?",
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"content": "\n Does the spiritual world contain spatial relationships?",
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"content": "\n Huh?",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\n Are things bounded by space in the spiritual world? In other words, is there spatial...",
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"content": "\n Yes. Yes. That is only spiritual. As you have got a material space, similarly, there is spiritual space. As you have got material body, similarly, you have got spiritual body.\nJanis\n:\n What is the difference between spiritual body and spiritual atoms?\n Yes. Matter is not eternal, and spirit is eternal. Matter is full of ignorance, and spirit is full of knowledge. Matter is full of unpleasantness, and spirit is full of pleasure, sac-cid-ānanda. That is the difference between matter and spirit.\nJanis\n:\n And what is the difference between spiritual atom and spiritual body? Or are they the same thing?\n No. Spiritual atom... Just like from the spiritual body you have developed this material body, similarly, from the spiritual atom you can develop your spiritual body. Tyaktvā deham. Tyaktvā deham means that giving up this material body, he develops this spiritual body and then goes to the kingdom of God, or Kṛṣṇa. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti. So when he goes to Kṛṣṇa, he goes in spiritual body. So there is potency of every living being. Just like he has got the potency of developing this material body, similarly, he has got the potency of developing spiritual body. Is it any difficulty to understand? It is clear.\nSo our problem is that we are suffering all kinds of miseries on account of this material body. Now, our business should be that we shall be cultured in Kṛṣṇa consciousness so that in next life will be my spiritual body. Then the solution of all problems solved. And so long we shall get material body repeatedly—just like we give up this dress and take another dress, similarly, we shall continue—then the four kinds of miseries, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi [Bg 13.9], or at least these four kinds of miseries—the miseries of birth, the miseries of death and the miseries of old age and miseries of diseases—we have to suffer.\n[Humility, pridelessness, nonviolence, tolerance, simplicity, approaching a bona fide spiritual master, cleanliness, steadiness and self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense gratification, absence of false ego, the perception of the evil of birth, death, old age and disease; nonattachment to children, wife, home and the rest, and evenmindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to Me, resorting to solitary places, detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self-realization, and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth—all these I thus declare to be knowledge, and what is contrary to these is ignorance.]\nAnd as soon as you get spiritual body, all these miseries over. Because your body is no more subjected to birth and death, disease and old age. That life is eternal, full of knowledge, and blissful. That you can get simply by studying the nature of Kṛṣṇa, transcendental nature of Kṛṣṇa.\nSo we are hankering after so many things. We are taking the leadership of this leader, that leader, that leader just to relieve, get relief from our temporary misery. Our duty should be just to get rid of all miseries by developing that spiritual body. That should be the aim of life. And that is possible by Kṛṣṇa consciousness.\nAny other question? Oh. [break]",
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"content": "\n I mean if it passed on. It's just a dim thought, that's all.",
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"content": "\n Your question is whether miseries are eternal or not.",
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"content": "\n Eternal force.",
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"content": "\n No. Miseries are not eternal. You can end your miseries. But if you want to end miseries materially, that is temporary. If you end your miseries spiritually, that is permanent. Just like in this world we are also trying to end our miseries. Suppose I am distressed or I am diseased. I go to hospital to end my miseries. But that misery are not permanent, er, that end of misery is not permanent—temporary. I can get again diseased. So long I have got this material body, that miseries can be repeated. That disease can be repeated. But if you get your spiritual body, then there is no more question of miseries.\nYes?",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\n Is a human birth superior in terms of self-realization? Is it superior to birth as a demigod?",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "\nHuh?",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\n Is the human birth superior in terms of self-realization? Is it superior to the birth as a demigod?",
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"content": "\n Yes. Demigod is also like you. Just like in the human society there are difference of bodies: One body is richer than the other body. One body is happier than the other body in material estimation. Similarly, in the higher planets there are different bodies who are happier than persons who are living in this material planet, I mean to..., this earthly planet. It is estimated that their standard of living is higher.\nJust like in this planet there are different nations and different people, and they have got different standard of living also. Your European and American people, your standard of living better than our Indian people, so far material consideration is there. You have got very nice toilet room, but the Indians go to the field to evacuate. You see? So in that way this country is advantageous.\nSo as you find even in this planet there are different species of life, different species of humankind, and they have got different standards of living, similarly, in the higher planet there are also living entities just like us. They are also like man, but their position is different. Their bodily constitution is different. Their living standard is different.\nBut in spite of different being, they are subjected to the material laws, the birth, death, old age and diseases. They are not free from that. Nobody is free. Within this universe, anyone, either human being or demigod or animal or anyone, they are subjected to these four principles of miseries: birth, death and old age and disease. So when you get out of this material world, then you get free from this. Their duration of life may be greater than your duration of life, but death is sure.\nYou cannot get rid of death in higher planets. Death is there, sure. The duration of life... Just like a man's duration of life than the duration of the life of a dog is greater, but both are subjected to the principle of death. That one cannot avoid. But if you want to avoid the subjugation under death, then you have to develop your spiritual body, and that is possible by Kṛṣṇa consciousness.\nAny other question? Yes?",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\n Are there individuals in these bodies?",
"role": "user"
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"content": "\n Eh?",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\n Are there individuals in these bodies? [indistinct]",
"role": "user"
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"content": "\n You are individual spirit. You are individual spirit. Are you not? Don't you feel it? Don't you feel your individuality?",
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"content": "\n Yes, but if there is one [indistinct] be eternally one.",
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"content": "\n Yes. You become one in the quality of spirit. Do you follow?",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\n No, I don't understand that I have got a spiritual body, really.",
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"content": "\n Oh, then... [chuckles] That you take information from Bhagavad-gītā. There is spiritual body. And why it is difficult to understand? You can understand it that your materially body has developed from that atomic existence of spirit. You can understand that?",
"role": "assistant"
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{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "user"
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"content": "\n Similarly, from that atomic spiritual existence, you can develop your spiritual body also. What is the difficulty? It is the same process. As you have developed your material body, similarly, you can develop your spiritual body. What is the difficulty in understanding it?",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\n But eventually don't we all merge in one spirit.",
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"content": "\n You are merged in matter; still, you have got your individual existence. What is your body? This is matter. Is it not? Then are you not merged in matter? Then still you have got your individuality existence. Don't you agree? Similarly, I may merge in the spiritual existence, but still, my individuality will be there. You are merged already in this matter. Just like when you leave this body, your body will be transformed into earth. That means it is already merged. Still, you have got separate existence. And what is that separate existence? Due to that spirit. So even in the matter, if the spirit can maintain separate existence, don't you think in spirit it cannot maintain its separate existence?\nMerging means just like aeroplane. Aeroplane is flying in the air, in the sky. When it goes too far, it becomes too small, you say, \"It has merged into the sky.\" But it has got, even in that position, it has got his... its separate existence. Just like a bird, a parrot, enters a tree. The tree is also green, and the bird is also green. When it enters the tree, you see no separate existence of the bird, but it has got a separate existence. Similarly, either you are in material existence or in spiritual existence, you are already merged, but you have got your separate existence. Is it clear?",
"role": "assistant"
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{
"content": "\nMm-hmm.",
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"content": "\nThank you. Now let us have kīrtana. [end]",
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] |
https://vedabase.io/en/library/cat/3/
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[
{
"content": "\n Question number three. “It is said that the greatest strength of Hinduism is its catholicity, or breadth of outlook, but that this is also its greatest weakness, in that there are very few common prescribed religious observances which are obligatory for all, as in other religions. Is it necessary and possible to outline certain basic minimum observances for all Hindus?”\n So far as the Vedic religion is concerned, it is not simply for the so-called Hindus. That is to be understood. This is sanātana-dharma, the eternal and universal nature and duty of every living being. It is for all living entities, all living beings. That is why it is called sanātana-dharma. That I have already explained. The living entity is sanātana, or eternal; God is sanātana; and there is sanātana-dhāma, the Lord’s eternal abode. As Kṛṣṇa describes in the Bhagavad-gītā [8.20], paras tasmāt tu bhāvo ’nyo vyakto ’vyaktāt sanātanaḥ: “Yet there is another unmanifest nature, which is eternal.” And in the eleventh chapter Kṛṣṇa Himself is described as sanātanaḥ. Do you remember? He is described as sanātanaḥ, the supreme eternal.\nSo actually, the Vedic system is called sanātana-dharma, not Hindu dharma. This is a wrong conception. This sanātana-dharma is meant for all living entities, not just the so-called Hindus. The very term “Hindu” is a misconception. The Muslims referred to the Indian people, who lived on the other side of the river Sind, as “Sindus” – actually, due to the peculiarities of pronunciation, as “Hindus.” In any case, the Muslims called India “Hindustan,” which means “the land on the other side of the river Sind, or ’Hind.’” Otherwise, “Hindustan” has no Vedic reference. So this “Hindu dharma” has no Vedic reference.\nThe real Vedic dharma is sanātana-dharma, or varṇāśrama-dharma. First of all, one has to understand this. Now that sanātana-dharma, or Vedic dharma, is being disobeyed, distorted, and misrepresented, it has come to be misunderstood as “Hinduism.” That is a fake understanding. That is not the real understanding. We have to study sanātana-dharma, or varṇāśrama-dharma. Then we’ll understand what the Vedic religion is.\nEvery living entity is eternal, sanātana. God is also eternal, and we can live with God in His sanātana-dhāma, His eternal abode. This reciprocation is called sanātana-dharma, the eternal nature and duty of the living being. So Vedic religion means this sanātana-dharma, not “Hindu dharma.” Read the verse from Bhagavad-gītā that describes Kṛṣṇa as sanātanaḥ.",
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"content": "\n\ntvam akṣaraṁ paramaṁ veditavyaṁ\ntvam asya viśvasya paraṁ nidhānam\ntvam avyayaḥ śāśvata-dharma-goptā\nsanātanas tvaṁ puruṣo mato me\n“You are the supreme primal objective. You are the ultimate resting place of this universe. You are inexhaustible, and You are the supreme eternal. You are the maintainer of the eternal religion, the Personality of Godhead. This is my opinion.” [Bhagavad-gītā 11.18]",
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"content": "\n This understanding is wanted. Kṛṣṇa is eternal, we are eternal, and the place where we will live with Him and exchange our feelings – that is eternal. And the system which teaches this eternal system of reciprocation – that is called sanātana-dharma, the eternal religion. It is meant for everyone.",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\n How can people follow sanātana-dharma on a practical, daily basis?",
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"content": "\n How are we doing it? Is it not practical? Kṛṣṇa requests, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru: “Always think of Me, become My devotee, worship Me, and offer your obeisances to Me.” Where is the impracticality? Where is the difficulty? And Kṛṣṇa promises, mām evaiṣyasy asaṁṣaya: “If you do this, you’ll come to Me. Without any doubt you’ll come to Me.” Why don’t you do that?\nLater Kṛṣṇa requests, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja: “Give up all varieties of concocted religion and simply surrender to Me.” This is practical religion. Just surrender to Kṛṣṇa and think, “I am a devotee of Kṛṣṇa, a servant of Kṛṣṇa.” Take this simple approach. Then everything will be immediately done. Real dharma, real religion, means dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam: what God says, that is dharma. Now, God says, “give up all this concocted dharma and just surrender unto Me.” So take that dharma.\nWhy don’t you take Kṛṣṇa’s instruction? Why do you go outside His instruction? That is the cause of all your troubles. You do not know the difference between this sanātana-dharma, the real, eternal religion, and your concocted dharma. If you take to some false religious system, then you suffer. But if you take to the real religious system, then you’ll be happy.\nOf course, nowadays India, like the rest of the world, has also given up the real religious system – sanātana-dharma, or varṇāśrama-dharma. In India they have accepted a hodgepodge thing called “Hinduism.” So there is trouble. Everywhere, but in India especially, people should know that the real religion is this Vedic system. Vedic religion means varṇāśrama-dharma. Kṛṣṇa says – God says – cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭam: “For spiritual and material progress, the four occupational divisions of society have been set up by Me.” So that is obligatory, just as the state law is obligatory. You cannot say, “I don’t accept this law.” No. You have to accept it if you want to have a happy life. You cannot become an outlaw. Then you’ll not be happy. You’ll be punished.\nNow, God says, mayā sṛṣṭam: “This varṇāśrama system is given by Me.” So how can we refuse to follow it? that means we are denying the real religion. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam: real dharma, real religion, means the order given by God. And God says, cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭam guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ: “For the proper management of human society, I have created these four social divisions based on people’s qualities and actions.” So you have to accept it.",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\n This would be the prescription for all people?",
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"content": "\n For everyone. At the head of the social body there must be the intelligent class of men, who will give advice; then there must be the administrative and protective class, the farming and mercantile class, and the laboring class. This is all given in the Bhagavad-gītā: brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra.\nBut when you fully surrender to Kṛṣṇa, you can give up all the regulations pertaining to these four social classes. That is why Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya: “In the ultimate issue, My instruction is to give up all religious formularies” – including even Vedic formularies – “and simply surrender to Me.” “Brāhmaṇa-dharma,” “kṣatriya-dharma,” “Hindu dharma,” this dharma, that dharma – give all these up and simply surrender to Kṛṣṇa, because the ultimate aim of dharma is to come to Kṛṣṇa. “You directly come to Me; then everything is all right.”",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\n So many people concoct their own system and say, “This is the way to go to God.”",
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"content": "\n Then let them suffer. What can be done? If you don’t accept the laws of the state and you manufacture your own laws, then you’ll suffer. The state says, “Keep to the right.” But if you make your own law – “No, I will keep to the left” – then you’ll suffer. It’s a fact.\nKṛṣṇa is personally advising: sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja: “Give up all your concocted religions and surrender to Me alone.” Take His advice and be happy.",
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] |
https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/710708ip-los-angeles/
|
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"content": "\n [sings along with Govindam prayers, then recites Śrī Īśopaniṣad verses 1-12 with devotees]\noṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṁ\npūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate\npūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya\npūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate\n[Īśo Invocation]\n[\"The Personality of Godhead is perfect and complete, and because He is completely perfect, all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as complete wholes. Whatever is produced of the Complete Whole is also complete in itself. Because He is the Complete Whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance.\"]\nīśāvāsyam idam sarvaṁ\nyat kiñca jagatyāṁ jagat\ntena tyaktena bhuñjīthā\nmā gṛdhaḥ kasya svid dhanam\n[Īśo mantra 1]\n[\"Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong.\"]\nkurvann eveha karmāṇi\njijīviṣec chataṁ samāḥ\nevaṁ tvayi nānyatheto 'sti\nna karma lipyate nare\n[Īśo mantra 2]\n[\"One may aspire to live for hundreds of years if he continuously goes on working in that way, for that sort of work will not bind him to the law of karma. There is no alternative to this way for man.\"]\nasuryā nāma te lokā\nandhena tamasāvṛtāḥ\ntāṁs te pretyābhigacchanti\nye ke cātma-hano janāḥ\n[Īśo mantra 3]\n[\"The killer of the soul, whoever he may be, must enter into the planets known as the worlds of the faithless, full of darkness and ignorance.\"]\nanejad ekaṁ manaso javīyo\nnainad devā āpnuvan pūrvam arṣat\ntad dhāvato 'nyān atyeti tiṣṭhat\ntasminn apo mātariśvā dadhāti\n[Īśo mantra 4]\n[\"Although fixed in His abode, the Personality of Godhead is swifter than the mind and can overcome all others running. The powerful demigods cannot approach Him. Although in one place, He controls those who supply the air and rain. He surpasses all in excellence.\"]\ntad ejati tan naijati\ntad dūre tad v antike\ntad antar asya sarvasya\ntad u sarvasyāsya bāhyataḥ\n[Īśo mantra 5]\n[\"The Supreme Lord walks and does not walk. He is far away, but He is very near as well. He is within everything, and yet He is outside of everything.\"]\nyas tu sarvāṇi bhūtāny\nātmany evānupaśyati\nsarva-bhūteṣu cātmānaṁ\ntato na vijugupsate\n[Īśo mantra 6]\n[\"He who systematically sees everything in relation to the Supreme Lord, who sees all living entities as His parts and parcels, and who sees the Supreme Lord within everything never hates anything or any being.\"]\nyasmin sarvāṇi bhūtāny\nātmaivābhūd vijānataḥ\ntatra ko mohaḥ kaḥ śoka\nekatvam anupaśyataḥ\n[Īśo mantra 7]\n[\"One who always sees all living entities as spiritual sparks, in quality one with the Lord, becomes a true knower of things. What, then, can be illusion or anxiety for him?\"]\nsa paryagāc chukram akāyam avraṇam\nasnāviram śuddham apāpa-viddham\nkavir manīṣī paribhūḥ svayambhūr\nyāthātathyato 'rthān vyadadhāc chāśvatībhyaḥ samābhyaḥ\n[Īśo mantra 8]\n[\"Such a person must factually know the greatest of all, the Personality of Godhead, who is unembodied, omniscient, beyond reproach, without veins, pure and uncontaminated, the self-sufficient philosopher who has been fulfilling everyone's desire since time immemorial.\"]\nandhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti\nye 'vidyām upāsate\ntato bhūya iva te tamo\nya u vidyāyām ratāḥ\n[Īśo mantra 9]\n[\"Those who engage in the culture of nescient activities shall enter into the darkest region of ignorance. Worse still are those engaged in the culture of so-called knowledge.\"]\nanyad evāhur vidyayā-\nnyad āhur avidyayā\niti śuśruma dhīrāṇāṁ\nye nas tad vicacakṣire\n[Īśo mantra 10]\n[\"The wise have explained that one result is derived from the culture of knowledge and that a different result is obtained from the culture of nescience.\"]\nvidyāṁ cāvidyāṁ c yas\ntad vedobhayaṁ saha\navidyayā mṛtyuṁ tīrtvā\nvidyayāmṛtam aśnute\n[Īśo mantra 11]\n[\"Only one who can learn the process of nescience and that of transcendental knowledge side by side can transcend the influence of repeated birth and death and enjoy the full blessings of immortality.\"]\nandhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti\nye 'sambhūtim upāsate\ntato bhūya iva te tamo\nya u sambhūtyām ratāḥ\n[Īśo mantra 12]\n[\"Those who are engaged in the worship of demigods enter into the darkest region of ignorance, and still more so do the worshipers of the impersonal Absolute.\"]\n[05:10] Page?",
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"content": "\n Page 14 in the middle, almost the middle of the first paragraph. \"The Vedas are not known like that. The Vedic knowledge was originally imparted into the heart of Brahmā, the first created living being, and Brahmā in his turn disseminated the knowledge to his sons and disciples, who have continued the process down thorough history.\"",
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"content": "\n Formerly, the spiritual master, the disciplic succession, there are two ways. One is called śaukra and another is called sautra. Śaukra means succession from the seminal. Just like son. Son is born by the semina, and the disciple is born by Vedic knowledge. So the one familywise is called śaukra. Śukra means semina, coming from the śukra. And the other is sautra: by hearing.\nThe spiritual master... In India still there are gotras. Gotras means coming from that great sage. Just like our family belongs to the Gautama gotra. Gautama Ṛṣi, from him the familywise gotra, and similarly disciplic succession is also gotra. There is no difference between putra and chatra. Putra means son, and chatra means disciple. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita said, putrāṁś ca śiṣyāṁś ca: they are equally treated. Both of them equally eligible for hereditary rites from the person, either he is son or disciple.\nSo Brahmā distributed knowledge to some... Practically everyone was his son, because he was the first living creature. So later on, disciples also, son's son. So in this way Brahmā distributed this Vedic knowledge, some to the sons, some to the... Vyāsadeva also, he distributed knowledge, some to his sons, some to his disciples. That is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So that is the process of disseminating Vedic knowledge.\nThen?",
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"content": "\n [reading:] \"The Lord being pūrṇam, or all-perfect, there is no chance of His being subjected to the laws of material nature, while the living entities and the inanimate objects are all controlled by the laws of nature and thus ultimately by the potency of the Lord. The Īśopaniṣad is a part of the Yajur Veda.\"",
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"content": "\n There are four Vedas—Sāma Veda, Yajur Veda, Ṛg Veda and Atharva Veda. Originally there was one Veda, but later on, Vyāsadeva divided them into four. So Yajur Veda is one of the Vedas, and the Īśopaniṣad is stated there. All the Upaniṣads are stated in the different kinds of Vedas. Therefore Upaniṣad is accepted as Vedic study.\nGo on.",
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"content": "\n \"The Īśopaniṣad is a part of the Yajur Veda, and as such, it contains information as to the proprietorship of all things that exist within the universe.\"",
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"content": "\n Just like evidence. Evidence... [aside:] Now you can sit down. Evidence, whenever we want to give evidence... Just like in law court, the evidence, you have to cite the section or the preamble of the laws. Similarly, in our human civilization this evidence is Veda. If you find something stated in the Vedas, that you have to accept. That's all. Axiomatic truth. And because the Vedas were particularly studied by the brāhmaṇas, high-class qualified brāhmaṇas, therefore they are also accepted as authority.\nJust like Caitanya Mahāprabhu, when He was at Purī, the king of that place, Mahārāja Pratāparudra, he inquired from Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, \"Oh, what is your opinion about this Caitanya who has come here?\" He said that \"He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.\" So the king immediately accepted it. King said, \"Oh, He is Supreme Personality of Godhead?\"\nSo he accepted immediately. There is no question of experimenting. Because an authority like Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya is stating, a brāhmaṇa, and... He was very learned scholar. You know Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya's name. So because he said that \"He is Supreme Personality...\" He did not ask any storekeeper, but he asked a learned brāhmaṇa who knows things.\nSo similarly, we have to accept in that way. In each and every case, if we want to research, it is not possible, because our senses are blunt senses. What you can do? Acintyāḥ khalu ye bhāvā na tāṁs tarkeṇa yojayet [Mahābhārata, Bhīṣma parva 5.22]. The śāstra says that \"Things which are beyond your conception, beyond your mental speculation\"—avāṅ-manasā gocaraḥ—\"neither you can express by words, neither you can think of.\" Avāṅ-manasā gocaraḥ.\nSo such things it is useless [to] try to understand by arguments. That is simply nonsense. You can, of course, inquire, but that inquiry is not challenge. If you inquire from your spiritual master by challenge, then it is your misfortune. You have to inquire from the spiritual master—that is indicated—sevayā, by service, by making him satisfied.\nTad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā [Bg. 4.34]. First of all you have to surrender, and then you have to please him by service. Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ **. If you can please him, then naturally Kṛṣṇa is pleased upon you. That is the injunction.\nSo this praśna... First of all you should find out somebody where you can surrender. If there is duplicity in surrender, that is useless. First of all see whether you can surrender there; then accept him spiritual master, and then please him by your service and inquiry. That is Vedic principle.\nThank you very much.\n[14:03] [kīrtana] [Prabhupāda plays gong] [prema-dhvani] [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/680610sb-montreal/
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"content": "\n[maṅgalācaraṇa prayers]\n...śalākayā\ncakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena\ntasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ\n[I offer my respectful obeisances unto my spiritual master, who with the torchlight of knowledge has opened my eyes, which were blinded by the darkness of ignorance.]\nśrī-caitanya-mano-'bhīṣṭaṁ\nsthāpitaṁ yena bhū-tale\nsvayaṁ rūpaḥ kadā mahyaṁ\ndadāti sva-padāntikam\n[When will Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī Prabhupāda, who has established within this material world the mission to fulfill the desire of Lord Caitanya, give me shelter under his lotus feet?]\nvande 'haṁ śrī-guroḥ śrī-yuta-pada-kamalaṁ śrī-gurūn vaiṣṇavāṁś ca\nśrī-rūpaṁ sāgrajātaṁ saha-gaṇa-raghunāthānvitaṁ taṁ sa-jīvam\nsādvaitaṁ sāvadhūtaṁ parijana-sahitaṁ kṛṣṇa-caitanya-devaṁ\nśrī-rādhā-kṛṣṇa-pādān saha-gaṇa-lalitā-śrī-viśākhānvitāṁś ca\n[I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of my spiritual master and of all the other preceptors on the path of devotional service. I offer my respectful obeisances unto all the Vaiṣṇavas and unto the Six Gosvāmīs, including Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī, Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, Jīva Gosvāmī and their associates. I offer my respectful obeisances unto Śrī Advaita Ācārya Prabhu, Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and all His devotees, headed by Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura. I then offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and all the gopīs, headed by Lalitā and Viśākhā.]\nhe kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho\ndīna-bandho jagat-pate\ngopeśa gopikā-kānta\nrādhā-kānta namo 'stu te\n[O my dear Kṛṣṇa, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the cowherd men and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṇī. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.]\ntapta-kāñcana-gaurāṅgi\nrādhe vṛndāvaneśvari\nvṛṣabhānu-sute devi\npraṇamāmi hari-priye\n[I offer my respects to Rādhārāṇī, whose bodily complexion is like molten gold and who is the Queen of Vṛndāvana. You are the daughter of King Vṛṣabhānu, and You are very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa.]\nvāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca\nkṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca\npatitānāṁ pāvanebhyo\nvaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ\n[I offer my respectful obeisances unto all the Vaiṣṇava devotees of the Lord. They can fulfill the desires of everyone, just like desire trees, and they are full of compassion for the fallen souls.]\nśrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya\nprabhu-nityānanda\nśrī-advaita gadādhara\nśrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda\n[I offer my obeisances to Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, Prabhu Nityānanda, Śrī Advaita, Gadādhara, Śrīvāsa and all others in the line of devotion.]\nhare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare\nhare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare\n[My dear Lord, and the spiritual energy of the Lord, kindly engage me in Your service. I am now embarrassed with this material service. Please engage me in Your service.]\nkaumāra ācaret prājño\ndharmān bhāgavatān iha\ndurlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma\ntad apy adhruvam arthadam\n[SB 7.6.1]\n[Prahlāda Mahārāja said: One who is sufficiently intelligent should use the human form of body from the very beginning of life—in other words, from the tender age of childhood—to practice the activities of devotional service, giving up all other engagements. The human body is most rarely achieved, and although temporary like other bodies, it is meaningful because in human life one can perform devotional service. Even a slight amount of sincere devotional service can give one complete perfection.]\nThis instruction of Prahlāda Mahārāja to his class fellows we are discussing for the last few days. His point of view is that this bhāgavata-dharma, or the occupational duty in relationship with God. Everyone has got some sort of engagement, occupation. Bhāgavata says,\nataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhā\nvarṇāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ\nsvanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya\nsaṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam\n[SB 1.2.13]\n[O best among the twice-born, it is therefore concluded that the highest perfection one can achieve by discharging the duties prescribed for one's own occupation according to caste divisions and orders of life is to please the Personality of Godhead.]\nEveryone is engaged in a particular type of occupational duty, never mind what is that occupation. You may be a religious priest, you may be a politician, you may be a nationalist, you may be a chemist, you may be a physist, you may be a philosopher, you may be a businessman, engineer—whatever you may be, it doesn't matter.\nYou may be Christian, you may be Hindu, you may be dark, you may be white, whatever is there, you have got a particular type of duty. Nobody is without any occupation. Everyone is engaged some sort of duty. The storekeeper is engaged in his business, the factory man is engaged in his business, the lawyer is engaged in his business. Everyone.\nSo Sūta Gosvāmī said, ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhā varṇāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ. There are different kinds of duties according to the different division of the human society. That is a fact. Nobody can deny it. But how one can understand that the duty he is performing is successful? How one can understand? What is the test? You may be whatever you are doing, that doesn't matter. But how it is tested, that whatever you have done in your whole life, it has become successful.\nThe test is, according to Bhāgavatam, svanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya. Everyone's duty, the point of perfection is saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam [SB 1.2.13], whether by your duty you have satisfied the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the duty. Then it is perfect. You are a great scientist? Very good. But if you can prove scientifically that there is God, that is successful. Otherwise, it is nonsense.\nIf you prove that there is no God, God is dead by scientific method, it is simply lunacy, craziness. That's all. Similarly, if you are philosopher, very expert in mental speculation and writing volumes of books, speculative, but if you can prove that there is God, then your philosophy is perfect—any line you take.\nSuppose you are a businessman. Formerly, in any part of the world... We have seen in your country, in my country, there are many old churches, old mosques, old temples. In India there are temples just like a fort—acres of land occupying big, big temples. So who has constructed these temples? Must be rich men, businessmen, landlords, princely order. Why? Because they wanted to satisfy God.\nEither you manufacture..., either you construct a church or temple or mosque, it does not matter. The idea behind is that he wanted that he has labored so hard, he has accumulated so much money, \"Let me spend something for God.\" But at the present moment there are so many skyscrapers, but nobody is constructing a nice church. This is the result of godless civilization. The mentality is changed, that formerly they... This bhāgavata-sūtra is saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam [SB 1.2.13].\nI'll give you one practical example. In my householder life I was a drugstore businessman. So one Muhammadan gentleman, he was supplying me bottles. So by doing this bottle business he accumulated some money. So one day I asked this old man—his name was Abdula—\"Well, Mr. Abdula, you have got some now money, I can understand. So how you are going to use it?\" So he said, \"My dear sir, I am thinking of constructing a mosque.\" He was Muhammadan. Just see his mentality, that he wanted... He accumulated some money, but now he wants to satisfy God, constructing a big temple or constructing...\nYou'll find in India some old temples, there are so many nice workmanship in stone. That means spent thousands and thousands of dollars. In here also I find so many nice churches, they have been spent by persons. What is the idea? The idea is anyone who has got some money, he wanted to satisfy God. So it doesn't matter what you are doing, but the test of your success will be considered as successful if you try to satisfy God.\nBecause we are, whole life, we are dragging from God. \"God, give us our daily bread,\" and God is supplying daily bread. Otherwise, where you are getting bread? You say, \"I am purchasing from the market.\" Oh, where the storekeeper got this wheat? It is produced by agriculture. But do you think that simply by machine it is produced? No. Unless there is some natural favorable condition, you cannot produce.\nThere are five causes: the land, labor, capital, organization, and Bhagavad-gītā accepts daiva, another cause. Daiva means godly. You may arrange everything, but if God is against you, in spite of your all arrangement, everything will be failure. That is described in the Bhagavad-gītā. They have searched out five causes for successful. So out of the five causes, daiva—daiva means the favor of God—that has been taken as the means for any successful thing.\nSo Prahlāda Mahārāja is teaching to his class friends that \"My dear friends, you try to understand this bhāgavata-dharma.\" What is bhāgavata-dharma? This is Sanskrit word. Bhāgavata means pertaining to God. Bhagavān means God, and bhāgavata, pertaining to God, that is called bhāgavata. So bhāgavata-dharma means..., the purpose of bhāgavata-dharma means pertaining to my..., you have to test the success of your activities by pleasing God. That is bhāgavata-dharma. \nJust like in your office you want to satisfy your boss. In your school or college you want to satisfy your teacher or principal. Similarly, the supreme teacher, the supreme boss, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam [SB 1.2.13]. This is the sum and substance of bhāgavata-dharma, that one has to test the success of his activities. It doesn't matter what it is.\nNow at the present moment in a godless civilization, if some great scientist proves... Just like Professor Einstein, he also said that as we are making advance in science we find that there is a big brain behind this cosmic manifestation. That is acceptance of God. What is that big brain? That big brain is God. The Vedānta-sūtra says, janmady asya yataḥ [SB 1.1.1]. Just like when you see a wonderful bridge or wonderful engineering work, you must think that there is a brain behind it. This nice construction, there is a brain behind it.\nSimilarly, those who are sane men, they'll see that with this cosmic..., in this cosmic manifestation, so wonderfully working. The sun is rising in due time, the moon is rising in due time, the seasons are being changed in due course, the rain is there, the produce is there, the fruit is there, everything is nicely arranged. So don't you think that there is a brain behind it? Must be. The Bhagavad-gītā says, mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram [Bg. 9.10].\n[This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kuntī, and it is producing all moving and unmoving beings. By its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.]\nDon't think that this material nature is working automatically or independently. There is a brain behind it.\nThe other day there was some difficulty in my Dictaphone, and the mechanic man came. He opened. So many arrangements of different kinds of wire. Similarly, we have got this body, a similar arrangement. The veins are so nicely arrangement, the intestines are so nicely arranged, just like the same way as in a machine the wirings are very nicely arranged.\nSo if for that machine there is a brain, don't you think that in this machine, behind this, there is no brain? There must be brain. This is commonsense affair. So this godless civilization means people have lost even common sense. Even common sense. Otherwise, you may, if you use in a harsh word, that they have become fools and rascals, that's all. They have lost their common sense.\nSo Prahlāda Mahārāja is stressing that this God consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, should be learned from the very beginning of life. Kaumāra ācaret prājña. Prājña means one who is intelligent. So children, they have no intelligence. They have intelligence, but they have to be put into intelligence by the guardians.\nSo if the guardian, if the father and mother is intelligent, if the teacher is intelligent, if the government policy is intelligent, then the process should be to teach the small children from the very beginning of life God consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Otherwise this world is going to hell. It has already gone, and it will go. The result will be that I'll kill you, you'll kill me. So both of us will be killed.\nAnd this human form, or the facility of this human form of life, which was given to us by grace of God or by the mercy of material nature, Prahlāda Mahārāja says that \"Don't misuse it. Don't misuse it like animals, simply eating, sleeping and mating and defending.\" Durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma [SB 7.6.1]. Don't be assured that your next life is going again to be a human form of life. It may be... There are 8,400,000 species of life, and according to my work I may enter into any type of body. Durlabhaṁ.\nTherefore this rare opportunity that we have got this human form of life, mānuṣaṁ durlabhaṁ janma..., durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma tad apy adhruvam. And it will not exist for very long time. But if you utilize it properly, then you can achieve the greatest boon. What is that? Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You can achieve the greatest boon. So Prahlāda Mahārāja is recommending that \"From the very childhood, my dear friends, you learn what is God consciousness or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Otherwise, if you advance in age, then you'll be more complicated, more complicated.\"\nActually, we are experiencing. We have got about eight branches of our this movement. Not only this movement; any movement. Generally, these youngsters, they are being attracted. Any nice movement started, the youngsters, they become more attracted. Not the, I mean to say, elderly people. Because elderly people, whatever they have understood, it takes to forget for some time. But if they try they can also understand. But Prahlāda Mahārāja is recommending that before growing very old, from the childhood, receptive state, one should learn this Kṛṣṇa consciousness.\nOtherwise, he says,\nko gṛheṣu pumān saktam\nātmānam ajitendriyaḥ\nsneha-pāśair dṛḍhair baddham\nutsaheta vimocitum\n[SB 7.6.9]\n[What person too attached to household life due to being unable to control his senses can liberate himself? An attached householder is bound very strongly by ropes of affection for his family [wife, children and other relatives].]\nHe has analyzed the life, that our duration of life may be for one hundred years. Out of that, fifty years we spoil by sleeping, because at night we sleep ten hours, twelve hours. There is twenty-four hours duration of day and night. So supposing that I sleep for twelve hours, day and night, then actually I live fifty years, because sleeping is death. That is also daily death. The sleeping...\nWhat is the different between death and sleeping? There is no difference. Just like at the present moment we are sleeping, say, for twelve hours or eight hours or ten hours and getting up in the next morning, and death means we shall sleep for seven months continually, and when we get up I see another body. That is birth and death. That is birth and death.\nDeath means you give up this body. \"You\" means the soul. And you carry yourself with your subtle body—mind, intelligence and ego. According to your mental situation you enter into the womb of a mother injected by the semina of your father; you get an opportunity to grow another body. It takes about seven months to grow that body. So during this period, I mean to say, quitting this body, entering into another body and to develop that body, come to the consciousness point of view, it takes seven months. So death means sleeping for seven months.\nSo this sleeping, our daily sleeping, is also a sample of death. We are experiencing for twelve hours only or ten hours only, but this death means you'll have to sleep for seven months, then when you wake up you'll see that you have got another body. That's all. Just like you are getting every moment a different body, similarly, death..., birth and death means to change this body and to get another, new body.\nVāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya [Bg. 2.22].\n[As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, similarly, the soul accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.]\nThe Bhagavad-gītā says that just like we change one set of garment which is not usable—we throw it away and take another set of garment—similarly, when this body is old enough, it cannot be pulled on, the machine has gone wrong, it cannot work anymore, that is called death. You stop breathing, but you are transferred, transmigrated to another body. So death we are experiencing daily.\nSo out of hundred years, old age, age, the span of life, we are practically dead for fifty years because we are sleeping. Then the fifty years, out of the remaining fifty years, in our childhood we are very much fond of sporting and playing. So twenty years by playing. So seventy years gone. Then during old age, family adjustment, so many things not done, thinking, thinking, another twenty years.\nSo in this way, unless we are trained up in our childhood about the science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or God consciousness, it will be very difficult to take up this consciousness with our grown-up age. Prahlāda Mahārāja is therefore recommending, kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha [SB 7.6.1].\n[Prahlāda Mahārāja said: One who is sufficiently intelligent should use the human form of body from the very beginning of life—in other words, from the tender age of childhood—to practice the activities of devotional service, giving up all other engagements. The human body is most rarely achieved, and although temporary like other bodies, it is meaningful because in human life one can perform devotional service. Even a slight amount of sincere devotional service can give one complete perfection.]\nHe's giving practical example that,\nko gṛheṣu pumān saktam\nātmānam ajitendriyaḥ\nsneha-pāśair dṛḍhair baddham\nutsaheta vimocitum\n[SB 7.6.9]\n[What person too attached to household life due to being unable to control his senses can liberate himself? An attached householder is bound very strongly by ropes of affection for his family [wife, children and other relatives].]\nWhen you are grown up... Nānu yauvane gṛhāsakto 'pi paśyad viraktaḥ syān kṣemaṁ yac chreyāt tat asambhavaṁ darśayan kaumāram eva ācaret. Now we have general tendency... The Śaṅkarācārya said... He was walking on the street, a sannyāsī. The sannyāsī's business is to walk from village to village, town to town, and approach the householder as beggar: \"Mother, give me something to eat.\" He's not a beggar, but he takes the position of beggar.\nBecause everyone is charitably disposed, he thinks proud, \"Oh, here is a nice beggar, sannyāsī, let me give him something.\" But the sannyāsī's desire is to introduce himself as a beggar so that the householder can take up the advantage that \"Here is a sannyāsī. Please come on.\" Naturally he'll ask something, \"Swāmījī, what is this? What is this?\" So he'll get some opportunity to speak something.\nSo naturally we are inclined to enjoy this life. So if somebody thinks that \"Now I am young man, let me enjoy my senses...\" At the present moment, youth, the senses are very, I mean to say, in order. So let us enjoy it. And when we get old age, when their senses will not be so expert for enjoyment, then we shall think of Kṛṣṇa consciousness or God consciousness. That is the general tendency. Or the children, they think, \"Let us play.\"\nSo Śaṅkarācārya says, bālasya tāvat kriyāsakta. \"Oh, what I am seeing? All the children in the street, I see they're all engaged in playing.\" Taruṇas tāvat taruṇī-raktaḥ. \"And the young boys and girls, they are after sex.\" So tarunas tavat taruṇī-raktaḥ, vṛddhas tāvat cinta-magnaḥ. And the old men, they are very thoughtful how to adjust the so-big family. \"This son is not yet posted in a nice post. The daughter is not married.\" So many things.\nSo old man is thoughtful, thinking, and the young men, they are after boys and girls, and the children, they are playing. So Śaṅkarācārya is lamenting, bālasya tāvad kriyāsaktas taruṇas tāvat taruṇī-raktaḥ, vṛddhas tāvat cinta-magnaḥ parame brahmaṇi ko 'pi na lagnaḥ. \"I do not see anybody searching after God consciousness.\" Everyone is engaged in a different way.\nSo unless we train the children from the very beginning of life, just we send to school, they learn so many things, A-B-C-D, similarly, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness should be taught from the very beginning. Otherwise, while he's grown up, either he'll be engaged in searching after boy or girl or in playing or in family matters, or so many problems, to solve so many problems, political, social. They'll be all engaged. Then one day, [makes sound] phat!, the death will come. The cruel death will not wait. \"Oh, my dear sir, now come on.\" \"Oh, I have got so many duties.\" \"No. Finished. Come on.\"\nI have seen practically. One of my friends at Allahabad, he died at the age of fifty-four years. He was very rich man, doing business. So he was seriously ill, and he was begging the doctor, \"My dear doctor, can you not give me at least four years' life more? I have got some scheme; I could not finish it.\" Just see. Everyone is thinking like that. He has got a scheme, but he has no scheme where he is going either to hell or heaven. That scheme he has forgotten. He's trying to make scheme so long this fifty years, hundred years. You see? This is going on. Parame brahmaṇi ko 'pi na lagnaḥ.\nSo Prahlāda Mahārāja says, \"Don't misuse your this boon of life, this human form of life. Just begin from the beginning.\"\nko gṛheṣu pumān saktam\nātmānam ajitendriyaḥ\nsneha-pāśair dṛḍhair baddham\nutsaheta vimocitum\n[SB 7.6.9]\n[What person too attached to household life due to being unable to control his senses can liberate himself? An attached householder is bound very strongly by ropes of affection for his family [wife, children and other relatives].]\nJust like there is affection, attraction. This gentleman, my friend, who was begging from the doctor, \"Doctor, another four years' duration of life.\" Why? He has got so much attachment. So once we are attached to this material way of life it is very difficult. It is very difficult. So brahmacārī is trained that this cosmic manifestation in which we are put by chance, this is temporary. Everything will be finished today or tomorrow or after a hundred years.\nBut just try to understand that you are eternal. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ [Bs. 5.1]. \n[Kṛṣṇa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.]\nNa jāyate na mriyate kadācit [Bg. 2.20].\n[For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.]\nYou have no death, you have no birth. Your the birth and death is due to this body. That's all. Just like I told you, death means sleeping for seven months, again rise up. Suptotthito nyāya. Just like in the morning... While sleeping, you forget everything, but as soon as you get up from the bed you remember everything, \"Oh, I have to do this, I have to go there, I have to do this.\" So many things you remember. Similarly, as soon as we get our again consciousness in next body, then our another batch of duty begins according to the body.\nThat is also explained, deha-yogena dehinām [SB 7.6.3].\n[Prahlāda Mahārāja continued: My dear friends born of demoniac families, the happiness perceived with reference to the sense objects by contact with the body can be obtained in any form of life, according to one's past fruitive activities. Such happiness is automatically obtained without endeavor, just as we obtain distress.]\nAnother standard of sense gratification. Because the human body's sense gratification is different from dog's body's sense gratification. Or European sense gratification is different from African sense gratification, because it is due to the body. So wherever you take your birth, in this planet or another planet, or this family or that family, this nation or that, that sense gratification arrangement is already there according to your body. You cannot improve it. If a dog likes to gratify his senses like a man, it is not possible, because he has got a particular type of body. Deha-yogena dehinām.\nSo that sense... Just like a dog has no economic problem. So a cat has no economic problems, a bird has no economic problem. But we civilized human being, we have got economic problem. Why? Now, because the advanced consciousness which are to be used for understanding our relationship with God, we are utilizing, misusing it for sense gratification. The advanced consciousness which was given to us by the law of nature, to utilize it to understand what is God, what is my relationship with Him and what is my duty in that relationship, this is the boon to understand in the human life, but we don't care for it.\nThat is the misunderstanding of this present civilization. We are trying to improve the dog civilization. What is that dog civilization? A dog sleeps. So we are trying to improve the accommodation of sleeping. Dog eats. Oh, we are trying to improve the condition of our eating. The dog eats some meat, but we are not meat-eaters, but we want to imitate dog, so therefore we have to arrange so many things. We have to maintain a big slaughterhouse.\nSo dog has no problem, but we have got problems, because we are misusing our advanced consciousness simply in the same way as the dog: eating, sleeping, mating or defending. The dog has also defending power. As soon as another dog comes, \"bow, bow, bow.\" So similarly, we have got defending power, immigration department, visa department, this department, defensive department. What is this? This is all defense.\nSo eating, sleeping, defense or sex life is required, but you have got another prerogative: consciousness. That is to be changed into..., that is to be improved into Kṛṣṇa consciousness or God consciousness. That is your duty. So unless we are trained up to change our consciousness which we have had in many other animal life... Because this is evolutionary process. Jalajā nava-lakṣāni [Padma Purāṇa].\n[There are 900,000 species living in the water. There are 2,000,000 nonmoving living entities [sthāvara] such as trees and plants. There are 1,100,000 species of insects and reptiles, and 1,000,000 species of birds. As far as quadrupeds are concerned, there are 3,000,000 varieties, and there are 400,000 human species.]\nFrom 900,000's of species of life of aquatics, then trees and plants, then reptiles, worms, then birds, then beasts, then uncivilized men, then we have come to this form of civilized men who are..., there is intelligence for production, there is nice brain for so many things. So how it should be utilized? Prahlāda Mahārāja says it should be utilized for understanding God consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Otherwise, it is simply a misuse of life.\nThank you very much.",
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"content": "\n You say that Kṛṣṇa consciousness teaching should start at an early age. But does that mean we should consider ourselves at the age of a very small child towards beginning Kṛṣṇa consciousness?",
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"content": "\n Yes. Just like we send small children to nursery school, or preliminary, primary schools, similarly... Because that is the age, receptive age. So Kṛṣṇa consciousness should be taught from that childhood age. Therefore I wanted that on Sunday, let people send their children here, and we shall teach Kṛṣṇa consciousness.\nYou'll be surprised that in India I approached so many gentlemen, \"My dear sir, you have got four boys. Give me one boy. Let me teach Kṛṣṇa consciousness.\" So they'll say, \"Swāmījī, what they'll do learning Kṛṣṇa consciousness? How they will struggle for existence?\" So nobody wants it. Nobody wants. They think that by sending boys to Kṛṣṇa consciousness school, the boy will be spoiled. That is their idea. Yes.",
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"content": "\n Swāmījī, you mentioned that death is actually sleeping for seven months?",
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"content": "\n Yes.",
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"content": "\n Is this provided you take on a human form of life?",
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"content": "\n Not necessarily.",
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"content": "\n If you take on a dog's body then it's still seven months?",
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"content": "\n Not seven months. I am speaking from the human point of view. But that consciousness is, I mean to say, subdued for a few days, a few months, then you get another body. Again consciousness is there, and you begin your work. Even you get human form of life, but if you do not utilize it properly, then what is the use of getting human form of life? That is the defect, that there is no training. There are so many university department, but there is no department for understanding what is the soul or what is God. No department.\nThis Bhagavad-gītā teaches this department of knowledge. Beginning. From the very beginning. The Bhagavad-gītā is begun from the understanding that Arjuna was spoken by Kṛṣṇa, aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādāmś ca bhāṣase [Bg. 2.11]:\n[The Blessed Lord said: While speaking learned words, you are mourning for what is not worthy of grief. Those who are wise lament neither for the living nor the dead.]\n\"My dear Arjuna, you are talking like a very learned man but,\" gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ, \"but actually one who is learned man, he does not bother about this body either dead or alive.\" This is not the subject matter, to supply the necessities of body. This is not the subject matter of study for a learned man. In other words, the whole world is absorbed in the study of this body only.\nSo there is no learned man according to Bhagavad-gītā. Aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādāmś ca bhāṣase [Bg. 2.11].\n[The Blessed Lord said: While speaking learned words, you are mourning for what is not worthy of grief. Those who are wise lament neither for the living nor the dead.]\nThat \"You are talking...\" Actually, so many learned men, M.A., Ph.D., with university qualification, they are talking so much, but as soon as they are asked, \"Do you know what is the soul?\" they stop.\nYes?",
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"content": "\n I have here a Holy Bible.",
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"content": "\n Yes.",
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"content": "\n The Holy Bible is written by the Holy Spirit of mankind. Should we believe on the Bible or not?",
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"content": "\n But so far I know, that the man who wrote, he wrote with..., on revelation.",
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"content": "\n The Holy Spirit.",
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"content": "\n Yes. Therefore you should read. That... Just try to understand. If somebody, ordinary man, writes a book, he'll write book on his own experience. Therefore he's a..., because he is imperfect, because his senses are imperfect, he has got a cheating propensity, he is sure to commit mistake and he's sure to be illusioned.\nHis position being such, he cannot give us any perfect knowledge. Because he's imperfect by constitution. Every man will commit mistake. Every man will be illusioned. Just like every one of us illusioned. I am not this body, but I'm thinking I'm this body. And the whole activity of my life is based on this body. So therefore whole thing is mistake, illusion.\nSimilarly, a conditioned soul, anyone, he has got a propensity to cheat. Everyone wants to be very intelligent. How? By cheating others. He thinks, \"Oh, I have cheated that man. I am very intelligent.\" This propensity every one of us we have got. Therefore he has got a cheating propensity. And over all, the senses by which he's acquiring knowledge by speculating, that is imperfect.",
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"content": "\n The body is Krish-na. Krish-na [indistinct], Christ. Body of Christ, the whole spirit.",
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"content": "\n Body of Christ is not ordinary body. That is spiritual body. Kṛṣṇa..., as Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata [Bg. 4.7], \n[Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion—at that time I descend Myself.]\nparitrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ\nvināśāya ca duṣkṛtām\ndharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya\nsambhavāmi yuge yuge\n[Bg. 4.8]\n[In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium.]\nSo this is a very subtle point. One has to understand that when God comes or God's son comes or God's representative comes, they do not accept a body like us. They have their spiritual body.",
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"content": "\n \"Kṛṣṇa\" means Christ. He's the whole spirit. We are in the body of man. That is the body of God.",
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"content": "\n The body of man is not exactly body of God. There is no difference between the body and soul of God, because it is spiritual. The soul is spiritual, the body is spiritual. Just like if you have got your golden body and golden soul, there is no difference between the soul and body. But in our case, we, as we are, we are spirit soul, but this body is material; therefore I am different from this body. But when you are liberated, we get spiritual body. Similar..., at that time, as Kṛṣṇa has no difference between His body and soul, similarly, we also have no difference between body and soul.\nBut at the present moment we have got difference with the body and soul. Therefore as soon as the soul goes away from this body, the body being matter, \"Dust thou art, dust thou beist.\" It mixes with the matter. The soul takes another body. The whole problem is that we have to stop this repetition of migration from one material body to another material body. That is the highest perfection of life.",
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"content": "\n After that seven months of unconsciousness in the body, in the womb, what does that spirit soul experience from that time till it comes out?",
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"content": "\n He remains unconscious.",
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"content": "\n After seven months?",
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"content": "\n After seven months he gets consciousness.",
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"content": "\n And from that time to that ninth month when he leaves the body, what's his experience? Or what's his understanding, spirit soul?",
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"content": "\n So many understanding, experience. Just like we have got so many experiences in different types of body.",
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"content": "\n He doesn't know his position.",
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"content": "\n No. That position, unless he goes to a spiritual master, tad-vijñānarthaṁ sa gurum evābhiga... [MU 1.2.12], how can he know?\n[To understand these things properly, one must humbly approach, with firewood in hand, a spiritual master who is learned in the Vedas and firmly devoted to the Absolute Truth.]\nJust like a diseased man, he'll say he does not know what is his disease, but as soon as he goes to a physician, he says, \"My dear sir, you are suffering from this disease.\" Just like Arjuna. Arjuna, he was suffering from this material disease. He was thinking about his relationship with this body, and Kṛṣṇa treated him, that \"You are not this body.\" Similarly, everyone wants to be treated that he is not body, he's spirit soul. Then he'll understand his real position.\nAt that time, brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā [Bg. 18.54].\n[And of all yogīs, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.]\nOh, as soon as he understands, \"Oh, I am spirit soul, I have got a spiritual kingdom,\" so many things, then brahma-bhūtaḥ prasanna..., he has no more any anxiety for this material condition of life. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati. He has no more any anxiety, no more any desire. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu: and he looks equally to everyone. Mad-bhaktiṁ labhate: and again engages himself in the matter of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.\nThis is awakening. And the Vedas say, uttiṣṭhata jāgrata prāpya varān nibodhata [Kaṭha Upaniṣad 1.3.14]:\n[Please wake up and try to understand the boon that you now have in this human form of life. The path of spiritual realization is very difficult; it is sharp like a razor's edge. That is the opinion of learned transcendental scholars.]\n\"My dear sir, you have got this human body. Just wake up. Don't sleep any more like animals.\" Prāpya varān nibodhata: \"You have got this fortunate body. Just utilize it.\" Tamasi mā jyotir gamaḥ: \"Don't remain in darkness. Come to the light.\" These things are to be learned. Yes?",
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"content": "\n [indistinct]",
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"content": "\n What is that? Janārdana?",
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"content": "\n [explaining] In Tibetan literature, there's a concept that there is 72,000 years allotted?\n [indistinct]\n You mean once you get a human body, then you can have 72,000 years?\n [indistinct]\n Well, in the Vedic scriptures there are 8,400,000 different incarnations.\n No, not the species. I'm not talking about the species. But 72,000 years...\n And what happens if you don't make it?\n I don't know. That's what I'm wondering.",
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"content": "\n Now... I can understand. Now suppose a boy in this classroom is given some task. The teacher says, \"You are allowed two hours to finish this task.\" Now if the boy is intelligent he can finish it in few minutes. Or if he is not intelligent, he cannot finish even in two hours.\nSimilarly, that allowance is very nice, the 72,000's of years. But if you get the opportunity in 72 days to come out, why should you not take that opportunity? Why should you put yourself into that 72,000 years? If there is a means to get out of this entanglement in 72 days, why should you lose this opportunity? Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said,\nbahūnāṁ janmanām ante\njñānavān māṁ prapadyate\nvāsudevaḥ sarvam iti\nsa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ\n[Bg. 7.19]\n[After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.]\n\"After many, many births\"—the same thing; 72,000's of years or any number of years—\"one who is wise, one who has attained wisdom, he surrenders unto Me.\" How? Now, he understands, vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti: God, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, all-pervading. Vāsudeva means all-pervading. He is everything. Therefore let me surrender unto Him. Sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ: that sort of great soul is very rare.\nNow if this is the position, that ultimately we have to surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead after many, many births, take it for 72,000's of years or any number... Now here I get the information from the Bhagavad-gītā that simply by surrendering unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead I become wise man.\nSo why not surrender immediately? Why shall I wait for 72,000's of years? Let me do it immediately. That is wisdom. That is wisdom. The things which I am going to get after 72,000's of years, if I am getting it immediately, oh, catch up this opportunity. That is intelligence. [break]",
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"content": "\n [indistinct]",
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"content": "\n Yes?",
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"content": "\n Are we duty-bound to maintain our body?",
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"content": "\n You are not maintaining your body. You are given a body to fulfill your desire. You get a particular type of body to fulfill your desire. You desire... Just like we have got, you analyze each and every one of us, each and every one has got a different type of body. Why? Each and every one of us has got a different type of mentality. That mentality is going on, and according to that mentality you are getting different types of body. So this body means to give me opportunity to satisfy a different type of mentality. That is God's grace.\nye yathā māṁ prapadyante\ntāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham\n[Bg. 4.11]\n[All of them—as they surrender unto Me—I reward accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Pṛthā.]\nYou wanted this body, God has given you this body. If you want a tiger's body, God will give you a tiger's body. If you want a demigod's body, God will give you a demigod's body.\nyānti deva-vratā devān\npitṝn yānti pitṛ-vrataḥ\nbhūtejyā yānti bhūtāni\nmad-yājino 'pi yānti mām\n[Bg. 9.25]\n[Those who worship the demigods will take birth among the demigods; those who worship ghosts and spirits will take birth among such beings; those who worship ancestors go to the ancestors; and those who worship Me will live with Me.]\nBut if you want a God's body you will get it also. So why not take a God's body? This is the opportunity. This is the opportunity.\n[break] ...desire this body, that body, this body, that body, I have traveled so many bodies, 8,400,000's of bodies. Now here is a body where is perfect consciousness. I can understand that if I like, I can get next birth God's body.\n[break] ...means the same body as God has, sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ [Bs. 5.1].\n[Kṛṣṇa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.]\nSo this is illusion that I think that I am maintaining this body. You are not maintaining this body. The nature's law, nature's supply, nature's arrangement, that is... Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ [Bg. 3.27].\n[The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities, which are in actuality carried out by nature.]\nThe nature is acting according to the different qualities. And ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā, being puffed up, one thinks that \"I am doing this.\" Nonsense, you cannot do it anything. You are being forced to do by the laws of nature.\nYes.",
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"content": "\n So if the activities is going on with the laws of nature, then how do you become Kṛṣṇa consciousness? Do you [indistinct] yourself completely?",
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"content": "\n That Kṛṣṇa says, that sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ... [Bg. 18.66].\n[Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.]\n\"You nonsense. You give up all this nonsense business. Come to Me.\" So we have..., you have to develop such knowledge. \"Oh, Kṛṣṇa says like this, let me do this.\"\n[break] \"...faith that whatever engagement you have manufactured, it is simply troublesome, miserable for your life. Don't try to manufacture any more. Please come to Me.\" \"Oh, how shall I live?\" Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ [Bg. 18.66]: \"Don't bother. I shall give you protection.\"\nUnfortunately, we do not follow. We have no business to maintain this body or that body, but simply to surrender to God. Then everything will be done.\n[break] ...maintain your body. Everyone is trying to become President Johnson or something like that. Does it mean that he will become? The arrangement is pre-arrangement. You may work day and night, hard labor, but you'll get whatever is destined to you. That's all. You cannot get more.\nThat is being taught by Prahlāda Mahārāja. Just like a dog, he has got a particular type of body. He is confined in that bodily activities. If a dog likes that \"I shall be President Johnson,\" is it possible? However..., how much he may try, that body will not allow him. Similarly, we have got a particular type of body to enjoy a particular type of sense gratification. If we try to go beyond that, it is not possible.\nTherefore Prahlāda Mahārāja says, \"Don't try foolishly in that way. If you have got any energy, try to understand Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That will make you happy.\" Don't misuse your energy in that way, that \"I shall become this, I shall become that.\" That you cannot become.\n[break] ...the example, yathā duḥkham ayatnataḥ [SB 7.6.3].\n[Prahlāda Mahārāja continued: My dear friends born of demoniac families, the happiness perceived with reference to the sense objects by contact with the body can be obtained in any form of life, according to one's past fruitive activities. Such happiness is automatically obtained without endeavor, just as we obtain distress.]\nYou are trying to be happy in a different way. That is not the way of happiness. But you are thinking that \"I shall be happy in this way.\"\nBut that also you cannot do. Your happiness, whatever is destined to you, that will come automatically. How? He gives the example, yathā duḥkham ayatnataḥ. Just like a misery of your life, you do not try for it, but it comes upon you automatically. Similarly, the happiness of your life will also come upon you automatically. So do not try to waste your time for so-called happiness or to drive away so-called distress. Just push yourself under the protection of Kṛṣṇa. He will manage everything and you'll be happy.\n[break] ...and so far occupation is concerned, just see whether by your occupation you are satisfying God. That is your perfection.\n[break] Kṛṣṇa does not say that you change your occupation. Just like Arjuna. He is a kṣatriya. His business is to fight. The division of human society, brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya and śūdra, is very scientific. A kṣatriya is meant for fighting. A brāhmaṇa is meant for intelligent work. A vaiśya is meant for business. A śūdra is meant for labor.\nBut because there is no such division, people are not trained from the very beginning. Therefore a śūdra is called by the draft board, \"Come on,\" to fight. Now, how he can fight? He is not a kṣatriya. So they are flying away. They're taking visa for another country and going away. How he can fight? He is not kṣatriya.\nSo Kṛṣṇa said Arjuna that \"You are kṣatriya.\" He did not say... Kṛṣṇa wanted..., Arjuna wanted to become a false brāhmaṇa. He said, \"Oh, I shall become nonviolent, and even though I don't get my kingdom I shall beg like a brāhmaṇa and shall live away. Kṛṣṇa, don't ask me to fight.\" This is false brāhmaṇism. \"Oh,\" Kṛṣṇa said, \"you are kṣatriya. You must fight.\" It cannot imitate a brāhmaṇa's business. This is false.\nSo anyone has got a particular duty, as I explained in the beginning, so he, let him do that particular duty. He doesn't require to change. Sva-karmaṇā tam abhyarcya [Bg. 18.46].\n[By worship of the Lord, who is the source of all beings and who is all-pervading, man can, in the performance of his own duty, attain perfection.]\nBut try to see whether by execution of your particular type of duty you have satisfied God. That is your perfection.\n[break] ...life. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we do not say that you give up all your engagements, come here in the temple and simply go on chanting. Consciousness..., you must come to the perfection of consciousness that \"I am eternally related with Kṛṣṇa and God...\"\n[break] So Vedic literature does not say like that. It is order. You have to accept it. If you do not understand, try to understand it. That is a different thing. Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā there is no question of interpretation. In the beginning it is said,\ndharma-kṣetre kuru-kṣetre\nsamavetā yuyutsavaḥ\nmāmakāḥ pāṇḍavāś caiva\nkim akurvata sañjaya\n[Bg. 1.1]\n[Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: O Sañjaya, after assembling in the place of pilgrimage at Kurukṣetra, what did my sons and the sons of Pāṇḍu do, being desirous to fight?]\n\"My dear Sañjaya,\" Dhṛtarāṣṭra is asking his private secretary, Mr. Sañjaya, \"my sons and my brother's sons, Pāṇḍava...\" His brother's name was Pandu, therefore they are Pāṇḍava. Māmakāḥ means \"my sons.\" Where is the scope for interpretation? Kuru-kṣetre. There is still one place—you know better; you are Indian—there is place Kurukṣetra still existing. Dharmakṣetra, that is a religious place, place of pilgrimage. Still, people go for religious performances. In the Vedas it is stated, kuru-kṣetre dharmam ācaret: one should perform religious rituals in the Kurukṣetra.\nSo where is the scope for interpretation? Interpretation means when you cannot understand something. Then you can interpret. But here, kurukṣetra you can understand; dharma-kṣetra you can understand; māmakāḥ you can understand; pāṇḍava you can understand; they assembled for fighting, you can understand. Why do you interpret? What is the necessity of interpretation? That means he wants to show that he has got some better intelligence than the speaker of the Bhagavad-gītā. We do not accept such things, nonsense.\n[break] If you have to learn Bhagavad-gītā, then you have to learn Bhagavad-gītā as Kṛṣṇa speaks or as Arjuna understands. Just like if you take a medicine bottle. The direction, as it is stated in the bottle, you have to take medicine in that way. You cannot make your own direction, interpretation.\n[break] Nonsense. We don't accept.\n[break] We are publishing one book, Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. It has been taken by one great publisher, Macmillan Company, and we'll have it by the month of October. Don't interpret. We explain things as they are. That should be the attitude. Why? Why interpretation? By interpretation, there are 664 editions of Bhagavad-gītā. Simply by... One medical man, he has interpreted Bhagavad-gītā: Kṛṣṇa is a physician and Arjuna is a patient.\nAnd he has tried to explain through Bhagavad-gītā all anatomic philosophy..., er, physiology, not this. Gandhi, he wanted to prove nonviolence from Bhagavad-gītā. The Bhagavad-gītā is being spoken in the battlefield, full of violence, and he is trying to prove that the Bhagavad-gītā is nonviolent. These are all artificial attempts. These explanations will never give you the real light from Bhagavad-gītā. You try to understand Bhagavad-gītā as it is.\n[break] [devotees offer obeisances] [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/711211sb-delhi/
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"content": "\n\n...manasi\nsamyak praṇihite 'male\napaśyat puruṣaṁ pūrṇaṁ\nmāyāṁ ca tad-apāśrayam\n[SB 1.7.4]\nThe materialistic person, they have only one experience: this cosmic manifestation. Beyond this, they have no other vision. Their senses are imperfect. Just like the astronomers, they have got big, big telescope, many other instruments. They want to see through the eyes how many stars are there, how the planets are moving, and whatever imperfect knowledge they receive, by that little knowledge they advertise themselves as great scientist.\nBut they do not calculate that \"We are trying to see the stars and planets with powerful binoculars. That means our eyes are imperfect.'' And what is the guarantee that the instruments which they're using, they are also perfect? Because that machine, that binocular, is also made by a person who is imperfect.\nSo what is the guarantee that by seeing through binocular or microscope, the conclusion arrived, it is perfect? What is your answer? Your eyes are imperfect, that's a fact. Otherwise, why you are using binocular, microscope? Eyes are imperfect.\nOriginally your eyes are imperfect. Now, eyes or other senses, it doesn't matter. Sense is sense. So you are manufacturing a machine, some instrument, by the same imperfect senses, then what is the guarantee that this machine, this binocular, if you see through the binocular, the knowledge is perfect? What is your answer?",
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"content": "\n Can't be perfect.",
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"content": "\n Answer? Any one other?",
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"content": "\n Perfect knowledge cannot be received with imperfect senses. Only through perfect senses can perfect knowledge be received.",
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"content": "\n Therefore it should be concluded that the so-called scientists, astronomers, they are all imperfect, and they are passing on the scientists as learned. So you can challenge them, \"What is the guarantee that your knowledge is perfect?'' Actually it is not. They do not know how the stars are moving. They are always imperfect; simply putting some theories. They say all this, Darwin's theory and this theory, that theory. They are simply speculating on imperfect senses, and therefore they're cheating, because the conditioned soul has got a tendency to cheat others.\nIf one can cheat others, he thinks himself as very intelligent. The conditioned soul, they commit mistake, they are illusioned, they cheat, and their senses are imperfect. This is the..., the four condition. Therefore if we receive knowledge from the conditioned soul, there is no possibility of getting perfect knowledge. If by nature you are cheater, then how I can expect fair dealings? It is to be understood that we cannot have any fair dealings with this conditioned soul. And he'll protest.\nThe whole world is full of conditioned living entities. They're conditioned. Conditioned means under the control of the material nature. Guṇaiḥ karmāṇi [Bg. 3.27]. There are different types of conditioned souls. Some of them are good conditioned soul, some of them are passionate conditioned soul, some of them are rascal conditioned soul. So good conditioned soul means that, er, he thinks himself that \"I have become very much learned, I have studied so many books, so now I am perfect.'' There is little goodness, because he has studied, he..., he has labored, but still he's conditioned soul, because he has imperfect vision.\nVimukta-māninaḥ. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam they have been described as vimukta-māninaḥ, that \"I have become now liberated, māninaḥ.'' Self-complacent, thinking that \"I have become now liberated. Now I have become Nārāyaṇa, God.'' These Māyāvādī sannyāsīs, they address among themselves as namaḥ nārāyaṇa. That means each one of them has become as good as Nārāyaṇa, because Nārāyaṇa is mukta. Nārāyaṇa paraḥ. Śaṅkarācārya says paraḥ. Paraḥ means liberated. Paraḥ and aparaḥ. Aparaḥ means conditioned. So nārāyaṇa paraḥ, avyaktāt.\nNārāyaṇa is transcendental to this cosmic manifestation. He's above. So the Māyāvādī philosopher, they think that \"I have become now a liberated, as good as Nārāyaṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.'' But Bhāgavata says, \"No. You are simply thinking like that. You are a rascal.'' Bhāgavata challenges: \"You are thinking that you have become now liberated, but you are a rascal.'' The very... Bhāgavata, Vyāsadeva is very learned, but he says \"rascal,'' but in a very sweet language. [laughter] Vimukta māninaḥ.\nMāninaḥ: \"You are contemplating.'' Why? Tvayy asta..., ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas [SB 10.2.32]. Our test is there. \"I am liberated. I am Nārāyaṇa.'' Why? \"How you call me rascal?'' Yes, we have got a test: ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ. Tvayy asta-bhāvād. Still they have not reached the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Simply impersonal idea, and self-complacent that \"I have become now Nārāyaṇa.''\nSo this kind of knowledge is aviśuddha, impure, impure knowledge, because the test is, unless one comes to the point of understanding the Personality of Godhead, the knowledge is imperfect. So they are impersonalist, and falsely thinking themselves as Nārāyaṇa. Therefore we can immediately test that \"Here is a rascal.'' Vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ.\n\"No. We have undergone so much austerities, penances. Whole life I remain brahmacārī, then I took sannyāsa. I have followed the rules and regulations very strictly, and still I am rascal?'' Yes, you are rascal.\n[aside:] Don't make sound. Silently.\n\"Still I am rascal?'' Yes. You are rascal. \"Why?'' Āruhya kṛcchreṇa: \"Because the symptoms are there that you are a rascal.\"\nSo you have to understand by the symptoms. What is that symptoms? Because you left this world, \"This world is false. Brahman is truth,'' then why you are coming again this false world to open hospital, school, philosophy, humanitarian, all this nonsense? Why you are accepting? If it is false, and if you are in full knowledge, then why you are coming to the false platform? Therefore you are rascal. You rejected this world as false. Then why you are coming down again to the plat..., false platform. That is rascaldom. That means your conclusion was wrong. Hmm? Your conclusion was wrong.\nJust like Vivekananda and many others. Now present..., presently there is one Kalapatri. Vivekananda was actually rascal. He, he had no knowledge. But the Kalapatri is actually very learned man. He has studied all the Vedas, great Sanskrit scholar, but still, because he did not worship the lotus feet of the Lord, he is also proving rascal. He is now in politics. He has got a political party, Rāma-rājya Party, and nobody cares for him.\nHe is insulted so many place, but still, but he's so learned, if, if anyone..., anywhere he goes and reads scriptures and Vedas, he can give very good reference and very nicely explain, but the conclusion is dull. Conclusion is dull means again he has come to this philanthropic work. So therefore Bhāgavata says, āruhya kṛcchreṇa: \"Although they have undergone great austerities, penances,'' āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padam [SB 10.2.32], \"realized to some extent the Supreme Absolute Truth,'' but patanty adhaḥ, \"falls down.''\nThe same example: Just like the so-called scientists, Russian and American, for so many years they're trying to go to the moon planet, nearest planet. But there is no shelter. Actually, I do not know whether they have gone, but why they are coming back? Let them remain there, construct house there; there is everything. If there is no such possibility, why these rascals are going there?\nPractically, if it is full of dust only, why these rascals are going to see the dust every time? [laughter] Ask these rascals that \"What benefit? You're spending so much money and going to the moon planet and touching, 'Now my flag is on the dust,' [laughter] and go back with little pebbles, 'Oh, we have gone.' '' No. Moon-reaching day, holiday. Nixon, another rascal, great rascal—holiday.\nAnd what do you want there? Patanty adhaḥ. After so much endeavor, trying to go to the moon planet, they are failing. And what to speak of other planets? What to speak of the Brahmaloka, Tapaloka, Jana...? They are there. We are seeing every day, at night, there are so many. Who is going there? The nearest planet, which is about 200,000 miles, I think it is so, from here, the moon planet, and they cannot go.\nAnd what to speak of other planets? There are many. They do not..., cannot calculate how far they are, but we see every night there. So how imperfect knowledge they are. That is my point. And still they are going as scientist. Lokasya ajānataḥ [SB 1.7.6]. They are so fools and rascal, still they are passing on as scientist, big men, learned men. No. None of them. This is our challenge. None of them.\nAnd who is learned? Learned is Vyāsadeva. Learned is Kṛṣṇa. So we have to take knowledge from Vyāsadeva. Vyāsadeva. How? Vyāsadeva is the learned, most learned than others. How? That is explained in the Bhāgavata, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: bhakti-yogena manasi. Because he has adopted bhakti-yoga, bhakti-yogena manasi samyak praṇihite amale [SB 1.7.4].\nBhakti-yogena, by practice of bhakti-yoga one's mind and intelligence become cleansed, dirtyless, dirt..., without any dirt. Just like the mirror, if it is without any dirt, it is cleansed, clear, you can see everything rightly, your face, or even in the spot in the face, everything, corner to corner, very nicely reflected. So bhakti-yogena, by practicing this bhakti-yoga, one becomes cleared in consciousness. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then everything comes.\nNow suppose personally, myself, we are challenging, we are calling them by names, \"rascal,'' but I am not a scientist. I never studied astronomy, astrology, or anything. But why I am telling? What power I have got? But I am challenging on the words of a superior answer. I am confident that the words spoken by Vyāsadeva or Kṛṣṇa, that is perfect. Therefore they are rascals, because their statement do not corroborate.\nIn other words, we can understand. That is our advantage. Bhakti-yogena. If you practice bhakti-yoga, yasya deve parā bhaktir yathā deve tathā gurau [ŚU 6.23], if one is..., one has unflinching faith in the Supreme Personality of Godhead and his spiritual master, yathā-deve... Deve means the Supreme Lord, and guru, and guru also, the spiritual master.\nA person who has got unflinching faith in these two personalities—guru and Kṛṣṇa—then the facility will be that all the revealed scriptures will be manifest automatically, even though he is not..., not very learned. The purport of the whole knowledge will be revealed from within, because Kṛṣṇa is within, and the spiritual master is without, so both of them will help.\nOur students are going so many places—in the schools, colleges, universities. They're surprised how they're speaking so nicely—because they have got unflinching faith in Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual master. They are not so learned. They have not gone to the college and learned so many things as the materialistic students do, but on this account: bhakti-yogena manasi.\nVyāsadeva also did like that. He became so great because he has accepted bhakti-yoga by the order of his spiritual master, Nārada. Before that, he wrote so many books, Purāṇas and others. He was not satisfied. When Nārada said that \"You cannot be satisfied by describing so many material things. You try to describe the glories of the Lord,'' so after his instruction, bhakti-yogena, by practicing bhakti-yogena, manasī, unto the mind, praṇihite, mind became settled up, intelligence, right intelligence came, and everything became amala. Amala means without any material contamination. Then he saw apaśyat puruṣaṁ pūrṇaṁ. He saw the Supreme Personality of Godhead and also māyā. Both things he saw.\nSo those who are in devotional service, they have got two things: they can see what is māyā and what is Kṛṣṇa. That is perfect life. Then he can understand how this world is going on, how Kṛṣṇa is working. Everything becomes revealed. Bhakti-yoga is so powerful. Otherwise, what qualification we have got in comparison, their M.A., Ph.D., D.S.D. and so on, so on? Still they cannot touch the right point. Just like Dr. Stahl in Berkeley University. He talked with me, and at last he became silent. So we can challenge like that. Just like we are discussing so many philosophers.\nSo bhakti-yoga is so nice. So you execute bhakti-yoga very nicely, and then you become the topmost learned man in the world. This is a fact.\nbhakti-yogena manasi\nsamyak praṇihite 'male\napaśyat puruṣaṁ pūrṇaṁ\nmāyāṁ ca tad-apāśrayam\n[SB 1.7.4]\nyayā sammohito jīva\nātmānaṁ tri-guṇātmakam\nparo 'pi manute 'narthaṁ\ntat-kṛtaṁ cābhipadyate\n[SB 1.7.5]\nanarthopaśamaṁ sākṣād\nbhakti-yogam adhokṣaje\nlokasyājānato vidvāṁś\ncakre sātvata-saṁhitām\n[SB 1.7.6]\nSo bhakti-yoga is so powerful. Executed properly, very simple method. Then you become the most learned man in the world. Even without going through the books, they will be revealed. Kṛṣṇa will reveal. Kṛṣṇa is śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ [SB 1.2.17]. As you become purified by hearing the glories of the Lord, Kṛṣṇa, puṇya-śra..., hṛdy antaḥ stho hy abhadrāṇi, the dirty things which push obstacles and in pure understanding, they are removed. They're washed up. Washed up.\nJust like if your room is dirty, there..., there is possibility... Therefore I ask you, keep cleansed—your bathing, your clothes, your room. Otherwise you'll suffer hepatitis or jaundice, this, that. You'll suffer, because you are not clean. If you clear, you remain cleansed, then there will be no disease. If you remain cleansed, you eat properly—don't eat more, don't eat less—there will be no disease, no doctor. That's a fact.\nBut you do not know cleanliness, although you are..., that is because your... Your cleanliness is with machine. And without machine, you cannot keep clean. Why not this broomstick is sufficient? If in India machine is not available, you cannot be clean? Keep everything cleansed—utensils, plates, teeth, hands, feet. Use sufficient water. There will be no [indistinct].\nDirty things should be removed, and cleansed inside and outside. Inside cleansed: simply Kṛṣṇa consciousness, always thinking of Kṛṣṇa. This is inside clean. And outside, that is also required. You cannot neglect, because outside unclean means inside also you'll feel unclean. If you keep both sides clean, then you will be healthy inside and outside. Śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇa puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ hṛdy antaḥ stho hy abhadrāṇi. Abhadrāṇi, all inauspicious things, that will be cleaned. They should be washed.\nTo become sacred thread means he must be śuci. Satya śamaḥ damaḥ śaucam. Śaucam. One must be very clean. That is brahminism. Not simply having a sacred thread: \"Prabhupāda, give me sacred thread, sacred thread, sacred thread,'' everybody. You have got sacred thread, that is certificate, but what is your śaucam? Cleanliness. The brāhmaṇa's name is śuci. He is always cleansed. Everyone will see, and he'll immediately feel how cleansed he is.\nWhat is the difficulty? God has given sufficient water. And for cleanliness you simply require water, that's all. No antiseptic bottle—Dettol, this, that, so many. You are manufacturing so many rascal things, but ultimately unclean. Ultimately unclean. But by God's arrangement, by Kṛṣṇa's arrangement, simple... [break] [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/cat/4/
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"content": "\n Next question, Śrīla Prabhupāda. “Will the fundamental values of the Vedic religion be in any way affected by the eradication of the caste system, toward which a concerted effort is now being made at all levels?”\n The Vedic system of religion we have been describing – the varṇāśrama system created by Kṛṣṇa – is not to be confused with the present-day caste system – determination of social divisions by birth. But as to eradication of all social divisions, it cannot be done. This is still more foolishness, because Kṛṣṇa Himself says, cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭam guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ: “This system of four social divisions, according to quality and work, is ordained by Me.” But the difficulty is that this so-called caste system has come in, on account of the false notion that in order to be a brāhmaṇa, one must be the son of a brāhmaṇa. That is the caste system. But Kṛṣṇa does not say that. He says “according to quality and work.” He never says “according to birth.” So this so-called caste system in India is a false notion of cātur-varṇyam, the system of four social divisions. The real system of cātur-varṇyam means guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ, determination of the four social divisions according to quality and work. One must be qualified.\nAnd how does one become qualified? That is also described. For instance, in Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa describes the qualities of a brāhmaṇa as follows: śamo damas tapaḥ śaucaṁ kṣāntir ārjavam eva ca jñānam vijñānam āstikyam. “Peacefulness, self-control, austerity, purity, tolerance, honesty, knowledge, wisdom, and religiousness.” So people who want to become brāhmaṇas must be educated to acquire these qualities. It is not enough simply to abolish the caste system, which is contaminated by the false conception of qualification by birthright. Certainly, this wrong caste system should be abolished. Also, educational centers should be opened for teaching people how to become genuine brāhmaṇas and kṣatriyas. Guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ: according to their qualities and work, people naturally belong to different social groupings. So you cannot avoid it, but because you have created a false caste system, that should be abolished, and the system recommended by Kṛṣṇa – that should be adopted.\nIn any event, you cannot avoid the natural occurrence of various social divisions. Nature’s caste system will remain. Take, for example, the brahminical quality of truthfulness. All over the world, wherever you go, you’ll find at least one person who is truthful. Does anyone say, “Oh, his father was truthful – therefore he is truthful”? This is nonsense. Kṛṣṇa never says anything like this. The father may be Hiraṇyakaśipu, a big demon, but his son can still be Prahlāda, a great devotee of the Lord. It is not that one will inevitably become exactly like one’s father. Of course, it may be; there is every possibility. But still it is not a fact that the son unavoidably becomes like the father.\nOur point is, wherever you go, you’ll find a first-class man who is truthful. Now, wherever you find a truthful man, you can classify him as a brāhmaṇa and train him to serve the social body in that capacity, as a spiritual teacher and advisor. That is wanted. Why assume, “Here is the son of a truthful man; therefore he is truthful, a brāhmaṇa”? That is a misconception. You have to find the truthful men all over the world and train them as brāhmaṇas. That we are doing. “If you follow these principles – no illicit sex, no intoxication, no gambling, no meat-eating – you are a brāhmaṇa. Come on and receive further training.” The fellow’s father may be a meat-eater or a gambler or a drunkard, but if he himself is truthful and agreeable to the brahminical life, then tell him, “All right, come on – you are welcome.” Then everything will be all right.\nYou could not abolish the truthful class of men even if you wanted to. You’ll find truthful men everywhere. You simply have to train them. So Kṛṣṇa says, cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭam guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ: according to their qualities and work, you take some men and put them in the brahminical class, others in the kṣatriya class, still others in the vaiśya class, and the rest in the śūdra class. But you cannot abolish that system. That is a false attempt.",
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"content": "\n You’re saying the natural system is to classify a person and train him for a particular duty, according to his particular inner qualities and his particular propensity to act.",
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"content": "\n Yes. That classification is wanted. That must be there.",
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"content": "\n And what will be the benefit of classifying and training people according to their own qualities and propensities?",
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"content": "\n The benefit will be that the whole social body will function harmoniously. The social body must have a brain and arms and a belly and legs to be complete. If there is no brain, no head, then what is the use of these arms and legs and belly? It is all dead. So in human society, if there is not a class of learned, truthful, and honest men – men with all the brahminical qualifications – then society is ruined. That is why people are perplexed. Today almost everyone is trained to be a śūdra, a laborer: “Go to the factory.” That’s all. “Go to the factory and get money.” And when the man gets some money, he immediately purchases wine and women. So if you try to make society classless, you’ll produce such men – useless men, disturbing to the social body. You cannot make society classless. If you try to make it classless, naturally people will all be śūdras, fourth-class men, and worse. Then there will be social chaos.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n But can all people take an equal interest in religion, despite their belonging to different social classifications?",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "\n Yes. This I have already explained, that any civilized human being – he has got some religion. Now, the basic principles of religion are the statements made by God. So here in the Vedic system is what God says. If you take to this system, then the social body will be perfect not only for Hindus but also for Christians, for Muhammadans, for everyone. And that is being practically realized in our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We have got devotees from all groups of human society, and they are taking to this Vedic system. It is practical. There is no difficulty. So Hindus, Muslims, Christians – everyone should take to this Kṛṣṇa religion and become “Krishnites,” “Krishnians.” [Laughter.] The Greek word Christo comes from the Sanskrit Krishna. In fact, another spelling of Krishna is Krishta. So actually, if we take the root meaning,“Christian” means “Krishtian” or “Krishnian.” So that is a controversial point, but everyone can take to Kṛṣṇa. Then everything will be settled up.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
https://vedabase.io/en/library/pqpa/5/
|
[
{
"content": "\n Thank you so much for allowing me to ask my questions.\n That is my mission. People should understand the science of God. Unless we cooperate with the Supreme Lord, our life is baffled. I have given the example many times that a screw which has fallen from a machine has no value, but when the same screw is again attached to the machine, it has value. Similarly, we are part and parcel of God. So without God, what is our value? No value! We should again come back to our position of attachment to God. Then we have value.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n I met a young fellow today who came here because he heard that hippies were in Māyāpur. ",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n He’s Indian?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. He lives nearby and speaks English fairly well. When he was young he worshiped Kālī [a popular demigoddess] every day very rigorously. But when the floods came and the people saw hardship, he lost faith and now he has no religion. He said he now finds his happiness in trying to develop love among people. I couldn’t think of what to say to him to add God and religion to his life. He said that after he dies “maybe I’ll become part of God, maybe not,” but he can’t worry about it now. He said he’s tried various religious experiences, but they didn’t work. One reason I ask this is because when I go back to America, a lot of people I come across are like this. They see that religion, like his worship of Kālī or other kinds of religion they’ve experienced, doesn’t work. And I don’t know what to say to them to convince them it’s worth trying.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Do not try at the present moment. You first of all become convinced, and then try to convince others. Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s instruction is that you can improve the welfare of others when your own life is a success:\nbhārata-bhūmite haila manuṣya-janma yāra\n \njanma sārthaka kari’ kara para-upakāra\nFirst make your life perfect. Then try to teach others.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n The devotees have told me that without consciousness of Kṛṣṇa all the time, you cannot be happy. But at times I feel happy.",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "\n At times. Not always.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n But if you become Kṛṣṇa conscious, you will feel happy always.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n They implied that you cannot feel happy without Kṛṣṇa consciousness.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n That is a fact. For example, if you are an animal of the land and you are thrown into the water, you cannot be happy in the water in any condition. When you are again taken up on the land, then you’ll be happy. Similarly, since we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, we cannot be happy without acting as part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. The same example as before: the machine part, fallen out of the machine, has no value, but when it is again put into the machine it has value. We are part of Kṛṣṇa; we must join Kṛṣṇa. And you can join Kṛṣṇa immediately by your consciousness, simply by thinking “I am Kṛṣṇa’s, Kṛṣṇa is mine.” That’s all.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n We are part of Kṛṣṇa.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. Everything is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa because everything is generated by the energy of Kṛṣṇa and everything is the energy of Kṛṣṇa.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n How I can come to feel closer to God? I come to the temple at times, and then I leave, and I’m not sure how much I take with me. ",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n You have to be purified. It does not take much time. Within six months you will realize your progress. But you have to follow the regulative principles, just as these boys and girls are doing. Then it will be all right. ",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, I see.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n They have no tendency for going to the cinema or a nightclub. No. They have stopped all anarthas, all unnecessary things. The whole human life is meant for purification.\ntapo divyaṁ putrakā yena sattvaṁ\n \nśuddhyed yasmād brahma-saukhyaṁ tv anantam\nLord Ṛṣabhadeva says here that we should perform austerities and penances so that we can purify our existence (sattva means existence) and come to the stage of endless transcendental happiness. So if you don’t purify your existence, then you will have to change your body from this to that. Sometimes it may be higher, sometimes lower. For example, if you don’t cure a disease, it can put you into trouble in so many ways. Similarly, if you don’t purify your existence, you will have to transmigrate from one body to another, and there is no guarantee you will get a very comfortable American body. Therefore, it is essential for a human being to purify his existence. Unless you purify your existence, you will hanker after happiness but will not always be happy.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n When I go to my job in New York, I hope I’ll become pure, but I’m sure that I won’t become as pure as your devotees here. I don’t see myself doing that.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n You can do as they are doing. They were not pure in the beginning; now they are pure. Similarly, you can become pure. For example, in your childhood you were not educated, but now you are educated. If you are serious you can keep yourself pure anywhere. It doesn’t matter whether you stay in America or India. But you must know how to keep yourself pure. That’s all.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n You mean by following the principles of Kṛṣṇa consciousness?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. I went to America, for instance, but whether in America or India, I am the same man.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n I have somewhat tried to follow since I met you the first time last November. ",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Hmm. But you must strictly follow if you are serious. ",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n OK, maybe … What I will say now is – well – the most foolish of all I’ve said. But let me tell you how I feel.",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "\n No, no, not foolish. I don’t say you are foolish – but imperfect.",
"role": "assistant"
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{
"content": "\n OK. [He laughs.] Imperfect. But let me tell you. I feel that right now I admire and respect your devotees, but I don’t feel as if I am part of them, or even that I have a great desire to be part of them. I feel that I just want – I want to do what is right, come closer to God, and if I can just go to a better life next time, I’d be satisfied.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Very good.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n I guess it’s material clinging, but …",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "\n So, you just follow in their footsteps, and your desire will be fulfilled. We are training people how to become purified and happy. That is our mission: we want to see everyone happy. Sarve sukhino bhavantu. People do not know how to become happy. They do not take the standard path to become happy. They manufacture their own way. That is the difficulty. Therefore, Ṛṣabhadeva gave this advice to his sons: “My dear boys, just undergo austerity for transcendental realization.” Everyone is performing austerity. One boy I know – he had to go to a foreign country to learn commercial management. Now he is well situated. In this way, everyone is undergoing some austerity for temporary material happiness. So why not undergo austerity for permanent happiness? \nYou have to purify your existence and your body. As many times as you accept a material body, you will have to change it. But as soon as you get a spiritual body, there is no question of change. You already have a spiritual body. Now, due to our material contamination, we are developing the material body. But if we associate with spiritual life, then we shall develop a spiritual body. If you put an iron rod within fire, it will become like fire. Is it not?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n And when the iron rod is red-hot, you can touch it anywhere, and it will burn. It takes on the quality of fire, although it is still iron. Similarly, if you always keep yourself in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, your body will become spiritualized and act spiritually, although it is material. No more material demands.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n How do I do this?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n By the process we are teaching. You have seen these six boys who were initiated today. They are doing it; it is very simple. You have to follow the four restrictive regulations and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa on these beads. Very easy.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Well, but, I follow some of the regulative principles, but not all.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n “Some” means? There are only four regulative principles. “Some” means three, or two?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Two or three.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n So why not the other one?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n No, no. I mean I follow one or two. One or two I follow now.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n [Laughs.] Why not the other three? What is the difficulty? Which one do you follow?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Well, I’m almost vegetarian, but I eat eggs.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Then that is also not complete.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n No. Since I saw you last November, I’ve become vegetarian.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Vegetarian is no qualification. The pigeon is vegetarian. The monkey is vegetarian – the most rubbish creature, most mischievous.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n I felt that it was a little bit of progress because it was somewhat difficult at first, then easy.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No, you can stick to all the regulative principles, provided you take to the Kṛṣṇa consciousness process. Otherwise it is not possible.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. When I’m back in Bihar with my friends and we’re sitting in the evening and there’s nothing to do but fight mosquitoes, they say, “How about smoking some marijuana?” And I say, “Sure, there’s nothing else to do,” and then I sit down, and I enjoy myself for the evening. We were doing this every day – we got carried away – until we realized we were hurting ourselves and stopped. But still on occasion we …",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n You have to live with us. Then your friends will not ask you, “What about marijuana?” [Bob laughs.] Keep the association of devotees. We are opening centers to give people a chance to associate with us. Why have we bought so much land in Māyāpur? So that those who are seriously desirous of advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness can come live with us. Association is very influential. If you associate with drunkards, you become a drunkard; if you associate with sādhus, you become a sādhu.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n He can come and stay with you in Bombay.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, you can stay with us in Bombay. But he wants friends with marijuana. That is the difficulty.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Let me ask you about something else; then maybe I’ll come back to this. I find that I think of myself too much, and this way I can’t think of God so much. I think of myself in too many places. How can I forget about myself so I can concentrate on other, more important things?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n As these devotees have done.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n [Laughs.] I think what you’re saying to me is that my path to purity is to become a devotee.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Do you hesitate?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Well, I … ",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Is it very difficult to become a devotee?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n For me it is. I don’t feel so much the desire. First the devotees tell me that they have given up material life. These four regulative principles, they have explained to me, mean giving up material life, and that I see. And in place of this they have …",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n What do you mean by material life? [Bob is silent.] I am sitting on this bed. Is it material or spiritual?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Material.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Then how have we given up material life?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n I think how I interpreted it was “a desire for material gain.”",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n What is material?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Working toward material gain and not giving up all material desires.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n When you desire to gratify your senses, that is material life. And when you desire to serve God, that is spiritual life. That is the difference between material life and spiritual life. Now we are trying to serve our senses. But instead of serving our senses we should serve God; that is spiritual life. What is the difference between our activities and others’? We are using everything they use – table, chair, bed, tape recorder, typewriter – so what is the difference? The difference is that we are using everything for Kṛṣṇa.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n The devotees have said that the sensual pleasures they have given up are replaced with spiritual kinds of pleasures, but I haven’t felt this.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Spiritual pleasures come when you desire to please Kṛṣṇa. That is spiritual pleasure. For example, a mother is more pleased by feeding her son. She’s not eating, but when she sees that her son is eating very nicely, then she becomes pleased.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Hmm. Spiritual pleasure, then, is pleasing God.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Spiritual pleasure means the pleasure of Kṛṣṇa.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Pleasing Kṛṣṇa.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. Material pleasure means the pleasure of the senses. That’s all. This is the difference. When you simply try to please Kṛṣṇa, that is spiritual pleasure.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n My thought of pleasing God was to …",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Don’t manufacture your own ways of pleasing God. Suppose I want to please you. Then I shall ask you, “How can I serve you?” Not that I manufacture some service. That is not pleasing. Suppose I want a glass of water. If you concoct the idea, “Swamiji will be more pleased if I give him a glass of hot milk,” that will not please me. If you want to please me, then you should ask me, “How can I please you?” And if you do what I order, that will please me.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n And pleasing Kṛṣṇa, then, is being a devotee of Kṛṣṇa.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n A devotee is one who is always pleasing Kṛṣṇa. He has no other business. That is a devotee.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Can you tell me some more about chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa? I have for quite some time chanted, but never regularly – just a little bit here and there. I just got beads very recently, and once in a while I feel comfortable chanting, and once in a while not comfortable at all. Maybe I don’t chant properly. I don’t know.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, everything has a process. You have to adopt the process.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n The devotees tell me of the ecstasy they feel when chanting.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, the more you become purified, the more you will feel ecstasy. This chanting is the purifying process.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/660302bg-new-york/
|
[
{
"content": "\n[Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of weakness. In this condition I am asking You to tell me clearly what is best for me. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me.]\n Now Arjuna is perplexed. He is perplexed in the matter whether to fight or not to fight. That was his perplexity. After seeing his relatives in front of him, with whom he was to fight, he was perplexed. And there was some argument also with Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa, of course, did not encourage him. Now, here is a point, that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. What is that?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n What?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n What is this book?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Well, this is the..., the..., the translation of the Bhagavad-gītā.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Well, no, you can hear me.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n I am hearing. I am hearing.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. Don't turn your attention. Just hear me. Kṛṣṇa, although He is present there, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but still, He did not encourage him. From worldly point of view, when somebody says that \"I'll... I give it up. I don't want it. I don't want to fight with my friends or my relatives. Better let them enjoy. I shall forego my claim,\" from worldly point of view, this is a very, I mean, gentlemanly behavior, that one is foregoing his claim for the matter of his relatives or friends.\nBut Kṛṣṇa is not encouraging that proposal. We have to mark it. Kṛṣṇa is not encouraging. Kṛṣṇa is rather... Kṛṣṇa is, rather, inducing Arjuna that \"It is not a very good proposal. It is not befitting your position. You belong to the Āryan family. You belong to the kṣatriya, royal family. And you are denying to fight? No, no, this is not good. And I am your friend. I have taken the responsibility of your chariot driver, and, if you do not fight, what people will say?\" So He is not encouraging. Just see.\nNow, here is a good proposal from the worldly point of view that Arjuna does not want to fight, and Kṛṣṇa is not encouraging him. Now, what is the point? Somebody may say that \"Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, why He is encouraging in the matter of fighting?\" People, at the present moment, when there is a question of war, people want to stop that war. At the present moment, the movement is going on between all nations that they do not want war. But here we see that Kṛṣṇa is not discouraging war. We have to mark this point. He is not discouraging war, but He is, rather, advocating, inducing Arjuna that \"No, no, no, this is not befitting your position. You must fight. Must fight.\"\nSo here is a point, that sometimes we may do something which is approved by the general public, but it may not be approved by the supreme authority. Superficially it may appear very appealing to the sentiment of the public, but factually such thing may not be correct. May not be correct. If we accept Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and \"Why He was inducing Arjuna to fight?\" it does not mean that He was inducing Arjuna to do something wrong. But from worldly point of view, Arjuna was a very pious man and he was declining to fight, not to kill his kinsmen, not to kill his friend. This... This is a very important point.\nSo he argued, \"No, no. If I fight, my people will die, and their wives will become widow, and they will be adulterated, and then, by adulteration, unwanted population will increase, and who will offer śrāddha?\" Śrāddha... There is a ceremony of śrāddha according to Hindu scripture. I do not know whether you have in your Christian religion, but according to Hindu, a dead body is offered some respect every year. Just like death anniversary observed, similarly, in the family, the descendant, they offer some foodstuff after some religious ceremony. That is called śrāddha. And it is believed that that offering goes to the dead forefathers. So that is a family religious ceremony. So Arjuna said that \"If these people will die, who will offer that ablution to the forefathers?\"\nSo from ordinary point of view, from the point of view of a family man, he argued with Kṛṣṇa in so many ways. And after, at the end, he decided that \"I cannot fight. I cannot fight.\" Then Kṛṣṇa tried to induce him, and he said that \"Yes, whatever You are saying, that I am a kṣatriya and I am not doing my duty, this is all right, but My mind is perplexed.\" So he was at the same time conscious that Śrī Kṛṣṇa only can make a solution of this perplexity.\nSo he said,\nkārpaṇya-doṣopahata-svabhāvaḥ\npṛcchāmi tvāṁ dharma-sammūḍha-cetāḥ\nyac chreyaḥ syān niścitaṁ brūhi tan me\nśiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam\n[Bg 2.7]\n[Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of weakness. In this condition I am asking You to tell me clearly what is best for me. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me.]\nKārpaṇya-doṣa. Kārpaṇya-doṣa means a miserly man. Miserly man. He was conscious of the fact that he was a great hero, he was a great fighter and, at the same time, the enemies were there. So his actual duty was to fight with the enemy. They were offering fight. For a kṣatriya there are some obligations. If somebody challenges that \"I want to fight with you,\" a kṣatriya cannot deny. If somebody challenges, \"Yes, I want to bet with you, gambling,\" a kṣatriya cannot deny. And for that reason, the Pāṇḍavas lost their kingdom.\nThe other side, his cousins, offered them that \"All right, let us come to betting.\" So betting, the bid was they offered the kingdom. \"Now, if you, if you,\" I mean to say, \"defeated, if you are defeated, then you lose your kingdom.\" So they lost their kingdom. Then the next, next offer was that \"If you are defeated, you lose your wife.\" So they lost their wife. And similarly, they were put, \"Now this time if you are defeated, you have to go to the forest for twelve years.\"\nSo there was a great plan behind them, and the Pāṇḍavas were defeated in so many ways, and they were harassed, embarrassed, for not less than twenty years. And now they were to fight, face to face. Now he is not prepared to fight. That means he has become miserly, means he is deviating from his duty. Now... So he is conscious that \"Practically, I am deviating from my duty.\" Kārpaṇya-doṣa: \"This is my miserly behavior.\" Doṣa. Doṣa means \"It is a fault on my part. I should not have deviated from this fighting, but my sentiment does not allow me to fight with my kinsmen.\" So here is a perplexity.\nSo kārpaṇya-doṣopahata-svabhāvaḥ, dharma-sammūḍha-cetāḥ: \"Not only I am miserly, but I am deviating from my duty, dharma.\" Dharma. Every... This dharma means, according to different position. Just like brāhmaṇa, the intellectual society; the kṣatriyas, the administrator society; the vaiśyas, the mercantile society; and the śūdras. Śūdras means the laborer class. So these four divisions are always. Now you can name in a different way—that doesn't matter—but in every society and for all time these divisions are there.\nSo according to Vedic system, this system is observed by generation. So he was a kṣatriya. Now, kṣatriya's duty was to fight with the enemy, and he was not executing that, I mean to say, injunction. Therefore, he is conscious that dharma-sammūḍha-cetāḥ: \"Oh, I am deviating from my religion also. It is the duty of kṣatriya. No. So I am now perplexed.\" So yac chreyaḥ syān niścitam: \"Now You should kindly, definitely, say.\" Now, here is a position: \"I do not understand what is to be done. You kindly...\" Yac chreyaḥ syān niścitam. Niścitam means definitely what is right. Brūhi tan me.\nNow Kṛṣṇa can say, \"Well, I have already saying you that you should fight, but you are not carrying out the order.\" So he says that śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam [Bg 2.7].\n[Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of weakness. In this condition I am asking You to tell me clearly what is best for me. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me.]\nSo he accepted that \"All right, whatever arguments we have done so far, let us forget that. Now I accept You as my spiritual master, not my friend.\"\nNow, the idea of accepting spiritual master, that is also very obligatory. You see? As soon as you accept one as the spiritual master... First of all, we have recorded in your..., you have heard it, that acceptance of spiritual master must be selected, you see, after careful examination, just like one selects his bride or bridegroom after careful examination. And in India they are very careful, because the marriage of the boys and girls take place under the guidance of the parents. So the parents very carefully see.\nSo similarly, if one has to... The acceptance of spiritual master is necessary. According to Vedic injunction, one..., everyone should have a spiritual master. Perhaps you have seen a sacred thread. We have got sacred thread. Mr. Cohen, you have... This kind of... Sacred thread. That sacred thread is the sign that this person has his spiritual master, has a spiritual master. Just like—here, of course, there is no such distinction—a married girl, according to Hindu system, they have got some sign so that people can understand, \"This girl is married.\" They put on a red, I mean to say, painting here so that others know that \"This girl is married.\" And, according to..., what is called this? The division of the hair? What is this line, you call?",
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"content": "\n Part.",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "\n Eh?",
"role": "assistant"
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{
"content": "\n Part.",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "\n What is the spelling?",
"role": "assistant"
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{
"content": "\n To part.",
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"content": "\n To part. This parting, this parting is also... There is some meaning. When the parting is here, in the middle, then that girl has her husband and she is coming from respectable family. And if the, I mean to say, partition is here, then she is a prostitute. You see? A prostitute cannot... There was king's ruling that a prostitute cannot [laughs] part here. And then again, when a girl is well dressed, then it should be considered that she has got her husband at home. And when she is not well dressed, then it should be understood that her husband is out of home. You see? And a widow's dress... There are so many, there are symptoms.\nSo similarly, this thread, sacred thread, is a sign that this person has accepted somebody as his spiritual master. He has got his... Just like this red mark symbolizes that \"This girl has her husband,\" similarly, this sacred thread is the symbol that \"This man has got his spiritual master.\" So there is a ceremony. You see?\nSo according to Vedic system, one has to accept a spiritual master in order to make a solution of his life. In every step of his life the spiritual master guides him. He also makes question to the spiritual master and he guides him so that he will..., his life, his progress of life, may be systematic.\nNow, to take such guidance means the spiritual master should also be a very perfect man. Otherwise, how can he guide? Now, here Arjuna knows that Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the perfect person. So therefore he is accepting Him as śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam [Bg 2.7]:\n[Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of weakness. In this condition I am asking You to tell me clearly what is best for me. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me.]\n\"I am just surrendering unto You, You self, Yourself, and You accept me as Your disciple, because friendly talks cannot make a solution of the perplexity.\" Friendly talks may be going on for years together, but there is no solution. Here, accepting Kṛṣṇa as the spiritual master means whatever Kṛṣṇa will decide, he has to accept.\nOne cannot deny the order of a spiritual master. Therefore one has to select a spiritual master whose order, carrying, you'll not commit a mistake. You see? Now, suppose if you accept a wrong person as spiritual master, and if you, if he guides you wrongly, then your whole life is spoiled. So one has to accept a spiritual master whose guidance will make his life perfect. That is the relation between spiritual master and disciple. It is not a formality. It is a great responsibility both for the disciple and for the spiritual master. And... Yes?",
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"content": "\n But if the disciple is in ignorance before...",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\n ...how does he know which master to choose? I mean, because he doesn't have the knowledge...",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\n ...to make a wise selection.",
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"content": "\n Yes. Yes. So the first thing is that one should be searching after a disciple, er, or searching after a spiritual master. Now, just like you search after some school. You search after some school. So when you are searching after some school, you must have at least some preliminary knowledge what a school means. You cannot search after a school and go to a cloth shop. If you are so ignorant that you do not know what is a school and what is a cloth shop, then it is very difficult for you. You must know, at least, what is a school.\nSo that knowledge is like this.\ntad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet\nsamit-pāṇiḥ śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham\n[Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.2.12]\n[To understand these things properly, one must humbly approach, with firewood in hand, a spiritual master who is learned in the Vedas and firmly devoted to the Absolute Truth.]\nThe spiritual master is required for a person who is inquisitive to have transcendental knowledge. He requires a spiritual master. You see? So there is another verse in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam [SB 11.3.21]. \n[Therefore any person who seriously desires real happiness must seek a bona fide spiritual master and take shelter of him by initiation. The qualification of the bona fide guru is that he has realized the conclusions of the scriptures by deliberation and is able to convince others of these conclusions. Such great personalities, who have taken shelter of the Supreme Godhead, leaving aside all material considerations, should be understood to be bona fide spiritual masters.]\nTasmād guruṁ prapadyeta: \"One should search after a spiritual master who is inquisitive about transcendental subject matter.\" So unless one is at least conversant with the preliminary knowledge of transcendental matter... That transcendental matter here you can see. Arjuna is perplexed, and now he wants a definite answer. This is the enquiry about transcendental subject matter.\nSo every human being has to enquire. The enquiry must be there. What is that enquiry? That enquiry is that, preliminary, that every human being is suffering. A ignorant man... Just like a cat and dog or an animal, they are suffering, but they do not understand. Suffering they do not understand. Just like we have seen... Of course, here animals are slaughtered in slaughterhouse. In..., according to Hindu system, of course, cow killing is not allowed. But there are meat-eaters.\nSo according to Hindu system, if anyone wants to eat meat, he should take a goat. According to Hindu system, only goats and lambs can be killed for meat-eating, no other animal. No other animal. Cow is not..., forbidden. Just like in, in, the Hindus, they do not eat cow's flesh. And the Muslims, they do not eat, I mean to say, hogs. Hog's flesh they do not eat. They have got some sentiment. But meat-eating is also there in the Hindu society, but that is only by goat's meat or lamb's meat. Generally goat. Generally goat.\nNow, these goats are sacrificed before a goddess Kālī. Goddess Kālī. So I have seen it, that one animal is being killed, slaughtered, and the another animal, which will be slaughtered next, he's... It has been given some grass, and it is standing there. You see? It has no knowledge that \"My next turn is mine,\" so it is not going away. So this is animal. This is animal. A human, human being, is not so fool. If there is sign that \"Next time my killing is to be taken up,\" then he... At least he will protest or try to go away, something like that. You see? But there is no such thing.\nSo the distinction between animal and man is that that animal is not aware of the sufferings he is undergoing. There are sufferings both for the animals and for the man, but man is conscious. If a man is not awakened to his suffering, then he is in animal consciousness.\nSo we are... We should not forget that we are always under suffering. There are three kinds of sufferings. I don't say about this economic problem or... That is also another suffering. But according to Vedic knowledge—or it is a fact—there are three kinds of sufferings. One kind of suffering belonging to the body and the mind. Now, suppose I am getting some headache. Now I am feeling very warm, I am feeling very cold, and so many bodily sufferings there are. Similarly, we have got sufferings of the mind. My mind is not well today. I have been... Somebody has called me something, so I am suffering. Or I have lost something or some friend, so many things.\nSo sufferings of the body and mind, and then sufferings by the nature. Nature. This is called adhidaivika, which we have no control. In every suffering we have no control, especially... Suppose there is heavy snowfall. The whole New York City is flooded with the snow, and we are all put into inconvenience. That's a sort of suffering. But you have no control. You cannot stop snow falling. You see? [laughs] If some, some, there is wind, cold wind, you cannot stop it. This is called adhidaivika suffering. And the suffering of the mind and suffering of the body is called adhyātmika. And there is other sufferings, adhibhautika, attack by other living being—my enemy, some animal or some worm, so many.\nSo these three kinds of sufferings are there always. Always. And... But we do not want all these sufferings. When this question comes... Now here Arjuna is conscious that \"There is a fight, and it is my duty to fight with the enemy, but there is suffering because they are my kinsmen.\" So he's feeling that. So unless a human being is conscious and awakened to the fact that we are always in suffering but we do not want all these sufferings, this question, such a person is required to approach a spiritual master, when he is conscious. You see? So long he is animallike, that he does not know that he's always in suffering... He does not know, he does not care, or he does not want to make a solution. Here Arjuna is suffering, and he wants to make a solution, and therefore he accepts a spiritual master.\nSo when we are conscious of our sufferings, we are awakened to the suffering situation... Suffering is there. Forgetfulness or ignorance of suffering is no meaning. Suffering is there. But when one is very serious to make a solution of his suffering, then a spiritual master required. Just like Arjuna requires now a spiritual master. Is it clear? Yes.\nSo that suffering is there. It does not require any education, simply thinking that, a slight thinking, that \"I do not want all these suffering, but I am suffering. Why? Is there any solution? Is there...?\" But there is solution. All these scriptures, all these Vedic knowledge, everything... And not only Vedic knowledge. Now... Oh, why you are going to school? Why you are going to college? Why you are taking scientific education? Why you are taking law education? Everything is meant for ending our sufferings. If there was no suffering, then nobody would have taken education. You see? But he thinks that \"If I am educated, if I become a doctor or if I become a lawyer or if I become an engineer, I will be happy.\" Happy. That is the ultimate aim. \"I will get a good job, government job. I'll be happy.\" So happiness is the end of every, I mean to say, pursuance.\nSo... But these mitigation of sufferings, they are temporary. Real suffering, real suffering is due to our this material existence, these three kinds of suffering. So when one is conscious about his sufferings and he wants to make a solution of this suffering, then there is necessary of a spiritual master.\nNow, if you want to make a solution of your sufferings, and you want to consult a person, now what sort of person you must meet who can end your all sufferings? That selection must be there. If you want to purchase a jewel and a diamond and very valuable thing, and if you go to a grocer's shop... Such kind of ignorance—you must be cheated. You must be cheated. At least you must approach to a jewelry shop. Jewelry shop, you see? So much knowledge you must have. So is that question solved?",
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{
"content": "\n Yes, yes.",
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"content": "\n Yes. The, the necessity of a spiritual master is for him who is conscious of his material sufferings. If one is not conscious of his material sufferings, then he is not even on the human being status; he's still in the animal status. Animal status, you see? Now, the modern civilization... The modern civilization is practically... They are evading, evading the real sufferings. They are engaged in temporary sufferings. But the Vedic system is Vedic knowledge. They are meant for ending the sufferings of.., for good, sufferings for good. You see? The human life is meant for that, ending all sufferings. Of course, we are trying to end all kinds of sufferings. Our business, our occupation, our education, our advancement of knowledge—everything is meant for ending suffering. But that suffering is temporary. Temporary. But we have to end the sufferings for good. Suffering...\nThat sort of knowledge is called transcendental knowledge, and if anyone is seeking after that transcendental know... This Bhagavad-gītā is not an ordinary thing. It is transcendental knowledge. And now here the ground is prepared. Ground is prepared. Arjuna is conscious of his suffering, perplexity. Now he is seeking a spiritual master.\nSo the, the... We should take the position of Arjuna: disciple. When a disciple is serious about making..., about making a solution of the suffering, then he requires a spiritual master. And what sort of spiritual master? Kṛṣṇa, the most perfect man. The most perfect man. So a spiritual master is representative of Kṛṣṇa. Of course, Kṛṣṇa is not present before us. But at least we must have a person as our spiritual master who represents Kṛṣṇa. And who can represent Kṛṣṇa? One who is devotee of Kṛṣṇa, in the line, disciplic succession. You see? So see here. Arjuna accepts Kṛṣṇa as the spiritual master.\nNow, question may be that \"Why Arjuna...? There was many learned men, not only Kṛṣṇa, but there were Vyāsadeva and other great sages and brāhmaṇas. Why...?\" Kṛṣṇa was also kṣatriya. Kṛṣṇa was not a brāhmaṇa. Of course, He took His, mean..., He appeared in the family of a kṣatriya. And they were cousin-brothers. Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna, they were cousin-brothers. Kṛṣṇa was the son of the brother, and Arjuna was the son of the sister. Arjuna's mother and Kṛṣṇa's father, they were brother and sister. So they are in the family relation. They were intimately related, and at the same time, they were of the same age and friends.\nNow, the question may be: \"Why Kṛṣṇa is accepted as the spiritual master?\" That is the selection of the disciple, that Arjuna says,\nna hi prapaśyāmi mamāpanudyād\nyac chokam ucchoṣaṇam indriyāṇām\navāpya bhūmāv asapatnam ṛddhaṁ\nrājyaṁ surāṇām api cādhipatyam\n[Bg 2.8]\n[I can find no means to drive away this grief which is drying up my senses. I will not be able to destroy it even if I win an unrivalled kingdom on the earth with sovereignty like that of the demigods in heaven.]\nNow, he says that \"I am so perplexed that my lamentation cannot be satisfied even if I get the kingdom of the universe. I am going to fight for the kingdom only of this earth, or the India.\" Of course, formerly, India means Bhārata. Now India is a name given by the foreigners. The real name of this planet is Bhārata-varṣa, this planet. Now, gradually, it has been cut up. It has been cut up, just like we have got immediate experience that some portion of India is now cut up, and that is named Pakistan. You know, all. Similarly, this whole planet, five thousand years before, this whole planet was known as Bhārata-varṣa. Bhārata-varṣa. And before that, thousands and millions of years before, this planet was known as Ilāvṛta-varṣa. Ilāvṛta-varṣa. And now, since the time of Emperor Bharata... There was an emperor whose name was Bharata. So from the name of Bharata, this planet's name became Bhārata-varṣa.\nSo up to five thousand years before... Why five thousand years before? Say, up to four thousand years before, although the modern history cannot give account, chronological account, more than 2,500 years, but we are speaking, about four thousand years before, this planet was called Bhārata-varṣa.\nNow, Arjuna says that \"We are going to fight for the matter of this Bhārata-varṣa planet. This is one of the planet in the universe. But if I get the whole planets of this..., the complete planets of this universe, and without any competitor, still, the perplexity which has arisen in my mind, that cannot be mitigated.\" So... Now, see what sort, what sort of responsibility is given to the Kṛṣṇa.\nSañjaya uvāca. Now, Sañjaya said,\nevam uktvā hṛṣīkeśaṁ\nguḍākeśaḥ parantapaḥ\nna yotsya iti govindam\nuktvā tūṣṇīṁ babhūva ha\n[Bg 2.9]\n[Sañjaya said: Having spoken thus, Arjuna, chastiser of enemies, told Kṛṣṇa, \"Govinda, I shall not fight,\" and fell silent.]\n\"Just saying this, Arjuna became silent: 'Oh, I cannot fight.' \"\ntam uvāca hṛṣīkeśaḥ\nprahasann iva bhārata\nsenayor ubhayor madhye\nviṣīdantam idaṁ vacaḥ\n[Bg 2.10]\n[O descendant of Bharata, at that time Kṛṣṇa, smiling, in the midst of both the armies, spoke the following words to the grief-stricken Arjuna.]\nNow here Kṛṣṇa is addressed as Hṛṣīkeśa. Hṛṣīkeśa... We should always remember that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is present as incarnation. Now, God is all-powerful. God is all-powerful. So if He comes before you, you cannot deny, that \"How is that, God has come?\" You cannot say that. If God is all-powerful, then it is His choice; it is His free will. He can come before you, come before you, provided you are such qualified devotee. So there cannot be any solid argument that \"God cannot come\" or \"God...\" Of course, so far Vedic literatures are concerned, they accept the incarnation of God.\nSo Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and so He is addressed as Hṛṣīkeśa. Hṛṣīka... Hṛṣīkeśa, it has got a significant..., significant meaning. Hṛṣīka. Hṛṣīka means the senses, hṛṣīka. And īśa, īśa means Lord. Īśa means Lord. So He is the Lord of the senses. He is the Lord of the senses. Similarly, Govinda. Govinda... Here also, Govinda name is also there. Yes. Na yotsya... Na yotsya iti govindam uktvā tūṣṇīṁ babhūva ha [Bg 2.9]. \nGovindam. Govinda. Go means also senses. Go means cow, go means land and go means sense. And inda. Inda means pleasure. One who gives pleasure to the cow, one who gives pleasure to the land, one who gives pleasure to the senses—so His name is Govinda. Now, two things..., two names, are used here.\nSo we should try to understand what is the meaning of Hṛṣīkeśa. Hṛṣīka means indriya, and īśa means Lord. So whatever senses we have got, the actually the proprietor of the senses—not myself. The proprietor of the senses is God. Just like we are sitting in this room. This room is allotted for our sitting under some consideration of rent or whatever it may be, but this room is not ours. That's a fact. We should not consider that \"This is..., I am the proprietor of the room.\" Although I am using it to my heart's desire, as I like, that is a different thing. But as soon as there is some misunderstanding or the landlord says, \"Now you cannot room in this room. Vacate,\" I have to vacate. You see?\nSimilarly, this is also just like room, this, our body. This body is given to us by God under certain condition, and as soon as God likes that \"You should vacate from this body,\" I have to vacate. Nobody can allow us to stay here. And besides that... Just like my hand, my hand, this hand... Now, suppose if this hand is paralyzed. The power of this hand is so long..., so long there is power from the Supreme. Otherwise, if my hand is paralyzed, there is no remedy. There is no remedy. You see? So we are not the owner of this body, not the owner of the senses. The senses are just like hired, hired from the Supreme Lord. This is a very subtle understanding. One should know. So therefore actually the proprietor of the senses is God.\nNow, if I am the proprietor of this tape recorder, then it should be utilized for my purpose. Anything which I own, that should be utilized for my purpose. Your things should be utilized for your purpose. So if God is the proprietor of our senses, then these senses must be used for God's purpose. That is the constitutional position. That is the constitutional position. Now, when these senses are used for other than God's purpose, that is bondage, conditioned life. When the senses are purified and it is used for God's purpose, that is natural life. That is natural life.\nSo whole trouble is that although our senses and everything, whatever we have got... There is Īśopaniṣad, a part of Veda. It is stated there that īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam [Īśo mantra 1]:\n[Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong.]\n\"Everything, whatever you see, that belongs to God.\" That belongs to God. Now, it is our misunderstanding that we are claiming... All the people of the world, they are claiming as proprietor. Now, just like this American land. American land, now you are claiming as the proprietor. But is it a fact? Actually are you proprietor? Eh? Now, say, some hundreds and hundreds years, when Columbus came, so there were no Americans here, and so you were not proprietor. The land was there. Now, when you shall go away, the land will also be there.\nSo the land belongs to God, and everything... Now, we say that we have manufactured this typewriter. Now, this typewriter, the now ingredient, the iron, have we manufactured iron? No. Iron is received from the mines. It is given by God. Nobody can manufacture iron. Nobody can manufacture anything. They can transform from one thing to another. They can bring out the iron from the mine. They can melt, and they can transform the shape of the metal in a different way. So that they can do, but they cannot produce iron. They cannot produce anything—wood, iron, earth, anything whatever. So real proprietor is God. Real proprietor is God, everything. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam. This is God consciousness. This is God consciousness. One who is in God consciousness, he is a perfect man. He is a perfect man.\nSo here, the significant word,\ntam uvāca hṛṣīkeśaḥ\nprahasann iva bhārata\nsenayor ubhayor madhye\nviṣīdantam idaṁ vacaḥ\n[Bg 2.10]\n[O descendant of Bharata, at that time Kṛṣṇa, smiling, in the midst of both the armies, spoke the following words to the grief-stricken Arjuna.]\nNow, Kṛṣṇa is smiling. Kṛṣṇa is smiling because...\n[aside:] You can open it. Yes. Open.\nKṛṣṇa is smiling: \"Just see. Arjuna is such a hero. He is My friend, and now he is so much perplexed.\" Now, when he sat down and he, Arjuna, accepted Kṛṣṇa as the spiritual master, now Kṛṣṇa begins to speak: śrī-bhagavān uvāca. Śrī-bhagavān uvāca. Here the book does not say kṛṣṇaḥ uvāca. Śrī-bhagavān uvāca. Now, we should understand what is the meaning of bhagavān. Bhaga... Bhaga means opulence. Opulence. There are six kinds of opulences. And what are...? Yes.",
"role": "assistant"
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{
"content": "\n It means what?",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "\n Opulence.",
"role": "assistant"
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{
"content": "\n Opulence.",
"role": "user"
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"content": "\n Do you follow, opulence?",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\n Yes, I do.",
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"content": "\n Yes. So what are these opulences? Wealth is opulence. Then strength is opulence. Then... Aiśvaryasya samagrasya vīryasya [Viṣṇu Purāṇa 6.5.47].\n[Full wealth, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation—these are the six opulences of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.]\nStrength and fame. Fame is also opulence. And just like Lord Jesus Christ: the whole Christian world knows. Lord Kṛṣṇa, everyone knows. Or the, apart from them, President Johnson. Now the whole America and the whole world knows who is President Johnson. Mahatma Gandhi. The famous. So fame is also opulence. And nobody knows me, but he is also a person. He is known throughout the whole world. So this is an opulence. Just like your Rockefeller. They are very rich. So everyone knows in the world. So they are opulent, opulent by wealth.\nSimilarly, somebody is opulent by fame, and somebody is opulent by strength. And so strength is opulence, wealth is opulence and fame is opulence. And then beauty; beauty is also opulence. If one, one man or woman, is very beautiful, he attracts persons. He attracts. So anything that attracts, that is called opulence. A wealthy man attracts. A strong man attracts. A famous man attracts. If somebody, famous man, comes here, oh, so many people will gather to receive him. So these are opulences: wealth, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation—six things. Anyone who possess all these six opulences in full, He is God. That is the definition of God. Anyone.\nSo when Kṛṣṇa was present on this earth, He showed His opulence, opulences, in full. Opulences in full. Of course, we have got all these historical records about Him. Now, so far His wealth is concerned, He had 16, 108 wives. And for each of them, for each of them, He built a palace. And all those palaces were so nicely built that there was no need of electricity or light. It was bedecked with jewels. So day and night, they were, I mean, blazing. You see? So these description are there. But if we forget that..., that He is God, then this will be something like story, that \"How a man can marry sixteen thousand wives? How He...?\" But we should always remember that He is God. He is all-powerful. And for no other person such historical records are there, only for Kṛṣṇa.\nSo in strength also nobody could conquer Him. And beauty... So far beauty is concerned, when He was on the battlefield... Have you seen any picture of Kṛṣṇa? Have you seen? Oh, no. Of course... Any one of you have seen Kṛṣṇa? Kṛṣṇa, when He was present in the battle, Battlefield of Kurukṣetra, at that time He was about ninety years old. Ninety years old. He had His great-grandchildren. He married sixteen thousand wives, and each wife had ten children. And those ten children, they also got, each, ten, twelve children. Just... And they had children also. Because He was at that time ninety years old, He got at that time great-grandchildren also. So His family was very great. Now, if you see the picture of Kṛṣṇa, you'll see Him just like a boy of twenty-two, twenty-five years old. He was so beautiful. He was so beautiful. Then... That is the sign of God.\nIt is stated in Brahma-saṁhitā, \nadvaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam\nādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca\n[Bs 5.33]\n[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is inaccessible to the \nVedas,\n but obtainable by pure unalloyed devotion of the soul, who is without a second, who is not subject to decay, is without a beginning, whose form is endless, who is the beginning, and the eternal \npuruṣa;\n yet He is a person possessing the beauty of blooming youth.]\nHe is the original person. Because from God everyone has born, therefore He is the original person, ādyam. Purāṇa-puruṣam. Purāṇa means the oldest person. Still, nava-yauvanaṁ ca. Whenever you will see God—that is the..., this is the sign of God—you'll find Him just like a youth, a new youth. Youthfulness means, say, sixteen to twenty-four years. So nava-yauvanaṁ ca. That is the sign of God. So He was so beautiful that when He was a boy of fifteen years old His, the whole, I mean, of His, of the same age girls, girls of His age, they were after Him. He was so beautiful.\nSo in beauty He was superexcellent. In wealth He was superexcellent. In strength He was superexcellent. And in knowledge... Now, here is a book, Bhagavad-gītā. Now, apart from other books, other knowledge which He imparted to other..., now, here is a book which was imparted to Arjuna. Now, it is so..., the depth of knowledge, that people are still considering, great, great scholars. We are not reading, but Dr. Radhakrishnan, one of the greatest scholars of the world—now he is the president of India—he is discussing. Professor Einstein, he was living here in America. He was a German Jew, and I think he was living in America. He was a great student of this Bhagavad-gītā. Hitler. Hitler was a great student of Bhagavad-gītā. And there were many scholars still reading Bhagavad-gītā, trying to understand. Just see what best depth of knowledge He has given. It is made by Kṛṣṇa. So in knowledge, in wealth, in strength, in beauty and in everything He was opulent. Therefore He is Bhagavān. You cannot accept any ordinary man as Bhagavān. So therefore Bhagavān.\nNow, bhagavān uvāca. And because He has been accepted as the spiritual master... Just like a teacher has the right to sometimes rebuke the student, so in the first instance He is rebuking Arjuna in the following words, that,\naśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ\nprajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase\ngatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca\nnānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ\n[Bg 2.11]\n[The Blessed Lord said: While speaking learned words, you are mourning for what is not worthy of grief. Those who are wise lament neither for the living nor the dead.]\nThat \"Arjuna, you are speaking just like a very great, learned man, but you are... You are... In other words, you are a fool. You do not know how things are going on, because paṇḍitāḥ, those who are learned men, they would not have lamented just like you are doing.\" That means indirectly He says... Paṇḍitāḥ means learned. Learned man does not lament over a dead body or a living body. Gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca. Asūn means life. One has lost his life, and one has got his life, a body, living body and a dead body. Living body and a dead body. Just mark the point, that \"A learned man... As you are lamenting over the subject of killing your friends and relatives, but a learned man would not have lamented like this. That means you are a fool.\"\nWhen He says... Just like if I say, \"Mr. Green, what you have done, any intelligent man should not have done this,\" so this is indirectly saying that \"You are not intelligent.\" It is in a gentleman's way, speaking that \"Mr. Green, what you are doing, no intelligent man can do this.\" That means \"You are not intelligent.\" So here He says that \"You are lamenting over the bodies of your relatives because in the fight you are considering that 'My friends and my relatives will be killed,' so that means they are living bodies, and you are lamenting over the..., over their killing. So this sort of lamentation is never done by a learned man. A learned man never does it.\" Gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ [Bg 2.11]. \"Those who are learned, one who is learned, he does not lament over the body, either a living body or dead body. There is no question of.\"\nNow, because one who knows the distinction between the body and the soul, firmly con... Just like you have heard the name of Socrates. Soc..., a great philosopher, Greek philosopher. He believed in the immortality of soul. So he was punished in the court, hemlock. Hemlock was offered to him, that \"All right, if you believe the immortality of soul, then you drink this hemlock poison.\" So he drunk, because he was firmly convinced that \"Even if I drink this poison, my body will be destroyed, but by destruction of my body, I am not going to be destroyed.\" He was convinced. So he did not lament. So a paṇḍita, learned man, must know that this body and soul, the distinction, the difference between body and soul... The body is not soul and the soul is not body, and one who knows, he is learned man. This instruction is given first.\nSo for spiritual advancement this first knowledge: that the body and the soul is different. This body cannot be identified with the soul. You see? The soul is there, but body is not soul. Body is not soul. So every learned man knows it, and we should be...\nI think we can stop here. [end]",
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"content": "\n Somebody come read Bhagavad-gītā. You will read? Come on. Our publication by Macmillan Company, Bhagavad-gītā, is out.\nDevotee\n: Where shall I read from?\n Introduction.\nDevotee\n: This is the introduction to Bhagavad-gītā As It Is.\nnama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale\nśrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine\n\"The Bhagavad-gītā is also known as the Gītopaniṣad. It is the essence of the Vedic knowledge and one of the most important Upaniṣads in Vedic literature. There are many commentaries on the Bhagavad-gītā, and the necessity for another should be explained in the following basis. An American lady asked me to recommend an English edition of the Bhagavad-gītā which she could read. I was unable to do so in good conscience.\n\"Of course, there are many translations, but of those I have seen, not only in America but those also in India, none can be said to be authoritative, because in almost every one of them the author has expressed his personal opinion through the commentaries without touching the spirit of the Bhagavad-gītā as it is.\n\"The spirit of the Bhagavad-gītā is mentioned in the Gītā itself. It is like this: If we want to take a particular medicine, then we have to follow the directions written on the label of the bottle. We cannot take the medicine according to our own directions or the directions of a friend not in knowledge of this medicine.\n\"We must follow the directions on the label or the directions of our physician. The Bhagavad-gītā also should be accepted as it is directly by the speaker Himself. The speaker is Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. He is mentioned on every page as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, or Bhagavān. Bhagavān sometimes means any powerful person or demigod, but here it means Kṛṣṇa.\"\n Most of you must have read some editions of Bhagavad-gītā. I will give you instances. One of the English translations, commentaries by Dr. Radhakrishnan, in the Ninth Chapter the Lord says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru [Bg. 18.65], mām evaiṣyasi kaunteya asaṁśaya...\n[Always think of Me and become My devotee. Worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend.]\nThe Lord says that \"You just always remain thinking of Me.\" That means always remain in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Simply this Kṛṣṇa consciousness means some way or other you have to think of Kṛṣṇa always. Some way or other you just engage yourself in some activities so that it can remind you about Kṛṣṇa. That is the process.\nTherefore those who are elevated devotees, they, in everything, they remember Kṛṣṇa. That is the perfection. [Bengali] Here is a light. A perfect devotee sees the light, not the light as it is, but he sees some relationship with Kṛṣṇa or Kṛṣṇa in the light.\nThis is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā also, that prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ. Raso 'ham apsu kaunteya prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ [Bg. 7.8].\n[O son of Kuntī [Arjuna], I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and the moon, the syllable om in the Vedic mantras; I am the sound in ether and ability in man.]\nKṛṣṇa says that, \"I am the taste of the water.\" Now the..., when you are thirsty, you want water. You feel some nice taste in the water by which your thirst is satisfied, \"Yes, now I am satisfied.\" Kṛṣṇa says, \"I am that taste.\"\nSimilarly, He says, prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ: \"The light in the sun, in the moon, that I am that light.\" In this way He has described. So when one is highly elevated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, in everything, in every action and every phenomenon he will see only Kṛṣṇa. That is the perfection of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.\nSo that is being taught in the Ninth Chapter, and in this verse, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto, \"Always think of Me.\" This is the sum and substance of all spiritual advancement. What is that? Smartavyaṁ satato viṣṇuḥ [Cc Madhya 22.113].\n[“‘Kṛṣṇa is the origin of Lord Viṣṇu. He should always be remembered and never forgotten at any time. All the rules and prohibitions mentioned in the śāstras should be the servants of these two principles.’]\nOne should always be absorbed in the thought of Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is called samādhi. That is perfection of yoga. \nThe yoga system is the practice of the most lower class of men—I mean to say spiritually, not materially. Because their mind is so much distracted from here and there, they have to concentrate the mind by practice and focus the mind on Viṣṇu. That is the yoga perfection, real.\nNow they are manufacturing so many other things, but the real yoga practice is this, that you have to draw your attention from everything and focus the same on Viṣṇu form. That is yoga system. Dhyānāvasthita manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ [SB 12.13.1].\n[Sūta Gosvāmī said: Unto that personality whom Brahmā, Varuṇa, Indra, Rudra and the Maruts praise by chanting transcendental hymns and reciting the Vedas with all their corollaries, pada-kramas and Upaniṣads, to whom the chanters of the Sāma Veda always sing, whom the perfected yogīs see within their minds after fixing themselves in trance and becoming fully absorbed in thoughts of Him, and whose limit can never be found by any demigod or demon—unto that Supreme Personality of Godhead I offer my humble obeisances.]\nThis is the definition of yogī. They are in meditation, dhyānāvasthita. Dhyānāvasthita means meditation. So those who are yogīs... You have heard so much about meditation—there is very popular word in your country—and what is that meditation? The meditation is to focus the mind on the form of Viṣṇu. Dhyānāvasthita manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ.\n[pause]\nSo this instruction you will find in the Ninth Chapter, man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ [Bg. 9.34],\n[Engage your mind always in thinking of Me, offer obeisances and worship Me. Being completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to Me.]\n\"Always think of Me.\" That is the perfection of life, always thinking of Viṣṇu. But one commentator, very big commentator, he says, \"This meditation is not up to Kṛṣṇa.\" Just see. Kṛṣṇa says, \"That meditate upon Me\" in the Bhagavad-gītā, and the commentator says, \"It is not up to Kṛṣṇa.\"\nIn this way, in similar way or a different way, every commentary on Bhagavad-gītā so far published I have seen, their business is how to divert one's attention from Kṛṣṇa, although in the Bhagavad-gītā the main factor is Kṛṣṇa. That is mentioned here.\nWhat is that? Read on. \"This Bhagavad-gītā has come...\" Yes.\nDevotee\n: The last sentence was, \"Bhagavān sometimes mean any..., any..., means any powerful person or demigod, but here it means Kṛṣṇa. This is confirmed by all the ...\"\n Now this bhagavān, you have heard, many times I have explained, bhaga. Bhaga means opulence. There are six kinds of opulences. What is that? Wealth, and then influence, strength, reputation and knowledge, beauty and renunciation. Is it not six? If a man is wealthy, very rich—just like in your country Rockefeller, Ford, there are many rich men in your, the..., your country is very rich—so if one is very rich he is called opulent.\nIf a man is very reputed, famous man, he is also opulent. If a man is very influential, he is also opulent. If a man is very strong... Now the strong man, formerly strong men had request, ahh, respect. All the kings, they were respected on their personal strength. They used to..., they had to fight with the opponents. So that is also opulence.\nThen beauty. A very beautiful man or woman, that is also opulence. And wise, very learned, wise man, that is also opulence—scientist, philosopher, mathematician. So they are also opulent. And renouncer. Renouncer, that one who gives up everything—he has everything in his possession, but he disposes himself—that is called renunciation. Just like king, Mahārāja Bharata, under whose name India is called Bhārata-varṣa.\nHe was the emperor of the world, but at the age of twenty-four years only he gave up everything—his young wife, young children. Lord Buddha, Lord Buddha was prince, but very young boy, at the age of twenty years or something like that, he gave up everything, his father's kingdom. This is called renunciation. At the present moment [chuckles] hardly there is any instance of renunciation, but formerly there were many kings, many princes who renounced everything for spiritual advancement. So these six principles are called bhaga.\nSo these six principles are there. Just like we are minute part and parcel of the Supreme Lord. Fragment, very small fragment. So every one of us have got some money according to our capacity. Every one of us has got some strength or some reputation or some beauty or some knowledge. Comparatively it may be that your position may be greater than me or other's position may be greater than you, that not all of us on the same level.\nThere are comparative position. So bhagavān means you go on searching; when you find a person that nobody is richer than Him, nobody is stronger than Him, nobody is reputed than Him, nobody is wiser than him, nobody is beautiful, more beautiful than Him, and nobody is renouncer than Him, He is Bhagavān, He is God.\nSo all these you will find in Kṛṣṇa. That is the significance of Kṛṣṇa. When Kṛṣṇa was present on this material world, so nobody could excel Him in any of these opulences. Nobody. So far richness is concerned, He exhibited His richness—which is dream now. He married 16,108 wives, and each wife had a palace, and the palace did not require light; it was bedecked with valuable jewels, so at night the light from the jewels will illuminate the rooms.\nCan you imagine such house? [laughter] And not only that, that He married 16,000 wives and He was apart from them—no. With each wife He was present. With some wife He is talking, with some wife He is playing, with some wife He is looking after the children. In this way Nārada traveled all the houses, all the palaces, he saw Kṛṣṇa is there engaged. This is called opulence.\nSo far power is concerned, there were so many fights with Kṛṣṇa, nobody could conquer. So far beauty is concerned, you know Kṛṣṇa's beauty, even from the picture. And the, all the gopīs, in Vṛndāvana... Kṛṣṇa at the age of fifteen, sixteenth year, naturally at that time boys are very beautiful, any, any man even. So He was so beautiful that they, all the gopīs prayed to Yogamāyā. Everyone prayed, \"My dear mother, please give me Kṛṣṇa as my husband.\" So this is... This is very nice—significance is the, that the day they prayed, the next day there was...\nPerhaps you know that Kṛṣṇa's vastraṇaṁ-līlā. Vastraṇaṁ-līlā means... In India still there are places in Punjab when girls and women take bath they keep their clothings... In the river, I mean to say, not in the bathroom. In the rivers, they keep their clothings on the shore, on the bank, and they dip into the water completely naked.\nSo that place is completely separate for the women. No man can go there. That is the system still somewhere. They will take bath fully, and they will come and again dress. And woman, woman, they are all naked, there was no shame. They..., no man and no boy can go there.\nThis vastraṇaṁ-līlā was that Kṛṣṇa stealthily went there and took up all their clothes and got up on a tree, [laughter] [laughs] with the clothings. And they cannot come out of the water. \"Kṛṣṇa, You are very naughty. Give us our clothes. Give us our clothes.\" That was vastraṇaṁ-līlā. [laughter] The purpose was... The, the people interpret in a different way, but the purpose is very significant.\nOnly devotees can understand that all these girls, day before, they prayed to Yogamāyā that..., everyone prayed that \"Let us have Kṛṣṇa as our husband.\" Now Kṛṣṇa was at that time only fifteen, sixteen years, no older. In India still, the boys of fifteen, sixteen years, they are not married.\nAt least he must be twenty, twenty-two years. And girls are married between twelve to sixteen years. That is the Vedic system. Neither it was possible for Kṛṣṇa to marry all the girls, but they all prayed. So how to fulfil their desire? That was vastraṇaṁ-līlā.\nThe vastraṇaṁ-līlā means that according to any human civilization, system, a woman can become naked only before husband. So Kṛṣṇa fulfilled that, that \"You are naked, I am before you, so I am your husband.\" That's all. Wholesale acceptance. That was the purpose. But the nonsense people, they differently, differently interpret.\nSo Kṛṣṇa's opulence, beauty, strength, and so far wisdom, at least you can test. Now the wisdom, the preliminary wisdom only. Preliminary talks on spiritual matter is discussed in this Bhagavad-gītā. And this book is still read, even after five thousand years, all over the world. Just see His wisdom. That is a test. Big scholars, big religionists, philosophers, they are bewildered still about Bhagavad-gītā.\nTherefore there are so many interpretation. But this, what is this Bhagavad-gītā? Bhagavad-gītā is the A-B-C-D of spiritual knowledge. It is not very high depth of spiritual knowledge. High depth of spiritual knowledge is in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. This is only entrance. Just like children are taught A-B-C-D, or first book of knowledge. It is only the first book of knowledge.\nAnd what is that first book of knowledge? The first book of knowledge teaches from the very beginning that you are not this body. That is the beginning of knowledge, spiritual knowledge. And the whole world, great philosophers, the great politicians... Now yesterday the boys gave me one paper.\nThere is discussion about Transcendental Meditation. There was publication of our activities also, and some others are... So the so-called Transcendental Meditation they are discussing on the mind. And the Bhagavad-gītā, mind is immediately rejected as matter.\nSo Transcendental Meditation, they're on the platform of the mind. Just see. And the Bhagavad-gītā says that mind is external nature only.\nindriyāṇi parāṇy āhur\nindriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ\nmanasas tu parā buddhir\nbuddhes tu yaḥ paratas saḥ\n[Bg. 3.42]\n[The working senses are superior to dull matter; mind is higher than the senses; intelligence is still higher than the mind; and he [the soul] is even higher than the intelligence.]\nIn the gross material concept of life we are under the impression that \"I am this body.\" Therefore we are concerned with the senses. If our senses are gratified, we think we are now satisfied. So this is the gross type of existence, I mean to say, existence of ignorance. Illusion. Māyā. When one is under the thought that \"I am this,\" this is illusion. Illusion means you accept something, something is presented as reality, and you accept it.\nJust like the example is given, water in the desert. Mirage. There is no water, but a..., an animal is hankering, is running after water in the desert. That is practical, that due to sunshine there is a reflection, it appears in the desert. Sometimes you might have seen—not here; in India we have seen several times—that exactly as vast water, and it is reflecting, the reflection.\nThat is called mirage. There is not a drop of water, but the animal, when he is thirsty, he..., it thinks that \"There is water.\" He jumps into the desert and the water is going ahead, going ahead, and he is running after it and then dies. So this illusion, that \"I am this body.\" So we are after this sense gratification. Body means the senses. So that is mirage, illusion, just like the animal is running after water in the desert.\nSo even this yoga system, the haṭha yoga system, that is also based on this illusion. They are trying to put this water under certain exercise and thinking that they are elevating themselves in spirit. But Bhagavad-gītā, in the beginning, says that you are not this body, neither this mind. This is the beginning of Bhagavad-gītā, and that is A-B-C-D.\nAny person who does not know that \"I am not this body,\" he has no even A-B-C-D knowledge of spiritual kingdom. If one is attracted with this bodily function or mind, mental function, he is outside the spiritual purview altogether, rejected immediately. That test is in the Bhagavad-gītā.\nSo these people, the so-called yogīs, so-called karmīs... Karmīs means the ordinary worker, those who are running in the street with motorcar, this way and that way, very busy. You see. What are they? They are karmīs. Karmīs means under the bodily concept. They are thinking that comfort of this body and sense gratification is the end of life. That is karmī.\nIf they have got very nice apartment, a nice wife and good bank balance and a very nice dress, oh, there is perfection. That's all. That is karmī. And jñānī means when they are confused. Just like there are a section of people in your country, they have seen enough of this material affair, happiness, or they are searching after something, wrongly. But actually those who are intelligent, they don't remain confused. Actually they want to see, \"What is my actual position.\" They are called jñānī, man of knowledge.\nSo jñāna, or knowledge, is on the mental plane, and karma is on the bodily plane. So somebody, some section of people, they are engaged in this bodily platform, and some section of people are engaged in the mental platform. Whatever religion and process of elevation of life we have manufactured, they can be grouped in two ways: mental and bodily. That's all. And Bhagavad-gītā is transcendental—neither on the mental plane nor on the bodily plane.\nTherefore the last instruction of Bhagavad-gītā is sarva-dharmān parityajya [Bg. 18.66].\n[Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.]\nDharma... You have created so many religious principles, so many concocted spiritual ways of life or material ways of life. Somebody are materialist and somebody are so-called spiritualist. So Kṛṣṇa says that you have to give up all this nonsense—on the mental platform and bodily platform. You have come to the transcendental platform. And what is that transcendental platform? To understand your relationship with Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.\nRead.\nDevotee\n: \"This is confirmed by all the great teachers, including Śaṅkara and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. In India there are many authorities on Vedic knowledge, and they have virtually all accepted Śrī Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We should therefore accept the Bhagavad-gītā as it is, directed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead...\"\n And here is an important fact. The other day while I was walking, I saw one advertisement of tourist agent: India's pictures can—wonderful land. The wonderful land. Anyway, so I asked Kārttikeya, \"So India is considered very wonderful?\" He said \"Yes.\" Anyway, India is still considered the land of spiritual cultivation.\nEven one Chinese author, he has written that if you want to study religion, then you have to go India. He is impartial. He is not Indian nor an American or any country. He is Chinese. Chinese are considered to be Communist country. But he has very impartially said that if you have to learn what is religion, then you have to go to India.\nAnyway India, actually it is the land of religion, dharma-kṣetra, although it has gone down at the present moment. But anyway, there are two sections in the..., amongst the Indian, bona fide religionist. That means bona fide religionist means those who are following the Vedic principles. They are called bona fide. Anyway, that is..., that was the system in the bygone ages, even one thousand years ago. And now that, just like Buddha, Buddha religion.\nBuddha religion is also Indian religion. Lord Buddha, He was Indian. He, just like Lord Caitanya began His propaganda from Bengal, Lord Buddha made His propaganda from Bihar. He was Indian. But the defect was that He did not acknowledge the authority of the Vedas. Therefore His philosophy was considered atheism. And this Śaṅkarācārya drove away all the Buddhists from the land of India. Therefore they took shelter in China, Japan, Burma. Outside India.\nSo anyway, strict religionists, they are followers of Vedas, and they are divided into two groups: one group led by Śaṅkarācārya and the other group is led by the Vaiṣṇavas, or generally Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya or Lord Caitanya. They are all the same, Vaiṣṇava. Now all these two groups, following the Vedic principle, they accept Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So far India's authoritative persons are concerned, there is no two opinions, that Kṛṣṇa is not God.\nBoth of them accept Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality. So far we are concerned, Vaiṣṇavas, we accept. There is no doubt about it. There are four different parties of Vaiṣṇavas. All of them accept Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There are eight commentaries on the..., very authoritative, very large commentaries on the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam of these Vaiṣṇavas, and all of them accept Kṛṣṇa.\nSo far the other party is concerned, the impersonalists led by Śaṅkarācārya, a great stalwart scholar, he also accepts Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He says, sa bhagavān svayaṁ kṛṣṇa [SB 1.3.28]:\n[All of the above-mentioned incarnations are either plenary portions or portions of the plenary portions of the Lord, but Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the original Personality of Godhead. All of them appear on planets whenever there is a disturbance created by the atheists. The Lord incarnates to protect the theists.]\n\"The concept of Personality of Godhead, here is Kṛṣṇa.\" And people may misunderstand; therefore he has specifically mentioned Kṛṣṇa who has appeared as the son of Devakī and Vasudeva.\nParticularly, just like when you have to put your identification, you have to give the your father's name or your husband's name. Similarly, the same principle as Śaṅkarācārya has followed. He has said, \"Kṛṣṇa, the Kṛṣṇa who is..., who has appeared as the son of Devakī and Vasudeva.\" So there is no two opinions. No \"Or this Kṛṣṇa, maybe another Kṛṣṇa.\" No. So that is stated here. Yes. Kṛṣṇa is accepted the Supreme Personality of Godhead by all the followers of Vedas. That is a fact.\nYes.\nDevotee\n: \"Now in the Fourth Chapter the Lord tells Arjuna that this yoga system of the Bhagavad-gītā was first spoken to the sun-god. The Blessed Lord said, 'I instructed this imperishable science..., imperishable science of yoga to the sun-god, Vivasvān, and Vivasvān instructed it to Manu, the father of mankind, and Manu in turn instructed it to Ikṣvāku. This supreme science was thus received through the chain of disciplic succession, and the saintly kings understood it in that way. But in the course of time the succession was broken, and therefore the science as it is appears to be lost.' \"\n That is the instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā, that this science of Bhagavad-gītā has to be accepted by disciplic succession. That is the way of accepting any scientific thing. Just like even in material science, suppose if you have to become a medical practitioner or a lawyer.\nSo you have to study the law books by the previous lawyers, by the judgments of the courts. One who has studied the previous records of legal implications, he is best lawyer. Similarly, a medical practicer, practitioner, who has studied the previous books and knowledge and experience, he is called experienced physician.\nThe same principle is there that the spiritual knowl..., you cannot manufacture any spiritual knowledge. That is atheism. You cannot manufacture any religious principle. It is not possible. That is not accepted in Vedas. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇī... [SB 6.3.19]\n[Real religious principles are enacted by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Although fully situated in the mode of goodness, even the great ṛṣis who occupy the topmost planets cannot ascertain the real religious principles, nor can the demigods or the leaders of Siddhaloka, to say nothing of the asuras, ordinary human beings, Vidyādharas and Cāraṇas.]\nDharma means the rules and regulation which is given by God. That is accepted everywhere. In Bible, in Koran also. The laws of God. You cannot manufacture. So Kṛṣṇa said that this principle of Bhagavad-gītā... At the present moment Bhagavad-gītā is being interpreted by anyone and everyone according to his whims.\nThat is not permissible. That is not Bhagavad-gītā. We have to understand this. Simply Bhagavad-gītā is that which is received by the paramparā system. That is being explained.\nGo on.\nDevotee\n: \"Arjuna was neither a great scholar nor a Vedāntist, but a great soldier. A soldier is not supposed to be scholarly, and so Arjuna was selected to understand the Bhagavad-gītā because of one qualification only: he was a devotee of the Lord. This indicates that the Bhagavad-gītā is especially meant for the devotee of the Lord.\"\n So this point is described that just like this yogī Maharishi, he has also written one Bhagavad-gītā. And what right he has got? He has no right to say anything about Bhagavad-gītā, because he is not a devotee. Bhagavad-gītā is taught to Arjuna. He was neither a yogī nor a scholar nor a Vedāntist nor a brāhmaṇa even.\nHe was kṣatriya. Nor a sannyāsī even. He was gṛhastha. He had three wives and so many children. And he was fighting for kingdom. What is the qualification that Bhagavad-gītā was taught to him?\nBecause he was devotee.\nPeople have to see how Bhagavad-gītā is to be accepted. Specially Kṛṣṇa mentions in the Fourth Chapter that \"I am speaking to you. The disciplic succession is now broken. Therefore I am speaking to you the old system of yoga, Bhagavad-gītā, again, unto you.\" \"Why unto me, Kṛṣṇa?\" \"Because you are My devotee.\" That was the answer.\nSo only qualification to understand Bhagavad-gītā is to become a devotee of Kṛṣṇa; otherwise it is not possible. Just give this challenge to everyone: \"So what do you understand about Bhagavad-gītā? You don't..., you are not devotee of Kṛṣṇa. How you can understand Bhagavad-gītā? So you are speaking of Bhagavad-gītā and cheating people.\"\nSo bring all the books which is..., which are published in your country and find out a single man who is a Kṛṣṇa's devotee. Nobody of them. Then what authority he has got to write on Bhagavad-gītā? He has no right. It is simply poking your nose in other's business. Nonsense. You see? Just challenge these persons, \"What right you have got?\" He has no right.\nThese, these, these rascals, they say that everyone is God. And how they can be devotee? Does a devotee say that everyone is God? They say, \"God is one.\" Huh? So we are realizing by meditation, \"I am God, you are God, my brother is God, my father is God, my these are God, everyone is God.\" That's all. This is the..., going on. We want to stop all this rascaldom. That is our challenge.\nWe may not have many followers. We don't care for that. We don't want these nonsense followers, many thousands. What they will do? But if we can turn one man into Kṛṣṇa consciousness perfectly, he can do tremendous work in the world. That is our principle. We don't want nonsense. So this is the principle of understanding Bhagavad-gītā.\nGo on.\nDevotee\n: \"There are three kinds of transcendentalists: the yogī, the impersonalist and the bhakta, or devotee. Kṛṣṇa says to Arjuna, 'I am making you the first man of disciplic succession. The old succession is broken. I wish to reestablish the line of teaching which was passed down from the sun-god. So you become the authority of the Bhagavad-gītā.'\n\"The Bhagavad-gītā is directed to the devotee of the Lord who is directly in touch with the Lord as a friend. To learn the Bhagavad-gītā one should be like Arjuna, a devotee having a direct relationship with the Lord. This is more helpful than yoga or impersonal philosophical speculation. A devotee can be in relationship with the Lord in five different ways. He may have passive..., have a passive relationship...\"\n Now here is explained who is a devotee. That is explained.\nYes.\nDevotee\n: \"He may have a passive relationship, he may have an active relationship. Three, he may be in friendship. Four, he may have the relationship of a parent. And five, he may have the relationship of a conjugal lover of the Lord. Arjuna was a devotee in relationship...\"\n The passive relationship is simply realizing, \"Oh, how God is great.\" \"God is great.\" One is thunderstruck with the greatness of God. That is passive relationship: \"God, God is great.\" When that relationship is enhanced a little more, the next stage is that \"If God is great, why not give Him some service?\" Just like we are accustomed to give some service to some person who is greater than me.\nThat is the laws of nature. Just like the animals. The animals are giving service to the man, because the man is supposed to be greater than the animal. Similarly, one man is greater than the other, so the smaller man is giving service to the greater man. That is the law of nature.\nSo when this sense comes, \"If God is so great...\" Not that \"God is great; therefore exact from God the things of my sense gratification.\" No. The real love is that \"God is great, God is supplying us so many things, all our necessities, why not render some service to God?\" This consciousness is part of development.\nThe next development is to give service to God as friend, just like Arjuna is giving. And the next development is to render service to God as parents. And the highest platform of service rendering to God is conjugal love. So there are different stages. That is explained.\nGo on.\nDevotee\n: \"Arjuna was a devotee in relationship with the Lord as a friend. This friendship is different from friendship in the mundane world. This kind of friendship is transcendental. Everyone has some relationship with the Lord. Unfortunately, in our present status, we have forgotten that eternal tie. Yet each of the millions upon millions of living beings has his particular relationship. By the process of service one can revive one's original status with the Lord. Now ...\"\n This relationship is already established. Because I am eternal, God is eternal, therefore my relationship with God is also eternal. That relationship is there. Now, due to my covering of this material body, or influence of material energy, I have forgotten. This is my position. In the conditioned state, in this material condition of life, our position is that I..., we have forgotten our relationship with God.\nBut therefore we are trying to establish so many relationship with this material world. I am trying to find some relationship with particular type of society, particular type of community, particular type of nation, particular type of family or individuals. So many ways I am searching where is my relationship, because I have lost my relationship with God.\nTherefore I have to reestablish, I have to revive my old relationship with Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness process is to... Just like in darkness you are finding your things, your watch, you cannot find it out. Sometimes you are touching this, sometimes touching this, sometimes touching this, but the real thing you are not touching. So you are bewildered, you are harassed.\nAnd now you, if you touch Kṛṣṇa consciousness, these harassments will be stopped. It is so nice thing. We are giving you your lost relationship, which you are searching out life after life. And you are confused. Take this. You will be happy. You will find your relationship, eternal relationship, with Kṛṣṇa.\nDevotee\n: \"Now Arjuna was a devotee, and he was in touch with the Supreme Lord in friendship. Thus the Bhagavad-gītā was explained to him. How he accepted it should be noted. This is mentioned in the Tenth Chapter. After hearing the Bhagavad-gītā from the Lord, Arjuna accepted Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Brahman. Every living being is Brahman, or spirit, but the supreme living being is the Supreme Brahman.\"\n Now here is another point, that everyone is reading Bhagavad-gītā. The... It is clearly stated how Bhagavad-gītā should be accepted. Bhagavad-gītā was spoken to Arjuna, and Arjuna accepted it in his own understanding, whatever he understood. That is also stated.\nTherefore we have to place ourselves in the position of Arjuna and accept the truth as Arjuna directly received it. That is understanding of Bhagavad-gītā. That is stated in the Tenth Chapter, how Arjuna accepted Bhagavad-gītā and Kṛṣṇa. That is explained. Yes.\nDevotee\n: \"Arjuna accepted Kṛṣṇa as pure, free from all material contamination, as the supreme enjoyer, as the foremost person, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, never born, the greatest. Now one may say that..., one may say that since Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna were friends, Arjuna was only saying these things to his friend. But Arjuna mentions that Kṛṣṇa is accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead not only by himself but by Nārada, Vyāsa and numerous other great persons.\"\n Authorities. He accepted Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead not because Kṛṣṇa happened to be his intimate friend but on the authorities of others—and on the statement of Kṛṣṇa, and by understanding Him fully. He, he did not accept Him blindly. So this is the process of understanding Bhagavad-gītā.\nAnd although he understood fully, because in future so many rascals will come and proclaim himself that \"I am also incarnation of Godhead,\" therefore in the Eleventh Chapter Arjuna requested Kṛṣṇa that \"If you think, You can show me Your universal form,\" so that in future others will accept some bogus rascal as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he may test by seeing the, I mean to say, universal form of the person. So who can exhibit this universal form except Kṛṣṇa?\nSo we have explained this Bhagavad-gītā in the paramparā system as we have heard from authoritative sources. So it may be a new contribution to your country, because in every edition they have concocted some ideas about Bhagavad-gītā, but we are presenting Bhagavad-gītā as it is. That's all.\nSo, any question?\nDevotee (2)\n: You commented that, Swami Prabhupāda, that everyone has a natural desire to have relationship with Kṛṣṇa, but that because...\n Not desire, but he is already established.\nDevotee (2)\n: Established.\n That is covered. Just like your relationship with somebody as father and son, it is established. You might have forgotten. You might have left your home since a very, very long time, and you do not know who is your father. But there is some father. That is a fact. Nobody can say, \"No. I, I have..., I am born without father.\"\nNobody can say. One has father, but it may be that he has forgotten his father. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is that we have got some relationship with the Supreme Lord. That we have now forgotten.\nSo it is not the question of desire. It is there. You don't desire to become one's son; you are already one's son. You simply do not know. Similarly, your relationship with Kṛṣṇa is there, every one of us, but I have forgotten; I do not know. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness practice will revive your relationship in what way..., in which way you are related with Kṛṣṇa. It is not that you have to desire. No. It is already there. You have to desire only how to revive it, that's all. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.\nIt is not an artificial thing. Just like we are establishing some relationship with somebody or you are my father or you are my wife or you are my husband. No. It is already there. Simply we have to find out. That will be revealed when you are perfect in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati [Bg. 18.54],\n[And of all yogīs, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.]\nYou are freed from all material contamination, and you are perfectly situated in devotional service; it will be at once revealed: \"Oh, you are related to Kṛṣṇa.\" You will have to wait for that.",
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"content": "\n Who was Jesus's father?",
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"content": "\n Hmm?",
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"content": "\n Who was Jesus's father?",
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"content": "\n God.",
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"content": "\n Oh, that's right.",
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"content": "\n You do not know that? Oh, he said that \"I am son of God.\" How is that, you are asking for..., of Jesus? You do not know this? He said himself that \"I am son of God.\" You do not know this?",
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"content": "\n Well, I didn't really [indistinct]. I didn't really... I didn't... I wasn't thinking about God the father. But don't we all have...?",
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"content": "\n What is that, he said?",
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"content": "\n Aren't we all the sons of God?",
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"content": "\n Yes.\nDevotee (2)\n: [to child] You're thinking that Lord Jesus Christ had a relationship with Joseph. Joseph was married to his mother Mary. And so he's thinking what is his.., what is Jesus's relationship with Joseph, since Jesus is son of God, and Joseph raised him up from little boy?\n Yes. Just like every spirit soul is son of God, but materially we think that some..., somebody as father. But real father is God. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā:\nsarva-yoniṣu kaunteya\nsambhavanti mūrtayaḥ yāḥ\ntāsāṁ mahad yonir brahma\nahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā\n[Bg. 14.4]\n[It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kuntī, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father.]\nThis mahat-tattva, this material world, just like a child, a child is born, the father gives the seed and mother develops the body. The child's body is developed... Actually all, all of us, we have got this body from mother. Therefore we have got very natural affinity with mother.\nThe child can forget his father, but he cannot forget his mother. Mother's relationship is so intimate. Similarly, this material body we have got from the material energy; therefore we are so much materialist. We are thinking of this country, that community, this family, all materialistic, because this body is material. But so far spirit soul I am concerned, I am the son or the part and parcel of the Supreme.\nSo material nature is the mother and God is the father. And we are exhibited in so many forms, 8,400,000's of forms. So one who has understood this truth, that God is father, he no more looks, \"Ah, this is cat,\" \"This is dog,\" \"This is cow,\" \"This is black,\" \"This is white,\" \"This is Chinese,\" \"This is American.\" No. That is universal brotherhood: \"Oh, they are my brothers.\" Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā.\nNo more enmity. \"They are all my brothers.\" Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu. With everyone he sees on the equal level, for \"They are spiritual part, part and parcel of my father.\" This vision makes one advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is fact. This is realization. This is universal brotherhood. Everything this is, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness.",
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"content": "\n What is the proper relationship of the devotee to Rādhā, Rādhikā?",
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"content": "\n Rādhārāṇī is daivī-māyā. Just like we are, in our material conditional life, we are under the material energy. Similarly, in our liberated state we have to become under the spiritual energy. That spiritual energy is Rādhārāṇī. We are acting at the present moment under material energy, because our body is made of material energy. So when you are liberated you will develop your body of spiritual energy. That spiritual energy is Rādhārāṇī.\nSo you have to become under some..., under the control of some energy. You are also energy; you are marginal energy. Marginal energy means you may be under the control of the spiritual energy or you may be under the control of material energy—your marginal position. But when you are under the control of the material energy, that is your precarious condition, struggle for existence.\nAnd when you are under spiritual energy, that is your life of freedom. Rādhārāṇī is spiritual energy, and Durgā, or Kālī, is material energy. So those who are materialist, they worship Durgā, Kālī, the material, different forms of material energy.\nAnd, so in both the cases... There is a word in Sanskrit, it is called śakta, śakta. Śakta, the word comes from śakti. Śakti means energy. So there is a division, that those who are worshiper of the Supreme as mother—just like the worshiper of Goddess Kālī—that means those who are accepting the Absolute as mother, they are called śakta. The śakta...\nThe Vaiṣṇava, they are also śakta, because they are also accepting another pure energy, personal energy, or internal energy of Kṛṣṇa. That is also śakti. And the materialist also, they are also accepting another energy. The one energy, spiritual energy, is in our normal condition, and material energy in..., is our abnormal condition.\nThe Kṛṣṇa consciousness practice means you have to transfer yourself from this material energy to the..., under the control..., from the control of material energy, under the control of spiritual energy. That's all. That spiritual energy is Rādhārāṇī. You have to become under the control.\nThat, I'll give you one concrete example. Just like a person is always under the control of government as citizen. When he is outlaw, he is under the criminal law, and who is law-abiding, he is under civil law. He cannot say that \"I cannot remain within the law of the government.\" He has to. That is his position. Artificially he may deny, but he will be forced.\nSimilarly, our position is part and parcel of the Supreme Lord. And as part and parcel we have to render service. If we voluntarily render service, out of love, that is spiritual energy. And we are forced to render service under pressure, that is material energy. In the material energy we are forced. Who wants to become... Suppose you are American. If somebody says, \"Would you like to become a dog next life?\" Would you like? Anybody would like? What do you think? [laughter] [laughs] But according to his work, he will be forced to accept.\nThere is no saying, \"No, no. I don't like this sort of life.\" No. He will be forced. That is material energy. Forced, just like criminal law. \"Oh, you have to go to the prison.\" \"I don't want.\" Oh, you will be forced. \"Why don't want.\" He will be arrested, immediately. There is sufficient power. There is police, there is military, there is so many things. You cannot say no.\nSo this is intelligence, that I have to serve. Now in my material condition I am serving so many things, especially my senses. So neither my senses are satisfied nor I am satisfied. So this intelligence is not coming to us. They are going on, carvita-carvaṇānām, chewing the chewed. The senses, same sense gratification in different way. In theater, in stage, in..., at home, at club—everywhere. Simply changing the platform and trying to be happy. How you can be happy?\nThey already distasted. Does it mean that sense satisfaction in an apartment and sense satisfaction in the club is different? It is simply imagination. \"Let me go to the club, let me go to the stage, let me go to this Florida beach, and let me go there, let me see the naked dance, let me see that, let me...\" That's all. But the platform is there, sense gratification.\nBut he is not intelligent that \"I have satisfied my senses in so many different ways. I have served my senses in so many different ways; neither I am satisfied, neither my senses are satisfied.\" Therefore the intelligent man says, \"I am no more going to satisfy my senses, I will satisfy Kṛṣṇa.\" That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.\nThen he gets full satisfaction. This is voluntary. This is called surrender, that \"I have tried to satisfy my..., the whims of my senses so many lives. I have become frustrated, confused. Let me try this life to satisfy the senses of Kṛṣṇa.\" That's all. At least let me give a trial one life, and let me see the result.\nSo our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means that we are requesting everyone that give a trial this life at least. You have satisfied your senses in so many forms of life, huh? The dogs also satisfied their senses, the cat also satisfied his senses, the tiger, and these civilized, uncivilized, these god, everyone. Now you don't try to satisfy your senses, you try to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. That's all.\nAnd Kṛṣṇa, being full, complete, if Kṛṣṇa is satisfied, your senses will be satisfied automatically. Therefore His name is Govinda. Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. Govinda means who satisfies the senses. Don't think that your senses will remain unsatisfied. It will be completely satisfied. That is the secret of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.\nSo, have saṅkīrtana. Hare ... [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/690506we-boston/
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"content": "\n So those who are to be married, may come here. Yes. Right side bride, left side bridegroom.",
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"content": "\n Right side bride.",
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"content": "\n Yes. That's all right.",
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"content": "\n Your right side.",
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"content": "\n And who is going to be this grain ceremony?",
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"content": "\n Dayal Nitāi?\nDayal Nitāi? [devotees chanting japa]\n[wedding ceremony begins] [devotees chanting japa]",
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"content": "\n [indistinct] Little, little. You have not learned your hand? Left-handed. Three times. Just see. You are old. You should learn it. One, two, three, four. That's all. Watch it. You don't see? What I did? Come on. I'll show you again. One, two, three, four. That's all. Do everyone. Is it open?",
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"content": "\n Yes.",
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"content": "\n Anyone's father, mother has come?",
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"content": "\n My father and mother.",
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"content": "\n Your father, mother? Any other? No.\n[chants, with devotees responding:]\noṁ apavitraḥ pavitro vā\nsarvāvasthāṁ gato 'pi vā\nyaḥ smaret puṇḍarīkākṣaṁ\nsa bahyābhyantara-śuciḥ\n[Garuḍa Purāṇa]\nśrī viṣṇu śrī viṣṇu śrī viṣṇu\n[Either pure or impure, or having passed through all conditions of material life, if one can remember the lotus-eyed Kṛṣṇa, he becomes externally and internally clean.]\nWe take each flower garland, touch near the feet of [indistinct] garland is bride and bridegroom.\noṁ apavitraḥ pavitro vā\nsarvāvasthāṁ gato 'pi vā\nyaḥ smaret puṇḍarīkākṣaṁ\nsa bahyābhyantara-śuciḥ\n[Garuḍa Purāṇa]\nśrī viṣṇu śrī viṣṇu śrī viṣṇu\nvande 'haṁ śrī-guroḥ śrī-yuta-pada-kamalaṁ śrī-gurūn vaiṣṇavāṁś ca\nśrī-rūpaṁ sāgrajātaṁ saha-gaṇa-raghunāthānvitaṁ taṁ sa-jīvam\nsādvaitaṁ sāvadhūtaṁ parijana-sahitaṁ kṛṣṇa-caitanya-devaṁ\nśrī-rādhā-kṛṣṇa-pādān saha-gana-lalitā-śrī-viśākhānvitāṁś ca\n[I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of my spiritual master and of all the other preceptors on the path of devotional service. I offer my respectful obeisances unto all the Vaiṣṇavas and unto the six Gosvāmīs, including Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī, Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, Jīva Gosvāmī and their associates. I offer my respectful obeisances unto Śrī Advaita Ācārya Prabhu, Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and all His devotees, headed by Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura. I then offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and all the gopīs, headed by Lalitā and Viśākhā.]\nnama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale\nśrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine\n[I offer my respectful obeisances unto His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, who is very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa on this earth, having taken shelter at His lotus feet.]\nnama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale\nśrīmate bhaktisiddhānta-sarasvatīti nāmine\n[I offer my respectful obeisances unto His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura, who is very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa, having taken shelter at His lotus feet.]\nśrī-vārṣabhānavī-devī-dayitāya kṛpābdhaye\nkṛṣṇa-sambandha-vijñāna-dāyine prabhave namaḥ\n[I offer my respectful obeisances to Śrīla Vārṣabhānavī-devī-dayita dāsa [another name of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī], who is favored by Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and who is the ocean of transcendental mercy and the deliverer of the science of Kṛṣṇa.]\nmādhuryojjvala-premāḍhya-śrī-rūpānuga-bhaktida-\nśrī-gaura-karuṇā-śakti-vigrahāya namo 'stu te\n[I offer my respectful obeisances unto you, the personified energy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mercy, who delivers devotional service enriched with conjugal love of Śrī Śrī Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, coming exactly in the line of revelation of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī.]\nnamas te gaura-vāṇī-śrī-mūrtaye dīna-tāriṇe\nrūpānuga-viruddhāpasiddhānta-dhvānta-hāriṇe\n[I offer my respectful obeisances unto you, who are the personified teachings of Lord Caitanya. You are the deliverer of the fallen souls. You do not tolerate any statement against the teachings of devotional service enunciated by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī.]\nnama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya gaura-kiśorāya sākṣād-vairāgya-mūrtaye\nvipralambha-rasāmbhodhe pādāmbujāya te namaḥ\n[I offer my respectful obeisances unto Śrīla Gaurakiśora dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja [the spiritual master of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī], who is renunciation personified. He is always merged in a feeling of separation and intense love of Kṛṣṇa.]\nnamo bhaktivinodāya sac-cid-ānanda-nāmine\ngaura-śakti-svarūpāya rūpānuga-varāya te\n[I offer my respectful obeisances unto Śrīla Saccidānanda Bhaktivinoda, who is the transcendental energy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He is a strict follower of the Gosvāmīs, headed by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī.]\ngaurāvirbhāva-bhūmes tvaṁ nirdeṣṭā saj-jana-priyaḥ\nvaiṣṇava-sārvabhaumaḥ śrī-jagannāthāya te namaḥ\n[I offer my respectful obeisances to Śrīla Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī, who is respected by the entire Vaiṣṇava community and who confirmed the discovery of the place where Lord Caitanya appeared.]\nvāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca\npatitānāṁ pāvenebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ\n[I offer my respectful obeisances unto all the Vaiṣṇava devotees of the Lord. They are just like desire trees who can fulfill the desires of everyone, and they are full of compassion for the fallen conditioned souls.]\nnamo mahā-vadānyāya kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te\nkṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇa-caitanya-nāmne gaura-tviṣe namaḥ\n[O most munificent incarnation! You are Kṛṣṇa Himself appearing as Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu. You have assumed the golden color of Śrīmātī Rādhārāṇī, and You are widely distributing pure love of Kṛṣṇa. We offer our respectful obeisances unto You.]\npañca-tattvātmakaṁ kṛṣṇaṁ bhakta-rūpa-svarūpakam\nbhaktāvatāraṁ bhaktākhyaṁ namāmi bhakta-śaktikam\n[I offer my obeisances unto the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, who is nondifferent from His features as a devotee, devotional manifestation, devotional incarnation, pure devotee and devotional energy.]\nhe kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho dīna-bandho jagat-pate\ngopeśa gopikā-kānta rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te\n[O my dear Kṛṣṇa, O ocean of mercy, O friend of the distressed and the source of creation, O master of the cowherd men and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṇī, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.]\njayatāṁ suratau paṅgor\nmama manda-mater gatī\nmat-sarvasva-padāmbhojau\nrādhā-madana-mohanau\n[Glory to the all-merciful Rādhā and Madana-mohana! I am lame and ill advised, yet They are my directors, and Their lotus feet are everything to me.]\ndīvyad-vṛndāraṇya-kalpa-drumādhaḥ-\nśrīmad-ratnāgāra-siṁhāsana-sthau\nśrī-śrī-rādhā-śrīla-govinda-devau\npreṣṭhālībhiḥ sevyamānau smarāmi\n[In a temple of jewels in Vṛndāvana, underneath a desire tree, Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Govinda, served by Their most confidential associates, sit upon an effulgent throne. I offer my humble obeisances unto Them.]\nśrīmān rāsa-rasārambhī\nvaṁśīvaṭa-taṭa-sthitaḥ\nkarṣan veṇu-svanair gopīr\ngopī-nāthaḥśriye ’stu naḥ\n[Śrī Śrīla Gopīnātha, who originated the transcendental mellow of the rāsa dance, stands on the shore in Vaṁśīvaṭa and attracts the attention of the cowherd damsels with the sound of His celebrated flute. May they all confer upon us their benediction.]\ntapta-kāñcana-gaurāṅgi\nrādhe vṛndāvaneśvari\nvṛṣabhānu-sute devi\npraṇamāmi hari-priye\n[I offer my respects to Rādhārāṇī, whose bodily complexion is like molten gold and who is the Queen of Vṛndāvana. You are the daughter of King Vṛṣabhānu, and You are very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa.]\nhare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa\nkṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare\nhare rāma hare rāma\nrāma rāma hare hare\n[My dear Lord, and the spiritual energy of the Lord, kindly engage me in Your service. I am now embarrassed with this material service. Please engage me in Your service.]\nThis evening we are going to hold a marriage ceremony for three couples of our students. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to understand, to always bear in mind or always be in consciousness, that we are eternally related with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So the process is to utilize this human form of life for elevating oneself to the highest perfectional stage.\nThere is evolution of life from lowest animal in the water and up to the highest platform, or highest planetary life, where the duration of life is many, many millions of years. The highest planetary system is called Brahmaloka, or where the first created being, Brahmā, lives.\nThe duration of Brahmā's life is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā that forty-three hundred thousands of years multiplied by one thousand makes one twelve hours of that Brahmaloka. Just like there is distinction of the duration of life between the microbes and the human being, similarly, there are different grades of different duration of life in different stage of planetary system.\nSo the life is evolving. Now after evolutionary process from the lower animals, from the aquatics to plant life, vegetable life, then microbes, reptiles, birds, beasts, then we come to the human form of life, this civilized form of life. Now here it is just like crossing. Where we should go next life?\nWhether I shall promote myself to the higher planetary system or into the spiritual sky, Vaikuṇṭhaloka, or I shall go down again in the evolutionary process of lower animals? That is to be decided. So if we want to go to the higher planetary system, we can go there. If we want to stay here, we can do that. If we want to go down, that we can do. And if we want to go back to Godhead, that also we can do.\nSo this facility is given in this human form of life. Now it is our choice, where shall I go. Shall I go down to hell, or shall I go up to heaven, or I shall go back to Godhead, back to home? Everything we can do. So our this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is directly approaching the spiritual sky, back to home, back to Godhead. No more evolutionary process. That is the advantage of this Kṛṣṇa conscious...\nIf you make your consciousness completely absorbed in Kṛṣṇa, if you understand what is Kṛṣṇa, what is your relationship, how you have to act in that relationship, simply if you learn this science in this life, then it is assured by the Lord Himself, Kṛṣṇa, in the Bhagavad-gītā, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya [Bg. 4.9]\n[One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.]\n\"After leaving this body, one does not come again back to this material world to accept one of the 8,400,000's of species of body, but he goes directly unto Me.\" Yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama [Bg. 15.6].\n[That abode of Mine is not illumined by the sun or moon, nor by electricity. One who reaches it never returns to this material world.]\n\"And if one can go back there, then he does not come back again in this material world to accept this material body.\" And material body means three kinds of miseries, threefold miseries, always. And at least threefold miseries are exhibited in four kinds of distresses, namely birth, death, old age and disease.\nSo this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is not a new movement. It is there always in the Vedic scripture, but people have forgotten. So we are trying to revive that movement, although in India the movement is there always, especially since the last five hundred years, introduced by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. In your country it is introduced since 1966. But people are appreciating. We have got many books and literature, magazines, to convince people about the importance of this movement.\nAnd those who are coming to be a serious student of this movement, initiated, they require to follow four principles of regulation. That one, first regulation, is that the student is not allowed to have illicit sex life. In this country, the guardians, the teachers, the government allows the boys and girls to mix together and have illicit sex life without marriage. That is not allowed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. If any boy or girl wants sex life, then he should regularly be married. That is civilized way. Because in the civilized society there is marriage ceremony.\nAccording to Vedic system, the father and mother's responsibility is for the child, unless they are married. It is the duty of the parents to see that the girl and the boy is married by the supervision of the parents. That is the Vedic way of civilization. In India the... Especially for the girls. If the girl is above the age of thirteen years old, and if she is not married by the father, or in the absence of father, the elder brother—mother has not so much responsibility, but the father or the elder brother—then it is said that that man, father or elder brother, will go to hell.\nSo it is a great responsibility to take care of the girls. According to Manu-saṁhitā, Vedic principle, woman has no independence. She must be taken care of by somebody. In the early age the father is to take care; in the younger age the husband, a good husband has to take care; and when she is old, the elderly sons, he has to take care. But woman is never allowed to remain independent. That is Vedic principle of life. Actually, the woman is the weaker sex. They require protection by good father, good husband and good child also.\nIn my case also—there are many cases—I've left my home. I have got my wife, my elderly children, my grandchildren. So they are taking care of my wife. She has no concern. So that is the way of social system. And especially in our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, we want to give the students complete peace of mind, because without peace of mind nobody can cultivate Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam:\nevaṁ prasanna-manaso\nbhagavad-bhakti-yogataḥ\nbhagavat-tattva-vijñānaṁ\nmukta-saṅgasya jāyate\n[SB 1.2.20]\n[Thus established in the mode of unalloyed goodness, the man whose mind has been enlivened by contact with devotional service to the Lord gains positive scientific knowledge of the Personality of Godhead in the stage of liberation from all material association.]\nThere is a process. This science of understanding God, the science of God, is a great science. People have no knowledge about it, but it is a great science. And the ways and means of understanding God is different from ordinary material science. So the ways and means and the process of understanding the science of Godhead is to hear.\nśṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ\npuṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ\nhṛdy antaḥ stho hy abhadrāṇi\nvidhunoti suhṛt satām\n[SB 1.2.17]\n[Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramātmā [Supersoul] in everyone's heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who has developed the urge to hear His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted.]\nGod is situated in everyone's heart. Simply you do not know. He is situated. He is everywhere. Within the atom also, He is present. Andantarastham paramanu cayantarastham [Bs. 5.35].\n[He is an undifferentiated entity as there is no distinction between potency and the possessor thereof. In His work of creation of millions of worlds, His potency remains inseparable. All the universes exist in Him and He is present in His fullness in every one of the atoms that are scattered throughout the universe, at one and the same time. Such is the primeval Lord whom I adore.]\nGod is present within this world, within everything, everywhere, even within the atom. Now, at the present moment, the atomic theory is very prominent, but in the Vedic literature it is said that God is existing even within the atom. Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu. Paramāṇu means atom. Therefore īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati [Bg. 18.61]. \n[The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy.]\nĪśvara, the Supreme Lord, is sitting within your heart. I am also sitting. This is dress. This body is dress, but my place is within the heart. The medical science also says all the energy is coming from the heart. The heart stops to work, that means man is dead. So the soul and the Supersoul both are sitting in the heart.\nWe get this information from Vedic literature. So as soon as we begin hearing about the Supersoul or the Supreme Lord, then the contamination which are accumulated on the covering of our heart for so many years of our past birth, by simply hearing, by electrifying or by lighting, it becomes clear. Śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ [SB 1.2.17].\n[Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramātmā [Supersoul] in everyone's heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who has developed the urge to hear His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted.]\nTo hear about God is itself a pious activity. Even if we do not understand, simply if we hear this chanting, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma..., one becomes gradually a pious man. Apart from any other realization, he becomes a pious man. In this way, as soon as we hear about God, we become cleansed of all material contamination. Then our three modes of material nature, namely we are...\nThis world is moving under three modes: the modes of goodness, the modes of passion and the modes of ignorance. So generally, people are influenced by the modes of passion and modes of ignorance. Very few people are on the modes of goodness. But this process of hearing about God will gradually place one on the platform of the modes of goodness. Sthitaṁ sattve prasīdati [SB 1.2.19].\n[As soon as irrevocable loving service is established in the heart, the effects of nature's modes of passion and ignorance, such as lust, desire and hankering, disappear from the heart. Then the devotee is established in goodness, and he becomes completely happy.]\nAnd the symptoms, as soon as he's placed on the modes of goodness, the symptom will be that he'll feel satisfied. He'll feel satisfied. Prasīdati. In this way, when he is satisfied, when he is on the platform of goodness, or the platform of satisfaction... That is wanted. Prasanna-manaso. Evaṁ prasanna-manaso [SB 1.2.20].\n[Thus established in the mode of unalloyed goodness, the man whose mind has been enlivened by contact with devotional service to the Lord gains positive scientific knowledge of the Personality of Godhead in the stage of liberation from all material association.]\nHow it is attained? Simply by hearing, the process. Process is simply hearing, submissively hearing. Then he comes to the platform of goodness. And at that time, the passion and ignorance is completely moved out. And then he can understand what is the science of God, what is God, what is relationship.\nSo we want to give chance to all to raise oneself on that platform of goodness. And on the platform of goodness, there is no chance of indulging in passion and ignorance. Therefore although it is not my duty—because I am a sannyāsī; I have nothing to do with social activity—still, because in this country, mostly I see the boys and girls are not married, I have introduced this marriage system in our society, and the result is very good.\nYou'll be very pleased to know that in London I have sent six boys and girls who were married by me in my presence. Formerly, they were not married. You know as the other boys and girls lived, they were also living in that way. But the result has been very excellent. They are preaching there Kṛṣṇa consciousness.\nThey are not very big philosopher, nor Vedāntist, neither, I mean to say, born in the Vedic civilized way—just like ordinary way—but they have been trained only under my direction for only two years. But they are working in London very wonderfully, so much so that people have come to know that there is a movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and London Times, in big heading, they wrote, \"Kṛṣṇa Chanting Startles London.\"\nSo formerly many sannyāsīns went there to introduce this movement, but they failed. But these sincere boys and girls... They are not very aged also—not more than twenty-six years, any one of them—but they are doing very nice. So the platform of purity is so nice that they can play tremendously.\nSo we want such pairs in our society. We are not dry. Everything is there. The hedonists, they want \"Eat, drink, be merry and enjoy.\" These four things, for the hedonists, they are going to hell. But our, the same things are there. We are dancing, we are chanting, we are eating, and we have love also between husband and wife, between boys and girls.\nWe allow everything. But everything is targeted to achieve to the highest goal of life, Viṣṇu or Kṛṣṇa. That is the significance of this life. We don't stop anything, but we regulate everything to achieve the highest perfection of life. That is our aim.\nAdānta-gobhir viśatāṁ tamisram\n[SB 7.5.30].\n[Prahlāda Mahārāja replied: Because of their uncontrolled senses, persons too addicted to materialistic life make progress toward hellish conditions and repeatedly chew that which has already been chewed. Their inclinations toward Kṛṣṇa are never aroused, either by the instructions of others, by their own efforts, or by a combination of both.]\nOne who does not know this technique... Everyone, every living entity, is by nature hankering after joy, joyful life. That is his nature. Because... Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī, you see. They are also transcendental unity. Kṛṣṇa is representing as a young boy, sixteen years.\nSimilarly, Rādhārāṇī is also a young girl. They are chanting, and They are playing on flute, and They're enjoying life. They have got Their associates. So it is not dry, but it is highest perfectional stage, in purity. Not in the material modes of passion and ignorance.\nSo everyone is hankering after that pure, joyful life, but he does not know where to get it. That is the defect. That information we are giving. Here is the life. You just try to approach Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa and you'll have full life of enjoyment. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt [Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12].\n[By nature, the Supreme Lord is blissful.]\nIn the Vedānta-sūtra it is stated that the Supreme Person, the Supreme Lord, is full of enjoyment. He's not morose. He's not old. He is not without a joyful life. He is full of joyful life. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to transfer everyone to that platform of full joyful life.\nSo in order to give them facility for acquiring this highest goal of life, we have introduced the marriage... The marriage system is there also, according to our Vaiṣṇava smṛti. Smṛti means regulative, the law book, the statute book. Married life is there. We are preaching the cult of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He also married. All the five associates of Lord Caitanya, they also married. Kṛṣṇa also married.\nSo marriage is not bad. Marriage is... It is not that unless one becomes a sannyāsī or a strict brahmacārī, he cannot attain the highest perfection of life. No. Even in married life. But one has to adjust it. Married life means not sex enjoyment. It is not a license for sex enjoyment.\nAlthough it is some sort of license, but it can be utilized. It can be utilized for producing children of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And at least, one should be satisfied. The husband will help the wife, the wife will help the husband in advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousnes, that is...\n[break] for the benefit of their country, for the benefit of the total human society.\nThank you very much.",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\n Hare Kṛṣṇa. [obeisances]",
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"content": "\n You're..., nobody is guardian? First of all, you come here. Both of you, come sit down. Jaya, Satsvarūpa? Where is Satsvarūpa?",
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"content": "\n Yes.",
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"content": "\n Come here. So you can say that \"Śāradīyā, my Godsister, was so long under my care. Now I give Śāradīyā to you, Vaikuṇṭhanātha, in your charge.\"",
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"content": "\n Śāradīyā, my Godsister, has so long been in my charge. Now I give you unto my Godbrother Vaikuṇṭhanātha.",
"role": "user"
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"content": "\n Now you say that \"I accept her as my wife.\"",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\n I accept her as my wife.",
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"content": "\n \"And take charge of her...\"",
"role": "assistant"
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{
"content": "\n And take charge of her...",
"role": "user"
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"content": "\n \"...throughout her life...\"",
"role": "assistant"
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{
"content": "\n ...throughout her life...",
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"content": "\n \"...and shall see to her comfort, provide with all necessities of life, without thinking of any personal gratification.\"\n[Vaikuṇṭhanātha repeats] You say that \"I accept you as my husband.\n[Śāradīyā repeating] I shall serve you throughout my life as your most obedient servant.\" Yes. \"And we shall live together peacefully for prosecuting Kṛṣṇa consciousness, forgetting everything else, and live happily.\" Now change your garlands.",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\n Haribol!",
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"content": "\n Now you sit down and cover the head. Yes. Cover the head. Yes. Just like... There is no, that red? Vermillion?",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\n Where is that red crayon?",
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"content": "\n Now you can sit down there, next her. No, you sit left. Now change. You sit here. Yes. Now she'll always remain on your left. You come forward. Now you say...",
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"content": "\n Jāhnavā has so long, my Godsister, has so long been in my care. I now give her over to Nanda Kiśora prabhu.",
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"content": "\n You say you shall \"take charge of Jāhnavā, my wife,\n[Nanda Kiśora repeating] and I shall look after her comforts throughout her life, and I shall supply her all necessities of life.\" And you say that \"I accept you as my husband.\n[Jāhnavā repeating] I shall see to your comfort throughout my life. Without any separation we shall live peacefully, in happiness and distress, without any separation, for executing Kṛṣṇa consciousness.\"\nChange your garland and place. Jaya. That's nice. Now you cover her head like that. Yes. Not in that way. From this part. All right. Change your seat. Yes.",
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"content": "\n Should he apply it?",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "\n Yes. You apply it. That's all right. Now you come, you, sit down here. Sit down here. First of all, sit down. Your father is present?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n You may come please, yes. You can say that \"My daughter was in charge of me so long, now I give in charge to this boy.\"",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n My daughter was in charge of me so long. I now give her to...",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "\n His name is Baradrāja.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Baradrāja.",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "\n So you say, \"I accept [Baradrāja repeating] Rukmiṇī as my wife. I shall maintain her throughout my life, supply all necessities of life, and we shall work together for prosecuting Kṛṣṇa consciousness.\" You say that \"I accept you [Rukmiṇī repeating] as my husband, and I shall serve you as your most obedient wife, to keep you in all comforts, in all distress and happiness, and we shall continue our life for Kṛṣṇa consciousness.\" Now change. Change the garland. Mind that this promise has been made before Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. Yes. You cannot change all these promises.\nChange your seat. Cover the head. Cover the head and give her this red. Cover it nicely. You see, here. You should keep your wife always covered. [laughter] Don't allow this miniskirt or minishirt. [laughter] According to Vedic civilization, respectable women cannot be seen even by the sun. Asūryaṁ paśyat. How can you avoid sun? But it is said like that.\nThe sun will find difficulty to see one man's woman. Yes. Asūryaṁ paśyat. Asūryam. Sūrya means the sun. Sun cannot. Sun will also hanker after her: \"How can I see that woman?\" [chuckles] So woman should be always in privacy. They should be respectfully protected by the husband and the father. That is the way.\nAll right. Then it is finished. Now let us perform yajña. [devotees offer obeisances]\nNow chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. [indistinct] After performance of yajña. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Mix it. Mix it.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n ...can use that?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No, no. Hand. Now you can sit comfortably. [devotees chant japa] Now take, you know, little, little, everyone. When I say \"svāhā\" three times, very little, little take. We'll have to continue.\n[responsively with devotees:] Namaḥ apavitraḥ pavitro vā sarvāvasthām... No, why you are not chanting?\n[devotees chant more loudly]\n...gato 'pi vā yaḥ smaret puṇḍarīkākṣaṁ sa bahyābhyantara-śuciḥ.\nśrī viṣṇu śrī viṣṇu śrī viṣṇu.\nvande 'haṁ śrī-guroḥ śrī-yuta-pada-kamalaṁ śrī-gurūn vaiṣṇavāṁś ca\nśrī-rūpaṁ sāgrajātaṁ saha-gaṇa-raghunāthānvitaṁ taṁ sa-jīvam\nsādvaitaṁ sāvadhūtaṁ parijana-sahitaṁ kṛṣṇa-caitanya-devaṁ\nśrī-rādhā-kṛṣṇa-pādān saha-gaṇa-lalitā-śrī-viśākhānvitāṁś ca\nsvāhā, svāhā, svāhā\n[I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of my spiritual master and of all the other preceptors on the path of devotional service. I offer my respectful obeisances unto all the Vaiṣṇavas and unto the Six Gosvāmīs, including Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī, Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, Jīva Gosvāmī and their associates. I offer my respectful obeisances unto Śrī Advaita Ācārya Prabhu, Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and all His devotees, headed by Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura. I then offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and all the gopīs, headed by Lalitā and Viśākhā.]\nnama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale\nśrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine\n[I offer my respectful obeisances unto His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, who is very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa on this earth, having taken shelter at His lotus feet.]\nnama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale\nśrīmate bhaktisiddhānta-sarasvatīti nāmine\n[I offer my respectful obeisances unto His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, who is very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa, having taken shelter at His lotus feet.]\nśrī-vārṣabhānavī-devī-dayitāya kṛpābdhaye\nkṛṣṇa-sambandha-vijñāna-dāyine prabhave namaḥ\n[I offer my respectful obeisances to Śrī Vārṣabhānavī-devī-dayita dāsa [another name of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī], who is favored by Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and who is the ocean of transcendental mercy and the deliverer of the science of Kṛṣṇa.]\nmādhuryojjvala-premāḍhya-śrī-rūpānuga-bhaktida-\nśrī-gaura-karuṇā-śakti-vigrahāya namo 'stu te\n[I offer my respectful obeisances unto you, the personified energy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mercy, who delivers devotional service enriched with conjugal love of Śrī Śrī Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, coming exactly in the line of revelation of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī.]\nWhy not take a group photo of these newly married couples? It will be nice.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n That'd be great. It'd be beautiful. Sure.\n Should they go behind or should they turn around?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n As you like.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Could the wife be seated and the husband in back of her?",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "\n Just like they are sitting, left and right.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n ...if we had a better place to...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n [continues chanting]\nsvāhā, svāhā, svāhā\nSo you want to take just now or after finishing this?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Prabhupāda, he wants a couple there, a couple there, and a couple behind you.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n That's all right.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Or maybe two couples here and a third couple over there or something.",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "\n You come here. Sit down there. Yes, sit down. Yes, like that.\n[background conversation]\nWhy you are standing? Sit.\nnamo gaura-kiśorāya sākṣād-vairāgya-mūrtaye\nvipralambha-rasāmbhodhe pādāmbujāya te namaḥ\nsvāhā, svāhā, svāhā\n[I offer my respectful obeisances unto Śrīla Gaurakiśora dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja [the spiritual master of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī], who is renunciation personified. He is always merged in a feeling of separation and intense love of Kṛṣṇa.]\nnamo bhaktivinodāya sac-cid-ānanda-nāmine\ngaura-śakti-svarūpāya rūpānuga-varāya te\nsvāhā, svāhā, svāhā\n[I offer my respectful obeisances unto Śrīla Saccidānanda Bhaktivinoda, who is the transcendental energy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He is a strict follower of the Gosvāmīs, headed by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī.]\ngaurāvirbhāva-bhūmes tvaṁ nirdeṣṭā saj-jana-priyaḥ\nvaiṣṇava-sārvabhaumaḥ śrī-jagannāthāya te namaḥ\nsvāhā, svāhā, svāhā\n[I offer my respectful obeisances to Śrīla Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī, who is respected by the entire Vaiṣṇava community and who confirmed the discovery of the place where Lord Caitanya appeared.]\nnamo mahā-vadānyāya kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te\nkṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇa-caitanya-nāmne gaura-tviṣe namaḥ\nsvāhā, svāhā, svāhā\n[O most munificent incarnation! You are Kṛṣṇa Himself appearing as Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu. You have assumed the golden color of Śrīmātī Rādhārāṇī, and You are widely distributing pure love of Kṛṣṇa. We offer our respectful obeisances unto You.]\npañca-tattvātmakaṁ kṛṣṇaṁ bhakta-rūpa-svarūpakam\nbhaktāvatāraṁ bhaktākhyaṁ namāmi bhakta-śaktikam\nsvāhā, svāhā, svāhā\n[I offer my obeisances unto the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, who is nondifferent from His features as a devotee, devotional manifestation, devotional incarnation, pure devotee and devotional energy.]\nhe kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho dīna-bandho jagat-pate\ngopeśa gopikā-kānta rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te\nsvāhā, svāhā, svāhā\n[O my dear Kṛṣṇa, O ocean of mercy, O friend of the distressed and the source of creation, O master of the cowherd men and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṇī, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.]\njayatāṁ suratau paṅgor\nmama manda-mater gatī\nmat-sarvasva-padāmbhojau\nrādhā-madana-mohanau\nsvāhā, svāhā, svāhā\n[Glory to the all-merciful Rādhā and Madana-mohana! I am lame and ill advised, yet They are my directors, and Their lotus feet are everything to me.]\ndīvyad-vṛndāraṇya-kalpa-drumādhaḥ-\nśrīmad-ratnāgāra-siṁhāsana-sthau\nśrī-śrī-rādhā-śrīla-govinda-devau\npreṣṭhālībhiḥ sevyamānau smarāmi\nsvāhā, svāhā, svāhā\n[In a temple of jewels in Vṛndāvana, underneath a desire tree, Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Govinda, served by Their most confidential associates, sit upon an effulgent throne. I offer my humble obeisances unto Them.]\nśrīmān rāsa-rasārambhī\nvaṁśīvaṭa-taṭa-sthitaḥ\nkarṣan veṇu-svanair gopīr\ngopī-nāthaḥśriye ’stu naḥ\nsvāhā, svāhā, svāhā\n[Śrī Śrīla Gopīnātha, who originated the transcendental mellow of the rāsa dance, stands on the shore in Vaṁśīvaṭa and attracts the attention of the cowherd damsels with the sound of His celebrated flute. May they all confer upon us their benediction.]\ntapta-kāñcana-gaurāṅgi\nrādhe vṛndāvaneśvari\nvṛṣabhānu-sute devi\npraṇamāmi hari-priye\nsvāhā, svāhā, svāhā\n[I offer my respects to Rādhārāṇī, whose bodily complexion is like molten gold and who is the Queen of Vṛndāvana. You are the daughter of King Vṛṣabhānu, and You are very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa.]\nNow you take one banana, this part of banana, and stand up. Take, each one of you. Supply. Stand up.\nnamo brahmaṇya-devāya\ngo-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca\njagad-dhitāya kṛṣṇāya\ngovindāya namo namaḥ\nnamo brahmaṇya-devāya\ngo-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca\njagad-dhitāya kṛṣṇāya\ngovindāya namo namaḥ\nnamo brahmaṇya-devāya\ngo-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca\njagad-dhitāya kṛṣṇāya\ngovindāya namo namaḥ\n[I offer my respectful obeisances to the Supreme Absolute Truth, Krishna, who is the well-wisher of the cows and the brahmanas as well as the living entities in general. I offer my repeated obeisances to Govinda [Krishna], who is the pleasure reservoir for all the senses.]\nNow take this, silently. Yes.\nhare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa\nkṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare\nhare rāma hare rāma\nrāma rāma hare hare\nhare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa\nkṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare\nhare rāma hare rāma\nrāma rāma hare hare\n[My dear Lord, and the spiritual energy of the Lord, kindly engage me in Your service. I am now embarrassed with this material service. Please engage me in Your service.]\nNow bow down.\nnama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhutale\nśrīmate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine\nnama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhutale\nśrīmate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine\nnama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhutale\nśrīmate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine\n[I offer my respectful obeisances unto His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, who is very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa on this earth, having taken shelter at His lotus feet.]\nAll right. Now chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.",
"role": "assistant"
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{
"content": "\n Hare Kṛṣṇa!",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n And be happy.",
"role": "assistant"
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{
"content": "\n Haribol! All glories to Śrī Guru and Śrī Gaurāṅga! Haribol! All glories to Prabhupāda! Haribol",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "\n Now chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Dance, chant now. Enjoy life.\n[kīrtana; Prabhupāda talking in background]\n[prema-dhvanī] All glories to the assembled devotees. All glories to the assembled devotees. Thank you very much. [obeisances]\nPrasāda? You are sitting uncomfortably?",
"role": "assistant"
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{
"content": "\n No. [devotees chant japa]",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "\n Now distribute prasāda.\n[bhajana: Govinda jaya jaya]",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n There's no draft? The window's not open?\n[kīrtana in background]",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "\n No, no. That's all right. I have informed your brother in Germany, Kṛṣṇa dāsa, \"Your sister is going to be married this week...\" Stop. You can now eat. Stop.",
"role": "assistant"
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{
"content": "\n Take prasādam.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. Take prasādam. You can play the record. That's all. [laughter] Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa... You also eat.\nEveryone eat. Yes. I think it is nicely prepared. You can take one plate. [laughter] Yes.\n[\"Hare Kṛṣṇa Happening\" record plays]\nLet me see.\ncatur-vidha-śrī-bhagavat-prasāda-\nsvādv-anna-tṛptān hari-bhakta-saṅghān\nkṛtvaiva tṛptiṁ bhajataḥ sadaiva\nvande guroḥ śrī-caraṇāravindam\n[The spiritual master is always offering Kṛṣṇa four kinds of delicious food [analyzed as that which is licked, chewed, drunk, and sucked]. When the spiritual master sees that the devotees are satisfied by eating bhagavat-prasāda, he is satisfied. I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of such a spiritual master.]\nThe spiritual master is satisfied when nice foodstuff, prasādam, is distributed, and it is eaten by the devotees. Our is not dry speculation. Everything substantial.\n[pause]",
"role": "assistant"
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{
"content": "\n We need another plate.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n These Press representatives, they are taking?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, they're all from the Press.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n So you have not offered them prasādam?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Everyone has.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n They should have been given. Anyway, something should have been given. You are going? She is going with her father?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n He was once in Montreal. Remember? Rukmiṇī's father once came to Montreal?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. She is her mother?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n She is not elderly. Mother is leaving?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Forty, thirty-five years.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. Rukmiṇī is only seventeen. Rukmiṇī is seventeen. She's not very old.",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "\n She is only... She is the first child?",
"role": "assistant"
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{
"content": "\n I don't know. I think so, first child. She has one sister.\n Just one announcement. Tomorrow night is Swami Bhaktivedanta's last appearance, last lecture, last kīrtana in Boston, and that's at the International Students' Association. They have a place at 33 Garden Street. He'll be speaking there. But we'll be carrying on this sublime teaching, especially in the form of saṅkīrtana. We'll be chanting in the streets. We'll be pushing this more than anything.\nThen the feast, of course, Hare Kṛṣṇa Love Feast. But, especially if you see us in the parks and the streets, join us and feel this real transcendental bliss, just by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, all summer, as long as the weather is nice. [indistinct] a basket around. If you can give something it will help for the cost of this feast and wedding. Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa.",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "\n Keep it there. [indistinct] [end]",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/681129bg-los-angeles/
|
[
{
"content": "\n [kīrtana] [prema-dhvani] [devotees offer obeisances]\n[17:52]\nSo we have begun another new book, Nectar of Devotion.\nSo one tape... Where is... You can play that?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n I forgot to bring it.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Why you forget?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n[indistinct]",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\nI told you. I told you that we shall play, and still you forgot?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Well, I didn't [indistinct].",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Why do you forget that? All right, read Bhagavad-gītā.\nWhere is Bhagavad-gītā? [pause]\n[aside:] If possible, you can make shirts of flannel so that you keep warm. The same shirt, Punjabi, as it was brought from India? Same pattern shirt. Yes?",
"role": "assistant"
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{
"content": "\n Sudāmā dāsa is making a shirt. Is that the kind?\n We're making kurtās, but they're thin. But we're going to get... We'll make flannel also.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. So that in cold also you'll...",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n We were going to wear long underwear too.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n That's all right. You must keep yourself well protected. Or you can have some this color pullover. That's also nice. But here I think that one shirt will do.\nYes. Read it.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Thirteen. \"As the embodied soul continually passes in this body from boyhood to youth and then to old age, similarly the soul also passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.\"\nPurport: \"Since every living entity is an individual soul, each is changing his body at every moment, manifesting sometimes as a child, sometimes as a youth and sometimes as an old man, although the same spirit soul is there and does not undergo any change.\n\"The individual soul finally changes the body itself in transmigrating from one to another. And since it is sure to have another body in the next birth, either material or spiritual, there was no cause for lamentation by Arjuna on account of death, either over Bhīṣma or over Droṇa, for whom he was so concerned.\"",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "\n Now, this simple fact, as it is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, that dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā [Bg. 2.13],\n[As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.]\nThe change of body is taking place every moment. Every moment. Just like this child. The child, if there is some measuring instrument, if you measure this child today, tomorrow you'll find the child has grown, or changed the body. That is a medical science also. The body is changing.\nThe body is changing, but the soul is there. Just like I had my childhood body, boyhood body, and now I am in a different body, but I remember all the activities of my childhood. Therefore I am permanent and body is changing.\nThis simple truth, what is the difficulty for the people to understand this simple truth? The body is changing, but I am not changing. I am eternal. Therefore I am not this body. I am not changing. This simple truth, the first instruction of Bhagavad-gītā, the Kṛṣṇa has begun instructing Arjuna...\nAfter Arjuna has accepted his discipleship, the first instruction is this, that \"You are lamenting on the body of your grandfather and teacher regarding fighting, but your grandfather, or the soul...,\" which is already explained, that \"You as soul, I am as the supreme soul, or all these kings and soldiers who have assembled, they are also souls. They existed in the past. Now they have changed their body. Again they will change their body, but they will exist.\" This is the instruction. The body is changing, and the vivid example? That in this life you are changing body.\nSo what is the difficulty of understanding this simple truth that the soul is different from the body? And so far eternity of the soul, that is also, there is proof. Because in childhood I was present, in boyhood I was present, in youthhood I was present, and in this old age I am still present.\n[baby fussing]\nSo naturally it is concluded that when I change this body, I exist.\nWhen I change this body... This body will be changed. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ [Bg. 2.13].\n[As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.]\nAs the parents of this child... Now she is, say, one feet long only. When this child will grow five feet long, the father and mother, will they cry, \"Oh, my child! Where is my child, that one-feet long?\" He knows. The parents know that \"My child is there, but changed the body.\" This is a fact. Similarly, \"You are lamenting on the body of your grandfather and teacher. Even they change their body, what is the cause of lamentation? They will exist.\"\nThis is the beginning of instruction of Bhagavad-gītā, or spiritual instruction. Unless one understands this simple fact, that the soul is different from this body, the soul is eternal, the body is temporary, changing... Because without understanding this, there is no spiritual education. A false education. If one identifies with this body, there is no understanding of spiritual knowledge.\nSo the yogīs, they are trying to come to this point by meditation, \"Whether I am this body or not.\" Meditation means that. First meditation, concentration of the mind, the different kinds of sitting posture, that helps me to concentrate my mind. And if I concentrate my mind, meditation, that \"Am I this body?\"\nThen if I am not this body, \"Where I am in this body?\" Then if he analyzes, he'll find himself within this heart. Within this heart the soul is also there, and the Supersoul is also there. Kṛṣṇa is also there. So the perfectional stage of yoga is to see the Supersoul and understand oneself that \"I am individual soul.\"\nSo that perfectional stages we are immediately offering, that you try to see Kṛṣṇa always, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The yogīs are trying to reach a platform after so much exercise of the body. We are giving that thing immediately, that \"Be Kṛṣṇa conscious.\" You are eternal part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa is the Supersoul. Why should you take so much botheration to find Him within? He's without also. He's all-powerful. He can accept your offerings, and you can take prasādam. This is practical yoga.\nSo we are not beginning from the gross stage. The Bhagavad-gītā, although it is A-B-C-D of spiritual instruction, it begins from that stage, which stage the jñānīs, the philosophers, and the yogīs, they are trying to reach. But we have no time. In this age by yoga practice, to come to this stage, that \"I am not this body...\" Ask any student who are practicing yoga, so-called meditation, they are inclined to this body. They are trying to exercise this body, and they think that this is the final. No.\nSimple truth, very simple truth: Kṛṣṇa, as the supreme authority, presenting very simply, that dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā [Bg. 2.13]. As in this body there are different changes, similarly the ultimate change is called death. But the spirit soul, as he's existing within this body in spite of all changes.\nSimilarly, the spirit soul will continue to exist even after the final change of this body. This simple truth. Try to understand this. This is the basic principle of further progress. If one does not understand this point of view, there is no progress. This is A-B-C-D, that \"I am not this body.\"\nRead on.",
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"content": "\n \"Rather, he should rejoice at their changing bodies from old to new ones.\"",
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"content": "\n Now here is another argument, that \"Why you are going to lament on the body of your grandfather? He's grand old man. If he does not die, if you do not kill him, how long he will live? So you kill him or not kill him, he will die. And you should be rather joyful, because your grandfather is going to have again...,\" this is only for argument, \"...again have a new body.\"\nThe... When Caitanya Mahāprabhu met Chand Kazi... I think I have explained this story many times. Chand Kazi was Muhammadan. So you know the story that Caitanya Mahāprabhu started civil disobedience, disregarded the section, I mean to say, imposed by the magistrate Chand Kazi that \"You cannot hold the saṅkīrtana. The people are disturbed,\" just like you are being threatened by the police. So this is not new thing. This thing is going on from the very beginning, even Caitanya Mahāprabhu's time. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu disregarded the notice. \"Don't care for this Kazi. Go on.\"\nSo... And when people... He was very popular, but we are not popular. [laughter] Caitanya Mahāprabhu [laughs] was Kṛṣṇa. He had attraction. He was, although a boy of twenty years old, He had many followers. He ordered, \"Oh, Kazi has ordered to stop. Now I order that hundreds of thousands of people shall assemble this night, and we shall go to the Kazi's house.\"\nThis is civil disobedience. So people agreed, and there were hundreds of thousands of mṛdaṅgas and hundreds of thousands of people, and they chanted and crossed the whole street, don't care for any police action. And the Kazi saw, \"Oh, it is a mass movement.\" He was afraid. You see?\nWhen any movement is taken by the people, then the government becomes afraid. Just like the mariana movement? Now there is no more legal action. Government cannot, because all people are taking to mariana. You see? What is that? Mariana or marijuana?",
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"content": "\n Marijuana.",
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"content": "\nMarijuana. So you make this marijuana taken by all people, then police will be afraid. You see? They'll not dare to stop you.\nSo when there was talk with Kazi... Chand Kazi was learned man. So first of all Caitanya Mahāprabhu challenged, \"My dear uncle...\" He established the relation to pacify Caitanya. \"My Nimāi, Nimāi...\" He called just like boy. He was boy. \"Nimāi, oh, Your grandfather Nīlāmbara Cakravartī, I call him cācā.\" Cācā means uncle.\nThe Muslims, they call... In India these Britishers created feelings between Hindus and Muslim, but otherwise the Hindus and Muslims are living since eight centuries. So in the village they lived peacefully, and the Hindus call the Muslim cācā, and the Muslim call the Hindu... The Hindus call the Muslim... In this way they make some friendly relationship. There was no ill feeling. Even they will invite, the Hindus will invite.\nIn our childhood we have seen, in marriage ceremony or in some religious ceremony also, some Muslim friends were invited, and they were received. Similarly, Muslims also invite some Hindus. They'll make separate... My father, he used to be guest of a Muslim gentleman. He was his customer.\nSo he used to make separate arrangement my father, a brāhmaṇa attendant, supplying all foodstuff. So there was no... And he was coming to our house, so he, accompanied with his servant Muslims, we used to supply his foodstuff. They were cooking in their own way. Of course, no meat was allowed. But there were friendship.\nAnd while departing, he would give us some money, four rupees, five rupees, in the hands of all our brothers and sister and offer respect to my mother as \"Auntie.\" These feelings were there. This ill feeling was created by the Britishers. That when they saw that Gandhi is improving the Hindu-Muslim situation, they created a, what is called, a split. Anyway, that is political.\nSo this Chand Kazi informed Caitanya Mahāprabhu, \"Nimāi, I call Your grandfather, Your mother's father, as my cācā, as my uncle. So in that way Your mother is my sister according to our village relationship, and You are my nephew. So how is that a nephew is so much angry upon his uncle? Is it not good?\"\nSo Caitanya Mahāprabhu could understand that he has come down. He has now become uncle. So He said, \"Yes, My dear uncle, I know that. It is not My duty to be angry with you, but how is that: I am your nephew, I have come to your home, and you went upstairs, you did not receive Me? So anyway, what is done is done. Forget.\" So then they sat down and talked.\nThe first challenge was Caitanya Mahāprabhu's, that \"My dear uncle, what is your this religion that you're eating father and mother?\" That was His first challenge. And the Kazi said, \"What is that? What do You mean by that?\" \"You are eating a bull and cow. Cow is your mother. You are drinking milk; therefore she is your mother. And the bull is helping you, producing your food, maintaining. As the father maintains you and mother gives you milk, and do you think it is good to kill them?\"\nSo Kazi, he was also learned. \"Oh, Your Vedic scripture also, there is cow sacrifice.\" Caitanya Mahāprabhu immediately said, \"No, that is not killing. That was giving a new body to show the strength of the Vedic mantra.\" A cow was sacrificed in the fire, and by mantra, by chanting of the mantra, the cow will come out with a new body, young body. That was not killing.\nSo similarly, here also, Kṛṣṇa is giving the same argument, that \"You are lamenting on your grandfather. He has got old body, but if he is killed in this battle, he'll have a new, fresh new body. So you should be joyful. Why are you lamenting?\" So this argument was forwarded by Kṛṣṇa, that...\nNow, just like this child. This child can hope many things. He has got immense duration of life now beginning, and what hope I have got? I am now this old body, say five years or ten years more. So I cannot expect, hope, anything more than this child. So Kṛṣṇa is giving that \"There is no question of lamentation for your grandfather. Your grandfather is going to have a new lease of life. Why should you be sorry?\" So this argument He is forwarding, but nobody will agree to this argument.\nYes. Go on.",
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"content": "\n \"Such changes of body are meant for varieties of enjoyment or suffering by the living entity according to one's own work in this life. So Bhīṣma and Droṇa, being noble souls, were surely going to have either spiritual bodies in the next life, or at least life in godly bodies.\"",
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"content": "\n Yes. \"Now, so far your grandfather is concerned, Bhīṣmadeva, he is one of the greatest devotees. So as soon as he gives up this body, he's going to Vaikuṇṭha.\" Same example as I told you the other day, that muni-putra... Mā jīva mā jīva muni-putraka ciraṁ jīva rāja-putra: \"Oh, the son of saintly person, you don't live. And oh, the son of a king, you live forever.\"\nWhy? Because the son of a saintly person, he is undergoing austerities, penances, disciplinary activities. So his life is..., his future is so bright that he's going to Vaikuṇṭha. And this, the son of king, he's simply indulging in sense gratification. So he's going to hell. So the person who is destined to go to kingdom of God, the sooner he dies is better for him. And this person, one who is going to hell, the later he dies it is good for him, because as soon as he dies the hell is prepared for him.\nA similarly, \"Why should you lament for your grandfather and teacher? They are so highly elevated, spiritually elevated. Death will take place so long this body is there. Now they have come to fight as a matter of duty. So there is no lamentation.\" This is the instruction Kṛṣṇa is giving.\nYes.",
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"content": "\n \"In either case there was no cause for lamentation. Any man who has perfect knowledge of the constitution of the individual soul, the Supersoul and nature, both material and spiritual, is called a dhīra, or a most sober man.\"",
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"content": "\n Dhīra. Dhīra means sober, is not disturbed. A person who is not disturbed by paltry causes, he's called dhīra. Another example of dhīra is given by poet Kālidāsa. He was a great poet, mundane poet. So he said that dhīra is one who is not disturbed even in the presence of disturbance.\nWhen there is no disturbance, one may not be disturbed, but in the presence of disturbance, one who is not disturbed, he is called dhīra. The cause of disturbance... Just like a person trained in restriction of sex life, so when he's perfect, even there is cause of sex impetus, he'll not be disturbed. That is the..., called dhīra. So he is describing that \"These persons are highly elevated. You are also My friend. Why you are disturbed in this way? That does not look well.\"\nGo on.",
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"content": "\n \"Such a man is never deluded by the change of bodies by the living entity.\"",
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"content": "\n Yes. A man is crying, \"Oh, my father is dead,\" or \"My friend is dead, my...\" so on, so on, crying. But one who is dhīra, he knows, \"What is this death? He has changed his body, so there is no question of lamentation.\" So how much spiritual education required to come to this point.\nYes, go on.",
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"content": "\n \"O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of heat and cold, happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer season. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.\" [Bg. 2.14]\n[O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.]",
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"content": "\n Now the question is that \"Yes, I understand that my grandfather is spirit soul and this body is material. Still, by nature I'll be unhappy if my grandfather is killed and my teacher is killed. I'll be unhappy.\" So Kṛṣṇa is instructing Arjuna that this kind of unhappiness, distress, is this world. You cannot avoid it. These are necessary distresses.\nThe example He's giving that severe cold. In the winter season, in the month of January or some month, the winter is very severe, intolerable. Sometimes somewhere it is below 30 degrees zero. But what is to be done? The people in such part of the world who live... Just like in Canada it goes sometimes 30 degree below zero. Does it mean that they'll close their offices and work and everything? No. Everything is going on as usual. One has to tolerate. That's all.\nIn India also, in India and other parts of the eastern countries, just like Arabia, Iraq or..., during summertime, the temperature is 135. You cannot imagine 135. In India we have experienced temperature..., I have experienced up to 118 degree. Not always; unusually. But 110 degree is usual during summertime, 110 degree. Usual temperature. So does it mean... The scorching heat, you cannot get out on the street. But still, one has to go to office, one has to go to work. There are some cases of heat stroke. Still, nobody can stop his duty.\n\"Similarly, even if you think that by discharging your duty as a warrior, as a kṣatriya, your grandfather will be killed or... Of course, there is no cause of lamentation; he'll get another new body. But even if you think..., if your bodily concept is so strong, if you are sorry, so you have to, I mean to say, tolerate, just one has to tolerate extreme heat and extreme cold.\"\nThere is no cause of crying, \"Oh, there is extreme heat, extreme heat.\" What you'll do? That is nature's law. Extreme heat—everyone is cooking. Nobody says, \"Oh, today is extreme heat. I cannot cook.\" No. Everybody is cooking, although there is suffering. Similarly, there is extreme cold, but everyone is taking bath in the Ganges. Nobody says, \"Oh, I'll not take bath.\"\nSo duty has to be done. There may be some suffering, temporary. Even though... Kṛṣṇa never says, \"Oh, My dear Arjuna, you are My friend. All right, you are feeling so much sorry. All right, I shall do it for you. You sit down, silent.\" No. Kṛṣṇa never says that. \"You have to do it.\" Although He says that \"This battle is arranged by Me. They're already killed. Nobody is going back. Still, you have to do it.\"\nSo our duty, persons who are Kṛṣṇa consciousness, engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they should always know that everything is to be done by Kṛṣṇa. We cannot do anything without Kṛṣṇa's sanction. But still, we have to do our own duty. Not that \"Oh, Kṛṣṇa will do everything. Therefore we shall not try for a storefront or we shall not go to see this man or... Kṛṣṇa...\" No. That is lethargy.\nYou have to do your own duty. But result, depend on Kṛṣṇa. This is Kṛṣṇa conscious. You don't be sorry if there is failure; you don't be unhappy if there is success, uh, you don't be too much, I mean to say, jubilant if there is success. Everything is done by Kṛṣṇa. This is the attitude of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They have to do their own duty, never mind whether it is suffering or happiness. It doesn't matter.",
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"content": "\n \"O best among men, the person who is not disturbed by happiness and distress, and is steady in both, is certainly eligible for liberation.\" [Bg. 2.15]\n[O best among men [Arjuna], the person who is not disturbed by happiness and distress and is steady in both is certainly eligible for liberation.]",
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"content": "\n Yes. This is the sign, characteristics or symptom, of a person who is going to be liberated in this life. He has to do his duty. So far we are concerned, we have accepted Kṛṣṇa consciousness duty, so we have to execute our duties faithfully and seriously. Then it is sure Kṛṣṇa will give us the desired result.\nA nice example is given: Just like a girl is married to a boy. Generally, girls desire a child. So if she, after the marriage, if she immediately wants a child, that is not possible. But because she is married, and if she serves faithfully her husband, her husband is pleased and there is love, in due course of time, there will be child. Why there is hesitation? There will be child.\nSimilarly, we have taken to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If we discharge our duties faithfully, then in due course of time, Kṛṣṇa will give the desired result. Don't be hesitant. Don't be doubtful. It is sure. Kṛṣṇa says that tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya [Bg. 4.9]:\n[One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.]\n\"Anyone who is in Kṛṣṇa consciousness perfectly, for him, after leaving this body, he's coming to Me.\" This is His assurance. So we haven't got any doubt; Kṛṣṇa has assured.\nSo let us do our duty perfectly, as far as possible. We cannot execute anything perfectly in presence of Kṛṣṇa, because He is infinite, we are finite. Our energy, our talent, everything is finite. But if we try our best, then bhāva-grāhī-janārdana.\n[The Lord accepts the essence of a devotee's attitude.]\nKṛṣṇa sees only how much sincere I am, how much sincerely I'm executing the duties entrusted upon me. That's all. Otherwise it is not in our power to serve Kṛṣṇa perfectly. That is not... Because we are very teeny. But be assured that the desired result will come if we act sincerely, to the point.\nYes.",
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"content": "\n \"Those who are seers of the truth have concluded that of the nonexistent there is no endurance and of the eternal there is no cessation. Seers have concluded this by studying the nature of both.\" [Bg. 2.16]\n[Those who are seers of the truth have concluded that of the nonexistent there is no endurance, and of the existent there is no cessation. This seers have concluded by studying the nature of both.]\nPurport: \"There is no endurance of the changing body. That the body is changing every moment by the actions and reactions of different cells is admitted by modern medical science, and thus growth and old age are taking place.\nBut the spiritual soul exists permanently, remaining the same in all changing circumstances of the body and mind. That is the difference between matter and spirit. By nature the body is ever-changing and the soul is eternal. This conclusion is established by all classes of seers of the truth, impersonalists and personalists.\"",
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"content": "\n This is... So far the constitution of the spirit is concerned, it is eternal. That is accepted by all philosophers, personalist and impersonalist. The only difference is that the impersonalist says that after liberation, after getting freed from this bodily contamination, the spirit soul mixes with the Supreme Soul, all-pervading, without any individual existence.\nJust like the same example, that the small sky within the pitcher. When the pitcher is broken, the small sky within the pitcher mixes with the big sky. The Vaiṣṇava philosopher says that the small sky is individual. It mixes with the big sky, but it keeps its individuality.\nThe example is given in this connection: Just like a green bird entering a green tree. So when the bird enters the tree, nobody can find out where is the bird, because the leaves of the tree are green and the bird is also green. Nobody can trace out. But that does not mean the bird has lost its individuality. The individuality is there.\nJust like you see one airplane is flying in the air, and when it goes too far, it appears that it has disappeared. It seems to us that there is no more that airplane. It has mixed with the sky. But actually it is not. It is still there, individual existence. It is my ignorance that I see that it is no more separate; it has mixed with the sky. Just like in the daytime we don't find any star in the sky. Due to the dazzling sunshine, we cannot see any stars. At night, we can see millions of stars there are.\nSimilarly, that is the impersonalism and personalism. One whose knowledge is not perfect, they think imperson, everything homogeneous. And one whose knowledge is perfect... Vedas also confirm it... Just like in the Īśopaniṣad, there is a verse in which it is stated that \"Please withdraw Your effulgence so that I can see Your real face.\" [Īśo mantra 15]\n[O my Lord, sustainer of all that lives, Your real face is covered by Your dazzling effulgence. Kindly remove that covering and exhibit Yourself to Your pure devotee.]\nJust like the sun globe: you cannot see it perfectly due to the dazzling sunshine. But the sun globe is there, and in the glow there are living entities, and there is a principal head man, I mean to say, god. They are not man, because their body is made of fire.\nSo similarly, the first, impersonal impression, Brahman, then further advanced, Supersoul, and when further advanced, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate [SB 1.2.11].\n[Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān.]\nFirst realization, Brahman, impersonal; the second realization is Paramātmā, Supersoul; and the last realization is the personal form of God, Kṛṣṇa.\nGo on.",
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"content": "\n \"In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa also this truth has been established. It is stated there that Viṣṇu and His abodes all have self-illuminated spiritual existence. The words 'existent' and 'nonexistent' refer only to spirit and matter. That is the version of all seers of truth.\n\"This is the beginning of the instruction by the Lord to the living entities who are bewildered by the influence of ignorance. Removal of this ignorance means reestablishment of the eternal relationship between the worshiper and the worshipable, and the consequent understanding of the difference between part-and-parcel living entities and the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One can understand the nature of the Supreme by thorough study of oneself, the difference between oneself and the Supreme being understood as the relationship between the part and the whole.\n\"In the Vedānta-sūtra as well as in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the Supreme has been accepted as the origin of all emanations. Such emanations are experienced by superior and inferior natural sequences. The living entity belongs to the superior nature, as will be revealed in the Seventh Chapter. Although there is no difference between the energy and the energetic, the energetic is accepted as supreme and the energy, or nature, is accepted as the subordinate.\n\"The relationship of the living entities therefore is always to be subordinate to the Supreme Lord, as with master and the servant or the teacher and the taught. Such clear knowledge is impossible to grasp under the spell of ignorance. To drive away such ignorance, the Lord teaches the Bhagavad-gītā for enlightenment of all beings for all time.\"\nSeventeen: \"That which pervades the body is indestructible. No one is able to destroy the imperishable soul.\"",
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"content": "\n Now, \"pervades the body,\" that is consciousness. The soul is very small, but... Just like you take one grain of, what is called, poison? Snake poison? Arsenic? Poison called? What is called?",
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"content": "\nVenom? Venom?",
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"content": "\nYes, venom poison.",
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"content": "\n Arsenic is poison.",
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"content": "\n Yes. You take only one grain and mix with water and just inject within your body. So immediately the action is there that your heart fails and you die. One small half grain of pota cyanide, you take, just touch on the tongue. According to the chemist there is no taste of pota cyanide. Because what is this..., whether it is sour or sweet, because there was no chance of tasting it. As soon as the taste is, [chuckles] the man is finished. He cannot say what is the sour or sweet.\nSo if a material thing, a small particle, has got so much power that immediately it can stop the function of the body, immediately spreads all over the body, so the soul, the spiritual spark, grain, a small grain, just like atom, it is so powerful that so long is that spiritual grain, spirit is in the heart, this body is so nice.\nAs soon as it is passed, immediately body begins to decompose. Immediately. So it is so powerful. If a material thing can spread all over the body, why not the spirit? This is consciousness. Because the spirit soul is within the heart, I can pinch any part of my body, I feel that this is consciousness. This is consciousness.\nGo on reading. So because... Just like the effect of a poisonous grain of material thing is immediately felt all over the body, similarly, by the consciousness which is spreading all over the body, you can understand that there is soul.",
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"content": "\n \"This verse more clearly explains the real nature of the soul, which is spread all over the body. Anyone can understand what is spread all over the body. It is consciousness. Everyone is conscious about the pains and pleasures of the body in part or as a whole. This spreading of consciousness is limited within one's own body.\"",
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"content": "\n Now, this consciousness, the Māyāvādī philosopher says, \"Yes, I am consciousness,\" the same theory, this small consciousness, \"but as soon as I break this body, the small consciousness will mix up with the supreme consciousness.\" That is their theory. But anyway, whatever that theory may be, at least in my present condition, I..., my consciousness, is limited within this body.\nI cannot say that I am superconscious. Had I been superconscious, then the pains and pleasure going on in your body I would have felt. But because I am limited within this body, therefore the pains and pleasure of my body I can understand. Therefore my consciousness is limited.\nYou cannot argue that you are the same... That will be explained. Kṛṣṇa says in the Thirteenth Chapter that kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata [Bg. 13.3]. \n[O scion of Bharata, you should understand that I am also the knower in all bodies, and to understand this body and its owner is called knowledge. That is My opinion.]\nKṣetra-jña, the soul, and..., is within this body. Therefore soul is called kṣetra-jña. Kṣetra-jña means \"one who knows about this body.\" I am conscious about my this body; you are conscious about your body. But Kṛṣṇa is conscious of your body and my body and everyone's body. Therefore He's also kṣetra-jña, but He's kṣetra-jña, He's Supersoul. Just the same example: Just like the sun, during meridian, is on your head. At 5,000 miles, you ask your friend, \"Where is the sun?\" he'll also say, \"It is on my head.\"\n[break] If a person is actually executing devotional service, then he must be happy. If he's not happy, then he's not doing properly. So first thing is this. He might be doing something in the name of devotional service. If he's actually rendering devotional service, then he must be feeling. Just like if you are eating actually, then you must feel strength and satisfaction of your hunger. You cannot say, \"I'm eating, but I'm not satisfied of my hunger.\" That is impossible. This is not possible. Then you are not eating. Or you are eating, but it is being devoured by the worms within your intestines.\nSometimes it happens. If there are many worms within the intestines, you go on voraciously eating, but you don't get strength because the eating substance, the essence, is taken by the worms. Therefore the worm treatment is there to kill the worms. Otherwise they will eat everything. You'll feel hungry but will not get any strength. This is the worm disease.\nSo if I am actually rendering devotional service and I'm not getting any happiness, that means there is some māyā's play. Otherwise there is no such reasoning. He must feel happy. Then he has to rectify the process of his service. Not to change, but rectify the process.",
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"content": "\n[indistinct]",
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"content": "\nWhat is that? [laughs] It cannot be. If you are actually executing devotional service, you must feel happy. If you don't feel happy, then you are not executing; there is some flaw.\nYes.",
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"content": "\n When householder women raise their children in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, this seems to be an indirect service for Kṛṣṇa. Should they try to serve Him more directly by, you know, maybe cooking in the temple or painting, or something like this, more directly, or is raising children and just having the household function, is that enough service? Is that enough service?",
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"content": "\n Yes, the thing is we should be Kṛṣṇa conscious. Just like electrification. Touching electricity by one wire, another joining another, another wire, if the touch is there factual, then the electricity is everywhere. Similarly, if our Kṛṣṇa consciousness is rightly connected, then there is no question of direct or indirect. Because absolute world there is no difference.\nAs soon as it is touched with the direct connection... That is called disciplic succession. Because the connection is coming down one after another, so if we touch here, the spiritual master who is connected by the same way, then the electric connection is there. There is no question of direct or indirect. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ [Bg. 4.2].\n[This supreme science was thus received through the chain of disciplic succession, and the saintly kings understood it in that way. But in course of time the succession was broken, and therefore the science as it is appears to be lost.]\nSimply we have to see whether the connection is disconnected. If the connection is there, tight, then the electricity come without fail.\nSo in our conditioned stage there will be so many doubts, so many implication. But the same thing as I gave you example, that don't be very much hasty to receive the result immediately. Simply we have to follow. We have to follow. Tat-tat-karma-pravartanāt [Upadeśāmṛta 3].\nThis is advised by Rūpa Gosvāmī: the six things we have to take particular care, and six things we have to avoid in order to be perfect in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So utsāhād dhairyān niścayāt [Upadeśāmṛta 3].\n[There are six principles favorable to the execution of pure devotional service: (1) being enthusiastic, (2) endeavoring with confidence, (3) being patient, (4) acting according to regulative principles [such as śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇam—hearing, chanting and remembering Kṛṣṇa], (5) abandoning the association of nondevotees, and (6) following in the footsteps of the previous ācāryas. These six principles undoubtedly assure the complete success of pure devotional service.]\nThe first principle is one must be very enthusiastic. He must believe that Kṛṣṇa has said that na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati [Bg. 9.31],\n[He quickly becomes righteous and attains lasting peace. O son of Kuntī, declare it boldly that My devotee never perishes.]\n\"My devotee will never be vanquished.\" So \"Let me become Kṛṣṇa's devotee sincerely. I must become Kṛṣṇa's devotee sincerely.\" This is called enthusiasm. Then dhairyāt. \"I have become Kṛṣṇa's devotee, but still I'm not feeling happy. How is that?\"\nSo therefore you have to become patient. The enthusiasm must be there; you must be patient also. And niścayāt. Niścayāt means you must be confident: \"Oh, Kṛṣṇa has said that His devotee will never be vanquished, so surely I shall not be vanquished, even though I don't feel now. Let me do my duty.\"\nUtsāhād dhairyān niścayāt tat-tat-karma-pravartanāt. But you have to do your duties as they are prescribed. Sato vṛtteḥ. You should not... There should be no duplicity. Sato vṛtteḥ means plain dealing, straight dealing. Sato vṛtteḥ, and sādhu-saṅge, and in the company of devotees.\nSo one must be enthusiastic, one must be patient, one must be confident, one must execute the duties, one must associate with devotees, and one must be very honest in dealing. Six things. If these six things are there, sure success. Similarly, there are six things which should be avoided. What are those?\natyāhāraḥ prayāsaś ca\nprajalpo niyamāgrahaḥ\nlaulyaṁ jana-saṅgaś ca\nṣaḍbhir bhaktir vinaśyati\n[NoI 2]\n[One's devotional service is spoiled when he becomes too entangled in the following six activities: (1) eating more than necessary or collecting more funds than required; (2) overendeavoring for mundane things that are very difficult to obtain; (3) talking unnecessarily about mundane subject matters; (4) practicing the scriptural rules and regulations only for the sake of following them and not for the sake of spiritual advancement, or rejecting the rules and regulations of the scriptures and working independently or whimsically; (5) associating with worldly-minded persons who are not interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness; and (6) being greedy for mundane achievements.]\nAtyāhāra: too much eating or too much, I mean to say, keeping bank balance or money, or collecting more than the necessities. Atyāhāra. Generally, too much eating is prohibited. We have to eat simply, just to keep the body and soul nicely to execute Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Atyāhāraḥ prayāsaś ca. Prayāsa means taking some risky work which will require too much endeavor. We should avoid that.\nAtyāhāraḥ prayāsaḥ, prajalpa, nonsense talking, which has no connection with Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Atyāhāraḥ prayāsaḥ prajalpo niyamāgrahaḥ: following the rules, but actually I'm not very much careful in executing the work. So niyamāgraha. Niyamāgraha means not to accept the rules and regulation, and another meaning is simply to accept the rules and regulation without good effect. Atyāhāraḥ prayāsaś ca prajalpo niyamāgrahaḥ laulyam, greediness, and jana-saṅgaś ca, and associating with nondevotees.\nThese things are against execution of devotional service, and the first thing, the patience, enthusiasm and confidence, these six things are favorable. So we have to take notice of the don't's and do's. Then it will be all right. Do this, don't do this. There are six kinds of \"don't do this\" and six kinds of \"do this.\" So that will be nice.\nYes?",
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"content": "\nPrabhupāda, when you say we must be honest in our dealings... If we have an advantage to..., to take advantage of somebody else for Kṛṣṇa, for Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is this permissible? Like if we have a chance to take advantage of somebody, like, to get money from them, not by stealing but by means. [Prabhupāda chuckles] Is this permissible?",
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"content": "\n Yes, but that is not by your discretion. You have to consult your spiritual master. Just like what Kṛṣṇa says Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja, \"Yudhiṣṭhira, My dear brother Yudhiṣṭhira, you go and tell,\" I mean to say, \"Droṇācārya that 'Your son is dead.' \" Because this gentleman would not die unless he hears the message of the death of his son. So he was not dying.\nSo Yudhiṣṭhira was commissioned to speak this lie, that \"You go and say that 'Your son is dead.' \" And he says that \"I never spoke lie. I cannot do that.\" Now here the order is coming from Kṛṣṇa; therefore he should have executed the order immediately. Although speaking lie for common man is sin, but because it is in relationship with Kṛṣṇa, it is not sin.\nSo that telling lie should not be taken risk of at one's own discretion. It must be ordered by Kṛṣṇa or by His representative. Telling lie is always sinful. That's all right. But if Kṛṣṇa says \"Tell lie,\" it is not sinful. That is the secret. You can violate the laws only on the direct order of Kṛṣṇa or His representative. That's all. That is common sense.\nJust like a political person is engaged to kill somebody under superior order. And if he can kill, he is rewarded, he is given high post. But the same man, if he kills by his own discretion, he'll be hanged. So serving greater purpose, supreme purpose, absolute purpose, there is no question of such piety or sinful. But in the ordinary field, there must be \"This is pious, this is sinful.\" So that discretion should not be taken by oneself, but it should be consulted.",
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"content": "\n If one can engage one who is demonic in service by telling a lie...",
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"content": "\n General principle is that if you can engage anyone in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is good. That is good. That is also said in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta... Yena tena prakāreṇa manaḥ kṛṣṇe niveśayet [Brs 1.2.4].\n[One should fix his mind on Kṛṣṇa by any means. All the rules and prohibitions mentioned in the śāstras should be the servants of this principle.]\nIf your aim is to engage him in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, if you do something which is not very straight, that is allowed. [laughter] Because you are doing very good to him. Suppose a man is drunkard. So suppose if you say, \"Oh, all right. I'll give you a very nice bottle of whiskey at cheap price. Give me fifteen dollars.\"\nAnd if you take fifteen dollars and engage it [in] Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that cheating is allowed. [laughter] Because that fifteen dollars he'll take and drink. So you have by some way taken away that fifteen dollars and engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So that you have done good to him.\nSo therefore it requires little intelligence and discretion. [laughter] But that does not mean you shall cheat fifteen dollars from anyone. But there is no cheating, because anyone who is not Kṛṣṇa conscious, he is a drunkard. He is drunkard, he is illusioned under material spell. You see? You see? The greatest drunkard, everyone who is not Kṛṣṇa conscious.\nTherefore any way, if you can induce him to spend something of his hard-earned money in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is very good to him. Yes. This is called ajñāta-sukṛti. He does not know, but he is advanced one step to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He does not know. Anybody who is contributing even a farthing to you, he is advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is so nice thing.\nYes.",
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"content": "\n I had something come up once. Is it all right to cheat the government?",
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"content": "\n Oh, we don't care for anyone. You see? [laughter] We are on the supreme government. [laughs] But don't take the risk. No, that should be not our policy. But the basic principle is that if some way or other you can engage a materialistic person's money into Kṛṣṇa consciousness, it is good for him. It is good for him. You may take some tactics; that doesn't matter. But not... We cannot take anything for our personal consideration.\nYes?",
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"content": "\n I have a question from Brahma-mūrti. Why did people in the past ages sacrifice animals, and how did Kṛṣṇa put a stop to this?",
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"content": "\n Oh, yes. That I've explained just a few minutes before. The animals were put into the sacrificial fire. By Vedic mantra, he was given new life. But at the present moment such expert priests and brāhmaṇas are not available. Therefore it is stopped. Animal sacrifice is stopped. Because it is Kali-yuga. Nobody is reading, I mean, cultivating Vedic mantras.\nSo in this age, this mantra is called mahā-mantra, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. That's all. All Vedic mantras are now gone to hell. You see? Nobody can properly chant Vedic mantras and take the benefit out of it. But this mantra, any way you chant, neglectfully or properly, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and the result is there.\nTherefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā [Cc. Ādi 17.21]:\n[”’In this Age of Kali there is no other means, no other means, no other means for self-realization than chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name of Lord Hari.’]\n\"There is no other alternative, no other alternative, no other alternative,\" kalau, \"in this age.\" So the Vedic mantra is now gone. This is also Vedic mantra, but this is Vedic mahā-mantra, the greatest of all mantras. Yes. So sacrifice everything and chant this mantra and go to Kṛṣṇa, back to Godhead. That's all.\n[break] [japa]\n[88:30]\n[kīrtana]\n You are typing?",
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"content": "\n Yes.",
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"content": "\n [while kīrtana is going on] Where is the boy? Bīrabhadra. Bīrabhadra. Huh?",
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"content": "\n Something happened to him.\n[kīrtana stops] He was in an accident today.",
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"content": "\n What is that?",
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"content": "\n Downtown he was... He is all right, but he was hit by a car. He crossed the street and a car went through the red light and hit him. So they took him to the hospital and he has to remain there overnight for X-rays. But Viṣṇujana is with him, and I think he's all right. It was just his body... [laughter]\n [amused] It was just his body.\nHe was scraped. The car hit him and he was pushed along the street. He got bounced on the street, so his skin was rubbed and burned a little from the burning.\n At most a fractured rib or two.\n They can sue the person and get some money.\n We're going to sue the man who was driving the car.",
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"content": "\n So you have taken the number?",
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"content": "\n Yes, we have all the details.",
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"content": "\n So ask him something to pay. Otherwise sue.",
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"content": "\n Prabhupāda? The same thing happened to me, and I got about a thousand dollars. So if they can do the same.",
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"content": "\n You ask five thousand. [laughter]",
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"content": "\n Yes, five thousand.\n A young boy...",
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"content": "\n No, he should pay ten thousand, because that boy is Kṛṣṇa conscious. [laughter] Ordinary accident five thousand. [chuckles] All right. He's all right?",
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"content": "\n Yes, he's all right.",
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"content": "\n That's alright.\n[90:35]\n[kīrtana resumes] [prema-dhvani] Thank you very much. [devotees offer obeisances] [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/690423le-buffalo/
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"content": "\n\nom ajñāna-timirāndhasya\njñānāñjana-śalākayā\ncakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena\ntasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ\n[Gautamīya Tantra]\n[I offer my respectful obeisances unto my spiritual master, who with the torchlight of knowledge has opened my eyes, which were blinded by the darkness of ignorance.]\n[aside:] It is recording?\nThe meaning of this verse... It is offering obeisances to the spiritual master. The spiritual master opens the eyes of the ignorant disciple in the matter of transcendental knowledge. Therefore it is the duty of the disciple, before speaking, to offer obeisances to the lotus feet of the spiritual master.\nOur Vedic process is not research work. Just like in the mundane scholarship, one has to show his academic career by some research work. The Vedic process is different. Vedic process is that our research work is not complete, because the instruments and the means by which we make progress in research work are blunt and imperfect.\nWe are conditioned. At this stage of our material existence, we are conditioned by so many laws of nature. Under the circumstances, every conditioned soul has four defects. Just like to commit mistake. There is no man, even great man, who does not commit mistake. More or less, he commits mistake.\nJust like in our country there was Mahatma Gandhi. He was supposed to be a very great personality, mahātmā, but he also committed mistake, because when he was killed, five minutes before his coming to the meeting, he was warned by his confidential associates not to go to that meeting, but he persisted, and as soon as he entered the meeting hall he was killed. So I am giving an instance that even a great personality like Mahatma Gandhi, he also committed mistake.\nSo in the conditioned state of our life, committing mistake is very natural. Just like we say, \"To err is human.\" Any human being is susceptible to commit mistake. Another imperfectness is that every man is illusioned. Illusioned means to accept something which is not, phantasmagoria. Just like every one of us in this meeting, we are under the impression that \"I am this body.\" But actually I am not this body. This is called illusion, māyā.\nSo to commit mistake; to become illusioned, number two; and number three: a cheating propensity. Everyone, conditioned soul, thinks himself very expert, and he talks with his, I mean to say, fellow man as a very intelligent man. And he has got every... Just like in business. In business you go to a storekeeper.\nHe'll say, \"Oh, you are my great friend. I am not taking a farthing profit from you.\" But you must know that he is taking profit at least fifty percent. So this is called cheating propensity. One who is not in the knowledge, but he puts forward his theories and theses and so many by the words \"perhaps,\" \"it may be,\" like that—this is called cheating.\nSo to commit mistake, to be illusioned, and cheating propensity, and at last, imperfectness of the senses. Our senses are limited. We cannot see far distant place. We cannot see nearest. Just like our eyes cannot see the eyelids, because it is the nearest. And you cannot see the farthest. So the eyes also see under certain condition, in certain perspective position. Similarly, all our senses are limited. They cannot understand, or it is not possible to understand the unlimited by these imperfect, illusioned and cheating senses.\nTherefore Vedic process does not accept that one should endeavor to know the ultimate truth by exertion of our present senses, which are conditioned by so many ways. Therefore those who are students in the Vedic literature, they accept authorities. Just like you are reading Bhagavad-gītā. The Bhagavad-gītā is being taught by Lord Kṛṣṇa to Arjuna. He is authority. And Kṛṣṇa says that \"This Bhagavad-gītā is taught from time immemorial by disciplic succession,\" not by research work.\nAs soon as you study Bhagavad-gītā by your academic knowledge, without reference to the authoritative description, then you commit mistake; you do not understand what is Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa says, therefore, that \"This disciplic succession is now broken. I therefore establish again the disciplic succession unto you.\" That means Arjuna becomes the disciple of Kṛṣṇa, and anyone who understands Bhagavad-gītā, following the footprints of Arjuna, he can understand rightly what is the purpose of Bhagavad-gītā.\nSo all Vedic literature, not only Bhagavad-gītā, all the Vedas... There are four Vedas: Sāma, Yajur, Ṛg, Atharva. Then there are Upaniṣads, 108 Upaniṣads. Out of that, nine Upaniṣads are very important: Īśopaniṣad, Kaṭha Upaniṣad, Taittirīya Upaniṣad. So then again, Vedānta-sūtra, then Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.\nIn this way there are various Vedic literatures. And if you are interested... You should be interested. These Vedic literatures are not meant for a particular class of men. It was meant for the human society, so that they may take advantage of this knowledge and make a perfection of their human life.\nSo I shall try to speak before you this evening one of the instruction of Vedic literature spoken by Ṛṣabhadeva. So our offering of obeisances to the spiritual master is in accordance with the disciplic succession. Ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā, cakṣur-unmīlitaṁ yena. [Gautamīya Tantra]\n[I offer my respectful obeisances unto my spiritual master, who with the torchlight of knowledge has opened my eyes, which were blinded by the darkness of ignorance.]\n\"The personality who opens the eyes by the torch of knowledge.\" Tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ: \"I offer my respectful obeisances unto the spiritual master.\" So here is a speech by Ṛṣabhadeva.\nṚṣabhadeva is accepted as incarnation of Godhead. And long, long years ago He appeared on this earth, and He was father of the King Bharata, under whose name this planet is called Bhārata-varsa. He had one hundred sons, and out of them, Bharata was the eldest. He was very intelligent.\nSo the father, Ṛṣabhadeva, entrusted the kingdom to the eldest son, Bharata Mahārāja, and before retirement He was speaking to His sons a spiritual instruction which is recorded in this Bhāgavata. And He said,\nnāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke\nkaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye\ntapo divyaṁ putrakā yena sattvaṁ\nśuddhyed yasmād brahma-saukhyaṁ tv anantam\n[SB 5.5.1]\n[Lord Ṛṣabhadeva told His sons: My dear boys, of all the living entities who have accepted material bodies in this world, one who has b\ne\nen awarded this human form should not work hard day and night simply for sense gratification, which is available even for dogs and hogs that eat stool. One should engage in penance and austerity to attain the divine position of devotional service. By such activity, one's heart is purified, and when one attains this position, he attains eternal, blissful life, which is transcendental to material happiness and which continues forever.]\nHe is advising, \"My dear sons, this life...\" \"This life\" means this human form of life. Ayam deha. Ayam means \"this,\" and deha means \"body.\" Na means \"not.\" Na ayam deha: \"This body is not meant.\" Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke. Deha-bhājām: \"those who have taken or accepted this material body, amongst them.\"\nNow, this is a very significant word, \"those who have accepted this material body,\" deha-bhājām. And according to Vedic literature, we understand that this material world is only one-fourth manifestation of the complete creation of God. The three-fourth portion of God's creation is spiritual world.\nThat you will find in the Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa says,\natha vā bahunaitena\nkiṁ jñātena tavārjuna\nekāṁśena viṣṭabhyāham\nidaṁ kṛtsnaṁ jagat\n[Bg. 10.42]\n[But what need is there, Arjuna, for all this detailed knowledge? With a single fragment of Myself I pervade and support this entire universe.]\nEkāṁśena... Ekāṁśena means a part, a fractional part. This material world is a fractional part of the whole creation. You see this universe, as far as you can see up to the sky. That is only one universe. And there are unlimited universes. They are clustered together. And that is called material world. And beyond that clusters of unlimited number of universes, there is another, spiritual sky.\nThat is also mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā: paras tasmād tu bhāvo 'nyo 'vyakto 'vyaktāt sanātanaḥ [Bg. 8.20].\n[Yet there is another unmanifest nature, which is eternal and is transcendental to this manifested and unmanifested matter. It is supreme and is never annihilated. When all in this world is annihilated, that part remains as it is.]\nLord says that \"Beyond this material world, there is another bhāva, nature.\" Just like this is material nature. He says, paras tasmāt tu bhāvaḥ, bhāvaḥ anyaḥ. Anya means another. \"There is another nature, which is sanātana.\" Sanātana means eternal. There is no history of its beginning, or there is no end—that is called sanātana, eternal.\nEternal means which has no end, no beginning. Nobody knows where it has begun and where it has ended. Nobody knows. Just like the Vedic religion is called sanātana-dharma because nobody can trace out when this Vedic religion begun. Therefore it is called sanātana-dharma.\nEvery religion in our present experience, it has got a history. Your Christian religion, it has got a history, two thousand years old. Buddhist religion, it has got a history, 2,600 years. Muhammadan religion, it has got a history, one thousand years. But if you trace out Vedic religion, you cannot find out the history, date. There is no date. You cannot find out. No historian can give. So therefore it is called sanātana-dharma.\nAnd in the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa says that \"There is another nature, which is sanātana.\" Sanātana means there is no history of its creation or [indistinct]. But this material creation, as you know... We say, \"God created.\" \"God created\" means before creation, God was existing. \"God created\"—this very word suggests that before this creation of this cosmic manifestation, God was existing. Therefore God is not under this creation. If God is under this creation, then how He can create? He becomes one of the object of the material creation.\nSo God is not under creation. He is the creator. Before creation, He was existing. That is called sanātana. That means He is also sanātana. And there is a spiritual nature, sky, where there are innumerable spiritual planets also. And there are innumerable spiritual living entities also. And some of them, those who are not fit to live in that spiritual world, they are, I mean to say, sent to this material world. The same idea is expressed in Milton's Paradise Lost. So we all, conditioned souls, we are practically living in a place after paradise lost. We should understand this.\nSo here the specific instruction is that deha-bhājām. Deha-bhājām means we have voluntarily or willingly we have accepted this material body. Actually, we are spirit soul. We should not have accepted this material body. But when we have accepted, how we have accepted, there cannot be any tracing of history. It is not possible. Anādi karama. Anādi karama.\nNobody can trace out the history when we, the conditioned soul, accepted this material body. And deha-bhājām means that anyone who has accepted this material body. Not [indistinct]. There are 8,400,000 different forms of living entities. Nine hundred thousand species of living entities in the water. Similarly, two millions species of life in the plants and vegetables. In this way, on the total, there are 8,400,000's of species of life.\nUnfortunately, this Vedic knowledge is not instructed in any university. But these are fact. They should try... If they are very much inquisitive to make research work, now let them research away how the Vedic knowledge says that there 8,400,000's of species of life. Let the botanists, let the anthropologists, or so many—there are department of knowledge—let them research out.\nDarwin's theory, evolution of the organic matter, they are very much prominent in the educational institution. But there is Padma Purāṇa and others authoritative Vedic scriptures, they give the magnitude of the living entity. They have different forms of body. How they are evolving one after another—everything is there. It is not a new thing. But people are giving stress only to the Darwin's theory. But in the Vedic literature we have got immense information of this living condition in this material world.\nSo apart from that, here it is said, deha-bhājām. Deha-bhājām means \"those who have accepted this material body.\" That means there are some... Not some; there are many who have not accepted this material body. But we have no experience who has not accepted this material body, in this material world. That is there in the spiritual world.\nThese living entities, innumerable living entities in so many universes in the material world or material universe or material nature, they are only fractional portion of all living entities. Only a fractional portion. Because they are condemned. Those who are in this material world, with this material body, they are condemned. Just like you take another example: just like in the prison house.\nThe prison house, population in the prison house, they are condemned by the government. But their number is only fraction out of the whole population, not that whole population of the state goes to the prison house. Some criminals who are disobedient to the laws of the state, they are put into the prison house under confinement.\nSimilarly, these conditioned souls within this material world, they are only fractional portion of the whole living enti..., number of living entities in the creation of God, and because they have disobeyed or declined to obey or abide by the orders of Kṛṣṇa, or God, they have been put into this material world.\nNow, the problem is: if one is sensible, if one is inquisitive and serious, he should try to understand that \"Why I am put into this material conditional life?\" That should be the inquiry. This is called brahma-jijñāsā. In the Vedānta-sūtra this is the first inquiry, that people should be educated to that standard of life when he will be inquisitive to know, \"Why I am put into this conditional life? What is the condition? I do not wish to suffer.\"\nThere are three kinds of sufferings—many times I have explained—they are called ādhyātmika, ādhibhautika, ādhidaivika. Ādhyātmika sufferings means pertaining to this body and mind. Suppose I have got some pain here today. This is bodily suffering. Or my mind is not in... It will be bad. I am not...\n[break] They do not mind it. Just like animals. Animals, they are always in suffering, but they do not mind it.\nNow, recently I was in Hawaii. So in front of my house there was a man who was keeping some animals and birds for slaughtering. Not there, but he was dragging for selling the animals and birds for slaughtering. Now, I was giving example to my students. Now, these animals are standing here, and tell them, \"Oh, my dear animals, why you are standing here? You go away. You are meant for being slaughtered.\" But he has no intelligence. He cannot go. Even in the slaughterhouse also, he cannot go.\nSo suffering without knowledge, without remedy, means animal life, means animal life, one who cannot understand his suffering and he thinks, \"Oh, I am very well off. I am very well situated.\" But that is animal consciousness. That is not human consciousness. One should be cognizant of the suffering, threefold miseries of his life. One should know there is suffering in birth, there is suffering in death, there is suffering in old age and there is suffering in disease. And one should be inquisitive. That is the real research work, how to avoid death, how to avoid birth.\nWe have suffered during our birth. We have forgotten. As a child, as a baby, we remained within the abdomen of our mother, tightly placed in a airtight bag for ten months, and I could not move even, and there are insects biting me. I could not protest. But we have forgotten. After coming out, we had... Our sufferings are there. Mother is taking so much care, undoubtedly; still, the child is crying. Why it cries? It has got some suffering, but he cannot express. There are some bugs biting or some pains within somewhere. The child is crying, crying. The mother does not know how to pacify it. So in this way our suffering has begun from the womb of our mother.\nAnd then I do not wish to go to school. I am forced to go to school. I do not wish to study. The teachers give me tasks. If you just study, analyze your life, it is full of suffering. Full of suffering. But we have no inquiry. We have no inquiry. This is not education. Therefore Brahma-sūtra says, athāto brahma jijñāsā: \"Now you should inquire why you are suffering. Is there any remedy for suffering?\" Then, if there is remedy, then you must take it. You must take advantage of the remedy. But we are callous. We do not care for it. This is not good.\nTherefore Ṛṣabhadeva says to His sons, \"My dear sons, now you have got this opportunity. Out of 8,400,000's of lives, take...\" Forget Ṛṣabhadeva's sons. I will speak to the American boys and girls. Now you have got very nice body, very beautiful body, very nice country. You have no poverty. So many ways, you have an advantage than other nations. So if you apply this instruction of Ṛṣabhadeva to His sons... Ṛṣabhadeva spoke to His sons does not mean only it was meant for His sons. It is meant for the whole human race.\nSo he says that \"My dear boys, this body, this nice body, beautiful body, this own flesh body, is not meant for sense gratification like the cats and dogs and hogs.\" He says that kaṣṭān kāmān na arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye: \"By hard labor, by hard work, culminating into sense gratification, simply for that satisfaction if we spoil our life, oh, it is not very good.\" Take that instruction to your life also, that you are very nicely placed, but according to Ṛṣabhadeva's instruction, you should not spoil this beautiful life simply for sense gratification.\nWhy? Ṛṣabhadeva answered, \"That sense gratification process is there, viḍ-bhujām.\" Viḍ-bhujām means the stool-eaters. What animal is the stool-eater? The hogs. This kind of sense gratification, working day and night hard, is available even in hog's life. Therefore, you have got so nice, beautiful body. You should not imitate the hogs. You see?\nI was surprised to hear from one of my principal disciples, Brahmānanda—I was walking in the Central Park—that the groups of the hippies, they have begun to worship hogs.\n[aside:] You can explain that. You can explain that, why they are doing.\nThis is not very hopeful. You see? After having this nice body, nice country, nice civilization, nice education, the result is hog worshiping.\n[aside:] Will you explain today? Still silent?",
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"content": "\n Yes. We have experience not only in New York City but many places around the country—I'm sure you're familiar—of worshiping hogs. Many places where we go chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, the Lord's name, we've experience of groups of young people chanting \"hog, hog, hog.\"\nThis is going on in New York City. And also they actually have parades where they parade with hogs and pigs. And they bow down before the pigs, and they worship the pigs. And they want the hogs to become... They want to run the hog for president, and they want the hogs to lead them.\nAnd it's even gone to such lengths that at one be-in—this was in Seattle—there was a massive demonstration with hogs. There, boys and girls undressed themselves and got in the mud, and they just played with the hogs. Dirty, just living like the hogs and pigs, which they worship.\n You don't think there's some irony in that?",
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"content": "\n So anyway, this hog worship was anticipated long, long ago. Otherwise, how they could be described in the Bhāgavatam, which was compiled at least five thousand years ago? Anyway, the idea is that beautiful life, beautiful education, beautiful situation should be utilized for beautiful end, not degrade to the platform of hog worship. That is not very palatable thing, at least.\nSo Ṛṣabhadeva says, \"My dear boys, the sense gratification process after hard work day and night is available in the hog's life. That is not a very important thing. This human form of life is meant for different purpose.\" And that purpose he explains, that tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena sattva śuddhyed yasmād brahma-saukhyaṁ tv anantam [SB 5.5.1]\n[Lord Ṛṣabhadeva told His sons: My dear boys, of all the living entities who have accepted material bodies in this world, one who has been awarded this human form should not work hard day and night simply for sense gratification, which is available even for dogs and hogs that eat stool. One should engage in penance and austerity to attain the divine position of devotional service. By such activity, one's heart is purified, and when one attains this position, he attains eternal, blissful life, which is transcendental to material happiness and which continues forever.]\n\"This human form of life is meant for austerity and penance.\"\nYou will find in the history of Vedic literature, there were many, many exalted emperors and kings, they also gave to the..., led to the practice of austerity and penance. Dhruva Mahārāja, Prahlāda Mahārāja, Ambarīṣa Mahārāja, Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja—they were all kings. They were called rājarṣi. Rājarṣi means although they were king, most opulent, still, they were great sages.\nSo the same thing is advised, that those persons who have got good opportunity of the spiritual..., human form of life, with facility for economic welfare, with facility for living very nicely, everything—the opportunity should be used for better life. Ye tapo divyam. Tapasya, austerity, a little penance. Just like our students, they are practicing...\n[break]",
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"content": "\n Turn it over? That's the end of the tape.",
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"content": "\nOh, yes.",
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"content": "\nOn the other side? [devotees chant japa]\n[break]",
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"content": "\nThat is also explained, tapo divyaṁ yena śuddhyet sattvam [SB 5.5.1]. Sattvam means pure existence. I am existing in this body, this material body, but if you take to this austerity process, it is not very troublesome, at all troublesome. It is pleasure. You can ask our students who are practicing it. They are very much pleased to practice this. So it is not troublesome; it is pleasing.\nSo tapo divyaṁ yena śuddhyet sattvam. Your existence will be purified. And as soon as your existence is purified... The difference between animal life and human life is that human life, existence, is more purified. He has got better consciousness than the animal. Similarly, if you more purify your existence, you [are] gradually elevated to the spiritual existence, which is completely pure life.\nSo Ṛṣabhadeva advises, \"My dear boys, you don't spoil your life simply for sense gratification, but voluntarily accept some austerity and penances so that your existence will be purified. And when you get your purified existence... You are seeking after happiness. Whatever happiness you are inclined in this material world, that is only limited. But if you purify your existence and some way or other be promoted to your spiritual existence, then...,\" brahma-saukhyaṁ tv anantam. Brahman. Brahman means the greatest.\nAs I told you from the Vedānta-sūtra, athāto brahma jijñāsā, so what is the Brahman life, so there is Brahman pleasure also. In the Brahman pleasure there is also dancing, there are young girls, young boys—everything. These are only reflections. Whatever we are finding in this material world—the last evening we explained—that it is that perverted reflection of the spiritual world.\nSo if you want unlimited happiness, unlimited knowledge and eternal life, you should not spoil your this very nice opportunity simply for sense gratification, but just to accept this life of austerity to promote yourself to the spiritual life. Then you will get unlimited happiness, unlimited life, unlimited pleasure. That is the sum and substance of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.\nSo we have got literature and magazines in this respect, publishing. We have got our Bhagavad-gītā As It Is and Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Nectar of Devotion, Easy Journey to Other Planets. So I request you that this movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, especially in your country, is meant for giving a finishing touch to your present position. Don't take it otherwise. You are all educated students and girls and boys.\nI request you, try to understand what is this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement and take it very seriously. You will be happy, and because people of other countries, they are following your progress, so if you take this Kṛṣṇa conscious movement seriously and rightly, the whole face of the world will be changed. It will be turned into spiritual world.\nOf course, we do not expect that everyone will accept this philosophy, but even one percent of the population of the whole world accepts this... Yad yad ācarati śreṣṭha lokas tad anuvartate [Bg. 3.21].\n[Whatever action is performed by a great man, common men follow in his footsteps. And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues.]\nIn the Bhagavad-gītā it says that if some principal man accepts some theory and some philosophy, others follow.\nSo we have got our center here. I request you all student to try to understand this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement and purify yourself. And the purificatory process is very simple: we are simply chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.\nSo my request, my fervent request to you all, that you are very nicely placed. Please try to understand this philosophy. Make your life very happy in this life or in the next life, so that people of the world will be happy by following your example.\nThank you very much. [devotees offer obeisances] [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/680312ivsf/
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[
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"content": "\n Move a little closer to that microphone, if you will? You are the head of ISKCON, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.",
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"content": "\n Yes.",
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"content": "\n Is this a church?",
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"content": "\n It is not exactly a church, but it is an institution for understanding the science of God.",
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"content": "\n Could you tell people how you are dressed today, what's the significance of your clothes?",
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"content": "\n About the significance of our institution?",
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"content": "\n No, about the way your clothes, the way you're dressed today. Uh, the robes.",
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"content": "\n Oh, the robe? Yes, I am a sannyāsī. The sannyāsī is the highest status of human social division. According to Vedic culture there are four division of human society: brahmacārī, student life; then householder, gṛhastha; and then vānaprastha, retired life; and then sannyāsa life, means preaching transcendental knowledge to the society from door to door.\nSo this dress... In Vedic culture, there are different dresses for different persons. So this saffron-colored dress means that he is admitted without any introduction anywhere, because he's understood to be a man of transcendental knowledge. And the householders receive them and take knowledge from them. That is the system of Vedic culture.",
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"content": "\n You also have a garland of flowers around your neck.",
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"content": "\n That is offered by the disciples as a matter of respect to the spiritual master. It is not necessary that a sannyāsī have a garland like this, but if it is offered with respect, he does not refuse.",
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"content": "\n Now, one more thing. You have some paint or color down your forehead and your nose, and on all your followers who are here in the studio.",
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"content": "\n Yes. These marks are a temple of Kṛṣṇa. We mark these different twelve parts of the body. The idea is that we are being protected by God from all sides.",
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"content": "\n One other thing. I went to shake hands with everybody, and I found that all your right hands were wrapped. What is the significance of that?",
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"content": "\n Yes. That wrapping... It is not exactly wrapped. It is a bag for our beads. We are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. So the beads are supposed to be sacred, and therefore we keep it in a bag so that it may not touch the dust or any other impurities. So it is not wrapping; it is covering of the sacred beads.",
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"content": "\n Now I just want to read one section here. I think you'll be able to... \"The International Society for Krishna Consciousness began when Swāmī Bhaktivedanta arrived from India with $2 on his person, a metal suitcase full of ancient-looking books and a cotton cloth robe, colored yellow, as a sign of the renounced order of life.\nIn India, men of his order are completely dedicated to propagating the spiritual life of a mendicant wanderers. He had wandered across the sea upon the order issued to him by his guru, who told him he should prepare to go to America to teach the principles taught in the Bhagavad-gītā and to translate the sixty volumes of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam into English.\" Now, are you a guru?",
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"content": "\n Yes, I am the spiritual master of this institution, and all the members of the Society, they're supposed to be my disciples. They follow the rules and regulation which I ask them to follow, and they are initiated by me spiritually. So therefore the spiritual master is called guru. That is Sanskrit language.",
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"content": "\n Guru means teacher.",
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"content": "\n Guru means not exactly teacher. Guru, the word, means heavy. Heavy. H-e-a-v-y, heavy.",
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"content": "\n Is guru and svāmī the same thing?",
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"content": "\n Svāmī means practically the same idea. Svāmī means the master of the senses. One who has not control over senses, he cannot become guru. The renounced order means he's strictly away from all kinds of sense gratification, especially sex life. Therefore, he's called svāmī. Svāmī means the master. One who has become the master of the senses, he can become the spiritual master of the society. That is the idea.",
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"content": "\n The svāmī... Now did I understand you to say the svāmī has no sex life?",
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"content": "\n No. Certainly not.",
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"content": "\n Certainly not. All right, now when you...",
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"content": "\n Well, actually sex life is allowed only to the householders. According to Vedic culture, sex life is restricted. There are four divisions of society. The brahmacārī is strictly forbidden for sex life. The vānaprastha, they are also forbidden for sex life, and the sannyāsī, they are also forbidden for sex life. So out of four divisions, three divisions are strictly forbidden of sex life. Only the householders, they can have restricted sex life with married wife, simply for begetting children. That is the Vedic culture.",
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"content": "\n Only for propagating children.",
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"content": "\n That's all.",
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"content": "\n Then there is a similarity to Catholicism. The priest is supposed to be celibate.",
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"content": "\n Certainly. Anywhere there is spiritual conception, sex life is not indulged. Anywhere, either it may be Christianity or Hinduism... Sex life is materialism. That is opposite number of spiritualism. So people are trained gradually to refrain from sex life. And in the sannyāsa life he's completely trained. Therefore he's allowed to move in the society for preaching spiritual education.",
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"content": "\n Now, the whole world has heard of the Maharishi Mahesh. Is he part of your order?",
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"content": "\n No. I have heard so much in the paper.",
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"content": "\n He is the world's most famous guru at the present time.",
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"content": "\n He's not guru. But he's advertised his name like that. [laughs] A guru is different thing. But people are, in your country, in the Western part of the country..., of the world, people are after some spiritual information. So anyone who comes professing as spiritualist, he is welcome, and if he flatters, then it is very convenient to get followers. So we don't follow exactly in that way. We follow exactly the principles of Vedic ways of life. So in that way, sex life for a sannyāsī is strictly prohibited.",
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"content": "\n So many of the people are going to him for meditation. Is meditation part of your philosophy?",
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"content": "\n Yes. But meditation as this Maharshi or any other svāmī or..., are professing, that is not exactly the process of meditation. The standard meditation is described in Bhagavad-gītā. That is very difficult job. You have to select a solitary place, you have to sit in a certain posture, you have to regulate your life, complete celibacy, eating, sleeping... There are so many rules and regulation that that sort of meditation is absolutely impossible for the present way of life.\nFor the present generation, the chanting, vibration of holy name of God, is recommended in the scriptures. It is said that meditation was possible in the Satya-yuga, when people were cent per cent pure. And they are... For the present, mostly, people are impure. So they cannot execute meditation as it is described in the standard scriptures.",
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"content": "\n Is yoga part of meditation?",
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"content": "\n Yoga is a very broad term. Yoga means to connect with the Absolute Truth. That is yoga. Yoga means connecting link. So there are different varieties of yoga. Just like one staircase, it is the connecting link to the top floor. So that is, everywhere you can say staircase, but one who has crossed a few steps and one who has crossed a few floors, they are not on the same level.",
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"content": "\n I'd like to read one thing. This is evidently said by a man named Swāmī Śiva Premānada of New York's Yoga Center. He said, \"If one has the time to put in about eight or ten hours a day for ten years, one might develop the power to see through a wall through meditation. I've seen people develop X-ray vision, but I've never seen the point of paying such a heavy price for it.\"",
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"content": "\n But I don't think it is practical that one can meditate for eight to ten hours or twelve hours.",
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"content": "\n For ten years.",
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"content": "\n But it is... Yes, for ten years. It is most impractical proposition. Therefore, as recommended, we have to follow the regulation as recommended in the scriptures. For the present age, this meditation. Now, last night we had saṅkīrtana in the public library... Where is that? Oakland. So all people immediately joined us as soon as we began to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.\nImmediately there is effect, and there is no rules and regulation that you have to do this or that. Simply join, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma... We had lectured in the YMCA Sunday School. Little boys and children, they also joined with us. We performed this Hare Kṛṣṇa chanting in the park. The children, old men, young men, everyone joined. It is...",
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"content": "\n Do you have a temple here, Swāmī, or do you meet in libraries?",
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"content": "\n No, we have got a temple here. Actually it is Frederick Street, 518.",
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"content": "\n What does your temple look like?",
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"content": "\n It is temple. Just there is Deity, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Deity and it's very..., a place of sanctuary. If you go there you'll find immediately some impulse of spiritual idealism.",
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"content": "\n Do you have altars?",
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"content": "\n Yes.",
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"content": "\n Do you have any of the other things you find in the inside of churches?",
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"content": "\n Yes. Yes, we have altars, we have pictures. We offer fruits, flowers, incense, and immediately, by combination of these things, there is some spiritual atmosphere, and there is chanting. So people enjoy it very nicely.",
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"content": "\n We're talking with Swāmī A. C. Bhaktivedanta, head of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. If you have questions our numbers are 478-3456; in the East Bay, 832-9707; in San Jose, 272-1233.\n[break] A. C. Bhaktivedanta, International Society for Krishna Consciousness. What does the word \"Kṛṣṇa\" mean?",
"role": "user"
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"content": "\n Kṛṣṇa is..., means all-attractive. Kṛṣṇa.",
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"content": "\n Would you put those earphones on, Swāmī? Our numbers are 478-3456; in the East Bay, 832-9707; in San Jose, 272-1233. Hello, you're on the air on KGO with the Swāmī.\n Hello, Swāmījī?",
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"content": "\n Yes.",
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"content": "\n I'd like to ask a question.",
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"content": "\n What is that?",
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"content": "\n Why is this human form of life..., why is this human life in such a diseased condition with war, pestilence and famine?",
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"content": "\n These are miserable conditions inflicted by material nature just to remind the conditioned soul that this conditioned life in the material nature is not for you. There is another place, where you can live very peacefully. Just like in the prison life there is always infliction of miseries.\nIf in the prison life one is comfortably situated, then he'll never go out; he'll try to live there. So these material inflictions of miseries reminds us that this place is not suitable for us. It is not our place. Our place is back to Godhead, back to home. Therefore these are the reminders that you must leave this place.",
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"content": "\n Yes. Also, what is our true identity?",
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{
"content": "\n What is that?",
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"content": "\n What is our true identity?",
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"content": "\n Actual identity?",
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"content": "\n Yes.",
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"content": "\n Actual identity is that you are spirit soul, and this material body is your covering. Just like dress. Just like within dress, the real body is there. Similarly, we are within this material body. So we are taking more care for the dress and not for the body actually. But when a body is dead we can understand that there is something missing. That missing thing is the soul.\nIn the modern educational field there is no department of knowledge to understand that what is that missing part. There are so many theories, but they are not practical. Therefore we have to understand the soul and its constitution from authoritative scriptures like Bhagavad-gītā.\nThen if we understand our identity actually. And in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said that persons who are identifying themselves with this material body, they are not actually human being. They are counted amongst the asses and cows. So that is ignorance, or illusion.",
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"content": "\n Thank you, caller.\n Oh.\n Now, I want to ask you something. You said we live in a bad world, but through our mind, our soul, we can escape.",
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"content": "\n Yes.",
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"content": "\n Or through Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We're not solving anything, then, by doing that. We're sort of, in our own mind, we're running away.",
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"content": "\n Yes, that running away the best sol... Suppose you are put in a prison house. The solution is to go out of it. If you want to make adjustment of the prison house, that is impossible. You may be a first-class prisoner or second-class prisoner, third-class prisoner, but you will remain a prisoner. But if you want freedom, then you must go out of the prison walls.",
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"content": "\n But I notice you have many..., you seem to have a lot of young men who are part of your organization. These young men must face the material problems of today, like the Draft and Vietnam and everything.",
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"content": "\n Yes.",
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"content": "\n Isn't it difficult to belong to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and exist in this world we must exist in?",
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"content": "\n Yes. The thing is that persons who are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness anywhere, even they are put into a very uncomfortable position, they are not suffering in the same way as ordinary man.",
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"content": "\n Oh. We have people who want to talk to you. Caller, you're on the air with the Swāmī on KGO.\n Thank you. Hello, Swāmījī?",
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"content": "\n Yes?",
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"content": "\n What is the perfection of this life?",
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{
"content": "\n The perfection of this life is to understand oneself, what I am. This is the beginning. Why I am suffering? If there is any solution of this suffering? And there are so many things. These questions should be there. Unless a man is awakened to these questions, that \"What I am? Why I am suffering? Wherefrom I have come, and where I have to go?\"\nThen he's considered on the animal level. Because animals, they have no such questions. It is in the human form of life these questions are there. And their answers are all there in the scriptures. So if we are inquisitive and follow the answers from authoritative sources, then the solution of life is there.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Thank you, caller. So, know yourself.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Know yourself. I have some more questions. We're talking with Swāmī A. C. Bhaktivedanta, head of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.\n[radio ad:] And you can sell anything by reaching more than two million who read the Chronicle and the Examiner. [Reading Advertisement]\n[break]\n ...Gargamuni Prabhu. All glories to Gargamuni Prabhu! [break]\n You believe that sex is only for having children. You do not believe in alcohol or the use of any stimulants.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No, that is prohibited.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n What do you believe in?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n We believe in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We have to purify. Just like this is also a belief, that you will be happy by drinking alcohol. That is your consciousness. I don't believe in that.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Do you have certain dietary rules for which you do not eat?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Oh, yes. Certainly.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n What do you not eat?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n We don't eat anything which is not offered to Kṛṣṇa. We first of all prepare foodstuff as recommended in the scripture. They are mostly from vegetable, grains, fruits, milk. So we have got enough food.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n No meat of any kind.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No. No meat, no onion, no garlic, no intoxication, no liquor; we don't smoke even, we don't take tea, coffee. We simply take what is absolutely necessary for keeping the body fit to execute Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We don't indulge in luxury, or for the satisfaction of the tongue.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n All right. Caller, you're on the air with the Swami on KGO.\n Yes. Swāmījī, I'd like to know where in India was your native place.\n Where in India did you come from originally?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Oh, I was born in Calcutta. But after my acceptance of this renounced order of life, I am inhabitant of Vṛndāvana.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Of where?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Vṛndāvana. V-r-i-n-d-a-v-a-n. Vṛndāvana is a sacred place. It is about ninety miles south of New Delhi, capital of India.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, yes. I see. One thing I just wanted to clarify, did you..,. are you are follower of Lord Kṛṣṇa?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n That's all I wanted to know. Thank you.\n The callers know more about the subject today evidently than I do. Now, your guru told you to be a wanderer.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. A sannyāsī means itinerant teacher. He will wander and teach from door to door.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n When was it that you arrived from India with $2?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n It was in September, 1965.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Several years ago.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n About three years before.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Now, you met a gentleman by the name of Harvey Cohen?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n And how has he helped you?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, in the beginning he helped me. Because I rented one room. That was $72 per month. So...",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n This in New York?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n In New York, yes, Seventy-second Street West. So whatever there was shortage, he was supplying. I was getting some money by contributions in my lectures. But in the beginning my all expenditures were not sufficient collection. So the deficiency he was giving me.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Did he aid you in setting up the first center, or temple?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No, I started my temple in 1967, [1966] 1st July.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n In New York.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n New York, yes.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n How many temples are there now?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Now we have got six temples. One in New York, one in San Francisco, one in Los Angeles, one in Boston, one in Montreal and one in Santa Fe. And another one of our student has gone to Buffalo, he's on the professional, for starting another temple.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n How many people belong to these six temples?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n In each temple there are average about fifty people.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Fifty people.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Are they mostly young people? From the calls we've been getting and from the people here in the studio...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, they are invariably all young boys and girls. Yes.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n All right, hold for one second. We're talking with Swāmī A. C. Bhaktivedanta, head of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Workers who are intitled to at least...\n[reading advertisement]\n[break]... Bhaktivedanta, head of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. And our telephones are open to you.\n[gives phone numbers again]\nWhat hair cut? Oh, is there any significance of your hair cut, over there? Is there a microphone over there we can get you on? Put that other one over there. Because we have several young men here in the studio with the Swāmī. What is the significance of your haircut?\n Well, my head is shaved, and I have a, what's known as a śikhā on the back of my head. This śikhā is a sign that I'm a Vaiṣṇava, which is a follower of Kṛṣṇa's.\n Do you live here?\n I'm from the Santa Fe temple. I'm just visiting here.\n How did you end up in this Kṛṣṇa order?\n I was looking for [indistinct] who could tell me the answers to the questions that Swāmījī mentioned before, such as \"What am I? What is God? What am I doing here?\" And Swāmījī was the first one who could answer these questions satisfactorily.\nAnd I could see that the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is no phony bluff. I could see it really works, because I saw people making progress in it. And I made progress myself by chanting. So I accepted him as my spiritual master, because he was the only one...\n Do you accept a new name?\n Yes.\n Well, what is your name?\n Subāla dāsa Adhikārī.\n So each one accepts a new name.\n Yes. The initiation by the spiritual master is known as the second birth. You enter the spiritual world by taking a second birth. Your spiritual life begins.\n Do you still live in, quote, the rest of the world, the outside world, or is your whole life within the Kṛṣṇa consciousness?\n My whole life is within Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but yet, at the same time, I function within the world at large.\n We have a lot of people who have some questions here, and caller, you're on the air on KGO with the Swāmī. Hello.\n Hello?\n Go ahead, sir.\n This Swāmī?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n What is God?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n What is God? That's your question?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n God means the controller. Everywhere we have got some controller. So... But you will find there is another controller over the controller. So if you go on searching, one after another, controller and the supercontroller, and, or the next controller, next controller, in this way, when you come to a place when the controller is absolute—there is no other controller—He is God.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Thank you, caller. That's... Something... I get the impression that all the calls today are people within Kṛṣṇa consciousness. I would like to hear some other people with questions here. Caller, you're on the air with the Swāmī on KGO.\n Yes. Swāmī, you say you have to know yourself. Now, how does a person go about knowing when he knows himself, who he is and what he is? In other words, when does he reach the stage where he says, \"Hah! I know where I am and what I am\"?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, there are two different processes of acquiring knowledge. One process is to research oneself by his own endeavor, by his limited sense speculation. And another process is to know from the authority. Just like deductive process, we say man is mortal. This knowledge is received from higher authorities, just like our teacher or parents, we understand that man is mortal. Another process is one can make research whether actually man is mortal.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Well, is there some kind of a spiritual signal you get within yourself that tells you this?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No, your question is \"What I am?\" So this what I am, you can search yourself by your mental speculation. That is one way. Another way: to understand your position from higher authority. So we take this process. We understand what I am from higher authority, Kṛṣṇa.\nKṛṣṇa says that He is God, and He says, \"All these living entities are My part and parcel.\" So we are component parts of the Supreme Lord. Therefore as the component part of machine is to cooperate with the full machine, so our duty is to cooperate with the Supreme Lord. That is our identity.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Thank you, caller.\n Thank you.\n To join Kṛṣṇa consciousness is a total commitment, then, to your way of life.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, it is total commitment to the way of life as it is prescribed in the Bhagavad-gītā, the science of God.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Must one renounce his present religion?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No, not necessarily. Religion is a kind of faith. So naturally, if you go to the higher standard of life, the stereotype faith does not act there. So this understanding, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is transcendental to all religious faith. Faith you can change. But this you cannot change.\nYour constitutional position as part and parcel of God is never to be changed. You may accept a faith as Christianity or accept a faith Muhammadanism. That is a mental situation. But this is your actual constitutional situation, that you are part and parcel of the Supreme. That cannot be changed.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n What happens in your temples? Do you have services, like other religions?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, generally we chant this mahā-mantra, Hare Kṛṣṇa, and then we deliver speeches from Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and then there are questions, we answer, and in that way the audience and the disciples, they become enlightened and they advance.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n But there's no sermon, as we would know in other churches?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n That is, you can call sermon, because there is prayer songs, and there is, I mean to say, recitation from scriptures.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Well, you have six chapters, so evidently you cannot be everywhere at once. Who is in charge of a temple when you're not here?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n The students are being trained. The students, they also speak the same thing. There is nothing new. I also speak from the Bhagavad-gītā and the students also speak from the Bhagavad-gītā. The Bhagavad-gītā is the same in all the centers. But it may be because I have little more experience I can explain them a little more nicely. And the students, they also explain according to their experience. But the principle is the same.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Caller, you're on the air on KGO with the Swāmī.\n Ah, yeah. I'm not involved with it, but I'm curious. I'm wondering if there's any similarity between meditation and hypnosis? In other words, the hypnotic state?\n Or is meditation self-hypnosis? Is that what you're asking?\nPardon me, I didn't hear you.\n \"Is meditation self-hypnosis?\"\n Is it similar? It sounds like it might be.\n Swāmī?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n I do not know what is self-hypnosis.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Hypnotizing yourself.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No, it is no question of hypnotizing. Meditation means to search out what I am. Just like if you sit down quietly, if you see your body, first of all see your finger, and question whether I am hand. You'll say no. Whether I am this head? You'll say no. Whether I am this leg? Because everywhere I will say, \"It is my hand,\" \"It is my head,\" \"It is my leg,\" \"It is my sole.\" Everything \"my.\" So you have to find out what is \"I.\"",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n I see.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Unless you come to that point, what is \"I,\" there is no meaning of meditation.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nIs meditation part of... [break]",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n ...perfect. Then the meditation is finished. Now, the activities after meditation begins. Meditation is to search out what you are. As soon as you know your identity, then your real activity begins. So we take it from Bhagavad-gītā what is my real identity and begin our service. So that is called devotional service.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n We're talking with Swāmī A. C. Bhaktivedanta, head of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. We'll be back in a minute. [break] KGO.\n Yes. I wanted to ask the Swāmī if he didn't think that the teachings of Jesus Christ expressed exactly what he's saying. I'm not speaking of Orthodox Christianity as such, but the essence of what Jesus said about the Father within, and \"If thine eye be single, thy body shall be full of light,\" and the beautiful phrase that he said, \"Before Abraham was, I am.\" Has he studied anything about the teachings of Jesus?\n Swāmī?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n We don't disagree with the teachings of Lord Jesus Christ, because he's speaking also the same thing which we are also speaking, about the science of God.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n But she..., I think she's saying, couldn't you just have taken the teachings of Jesus Christ as your religion?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n But there is already adjustment...",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n [breaking in] No, I'm not saying that. I'm saying that I believe that the Swami and many others who practice meditation and study the Gītā are really dealing with the same premise, the first cause, that Jesus spoke of.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Certainly.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Right?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, certainly.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, that's what I wanted to know. I think there is a comparison, not between organized religion as such, but just getting down to the bare facts of what Jesus spoke about. I think there's a similarity.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n There is similarity. But one thing is, just like mathematics taught in the lower class. Two plus two equal to four is equally applicable in higher mathematics: two plus two equal to four. In higher mathematics it does not become two plus two equal to five. Similarly, the teachings of Bible or teachings of Bhagavad-gītā are the same, the same \"two plus two.\"",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Right, right...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n But in the Bhagavad-gītā, it is..., it may be taken as higher mathematics. That's all.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n You know, may I ask you one thing? I read some parts of the..., Bhagavad-gītā, is it, it says that knowledge is enveloped in ignorance, hence all men are deluded.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n And I thought that was a profound...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Real, our real knowledge is covered by delusion.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Right.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, the real knowledge is that I am spirit.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n But we are identifying ourself with this body. Therefore we are covered in our knowledge, actual knowledge.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Thank you caller, very much. Bye-bye. Twelve minutes before four on KGO. And, caller, you're on the air with the Swāmī on KGO. Turn the radio off, please. Go ahead.\n Yes, hello Swāmī. I would like to know how you get your money to make all your trips to India and New York and Mexico. Who provides you with money?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Ah. I was provided free passage in a shipping company.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n You was what?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Free passage.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Free passage. Who pays for that free passage?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Oh, free passage, there was no question of payment. The shipping company carried me free.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Shipping company carried him free.\nThe shipping company carried you free. Who buys your food for you?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n When I came, I came with some introduction letter. So my guests, they provided me.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Your guests provide you. In other words, you're a free-loader.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Why do you set up your church into an area like the Haight-Ashbury? Your so-called temple?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Our so-called temple?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Your so-called temple. Why do you set up a place like that in the Haight-Ashbury?\n I'll rephrase it. I'm going to punch her out. Why is your church located in the area of the hippies?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n It is not for particularly selected the hippies' quarter, but the boys, they found a cheaper place in that quarter. Therefore they occupied that place.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Cheapest place you could find.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. Because we are not very rich institution. So we found it cheaper, so we selected it. It is not for the reason that because it is hippie quarter, therefore we selected it. No.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Actually, most hippies couldn't join your religion, because they take drugs...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, we are completely different from the hippies, because hippies, they are addicted to sex and intoxication, and these things are completely forbidden in our temple.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n You do perform wedding ceremonies.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n What is your wedding ceremony like?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n The same chanting, Hare Kṛṣṇa.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Is it considered a legal wedding ceremony in this country?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, our Society is incorporated under the Religious Act of New York State.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n All right. Caller, you're on the air on KGO with the Swāmī.\n I'd like to tell your guest that the other day I received a beautiful letter from the Boston āśrama from Miss Prudence Farrow, Miss Mia Farrow's sister... Are you listening?\n Yeah, you got a letter from Mia Farrow's...\n No, her sister, yes, Prudence, from this gentleman's Boston āśrama.\n Oh. Does Mia Farrow's sister belong to your...\nPrudence Farrow. From this man's āśrama in Boston.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\nOkay?\n No, it's some other group in Boston. She doesn't belong to this Swāmī's group.\n Mia Farrow's sister?\n He's talking about Maharishi. He's confusing us with Maharishi.\n Yeah, okay. We'll be back in a minute.\n[break] ...give us a possible idea what's happening with the gold crisis, when even world political...\n[break] Krishna consciousness. Could we hear the chant, maybe with everybody here? Is it possible here? Can we get some microphones over there? [devotee makes comment about karatāls] You didn't bring what?\n We can use our hands.\n Get everybody on the mike. Okay.\n[Prabhupāda and devotees all chant in unison, clapping hands, for a few minutes]\n[prema-dhvani by Prabhupāda]\n That is the opening of your ceremony?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n That is the... At the end we...",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n At the end.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, thanks to the devotees.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n All right, thank you. Caller, you're on the air with the Swāmī on KGO.\n Oh, hi. Is this on? I just wanted to ask the Swāmī where karma enters in as far as his teachings are concerned, and also whether his concept of God is that of a being that is good, and so reflected through healings?\n Okay. Karma, is this a part of your religion?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, karma... Karma means work, fruitive work. As you work, as you sow...",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n I'll take my answer on the air please, okay?\n Go ahead, Swāmī. She's just going to listen to your answer on the radio. Go ahead with your description of karma.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Karma means fruitive work. Just like you are laboring for some wages. You get your wages. Similarly, this material world our work is rewarded. Good work is rewarded with good benefit and bad work is punished. This is the law of karma.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n And the other question is, \"Do you feel God is good?\"",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n We are out of time. We want to thank you very much for...",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n God is good, yes. Certainly. [devotees laugh]",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n ...for all of you here. And your local temple is at 518 Frederick, here in San Francisco. Should I give the phone number in case people want information?\n All right.\n Phone number is 564-6670. Oh, you changed it? What is it now?\n 731-9671. [end]",
"role": "user"
}
] |
https://vedabase.io/en/library/pqpa/1/
|
[
{
"content": "\n What is the meaning of the name Kṛṣṇa?\n Kṛṣṇa means “all-attractive.”",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n All-attractive.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. So unless God is all-attractive, how can He be God? A man is important when he is attractive. Is it not?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n It is so.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n So, God must be attractive, and attractive for all. Therefore, if God has any name, or if you want to give any name to God, only “Kṛṣṇa” can be given.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n But why only the name Kṛṣṇa?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Because He’s all-attractive. Kṛṣṇa means “all-attractive.” God has no name, but by His qualities we give Him names. If a man is very beautiful, we call him “beautiful.” If a man is very intelligent, we call him “wise.” So the name is given according to the quality. Because God is all-attractive, the name Kṛṣṇa can be applied only to Him. Kṛṣṇa means “all-attractive.” It includes everything.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n But what about a name meaning “all-powerful”?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes … Unless you are all-powerful, how can you be all-attractive?\nŚyāmasundara\n [Śrīla Prabhupāda’s secretary]: The name Kṛṣṇa includes everything.\n Everything. He must be very beautiful, He must be very wise, He must be very powerful, He must be very famous … ",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Is Kṛṣṇa attractive to rascals?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Oh, yes! He was the greatest rascal also.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n How is that?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n [laughing] Because He was always teasing the gopīs.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Teasing?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. Sometimes when Rādhārāṇī would go out, Kṛṣṇa would attack Her, and when She would fall down – “Kṛṣṇa, don’t torture Me in that way” – They would fall down, and Kṛṣṇa would take the opportunity and kiss Her. [He laughs.] So, Rādhārāṇī was very pleased, but superficially Kṛṣṇa was the greatest rascal. So unless rascaldom is in Kṛṣṇa, how could rascaldom exist in the world? Our formula of God is that He is the source of everything. Unless rascaldom is in Kṛṣṇa, it could not be manifest here, because He is the source of everything. But His rascaldom is so nice that everyone worships His rascaldom.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n What about the rascals who are not so nice?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No, rascaldom is not nice, but Kṛṣṇa is absolute. He is God. Therefore His rascaldom is also good. Kṛṣṇa is all-good. God is good.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Therefore, when He becomes a rascal, that is also good. Rascaldom is not good, but when it is practiced by Kṛṣṇa that rascaldom is also good, because He is absolutely good. This one has to understand.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Are there some people who do not find Kṛṣṇa attractive?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No. All people will find Him attractive. Who is not attracted? Just give an example: “This man or this living entity is not attracted to Kṛṣṇa.” Just find such a person.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Somebody who wishes to do things in life that he may feel are wrong but who wishes to gain power or prestige or money may find God unattractive. He may not find God attractive, because God gives him guilt.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No, not God. His attraction is to become powerful. A man wants to become powerful or rich – is it not? But nobody is richer than Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is attractive to him.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n If a person who wants to become rich prays to Kṛṣṇa, will he become rich?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Oh, yes. Because Kṛṣṇa is all-powerful, if you pray to Kṛṣṇa to become rich, Kṛṣṇa will make you rich.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n If somebody lives an evil life but prays to become rich, he may still become rich?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. Praying to Kṛṣṇa is not evil. [Chuckling] Somehow or other he prays to Kṛṣṇa, so you cannot say that he is evil.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, api cet sudurācāro bhajate mām ananya-bhāk sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ. Have you read it?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. The Sanskrit I don’t know, but the English I do.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Hmm.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n “Even if the most evil man prays to Me, he will be elevated.”",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. As soon as he begins to pray to Kṛṣṇa, that is not evil. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is all-attractive. It is said in the Vedas that the Absolute Truth, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the reservoir of all pleasure – raso vai saḥ. Everyone is hankering after someone because he realizes some mellow in it.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Excuse me?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Some mellow. Suppose a man is drinking. Why is he drinking? He is getting some mellow out of that drinking. A man is hankering after money because by possessing money he gets a mellow out of it.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n What does mellow mean?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n [to Śyāmasundara] How do they define mellow?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Taste, pleasure.\n OK.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Pleasing taste. So the Vedas say raso vai saḥ. The exact translation of mellow is rasa. [Mālatī, Śyāmasundara’s wife, enters with a tray of food.] What is that?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Eggplant, fried.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Oh! All-attractive! All-attractive! [Laughter.]",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n What is a scientist?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n One who knows things as they are.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n He thinks he knows things as they are.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n What?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n He hopes he knows things as they are.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No, he is supposed to know. We approach the scientist because he is supposed to know things correctly. A scientist means one who knows things as they are. ",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n How is Kṛṣṇa the greatest scientist?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Because He knows everything. A scientist is one who knows a subject matter thoroughly. Kṛṣṇa knows everything, so He is the greatest scientist.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n I am presently a science teacher.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, but unless you have perfect knowledge, how can you teach? That is our question.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Without perfect knowledge, though, you can teach … ",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n That is cheating; that is not teaching. That is cheating. The scientists say, “There was a chunk, and the creation took place. Perhaps. Maybe.” What is this? Simply cheating! It is not teaching; it is cheating.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Without perfect knowledge, can I not teach some things? For example, I may … ",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n You can teach up to the point you know.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, but I should not claim to teach more than I know.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, that is cheating.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n In other words, he can’t teach the truth with partial knowledge.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. That is not possible for any human being. A human being has imperfect senses. So how can he teach perfect knowledge? Suppose you see the sun as a disc. You have no means to approach the sun. If you say that we can see the sun by telescope and this and that, they are also made by you, and you are imperfect. So how can your machine be perfect? Therefore, your knowledge of the sun is imperfect. So don’t teach about the sun unless you have perfect knowledge. That is cheating.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n But what about teaching that it is supposed that the sun is 93,000,000 miles away?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n As soon as you say “it is supposed,” it is not scientific.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n But I think that almost all science, then, is not scientific.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n That is the point!",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n All science is based on, you know, suppositions of this or that.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. They are teaching imperfectly. Just like they are advertising so much about the moon. Do you think their knowledge is perfect?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n No.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Then?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n What is the proper duty of the teacher in society? Let us say a science teacher. What should he be doing in the classroom?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Classroom? You should simply teach about Kṛṣṇa.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n He should not teach about … ",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No. That will include everything. His aim should be to know Kṛṣṇa.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Can a scientist teach the science of combining acid and alkali – this kind of science – with Kṛṣṇa as its object?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n How can it be?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n When one studies science, one finds general tendencies of nature, and these general tendencies of nature point to a controlling force … ",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n That I was explaining the other day. I asked a chemist whether, according to chemical formulas, hydrogen and oxygen linked together become water. Do they not?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n It’s true.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Now, there is a vast amount of water in the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean. What quantity of chemicals was required?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n How much?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. How many tons?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Many!",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n So who supplied it?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n This was supplied by God.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Somebody must have supplied it.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n So that is science. You can teach like that.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Should one bother teaching that if you combine acid and alkali they form a neutral?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n The same thing. There are so many effervescences. So, who is making them? Who is supplying the acid and alkali? ",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n They come from the same source as the water.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. You cannot manufacture water unless you have hydrogen and oxygen. So, there are vast oceans – not only this Atlantic and Pacific: there are millions of planets, and there are millions of Atlantic and Pacific oceans. So who created this water with hydrogen and oxygen, and how was it supplied? That is our question. Somebody must have supplied it; otherwise how has it come into existence?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n But should it also be taught how you make water from hydrogen and oxygen? The procedure of bringing them together – should this also be taught? ",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n That is secondary. That is not very difficult. Just like Mālatī made this purī [a kind of bread]. So, there is flour, and there is ghee [clarified butter], and she made a purī. But unless there is ghee and flour, where is the chance of making a purī? In the Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa makes this statement: “Water, earth, air, fire – they are My energies.” What is your body? This external body – that is your energy. Do you know that? Your body is made out of your energy. For example, I am eating … ",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n So I am creating some energy, and therefore my body is maintained.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Oh, I see.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n So therefore your body is made out of your energy.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n But when you eat the food, there is energy from the sun in the food.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n So, I am giving an example. I am creating some energy by digesting the food, and that is maintaining my body. If your energy supply is not proper, then your body becomes weak or unhealthy. Your body is made out of your own energy. Similarly, this gigantic cosmic body – the universe – is made of Kṛṣṇa’s energy. How can you deny it? As your body is made out of your energy, so the universal body must be made by somebody’s energy. That is Kṛṣṇa.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n I’ll have to think about it to follow that.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n What is to follow? It is a fact. [He laughs.] Your hair is growing daily. Why? Because you have some energy.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n The energy I obtain from my food.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Somehow or other you have obtained that energy! And through that energy your hair is growing. So if your body is manufactured by your energy, similarly the whole gigantic manifestation is made of God’s energy. It is a fact! It is not your energy.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. Oh, I see that.\n Just like – aren’t the planets in this universe the sun’s energy – a product of the sun’s energy?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes, but who produced the sun? That is Kṛṣṇa’s energy. The sun is simply heat, and Kṛṣṇa says, bhūmir āpo ’nalo vāyuḥ: “Anala – heat – that is My energy.” The sun is the representation of the heating energy of Kṛṣṇa. It is not your energy. You cannot say, “The sun is made by me.” But somebody must have made it, and Kṛṣṇa says that He did. So, we believe Kṛṣṇa. Therefore we are Kṛṣṇaites.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Kṛṣṇaites?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. And therefore our knowledge is perfect. If I say that heat is the energy of Kṛṣṇa, you cannot deny it, because it is not your energy. In your body there is some certain amount of heat. Similarly, the sun’s heat is someone’s energy. And who is that person? That is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says, “Yes, it is My energy.” So my knowledge is perfect. Because I take the version of the greatest scientist, I am the greatest scientist. I may be a fool personally, but because I take knowledge from the greatest scientist, I am the greatest scientist. I have no difficulty.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Excuse me?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n I have no difficulty in becoming the greatest scientist because I take knowledge from the greatest scientist. We accept what Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, “This earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence, and ego – they are My eight separated energies.”",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n They are separated energies?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. Just like this milk. What is this milk? The separated energy of the cow. [Śyāmasundara and Bob, stunned, laugh in realization.] Is it not? It is the manifestation of the separated energy of the cow.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Is it like a by-product?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n So, what is the significance of this energy’s being separated from Kṛṣṇa?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n “Separated” means that this is made out of the body of the cow but it is not the cow. That is separation.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n So, this earth and all is made out of Kṛṣṇa but it is not Kṛṣṇa?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n It is not Kṛṣṇa. Or, you can say it is Kṛṣṇa and not Kṛṣṇa simultaneously. That is our philosophy – one and different. You cannot say that the things of this world are different from Kṛṣṇa, because without Kṛṣṇa they have no existence. At the same time, you cannot say, “Then let me worship water. Why worship Kṛṣṇa?” The pantheists say that because everything is God, whatever we do is God worship. This is Māyāvāda philosophy – that because everything is made of God’s energy, therefore everything is God. But our philosophy is that everything is God but also not God.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Is there anything on earth that is God?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. In one sense everything here is God because everything is made out of the energy of God. But that does not mean that by worshipping anything you are worshipping God.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n So what is on earth that is not māyā [illusion]? ",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Māyā means “energy.”",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n It means energy?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. And another meaning of māyā is “illusion.” So foolish persons accept the energy as the energetic. That is māyā. Suppose the sunshine enters your room. Sunshine is the energy of the sun, but simply because the sunshine enters your room you cannot say that the sun has entered. If the sun itself enters your room, then your room and yourself – everything – will be finished. Immediately. You will not have the leisure to understand that the sun has entered. Is it not?",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n It is so.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Still, you cannot say that sunshine is not the sun. Without the sun, where is the sunshine? But at the same time, it is not the sun. It is the sun and not the sun – both. That is our philosophy. Acintya-bhedābheda – inconceivable difference and nondifference. In the material sense, you cannot conceive that a thing is simultaneously positive and negative. But that is the spiritual reality. And because everything is Kṛṣṇa’s energy, Kṛṣṇa can manifest Himself from any energy. Therefore, when we worship Kṛṣṇa in a form made of something – of earth, stone, metal, or something like that – that is Kṛṣṇa. You cannot say that it is not Kṛṣṇa. When we worship this metal form of Kṛṣṇa [the Deity form in the temple], that is Kṛṣṇa. That’s a fact, because metal is an energy of Kṛṣṇa’s. Therefore, it is nondifferent from Kṛṣṇa. And Kṛṣṇa is so powerful that He can present Himself fully in His energy. So this Deity worship is not heathenism. It is actually worship of God, provided you know the process.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n If you know the process, then the Deity becomes Kṛṣṇa?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Not becomes – it is Kṛṣṇa.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n The Deity is Kṛṣṇa, but only if you know the process?",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Yes. Just like this electric wire – it is electricity. One who knows the process can derive electricity out of it.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Otherwise it’s just wire.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n Just wire.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n So if I build a statue of Kṛṣṇa, it is not Kṛṣṇa unless … ",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n It is Kṛṣṇa. But you have to know the process of understanding that it is Kṛṣṇa. It is Kṛṣṇa.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n It is not just earth and mud.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No. Earth has no separate existence without Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says, “Earth is My energy.” You cannot separate the energy from the energetic. It is not possible. You cannot separate heat from fire. Still, fire is different from the heat, and heat is different from the fire. You are feeling heat; that does not mean you are touching fire. Fire, in spite of emanating heat, keeps its identity. \nSimilarly, although Kṛṣṇa, by His different energies, is creating everything, He remains Kṛṣṇa. The Māyāvādī philosophers think that if Kṛṣṇa is everything, then Kṛṣṇa’s separate identity is lost. That is material thinking. For example, by my drinking this milk, little by little, when I finish there is no more milk; it has gone to my belly. Kṛṣṇa is not like that. He is omnipotent. We are utilizing His energy continually; still He is there, present. \nA crude example: a man begets many children, but the man is still there. It’s not that because he has produced many children he is finished. Similarly, God, or Kṛṣṇa, in spite of His unlimited number of children, is still there. Pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate: “Because He is the Complete Whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance.” This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kṛṣṇa is never finished. Kṛṣṇa is so powerful. Therefore He is all-attractive. This is one side of the display of Kṛṣṇa’s energy. Similarly, He has unlimited energies. This study of Kṛṣṇa’s energy is only one side, or a portion only. So in this way, if you go on studying Kṛṣṇa, that is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is not a bogus thing – “maybe,” “perhaps not.” Absolutely! It is!",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n And the study itself is never finished.",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n No. How can it be? Kṛṣṇa has unlimited energy.",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/700429ip-los-angeles/
|
[
{
"content": "\n Hare Kṛṣṇa.\noṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṁ\npūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate\npūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya\npūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate\n[Īśo Invocation]\nīśāvāsyam idam sarvaṁ\nyat kiñca jagatyāṁ jagat\ntena tyaktena bhuñjīthā\nmā gṛdhaḥ kasya svid dhanam\n[Īśo mantra 1]\nkurvann eveha karmāṇi\njijīviṣec chataṁ samāḥ\nevaṁ tvayi nānyatheto 'sti\nna karma lipyate nare\n[Īśo mantra 2]\nasuryā nāma te lokā\nandhena tamasāvṛtāḥ\ntāṁs te pretyābhigacchanti\nye ke cātma-hano janāḥ\n[Īśo mantra 3]\nanejad ekaṁ manaso javīyo\nnainad devā āpnuvan pūrvam arṣat\ntad dhāvato 'nyān atyeti tiṣṭhat\ntasminn apo mātariśvā dadhāti\n[Īśo mantra 4]\ntad ejati tan naijati\ntad dūre tad v antike\ntad antar asya sarvasya\ntad u sarvasyāsya bāhyataḥ\n[Īśo mantra 5]\nyas tu sarvāṇi bhūtāny\nātmany evānupaśyati\nsarva-bhūteṣu cātmānaṁ\ntato na vijugupsate\n[Īśo mantra 6]\nyasmin sarvāṇi bhūtāny\nātmaivābhūd vijānataḥ\ntatra ko mohaḥ kaḥ śoka\nekatvam anupaśyataḥ\n[Īśo mantra 7]\nsa paryagāc chukram akāyam avraṇam\nasnāviram śuddham apāpa-viddham\nkavir manīṣī paribhūḥ svayambhūr\nyāthātathyato 'rthān vyadadhāc chāśvatībhyaḥ samābhyaḥ\n[Īśo mantra 8]\nandhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti\nye 'vidyām upāsate\ntato bhūya iva te tamo\nya u vidyāyām ratāḥ\n[Īśo mantra 9]\nanyad evāhur vidyayā-\nnyad āhur avidyayā\niti śuśruma dhīrāṇāṁ\nye nas tad vicacakṣire\n[Īśo mantra 10]\nvidyāṁ cāvidyāṁ ca yas\ntad vedobhayaṁ saha\navidyayā mṛtyuṁ tīrtvā\nvidyayāmṛtam aśnute\n[Īśo mantra 11]\nandhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti\nye 'sambhūtim upāsate\ntato bhūya iva te tamo\nya u sambhūtyām ratāḥ\n[Īśo mantra 12]\nanyad evāhuḥ sambhavād\nanyad āhur asambhavāt\niti śuśruma dhīrāṇāṁ\nye nas tad vicacakṣire\n[Īśo mantra 10]\nanyad evāhuḥ sambhavād\nanyad āhur asambhavāt\niti śuśruma dhīrāṇāṁ\nye nas tad vicacakṣire\n[Īśo mantra 10]\nRepeat it again.\nanyad evāhuḥ sambhavād\nanyad āhur asambhavāt\niti śuśruma dhīrāṇāṁ\nye nas tad vicacakṣire\n[Īśo mantra 10]\nAll right. Hare Kṛṣṇa.",
"role": "assistant"
},
{
"content": "\n Hare Kṛṣṇa.\n[04:46]",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "\n So you can read?\nGargamuni\n:\n So we are on page 16, the last sentence of the second paragraph. It says, “Therefore in order to save themselves, both must follow the instruction of Śrī Īśopaniṣad and thus bring peace to the world.”\nNext paragraph: “Human beings are not meant for quarreling like cats and dogs. They must be intelligent enough to realize the importance of human life and to realize the aims of human life. The Vedic literature is meant for humanity and not for the cats and dogs. Cats and dogs can kill other animals for food, and for that there is no question of sin on their part, but if a man kills an animal for the satisfaction of his uncontrolled taste buds, he is responsible for breaking the laws of nature, and therefore he must be punished.”\n Yes, this is the responsibility of human life. The responsibility of human life, ordinarily you can understand. Several times I have explained also that even the state laws, they are meant for the human citizens. If a cat or a dog transgresses the law, there is no punishment or no arrest. Just like on the road, the direction is that when there is red light, you must stop your car. But if your dog passes in spite of the red light, he is not punishable, because it is animal.\nTherefore human life has got a very great responsibility. So if you do not execute that responsibility, then by the laws of nature again you are put into the cycle of cats and dogs. You cannot say that “No, sir, I am not going to be cat again.” No. The law is very strict.\ndaivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī\nmama māyā duratyayā\n[Bg. 7.14]\nYou cannot surpass the laws of material nature; Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā. You cannot transgress any law. You know that even for your personal, if you little…, eat more, little, then immediately you are diseased; you will be sick. You cannot transgress. Very nice thing, if you want to eat more, then next day you will have to starve; you will be sick. So you have to accept exactly the same thing as it is allotted to you by the Lord. You cannot transgress. Therefore you have got very great...\nThe only responsibility is that this human form of life is offered to us, to a living entity, for understanding self-realization. Athāto brahma jijñāsā—this is the Vedānta-sūtra—“Now this is the time for self-realization.” Brahma, brahma is the Supreme Spirit, or the part-and-parcel spirit. Brahma…, God is called also brahma, but He is Parabrahma. The Māyāvādī philosopher, they cannot distinguish that why this word is there, Parabrahma. Parabrahma means the supreme brahma, and brahma, spirit. So we are also brahma. Kṛṣṇa is also brahma, but He is Parabrahma. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām [Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13].\nHe is the chief brahma. Just like in our ordinary life, everywhere we have got some chief man, a leader, just like you have accepted me as your leader. Similarly, the leaders of the leader, leaders of the leader, go on, go on, go on searching out; when you come to Kṛṣṇa, He is the leader of everyone. That is Kṛṣṇa. That’s all. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ [Bs. 5.1]. Everyone is brahma, god, whatever you say, īśvaraḥ—but nobody is paramaḥ. Paramaḥ means “supreme.” I can be controller of this institution; the president can be controller of this country; but nobody can claim that “I am the supreme controller.” That is not possible. That is only for Kṛṣṇa. That post is for Kṛṣṇa.\nīśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ\nsac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ\n[Bs. 5.1]\nSo He is controlling everything. It is stated in the śāstra, just like the bull or the horse is controlled by the ropes. It is bound up in the mouth or in the nose. The driver, pushing little this way, immediately he has to turn this way. He is so powerful, he is so stronger than the driver, but in spite of the strength, he is managed to be kept in such a way as soon as the driver pushes like this, immediately he has to go. He cannot say, the animal cannot say, “No, I shall go this way.” No: immediately.\nSimilarly, Kṛṣṇa, by the reins of the laws of nature, He is keeping everyone under the control. The laws of nature, as soon as push this way, you have to go this way; this way, you have to go this way. You cannot say, “I cannot go.” This is the understanding of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Foolish people, rascal people, who are claiming to be independent—nobody is independent. Nobody can be independent. His constitutional position is to be dependent, but if he keeps himself dependent under Kṛṣṇa, then he is happy.\nOtherwise he will have to be dependent on māyā and suffer. \n[aside: All right, thank you.]\nHe is responsible for breaking the laws of nature, and therefore he must be punished. That's all. Thank you. [devotees offer obeisances]\nBegin. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Hare, Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. I think, er, today we shall…, kīrtana will be performed at the end of the func… yes. Now there is time, you can begin your... Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.\n[japa]\n[15:47]",
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"content": "\n [explains about chanting mantras—indistinct] [chants verse word-by-word with devotees in response]\noṁ apavitraḥ pavitro vā sarvāvasthāṁ gato 'pi vā\nyaḥ smaret puṇḍarīkākṣaṁ sa bahyābhyantaraḥ śuciḥ\nśrī-viṣṇu śrī-viṣṇu śrī-viṣṇu\n[break] ...deliverance. We are attempting a deliverance from this mental concept of life—mundane consciousness of life and the mental concoctions. So this..., the purport of this mantra, the mantra enjoins, “Whether contaminated or uncontaminated, in any condition of life, if one simply remembers the lotus eyed one, Śrī Viṣṇu, one becomes purified, śuciḥ.” Śuciḥ means to become purified.\nSo this Kṛṣṇa consciousness process is a purification process. Simply by remembering the Lord, simply by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, one becomes purified. So this is all understood by us initially. Upon taking up this Kṛṣṇa consciousness process, by becoming in the association of the devotees, we accept, “Yes, I am impure. Therefore I will give up meat-eating, intoxication, gambling, and, ah…”",
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"content": "\nIllicit sex.",
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"content": "\n “…illicit sexual connections. Therefore I will give these things up, these impure activities, and I will engage myself in a purifying process, the Kṛṣṇa consciousness process.” So this association of the devotees is a very important element. As soon as I come into the association of devotees, it becomes clear: “Here are some young people…, here are some people engaged in purification activities. I am so impure.”\nThis modern society is developing a lower class of individual, a fifth-class man, and this Kṛṣṇa consciousness society is developing first-class men. So simply by engaging in this purificatory process, simply by associating with the devotees, simply by remembering the lotus-eyed one, simply by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and giving up these impure activities, one becomes purified.\nSo initiation means to begin this purification process. It is a gradual process, not that one becomes immediately purified. Of course, this is the chanting, or the amount of surrender. If one can surrender 100%, then immediately one is Kṛṣṇa conscious. So this is generally a gradual process, that gradually one surrenders to the lotus-eyed one, Viṣṇu. One surrenders one’s words, by money, by life, by intelligence—everything one surrenders to the Lord. So as much as possible, everyone should try to surrender. But initiation, at this point we are surrendering our lives...",
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"content": "\n [aside: Let it finish.]",
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"content": "\n So this initiation is very important. It means that..., that you are agreeing to serve faithfully the spiritual master, carry out the orders of the spiritual master, to worship the spiritual master—not only to worship by bowing down but to worship in service, that we are dedicating our lives to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness process, spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness throughout the world, building up so many centers to improve this [indistinct] Kṛṣṇa consciousness organization...",
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"content": "\n Ah, every one of you, just, ah, Dayānanda said that we are producing first-class men. So are you all, I mean to say, agreeing to this? Do you think that we are producing first-class men?",
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"content": "\n Jaya!",
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"content": "\n Do you agree to this proposal?",
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"content": "\n Jaya!",
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"content": "\n Or if anyone has got any objection, that this is dogmatic? [laughter] Is there anyone who…, anyone who protests against this, that we are producing first-class men? People may say that we…, you are dogmatic, but practically one can see. Eh? These boys and these girls, previously what was their life? And what is their life now? The practical proof, eh?\nMost of you coming from Christian group, so before this, you were not even going to church. And since you are in contact with this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, you are twenty-four hours engaged in this temple. You are all young men; you have got so many propensities. You don't go to cinema, you don't go to restaurant, you don’t go to club—you don't go to any nonsense place. And let anyone come and compare whether we are not producing first-class men.\nEveryone will give his history of life. So this is not dogmatic. This is a fact that we are producing first-class men, our boys and girls. That is the way of making... If you produce cats and dogs, how you can expect peace in the world? You must produce first-class men, first-class woman. Then you can expect peace. Peace is not so cheap thing. If you want peace in the jungle, same of the societies of the animals, cats and dogs—oh, that cannot be.\nHowever you may train a dog nicely, as soon as he will see another dog, oh, immediately he’ll attack. That is the animal propensity. So unless there is first-class men, there cannot be. So there is necessity of producing a number of first-class men at the present moment. Therefore Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is very important movement. You should all know it, certainly.\n[aside: So this arāti. Let it finish; who'll take care? Yes.]\n[23:17]\n[congregational japa]\n[25:03]\n[kīrtana] [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/710917sb-mombasa/
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"content": "\n\n...puṁsāṁ paro dharmo\nyato bhaktir adhokṣaje\nahaituky apratihatā\nyayātmā suprasīdati\n[SB 1.2.6]\nYayātmā suprasīdati, or samprasīdati. Samprasīdati means samyak, fully satisfied, prasīdati. Everyone is searching after peace and tranquillity of the mind. Mind's nature…\n[aside:] Why you are standing?\nMind…, mind's nature is very flickering. This accepting something and rejecting something—that is mind: saṅkalpa, vikalpa, the exact word in Sanskrit. I decide to do something, but next moment I reject it. Therefore mind is not in peace, and we are trying to be satisfied in so many ways. At last, in human form of life, we take to religious principles of life.\nIn the animal society there is no question of religiosity, but in the human form of life, especially civilized human society… Every society has got some form of religious principles. It doesn't matter whether it is Hinduism, Muhammadanism, Sikhism or Jewism, Christianism—there is some form of religious principles.\nEverything is attempted for satisfying the yoga principles also. Yoga indriya-saṁyamaḥ—by controlling the mind. Mind is also indriya, the principal sense. We have got senses, and mind is the center of all senses, indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur [Bg. 3.42].\nThis body means combination of senses, but above the senses there is the mind. If the mind is disturbed, the senses cannot act. If the mind is in disorder, then the man is called mad, because he cannot use his senses properly. He cannot think properly, he cannot feel properly, neither he can act properly.\nSo Sūta Gosvāmī, who was speaking Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to the sages at Naimiṣāraṇya… Those who are Indians, they are well acquainted with the Naimiṣāraṇya land; it is in the Hardoi district, near Lucknow. The station, railway station, is named Nimsar, and the place is very nice for spiritual cultivation.\nSo that place was specially fixed up for executing religious ritualistic performances, and some thousands of years ago—at least five thousand years ago—there was a great meeting of the saintly persons in which Sūta Gosvāmī was presiding, and he is teaching to the great sages that if you want to satisfy your mind, if you want to become peaceful, then you should take to the transcendental system of religion.\nThere are different kinds of religions, but the prime religion is described here: yato bhaktir adhokṣaje. So far we are concerned—we are propagating Kṛṣṇa consciousness—sometimes we are put many questions about different types of religious systems. We take the advantage of this verse, that sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje.\nWe do not mind what kind of religion you are following—you may be a Christian, you may be a Jewish or you may be Hindu or Mussulman or any other followers of religion—but the test is whether you are advancing in the matter of loving God. Yato bhaktir adhokṣaje. Bhakti means bhaja-dhātā-sevayā[?]. When a man is engaged in service, that is called bhakti. That is man's nature—not only man's nature; that is the nature, characteristic, of all living entities: to serve.\nThe other day I was seeing one picture—yes, I think Mr. Pandiya's house—that a lioness is also serving the cubs. That service spirit, that is the characteristic of living entities: to render service to others, either out of love or out of sense of superiority. To render service. Any one of us who are sitting in this meeting, if we ask, \"What is your prime business?\" you must admit that your prime business is to serve. So this service is the characteristic of the living entity. Nobody can say that \"I am not servant.\" He must be servant, everyone.\nAnd Lord Caitanya says that \"The prime duty of living entity is to understand that he is eternal servant of God,\" jīvera svarūpa haya nitya kṛṣṇera dāsa [Cc. Madhya 20.108]. That is our real, constitutional position. We are eternal servant of God; therefore we are engaged in different types of services.\nSomebody is engaged in the service of his personal self, somebody is engaged in the service of the family, somebody is engaged in the service of the society, community, nation or international, humanity. Just like in our country, Mahatma Gandhi was engaged in the service of his county. There are many great politicians, they have become great because they have rendered service to the nation or to the people. That is the nature.\nSo here it is defined: that is also dharma. To render service to others, that is called dharma. Dharma means dhṛ-dhātu: you cannot escape it. That is called dharma. Dharma cannot be changed. Just like water is liquid—liquidity is the characteristic, or dharma, of water. Sugar is sweet—sweetness is the characteristic, or dharma, of sugar.\nAnything you take, you analyze. Just like in medicine there are herbs, different herbs, and in the British pharmacopoeia or in any pharmaceutical book, the characteristics, the chemicals, the characteristics are described there: the taste is like this, the form is like this, the reaction is like this. So these characteristics is to be understood as dharma.\nThe English translation of dharma, \"religion,\" is described as \"a kind of faith.\" But in Sanskrit dharma does not mean that. Dharma means the exact characteristic of that particular thing; that is dharma: it cannot be changed. Faith—today you are Hindu, tomorrow you can become Christian; today you are Muhammadan, tomorrow you can become a Hindu—that faith can be changed, but characteristic cannot be changed. We have to understand in that way.\nSo here it is described: sa vai puṁsāṁ para dharmo. That is the perfect characteristic of human being. Perfect. Sa vai puṁsāṁ para. Paraḥ means transcendental, not material. Paraḥ or varo[?]. And the material activities are called avaro[?], aparā. Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā it is described: aparā, iyam. Aparā, bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ: \"These material elements, they are My bhinnā prakṛtir aṣṭadhā.\"\nBhinnā means separated—eight kinds of material energies separated. Then again it is said, apareyam. Apareyam means \"inferior.\" These eight kinds of material gross and subtle elements are inferior energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parā [Bg. 7.5]: \"Besides this, or beyond this, you try to understand another prakṛti, another nature, which is parā.\" Parā means transcendental, beyond this material conception. Here also it is said, sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharma [SB 1.2.6]. Paro or parā, the same thing; one is masculine, one is feminine.\nSo here it is said dharma parā. Parā means superior. Inferior dharma and superior dharma. Inferior dharma means to serve some material purposes. Therefore in the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra. Vyāsadeva says that kaitava-dharma… Kaitava means pretending, or false, or cheating. And Śrīdhara Svāmī, the great commentator on the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, he said, atra mokṣa-vāñchā projjhitam api nirastam[?].\nBecause people are very much interested in four kinds of religious principles: dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa. Dharma…, generally people go to church or temple for artha—for some material purpose—\"O God, give us our daily bread.\" Or the Hindu goes to a temple to beg something: \"You give me this.\" So generally people are interested for some material benefit. Why? Dharma, artha, kāma—kāma means sense gratification. \"If I get some material riches, then I can satisfy my senses according to my desires.\" In this way there are different angles of vision of dharma.\nBut Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is dealing with transcendental dharma—the original characteristics of the living entity. Therefore here Sūta Gosvāmī says, sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo: \"That is transcendental religion.\" What is that? Yato, \"By executing which,\" bhaktir adhokṣaje, \"one can advance his natural love for God.\" Everyone has got natural love for God. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is described that,\nnitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-bhakti sādhya kabhu naya\nśravaṇādi-śuddha-citte karaye udaya\n[Cc. Madhya 22.107]\nNitya-siddha: it is everlasting, nitya-siddha. Kṛṣṇa-bhakti—love for God is everlasting, within everyone. Nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-bhakti sādhya kabhu naya. It is not that I practice and I get it, just like by practice one becomes drunkard, by practice one becomes smoker, by practice…, so many things. But this dharma, this paro dharma, the transcendental religion, is not achieved by practice. It is already there: nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-bhakti.\nAs for example and evidence, you can see that these American boys and girls—there are thousands—they are taking to kṛṣṇa-bhakti. Four years ago they did not hear even the name of Kṛṣṇa, they did not know what is Kṛṣṇa, but now they have become pure devotees of Kṛṣṇa. It is not by practice. The practice which they were taught from the beginning of their lives—in European and American lives—that drinking, meat-eating, illicit sex, gambling, these things are not natural, but unnaturally they were taught. But as soon as they have come to the natural position—nitya-siddha, dormant, everlasting—they have given up their artificial habits.\nParaṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate [Bg. 2.59], in the Bhagavad-gītā: \"When a man becomes addicted to something good, he gives up bad habits.\" Just like a child, a boy, he plays sometimes very mischievously, but when he is grown up or he is given to the practice of study, he no more acts mischievously—he reads and writes, he goes to school and becomes sober and gentle. This is called the paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate.\nYou cannot by force teach something unless it is natural. So kṛṣṇa-bhakti is natural to everyone—everyone. How it is evoked? That is stated, śravaṇādi-śuddha-citte [Cc. Madhya 22.107]: if you patiently give aural reception to the news of Kṛṣṇa, or God. That is the our motto of preaching.\nOur Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is based on this principle, to give aural reception of the message given by Kṛṣṇa or the message about Kṛṣṇa. The message given by Kṛṣṇa is Bhagavad-gītā—everyone can take this message from Kṛṣṇa; there is no hindrance. Similarly, the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is message about Kṛṣṇa or Kṛṣṇa's devotees. So if you simply give aural reception to these messages of Kṛṣṇa, or God, then your dormant Kṛṣṇa consciousness becomes evoked naturally.\nTherefore our process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, we are opening different centers all over the world just to give people the chance of hearing about Kṛṣṇa. And if he hears about Kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa-kirtanam… \"Hear\" means one should speak. I am speaking; you are hearing. So this is called śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ.\nHearing means śravaṇaṁ; and speaking, or describing, or chanting, means kīrtanaṁ. Kīrtayati iti kīrtanam. And saṅkīrtanam, saṅkīrtanam means bahubhir militvā kīrtayati iti. When we assemble together, many men, women meet together and glorify or chant or speak about Kṛṣṇa, that is called saṅkīrtanam. So kīrtanam and saṅkīrtanam.\nThe saṅkīrtanam is very nice in this age. Kalau tad dhari-kīrtanāt. This is the injunction of the śāstras, that:\nkṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇuṁ\ntretāyāṁ yajato makhaiḥ\ndvāpare paricaryāyāṁ\nkalau tad dhari-kīrtanāt\n[SB 12.3.52]\nIn the Satya-yuga people could advance in spiritual consciousness by meditation. Meditation is not very easy. It was possible in the Satya-yuga. Just like Vālmīki Muni meditated for sixty thousands of years, and he got perfection, because people would live at that time for one hundred thousands of years. So that was possible in those days. In the present age it is not possible.\nOur mind is so much disturbed, and we are engaged in so many activities, that it is impossible to meditate. One or two may be able, very expert in the affairs of meditating; but for the mass of people it is not possible. So kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇuṁ. Meditation means Viṣṇu, not something impersonal or fictitious. The yogīs, they meditate, they fix up their minds on Viṣṇu, Viṣṇu-murti—Paramātmā. So Paramātmā is Viṣṇu-murti:\nīśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ\nhṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati\n[Bg. 18.61]\n\"In everyone's heart the Supreme Personality of Godhead is living.\" So simply we have to meditate upon Him, and then we can realize.\nSo that meditation was very nice, easy, possible in the Satya-yuga. Kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇuṁ tretāyāṁ yajato makhaiḥ. But in the next millennium the same thing, the same achievement, was possible by performing great sacrifices. That is also not possible, because so many tons of ghee wanted, so many tons of grains wanted to execute the Vedic sacrifices. So nobody has got money, neither ghee is available, so many. Neither yajñic brāhmaṇa is there—the priest who would execute the yajña.\nThe first test was how the mantras are being chanted, whether perfectly or not. That test was that an animal should be put into the fire, and if the mantra is chanted perfectly, then the same animal would come out with new life, not that… Sometimes people allege that in the yajñas animal sacrifice is there. Yes, it is there, but not for the purpose of eating. It was to test.\nJust like biological test and examination are done first by the students on animals, similarly, this test of the yajña was there. They would ignite the fire by mantras, and next test is to put an animal in the fire, and the animal comes out with a new body—the body is changed—this was the test. So that is not possible. There is no yajñic brāhmaṇas, neither you can get paraphernalia for executing properly the details of the sacrifice—that is not possible.\nkṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇuṁ\ntretāyāṁ yajato makhaiḥ\ndvāpare paricaryāyāṁ\n[SB 12.3.52]\nAnd the temple worship was possible to be done perfectly in the Dvāpara-yuga. Nowadays, even the old temples are neglected; nobody is taking care properly. The Christian churches, temples or churches, in England, in America also, they are now being sold because people are not taking care. In Los Angeles we have actually purchased one big church and converted into temple. Similarly, we are trying to purchase one big church in England also, London. So people are gradually becoming atheists, not interested in going to the church or temple. So there are difficulties. So that is also not recommended in this age.\nOf course, our…, in our temple there is Deity worship. We take side-by-side two processes: the bhāgavata process and pañcarātriki process. This Deity worship, the Deity standing before you, we worship Deities on the pañcarātriki system just to purify. This Deity worship helps one to become purified. The whole process of religion is to purify, to purify ourself. Because on account of contamination of the material energies we have forgotten. We have forgotten our real position, ahaṁ brahmāsmi: \"I am spirit soul.\" That I have forgotten.\nSo religious process means to purify yourself. Here it is recommended that sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo: \"That is first-class religious process.\" What is that? Yato bhaktir adhokṣaje: \"That religious process which advances you to understand your position.\" Your position is constitutionally everlasting servant of God. Unfortunately, we have forgotten God. We have forgotten our relationship with God.\nBut the service attitude is there, because my characteristic is to render service; therefore instead of giving service to God, or Kṛṣṇa, I am giving service to so many things. Actually I am giving service to my senses. I do not give anyone service in the material world. In the material world nobody gives service to anyone—everyone gives service to his senses, indriya-prīti. A man supposed to be giving service to his country. Actually he does not give service to the country; he gives service to his senses.\nOf course if we analyze, people may not like it, but that is the fact. Just like husband and wife: husband gives service to the wife, wife gives service to the husband—but the motive is not service but sense gratification. Therefore in Western countries we see so many divorce cases—in India also this is also introduced—that as soon as there is discrepancy in the matter of sense gratification, the husband and wife separate. In the Bhāgavata it is stated especially in this Kali-yuga, dāmpatye ratim eva hi. Dāmpatye means the relationship between husband and wife will depend on sex power, dāmpatye ratim eva hi. These are all stated there.\nSo the spirit is there, but it is perverted. The real spirit… Because I am covered by this material gross and subtle elements, therefore my service spirit is being misused. It is misused. Just like… The service spirit is there. If somebody hasn't got a family to serve, sometimes a man keeps a dog, a women keeps a cat, because the service spirit is there.\nTherefore Sūta Gosvāmī says that characteristic, or service spirit, can be fulfilled perfectly when it comes to the platform of serving the Supreme Lord: yato bhaktir adhokṣaja. Adhokṣaja, another name of God. God means beyond the perception of our material senses. Adhokṣaja, ada kṛta[?] akṣaja. Akṣaja means direct perception. Just like we see directly, we see touch direct…, we touch directly, we smell directly. But God is not to be perceived by direct perception.\nI cannot see God directly; therefore I have got the form of God. But the form of God is not different from the original God. This Kṛṣṇa playing on flute is stated in the śāstras, in the Brahma-saṁhitā:\nveṇuṁ kvaṇantam aravinda-dalāyatākṣaṁ\nbarhāvataṁsam asitāmbuda-sundarāṅgam\nkandarpa-koṭi-kaminīya-viśeṣa-śobhaṁ\ngovindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi\n[Bs. 5.30]\nIt is not that artists have carved out this form out of his imagination. It is Kṛṣṇa, when He was present personally on this planet. People have seen—the form is there. And besides that, in the beginning of the creation Brahmā, when he realized by tapasya the Personality of Godhead, he wrote Brahma-saṁhitā. That Brahma-saṁhitā is accepted by Lord Caitanya; therefore we accept the authority of Brahma-saṁhitā. That is our way of understanding, evaṁ paramparā-prāptam: by paramparā system we try to understand the transcendental subject matter.\nSo the process, the perfection of our religious system which can satisfy our mind, is the bhaktir adhokṣaje, transcendental loving service to the Supreme Lord, who is beyond the perception of our material senses. And that kind of service is apratihatā—it cannot be checked by any material condition. Apratihatā. If you engage yourself in the service of the Lord, you will never be, I mean, stopped by any condition of material life. It is not that because one is very busy, therefore he cannot serve God, or one is very rich or poor or black or white. Never. Apratihatā. Anyone who takes to the process of pure devotional service, he will never be checked, apratihatā.\nAnd ahaitukī. God should be served not with a purpose or with a motive—ahaitukī. Demigods are served—not served; they are worshiped—with a motive, but Kṛṣṇa is served without any motive. That is perfect service. Ahaituky apratihatā: without any motive, ahaitukī; and apratihatā—it cannot be checked. Even the poorest man or the richest man, both of them can serve Kṛṣṇa. Even the brāhmaṇa or the lowest-born caṇḍāla—both of them can serve Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā,\nmāṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya\nye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ\nstriyo śūdrās tathā vaiśyās\nte 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim\n[Bg. 9.32]\n\"One who has taken properly My shelter,\" vyapāśritya... Vi means specifically, not whimsically. Specifically means according to the rules and regulations of śāstra. \"Such person,\" māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ, \"even if he is born in pāpa-yoni, it doesn't matter\"; striyo śūdrās tathā vaiśyās te 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim, \"they also attain the highest perfection of life.\"\nIn another place, in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, it is said,\nkirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā\nābhīra-śumbhā yavanāḥ khasādayaḥ\nye 'nye ca pāpā yad-apāśrayāśrayāḥ\nśudhyanti prabhaviṣṇave\n[SB 2.4.18]\nApart from this striyo śūdrās tathā vaiśyās, there are still lower—they are called Kirāta, Hūṇa, Āndhra, Pulinda, Pulkaśa. They also, if they take shelter of a pure devotee, yad-apāśrayāśrayāḥśudhyanti, they become purified.\nSo there is no question of checking anyone in the matter of developing Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is beyond our material perception. That is possible. That is described here in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that if you want real peace, if individually everyone is peaceful, naturally, collectively everything is peaceful...\nPeople are disturbed because you may be satisfied in your own way, but others may not be satisfied. Then there is disturbance. Just like in this country the Indians may be satisfied by their own methods, but the Africans may not be satisfied. And if one is dissatisfied and other is satisfied, there will be disturbance.\nSo here it is particularly mentioned that if you come to the Kṛṣṇa consciousness platform, yato bhaktir adhokṣaje, if you engage yourself in the transcendental loving service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then your ātmā, or mind, or soul, will be fully satisfied, yayātmā suprasīdati. In the Bhagavad-gītā also it is said that,\nbhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ\nsarva-loka-maheśvaram\nsuhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ\njñātvā māṁ\n[Bg. 5.29]\nKṛṣṇa says māṁ, \"unto Me,\" śāntim ṛcchati.\nSo you go either way. All the śāstras—if you actually care for the śāstras—you'll find this indication everywhere, hariḥ eva sarvatra gīyate: the glorification of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is everywhere. Therefore śāstra says that somehow or other if you come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, ārādhito yadi haris, if you come to the point of rendering service to Hari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, tapasā tataḥ kim, there is no more necessity for austerity, penances, meditation.\nIt is finished, because you have come to the point: nārādhito yadi haris tapasā tataḥ kim [Nārada Pañcarātra]. And after all meditation, austerities, religious ritualistic ceremonies—everything—if you do not come to the point of Hari, then tapasā tataḥ kim, then what is the value of your austerities—because you are missing the real point.\nThe same thing is described in the next verse:\ndharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ\nviṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ\nnotpādayed ratiṁ yadi\nśrama eva hi kevalam\n[SB 1.2.8]\nYou execute your prescribed duties, or dharma, very nicely. You may be Christian, you may be Hindu—whatever it is you are thinking that you are doing very nicely, the execution of your particular type of religious system—but the test is that dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ viṣvaksena-kathā… Viṣvaksena means… God's another name is Viṣvaksena.\nSo viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ ratiṁ yadi notpādayed: \"If you do not become attached to the topics of the Supreme Personality of Godhead…\" The people are not. Just like here, in this hall, if there would have been some political meeting there would have been throngs of people, you see. But because it is on Kṛṣṇa, or God, nobody is interested. Nobody is interested.\nSo Bhāgavata says that you may be very faithful in discharging your duties. You may be a businessman or you may be a professional man or whatever you may be, you are thinking that \"I am doing my duties very nicely.\" But the test is that after doing your duties very nicely, if you do not develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness—that is the prime aim of life—or God consciousness, the Bhāgavata says, \"It is simply waste of time and labor.\" Śrama eva hi kevalam.\nBecause this life is meant for understanding Kṛṣṇa, or God. Athāto brahma-jijñāsā, that is the Vedānta-sūtra. This life, human life, is especially meant for enquiring about the Supreme Absolute Truth. If that enquiry is not evoked in human life, it is simply a waste of time. That means we are spoiling the human form of life. In many places…\nparābhavas tāvad abodha-jāto\nyāvan na jijñāsata ātma-tattvam\n[SB 5.5.5]\nA person working very nicely, and he is thinking victorious in every field of activities, but Bhāgavata says that \"You are being defeated. You are not victorious.\" Parābhavas tāvad abodha-jāto. You are born ignorant, without God consciousness, without understanding your relationship with God. And if you continue like that—you are thinking that you are victorious in your business, in your profession, in your occupation—but they are all defeats.\nThere is a practical example. We have got a friend in London, perhaps you know his name, George Harrison. His house is a palatial building—he is a very rich man—but the former owner of the house is living there as ghost. This is practical. He was very rich man, the owner of the house, former owner of the house, and he invented so many things, so he got enough money and he was too much attached to the palace. The whole money he acquired, he constructed that house. Now after death, due to his too much attachment to that house, he is living there as a ghost. This is possible. Not only as ghost, but sometimes as rat, as cat, as a snake—this is the law of nature.\nIf you have got too much attachment for this material world, then you will have to come back again, and according to your karma you have to accept a body. There are 8,400,000's of forms of body. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa [SB 3.31.1]: by your work and by superior administration you'll have to accept a particular type of body. Therefore we should take advantage of this human form of life.\nAll the material facilities that we have got, we should utilize everything, how to develop our Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is paro dharma. That is described by Sūta Gosvāmī: sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo. Don't spoil your life simply under some fictitious ideas. Be actually acquainted, well versed, with the direction given in the śāstras, and comply with the principles. Then life will be successful.\nThat is our propaganda. We are trying to preach this cult of Kṛṣṇa consciousness just to awaken the general people to his consciousness that will save him from becoming a ghost or dog or cat or something next life. We are preparing the next life. If you don't believe in the śāstras, that is a different thing. But this is the law. Here the whole natural process is nature is trying to take you to Kṛṣṇa consciousness; but if you avoid the nature's law, then you are in the cycle of birth and death, 8,400,000's of different types of forms.\nSuppose if we get the form of a tree by our karma, then the next life, how much it is severe to stand up in one place for thousands of years. Therefore tūrṇaṁ yateta anumṛtyu patetu[?] yāvan [SB 11.9.29]. The injunction is that you try to evoke your Kṛṣṇa consciousness before the next death comes. Death is sure. Whatever you are manufacturing, when death will come it will take away everything. Kṛṣṇa says, mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham [Bg. 10.34].\nMṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś. Mṛtyuḥ means He takes away everything—your house, your family, your country, your dress, your apartment—everything finished. Then you have to accept another body, and you have to cultivate…, you have to construct another house, another society, another… This is bondage. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate [Bg. 8.19]: coming once for some years, working very hard, creating a very favorable situation and unfavorable situation, and having a next life. This is going on.\nTherefore Lord Caitanya said,\nei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva\nguru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja\n[Cc. Madhya 19.151]\nThe living entities, they are rotating, wandering, in so many ways all over the universe, brahmāṇḍa bhramite—sometimes as Brahmā, sometimes as an ant, sometimes as demigod, sometimes as tree. It is going on, ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite. So a living entity who is fortunate while wandering in this way, he gets the touch of guru and Kṛṣṇa, and then his life is successful.\nBecause guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja. We take it, we get it, the bīja. Just like you get a very valuable seed of a lotus flower, but if you don't utilize it, the bīja will remain; but if you utilize it, the bīja, or the seed, will grow, and one day you will have a very nice lotus flower.\nSo this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is trying to give people the bīja, the seed of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and if he cultivates, his life becomes successful—he goes back to home, back to Godhead. This is a great science. Therefore as I told you yesterday also, today also, try to understand—it is very scientific, authorized, and not a concocted idea; it is based on the śāstras.\nSo take advantage of this movement. And it is very easy to execute. As I told you that if you go to the meditation process, it is very difficult—that is not possible. But in this age the process has been made very easy: kalau tad dhari-kīrtanāt [SB 12.3.52]. Kalau tad dhari-kīrtanāt, ādau gurv-āśrayam. Guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya: just try to approach the bona fide guru, or the representative of Kṛṣṇa, and under his direction you take the seed and sow it in your heart and water it.\nAnd what is that watering process? Śravaṇa-kīrtana-jale karaye secana [Cc. Madhya 19.152]. This is watering process. If you continue hearing, chanting, that is the watering process of the seed, and that will grow. This is the process—very easy. Everyone can chant; everyone can hear. Why you lose this opportunity? Please take it, that is our request, and be successful in your life.\nThank you very much.",
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"content": "\n My dear boys and girls, I thank you very much for attending this meeting. We are spreading this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement because there is a great need of this movement through the whole world. And the process is very easy. That is the advantage.\nFirst of all, try to understand what is the transcendental platform. So far our living condition is concerned, we are in different platforms. So we have to first of all stand on the transcendental platform. Then there is question of transcendental meditation.\nIn the Bhagavad-gītā, in the Third Chapter, you'll find that we have got different status of conditional life. The first is indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur [Bg. 3.42].\n[The working senses are superior to dull matter; mind is higher than the senses; intelligence is still higher than the mind; and he [the soul] is even higher than the intelligence.]\nSanskrit, indriyāṇi. First thing is bodily conception of life. Every one of us in this material world, we are under this bodily concept of life. I am thinking Indian, \"I am Indian.\" You are thinking you are American. Somebody's thinking, \"I am Russian.\" Somebody's thinking, \"I am somebody else.\" So everyone is thinking that \"I am this body.\"\nThis is one standard, or one platform. This platform is called sensual platform, because so long we have bodily conception of life, we think happiness means sense gratification. That's all. Happiness means sense gratification because body means senses.\nSo indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ [Bg. 3.42]. Lord Kṛṣṇa says that in the material concept of life, or bodily concept of life, our senses are very prominent. That is going on at the present moment. Not at the present moment; since the creation of this material world.\nThat is the disease, that \"I am this body.\" Śrīmad-Bhāgavata says that yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma ijya-dhiḥ [SB 10.84.13], that \"Anyone who has the concept of this bodily understanding, that 'I am this body...' \"\n[One who identifies his self as the inert body composed of mucus, bile and air, who assumes his wife and family are permanently his own, who thinks an earthen image or the land of his birth is worshipable, or who sees a place of pilgrimage as merely the water there, but who never identifies himself with, feels kinship with, worships or even visits those who are wise in spiritual truth—such a person is no better than a cow or an ass.]\nĀtma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātu. Ātma-buddhiḥ means concept of self in this bag of skin and bone. This is a bag. This body is a bag of skin, bone, blood, urine, stool, and so many nice things. You see? But we are thinking that \"I am this bag of bone and skin and stool and urine. That is our beauty. That is our everything.\"\nThere are many nice stories... Of course, our time is very short. Still, I wish to narrate one short story, that one man, one boy, was attracted by a beautiful girl. So the girl does not agree, and the boy is persistent. So in India, of course, the girls, they keep their chastity very strictly. So the girl was not agreeing. So she said, \"All right, I agree. After one week you come.\"\nShe appointed, \"Such and such time, you come.\" So the boy was very glad. And the girl took some purgative throughout the seven days, and she was passing stool, day and night, and vomiting, and she kept all these vomits and stool in a nice pot.\nSo when the appointed time came, the boy came, and the girl was sitting on the door. The boy inquired, \"Where is that girl?\" She said, \"I am that girl.\" \"No, no. You are not. You are so ugly. She was so beautiful. You are not that girl.\" \"No, I am that girl, but I have now separated my beauty in a different pot.\" \"What is that?\"\nShe showed: \"This is the beauty, this stool and vomit. This is the ingredient.\" Actually anyone may be very robust or very beautiful—if he passes stool for three or four times, everything changes immediately.\nSo my point is that, as stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that this bodily concept of life is not very sanguine. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke [SB 10.84.13].\n[One who identifies his self as the inert body composed of mucus, bile and air, who assumes his wife and family are permanently his own, who thinks an earthen image or the land of his birth is worshipable, or who sees a place of pilgrimage as merely the water there, but who never identifies himself with, feels kinship with, worships or even visits those who are wise in spiritual truth—such a person is no better than a cow or an ass.]\nThis body, composition of several things like bones and skins and blood and urine and stool and secretion, so many things, that is not right calculation of self-realization.\nOf course, those who are too much engrossed with the bodily concept of life, they have been recommended to practice the haṭha-yoga system. That is also mentioned in the Śrīmad-Bhagavad-gītā. Just like you'll find in the \"Sāṅkhya-yoga.\"\nThis Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, as we have published, page number 153, there is a statement how one should practice this transcendental meditation. Verse number thirteen and fourteen, it is said, \"One should hold one's body, neck and head erect in a straight line.\" [Bg. 6.13-14]\n[One should hold one's body, neck and head erect in a straight line and stare steadily at the tip of the nose. Thus with an unagitated, subdued mind, devoid of fear, completely free from sex life, one should meditate upon Me within the heart and make Me the ultimate goal of life.]\nThis body..., this body, this head, this neck, and the body, whole body, trunk, should be erect in a straight line, and stare steadily at the tip of the nose. Just like you have to sit like this and you have to look, not closing your eyes but half-closing your eyes, and you have to look on the point of your nose. \"One should hold one's body, neck and head erect in a straight line and stare steadily at the tip of the nose. Thus, with an unagitated, subdued mind, devoid of fear, completely free from sex life, one should meditate upon Me,\" the Lord says.\nBefore that, the primary prescriptions, how one should practice this transcendental meditation, that one has to restrict especially sex life... One has to select a very solitary place and a sacred place, and he should sit down alone. This meditation process is not practiced in a place like this, where many men are gathering.\nIt is recommended, it must be a solitary place, sacred place, and alone. And then you have to sit, or you have to select your sitting place. There are so many things. Of course, those things cannot be explained within few minutes. If you are very much interested, you'll find in this book, \"Sāṅkhya-yoga\" chapter.\nSo one has to, from the bodily concept of life, one has to transcend himself to the spiritual platform. That is the whole..., meaning of whole process. Just like I began to say that in the beginning our self-realization means we are thinking this body. Indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur [Bg. 3.42]. Then one who has transcended this bodily concept of life, he comes to the platform of mind. Indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ. Manaḥ means mind.\nSomebody, some people, some of..., practically the whole population of the world, they are under the bodily concept of life and, above them, there are some people who are on the mental concept of life. They are thinking \"mind.\" And somebody is on the intellectual platform of life.\nindriyāṇi parāṇy āhur\nindriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ\nmanasas tu parā buddhiḥ...\n[Bg. 3.42]\n[The working senses are superior to dull matter; mind is higher than the senses; intelligence is still higher than the mind; and he [the soul] is even higher than the intelligence.]\nBuddhiḥ means intelligence. And, when you transcend the intellectual platform also, then you come to the spiritual platform. That realization first of all required. Before you practice transcendental realization, you have to reach to the transcendental platform. That transcendental platform is called brahma-bhūtaḥ.\nPerhaps you have heard this word Brahman, ahaṁ brahmāsmi. That is transcendentalist, that \"I am not this body, I am not this mind, I am not this intelligence, but I am spirit soul.\" That platform. Then what is the symptoms of a person who has reached that platform? Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati [Bg. 18.54].\n[And of all yogīs, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.]\nWhen you reach to the platform of Brahman realization... Brahman realization means transcending. We are talking on the transcendental meditation. So transcending the bodily concept of life, transcending the mental concept of life, transcending the intellectual concept of life, when you come to the real spiritual platform, that is called brahma-bhūtaḥ stage.\nSo brahma-bhūtaḥ stage, it is not simply word, that \"I have realized Brahman.\" There are symptoms. Everything has got symptoms, how one has realized Brahman. That stage is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā.\nWhen one is on the transcendental platform, brahma-bhūtaḥ stage, his symptom is that he's always joyful. Joyful. There is no moroseness. No. And what is joyful? That is also explained. What is joyfulness? Na śocati na kāṅkṣati: he does not hanker after anything, neither he laments.\nIn the material platform we have got two symptoms: hankering and lamenting. The things which we do not possess, we hanker after it: \"I must have it. I must have it. I must have this, this, that...\" Gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittaiḥ [SB 5.5.8].\n[The attraction between male and female is the basic principle of material existence. On the basis of this misconception, which ties together the hearts of the male and female, one becomes attracted to his body, home, property, children, relatives and wealth. In this way one increases life's illusions and thinks in terms of \"I and mine.\"]\nThere is nice explanation how this hankering, hankering is expanded. This hankering expanded: this whole material world is hankering after sex life. That is the basic principle of hankering. Puṁsāṁ mitho. Puṁsāṁ striyo mithunī-bhāvam etam. This is Sanskrit language. Mithunī-bhāvam means sex life. Either in human society or animal society or bird society or insects'—everywhere you will find that sex life is very prominent. That is materialistic way of life, indriyāṇi, senses.\nSo the everyone... A boy is hankering after a girl, a girl in hankering after a boy; or a man is hankering after woman, woman is hankering... This is going on. This is not unnatural. This is the natural life. And tayor mitho, the hankering is there. But as soon as they meet, or unite, it becomes a hard knot, tayor mitho hṛdaya-granthim āhuḥ [SB 5.5.8], a hard knot in the heart, that \"I am matter. I am this matter. This world belongs to me. This country belongs to me. This body belongs to me.\" That means hard knot. Instead of transcending from the concept of body life, it becomes still more hard knot. It is very difficult.\nTherefore those who are practicing yoga, or trying to be on the transcendental platform, the restriction is that one must cease from sex life, if you at all interested. But that is not possible. Therefore our this method, we don't say \"Stop sex life,\" but we say \"Don't have illicit sex life.\" Illicit sex life... Of course, even there is no question of transcendental life, that is a question of civilized life. Civilized life.\nIn every civilized society—it may be Hindu society or Muslim society or a Christian society—any civilized human society, there is the system of marriage. And beyond marriage, if there is sex life, that is called illicit sex life. That is never indulged in any society. So what to speak of transcendental life? Transcendental life must be purified from mental concoction or bodily concept of life. It is the transcendental platform. Tayor mitho hṛdaya-granthim āhuḥ.\nSo these things are very restricted in order to reach that transcendental platform. But in this age, in this Age of Kali, where everything is disturbed, always full of anxieties, and the life is very short... That is also explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: prāyeṇa kalau asmin yuge janāḥ. Life is very short, and they are not interested for any transcendental subject matter. They are interested only with the bodily concept of life. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ [SB 1.1.10].\n[O learned one, in this iron Age of Kali men almost always have but short lives. They are quarrelsome, lazy, misguided, unlucky and, above all, always disturbed.]\nAnd always disturbed by so many anxieties. How he can ascend to the platform of transcendental realization? It is very difficult in this age.\nTherefore Arjuna, who was being taught by Kṛṣṇa that \"You try this practice of transcendental life,\" but Arjuna said... Arjuna means he was taking this instruction five thousand years ago. He was a royal prince. He was very much advanced in so many things. He said, \"My dear Kṛṣṇa, it is not possible to practice this transcendental process of ascending by yoga practice, this haṭha-yoga practice. It is not possible.\"\nHe refused. He refused, that \"Because I am a family man, I have come here to fight for my, I mean to say, political interest, how I can practice this system, that I have to go to a solitary place, I have to sit down like this, I have to practice like this, I have to cease from sex life? So it is not possible.\" Just try to understand.\nSo transcendental platform by the haṭha-yoga system, practicing all the rules and regulations, is not possible in this age at all. If somebody is trying to practice that thing in so-called ways, that is not... Actually, you cannot perform this transcendental meditation in city life. It is not possible.\nThat is very clearly stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. You'll read. So you have to live in the city. You have to live with your family. You have to live with your friends. It is not possible to go to the forest and find out a secluded place.\nSo here, in this age, if you want to rise on the transcendental platform, then, as it is recommended by Vedic literature, kalau tad dhari-kīrtanāt: \"In this age, simply by chanting the holy name of God...\" Kalau tad dhari-kīrtanāt [SB 12.3.52].\n[Whatever result was obtained in Satya-yuga by meditating on Viṣṇu, in Tretā-yuga by performing sacrifices, and in Dvāpara-yuga by serving the Lord's lotus feet can be obtained in Kali-yuga simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra.]\nWe are introducing this system not to make it very easy by our mental concoction. It is recommended. It is practiced.\nLord Caitanya Mahāprabhu introduced this transcendental meditational process. You'll see. You have already seen that these boys and girls, as soon as they begin chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, immediately there is a transcendental feeling. If you practice, you will understand how you are feeling transcendentally. The easiest process.\nNow I have begun this movement in this country, say, from 1966. So I began in New York in a small storefront, and gradually they came. Now it is spread. There are about fifteen, sixteen branches all over your country, and these boys are practicing simply, the simplest process, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.\nThis sound vibration, this transcendental sound vibration, immediately will carry you on the transcendental platform. And if you kindly hear also... You chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and try to hear, so that your mind is absorbed in the sound vibration. And this \"Kṛṣṇa\" sound vibration means Kṛṣṇa. Because Kṛṣṇa is absolute, God is absolute, there is no difference between God's name and God.\nJust like in the material world there is difference between water and the name \"water,\" the \"flower\" and the thing flower, in the spiritual world, in the absolute world, there is no such difference. Therefore, as soon you vibrate this transcendental sound, \"Kṛṣṇa,\" \"Hare,\" \"Rāma,\" immediately you associate with the Supreme Lord and His energy.\nHare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa... The meaning of this transcendental vibration is Hare... Hare means \"O the energy of the Supreme Lord.\" Everything is being done by the energy of the Supreme Lord. Parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktiḥ [Cc. Madhya 20.110, Viṣṇu Purāṇa].\n[“’Just as the illumination of a fire, which is situated in one place, is spread all over, the energies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Para-brahman, are spread all over this universe.’]\nJust like you have got practical example. This material world means creation of the energy of the sunshine. Every one of you—you are all scientific students—you know that all these planets, they are rotating on account of heat and light of the sun. And similarly, the whole creation, material and spiritual creation, they are manifestation of the energy of the Supreme Lord.\nJust like the sunshine is the energy of the sun globe, similarly, there is a supreme planet, which is called Kṛṣṇaloka, or Goloka. These things are mentioned in the Vedic literature, Brahma-sūtra, Brahma-saṁhitā. If you want, you can read them. There is immense literature for this information.\nSo we are praying to the energy of the Supreme Lord and the Supreme Lord, \"Please pick me up. Please pick me up. I am in this transcend..., the bodily concept of life. I am in this material existence. I am suffering. Please pick me up to the spiritual platform so that I will be happy.\" Because, as I explained just a minute before, brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā [Bg. 18.54]\n[And of all yogīs, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.]\nAs soon as you come to the transcendental platform, you become joyful, happy. Joy... That is the sign. It is not that simply you say that \"I am in the transcendental meditation. I am a...\" No. Actually you have to become happy.\nHow you have to become happy? Na śocati na kāṅkṣati. There is no hankering; there is no lamentation. And material life means as soon as we are hankering after sex conjugation, and as soon as there is conjugation, atha gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittaiḥ [SB 5.5.8]\n[The attraction between male and female is the basic principle of material existence. On the basis of this misconception, which ties together the hearts of the male and female, one becomes attracted to his body, home, property, children, relatives and wealth. In this way one increases life's illusions and thinks in terms of \"I and mine.\"]\nAs soon as we are united, man and woman, then I want a nice apartment, I want some business, I want some land, I want some friends, I want some society. Similarly, we extend our bodily concept of life. There is no question of transcendental platform.\nSo we have to wind up from the material concept of life to the spiritual concept, or spiritual platform. That is called brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati [Bg. 18.54].\n[And of all yogīs, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.]\nWhen one who is on the spiritual platform, he has no more hankering, no more lamentation. Why he should be hankering? He knows that \"I don't want anything material. Why shall I be hankering? Whatever is, I mean, barely required, I must be satisfied with that thing.\"\nSo that is a..., a very, not very nice proposal to the materially advanced world at this present moment. People will not accept it. Therefore this process, transcendental... Yukta-vairāgya. It is called yukta-vairāgya. You just remain in your place. This is the facility of this Hare Kṛṣṇa movement, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.\nYou haven't got to change your place. You remain. You are student: you remain a student. You are businessman: you remain businessman. You are woman, man, or anyone, any, black, white, anyone—you remain in your position. Simply you try to hear.\nSthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ\n[SB 10.14.3].\n[Those who, even while remaining situated in their established social positions, throw away the process of speculative knowledge and with their body, words and mind offer all respects to descriptions of Your personality and activities, dedicating their lives to these narrations, which are vibrated by You personally and by Your pure devotees, certainly conquer Your Lordship, although You are otherwise unconquerable by anyone within the three worlds.]\nYou just remain in your position. You simply hear. Kindly give your aural reception to this transcendental sound. Very simple process. No charges. We are not charging anything, that \"You give us so many dollars, then I shall give you this mantra, Hare Kṛṣṇa.\" It is publicly distributed. You simply catch up and try it. You'll... Very quickly you'll come to the transcendental platform, and when you hear the chanting, that is transcendental meditation.\nThis process is recommended in all scriptures of Vedic literature, and it is followed by Lord Caitanya and His disciplic succession for the last five hundred years, and people are achieving good result. Not only in India; here also, the young boys and girls who have joined this movement... You try to understand what is this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, how transcendental meditation is possible.\nWe are not sentimentalists. We have got many books. Just like here is our Bhagavad-gītā As It Is and Teachings of Lord Caitanya. We have got our magazine, Back to Godhead. We have got Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, five volumes. So many things. Īśopaniṣad. It is not that we are sentimentalist. We are backed by high philosophical thoughts and everything.\nBut if you take this simple process, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, you immediately are elevated on the transcendental platform without reading so many big literatures, philosophy or understanding. That is the gift to the present conditional souls of the world by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu in accordance with this Vedic sanction.\nSo our request is that you give a try. You simply chant, at home or anywhere. There is no restriction that \"You have to chant this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra in such and such place, in such and such condition.\" Niyamitaḥ smaraṇe na kālaḥ [Cc. Antya 20.16]. There is no restriction of time and, I mean to say, circumstances or atmosphere. Anywhere, at any time, you can meditate. You are...\nNo meditation is possible while you are walking on the street. But this meditation is possible: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. And go on with your work. You are working with your hands? You can chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare. So this is very nice. So kindly accept this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.\nAt the same time, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that,\nnāmnām akāri bahudhā nija-sarva-śaktis\ntatrārpitā niyamitaḥ smaraṇe na kālaḥ\n[Cc. Antya 20.16]\n[“’My Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, in Your holy name there is all good fortune for the living entity, and therefore You have many names, such as “Kṛṣṇa” and “Govinda,” by which You expand Yourself. You have invested all Your potencies in those names, and there are no hard and fast rules for remembering them. My dear Lord, although You bestow such mercy upon the fallen, conditioned souls by liberally teaching Your holy names, I am so unfortunate that I commit offenses while chanting the holy name, and therefore I do not achieve attachment for chanting.’]\nLord Caitanya says that the Lord's name... Lord's name is not, I mean to say, limited with Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is the perfect name. Kṛṣṇa means all-attractive. Kṛṣṇa means all-attractive. And Rāma means the supreme pleasure. So if God is not all-attractive and supreme pleasure, then what is the meaning of God? God must be. He must be the supreme pleasure.\nOtherwise how you can be satisfied with Him? Your heart is hankering after so many, so many pleasures. If God cannot satisfy you with all the pleasures, Rāma, then how He can be God? Therefore these two names, Rāma and Kṛṣṇa, and all-attractive. If Kṛṣṇa cannot be attractive to any person, then how He can be God? He is attractive actually.\nSo these three names... We are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. So if you think, \"Oh, this is Indian name. This is Hindu name. Why shall we chant? Why shall I chant the Hindu name?\" There are some sectarian people, they may think like that. But Lord Caitanya says, \"It doesn't matter. If you have got any bona fide name of God, you chant that. But you chant God's name.\" That is the prescription of this movement.\nAnd do not think that this movement is a proselytizing movement, from Christian to Hindu, or Hindu to... No. You remain Christian, Hindu, Jew or Muhammadan; it doesn't matter. Our process if that if you are really to perfect your human form of life, then try to learn, develop your dormant love of Godhead. That is perfection of life. That is perfection of your life. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje [SB 1.2.6].\n[The supreme occupation [dharma] for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self.]\nYou profess any type of religion, but just test whether your religion is perfect or you are perfect, whether you have developed your love for God than any other love. We have distributed our love in so many things. When all those love will be concentrated simply on God, that is perfection of life. Love is there, but because we do not know, because we have forgotten our relationship with God, therefore we are imposing our love on dog. That has been our disease.\nSo we have to transfer our love from so many dogs to God. That is the perfection of life. And we are not teaching any particular type of religion. We are simply teaching that you love God. And this is possible simply by chanting these three names, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare... It is sixteen names.\nActually there are three names: Hare, Kṛṣṇa and Rāma. Rāma means the supreme pleasure, Kṛṣṇa means all-attractive, and Hare means the energy. Then it is perfect. Energy and the Lord, that is whole sum and substance of all creation, cosmic manifestation, anything. They are detailed in this Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, but that is the sum and substance of everything.\nThank you very much. [devotees offer obeisances]\nAny question?\n[break] I told you. \"Kṛṣṇa\" means all-attractive. Have you got any idea, all-attractiveness? How one can be all-attractive, have you got any idea? Will any of you explain?\nYes?",
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"content": "\n By taking everything [indistinct].",
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"content": "\n Yes. Otherwise, how He can be all-attractive? That is explained. I will explain what is Kṛṣṇa. All-attractive, we have got idea. If one man is very rich, he is attractive. If one man is very strong, he is attractive. If one man is very beautiful, he is attractive. Man or woman, it doesn't matter.\nIf one man is wise, he is attractive. In this way there are six opulences: richness, strength, influence, beauty, wisdom and renunciation. When these six things are in complete in one person, that is all-attractive. So Kṛṣṇa exhibited all these things, six opulences, in one person. Therefore He's all-attractive.",
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"content": "\n You said something about the energy of Kṛṣṇa. Er, is He the energy that divides the energy from everything, or is He all...? Everything comes down to just another form of energy, another form of complexity, so everything is suited to one thing and yet it's different?",
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"content": "\n Yes. Just like by electric energy you have got heater, at the same time, cooler also. The energy is one, but in one place it is utilized for heating; in another place it is utilized as cooling. Similarly, this, er... Take the energy of sunlight. The sunlight is one, but by the sunlight some flowers are becoming red, some flowers are becoming blue, the leaves are becoming green. So everything is due to the same energy, sunlight, but the variety is there. Variety is there.\nSo energy may be one. Just like in your country, by electric energy you are working in so many ways. So do not, I mean to say, make minus all these varieties, the energy in diverse varieties. Therefore the whole conception is, Brahman conception is, that unity in diversity. Everything is working by the energy of the Supreme Brahman, and in the energy we have got different diversities. So we cannot neglect the diversities, although the energy is one.",
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"content": "\n Is God is a state of mind?",
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"content": "\n No. That I have explained, that we have different stages of understanding. The first stage is this bodily concept of life. That is material and gross. Then mental stage, that is finer, subtle. And intellectual stage, that is still subtler. And you have to transcend all these stages, up to intellectual stage. That is spiritual stage. God is complete spirit, full spirit.",
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"content": "\n Is God the one energy you speak of?",
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"content": "\n God is... What is your question? \"God is one energy?\" No. God is not one energy. God is one, but He has diverse energies. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate [Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8, Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport].\n[The Supreme Lord has multipotencies, which act so perfectly that all consciousness, strength and activity are being directed solely by His will.]\nIn the Vedic literature we understand that God is one, but His energies are many, multi-energies. We are also one of the energies of God, we living entities. We are also energy. That is stated in the, er... Apareyam itas tu vidhi me prakṛtiṁ parā [Bg. 7.5].\n[Besides this inferior nature, O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is a superior energy of Mine, which are all living entities who are struggling with material nature and are sustaining the universe.]\nLord Kṛṣṇa says to Arjuna that \"These material energies, namely fire...,\" I mean to say, \"earth, water, fire, air, mind, intelligence, ego, they are inferior energy. Beyond this inferior energy, there is another, superior energy. That superior energy is called jīva-bhūto mahā-bāho.\" These living entities, they are superior energy. Yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat [Bg. 7.5]: \"They are,\" I mean to say, \"ruling over these material energies.\"\nSo living entity is superior energy, and this material energy is inferior energy. Therefore we are trying to control over the material energy, but because we are very small, it is not possible to have full control over the material energy. After all, this is energy of... Just like we can utilize the sunshine some way or other, but it is not possible for us to utilize the whole sunshine. It is not possible.\nSo that is called māyā. The superior energy, living entity, is trying to control over the inferior energy, material energy. But because we are very minute, small, it is not possible to have full control over the material energy. Rather, we are being controlled by the material energy due to our smallness. These things are very nicely explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, Seventh Chapter. If you are interested, you'll find.",
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"content": "\n You say there's great joy in achieving the transcendental platform. Why? Why necessarily joy and not sorrow?",
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"content": "\n Because you are seeking after joy. Because you are originally transcendental, spirit soul. You're hankering after..., your business is to come to that platform of joyfulness. But you are somehow or other put into this material platform. You are not having fulfilled your joy. Just like you belong to this land, and if you are put into the ocean, Atlantic Ocean, however expert swimmer you may be, you cannot be happy. You have [to] come back to the land; then you can be happy.\nSimilarly, we are all spiritual souls, spiritual sparks. Just like the sunshine. Sunshine means there are molecular parts of shining principles. Similarly, we are also molecular parts and parcel of God, who is ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt [Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12], in the Vedānta-sūtra.\n[By nature, the Supreme Lord is blissful.]\nHe is full of joy. So we, as part and parcel also, we are full of joy. So unless we come in contact with the Supreme, our joyfulness will never be fulfilled. Therefore we have to come to the spiritual platform if we want to have that full spiritual or full joyfulness. [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/661114gp-new-york/
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"content": "\n [taps microphone]\nToday Govardhanadhārī, Giridhārī, Lord Kṛṣṇa, today lifted the mountain.\n[bad audio]\nDemigods like Indra, Chandra,\n[taps microphone]\n...according to Vedic literature there are. According to Vedic literature there are different demigods. Sometimes we will find in Greek mythology the gods of the water, gods of the thunderbolt. These are not imagination. Actually they are facts. But due to our insufficient knowledge we do not know how the material nature is being controlled.\nSo when Kṛṣṇa was on this planet and He was playing the part of a cowherd boy, and it was known to all over the universe that \"God has come, taken incarnation, and He is on the earth planet, and He is at Vṛndāvana playing the part of a cowherd boy...\" So as if somebody, if there is incarnation of God, somebody believes and somebody does not believe, when Kṛṣṇa was actually present on this earth, it is not that everybody understood that Kṛṣṇa was the Supreme Personality of Godhead, not even up to date. Only few persons, the five brothers of the Pāṇḍavas and the damsels of Vṛndāvana, only in the fingers' count, say, out of the whole population, say, hundred or two hundred men knew Him that He was the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Otherwise, everyone thought that \"He is an ordinary man just like one of us, but most powerful. That's all.\"\nSimilarly, the demigods in other planets, they also thought, \"Oh, he's a foolish person. They are thinking of a cowherd boy as God,\" sophisticated, like that. And especially Indra, the heavenly kingdom..., king of heaven. He was... He's very powerful, so he thought, \"What god he has come? My God, He cannot come.\" This was some speculation. Even Brahmā also speculated. But Kṛṣṇa wanted to show Indra that \"Yes, actually I have come.\" So that incidence is today, Govardhana-pūjā.\nSo,\nbhagavān api tatraiva\nbaladeva-saṁyutaḥ\napaśyan nivasan gopan\nindra-yāga-kṛtodyamān\n[SB 10.24.1]\n[Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: While staying in that very place with His brother Baladeva, Lord Kṛṣṇa happened to see the cowherd men busily arranging for a sacrifice to Indra.]\nIndra-yāga-kṛtodyamān. According to Vedic system, there are different types of sacrifices to offer respect and obediences to the demigods. Just like the sun is supplying light, the moon is supplying moonshine. Similarly, Indra is supplying the cloud. Similarly, there are different demigods. And in the Bhagavad-gītā, devan ya yajayantī deva-bhavan—these things are described. In the Vedic literature it is prescribed that \"You should satisfy these demigods by sacrifice, deva-yajan.\"\nSo in the village of that Vṛndāvana, the father of Kṛṣṇa, foster father of Kṛṣṇa, Nanda Mahārāja and his associates, they were yearly performing the Indra-yajña. Because they were agriculturist, they depended on rain, sufficient rains. And he had many cows. Nanda Mahārāja was a farm man. He is agriculture and cows. The mercantile people, the vaiśya community, they are recommended three things: kṛṣi-go-raksya-vāṇijyam [Bg 18.44]. \n[Farming, cow protection and business are the qualities of work for the vaiśyas, and for the śūdras there is labor and service to others.]\nKṛṣi means agriculture, and go-rakṣya means cow protection, and vāṇijyam means trade.\nSo Nanda Mahārāja belonged to the vaiśya community. So he was well-to-do man, very rich man, and he had 900,000's of cows—900,000's of cows he was protecting. Formerly, according to Vedic civilization, a man was considered to be rich man in proportion of his stock of grains and livestock, cows. That's all. Dhānyena dhanavān. A man was considered to be rich man if he has sufficient quantity of grains at his possession, in his possession. Similarly, if one has sufficient number of cows in his possession, he was considered rich man. Not that bank balance. There was no such bank, neither this paper money. They actually possessing the foodstuff and milk.\nAnd actually this is economic solution. If you have got sufficient milk, then you can make so many nice nutritious, full of vitamin values preparation and grains. There is no question of economic starvation if you have got simply grains and cows. So that was the standard of economic solution in days yore.\nSo they were preparing just to satisfy the demigod Indra, because he was supposed to sup... Not supposed; actually he supplies rains sufficiently. Without rains you cannot have successful agriculture. So they were preparing that sacrifice. So this preparation was being observed by Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. Kṛṣṇa is the youngest, and Balarāma is the eldest. Balarāma is son of Rohiṇī, and Kṛṣṇa is son of Devakī. Both these ladies, Rohiṇī and Devakī, they were wives of Vasudeva, Kṛṣṇa's father. So Balarāma was born of Rohiṇī, and Kṛṣṇa was born of Devakī. Devakī-nandana-gopāla. So Devakī-nandana.\nSo They were not very... There was not much difference of Their age, say one year or two years, like that. So Balarāma was eldest brother. They were playing together, and this is an incidence when Balarāma was about eight years old and Kṛṣṇa was about seven years old. So, bhagavān tatraiva baladevena saṁyutaḥ. Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, along with Baladeva, His elder brother, apaśyan, \"saw.\" What is that \"saw\"? Nivasan gopa indra-yāga-kṛtodyamān [SB 10.24.1]:\n[Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: While staying in that very place with His brother Baladeva, Lord Kṛṣṇa happened to see the cowherd men busily arranging for a sacrifice to Indra.]\n\"All the cowherds men, including His father, they were preparing for sacrifice of Indra-yajña.\" Indra-yajña.\ntad-abhijño 'pi bhagavān\nsarvātmā sarva-darśanaḥ\npraśrāyavanato 'pṛcchad\nvṛddhān nanda-puro-gamān\n[SB 10.24.2]\n[Being the omniscient Supersoul, the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa already understood the situation, yet He still humbly inquired from the elders, headed by His father, Nanda Mahārāja.]\nHe was the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He knew everything what they were doing and what was the purpose. Because He is present in everyone's heart, so He knows everything. But because He was playing just like a boy, cowherd boy, so as if He did not know anything, He asked, inquired from the..., from His father, and the elderly persons who were assisting His father for preparing the sacrifice.\nTad abhijño 'pi. This very word is used here, that \"He knew everything,\" Bhagavān. Because Bhagavān means He must know everything—past, present, future. There is no lack of knowledge. I have several times described before you, bhagavān means He is full of all opulences, and there are six opulences: riches, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation. So Bhagavān cannot be in lack of knowledge. He must know everything. That is Bhagavān. So therefore it is said that \"What is the use of asking His father what they were going to do? He knew everything.\"\nBut it is specifically mentioned, atad abhijño'pi. Although He knew it, because He was playing the part of a boy, and the father knew that \"Kṛṣṇa is my son...\" They did not recognize Him that He is Personality of Godhead. They knew, \"Oh, He is my ordinary son.\" Tad abhijño'pi bhagavān sarvātmā. Sarvātmā means one who is situated in everyone's heart. Sarvātmā sarva-darśanaḥ. Sarva-darśanaḥ means one who can see everything, past, present and future. Still, praśrāyavantaḥ, \"Just like an obedient son, submissive son,\" apṛcchad vṛddhān nanda-puro-gamān, \"the elderly persons of His father's friends and associates, with very humbleness, He inquired.\" He inquired.\nAnd what is that enquiry?\nkathyatāṁ me pitaḥ ko 'yaṁ\nsambhramo vā upāgataḥ\nkiṁ phalaṁ kasya coddeśaḥ\nkena vā sādhyate makhaḥ\n[SB 10.24.3]\n[[Lord Kṛṣṇa said:] My dear father, kindly explain to Me what this great endeavor of yours is all about. What is it meant to accomplish? If this is a ritual sacrifice, then for whose satisfaction is it intended and by what means is it going to be executed?]\netad brūhi mahān kāmo\nmahyaṁ śuśruṣave pitaḥ\n[SB 10.24.4]\n[Please tell Me about it, O father. I have a great desire to know and am ready to hear in good faith. Certainly, no secrets are to be kept by saintly personalities, who see all others as equal to themselves, who have no conception of \"mine\" or \"another's\" and who do not consider who is a friend, who is an enemy and who is neutral.]\n\"My dear father, I very respectfully and humbly I am inquiring what is this arrangement. Why you are busy in making some sacrificial ceremony, and what is the reason and what is the result?\" Kiṁ phalaṁ: \"What is the result of doing this?\" Kiṁ phalaṁ kasya ca uddeśaḥ: \"By whom... Whom you are trying to satisfy?\" Kena vā sādhyate: \"And what is the purpose of the sacrifice? So I cannot understand. Will you kindly explain to Me?\" Etad brūhi mahān kāmo: \"I am very much anxious. Kindly explain to Me.\" Etad mahān kāmo mahyaṁ śuśruṣave pitaḥ: \"Oh, I am your most obedient son, so you kindly explain to Me.\" This question was posed.\nna hi gopyaṁ hi sādhūnāṁ\nkṛtyaṁ sarvātmanām iha\nasya-svapara-dṛṣṭināṁ\namitro-dāsastad viṣām\n[SB 10.24.4]\n\"Now, if you think that it is very confidential, it cannot be disclosed, then I think for a person like you who is doing publicly such sacrifice, you should not [sic] explain to Me.\" Na hi gopyaṁ hi sādhūnām: \"Sādhu..., sādhu, those who are saintly person, for them there is no secret.\" There is no secret. There is no privacy. A sādhu, sādhu has no privacy.\nJust now in our ordinary social affairs, there is difference between private life and his public life. Now, if somebody is teacher... Now, he is very good teacher. He can very good..., he can explain very nicely a subject matter, but his private life is not very good—then he is not a teacher; he is not a sādhu. That is Vedic conception. One must be a teacher according to his own behavior in life. There is no secrecy or privacy. Now, we think that \"Oh, we don't mind what is private character. We don't mind. We are concerned with his teaching.\" No. That sort of teaching will not have any effect.\nCaitanya Mahāprabhu said, āpani ācārī prabhu jīverī śikṣāya: a teacher must demonstrate in his practical life what he is teaching. That is the meaning of ācārya. Ācārya means the teacher must demonstrate things by applying the same thing in his own life. That is called ācārya. Therefore Kṛṣṇa said that \"You cannot disclose anything. You cannot keep anything private. Please disclose.\"\nudāsīno 'rivad varyam\nātmavat suhṛd ucyate\n[SB 10.24.5]\n[One who is neutral may be avoided like an enemy, but a friend should be considered like one's own self.]\n\"And even if it is very confidential, I am your son. You can explain to Him [Me]. I am your well-wisher.\"\njñātvājñātvā ca karmāṇi\njano 'yam anutiṣṭhanti\nviduṣaḥ karma-siddhiḥ syāt\ntathā na viduṣo bhavet\n[SB 10.24.6]\n[When people in this world perform activities, sometimes they understand what they are doing and sometimes they don't. Those who know what they are doing achieve success in their work, whereas ignorant people do not.]\n\"Whether this is a superstition?\" Just see how Kṛṣṇa is speaking. \"Whether it is a superstition or it has got some actual effect?\" You should not do anything, religious rituals, under superstition. That is the recommendation of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa does not like that people should perform anything under superstition. Suppose if you are sacrificing, if you are doing some ceremony, you must have thorough knowledge that there must be the result. There must be the result. Just like there are many sacrifices recommended in the Vedic literature, putreṣṭī-yajña. Putreṣṭī. Suppose a man has no son, and if he performs that sacrifice, he will have a son. That is a fact. Similarly, so many things there are.\nSo any rituals, religious rituals... Now, according to Kṛṣṇa... How practical He is. He said that \"No religious ritual should be performed without practical effect.\" Without practical effect. People have become atheist because in the modern age there are so many rituals in all religions, not only Hindu religion, but Christian religion. But, they say, simply formality; there is no effect. There is no effect. So such sort of rituals, religious ceremony, is not recommended by Kṛṣṇa. You must actually the effect.\nJust like in Purāṇas there was a talk between Lord Caitanya and Kazi, Chand Kazi. Chand Kazi was a Muhammadan magistrate, and Lord Caitanya, when He started this saṅkīrtana movement, there was many complaints. Just like we are receiving daily reports that our saṅkīrtana movement is disturbing some tenants here, similarly, when Lord Caitanya, He started His this saṅkīrtana, some of the brāhmaṇas... Because Lord Caitanya said that \"This is the only religion. In this age, this chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, this is the only religious principle, and everyone will have all his desires fulfilled by chanting this.\"\nSo the brāhmaṇas, those who are priestly class, they thought that \"If people take to this only chanting, then what about our churches and mosque and temples? They will not come.\" So they lodged a complaint to the magistrate that \"This is not Hindu religion. He has discovered something in His own fertile brain, so we do not recognize it.\" So this complaint was lodged before the magistrate, and the magistrate took step, first of all warned Him that \"Don't chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.\" Then, when He did not care, then sent some constables, and the drums were broken. Then Caitanya Mahāprabhu started civil disobedience movement.\nSo He did not care for the magistrate. He started saṅkīrtana throughout the whole city of Nabadwip. Then they approached the magistrate's house. Just the other day there was a procession in your city. So this civil disobedience movement was started first by Caitanya Mahāprabhu.\nNow, there was some compromising talk with the magistrate, and in that talk the Caitanya Mahāprabhu first questioned... Because he was Muhammadan, Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that \"In your religion there is killing of father and mother. What sort of religion this is?\" The Kazi replied, \"How do you say that we are killing our father and...?\" \"Yes. You are killing your mother. Cow gives you milk, delivers milk. You will drink the milk, and you kill the cow. Therefore you are killing your mother.\"\nSo the Kazi replied that \"In your Vedic literature also, I have seen, there is cow sacrifice.\" So Caitanya Mahāprabhu replied, \"That is not cow sacrifice. That is rejuvenation of cow. Old cows were sacrificed in the fire, and again a new life was given by the Vedic mantra. But because there is lack of such expert brāhmaṇas to chant that mantra, therefore cow sacrifice in this age is forbidden.\"\nSo when the things are not practical, that becomes a forbidden. If you actually get the result by some spiritual or religious rituals, performance, then it is very good. Otherwise it is superstition. Lord Caitanya's opinion is that because all these Vedic injunctions, sacrifices, they are not possible to be performed in this age... They are very difficult. There is no expert leader to perform all these ceremonies and rituals. Therefore, take to this Hare Kṛṣṇa. Take to this. There is no need of rituals. There is no need of expenses. Simply God has given you tongue, and God has given you ear. Just go on chanting: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, and it will fulfill your spiritual advancement.\nSimilarly, Kṛṣṇa says, jñātvā ajñātvā ca karmāṇi jano 'yam anutiṣṭhanti: \"Generally, mass of people, they are ignorant. They perform some religious rituals, knowingly or unknowingly, as a matter of superstition or custom.\" So, viduṣa karma-siddhiḥ syāt. But one who is intelligent, he should know that \"By this sacrifice, I must get the result.\" Viduṣo karma-siddhiḥ syāt tathā na viduṣo bhavet: \"And those who are fools, they, simply by superstition, they do it.\"\nSo Kṛṣṇa did not recommend that you should do something under superstition. No. You must do it for practical result. This dogmatism, fanaticism—\"Oh, why I shall chant Hare Kṛṣṇa? I am Christian,\" \"I am Jews\"—this is fanaticism. If you find actually ecstasy by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, why should you not? Why should you not? \"No. I am Jew,\" \"I am Christian,\" \"I am Muhammadan.\" Well, it is transcendental vibration from the spiritual platform. Your Muhammadism, Christianism, Hinduisim, Buddhism, this is skin disease. This is...\nBecause you have got some particular body at particular circumstances, therefore you claim like that. But actually we are all spirit soul, and this sound vibration is from the spirit soul. It will appeal to everyone. See the effect. Then don't be fanatist. Don't be, I mean to say, sectarian. So Kṛṣṇa wants that, that simply by custom, one should not follow the rituals. One should see the effect.\ntatra tāvāt kriyā-yogo\nbhavatāṁ kiṁ vicāritaḥ\nathavā laukikas tan me\npṛcchata sādhu [bhaṇyatām]\n[SB 10.24.7]\n[Such being the case, this ritualistic endeavor of yours should be clearly explained to Me. Is it a ceremony based on scriptural injunction, or simply a custom of ordinary society?]\n\"So, whether you are confident of the result of this sacrifice?\" He is asking His father. Just see. Kṛṣṇa was a boy, and He is asking His father, \"Whether you are confident of the result of this sacrifice? You are going to satisfy the demigods, sacrifice. Or,\" athavā laukikaḥ, \"or it is simply a custom, village custom, that you are doing it?\" Laukikas tan me pṛcchata sādhu bhaṇyatām: \"Now I am very much inquisitive to learn from you. Please explain.\"\nNow His father is explaining:\nparjanyo bhagavān indro\nmeghās tasyātma-mūrtayaḥ\nte 'bhivarṣanti bhūtānāṁ\nprīṇanaṁ jīvanaṁ payaḥ\n[SB 10.24.8]\n[Nanda Mahārāja replied: The great Lord Indra is the controller of the rain. The clouds are his personal representatives, and they directly provide rainwater, which gives happiness and sustenance to all creatures.]\nHe says, \"My dear boy, water is very essential, because without rains we cannot have any produce. Therefore... This rain is controlled by Bhagavān Indra. The heavenly king Indra, he controls the megha.\" Megha means cloud. \"He is the master of the cloud. He can send cloud, and he can stop cloud. He is representative of God, so he has got the power.\" Te 'bhivarṣanti bhūtānāṁ prīṇanam: \"So when he allows this raining, people become satisfied. They get their produce.\"\ntaṁ tāta vayam anye ca\ncārmucāṁ patim īśvaram\ndravyais tad-retasā siddhyair\nyajante kratubhir narāḥ\n[SB 10.24.9]\n[Not only we, my dear son, but also many other men worship him, the lord and master of the rain-giving clouds. We offer him grain and other paraphernalia of worship produced through his own discharge in the form of rain.]\n\"Therefore it is our duty. Because he supplies us water, so it is our duty to show him respect by this sacrifice.\" This is the Vedic injunction. Just like we pay departmental tax. We pay to the Con Edison bills for the supply of electricity and gas. Similarly, we pay the bills of the telephone. But we have no program to pay the bills of the sun, who is supplying us so much light.\n[aside:] What is that?",
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"content": "\n That needle doesn't seem to be working.\n[taps microphone]",
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"content": "\n So it is our duty to sacrifice, and according to Vedic rituals, these are recommended, that we should satisfy. So Nanda Mahārāja explained,\ntac cheṣeṇopajīvanti\ntri-varga-phala-hetve\npuṁsāṁ puruṣa-kāraṇāṁ\nparjanyaḥ phala-bhāvanaḥ\n[SB 10.24.10]\n[By accepting the remnants of sacrifices performed to Indra, people sustain their lives and accomplish the threefold aims of religiosity, economic development and sense gratification. Thus Lord Indra is the agent responsible for the fruitive success of industrious people.]\n\"Now, this water is so important that it will produce grains, and we shall live. And for perfection of our life we must first live. So this is very important thing. So we have to satisfy Indra.\"\nya evaṁ visṛjed dharmaṁ\npāraṁ paryāgataṁ naraḥ\nkāmā lobhād bhayād dveṣāt\nsa vai nāpnoti śobhanam\n[SB 10.24.11]\n[This religious principle is based on sound tradition. Anyone who rejects it out of lust, enmity, fear or greed will certainly fail to achieve good fortune.]\nHe says, \"My dear boy, we should not give up this paramparā.\" Parampara means coming from disciplic succession or from generation. My father did it; my father's fathers did it. So every religious ceremony, and according to Vedic rituals, they are from paramparā, family or society-wise or community-wise. In every country there is.\nSo he says that \"This paramparā, this successive generation we have been doing this, and we should not give it up.\" He understood Kṛṣṇa's purpose, that \"He is asking. He is very intelligent boy, so He is asking me all these questions just to forbid me.\" That He's just... \"Like father like son.\" The father was also intelligent.\nSo, ya evaṁ visṛjed dharmam. Dharmam means one must execute. That is dharma. Just like to become hungry, it is my religion. This is called religion. We should know what is the meaning of religion. Religion means which we cannot separate from myself. The religion which you can change, that is not religion. Suppose I am Hindu; I become Christian. So neither this Hinduism is religion or Christian is religion. It is a dictionary, English dictionary, word. But dharma, according to Sanskrit word, dharma does not mean that which you can change. I have several times explained this fact. Dharma cannot be changed.\nTherefore we must find out what is our dharma, what is our religion. Which we are professing, that \"Christianity is my religion,\" \"Hinduism, my religion,\" that is not religion. That is faith. Religion is different. Religion you cannot change. You cannot change. That is the meaning of religion. Here it is said that ya evaṁ visṛjed dharmam. Dharmam means you cannot change.\nSo, pāraṁ paryāgataṁ naraḥ, kāmāt..., kāmāt lobhāt. Now, religion sometimes, when it is taken as faith, they are changed. How they have changed? Kāmāt: for some gain. Just like in India formerly Christian religion was preached, giving some facilities. And generally, we see that Christian priests who go to foreign countries—I have seen—they offer some hospital facilities, some economic facilities. The poor men, they supply clothing and education. So those who are poor, they become captivated, and they... They have practically no religion. Anyway, they are facing the economic problems. So kāmāt. Kāmāt means for some gain. For some gain, kāmāt, and lobhāt... Lobhāt means by some greediness. And bhayāt. Bhayāt means out of fear. And dveṣāt. Dveṣāt means out of enviousness. For all these things one should not give up his faith or religion. So that, that was the explanation of Nanda Mahārāja, the father of Kṛṣṇa.\nNow Kṛṣṇa, replying, śrī bhagavān uvāca. The reason of that sacrifice, as explained by Nanda Mahārāja is that \"Indra, the heavenly king, he supplies us water. Therefore we must perform the sacrifice to satisfy him.\" Now Kṛṣṇa is giving reason just like an atheist. Just like an atheist, karma-mimāṁsā. There are six philosophers. Out of that, one is karma-mimāṁsā. Karma-mimāṁsā means one who takes work and the result of work and nothing, no God, nothing of... \"You work like this; you get the result.\" Just like modern theory. So Kṛṣṇa is putting up that karma-mimāṁsā.\nWhat is that? He says, karmāṇa jāyate jantuḥ karmaṇaiva pralīyate [SB 10.24.13]:\n[Lord Kṛṣṇa said: It is by the force of karma that a living entity takes birth, and it is by karma alone that he meets his destruction. His happiness, distress, fear and sense of security all arise as the effects of karma.]\n\"Everyone is born here out of..., as the effect of his past deeds,\" and karmaṇaiva pralīyate, \"and he is going to have his next birth according to the work as he is doing here.\" This is called karma-mimāṁsā. The karma-mimāṁsā philosophers, they do not believe that \"Oh, our liberation from this material world and entrance in the spiritual kingdom to be associated with God, that will make us happy.\" Their belief is that \"You simply do good work. Then you gradually get your promotion.\"\nThat is also a fact. That is not a misconception. If you do good work, then you get good birth. Janmaiśvarya-śruta-śrī [SB 1.8.26].\n[My Lord, Your Lordship can easily be approached, but only by those who are materially exhausted, because one who is on the path of [material] progress, trying to improve himself with respectable parentage, great opulence, high education and bodily beauty, cannot address You with sincere feeling.]\nFour things: good birth, mean a good family or good nationality, and janma... Birth means... Janma means birth, good birth. Janma aiśvarya, and to become rich; and śruta, to become very learned; and śrī, and to become very beautiful—these are results of past good work.\nSo here Kṛṣṇa says that \"People are concerned with his work. A man is concerned with his work.\" Karmaṇā jāyate jantuḥ karmaṇaiva pralīyate: \"He gets his facilities of life according to the past good work, bad work, and he is preparing his life, next, by that work.\" Sukhaṁ duḥkhaṁ bhayaṁ kṣemaṁ karmaṇaivābhipadyate: \"So therefore, either happiness or distress or fearfulness or poverty or economic question, everything depends on this karma, on this work.\"\nasti ced īśvaraḥ kaścit\nphala-rūpy anya-karmaṇāṁ\nkartāraṁ bhajate so 'pi\nna hy akartuḥ prabhur hi saḥ\n[SB 10.24.14]\n[Even if there is some supreme controller who awards all others the results of their activities, He must also depend upon a performer's engaging in activity. After all, there is no question of being the bestower of fruitive results unless fruitive activities have actually been performed.]\n\"Now, supposing there is somebody.\" Because these atheists, they do not believe in God; now they are giving arguments. \"Now, suppose there is somebody as God or some supervisor or something like that. But still, he is obliged to give Me the effect. Therefore I am not going to ask mercy from that superior personality, God or something else. I have to work.\" And this is also fact. Suppose you are going to appear in some examination. Now, the university is giving you some designation. Now, that designation practically depends on your passing the examination. What is the use of flattering that examiner? That is the argument. There is no...\nHis argument is that \"You are after the sacrifice of satisfying the Indra.\" So indirectly He says that \"Indra is appointed by the Lord, and he has to supply water. He is officer. So what is the use of flattering him?\" Just like there are many officers in the New York City. One is in charge of the waterwork department. So there is no question of flattering that waterworks department officer. You pay your tax, you work nicely, and water will be supplied to you. But if you don't pay your tax, however you flatter that officer, your connection will be cut off. So it depends on your work. It depends on your work.\nSo, asti ced īśvaraḥ kaścit: \"Supposing there is some God...\" \"There is some God.\" Just see. A God is preaching atheism. He is God Himself, and He says, \"Supposing if there is some God.\" [laughs] You see? \"Supposing if there is some God,\" kaścit phala-rūpy anya-karmaṇām, \"and He gives the result of your work.\" The karma-mimāṁsā philosophers, they accept God in this way. \"Suppose there is God and He is to give us the result. So He is obliged. If we do nice work, He is obliged. So what is the use of flattering God? Let us do our duty nicely. Then He will be obliged.\"\nSo Kṛṣṇa is forwarding that argument. Asti ced īśvaraḥ kaścit phala-rūpy anya-karmaṇām, kartāraṁ bhajate so 'pi: \"He also worships the worker. The worker has not to worship God. Because God gives you good result out of your good work; therefore, because you are doing good work, therefore God is worshiping you.\" Just see the argument. He says, kartāraṁ bhajate so 'pi na hy akartuḥ prabhur: \"And one who does not do good work, even God does not like him. So there is no necessity of this worshiping this heavenly god or any god, so let us have our duty done nicely. That will fetch us the desired result.\"\nkim indreṇeha bhūtānāṁ\nsva-sva-karmānuvartinām\nanīsenānyathā kartuṁ\nsvabhāva-vihitaṁ nṛṇām\n[SB 10.24.15]\n[Living beings in this world are forced to experience the consequences of their own particular previous work. Since Lord Indra cannot in any way change the destiny of human beings, which is born of their own nature, why should people worship him?]\n\"So, therefore, there is no... Father, there is no necessity of satisfying this Indra. You are simply wasting your time. You are simply wasting your time.\"\nOh,\nsvabhāva-tantro hi janaḥ\nsvabhāvam anuvartate\nsvabhāva-stham idaṁ sarvaṁ\nsa-devāsura-mānuṣam\n[SB 10.24.16]\n[Every individual is under the control of his own conditioned nature, and thus he must follow that nature. This entire universe, with all its demigods, demons and human beings, is based on the conditioned nature of the living entities.]\n\"Everyone is acting according to the modes of nature he has acquired, so whatever nature we have acquired...\" His purpose is that \"By nature we are mercantile people.\" Because His father was maintaining cows, so he is considered a mercantile man. Vaiśya-karma svabhāva-jam. Kṛṣi-go-rakṣya-vāṇijyaṁ vaiśya-karma svabhāva-jam [Bg 18.44].\n[Farming, cow protection and business are the qualities of work for the vaiśyas, and for the śūdras there is labor and service to others.]\nSo He is giving stress that \"Let us perform our duty as mercantile men honestly, and that will bring us result. Why should we go to worship these demigods?\"\nNow, here is a point, that Kṛṣṇa does not approve the worship of demigods. That is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñāna yajanty anya-devataḥ [Bg 7.20]:\n[Those whose minds are distorted by material desires surrender unto demigods and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship according to their own natures.]\n\"Those who are out of intelligence, they simply worship the demigods.\" In the Bhagavad-gītā or in the Bhāgavata, anywhere, worship of demigods is not very much recommended.\nSo here also the same thing, that svabhāva-tantro hi janaḥ: \"Everyone is carried by the modes of nature.\" Svabhāvam anuvartate: \"And he cannot surpass the spell of the modes of nature.\" Svabhāvam anuvartante, svabhāvas tam idaṁ sarvam: \"Everyone is under the control of the nature he has acquired.\" And sa-devāsura mānusaḥ. Sa-devāsura. \"Always, either he is man or superman or animal, everyone is being controlled by the modes of nature.\"\ndehān uccāvacāñ jantuḥ\nprāpyotsṛjati karmaṇā\nśatrur mitram udāsīnaḥ\nkarmaiva gurur īśvaraḥ\n[SB 10.24.17]\n[Because it is karma that causes the conditioned living entity to accept and then give up different high-and low-grade material bodies, this karma is his enemy, friend and neutral witness, his spiritual master and controlling lord.]\nHe is giving so much stress on karma. There is no question of bhakti here. So dehān uccāvācāñ. There are difference of, I mean, high-grade body and low-grade body. There are different kinds of body. Somebody has got very high-grade body—very intelligent, very rich, very beautiful, very wealthy—and somebody has low-grade body. So dehān uccāvacāñ jantuḥ prāpyotsṛjati karmaṇā: \"Now, these high-grade and low-grade bodies are obtained according to the work he has done.\"\nŚatrur mitram udāsīnaḥ karmaiva gurur īśvaraḥ: \"And one is the leader or one is a teacher or one is enemy or one is friend—everything is judged by this karma, by work.\" Just see how much He is giving stress on work. Karmaiva. Karmaiva gurur īśvaraḥ.\ntasmāt sampūjayet karma\nsvabhāva-sthaḥ sva-karma-kṛt\nañjasā yena varteta\ntad evāsya hi daivatam\n[SB 10.24.18]\n[Therefore one should seriously worship work itself. A person should remain in the position corresponding to his nature and should perform his own duty. Indeed, that by which we may live nicely is really our worshipable deity.]\n\"Therefore you don't bother yourself about worshiping this god or that god, demigod. You just be faithful to your work, and then that will give you good result.\" Añjasā yena varteta tad evāsya hi daivatam.\nājīvaikataraṁ bhāvaṁ\nyas tv anyam upajīvati\nna tasmād vindate kṣemaṁ\njārān nāry asatī yathā\n[SB 10.24.19]\n[If one thing is actually sustaining our life but we take shelter of something else, how can we achieve any real benefit? We would be like an unfaithful woman, who can never achieve any actual benefit by consorting with her paramour.]\nHe is condemning, that one's profession... He has... Lord Kṛṣṇa has in the Bhagavad-gītā also said like that. Sva-karmaṇā tam abhyarcya [Bg 18.46]. One should not give up his own profession, never mind even it is faulty. You have heard it from me. Just like He has given the example that fire, fire is so pure, still there is fault: there is smoke. So in spite of all fault one should not give up his own work, but he should do it faithfully and nicely, and the result will come. Ājīvaikataraṁ bhāvaṁ yas tu. And He says here that \"Anyone who gives up his own natural profession, natural aptitude, profession, so...\" Na tasmād vindate kṣemaṁ jārān nāry asatī yathā.\nJārān nāry asatī yathā. Now, this is a very important question. Nāry asatī. Asatī. Asatī means not chaste, not chaste woman. Just like... In India, of course, it is very strict, that the woman is not to give up her husband and acquaint herself with any other man. This example is given that \"As an unchaste woman gives up her own husband and makes friendship with others, similarly, one who gives up his own profession and takes other profession, he is also similarly unchaste.\" Unchaste. Nāry asatī yathā. \nVarteta brāhmaṇo vipra rājanya rakṣayā bhuvaḥ\n[SB 10.24.20]:\n[The brāhmaṇa maintains his life by studying and teaching the Vedas, the member of the royal order by protecting the earth, the vaiśya by trade, and the śūdra by serving the higher, twice-born classes.]\n\"Therefore one should not deviate from his professional duties, just like the brāhmaṇas...\" Brahman..., varteta brāhmaṇo vipraḥ: \"Those who are brāhmaṇa, they should stick to their principle of life, simply spiritual culture.\" Rājanya rakṣayā bhuvaḥ: \"And those who are kṣatriyas, they should stick to their protecting the citizen.\" The kingly order, royal order, their duty is to give protection to the... They should not simply collect tax. The kṣatriyas, this king is allowed to collect tax because he is supposed to give all protection to the people. So therefore it is said, rājanya rakṣayā bhuvaḥ. Rājanya means the royal order stick to his principle, how to give protection to the people.\nSimilarly, vaiśyas tu vārtayā jīvet śūdras tu dvīja-sevayā: \"Similarly, these mercantile, they should live on their trade, and those who are śūdra, those who are laborer class, they should serve all these three classes.\" That is the rules.\nNow,\nkṛṣi-vāṇijya-go-rakṣā\nkusīdaṁ tūryam ucyate\nvārtā catur-vidhā tatra\nvayaṁ go-vṛttayo 'niśam\n[SB 10.24.21]\n[The occupational duties of the vaiśya are conceived in four divisions: farming, commerce, cow protection and moneylending. Out of these, we as a community are always engaged in cow protection.]\n\"Now, according to scripture, we are vaiśya, and we should live not in the brahminical way or kṣatriya's way or śūdra's way, but we should live just like vaiśyas. And we are actually agriculturist, and we are actually protecting cows; therefore we are vaiśyas. Our duty is to stick to our..., faithfully stick to our business, stick to our work. What is the use of worshiping this god or that god?\"\nsattvaṁ rajas tama iti\nsthity-utpatti-anta-hetavaḥ\nrajasotpadyate viśvam\nanyonyaṁ vividhaṁ jagat\n[SB 10.24.22]\n[The causes of creation, maintenance and destruction are the three modes of nature—namely goodness, passion and ignorance. In particular, the mode of passion creates this universe and through sexual combination causes it to become full of variety.]\nNow He is forwarding the atheistic theory of Kapila, sāṅkhya philosophy. Sāṅkhya philosophy. Sāṅkhya philosophy theory is that there is no controller, there is no God, but it is..., the world is moving under nature's interaction. Just the modern scientist also say like that. The world... Every action of this material world is being acted... Just like sāṅkhya philosophy is based on this philosophy, that a man and woman is attracted and they have sex life, and the son is produced, and there is no other..., no other reason for population. Simply a man wants a woman and a woman wants a man. That natural tendency is there, and when they combine together there is a birth of a child.\nSo this is a natural sequence. Sāṅkhya philosophy is based on this principle. They do not believe that above this, there is God. Nirīśa. Above this, there is God. There is God's control. Actually there is God. Sexual intercourse is not the cause of a child. According to Bhāgavata, that a living entity, before his death he is, by superior judgment, it is thought that \"Where this living entity, where this particular man or dog or anything, he is dying, where it will be placed?\"\nSo when that place is, I mean to say, sanctioned, the place is selected, that \"This particular man should go in such-and-such body,\" then he is at once transferred to the semina. That small particle, spiritual particle, is transferred to the semina of the father, and the father injects the semina into the mother's womb, and it gets a particular type of body according to his karma. That is Bhāgavata's version. But the sāṅkhya philosophy, they say, because they have no idea that there is spiritual spark, they think simply that, simply the father and mother's or man and woman's sex life produces life.\nSo here practically the same thing is advocated by Kṛṣṇa, that sattvaṁ rajas tama iti sthity-utpatty-anta-hetavaḥ. Now, the creation of this material world is the three modes of material nature. There is no other cause. There is no other cause. Rajasā coditā meghā varṣanty ambūni sarvataḥ [SB 10.24.23]:\n[Impelled by the material mode of passion, the clouds pour down their rain everywhere, and by this rain all creatures gain their sustenance. What has the great Indra to do with this arrangement?]\n\"So when there is too much heat by,\" I mean to say, \"aggravation of the modes of passion, there is evaporation of water, and that becomes cloud, and that is the cause of... The cloud is the cause of rain. Why do you go to this Indra and Candra and all these things?\" Just see Kṛṣṇa, how He is speaking atheistically.\nSo, prajās tair eva sidhyanti mahendraḥ kiṁ kariṣyati: \"Therefore that rain constitutes agriculture. So why do you bother about this Mahendra?\" Just like modern scientists say that \"We shall artificially make raining so that where there is scarcity of rain we shall fertilize the land, we shall get production,\" so similarly, the sāṅkhya philosophy, according to sāṅkhya philosophy, that rain is caused by the heat, and by the heat there is cloud in the sky, and the cloud is the cause of the rain. There is no question of Mahendra, the controller of the cloud, or anything else.\nprajās tair eva sidhyanti\nmahendraḥ kiṁ kariṣyati\n[SB 10.24.23]\n[Impelled by the material mode of passion, the clouds pour down their rain everywhere, and by this rain all creatures gain their sustenance. What has the great Indra to do with this arrangement?]\nna naḥ puro jana-padā\nna grāmā na gṛhā vayam\nvanaukasas tāta nityaṁ\nvana-śaila-nivāsinaḥ\n[SB 10.24.24]\n[My dear father, our home is not in the cities or towns or villages. Being forest dwellers, we always live in the forest and on the hills.]\n\"So therefore we are not going to the city. We are inhabitants of this village. So it is better to worship this land, this land, this land, Govardhana.\" Because Kṛṣṇa was herding His cows on the Govardhana Hill, so indirectly He hinted that \"We should worship this Govardhana Hill, and that is our duty.\"\nSo it is a long story, three, four chapters. Of course, it will take some time. I don't think you can give us so much time. The net..., the result is that when Kṛṣṇa talked like this, then His father agreed not to perform the sacrifice. Because all the inhabitants of Vraja, Vṛndāvana, they are so much fond of Kṛṣṇa, whatever Kṛṣṇa will say, they will accept. So although Kṛṣṇa was a boy, so He implored His father and other elderly gentlemen present there that \"There is no need of performing this sacrifice.\" So they stopped sacrifice.\nAs a result of this stopping, Indra became very much angry, and there was torrents of rain, incessant rain, and very, I mean, very vehemently. So the whole village and whole tract of land comprising the Vrajabhūmi, they became overflooded. And the cows and the animals and the people became too much afflicted. So they had no other source. They approached Kṛṣṇa, \"Protect us. Kṛṣṇa, protect us.\" So at that time Kṛṣṇa said, \"Yes, I will give you protection.\" So He was, although a boy of six or seven years old, He lifted that hill.\nThat is... We are... If any time you go to India you will see the hill. It is not less than at least five, six miles' area, very big hill. That hill was lifted by Him, and He kept that hill in His hand for seven days. And then everything was cleared. Then Indra prayed Him. So there are many things after this.\nBut, today Kṛṣṇa lifted this hill; therefore His name is Giridhārī. Giridhārī means who held the hill. Giri means the hill, and dhārī means one who holds up. So today is that, is the annual ceremony of today, this Govardhana-pūjā. So we follow that principle. Because we are devotees of Kṛṣṇa, we are trying to follow His instruction.\nSo at noontime we shall perform that pūjā, and you are invited to take prasādam. I think prasādam will be ready by eleven o'clock, and you will kindly participate in taking prasādam. [end]",
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"content": "\n Hare Kṛṣṇa. So today you speak something, I shall hear. Yes. Any of you can speak something from Śikṣāṣṭaka?\nYes? Thank you.",
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"content": "\n \"Glory to Śrī Kṛṣṇa saṅkīrtana, which cleanses the heart of all the dust accumulated for years together. And thus the fire of conditional life, of repeated birth and death, is extinguished. Such saṅkīrtana movement gives the essence of all nectar of transcendental bliss and helps us to have a taste of that full nectarean for which always anxious we are.\" So this is the mercy you have given us, this saṅkīrtana movement, that every day, ten hours a day, we can chant the holy name of God right out on the street, and everyone who sees and hears is learning about Lord Caitanya, is learning about the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement, and is practically engaged in devotion.",
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"content": "\n Thank you. Ṛṣi Kumāra, you can speak something? Yes.",
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"content": "\n In the Vedic literatures it is stated that there are 8,400,000 species of life that one can take in this material world. So we've come to this human form, taken this human body, and it's such a great opportunity for realizing the purpose of life. We're so fortunate that Prabhupāda has come to teach us this process of realizing ourselves in this human form. So let us take advantage of this causeless mercy which Kṛṣṇa has sent us.",
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"content": "\n Thank you. Hmm. There is a verse by Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yogam apāyayan mām anabhīpsum andhaṁ kṛpāmbudhir yas tam aham... [Cc. Madhya 6.254].\n[“Let me take shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who has descended in the form of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu to teach us real knowledge, His devotional service and detachment from whatever does not foster Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He has descended because He is an ocean of transcendental mercy. Let me surrender unto His lotus feet.]\nSanātanam... Kṛpāmbudhir yas sanātanaṁ prabhu tam aham āśrayaḥ. Like that. Sanātana... Six Gosvāmīs: Rūpa Gosvāmī, Sanātana Gosvāmī, Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, Jīva Gosvāmī. So Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, he was very rich man's son, and he was youngest. All the Gosvāmīns used to treat him as younger brother.\nSo he's writing his realization, that vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yogam. This bhakti-yogam, devotional service, is..., another name is vairāgya-vidyā. Vairāgya-vidyā means... Vairāgya means renunciation. We are now caught up by this material body, and we have to get out. So this process of getting out is noncooperation. That is called vairāgya-vidyā.\nSo Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī says that \"I was unwilling to accept this vairāgya-vidyā, but He forced me to take it.\" And... Apāyayan mām anabhīpsum andham: \"Because I was blind, I thought that this material world is everything. Therefore I was blind. And therefore I was unwilling also.\" People are unwilling to accept the Kṛṣṇa consciousness because they are blind. They do not see actual position of their life. That is the position, conditioned soul. They are busy simply for sense gratification.\nSo vairāgya-vidyā means not sense gratification, but to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanam [Cc. Madhya 19.170]: to satisfy the senses of Kṛṣṇa.\n[“’Bhakti, or devotional service, means engaging all our senses in the service of the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master of all the senses. When the spirit soul renders service unto the Supreme, there are two side effects. One is freed from all material designations, and one’s senses are purified simply by being employed in the service of the Lord.’]\nMaterial life means satisfying our own senses, and vairāgya-vidyā, or devotional service, means satisfying Kṛṣṇa's senses. That's all. What is the difference between material so-called love and Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa love? The difference is, in the material world, both the parties, they are trying to satisfy their own senses. It doesn't matter. When a boy loves a girl or a girl loves a boy, the motive is his or her own sense satisfaction.\nBut the gopīs, their view is... Not only gopīs; all the cowherds boys, Mother Yaśodā, Nanda Mahārāja, the Vṛndāvana party. So all of them ready to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa, when He was a boy, His father was arranging for Indra-yajña. Kṛṣṇa said, \"My dear father, there is no need of arranging for Indra-yajña. Better you offer these materials to Govardhana Hill.\"\nThe father answered, \"My dear boy, if You want to offer some sacrifice to the Govardhana Hill, I shall arrange for another yajña. So this is our custom. We are observing this traditionally. So let us perform this.\" Kṛṣṇa said, \"No, there is no need.\" The old man immediately rejected, \"All right. Kṛṣṇa, to satisfy Kṛṣṇa.\" The old tradition immediately gave up. And Indra saw, \"Oh, this boy is so impudent, He has stopped my yajña. All right, I shall teach something.\" [chuckles]\nSo there was torrents of rain, heavy rain, for seven days in Vṛndāvana, and Kṛṣṇa took up that Govardhana Hill on the little finger of His left hand and kept it for seven days in this way. [referring to picture in book] Where is that Govardhana Hill? Is that Govardhana Hill? No.",
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"content": "\n Inside.",
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"content": "\nInside, yes. No, no. No, there is no need. Yes. So Kṛṣṇa is so powerful that even when He was seven years old He could raise the hill, Govardhana Hill, on the top of His little finger, left hand, like this.\nSo we worship such kind of God. Yes. Who can... [chuckles] We don't want petty Gods. You see. We want God like that. Yes. When He was on the lap of His mother and the Pūtanā came to kill Him by sucking her breast, so Kṛṣṇa sucked her breast and life both. This is Kṛṣṇa. God is not made, manufactured, that by meditation one becomes God. \"First of all he was dog; now he has become God.\" It is not like that. God is God from the very beginning, always God. Whether He is a small baby or He's young man or... God never becomes old man.\nSo Kṛṣṇa showed all these demonstration just to attract us, just to let us know what is God. You are puzzled about God; you are speculating. Somebody is saying, \"There is no God.\" Somebody is saying, \"There is this, there is that.\" But here is actual God. So you see. And if you want God, then, \"Come on. I have come to take you back, back to home, back to Godhead.\"\nSo this same thing is still going on. If you want to go to God, you can go. There is no hindrance. But if you want at all, then there is way, this Bhagavad-gītā. And the way is very simple. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ [Bg. 18.66].\n[Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.]\nSimply you become surrendered to Kṛṣṇa and always pray to Kṛṣṇa. Just like Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura prays, hā hā prabhu nanda-suta, vṛṣabhānu-sutā-yuta: \"My dear Lord Kṛṣṇa, the son of Mahārāja Nanda, now You are standing before me with Rādhārāṇī, the daughter of Vṛṣabhānu.\"\nHā hā prabhu nanda-suta, vṛṣabhānu-suta..., karuṇā karoho ei-bāro: \"Many lives I have wasted in this material encagement. Life after life, I was frustrated and baffled. Now, this life I am dedicated unto You.\" Hā hā prabhu nanda-suta, vṛṣabhānu, karuṇā karoho ei: \"Now You become merciful. You are already merciful, but due to my forgetfulness, rebellious condition of life, I did not surrender unto You. Now I have come to my senses,\" bahūnāṁ janmanām ante [Bg. 7.19]\n[After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.]\n\"after many, many births. So I surrender unto You. Please give me Your protection.\" This much. That's all. There is no necessity.... Of course, not in the beginning, but actually, one who has surrendered to Kṛṣṇa fully, without any reservation, his life is perfect. That's all.\nSo keep this attitude of surrendering and then everything will come perfection. And this remembrance also will be kept by chanting the mantra, Hare Kṛṣṇa. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. [end]",
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"content": "\n\n...nija-bhakti-yoga-\nśikṣārtham ekaḥ puruṣaḥ purāṇaḥ\nśrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya-śarīra-dhārī\nkṛpāmbudhir yas tam ahaṁ prapadye\n[Cc. Madhya 6.254]\n[”Let me take shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who has descended in the form of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu to teach us real knowledge, His devotional service and detachment from whatever does not foster Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He has descended because He is an ocean of transcendental mercy. Let me surrender unto His lotus feet.]\n[break] This is a prayer offering to Lord Caitanya. The central figure, dancing, a boy about eighteen years old, He introduced this movement, saṅkīrtana movement, being compassionate with the fallen souls of this age. He recommended..., He recommended from the authorized scriptures, not that He manufactured.\nNowadays it has become a fashion to manufacture a certain type or system of religious or yoga principle. Caitanya Mahāprabhu did not do that. What He introduced, that is recommended in the scriptures, that \"In this age, for spiritual realization, one may simply chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa.\"\n\"Kṛṣṇa\" means God. If you have got any other name for God, you can chant that also. It is not that you have to chant \"Kṛṣṇa.\" But \"Kṛṣṇa\" means God. The word meaning of Kṛṣṇa means \"all-attractive.\" Kṛṣṇa, from His beauty, all-attractive. From His strength, He's all-attractive. From His philosophy, He's all-attractive. From His renunciation, He's all-attractive. From His fame, He's all-attractive. Five thousand years before, Kṛṣṇa spoke this Bhagavad-gītā; still going strong. He is so famous.\nAnd Kṛṣṇa claims that sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya [Bg. 14.4].\n[It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kuntī, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father.]\nMost of you must have read Bhagavad-gītā, and in the Fourteenth Chapter you'll find that Kṛṣṇa says, \"My dear Arjuna, in all species of life there may be as many varieties of forms.\" We are all living entity. Here even, even in human society, we have got different types of form. Nobody will be exactly like the form of other gentleman. There is difference. So this is the beauty of creation. If you go to a tree, there are millions and billions of leaves, and you won't find one leaf exactly like the other.\nSo there are varieties of living entities. Out of the varieties of the living entities, the human kind living entities are very small. From śāstra, from scripture, we understand that there are 8,400,000 species of life—8,400,000 species of life. Out of that, aquatics, water animals or water-living entities, are 900,000.\nThe botanist or the physiologist, how many they have seen or how many they have experimented or how many we have seen? But from the śāstra, from the Vedic scriptures, we find that there are 900,000's of species of life in the water, and 2,000,000 species of life in the botanical department. Similarly, there are birds, there are beasts, there are four-legged animals, and at last, the human beings.\nThe human life is considered to be the developed form of all species of life. Darwin's theory also, some idea, gives some idea. I think he might have taken this idea from Vedic literature. But the gradual evolution is recommended, is, I mean to say, mentioned in the Vedic literature that from aquatic to plant life, then worms' life, then birds' life, then animal life... There are thirty-three hundred thousands of animal life.\nSo at last this human form of life. And the human form of life, there are many species, some of them civilized, some of them not civilized. Some of them have no religion. But we can know from the history of human civilization that any civilized nation, it doesn't matter whether he's Christian, whether he's Muhammadan or he's Hindu or Buddhist—there is some type of religion.\nSo in the Vedic literature [it] says that without religion, without accepting religion... Dharmeṇa hīnāḥ paśubhiḥ samānāḥ [Hitopadeśa].\n[Both animals and men share the activities of eating, sleeping, mating and defending. But the special property of the humans is that they are able to engage in spiritual life. Therefore without spiritual life, humans are on the level of animals.]\nIf in some society there is no religion... Religion means to abide by the laws of the Supreme. That is religion. It doesn't matter whether it is Christian religion or Muhammadan religion or Hindu religion, religion means... Just like citizen, good citizen. Good citizen means who abides by the law of the state.\nIt doesn't matter what he is. Similarly anyone, either he may be Christian or may be Muhammadan or may be Hindu, that doesn't matter. Anyone who accepts the Supreme Lord, God, and abides by the laws of God, or laws of nature, he's called religionist or an advanced human being.\nBut Kṛṣṇa says, \"Either advanced or not advanced, that doesn't matter. It is a kind of dress only. But I am the father.\" Ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā [Bg. 14.4].\n[It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kuntī, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father.]\nJust like father is the seed-giving agent into the womb of the mother, and then the child, baby, comes out... Without the combination of father and mother, there is no possibility of generation. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa says that \"In all species of life, the living entities, I am the seed-giving father, and this material nature is the mother.\"\nNobody can deny it. Because our this body... Just like the child's body is made by the mother. Father gives the opportunity to develop the body, and the mother supplies the ingredients for developing the body. Similarly, God impregnates, God impregnates material nature with the living entities, and they come out in different form: aquatics, birds, beasts, animals, trees, plants, vegetables—so many. And Kṛṣṇa says that \"I am the father of all of them.\"\nSo my request to you, that don't accept Kṛṣṇa as something Indian god or Hindu god. No. Kṛṣṇa is the original father of all living entities. He claims. If you don't accept... If the father says, \"You are my son,\" and the son says, \"No, I am not your son,\" oh, that is son's prerogative. He may deny it if he doesn't believe his mother. Now what is the proof that one man is my father? The mother is the proof.\nThere is no other source of understanding who is my father. If a boy wants to understand, \"Who is my father?\" the only authority is the mother. Mother will say, \"My dear boy, my dear child, here is your father,\" you have to accept. If you say, \"I don't accept. I must have proof that he is my father,\" how it is possible? It is not possible.\nSimilarly, the Vedic literature is to be considered the mother, and Vedic literature says, janmādy asya yataḥ [SB 1.1.1]: \"The Supreme Absolute Truth is that who is the source of all generation, all emanations.\" And what is that source? Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that \"I am the father.\" So if you believe scriptures, Vedic literatures, if you believe Bhagavad-gītā, then you have to accept Kṛṣṇa as the supreme father, because the mother...\nVedic literature is considered to be the mother. She gives evidence that Kṛṣṇa is the father. Just like mother gives evidence who is your father, similarly, the Vedic literatures is compared to a mother, and the Vedic literature says that Kṛṣṇa is the father.\nIn your Christian literature, Bible, Jesus Christ is accepted as the son of God. He presented himself as son of God. And here Kṛṣṇa says that \"I am the father.\" So there is no contradiction. The son of God also says about God, and the father also says about the God, Himself. The son of God says that \"You surrender unto God,\" and God says, \"You surrender unto Me.\" Then where there is contradiction? There is no contradiction.\nSo Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's movement is to understand the father. It is nothing new; it is old—but in a new process, convenient for the people of this age. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam [Cc. Antya 20.12].\n[”’Let there be all victory for the chanting of the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṇa, which can cleanse the mirror of the heart and stop the miseries of the blazing fire of material existence. That chanting is the waxing moon that spreads the white lotus of good fortune for all living entities. It is the life and soul of all education. The chanting of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa expands the blissful ocean of transcendental life. It gives a cooling effect to everyone and enables one to taste full nectar at every step.’]\nWe have forgotten our father. We have forgotten God. The modern civilization, wherever you go, they say that \"We are secular state.\" Secular state. Secular state means without knowing who is the father of the mankind. That is secular state. But the Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, a great logician during the time of Lord Caitanya, he was also godless. And generally, the so-called learned philosophers, scientist, or so-called educated, they deny the existence of God. They depend more or less on their experimental knowledge of science.\nBut actually, the fact is that there is God. There is God. In every religion they accept there is God, and actually, the fact is there is God. In the Vedic literatures it is accepted, janmādy asya yataḥ [SB 1.1.1]. And in the Bhagavad-gītā it is clearly said by Kṛṣṇa that \"I am the father.\" Not only one place, in many other places.\nI am especially referring to the Bhagavad-gītā because most of you, you are acquainted with the study of Bhagavad-gītā. Similarly, in the Tenth Chapter you'll find, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ: \"I am the origin of everything.\" Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate: \"Whatever you see, that is from Me.\" Iti...\nahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo\nmattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate\niti matvā bhajante māṁ\nbudhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ\n[Bg. 10.8]\n[I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who know this perfectly engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.]\nOne who understands this perfectly... One has to understand. It is not that you blindly follow something. One has to understand. So Kṛṣṇa says, \"One who has understood that I am the origin of everything...\" Budhā. Budhā means one who is learned. Bhāva-samanvitāḥ. Bhāva-samanvitāḥ means \"with thoughts.\" Not that whimsically or sentimentally to accept something, but with thought. \"With thoughtful attitude or mood, one who has understood this fact,\" budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ, \"he worships Me.\" These things are there.\nSo Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, he was a great logician. He was unfaithful. Not... He was moralist, but he had no faith in God, or impersonalist. There are many persons who have faith in something superior or absolute, but they do not believe in the personal nature of God. But here, from the Bhagavad-gītā, we can clearly understand, from Bhāgavata we can clearly understand, from Vedānta philosophy we clearly understand that God is person, a person like you and me.\nTake, for example, in the Vedānta-sūtra, the first aphorism is janmādy asya yataḥ [SB 1.1.1]. The first sūtra is athāto brahma jijñāsā: \"Now you have to understand what is Brahman, or what is the Absolute Truth.\" The next aphorism is, immediately, that \"The Absolute Truth is that from whom everything emanates, the original source of all emanation.\" Janmādy asya yataḥ. Janma. Janma means birth. Ādi means etcetera. But janma, where there is birth, there is death and there is existence. Whenever there is birth, you must know there is death also. There is not a single instance you have got experience where birth is possible and death is not possible.\nThis material world is going on in that way: birth, then existence, then development, then by-product, then dwindling, then vanishing. Six changes, everything. Either take your this body or a fruit or a flower, anything material you take, these six changes are there. First of all birth, then growth, then existence, then by-product, then dwindling, then vanishing. Six changes. Everything. Either take your this body or a fruit or a flower, anything material you take, these six changes are there: first of all birth, then growth, then existence, then by-product, then dwindling and then vanishing.\nSo Vedānta-sūtra says, janmādy asya yataḥ. The original source of birth, the source of maintenance, the source of growth, the source of development and the source of dwindling, and after all, vanishing, or the conservation of the vanishing elements, everything is the Supreme Brahman.\nSo this janmādy asya śloka has been interpreted in various ways, but the most important commentator is Vyāsadeva. He's the original writer of Vedānta-sūtras. Not only he's the writer of Vedānta-sūtra, he's the writer of all Vedic literature. Vedic literature means four Vedas: Sāma, Atharva, Yajur and Ṛk. And from the Vedas, there are Upaniṣads.\nThere are 108 Upaniṣads. And there are Purāṇas. Purāṇas means those who will not understand the Vedic aphorism and the Upaniṣads, statement of the Upaniṣads, for them, for ordinary men, there are many stories. The stories are concluded with the Vedānta-sūtra.\nThen there is Mahābhārata. You have heard all these names. Mahābhārata, the history, history of Indian royalty. The Mahābhārata is the history of fighting between two groups of royal family, the Pāṇḍavas and the Kurus. And in that Mahābhārata you'll find all kinds of sociology, politics, religion and military science.\nEverything is complete there. And in that Mahābhārata is put this Bhagavad-gītā. The Bhagavad-gītā is only a portion of the Mahābhārata. This was also written by Vyāsadeva. But at last, he was not satisfied. Or even after writing so many big literatures, he was not satisfied.\nSo one day he was sitting very morose, and in the same time, his spiritual master, Nārada, came to see him. Because Nārada is not an ordinary spiritual master. He could understand that \"My disciple is sitting morose. So I must go there and give him some encouragement, because he's a great personality. He is giving human society so many nice things, but he's not very happy in his mood. So I shall go and give him some encouragement.\"\nSo I am reading from the Bhāgavata this, I mean to say, introduction, how Bhāgavata was compiled by Vyāsadeva. I am reading that chapter. This is the First Canto, Fifth Chapter. So when his spiritual master, Nārada, came... It is the custom of disciple to receive him, and to give him nice seat and offer obeisances, and then talk on different subject matters. So when Nārada came, Vyāsadeva offered him good seat, and..., comfortable seat, and offered his obeisances. Then Nārada is preaching to him. He saw his disciple Vyāsadeva very much morose. So he's asking,\npārāśarya mahā-bhāga\nbhavataḥ kaccid ātmanā\nparituṣyati śārīra\nātmā mānasa eva vā\n[SB 1.5.2]\n[Addressing Vyāsadeva, the son of Parāśara, Nārada inquired: Are you satisfied by identifying the body or the mind as objects of self-realization?]\n\"My dear Vyāsadeva, I see that you are not very happy. But I am asking you question, whether a person becomes ever-happy who has accepted this body as self or the mind as self?\"\nThere are two classes of men in the material world—I mean to say intelligent class. I am not speaking of the ordinary class of men. Those who are interested in knowledge, in higher thoughts, in philosophy, in religion, ethics, morality... So many things there are. In science, in literature... So Vyāsadeva is everything in one person. And he has written so many books, as I have described.\nNow Nārada is asking him, \"My dear Pārāśarya...\" Pārāśarya means Vyāsadeva was the son of Parāśara. His father's name was Parāśara; therefore he's addressing him, pārāśarya mahā-bhāga. Mahā-bhāga: \"You are very fortunate. You have got the opportunity of doing the best service to the humanity by presenting such important literature. Therefore you are mahā-bhāga.\"\n[break] the human society is not ordinary task. And it is not possible for any ordinary man. All great men or great, I mean to say, personality who has appeared on this earth and rendered great service to the humanity, they are still remembered. Just like in your country, President Washington, he rendered very valuable service to your country.\nHe's still remembered. Recently, President Kennedy. He's still remembered. Similarly, those persons who have dedicated their life for the welfare of the human society, they are not ordinary men. Therefore he is addressed as mahā-bhāga, the most fortunate personality, because he dedicated his life for the good of the humanity.\nThe greater man is engaged for the service to the humanity, he is considered the great man. Similarly, Lord Caitanya, He also renounced this world. You see His feature is just eighteen years to twenty years boy. And after this movement, saṅkīrtana movement, at Navadvīpa during His householder life... He was married at the age of seventeen years.\nSo He was considered to be a householder. And His first wife died at the age of twenty years. Then His mother requested to marry again. So He married again, at the age of twenty years. And..., but He took sannyāsa at the age of twenty-four years.\nHe renounced the order, or, I mean to say, household life, in twenty-four..., when He was only twenty-four years old. His wife was only sixteen years old, and His mother was about seventy years old. But He still He took sannyāsa. Why? For the good of the humanity. He was very well-to-do, He was brāhmaṇa, He was learned, and He had many followers, and still, when He saw that \"If I remain a householder, and they will not care for My instruction,\" therefore He was obliged to accept the sannyāsa order. Because in India, the system is that sannyāsī, renounced order, a gentleman in renounced order, he is accepted as spiritual instructor.\nSo this Caitanya Mahāprabhu was so dedicated His life for the whole humanity. In His preaching there is clear statement why He was preaching this movement all over India. He instructed every Indian. The exact verse in Bengali language is said,\nbhārata-bhūmite haila manuṣya-janma yāra\njanma sārthaka kari' kara para-upakāra\n[Cc. Ādi 9.41]\n[”One who has taken his birth as a human being in the land of India [Bhārata-varṣa] should make his life successful and work for the benefit of all other people.]\nHe ordered that anyone who has taken his birth in India as a human form of life, he must take up this responsibility of preaching this saṅkīrtana movement all over the world to do the best service to the humanity. That is His order. To do the best service to the humanity. He was so much compassionate with the human society. So by His grace, His philosophy, His teachings are now being spread in the Western countries. And I have taken up the humble responsibility. Please help me. You will be happy. It is such a nice movement.\nSo Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He was also humanitarian. He's not a religionist. He was not meant for preaching a particular cult to gather some followers. No. It is the need of the human society, and He wanted to preach all over the world. Because it was not possible at that time, in His time. He lived only for forty-eight years.\nHe took sannyāsa at the age of twenty-four years, and He passed away in... Twenty-four years He was very busy all over India. Therefore He left His legacy to the Indians, any Indian, to take up this cause and preach this cult of saṅkīrtana movement all over the world.\nSo I shall request you to understand the philosophy of Caitanya Mahāprabhu and His movement. We have got already six centers; five centers in your country. I started first in 1966, July, in New York. Then I started in San Francisco, then Boston, then at Montreal. Of course, I did not go everywhere.\nThese boys, the sincere boys and girls who are helping me, who have joined this movement, they are doing. This center was started also by one boy. I have come for the first time here. Now I will request you that this movement is nothing sectarian or anything bluff. It is the movement as the necessity of the human society. You join it; you consider it; you put your logic, arguments. In every way, you'll find that this is the necessity of the present day.\nSo not only one center in Los Angeles, but you open centers in every village, every country, every home. And the process is very simple. You chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and dance in ecstasy and everything will come within yourself gradually. Everything will come. You'll practically feel how you are becoming reformed. There is no need of wasting time.\nThis Hare Kṛṣṇa movement can be done at home, outside home, when you are working, when you are walking, every moment. So try to understand this movement and try to follow it. It is not sectarian; it is the need. I shall discuss all these points gradually. If you kindly come and attend our classes, I shall be very much thankful.\nThank you very much. If there is any question, you can ask.\nYes? [pause] Any question?\nYes?",
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"content": "\n What should you be thinking about when you're chanting?",
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"content": "\n Beg your pardon?",
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"content": "\n What should you be thinking of when you're chanting...\n What should you be thinking about when you're chanting? What do you think about when you're chanting?",
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"content": "\n Chanting? You simply hear. When you say \"Hare Kṛṣṇa,\" you try to hear the very sound, \"Hare Kṛṣṇa.\" That's all. Nothing more. This is meditation. Your tongue and your ear should be engaged in sounding this transcendental vibration, \"Hare Kṛṣṇa.\" Best meditation. This is also accepted in Bhagavad-gītā: the best meditation. You don't keep your mind elsewhere.\nYou keep your mind on the chanting. \"Hare Kṛṣṇa,\" and hear. So this is responsive. When I was chanting, you were hearing; when you were chanting, I was hearing. So it is exchange. I hear your chanting, you hear my chanting. This is the process. So there is no possibility of thinking anything else. Best and the easiest type of meditation. Fully. Actually. You at once become on the transcendental plane. Therefore we feel dancing. You see?\nSo practice it and you'll see how spiritually you are making advancement. And it is very simple. When you are walking on the street, you can chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. There is no tax. There is no expenditure. There is no loss. But the gain is very great. Why don't you try it? If without any loss, without any expenditure, you gain something, the supermost sublime thing, spiritual realization, why don't you try for it?\nWe are not asking any money. We are not asking $250 for paying for hearing. No. It is freely distributed. Please take it and try it. Make an experiment. There is no business here. You simply chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and try to hear the sound, that's all. Nothing more.\n[pause] Any other question?",
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"content": "\n I have a question. I was wondering why Kṛṣṇa is always portrayed as being blue.",
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"content": "\n Why the sky is blue? Can you explain?",
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"content": "\n Because the sky is blue?",
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"content": "\n Yes, why the sky is blue? First of all, you try to explain this. This is you are seeing every day. Can you explain? You don't? You cannot? Sky is blue! That's all. Therefore it is blue. Kṛṣṇa is blue; therefore He's blue. [laughter]",
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"content": "\n But His consort, His consort is not blue.",
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"content": "\n Sky is the reflection of Kṛṣṇa's bodily effulgence; therefore it is blue. Just like if the cover of the light is blue or, I mean to say, red, the radiance also becomes... Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is blue. It is described in the Vedic literature,\nveṇuṁ kvaṇantam aravinda-dalāyatākṣaṁ\nbarhāvataṁsam asitāmbuda-sundarāṅgam\n[Bs. 5.30]\n[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is adept in playing on His flute, with blooming eyes like lotus petals with head decked with peacock's feather, with the figure of beauty tinged with the hue of blue clouds, and His unique loveliness charming millions of Cupids.]\nGod's bodily hue is just like bluish cloud. But it is very beautiful. These are not imagination. They are taken from Vedic literatures. So His bodily luster is like that. Therefore He is blue. It is not that we have painted blue by imagination. No. It is authoritative.\nVenum kvanantum [Bs. 5.30]. He is always engaged... He is God, therefore He is always enjoying, playing flute. Oh, He hasn't got to do anything, and there is stated in the Vedic literature,\nparāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate\nsvābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca\n[Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8]\n[The Supreme Lord has nothing to do. Nothing is equal to Him or greater than Him. He acts in different phases by manifesting His parts and parcels, which are all simultaneously differently situated by His unlimited, variegated potencies. Each potency acts quite naturally in sequences, providing Him full knowledge, power and pastimes.]\nGod has nothing to do, work. Under what kind of body that He has to work? This is Vedic literature. Parāsya śaktir. He has got immense energies; they are doing everything. Just like a big man, a rich man, he is sitting silently in his room, but his assistants, his secretaries, his managers, they are doing everything. You will find Kṛṣṇa always in enjoyment. Ānanda-mayo 'bhyāsāt [Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12].\n[By nature, the Supreme Lord is blissful.]\nThese are Vedānta-sūtra. He is jolly by His nature. And if we associate with Him, then we become jolly. We are also part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Now we are materially encumbered; therefore we have to transfer any of this material encumbrancy to spiritual life. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.\nSo Kṛṣṇa is blue because He is described in the Vedic literature as such.",
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"content": "\nIf we were in Kṛṣṇa's abode at one time, why is it necessary that we come here?",
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"content": "\nHmm?",
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"content": "\nI said if we were with Kṛṣṇa before, why is it that we're here now?",
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"content": "\nWhy you are here now?",
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"content": "\nYeah.",
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"content": "\nWhy you are here now, in this store?",
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"content": "\nI was born.",
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"content": "\nNo, I mean to say in this room.",
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"content": "\n To learn.",
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"content": "\n To learn. So that is your choice. You have come to learn here. So you have got little independence. Because you are part and parcel of Supreme, the Supreme has got complete independence. Therefore the independence quality is there also in you. Just like gold: the particle of gold is also gold. Similarly, because you are particle of Kṛṣṇa, so you have got all the qualities in minute quantity, although you have got all the qualities of Kṛṣṇa.\nAs Kṛṣṇa is..., God is fully independent, therefore you want to be independent. Your inclusion is to always to remain independent. But you have been conditioned. You have been conditioned. When you regain your spiritual life, you also become as independent as Kṛṣṇa.\nSo that independence, when we want to imitate Kṛṣṇa by misusing our independence, then we are given the chance of so-called material enjoyment in this material world. [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/710628da-san-francisco/
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"content": "\n[sounds of devotees entering, offering obeisances, chanting japa]\n ...girls? Jayānanda, how are you? So you are married now? Eh? So where is your marriage presentation?",
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"content": "\n Pardon?",
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"content": "\n When you are not yet married, you gave me five thousand dollars. Now you are married, you must give me now ten thousand. Double.\nCome on. Come on. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Anyone who has got [indistinct]. Where is your brother?",
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"content": "\n I think he is in London.",
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"content": "\n What he is doing now?",
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"content": "\n Building the Ratha-yātrā carts.",
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"content": "\n Ohh.",
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"content": "\n For the festival.",
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"content": "\n Oh, yes, you are Nara-nārāyaṇa's brother. [devotees enter and pay obeisances] Hare Kṛṣṇa. Come on. Nara-nārāyaṇa is very nice boy. Everything is all right? Where is your center? Come on.",
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"content": "\n Tucson.",
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"content": "\n Where?",
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"content": "\n Tucson, Arizona.",
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"content": "\n Oh. [more devotees enter] Come on. How is Govinda dāsī?",
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"content": "\n She is improving.",
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"content": "\n Anyone shall [indistinct].\n[more devotees enter]\nCome on. Śyāmasundara inaugurated this Ratha-yātrā here. You know? I advised him to perform Ratha-yātrā on a motorcar, and that was the first Ratha-yātrā. Then gradually it came to car, now it is three. It is very nice. We are improving. More improve, more and more. Your prasādam this year, I think it is not sufficiently distributed. Why?",
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"content": "\n Not sufficient amount, you mean?",
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"content": "\n Eh?",
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"content": "\n Not sufficient menu?",
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"content": "\n Yes. In previous year... Anyone? Everyone you have got? All right. So this is the difference. I have been in Moscow. So there is... I couldn't find this. I could not eat fruit. Now your country, Kṛṣṇa has given so nice, you see, so nice flowers, and so nice Vaiṣṇavas. And that country is very proud of advancing, but there is no fruit, there is no flower, there is no Vaiṣṇava and there is no freedom. And this is the... They are proud. You see? \"We are advanced.\" This is the...\nThere is a story, one worshiper of Durgā... In Bengal, they worship Durgā-mātā. So it is a story, the Durgā-mātā, the Goddess Durgā, is asking the devotee, \"My dear boy, you are happy?\" \"Yes, mother, I am very happy. Simply two things wanting.\" \"What is this?\" \"I have no food, I have no clothing.\" Just see.\nThis is story, just try to understand, that \"I am happy, but two things wanting: no food, no clothing.\" You see? But is that happiness—no food, no clothing? Similarly, this Russian country, they are very much proud of advancement, but no food sufficient and no freedom. No food and no freedom, that's all. This is the sum and substance.\nSo in your country also that position may come. Now in America you are happy. Because the nature is changing. Jagat. Jagat means which is changing. So before any further changes come, you spread this Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over your country. You see? Utilize these fruits and flowers for Kṛṣṇa and be happy. Don't slip down. You see? That is my request. Whatever I could do, I have done. Now it is up to you to spread this movement all over the world. Don't go away. You see? There is some tendency, somebody. Therefore, I ask you, no. You see?\nThis is all nonsense. This is māyā's peeping, \"Why you are working so hard for a sentiment, chanting and dancing? Come on, take to service and be happy with your wife and children.\" This is māyā. This is māyā. I did not ask my students to marry to become a lost child. I wanted to give them some facility, because you cannot do without wife. But now I am seeing that some of them are slipping away. This is not to be done. No.\nEvery one of us as good as sannyāsī, because we have sacrificed everything for Kṛṣṇa. Sannyāsī does not mean simply having no wife and children, he's a sannyāsī. No. Nothing to possess except Kṛṣṇa. That is sannyāsī. One should know that \"I will have simply Kṛṣṇa, nothing more.\" Then he is sannyāsī. This mentality, that \"I have nothing to serve; I have nobody to serve except Kṛṣṇa.\" But if you serve Kṛṣṇa, you will serve everyone.\nJust like I was teaching this Indian gentleman. The same process: If you pour water on the root of the tree, automatically the branches, the leaves and the flowers are all served. If you put the foodstuff here, not here, not here, then automatically this is served. Although the foodstuff is here, automatically this is served, this is served, this is served, this is... Everybody served. This is practical. If you serve Kṛṣṇa, then all service will be included. They are serving humanitarian and so on.\nSuppose I, I am Indian, I came to your country. Why I came to your country in this old age? That is service. To give Kṛṣṇa conscious, that's the best service. Without any distinction of caste, creed, country, color. No. Everyone should have Kṛṣṇa. This is the best service. Go everywhere, every part of the world, and give Kṛṣṇa. That is the best service you can do.\nAnd actually, they are now feeling, because they are Indians. Even in India, where there are so many devotees of Kṛṣṇa, but when they saw \"These American devotees are so nice,\" thirty thousand people were coming daily. And what was our magic? This man was asking me, \"Swāmījī, what magic you have got?\" And \"I have got this magic: that I don't tell lie. I don't make 'This rascal is God.' God is Kṛṣṇa. That is my magic. I don't bluff people. Here is God. See God, be with God, serve God. That's my business.\"\nWhy God should be unseen? You see Kṛṣṇa. If Kṛṣṇa says..., Kṛṣṇa says that \"I am taste of the water,\" while you are drinking water, tasting, \"Oh, here is Kṛṣṇa.\" As soon as you see sunshine, moonshine, \"Oh, here is Kṛṣṇa.\" As soon as there is a nice flavor, \"Oh, here is Kṛṣṇa.\" Puṇyo gandhaḥ pṛthivyāṁ ca tejaś cāsmi vibhāvasau [Bg. 7.9]. These are all described in the Bhagavad-gītā, Seventh Chapter. Where is Bhagavad-gītā? Just turn to Seventh Chapter. Somebody come up to this.\nSo it is very important movement. You take it very seriously and spread it. Seventh Chapter. Read it.",
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"content": "\n \"O son of Kuntī (Arjuna), I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and the moon, the syllable oṁ in the Vedic mantras. I am the sound in ether.\"",
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"content": "\nNow, who is not drinking water? The taste of water is Kṛṣṇa, so who has not seen Kṛṣṇa? They say, \"Can you show me God?\" If you don't see God, then who will show you? Here is God, you are drinking water. Here is God, sunshine. Those who cannot see Kṛṣṇa is God... Because to see Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality God, it requires many, many thousands of years' tapasya to understand Kṛṣṇa.\nBahūnāṁ janmanām ante [Bg. 7.19]. After many, many births, one can understand Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is not so easy. Manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye [Bg. 7.3]. Out of many thousands of men, one may be interested how to make this life perfect. And those who actually attain perfection, out of many thousands of them, one can understand Kṛṣṇa.\nSo to understand Kṛṣṇa is not easy job, easy job. So one who has understood, \"Here is Kṛṣṇa with Rādhārāṇī; let me serve,\" that position is very exalted position. That is not ordinary position. But one who is unfortunate not to come to that position to understand Kṛṣṇa, for them Kṛṣṇa is giving the prescription you see here. You drink water, the taste, now just think, \"Here is Kṛṣṇa.\" In this way, if you think of Kṛṣṇa in your daily activities, then one day you will be able to understand what is Kṛṣṇa.\nActually, Kṛṣṇa is everything, because whatever... This table is also Kṛṣṇa, because it is a manifestation of Kṛṣṇa's energy. Bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ buddhir mano eva ca [Bg. 7.4]. What is the ingredient of this table? Earth, water, air, fire. Kṛṣṇa says, \"That is My manifestation of My energy.\" Just like if the sun-god says, \"I am everything of this matter,\" it is a fact, because through the sunshine everything is coming out.\nAs soon as there is no sunshine, no more trees, no more foliage. Why? It is due to sunshine all these trees are existing. So if I say everything is sunshine, what is the wrong there? Because it is the sun's energy which is maintaining this material world. Similarly, it is Kṛṣṇa's energy that is manifesting everything. So if I say \"This is Kṛṣṇa,\" this is a fact.\nBut Kṛṣṇa says, \"Although everything is resting in Me, still I am not there.\" Mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni nāhaṁ teṣv avasthitaḥ [Bg. 9.4]. The Māyāvādī philosopher says that \"If Kṛṣṇa is here, then why shall I worship Kṛṣṇa in the temple?\" That is his rascaldom. If Kṛṣṇa is everywhere, why He is not in the temple? But they will be minus, make minus this: \"Kṛṣṇa is not in the temple. Kṛṣṇa is only somewhere else, that's all.\" That is the... Kṛṣṇa says that \"I am in the temple, not anywhere else, although everything I am.\"\nSo these things the foolish rascal people do not understand. Try to make them understand and go on preaching. The sannyāsīs are meant for preaching, and the GBCs are meant for managing. In this way do it. Now you give me relief—I go on writing books, that's all.\nSo Viṣṇujana Mahārāja, your preaching is going on nice?",
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"content": "\n Yes, Prabhupāda.",
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"content": "\n Sannyāsī should be always preaching. Parivrājakācārya. Four stages of sannyāsa: kuṭīcaka, bahūdaka, parivrājaka and paramahaṁsa. In the beginning... Because according to Vedic civilization everyone has to take sannyāsa at a certain age. So as a matter of routine if he takes sannyāsa... Just like this old man, I was asking that \"Now you have children grown up, why don't you take sannyāsa?\" But he is hesitating. Nobody likes, because sannyāsa life is difficult.\nSo first there is kuṭīcaka, means he gives up the connection of the family life, takes sannyāsa officially. But he is not accustomed to maintain himself independently; therefore, he goes out of the village and makes a cottage and lives there. And the foodstuff, the home supply, [indistinct], that is called kuṭīca. Kuṭī means cottage. Then when he is little practiced, then he says family members that \"Don't bring foodstuffs. I shall go to every village man and ask something for my food. I shall depend on them, not on you.\" That is called bahūdaka. Bahū means many. Not accepting food from one place but from many.\nThen when he is prac... Because first problem is problem; when he is practiced, \"Now Kṛṣṇa is giving us food, so why shall I remain in one place? Let me preach.\" That is called parivrājakācārya, when he is preaching. Parivrājaka. Parivrājaka means wandering all over. Then when he is experienced, when his preaching is done, he can sit down in one place. At that time, he can chant simply Hare Kṛṣṇa like Haridāsa Ṭhākura. And if he imitates from the very beginning, he will be spoiled, that's all. Because in the beginning, if I take Hare Kṛṣṇa, then it is [indistinct]. [laughter] Don't do this. Always be busy—first stage, last stage.\nWhen one is paramahaṁsa, just like Haridāsa Ṭhākura, three hundred thousand times, no eating unless he finishes his chanting. No eating, no sleeping. That is another thing. \"I shall eat so much, I shall sleep so much, and I shall do nothing, simply chanting.\" No. That is not recommended by my Guru Mahārāja. He says that \"You are cheating people.\" Tumi kisera vaiṣṇava? There is a song written by Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī: \"What kind of Vaiṣṇava you are?\" Pratiṣṭhāra tare, nirjanera ghare: \"Your chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa in a secluded place,\" kevala kaitava, \"it is simply cheating.\"\nWhat do you know what you are chanting? First of all prepare yourself to come to the stage of perfect chanting. This is sevā. Always be engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service: how to decorate the temple, how to invite people, giving the feast, write books, distribute books and knowledge. In this way don't sit idly. Always be engaged. Always. Just like our Karandhara, he has taken so much responsibility. He is doing. I am very pleased. He is prepared to do the masonry work and building work and distribution of book, accounting.\nIn this way, we shall be always busy. Find out some work. \"I have no work now...\" Of course, the sixteen rounds must be chanted, compulsory. Rest time, simply find out where is Kṛṣṇa's work. Why sixteen rounds? It now takes only two hours; you have got twenty-four hours. What you will do twenty-four hours? You cannot sleep more than six hours, seven hours, that's all. So two hours chanting and seven hours sleeping. Sleeping is a very important thing in your country, but reduce it. You see? As much as you reduce sleeping and eating, you will become advanced.\nThat is the Gosvāmīs, nidrāhāra-vihāra-vijitau [Śrī Ṣaḍ Gosvāmy Aṣṭaka], conquered over sleeping, eating and mating. Because these three..., four things āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithun..., these are material life. The spiritual life means reduction of these things. When it is nil—no more sleeping, no more eating—that is spiritual..., perfection of spiritual life. So we cannot make it nil so long this body is there, but our policy should be like that. Policy should be like that.\nWe shall not eat more, we shall not sleep more, we shall not mate more. Exc... Those who are gṛhasthas, they can have sex life only for producing children, that's all. No more. And those who are sannyāsī, brahmacārī, they have no sex life, there is no question of sex life. Sex life is prohibited. But it is a concession for them who cannot live without sex life. That is married life.\nOtherwise, sex life is not very important thing. Just like there are brahmacārīs, sannyāsīs, they have no sex life. Therefore this sannyāsa, to go out of home by force, that means they avoid sex life, sannyāsa. You see? I think those who have got children, they should take sannyāsa now and preach. That is my idea. Not [indistinct] idea. Because all the great sages, they waited if they are married.\nJust like Kapila Muni..., Kardama, Kardama Muni. Kardama Muni, he was a great yogī. So he was thinking of marrying, so Kṛṣṇa sent him good wife, Devahūti, a king's daughter. So he thought, \"I was thinking of marrying, so Kṛṣṇa has sent. All right, let me marry.\" But he made a condition to her father that \"I can accept your daughter as my wife so long she has no children. As soon as she has children, I shall go away.\" So the father agreed, \"Whatever you like, you can do. I'm just placing my wife in your custody.\" So the sannyāsī..., when there is a child of the wife, I think one can accept sannyāsa. Yes.\nBut preaching is our most important business. People are suffering for want of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, so as representative of Kṛṣṇa, it is our duty to enlighten them, and we should accept all kinds of... But there is no difficulty. Where is the difficulty? I think we are living better than anyone in the world. [laughter] Where is the difficulty? Simply we have to be very sincere devotee of Kṛṣṇa, that's all. Everything Kṛṣṇa will supply. Everything.\nSo in that position, go on preaching. Don't be, I mean to say, tottering. You have taken a great responsibility; go on executing it. Don't fight amongst yourselves for petty things. Go on, advance. Hare Kṛṣṇa. [devotees offer obeisances]\nSo it is... Now we are going to have a great ceremony in India, Māyāpur. They have got... I have purchased one land. I took contribution 25,000 from Birla. I wanted 100,000; he gave me 25,000. That's all right. So with that money I purchased one land. So it is just to be developed, the foundation stone, cornerstone laying down. In India we require another..., altogether at least one hundred men, Americans. So contribute some men from each and every center. We have got fifty centers..., how many centers now?",
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"content": "\n Seventy, I heard.\n Almost sixty. Fifty-eight.",
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"content": "\n So give one man from each center. It doesn't require that he is very advanced. Advancement will be done by training, by practical application in life. If you send from each center one man to India... If you can send more, that's all right. But at least one man. In India we have got many things to do.\nBecause the business in India is important in this respect, that partly due to their subjugation by foreigners, their original culture has been killed. Just like in India, they did not know drinking tea, drinking wine, meat-eating, illicit sex. They did not know. Even fifty, a hundred years before, they did not know. These Britishers, in order to control them, very silently introduced all these things.\nI know in our childhood, this drinking of tea was unknown to any family. You see? Meat-eating, there was no question. Just like in my life, I do not know what is meat-eating, do not know womanizing[?] or illicit sex life, because they are trained in that way. So due to foreign domination, they were killed; and after Independence, these rascal leaders, they are killing it: \"What is the wrong in meat-eating? What is the wrong in drinking?\" They are canvassing: \"Eat chickens, eat eggs.\" This is going on.\nSo at the present moment there is great propaganda from the side of the government and others to kill India's original culture. So when Americans go there and preach and they see, \"Oh, so nice Vaiṣṇava, so nice devotee and so pure,\" they will become attracted, \"Oh,\" because that is their original culture. At heart they want to do that, but by artificial means they are being forced to accept something else. So when they see these foreigners and Americans so...\nAnd government is not very favorable of my movement there, because it is natural, when the Americans they exhibit a nice, pure Vaiṣṇava, they come attracted. Just like in Calcutta and Bombay, what was there? The same Deity was and saṅkīrtana was there, and I was speaking say for a half an hour. But why these forty thousand, thirty thousand people were coming? They were coming to see, \"Oh, how Americans have taken to this life[?].\" That is their surprise. They are giving credit only for that purpose. This man also.\nSo there is good chance of preaching in India in this respect. We want some men to preach there. It will be great work. So I think in each center, from each center you can contribute one man, and some of you leaders may go. There are already; organize. People are very much attracted. They are wanting..., giving us money, they want to give us place, there is no scarcity of food, there is no question.\nBut this Immigration Department, they will harass. But we have to manage somehow or other. We shall have to keep always at least one hundred men in India. So how to do it, that we will consider and do it. That's all. Hare Kṛṣṇa. [devotees offer obeisances] Now chalk out your plan how to preach nicely all over the world.\nSo Viṣṇujana Maharaja, how many centers?",
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"content": "\n Just two.",
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"content": "\n Two, that's all right. You have to do another eight. [laughter] Yes. That's nice. Go on. [break]",
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"content": "\n So do you want to give gṛhastha authorization to take sannyāsa as soon as possible?",
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"content": "\n That I tell you; not immediately. But our main business is preaching. Either do it as a gṛhastha or as sannyāsī, it does not matter. This is only formality. The real work is preaching. Just like Rāmānanda Rāya was a gṛhastha and Lord Caitanya was a sannyāsī, but He was taking lesson from Rāmānanda Rāya. This is Caitanya-līlā. He is a sannyāsī, and He is God Himself, He is taking lesson from a grhastha who is His disciple. So the real thing is preaching must go on sincerely. This gṛhastha, vānaprastha, these are material regulative principles. Real life is Kṛṣṇa's service. That we have to do. That's all.\nSo whatever position is suitable for you, you accept. You remain as a gṛhastha, remain as sannyāsī, remain as brahmacārī, as it becomes suitable for you, but preach. That is the main business. If you lacking in preaching and become a sannyāsī, what is the use of sannyāsa? Better... A gṛhastha is better. Just like I asked Gaurasundara to go to Hawaii. He was just a boy, but he did. Now there is center, nice.\nSo I'm very glad. So you are also doing like that. It doesn't matter whether gṛhastha. Karandhara is gṛhastha. But we have to serve Kṛṣṇa very nicely. That is our main criterion. So we have to see in what position I can serve better Kṛṣṇa. That is our policy. Otherwise, either gṛhastha or sannyāsī, there's no difference.\nCaitanya Mahāprabhu says,\nkibā vipra, kibā śūdra, nyāsī kene naya\nyei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā, sei 'guru' haya\n[Cc. Madhya 8.128]\nPreaching work is for the guru. So Kṛṣṇa... ,Caitanya Mahāprabhu says it doesn't matter whether he is a gṛhastha or vānaprastha or a brāhmaṇa or śūdra. It doesn't matter. If he knows what is Kṛṣṇa consciousness and preaches, then he is guru. That's all. So we have to become like that. It doesn't matter what we are, but whether I am preaching nicely, that is required. But still there is some regulative principles like \"Sannyāsī and brahmacārī will be like this,\" \"Gṛhastha will be like this.\" That is the external. But main business is preaching.\nSo you have got good opportunity, you have got good name, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement; it is being appreciated. So live very cautiously and preach very cautiously and seriously, then in this one life we will become successful, go back to home, back to Godhead. One life. You haven't got to wait for another life. If this life we work sincerely, then our business is finished. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti [Bg. 4.9].\nThat is assured by Kṛṣṇa. \"After giving up this body, he doesn't come to this material world.\" Then where does he go? Mām eti, \"He comes to Me.\" This is said by Kṛṣṇa. Why shall we disbelieve? So serve this life very sincerely and go back to Kṛṣṇa immediately. That is intelligence. Why should you wait for another life? We do not know what life we can get. May not be possible.\nSo we should be very responsible to this life in serving Kṛṣṇa. Make yourself successful. Don't waste a single moment. Every moment should be utilized to serve Kṛṣṇa. Always think, \"How I can serve Kṛṣṇa?\" The direction is already there. The work is sufficient. If you don't want to do, that is a different thing. There is sufficient work to do.\nIf you cannot do anything, you can go and meet any man and request him, \"Please chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.\" What is the difficulty? You can request. That your endeavor to request him is your service. He may not chant. But if you request him, \"Please chant Hare Kṛṣṇa...\" If you cannot do anything, if you meet anyone in the street and say \"Please...\" [break] [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/690424r3-boston/
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"content": "\n So we take account of past, present, future of this creation. When I say, \"Some years ago I was there,\" that means within this creation. It does not go some years in your past creation. Do you follow what I say? Are you following what I am saying?",
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"content": "\n Yes.",
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"content": "\n You are feeling all right? [chuckles] Satsvarūpa?",
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"content": "\n Yes.",
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"content": "\n Yes. You did not go to the airport?",
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"content": "\n No. I gave the lecture that was cancelled at...",
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"content": "\n Oh. Lecture?",
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"content": "\n You were supposed to give a lecture today, but because you gave a lecture last night in Buffalo, we cancelled it and I went instead.",
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"content": "\n So you lectured there? That's nice. Now you have to lecture, I will have to retire. [chuckles] I want that all my students now should be prepared. Puruṣottama, you sit down. You are standing. You come here. Sit down. When, at present, when we speak of past, present, future, we refer to this particular creation of my body. Is it not? Similarly, \"never return back,\" \"never return back\" means... What is your question? I..., missing point. Whose question it...? Yes.",
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"content": "\n What is the question? That if we've never been with Kṛṣṇa, if we've never been in Kṛṣṇaloka, then how is it that we remember His..., start remembering His pastimes and His form?",
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"content": "\n You remember your pastimes..., Kṛṣṇa's pastimes by hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. You can hear Kṛṣṇa's pastimes. That you can remember.",
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"content": "\n But how can we remember if we've never known them before?",
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"content": "\n How you can remember?",
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"content": "\n If we haven't known it.",
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"content": "\n You can know it by hearing from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Why we are citing so many scriptures, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Bhagavad-gītā? Just to remember.",
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"content": "\nJust to remember?",
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"content": "\n Something you forget, but if I tell you repeatedly, you hear; you remember. Is it not clear? Something you have forgotten completely, and I remind you constantly, then don't you remember?",
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"content": "\n Yes. But I don't understand how is it that we forgot it... How can we remember...",
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"content": "\n Forgot..., you forget. That is your nature. You forget so many things. You cannot remember what you were doing exactly at this time yesterday. Can you remember immediately? Forgetfulness is our nature. We are very minute; therefore our..., we are subjected to the quality of forgetfulness. Just like Arjuna. Arjuna was asking Kṛṣṇa that \"How I can believe that you told this philosophy of Bhagavad-gītā to Vivasvān?\" He said that \"In... I, first of all, I told to Vivasvān.\"\nSo in reply to that question, Kṛṣṇa said that \"Both you and I had many, many births before, but you have forgotten; I remember.\" That is the difference between the Supreme Lord and ourself. He does not forget. He remembers everything, past, present, future, all; but we forget. That is the difference between God and living entity. We are subjected to forgetfulness. So we forget; again, if it is reminded, we remind. That is our nature.\nSo at the present moment we are forgetful of our eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa. Then, by good association, by constant chanting, hearing, remembering, we again revoke our old consciousness. That is called Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So forgetfulness is not wonderful. It is natural, we forget. But if we keep constant touch, we may not forget. Therefore this association of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, devotees, and constant repetition of the chanting, scripture, that will keep us intact, without forgetting.\nSatataṁ kirtayanto māṁ yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ\n[Bg. 9.14].\n[Always chanting My glories, endeavoring with great determination, bowing down before Me, these great souls perpetually worship Me with devotion.]\nWe have to continue this service constantly. Then we shall not forget. Forgetfulness is not wonderful. That is our nature. That is our nature. And that is the difference between ourself and God. God does not forget. We forget. We are claiming, some of us, foolishly claiming, that \"I am God, but I forget.\" God does not forget. Therefore I am not God. Is that clear? Yes. That is the difference between living jīva and śiva[?], God. He does not forget.\nIn the Bhagavad-gītā He says, vedāhaṁ samatītāni [Bg. 7.26]\n[O Arjuna, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, I know everything that has happened in the past, all that is happening in the present, and all things that are yet to come. I also know all living entities; but Me no one knows.]\n\"I know everything of this present, past, future. Everything.\" But we do not know. We have forgotten. In our daily life, in our childhood, so many things we did. We don't remember. But our parents may remember, in childhood that we did this. So forgetfulness is our nature. But if we keep constant touch with Kṛṣṇa, then He will give us remembrance. So sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo [Bg. 15.15], Kṛṣṇa says in the Fifteenth Chapter.\n[I am seated in everyone's heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas am I to be known; indeed I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.]\nNow you read Bhagavad-gītā very carefully. In our examination next January... Yes. From Bhagavad-gītā, for title of bhakti-śāstrī. Now we have to make our organization regularly a spiritual institution, so that we may be recognized, and our students may be freed from this draft board requisition. That I am... Next step is going on.\n[break] [audio feedback] Why don't you get that tape? Yes.",
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"content": "\n Oh. [indistinct]",
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"content": "\n Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate na tasya samādhikaś ca dṛśyate. This is from Upaniṣad. Parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate svabhaviki-jnana-bala-kriya ca [Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8, Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport].\n[The Supreme Lord has multipotencies, which act so perfectly that all consciousness, strength and activity are being directed solely by His will.]\nIt is said that nobody is seeing... This is called research. We are accepting any nonsense as God, but they do not have any information from the..., that God means na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate na tasya samādhikaś ca dṛśyate: \"God has nothing to do, no responsibility. Nobody is found greater than Him.\"\nSo if this Vedic injunction is followed, if somebody is claiming, \"I am God,\" we have to see whether he has nothing to do and whether nobody is greater than him. And these two tests will make him false immediately. He has to prove that nobody is greater than...\nEven contemporary. Suppose I am claiming I am God. So I have to show that at the present moment, throughout the whole world, apart from universe, nobody is greater than me. Then I'm, God. With this pretenders be able to show that nobody is greater than him? This is a simple test. And na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate: \"And he has nothing to do.\"\nThere are so many things to test who is God. Ṣaḍ-aiśvarya-pūrṇaḥ. Nobody shall be richer than him; nobody shall be stronger than him; nobody shall be wiser than him; nobody shall be beautiful than him. So these things have to be tested, whether he is God. And simply if I claim, \"Oh, I am God,\" there will... No testament? If I say, \"I am President Nixon,\" will you accept it? If you don't accept it, even an ordinary President Nixon, without testing his credentials, how you will accept a false man as God without testing?\nYou must know what is that test, credential. He must present credential. Just like when some ambassador comes to a foreign country, there is a ceremony that that ambassador must be recognized by the governor or the governor-general in that state, and he has to place his credential. Similarly, anybody claiming as God, he has to place his credentials. And what is that credential? The test is there in the Upaniṣad, in the Bhagavad-gītā and so many, all literatures, Brahma-saṁhitā, Vedānta-sūtra, in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.\nIn Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam first it is said, janmādy asya yataḥ, anvayād itarataś cārtheṣv abhijñaḥ svarāṭ [SB 1.1.1]. \n[O my Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, son of Vasudeva, O all-pervading Personality of Godhead, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You. I meditate upon Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa because He is the Absolute Truth and the primeval cause of all causes of the creation, sustenance and destruction of the manifested universes. He is directly and indirectly conscious of all manifestations, and He is independent because there is no other cause beyond Him. It is He only who first imparted the Vedic knowledge unto the heart of Brahmājī, the original living being. By Him even the great sages and demigods are placed into illusion, as one is bewildered by the illusory representations of water seen in fire, or land seen on water. Only because of Him do the material universes, temporarily manifested by the reactions of the three modes of nature, appear factual, although they are unreal. I therefore meditate upon Him, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is eternally existent in the transcendental abode, which is forever free from the illusory representations of the material world. I meditate upon Him, for He is the Absolute Truth.]\nSvarāṭ, svarāṭ means fully independent. Satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi. The Supreme Truth, fully independent. We are not fully independent. And just now, if I feel a little toothache, I will have to go to a doctor. So how can I claim that I am God? God's first qualification is fully independent, svarāṭ. Abhijñaḥ. Abhijñaḥ means fully cognizant of everything.\n[aside:] What is that?",
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"content": "\n Some lugdoos.",
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"content": "\n Oh, yes. All right. Take. Distribute little. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. Just like Kṛṣṇa: He is the Lord, but He has nothing to do. He is simply enjoying with His friends, with Radharani, with cowherds boy, with gopīs. That is greatness. He has nothing to think, \"How to provide?\" [chuckles] That is greatness. He is taking the cows as a sporting. You see?\nAnd when He was called for killing Kaṁsa, He left everything, renounced everything. Aiśvarya samagrasya yaśasaḥ... Everything in full, so much love, so much everything, but at once, in a moment, He renounced everything, went to..., left Vṛndāvana, and all these devotees, they began to cry for Kṛṣṇa for the rest of life. And whenever Kṛṣṇa was reminded, oh, He will say, \"I am very soon coming. Don't worry. I am very soon coming.\" [chuckles] You see?",
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"content": "\n Have you took, Your Grace?",
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"content": "\n Yes. I have taken. You take. You know how to make lugdoo? Himavatī is good. [chuckles] You will learn many thing from her. We have got another nice girl in Buffalo. I have given her name... What is? Sadā?",
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"content": "\n Sadānandinī.",
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"content": "\n A very nice girl. Yes. Always chanting and dancing and always jolly. [chuckling] Very nice girl. Yes. You know her? No. She has recently joined. She is good devotee, good worker, very nice. So Kṛṣṇa consciousness is so nice. Anyone who comes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness immediately becomes beautiful in every respect. [break] [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/700702sbla/
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[
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"content": "\n Hare Kṛṣṇa. Everything all right?",
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"content": "\nJaya.",
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"content": "\nHare Kṛṣṇa. Chant.\noṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya\nśrī-śuka uvāca\nvarīyān eṣa te praśnaḥ\nkṛto loka-hitaṁ nṛpa\nātmavit-sammataḥ puṁsāṁ\nśrotavyādiṣu yaḥ paraḥ\n[SB 2.1.1]\nśrotavyādīni rājendra\nnṛṇāṁ santi sahasraśa\napaśyatām... [break]\n[SB 2.1.2]\nnidrayā hriyate naktaṁ\nvyavāyena ca vā vayaḥ\ndivā cārthehayā rājan\nkuṭumba-bharaṇena vā\n[SB 2.1.3]\ndehāpatya-kalatrādiṣv\nātma-sainyeṣv asatsv api\nteṣāṁ pramatto nidhanaṁ\npaśyann api na paśyati\n[SB 2.1.4]\n[01:30]\nŚrotavyādīni rājendra nṛṇāṁ santi sahasraśa: \"My dear king...,\" Śukadeva Gosvāmī is speaking to King Parīkṣit, that \"there are many subject matters for the persons who are materialistic.\" What sort of... Why they are engaged in so many topics? Ātma-tattvam apaśyatām. They do not see what is self-realization. Apaśyatām ātma-tattvam [SB 2.1.2]. Apaśyatām... Generally, we do not know, we shall not see what is ātmā in these material eyes. Therefore the material scientists, they say that there is no soul, because they cannot see. With their instruments or with their knowledge it is not possible. Apaśyatām. They do not see it.\nTherefore we cannot believe our eyes. These eyes are not fit to see anything. It is under certain condition it gives us some impression. Otherwise... Therefore my Guru Mahārāja used to say that saintly persons should be seen not through the eyes, but through the ears. There are different processes of seeing. Don't believe that eyes are sufficient to see everything. No.\nSo ātma-tattvam. Those who are not interested what is self, for them there are different thousands and millions of topics. Śrotavyādīni rājendra. Everyone is hearing. Somebody is talking, somebody is hearing... Even there is politics, conspiracy, there is also hearing and talking. But these talkings, thousands and thousands of talkings of different subject matter, for whom? For them who are unable to see what is soul. For them. Apaśyatām ātma-tattvam. Why they have become so? Gṛheṣu gṛha-medhinām. They want to be packed up within this material package, and they have made their life in that way. Gṛheṣu. \nJust like ordinary man, he is interested with his apartment, family. Dehāpatya-kalatrādiṣu [SB 2.1.4]. That śloka is next explained. He's interested with these things: how his nice apartment is maintained, how his wife is nicely dressed, how his children are nicely educated. So much. That's all. They are called gṛhamedhī. These words. Gṛhamedhī. So those who are married disciples, I will request them specifically that because you are married, you don't become gṛhamedhī. Then you lose this chance. I am getting reports from outside that some of our family disciples, they are not very much attending temples regularly. So if they do not attend temples, do not take to the service, then gradually they'll become gṛhamedhī, just like ordinary karmīs.\nSo as soon as one becomes gṛhamedhī, he becomes blind to see what is self-realization. So Śukadeva Gosvāmī says that those who are blind, those who have been encaged in the materialistic way of life, for them, there are thousands and thousands of topics to hear and to chant. But those who are seeing to the self... Self is one. Ekaṁ brahma dvitīyaṁ nāsti. For them, one talk only: about Kṛṣṇa.\nSo I'll request you, all my beloved disciples present here, that don't turn to that point, gṛheṣu gṛha-medhinām. Stick to this point, Kṛṣṇa. Then you'll be happy. Don't talk, create... Thousand... As soon as we go out of the scope of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there will be so many talks. And that will mislead you. That is māyā. And if you stick to the Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there is no secrecy, there is no duplicity, there is no diplomacy.\nOne talk, Kṛṣṇa: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma... That will make you satisfied. Yayātmā suprasīdati. If you want actually happiness, then you stick to these Kṛṣṇa consciousness topics. Don't bring in anything other, else. Then that will become gṛheṣu gṛha-medhinām, apaśyatām ātma-tattvam [SB 2.1.2].\nSo I am especially talking to my sannyāsī disciples, who are going out today on a great mission. Please stick to this principle—one—Kṛṣṇa. You will be benefited, and the persons to whom you'll talk, they will be benefited, the world will be benefited. So you have got a very great responsibility. Don't turn into the talks of the gṛhamedhī and break it. That is my request.\nThank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa. [devotees offer obeisances] Yes. Chant.\nSo you will start just at half past seven?",
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"content": "\n Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda.",
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"content": "\nSo we have got little time. Let us perform... That's all.\n[09:57] [kīrtana] [Prabhupāda plays gong] [prema-dhvani]\n[17:08] [break] Car is ready? Car? We'll go to the car, or you have got...",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\n Yes, there will be a truck.",
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"content": "\n Truck? Where is that truck?",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\n It will be out front.",
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"content": "\n So they'll go there? No.",
"role": "assistant"
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"content": "\n We have to take our bags.",
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"content": "\n Oh. So I want to see you in the car. [break] [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/660307bg-new-york/
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[
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"content": "\n So last day we were speaking about the eleventh..., eleventh, Second Chapter, eleventh verse. Just read it. Second Chapter, eleventh verse.",
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"content": "\n \"In fact, there was never...\" \"Arjuna, you grieve over those who should not be grieved for, and yet speak like the learned wise men who do not sorrow over the dead or the living.\"",
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"content": "\n Yes. You have marked it? With pen? Yes. So we have finished this śloka. The next verse is,\nna tv evāhaṁ jātu nāsaṁ\nna tvaṁ neme janādhipāḥ\nna caiva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ\nsarve vayam ataḥ param\n[Bg 2.12]\nWhat is the translation?",
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"content": "\n \"In fact there was never a time when I was not, or you or these kings were not, nor is it a fact that hereafter we shall cease to be.\"",
"role": "user"
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"content": "\n Yes. Now...",
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"content": "\n \"...we shall ever...\"",
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"content": "\n Kṛṣṇa is trying to convince Arjuna that death does not take place. He says clearly that \"Myself—I am the Supreme God, Kṛṣṇa—yourself, you, and all the other kings and the soldiers, those who have assembled in this great battlefield, it is not that in the past we were not existing, and in the present we are now face to face. We are seeing that we are existing. And in the future, we shall also exist in the same way.\" \"In the same way\" means individually. Just like I am an individual person. You are an individual person. He is an individual person. So I, you, he, or they—first person, second person and the third person—so that individuality continues.\nIndividuality of every living being is a fact. Therefore in the actual field also, we see that we have got difference of opinion. What I think, you may not agree with me, because you have got your individuality. Similarly, your thinking may not be agreed by another gentleman. So everyone has got his individuality. That is a fact. Not that the... Just like there is a class of philosophers who says that the soul is a homogeneous, one entity, and after the destruction, after the annihilation of this body, the soul, as a substance, will mix up.\nJust like water: You keep in different pots. In different pots you keep water. So the water takes the shape of the pot, the bowl, round bowl. You keep water, the water takes the shape of round. So similarly, there are thousands of, or millions of, water pots, and suppose all the waters are mixed up. Then there is no distinction, just like they were in the pots. So their theory is that when a soul is liberated, then the..., that it mixes up with the Supersoul. Just like a drop water taken from the sea water and again put it into the sea, it mixes up. It loses its identity. So that is one theory.\nBut here Lord Kṛṣṇa says that \"Myself, yourself and all others who have come here...\" There were about sixty millions of people assembled in that fight. It was not a small fight. In India there was... Of course, that was also great world, world war. Just like we had experience... I think in the First World War none of you have seen, because you were all young men. And we were child. When the First World War was declared, we were all boys, schoolchildren. My age was at that time fourteen years old, in 1914, when there was fight declared between Germany and Belgium. So that was the First World War. Then Second World War was in 1939. That was also German and Englishmen, like that. But actually, this was also World War, this Battlefield of Kurukṣetra, because all the kings of the world, they joined either this party or that party.\nSo there were a great assembly of all worldly kings. Now, Kṛṣṇa says that \"Either Myself, either yourself, or these persons who have assembled here, they are individual. They were individuals in the past, they are now individuals, and they will continue to be individual even after annihilation of this body.\" Now, how you'll adjust? There are two theories, that after liberation all these souls, they become one. Just like all drops of water, if you put into the sea, they become one entity; there is no distinction. And the Lord Kṛṣṇa says that \"No, they keep their individuality. They do not mix.\"\nNow we are supposed... We are all laymen. We are ignorant what is actually position, what is the actual position. But we have got our discretion also. Just like every one of you has some knowledge in the history. Now, in the history in the past... Suppose you are now thirty years old or thirty-five years old, and suppose two hundred years before, the history which you read, you find that all people were individuals. And at the present you are experiencing that all individual they are. All living entities—either human being, or animals or birds or anywhere—you can see that they are individuals. Then why should you not believe that in future they will remain individuals? Do you follow? In the past they were individuals, in the present they are individuals, and why not in future they'll remain individuals?\nIt is naturally concluded that they will continue to be individuals. Even we do not have any sufficient knowledge in either of these two theories, mixing up or keeping individual, but by our own small reasoning we can understand that in the future history we have information that there were individual persons. At the present moment also, we are seeing that there are individual persons. So why not in the future? How it is that in the future they'll mix up and become one, homogeneous thing? It is quite reasonable.\nAnd this conclusion is like this: just like in two hundred years before, in the month of March, the climatic position was like this. And in 1966 we find in March the climatic position is exactly the same. And in future... Naturally I conclude that in future in March the same climatic condition will be there. In astronomy also, if you find that in March, in such-and-such date, the sun rising is like this, and actually in the present March, month of March, 1966, we see the same exact time... And the whole calculation of astronomy is made like that. They prepare hundred years' astronomical charts. Hundred years'.\nHow they do prepare? By this calculation, that in the past it was like this, at the present it is like this, so naturally, in future it will be like this. Just like you are speaking of the imminent springtime, that the nature, how will be decorate, how springtime it will be nice, because you had past experience. So you are foretelling. It is not foretelling. From past experience you are telling that this will take place. This will take place.\nSo this is another point, to understand things by our reasoning. But there are things which is beyond our reasoning. There are things, just like God, the existence of God. Of course, by our reasoning, we take it for granted that because everything has a creator... Just like we have this tape recorder before us. So we know that there is a manufacturer. Similarly, the typewriter, there is a manufacturer. In everything there is a father or manufacturer. Myself, I am..., I am created by my father. My father was created by his father. Similarly, naturally we can conclude that this whole cosmic situation, the whole material manifestation, there is one creator. You see? So these are simple reasoning. It is not very hard to understand. But at the same time, there are things which are beyond our experience, beyond our reasoning, beyond our, I mean to say, conception. Those things are called acintya. Acintya means inconceivable. Inconceivable.\nNow, how to understand that which is beyond our conception? The scriptures says like this: acintyaḥ khalu ye bhāvā na tāṁs tarkeṇa yojayet [Mahābhārata, Bhīṣma parva 5.22].\n[Anything transcendental to material nature is called inconceivable, whereas arguments are all mundane. Since mundane arguments cannot touch transcendental subject matters, one should not try to understand transcendental subjects through mundane arguments.]\n\"Anything which is beyond our conception, beyond our reasoning power, beyond our approach of the material senses, such things we should not try to have conception simply by arguments.\" So in the Vedic injunction it is said that tarkaḥ apratiṣṭha: \"By... What should be the... What should be our real understanding, that we cannot establish simply by arguments.\"\nTarkaḥ apratiṣṭhaḥ smṛtayo vibhinnāḥ\n[Cc Madhya 17.186]:\n[Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu continued, ”’Dry arguments are inconclusive. A great personality whose opinion does not differ from others is not considered a great sage. Simply by studying the Vedas, which are variegated, one cannot come to the right path by which religious principles are understood. The solid truth of religious principles is hidden in the heart of an unadulterated, self-realized person. Consequently, as the śāstras confirm, one should accept whatever progressive path the mahājanas advocate.’]\n\"If we consult different scriptures, then we'll find that one scripture is speaking something, another scripture is speaking something else.\" Just like cow-killing. Take, take it for example. The Hindus, they say that cow-killing is irreligious. But, the Muhammadans say, \"No, cow-killing is religious.\" There is some adjustment, but... Now, in the scripture I see that the cow-killing, in some scriptures it is said that cow-killing is irreligious, and another scripture says that cow-killing is religious. So which of them I shall accept? This is ni... This is all right, or that is all right?\nSo therefore it is said that smṛtayo vibhinnāḥ. If you consult different scriptures, you'll find different contradictory statements. Your scripture may be different from my scripture. And nāsau munir yasya mataṁ na bhinnam: if you consult philosophers, you'll find one philosopher is differing from another philosopher. A big philosopher means who has cut down other philosophers and put up his own theory, \"This is true.\" This is going on. So tarko 'pratiṣṭhaḥ smṛtayo vibhinnā nāsau munir yasya mataṁ na bhinnam.\nThen how to conclude what is the right path? I cannot establish it by my imperfect arguments. I cannot consult even the scriptures. Neither I can take real instruction from different philosophers. Then what..., what is the way of having the real thing? So it says that dharmasya tattvaṁ nihitaṁ guhāyām: \"The truth of religiosity is very confidential, very secret.\" So how to know it? Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ [Cc Madhya 17.186]:\n[Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu continued, ”’Dry arguments are inconclusive. A great personality whose opinion does not differ from others is not considered a great sage. Simply by studying the Vedas, which are variegated, one cannot come to the right path by which religious principles are understood. The solid truth of religious principles is hidden in the heart of an unadulterated, self-realized person. Consequently, as the śāstras confirm, one should accept whatever progressive path the mahājanas advocate.’]\n\"We have simply to see that great personalities, as they have taken up, we have to follow. That's all.\" Just like in your Christian religion you may not understand all the Biblical injunctions or you may not have the time, but you'll simply, if you follow the ideal life of Lord Jesus Christ, then you get the same result. Similarly, the Muhammadans, if they follow the ideal life of Muhammad, Hazrat Muhammad, so they get the result. Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ.\nJust like in a unknown path in a village, especially when there is a field... Now, in..., in the city, you can know that \"I have come so far\" because the streets are numbered and the..., you have got the location and there are some symptoms, this house or that house. But in the country, everything, every..., every place is of the same similar nature—the same jungle, the same field, the same grass. We do not know where I am going. Or in the sea. Or in the sea. I have got experience. Have you ever traveled in the sea? No. But, while I was coming from India, so everywhere I see a round only, round of water. I do not know which way the ship is proceeding. You see? But they have got a chart. They have got a chart. By latitude, longitude, by time and by chart, they are calculating.\nNow, I was asking the Captain, \"Where we have come?\" He was saying, in the Mediterranean Sea, \"Oh, we are so many miles from Italy. We are so many miles from...\" Like this. \"Tunisia. Now we are coming to Gibraltar.\" Like this. But I was seeing all vast of water only. I was seeing, \"Just after ten miles I shall reach,\" but it never reaches. So then how, what are these charts? The charts are that experienced sailors, they have made the chart. The captain was also consulting that chart because it was made by experienced sailors. That is nothing. So similarly, in calculating in which way we have to find out our salvation is to follow such liberated souls.\nSo last day we had been discussing that difference between the conditioned soul and liberated soul is that a conditioned soul is imperfect in four ways. A conditioned soul is sure to commit mistake, a conditioned soul is in illusion, a conditioned soul has the tendency for cheating others, and a conditioned soul has got his senses imperfect, imperfect senses. Therefore knowledge should be taken from a liberated soul. Why this Bhagavad-gītā is so honored? Now, this Bhagavad-gītā was spoken in India, and it is understood that it is a scripture of the Hindus.\nBut why...? Now, you are Americans. You are also keeping this Bhagavad-gītā, and not only in America; in other countries also, in Germany. In Germany there are great, great scholars, in England, in Japan, in all countries. So why? Because it is spoken by a great personality. Apart from... We may... We Hindus, we accept Him the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but others, even not accepting Him the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they accept it as, at least, that He was a great personality. Therefore, besides the Hindu community, others, they are also consulting the knowledge.\nNow, my point is that when such a great personality, and when a..., we accept Him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, that His version is right. What He says, that from our practical experience we can conclude that every individual persons who were in the past individuals, they are also individuals at the present, and they'll continue to be individuals, and this is by our common sense; but it is confirmed by Śrī Kṛṣṇa, whom we call the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and He is accepted as a great personality.\nHe says, na tu eva ahaṁ jātu nāsam: \"Don't think that I was not in existence.\" That means \"I was in existence,\" not that \"Just now I have come before you as God, as Śrī Kṛṣṇa. I was Śrī Kṛṣṇa in the past also, and I am Śrī Kṛṣṇa at the present. So also yourself, and so also others—all individuals. So, and at the present we are.\" Na caiva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ: \"And don't think that we shall not remain.\" Sarve. This sarve means \"we all,\" not that... Sarve is plural number. Janādhipāḥ is plural number. \"So they are all individual souls.\"\nSo the individual soul continues. That is the version. That is the version of the Bhagavad-gītā, and we... It is better to accept this version without unnecessarily commenting it or interpreting it in a different way so that one... Interpretation is very bad. You see? A scripture should not be interpreted. A scripture should be taken as it is. As it is. And besides that, interpretation... When interpretation is required? When a thing is not properly understood, at that time, interpretation is required. Otherwise, there is no necessity of interpretation.\nJust like you..., that \"Such-and-such village or such-and-such town is on the sea.\" Somebody says. Now, the person who hears that \"Such-and-such town is on the sea,\" and he may be confused: \"How is that? On the..., on the water, how there can be a town?\" So there is explanation required. Now that explanation is that \" 'On the sea' does not mean 'in the midst of the sea,' but 'on the bank of the sea.' \" Here is an interpretation.\nSo similarly, a thing which is very clear to everyone, so there is no necessity of interpretation. Here the, the statement of Bhagavad-gītā as by..., spoken by Lord Kṛṣṇa is very clear, that \"Myself, yourself and all these people who have assembled here, they are all individual persons. And they were individual persons in the past, and at the present moment, we see that they are individual persons, and they will continue. We will continue.\" I may not know what they will become in the future, but because He is God, because He is the Supreme Personality, His statement should be accepted. That makes my knowledge perfect.\nJust like I give you one very simple example. Now, if a little boy asks his mother that \"Who is my father?\" The mother says that \"Here is your father.\" Now, if the child says, \"I don't believe it, that he is my father,\" is it possible to convince him in any other way than the statement of the mother? Is it possible? No. That is the final. That is the final. And if he says, \"I don't believe it,\" that is his foolishness. Similarly, a thing which is beyond our conception, beyond our limit of knowledge, that should be taken from the authority.\nSo here is an authority, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Authority. His authority, authorityship, is accepted by all over the world. In..., in our India there are five different disciplic succession of authorities, just like the Śaṅkarites, followers of Śaṅkarācārya, and Vaiṣṇavites. Generally, they are two: Māyāvādī, impersonalists; and personalists. The personalist school, philosophers, they are divided into four: Rāmānuja-sampradāya—that means followers of Ācārya Rāmānuja; Madhvācārya-sampradāya, or the followers of Madhvācārya; Nimbārka-sampradāya, followers of Nimbārka Ācārya; and Viṣṇu-Svāmī-sampradāya. They, their conclusion is the same. Although they are four in number, their conclusion is the same. And another sect is Śaṅkarite sampradāya.\nSo all these four, I mean, five different section of the Hindus, they accept Śrī Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. All of them. There is no denial. Although they are five, they have got different theses and philosophies, little, little difference, not, I mean, conclusion, but still... Now, Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya, he, he is supposed, he is considered to be impersonalist. Impersonalist means he does not believe in the personal form of God. But still, he has commented in this, of this Bhagavad-gītā, Śaṅkara-bhāṣya. He has admitted there that \"Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the Personality of Godhead.\" He has also admitted.\nOthers, they are Vaiṣṇavites. Other ācāryas, other authorities, they are Vaiṣṇavites. They have naturally admitted, because they believe from the beginning. But even Śaṅkarācārya, who is impersonalist, he has also clearly written that sa bhagavān svayaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ: \"Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.\" And there are many evidences in many scriptures and Vedic scriptures that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.\nIn the Brahma-saṁhitā it is stated,\nīśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ\nsac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ\nanādir ādir govindaḥ\nsarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam\n[Bs 5.1]\n[Kṛṣṇa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.]\nĪśvaraḥ paramaḥ. Īśvara. Īśvara means the Lord. Now, there are different lords—different lords, degree. Lord means controller or proprietor. So you have got some lordship over your environment. He has got some lordship. I have got some lordship. He has got some lordship. Or the President Johnson, he has got some lordship. In this way you'll find different degrees of lordship. But here it is said that the supreme, superlative degree Lord is Kṛṣṇa. Above Him, there is no other Lord.\nHere we shall find that you are bigger lord than me, he is bigger than lord you, and somebody is bigger than him. In this way you can approach the lordship of Johnson. Then you can see another man, he is more than Johnson; another man, more than Johnson, like that. But when you reach Śrī Kṛṣṇa by such analytical process, you'll find that nobody is greater, nobody is equal than Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And He says something—we must agree to accept it. [laughs] We must... If we don't agree, that will not be beneficial for us. When a great man says something... And He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is saying that we are all individual persons. We are all individual persons.\nGod is also individual person. It is confirmed in the Vedic literature. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām [Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13]. \n[The Supreme Lord is eternal and the living beings are eternal. The Supreme Lord is cognizant and the living beings are cognizant. The difference is that the Supreme Lord is supplying all the necessities of life for the many other living entities.]\nNityo nityānām. Nitya means eternal. We are all eternal. This is plural number. So amongst all the eternal living entities, He is the chief. This is a definition of God, is given in the... Nityo nitya. Cetanānām, nit..., cetanaś cetanānām: \"We are all conscious, conscious beings.\" So He is the supreme conscious. He is the supreme conscious. Now, of course, there are some yogic schools—in America you'll find—they do not believe in God. But it is not actually... The yoga principle does not deny the existence of God. God is there.\nNow, just to inform you I have just brought one very authoritative book by two great professors of Calcutta University. The book is called Introduction to Indian Philosophy. Now he says... \"He says\" means he is giving, after studying all different kinds of philosophy, he is giving a nutshell idea of each type of system. Now, just see: \"The place of God in the yoga... The place of God in the yoga, as distinguished from the Sāṅkhya, the yoga is theistic.\" Yoga system was introduced by Lord Patañjali, a great authority. You see? Now they have studied. Here is two persons. And this book is very authoritative. This is the sixth edition. Just see. It has very good sale in all the universities of the world. It is a very authoritative book. And this Dr. Chatterjee and Dr. Datta, they are not ordinary persons. This is accepted by all universities. And they are authoritative persons.\nNow, just... I am therefore reading his version. What does he say? The yoga system. Now, \"As distinguished from the Sāṅkhya, the yoga is theistic.\" Yoga system is theistic. Theistic means believing in God.\n[From here for about four pages, Prabhupāda is mostly reading from the Indian philosophy book.]\nIt admits the existence of God and both practical and theoretical Gods. Patañjali himself, however, has not felt the necessity of God for solving any theoretical problem of philosophy. For him, God has more a practical value than a theoretical one. This is the version of Patañjali. You see?\nDevotion to God is considered to be the great practical value, as much as it forms a part of practice of yoga. Those who are practicing yoga, they must be devotee of God. Otherwise, yoga will be a failure. You see? So in as much as it forms a part of practice of yoga and is one of the means for the final attainment of samādhi-yoga or the restraint of the mind... That yoga, citta-niruddha. The whole purpose of practicing yoga is to control the mind. Control the mind. Now, here Patañjali system, that unless you, I mean, conduct devotional service of Lord, or bhakti, there is no success of yoga. There is no success of yoga.\nThe subsequent commentators and interpreters... The difficulty is that wrong interpretation of the original text delude the audience. You see? So they are... The subsequent commentators and interpreters of the yoga reveals also a theoretical interest in God and discuss more fully the speculative problems as to the nature of God and the proof for the existence of God. They practically take up the speculative way. But Patañjali, as he is, he takes practically, that without devotion of God, there is no success of yoga. Thus the yoga system has come to have both a theoretical and practical interest in the divine will. According to the yoga, God is the Supreme Person. Now just see. This is authoritative statement. A Supreme Person. Did you ever hear...? You have been in so many yoga societies. Did you ever hear that God is the Supreme Person? Now just see.\nAccording to the yoga, God is the Supreme Person, who is above all individual selves and is free from all defects. Now, the same thing, in the Bhagavad-gītā also, Lord Kṛṣṇa, He, He is telling. He is informing us about the future or of the past because He is perfect. He can see both past and future. Because we are not perfect, because we do not know... Now, accepting it that you existed in..., in your, in the future... Say your age is thirty-four, thirty-five years. Can you say, thirty-six years before, where you were? You cannot say. Or suppose you live for hundred years. Can you say hundred years after where you shall be? You cannot say, because you are imperfect. Because you are imperfect.\nSo God is not imperfect. God is perfect being. Here yoga system also accept like that. According to the yoga, God is the Supreme Person who is above all individual... Individual, now here you see the individual. That every..., every living entity is individual. That, this particular word, that individual self, and is free from all defects. And because He's free from all defects, His statement is defectless. And therefore we must admit. My statement, because I am imperfect, my statement is also imperfect. I have no idea of the past and future. How can I say that in future you will be like this, or in the past you were like this? I cannot say. That, who is defectless—who can see past, future and present equally, and there is no defect—he can say.\nSo here is the statement of the Supreme Person. We have to believe it. We cannot go out of it. If we don't believe it, then we are loser. If we don't believe it, then we are loser. He is the perfect being, who is eternal and all-pervading. Just see, all-pervading. That means, although you can see Him as a person... Just like you are present before me as a person, but you are absent in your residence. Is it not? But God is not like that. God is, although He's present, Kṛṣṇa, although He's present just before Arjuna, instructing him, but He's all-pervading at the same time.\nA crude example: Just like at twelve o'clock in the midday, you see that the sun is above your head. And five thousand miles away, if you ask any friend, \"Where is the sun?\" he'll say, \"It is on my head.\" Five thousand miles this way, that way, you enquire, and everyone will say, \"The sun is on my head.\" So if a material thing... Sun is a material thing. If a material entity can be so all-pervading at one and the same time, so is it not that the supreme spiritual being, He'll not be all-pervading? He is, certainly. He must be. He must be.\nSo here you see that He is the perfect being who is eternal... And eternal... Eternal means that... Eternal means everything. Eternal in consciousness. Now, Kṛṣṇa says that \"You and Myself and all these beings were like this,\" because He has got eternal consciousness. He has actually experienced what I was. But because my consciousness is not eternal, I have forgotten what I was in my previous birth. Neither I can say what I shall be in my next birth. These are the distinctions. If we falsely claim that \"I am God. I am that supreme consciousness,\" it is our lunacy. It is our lunacy. We should not indulge in that way, and anyone teaching in that way, that is a cheating. It is not possible.\nHere is an authoritative book. He is the perfect being who is eternal and all-pervading, omnipotent, omniscient. All individual selves are more or less subject to the affliction of ignorance. We are, all living entities except God, everyone, everyone, they are subjected to ignorance, forgetfulness. That's a fact. Ignorance, egoism. Egoism means that without having the qualification, one declares that \"I am God.\" This is egoism. Without having the qualification of God, if one declares that \"I am God,\" a foolish man, that is called egoism. Egoism, desire, aversion and dread of death. They have to do various kinds of work, good, bad and indifferent, and reap the consequences thereof. That means they are subjected to the acts of your, I mean to say, reaction of their acts. If you do some good thing, then you reap the good result. If you do some bad thing, then you reap the bad result. And because we are defective, therefore we do something good, sometimes bad.\nThe best thing is, therefore, that God is all-good. If we follow God, then we become good. If we follow God or a God's representative, then we also become good. Because God is always good. A good cannot give you bad direction. Therefore devotional service... It is incumbent that everyone should be followers. Everyone should be followers of the instruction of God. That is devotional service. Nobody should be deviated from the service of the Lord. The whole Bhagavad-gītā... This is the beginning, and at the end, the Lord will instruct, I mean to say, Arjuna, that sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja [Bg 18.66]:\n[Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.]\n\"You just surrender unto Me,\" and ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ, \"and I shall protect you, give you protection from all reactions of sinful life.\" The best thing is, if we want to be all-good, then we have to follow the instruction of all-good. We have to mold our life in such a way that what is advised by the all-good... That will make our life perfect.\nNext we shall... [end]",
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"content": "\n…repeating his name, “Mr. John, Mr. John, Mr. John,” I cannot associate with him. He may be some thousand miles away from me. So if I require to see him or to touch him or to feed him—these are all exchanges of love. If you love somebody, you want to see him, you want to touch him, you want to serve him, you want to talk with him. So many exchanges there are. So if your lover is away from you, say thousand miles away, or a few miles away, if you simply chant the name of your friend, you cannot relish the actual meeting association. That is not possible; that is materially not possible.\nBut spiritually, although God is… We don't know where He is living. We do not know even this material world, where the other planets are there. We have seen at night so many planets and stars in the sky, but we have no information, because it is not possible to reach. The modern scientist says that if you want to reach the topmost planet, then you have to travel in the space for 40,000 of years—and then you can reach.\nNow who is going to live for 40,000 years, and with…? It is impossible. So in the material world you see so many planets and stars—you have got machine also to fly in the space—but it is not possible. At least, the time will not allow you to go there. This space…, not only this space, but there is time also: time and space. So materially it is not possible. Even within this material world you cannot minimize the longest distance of time and space. But spiritually it is possible. That is the difference between matter and spirit. Just try to understand this.\nThe matter and spirit, we are all combined together, every one of us, because I am the spirit soul; I am not this body, matter. So both the matter and spirit are here, you can see. Just like I am speaking before you. As soon as I, the spirit, leave this body, this body can no more speak, can no more can shake the hands and move the hands and so on. Everything stopped. So just try to understand: this is matter and spirit. Without going into the detailed information, any layman, any child, any man can understand what is the distinction between matter and spirit.\nSo spiritual world is different from the material world. Spiritually it is different. So spiritually we cannot understand now, because we are absorbed in matter. But we understand from reliable sources, from authoritative sources, that Kṛṣṇa is everywhere, although He is far far away in His abode, beyond this material world. So I just explained the material world, we cannot reach the limit, and what to speak of going to the spiritual world that is far beyond this sky. But although it is impossible materially, spiritually it is possible. Spiritually it is possible.\nSo the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is a spiritual movement; it is not material movement. And from scriptures, from authoritative Vedic literature, we understand that Kṛṣṇa, although He is living in His abode far, far away from us, He is also everywhere:\ngoloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūto.\nānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis\ntābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ\ngoloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūto\ngovindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi\n[Bs. 5.37]\n[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, residing in His own realm, Goloka, with Rādhā, resembling His own spiritual figure, the embodiment of the ecstatic potency possessed of the sixty-four artistic activities, in the company of Her confidantes [sakhīs], embodiments of the extensions of Her bodily form, permeated and vitalized by His ever-blissful spiritual rasa.]\nThis prayer says that Kṛṣṇa expands His internal energy of bliss and knowledge, ānanda-cinmaya. Ānanda means bliss, happiness. Ānanda. The spirit soul is ānanda-moya avyasat. The nature of the spirit soul is joyful, happy, and because we are spark of that spiritual—we are spiritual spark, or part and parcel of the Supreme Lord—therefore our nature is to seek joy. Whole living entities—either birds, beasts, human beings—everyone is seeking happiness, because that is the nature. Nature of the spirit soul is to seek happiness.\nUnfortunately, we have been conditioned. We have been conditioned by these material laws. Therefore we cannot, I mean to say, fully realize what is that happiness. For example, in your country, United States of America, you are known all over the world the richest nation. Actually you are. But some section of your younger population, they are not finding happiness in this material advancement.\nThey are frustrated; they have invented some other way of living, known as hippies, or something like that. Why? They are all sons and daughters of rich men. Their parents are puzzled how to settle up their sons and daughters. They are not happy. So many, I mean to say, endeavors are going on, from the government side, from private side, how to control. But actual defect they do not see. They do not see that happiness, real happiness, is not possible simply by material advancement. That is the defect.\nMaterial advancement cannot make you happy. It may be for a few days, somebody, some... If somebody is very poor, and if he all of a sudden gets millions of dollars, he may feel happy: “Now I have got so much money.” But that happiness is not ultimate. That is temporary happiness. There will be a reaction.\nAfter he has enjoyed fully that millions of dollars, he will again feel unhappy, frustration, confusion. That is the nature, because the spirit soul’s happiness is different happiness. The defect of the modern civilization is that they do not see this, what is the defect, that in spite of so much material advancement, why a section of people is not happy, why they are seeking happiness somewhere else?\nSo this is the defect of modern education: they do not see it. But the answer is there in the Bhagavad-gītā. The answer is there. Unfortunately, we do not read all this literature. The answer is there. Lord Kṛṣṇa says, sukham ātyantikaṁ yat tad atīndriyam-grāhyam [Bg. 6.21].\n[There are three gates leading to this hell—lust, anger and greed. Every sane man should give these up, for they lead to the degradation of the soul.]\nThe real happiness… Happiness means sense gratification. Happiness, the other import of happiness, is sense gratification. So we are also trying to be happy by sense gratification in the material world. But because we are spirit soul, our adjustment of this material happiness will not make us happy, because our nature is different.\nFor example, that if I build a very palatial building in some lonely island in the sea, and I give you to live there—just like sometimes the lighthouse is there; they are living, but they are not happy. They are not happy. Just like there is a poetry, Alexander Selkirk. Perhaps you might have read? In our childhood we read this, that Robinson Crusoe, he was thrown into an isolated island. So enough land, enough material resources, everything.\nHe says, “I am the monarch of all I survey.” So he was thinking that “Now I am the monarch; there is no other human being. So I am the monarch.” But still he was feeling…“Society, friendship and love divinely bestowed upon man. Had I the wings of a dove, I could go again to my home.” Why? Because ānanda-mayo 'bhyāsāt [Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12].\n[By nature, the Supreme Lord is blissful.]\nThe spirit soul wants happiness in a different way, in society, in friendship and love. This is the real thing.\nSo the Māyāvādī philosophers, they being failure to find society, friendship, and love in the material world, they are frustrated. They are seeking void: make it all minus, zero. You see? But that is also not the real happiness. Because naturally I am seeking society, friendship and love, but this society, friendship and love has not given me that happiness. So making it zero, or void, is not the ultimate solution. Just like you have got some disease in your eyes.\nkāneṇa cakṣuṣā kiṁ vācakṣuḥ pīḍaiva kevalam\n[Nīti Śāstra, Cāṇakya Paṇḍita]\n[What is the use of a son who is neither glorious nor devoted to the Lord? Such a son is like a blind eye, which simply gives pain but cannot help one see.]\nDiseased in the eyes, he cannot see over and above there is always some pain, some disturbances, some water is…, erm, mucus is there, some pain—so many things. So therefore sometimes the doctor advises that take out this eyeball, and fix up some false eyeball. Perhaps you have seen? You see like that?\nSo the Māyāvādī philosopher, the void philosophy, you see is their philosophy is to take out this eyeball. Because it is painful, so make it void. The void philosophy is like that. But that will not make him happy. If there is somebody, some expert physician who can make the eye disease cured, and gives the natural eyesight, then that is happiness—not to take it out.\nThe void philosophy, or the impersonal philosophy, they are frustrated on the status of this material friendship, society or love. So they want something minus; that means void. So that will not make your ultimate solution. So they are trying to forget. Generally a man takes to drinking to forget his anxiety. So far we have seen in our country, when a man becomes frustrated, failure, he begins to drink, so that he can forget himself.\nSo these process of forgetting oneself, or imaginary voidness, these things will not make a solution of the problem. The solution of the problem is that Brahma-saṁhitā says that:\nānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis\ntābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ\ngoloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūto\ngovindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi\n[Bs. 5.37]\n[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, residing in His own realm, Goloka, with Rādhā, resembling His own spiritual figure, the embodiment of the ecstatic potency possessed of the sixty-four artistic activities, in the company of Her confidantes [sakhīs], embodiments of the extensions of Her bodily form, permeated and vitalized by His ever-blissful spiritual rasa.]\nGovinda, Kṛṣṇa, He has His society, love and friendship in the spiritual realm, which is ānanda-cinmaya: that is spiritual and full of happiness, full of pleasure—expansion of spiritual bliss and knowledge. Spiritual world means expansion of spiritual bliss and life is spiritual bliss and knowledge eternally, ānanda, sac-cid-ānanda. \nThree things: sat means “eternal,” and cit means “knowledge,” and ānanda means “happiness.” So the spiritual world is made of these three things: eternal, bliss and knowledge. So that eternal bliss and knowledge is expanded by Kṛṣṇa, exactly like the sun expands its heat and light by the energy which is called sunshine. It is practical, that the sun means heat and light. That heat and light is expanded by the sunshine.\nHowever severe cold it may be, if there is bright sunshine, ah, you immediately get relief. That is practical. Now the sun is ninety millions miles away from you. How you associate with the sun or associate with the heat and light of the sun? By the sunshine. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is the foremost symbol of bliss, eternal life and knowledge. If you can capture the sunshine, or the bodily effulgence of Kṛṣṇa, or His energy, then you get the same pleasure.\nJust like sunshine is sometimes covered by cloud, so you do not get the actual benefit of sunshine. Although within the cloud, even there is cloud you can appreciate that there is sunshine, or if you go above the cloud by jet plane, you see there is full sunshine. So this cloud cannot cover the sun.\nWhenever there is cloud, do not think that the whole sun disc or the sun sphere or globe is covered. No. That is not possible. It is only a insignificant part of the sky, maybe hundred miles, two hundred miles, five hundred miles covered with cloud. But what is this hundred miles, two hundred miles, five hundred…, five thousand miles in comparison to the vast space overflooded with sunshine? It is nothing. It is nothing.\nSimilarly, when we are covered by this material energy, you should understand yourself that you are covered like the cloud. So you have to somehow or other get out of the cloud, just like we get out of the cloud by aeroplane and go above the cloud, there is full sunshine. Similarly, if you somehow or other get out of this cloud and capture the sunshine, or the effulgence of Kṛṣṇa, then you become happy immediately.\nThat is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You have to change your consciousness. That consciousness is now clouded, covered with cloud and material things. This cloud…, actually, cloud has no permanent existence. It appears in the sky and again disappears. It appears also by the sunshine. What is this cloud? The cloud is not a foreign thing; it is a product of the sunshine.\nWhen there is excessive heat, the sunshine evaporates seawater and it turns into gas, which is called cloud. So cloud has no separate existence beyond the sunshine; it is also a product of the sunshine. Similarly, this māyā, illusion, is also a creation of God. And because it is creation of God, it can be dissolved by the mercy of God. The same process: the cloud is there, but when the sunshine is too bright the cloud disappears: no more cloud.\nSimilarly, if you can capture the sunshine of Kṛṣṇa, and if you make it brighter, or if you go to the brighter side—sunshine is always there, similarly bright side of Kṛṣṇa is always there—that side is the association of the devotees. Instead of associating with nondevotees, if you associate with these devotees, then you get that sunshine, or the light and heat from Kṛṣṇa. That is the process. Same way: if you somehow or other you go up the cloud, then you get this full sunshine.\nSimilarly, if you capture the association of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you get sunshine, that Kṛṣṇa’s shining. This is the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But unfortunately there are some people, they do not want it, or they have no knowledge. But this process is like that. We cannot be happy within this cloud-covered material existence. We are spirit by nature. We are sparks, spiritual sparks. We have to associate with Kṛṣṇa; then we can have our full-fledged.\nAnother example: just like there is fire, and there are small particles of sparks coming out of the fire. The sparks which is coming out of the fire, it falls down beyond the range of the flame, it becomes charcoal, carbon, immediately—black charcoal. But if it remains with the fire, it is as bright as the fire. All this a small spark.\nSimilarly, if you remain always in Kṛṣṇa consciousness fire, you are also as good as Kṛṣṇa, ānanda-cinmaya-rasa. And as soon as you go out of the boundary, or somehow or other you are covered, just like cloud, then you become black, or extinguished—no more fire, although the fire potency is there. Just like coal: the coal, it looks very blacks, carbon; but put it in the fire, it becomes red, very good fire.\nSimilarly, we are now out of the orbit, or the shining influence, of Kṛṣṇa, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We have to put ourselves again into that atmosphere of Kṛṣṇa; then we get full-fledged happiness, knowledge and eternal life. That is the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.\nSo Prahlāda Mahārāja says that to attain this Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not very difficult task. Actually it is so; it is not very difficult task. Simply we have to make association, and that association is very easily made, simply by chanting.\nThis process we are spreading: Hare Kṛṣṇa movement. If you simply chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, you will gradually realize ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam [Cc. Antya 20.12].\n[“’Let there be all victory for the chanting of the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṇa, which can cleanse the mirror of the heart and stop the miseries of the blazing fire of material existence. That chanting is the waxing moon that spreads the white lotus of good fortune for all living entities. It is the life and soul of all education. The chanting of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa expands the blissful ocean of transcendental life. It gives a cooling effect to everyone and enables one to taste full nectar at every step.’]\nThe first status, the first stage of realization, is ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam, cleansing the heart. At the present moment my heart is not cleansed. I am thinking I am matter, I am American, I am this, I am that, I am… But when the heart is cleansed, then I understand that I don't belong to this material world. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi: “I am Brahman. I am the spiritual spark.”\nSo this movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, is the greatest boon for the human society, and we request everyone to take advantage of this movement. And the process is very easy: simply chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. And these boys and girls who have taken to this movement, you can discuss with them, or you can discuss with me.\nOf course, the more you practice you will understand, because unless the heart is cleansed… It takes some time. Anything, any education, any schooling, it takes a little time to understand. So… But it does not take very much, a great deal of time. It is very easily understood, because Kṛṣṇa, or God, is also situated within your heart. If you sincerely want association of God, He is already there with you as a friend. Just like in a tree two birds are sitting—these are Vedic information—two birds are sitting in one tree, in friendly terms.\nSimilarly, bird…, or Kṛṣṇa and yourself are just like two birds, and both of you are sitting in this tree of body. The one bird, the jīva soul, or the part-and-parcel individual soul, he is eating the fruit of this body, the fruit of the tree. This body means… What is called? “As you sow, so you...”",
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"content": "\n So you reap.",
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"content": "\n“…so you reap.” So we are creating this body according to our work. We are creating sometimes this human body; sometimes we are creating dog’s body; sometimes we are creating hog’s body; sometimes we are creating demigod’s body.\nSo just like we cultivate so many trees and plants, similarly we are creating… You have got, all of us who are sitting here, we have got different types of body. That means we are all individual souls. We have created these different types of body, and...\n[audio interference]\n...according to the body, just like according to the tree there is fruit, so similarly, according to this body there is fruit. Just like the hog: the hog has developed a certain type of tree, and he is eating the fruit. In any other body... [break] …no one can eat stool, but because that soul, particular soul has manufactured, developed, a body of hog’s body… [end]",
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"content": "\n Thank you, Mr. Standish. Thank you. Thank you. Now you can... Raymond, put the lights...\n[break] Today's subject matter... What is that subject matter?",
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"content": "\n \"Knowledge is the solution.\"",
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"content": "\n Eh? Knowledge?",
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"content": "\n \"Knowledge is the solution.\"",
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"content": "\n \"Knowledge is the solution.\"\ntad viddhi praṇipātena\nparipraśnena sevayā\nupadekṣyanti te jṣānaṁ\njṣāninas tattva-darśinaḥ\n[Bg. 4.34]\n[Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth.]\nFor knowledge, we have got to go to the right person, tattva-darśī. Tattva-darśī means \"one who has actually seen or experienced the Absolute Truth.\" So unless we find out such a person who has actually seen the Absolute Truth or who has in his experience what is Absolute Truth, so there is very little chance of our spiritual advancement.\nIf we can find out such a person who is experienced in the Absolute Truth, and if we follow the principles, as it is stated here, praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā... Praṇipāta means to surrender, and paripraśna means to enquire, and sevayā means service. Three things. You should find out a person who is self-realized, who has experience in the Absolute Truth and, on your part, you have to surrender there, and you have to enquire and you have to render service. When these things are completed, there is no doubt about one's spiritual salvation. If we have actually found out a person who is self-realized and we have surrendered there honestly, with enquiry and service, then we must know that our spiritual salvation is guaranteed. Guaranteed. There is no doubt about it.\nSo Lord Kṛṣṇa says,\nyaj jṣātvā na punar moham\nevaṁ yāsyasi pāṇḍava\nyena bhūtāny aśeṣāṇi\ndrakṣyasy ātmany atho mayi\n[Bg. 4.35]\n[And when you have thus learned the truth, you will know that all living beings are but part of Me-and that they are in Me, and are Mine.]\nPeople are anxious to see God. Here Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa says that as soon as one gets knowledge from the right person, then he never comes into the field of delusion. The whole thing is that in the present stage of our life, we are conditioned and deluded. We do not know things as they are. That is the cause of our all miseries. Otherwise, constitutionally, we are ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt. By nature, we are jolly. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt.\nIn the Vedānta-sūtra you'll find, the nature of Brahman is ānandamaya. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ [Bs. 5.1]. \n[Kṛṣṇa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.]\nEternal, blissful and full of knowledge, then your botheration of thisSat, cit, ānanda. Sat means eternity, cit means full knowledge and ānanda means pleasure. This is our constitution. We are all fragmental portion of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord. Therefore, because He is ānandamaya, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, so we are also ānandamaya, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha.\nUnfortunately, we have been put in the contact of this material energy; therefore we are just experiencing the opposite. What is that opposite? That... Sat, sat-cit ānanda. Sat means eternity. So we have got just the opposite: asat. Asat means noneternity. This body will not exist. We are put into such a condition that however scientifically we may try to keep an youthfulness by so many medicines, injection, and so many things which we have, I mean to say, invented by our advancement material science, but death is sure. This body... Antavanta ime dehāḥ. The body must be finished. Therefore there is no question of sat.\nAnd cit. Cit means knowledge. Knowledge..., we have no knowledge. Our... We have got senses, but these are all imperfect senses. We are very much proud that everything we say... Somebody... If somebody preaches about the Lord, we challenge, \"Can you show me the Lord? Have you seen the Lord?\" or \"Can you show me the Lord?\" But we do not know that our senses are so imperfect that we cannot see even what we are daily seeing. We cannot... If the light is put off, then we cannot see each other, even in this room. So our seeing power is conditional. It is not perfect. Similarly, all our senses, they are imperfect. So by imperfect senses, by speculation of the imperfect mind, we, we cannot reach to the Absolute Truth. It is not possible. Not possible.\nTherefore here it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā that tad viddhi praṇipātena [Bg. 4.34]:\n[Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth.]\n\"If you are at all serious to understand that transcendental knowledge, then you must approach to a person who has experience of the Absolute Truth.\" Otherwise, it is not possible. If you think that \"I shall realize by mental speculation the Absolute Truth, it is not possible.\" Because you are sub..., I mean, you are fortified with only imperfections. Your senses cannot approach.\nTherefore Brahman is said, avan mānasa gocara. Avan mānasa gocara: it is beyond, beyond the mental speculation. And there is another name of the Supreme Lord, Adhokṣaja. Adhokṣaja. Adhokṣaja means adhah-kṛtaḥ akṣajaṁ jṣānaṁ yatra, \"where our material senses are defeated.\" Our material senses are defeated. We are defeated in every respect. So it is not possible to realize the Absolute Truth if we do not find a person who is realized soul, who is absolute, who has understood. It doesn't matter who is he.\nLord Caitanya recommended... Just like in India, generally, the brāhmaṇas are expected to be the spiritual master. Because brāhmaṇa means who have sufficient knowledge in the transcendental science. That is brāhmaṇa. Brahma jānātīti brāhmaṇaḥ. Now, due to this modern age, Kali-yuga, it is very difficult to find out a qualified brāhmaṇa. So therefore it is very difficult also to find out a qualified spiritual master. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He has recommended that,\nkibā śūdra, kibā vipra, nyāsī kene naya\nyei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā sei 'guru' haya\n[Cc. Madhya 8.128]\n[Whether one is a brāhmaṇa, a sannyāsī or a śūdra—regardless of what he is—he can become a spiritual master if he knows the science of Kṛṣṇa.]\n\"Never mind whether he's a brāhmaṇa or a śūdra or a sannyāsī or a householder. Never mind what he is. That doesn't matter. If he knows the science of Kṛṣṇa, then he is the bona fide spiritual master.\" He is the bona fide spiritual master.\nSo here this Bhagavad-gītā is the science of Kṛṣṇa. Every one of you, if you study Bhagavad-gītā very scrutinizingly, with all your arguments, with all your sense, with all your philosophical knowledge... Because it is said here, tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena [Bg. 4.34]. \n[Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth.]\nNot that you have to submit yourself blindly. Although your spiritual master may be self-realized and experienced in the Absolute Truth, still, you have to question. You have to understand from him all critical points by your intelligent questions. That is allowed.\nSo it doesn't matter. If anyone is able to answer about the science of Kṛṣṇa, he is spiritual master. He is spiritual master. It doesn't matter where he's born or what he is, whether he's a brāhmaṇa, or a śūdra, or an American or an Indian or whatever he is. Never mind.\nJust like... It is practical. When you go to a doctor, medical practitioner, you do not ask, \"Well, Doctor, are you American or Indian? Are you brāhmaṇa? Are you Jew? Are you Christian?\" No. Oh, he has got the qualification of a medical man, so you surrender: \"Doctor, treat me. I am suffering.\" So there is no question. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu has given liberal, that \"Anyone who knows the spiritual science, or the Kṛṣṇa science...\" Kṛṣṇa science is spiritual science. Because Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate goal of spiritual science. When I speak of Kṛṣṇa, you must remember that I am speaking of God. There are millions of name of God in different parts of the world, but \"Kṛṣṇa\" is the supreme name according to Vedic knowledge.\nSo therefore Lord Caitanya has recommended, and His recommendation is accepted by the authorities even at the present moment,\nkibā śūdra, kibā vipra, nyāsī kene naya\nyei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā sei 'guru' haya\n[Cc. Madhya 8.128]\n[Whether one is a brāhmaṇa, a sannyāsī or a śūdra—regardless of what he is—he can become a spiritual master if he knows the science of Kṛṣṇa.]\nAnd you'll be surprised that Lord Caitanya's principal disciples were all so-called fallen in the society. He appointed one Haridāsa Ṭhākura, Nāmācārya Haridāsa Ṭhākura. This Haridāsa Ṭhākura was a Muhammadan. He happened to take his birth in a Muhammadan family, but he became a follower of Caitanya, and Caitanya Mahāprabhu, after training him, He gave him the highest post of His spiritual mission.\nCaitanya Mahāprabhu appeared to introduce this system of Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare..., chanting of the holy name of God, and He appointed this Haridāsa Ṭhākura, who happened to be a Muhammadan. But he became so much enlightened that Caitanya Mahāprabhu appointed him the supreme minister of administering this Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa. He was, he was made the authority, nāmācārya. Ācārya means the prime minister, the authority.\nSo there are other, six important direct disciples, just like Rūpa Gosvāmī and Sanātana Gosvāmī. Now, these gentlemen were formerly known as Sākara Mallika and Dabira Khān [sic]. Dabira Khān... That was the Muhammadan period. India was being governed by that time by the Pathans, and in Bengal there was a Pathan ruler whose name was Nawab Hussain Shah. This... But these gentlemen, Sākara Mallika and Dabira Khān, they were appointed minister in the service, in the governmental service of Nawab Hussain Shah. And in those days, the Hindus were so strict that anyone accepting the service, especially the brāhmaṇas, if he accepts, if a brāhmaṇa accepts the service of anyone, especially who is not a Hindu, he is at once extricated from the society.\nSo these two gentlemen, Sākara Mallika, they almost became... They changed their name also. They were actually brāhmaṇas, very intelligent, learned. They were very good scholar. In Parsi, er, Persian language, and Sanskrit language they were very good scholar. But because they engaged themself in the service of the Muhammadan ruler, they were, I mean to say, extricated from the socially, brāhmaṇa society. So Caitanya... They also followed Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and they were made the best authorities in this science of Kṛṣṇa science. They... Later on, they became Rūpa Gosvāmī and Sanātana Gosvāmī.\nSo there is no bar for anyone, that one cannot become the spiritual master. Everyone can become spiritual master, provided he knows the science of Kṛṣṇa. That is the only qualification. And that is very reasonable. If you do not this..., do not know the subject matter, how can you be a teacher? Eh? A teacher means he knows the thing. He knows the science. So only qualification of the spiritual master, as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, kibā śūdra, kibā vipra, nyāsī kene naya, yei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā: \"Anyone who knows the science of Kṛṣṇa...\" This is science of Kṛṣṇa, this Bhagavad-gītā. If anyone knows perfectly, then he becomes the spiritual master.\nAnd there is need of spiritual master at the present moment. We require thousands of spiritual master to preach all over the world this science of Kṛṣṇa. The science of Kṛṣṇa. That will solve all problems of the world. Take it from me. We discussed amongst our confidential devotees here, and they agreed that actually this is the science which can mitigate all the problems of the world.\nSo yaj jṣātvā punar moham evaṁ yāsyasi. So Kṛṣṇa says to Arjuna... He's addressing Arjuna, because Arjuna is hearing as representative of us. He was not speaking to Arjuna alone, but He was speaking to all the human race. So yaj jṣātvā na punar moham: \"By understanding this science then you cannot go, you cannot be illusioned.\" Because Arjuna was illusioned and he was not prepared to fight, so this instruction was given, this Bhagavad-gītā instruction was given to Arjuna. So He says that \"If you have actually undergone the training under the experienced, bona fide spiritual master, then you would not have gone under such illusory energy.\" Yena bhūtāny aśeṣāṇi drakṣyasy āt...\nThen again He says,\napi ced asi pāpebhyaḥ\nsarvebhyaḥ pāpa-kṛttamaḥ\nsarvaṁ jṣāna-plavenaiva\nvṛjinaṁ santariṣyasi\n[Bg. 4.36]\n[Even if you are considered to be the most sinful of all sinners, when you are situated in the boat of transcendental knowledge, you will be able to cross over the ocean of miseries.]\nNow, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa says that \"Just like if you have got a very good ship, you can very easily cross the Atlantic Ocean without any difficulty, similarly, we are in the midst of the ocean of ignorance.\" Our this life, this conditioned life in the material world, is just like the ocean of ignorance. Ocean of ignorance. So Lord Caitanya, therefore, He prayed to Śrī Kṛṣṇa like this, ayi nanda-tanuja patitaṁ kiṅkaraṁ māṁ viṣame bhavāmbudhau [Cc. Antya 20.32]:\n[O My Lord, O Kṛṣṇa, son of Mahārāja Nanda, I am Your eternal servant, but because of My own fruitive acts I have fallen into this horrible ocean of nescience. Now please be causelessly merciful to Me. Consider Me a particle of dust at Your lotus feet.]\n\"My dear Lord Kṛṣṇa, I am just fallen in the ocean of ignorance.\" So we are in the ocean of ignorance. Now, in the ocean, if you get a very good boat or very good ship, as you can cross over, similarly, if we have the ship or the boat of perfect knowledge, then there is no fear. We can cross the ocean very easily. We can cross this ocean very easily.\nNow here Kṛṣṇa says, api ced asi pāpebhyaḥ sarvebhyaḥ pāpa-kṛttamaḥ [Bg. 4.36].\n[Even if you are considered to be the most sinful of all sinners, when you are situated in the boat of transcendental knowledge, you will be able to cross over the ocean of miseries.]\nIf, if a person is the most sinful, the..., and the, I mean, the supermost sinful man, but if he gets this knowledge, this knowledge of Kṛṣṇa science, then he can cross over this ocean of ignorance very easily. That means it does not matter what was our past life. Either... Any Vedic literature, especially Bhagavad-gītā... Bhagavad-gītā does not take into account what was you in the past life. That doesn't matter. Because we are in ignorance, we might have done so many things in ignorance which is not approved, which is not virtuous. That is quite possible. Every one of us, we are subjected. Because due to ignorance, we do so many things, so nobody can say that \"I am free from any sinful activities.\" Nobody can say.\nSo that doesn't matter. But if we get..., if we can learn the science of Kṛṣṇa, then, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa says, api ced asi pāpebhyaḥ sarvebhyaḥ pāpa-kṛttamaḥ: \"Even one is the most sinful man, but if he gets the Kṛṣṇa science, he is free. He is free, and he can go. He can cross over the material ocean of ignorance very easily.\"\nHow it is possible? He's giving a very nice example.\nyathaidhāṁsi samiddho 'gnir\nbhasmasāt kurute 'rjuna\njṣānāgniḥ sarva-karmāṇi\nbhasmasāt kurute tathā\n[Bg. 4.37]\n[As the blazing fire turns firewood to ashes, O Arjuna, so does the fire of knowledge burn to ashes all reactions to material activities.]\nJust like in the fire if you put anything, whatever, it will go on burning, burning. Everything it will burn into ashes. Never mind, either wood or any dirty things, whatever you will, it will turn into ashes. Similarly, if you get this Kṛṣṇa science, if you understand this Kṛṣṇa science, then all our reactions of sinful activities what we might have done in our past life, that will be all burned into ashes. Burnt into ashes.\nyathaidhāṁsi samiddho 'gnir\nbhasmasāt kurute 'rjuna\njṣānāgniḥ sarva-karmāṇi\nbhasmasāt kurute tathā\n[Bg. 4.37]\nBhasmasāt means \"turns into ashes.\"\nna hi jṣānena sadṛśaṁ\npavitram iha vidyate\ntat svayaṁ yoga-saṁsiddhaḥ\nkālenātmani vindati\n[Bg. 4.38]\n[In this world, there is nothing so sublime and pure as transcendental knowledge. Such knowledge is the mature fruit of all mysticism. And one who has achieved this enjoys the self within himself in due course of time.]\nTherefore knowledge, we must seek knowledge. And the perfection of knowledge, as we have several times explained in this meeting, the perfection of knowledge is to understand Kṛṣṇa. That's all. As in the Seventh Chapter you'll find that bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jṣānavān māṁ prapadyate [Bg. 7.19].\n[After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.]\nNow, after culturing many, many births' knowledge, one comes to Kṛṣṇa and he understands, vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ. Vāsudeva, Kṛṣṇa, is everything, all causes of causes. He's the cause of all causes. Always remember, when I speak of Kṛṣṇa, He's God. God. God is the cause of all causes.\nNow, in these days of Communism, the idea of Communism... Now, in the Kṛṣṇa science, there is very nice conception of spiritual communism, in the Kṛṣṇa science. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavata you'll find that there was a discussion between Nārada and Yudhiṣṭhira, and Nārada was explaining that in this manifested material world, either in the higher planets or in this planet or in the outer space, whatever wonderful things and resources, material resources, are there, they are all manufactured by the Supreme Lord.\nJust try to understand. Everything in this world, whatever there is, that is not done by any human being. That is done by God. Nobody can deny it. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam [Īśo mantra 1].\n[Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong.]\nTherefore all living entities, beginning from the ant to Brahmā, the highest human being or the highest demigod, all of them, they have got the right to use them. They have got the right to use them.\nNow Nārada says that \"You can use all these material resources as much as you require, but if you want more, if you get more, then you'll become the thief, and you are punishable.\" Just see the idea of communism. Everything in the world, in this planet or in other planets... Just like people are trying to go to the moon planet. The Russians are trying to put their flag first, so that if they go to moon planet, they will conquer. Just like you came from Europe, you have conquered this tract of land, America, and you have put up your flag. So now they are trying to go, trying to go to the moon planet.\nBut this putting, this, I mean to say, this digging the flag, it is called ignorance. This is called ignorance. Where you are putting your flag? It is not your property. It is God's property. This is knowledge. This is knowledge. And if I think, \"It is my property. I must dig my flag here,\" that is ignorance.\nSo in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavata you'll find that whatever property is... In this morning also I was speaking. Just if you throw in the street some bags of grains, the pigeons will come, but they will pick up only four, five, six, eight, ten grains, and they will go away. They will not take even one grain more than it needs. As soon as he's satisfied to his heart's content—\"Oh, I am full now\"—oh, he'll go away. It will go away. He'll not stock. Similarly, this is natural. This is natural.\nBut if we put here a hundred bags of flour and if we ask people that \"Come and take,\" then somebody will take ten bags, somebody will take fifteen bags, somebody will take..., will not take any bags because if he's weak, he cannot take. So the distribution will not be equal. That is our advancement of civilization. The knowledge which the pigeons, the cats and dogs have got, we are lacking in that knowledge, that the whole thing belongs to the Supreme Lord and we can accept them, whatever we need, not more than that. That is knowledge. That is knowledge.\nThere will be no difficulty. The whole world is made by the Lord's arrangement that you have no scarcity. Everything is sufficient. Everything is sufficient. There will be no scarcity, provided you know the distribution. The distribution is... There is fallacy, distribution: one is taking more and the other is starving. Therefore, the starving population, they are making protest, \"Why we shall starve?\" But that is also defective.\nBut here is the perfect knowledge, that īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam. We have to take everything as God's property, nobody's property. And we can use things which are available by the nature's product. Suppose there is iron ore, mine. So everyone has got the... Whatever iron he requires, he can take. But if somebody makes the, the iron mine as his own property, then he, according to Śrīmad-Bhāgavata, and it is..., he becomes a thief. He becomes a thief, and he's punishable because that is God's property.\nNobody can create the iron mine. We cannot create anything. Even in the economic laws, we cannot create anything. We can simply transform, just like worker or laborer. That's all. Suppose we manufacture a very nice table, but the ingredients, the wood, and the instrument, iron, oh, this is supplied by God. You cannot manufacture iron. You cannot manufacture the wood. So how..., why do you claim that it is yours? This is ignorance. This is ignorance.\nSo by culture of Kṛṣṇa science, when we understand the Kṛṣṇa science, then we become free from this ignorance. And Lord Kṛṣṇa recommends that \"By this knowledge, you can very easily cross over the ocean of nescience, ocean of ignorance.\" The whole thing, we are suffering due to... Just like ignorance is no excuse in the law court. Suppose you have done something wrong, and if you say to the judge, \"So I, I did not know, sir, this law,\" oh, that is no excuse. You'll be punished. You'll be punished.\nNow, in the śāstra, in the Vedic literature, it is said that \"Everything belongs to God. Everything is manufactured by God. So everyone has right—not only human being; even the animals—everyone has got the right to live and use things as much as he requires. But if he stocks more, if he acquires more, he becomes the thief, and he is punishable.\" Now, suppose if I say, \"Oh, I do not know this law. Therefore I have accumulated so much things in my control,\" oh, that does not mean that you'll not be punished. You'll be punished. You'll be punishable. This knowledge we require to know. And people at the modern age, they are lacking this knowledge.\nSo we require hundreds and thousands of spiritual master who has understood this Kṛṣṇa science and preach all over the world. That is the problem. Therefore we have formed this Society and we, we invite all sincere souls to take part in the Society and become a spiritual master, and preach this science all over the world. This is the... There is a great necessity of this knowledge.\nDon't think that Kṛṣṇa was born in India, and because He spoke on the Vedic principle, there is a sectarian thing. No. Kṛṣṇa says that,\nsarva-yoniṣu kaunteya\nsambhavanti mūrtayaḥ yāḥ\ntāsāṁ mahad yonir\nahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā\n[Bg. 14.4]\n[It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kuntī, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father.]\nJust like children, they are born after the conjugation of the father and the mother, similarly, the father is God; the material world is the mother. We have got this body just like the child gets his body from the mother's womb. The father is the seed-giver. Similarly, as spiritual soul, we are part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, but we are put into this material world because we wanted to enjoy this material world. Therefore we are put into this material world. And we have got this body, this material body.\nSo in whatever form we may be, either as human being or as a cat and dog or more than human being, demigod... So whatever forms there are, many thousands... Eighty, eighty lakhs. Eighty-four lakhs, species. Oh. Eight hundred millions of species of life there are. But all of them claimed by Kṛṣṇa that \"I am their father. I am their father,\" ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ. Ahaṁ means \"I\"; bīja-pradaḥ, \"because I am the seed-giving father.\"\nSo Bhagavad-gītā, the science of Kṛṣṇa, is not meant for any particular party or particular nation or particular country. It is all meant for everyone, even for the animals. We have to learn this science and preach this science all over the world, so that they can be out of the ignorance. They are committing theft. They are committing theft. So we have to save them from the ignorance, from their state of ignorance. This is required.\nSo we have formed this association, Internal Association for..., of, for Kṛṣṇa, International Society for Krishna Consciousness. And I invite every one of you, not only in America, from all parts of the world, come and join and learn this Kṛṣṇa science, and preach all over the world that people will be happy. It is the business of the human being not to exploit each other. The human being is meant for doing good to others.\nLord Caitanya preached this philosophy. Especially He advised to the Indians,\nbhārata-bhūmite manuṣya-janma haila yāra\njanma sārthaka kari' kara para-upakāra\n[Cc. Ādi 9.41]\n[One who has taken his birth as a human being in the land of India [Bhārata-varṣa] should make his life successful and work for the benefit of all other people.]\nHe said that \"Anyone who has taken birth in the land of India...\" Because India is the land of religion. India is the land of philosophy. India has got many..., good many asset of this science of Kṛṣṇa and science of spiritual knowledge. So anyone who has taken his birth in India, they can fulfill the mission of human life. They have got very good asset. But unfortunately, they have rejected all this asset. They are now enamored by the glamour of material civilization. They are looking to Europe and America, and they want this skyscraper building and industry. And in that way they want to be happy now.\nSo... But actually, that is not the way. That is, rather, misleading. The more we shall advance this material way of life, the more we shall be away from spiritual life. The human, human life, is meant for spiritual realization. Nothing more. We shall be satisfied whatever is supplied by nature, by the order of God. Nature supplies us many things for our maintenance. There are number of grains. There are number of fruits. There is ample supply of milk. So you can satisfy yourself. You can keep your body very healthy, and culture this spiritual knowledge. That is the plan. That is the plan of Kṛṣṇa. But if we want to possess more, then, er...\n[sirens extremely loud in background]\nSo this is another example of punishment. You see? [laughter] We are also punished, and they, for whom they are going, they are also punished. So we are all being punished. As we are making progress, as we are violating the law of nature, the law of God, we are being punished in every step. But due to ignorance, we do not know how we are being... We have been accustomed. We have been callous: \"Oh, let us be punished. Go on. Go on like this. Go on.\" Oh, this is not human life. We must make a solution of this punishment. That is human life. Because I am put into jail, \"All right, it is very good. Without working, I am getting two times food. Let me remain in the jail,\" oh, that is not very intelligent question. You see? We must get out of the jail.\nSo this material world is just like a prison house. We must get out of it. We must get our freedom, the absolute freedom, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha [Bs. 5.1],\n[Kṛṣṇa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.]\nEternal, blissful and full of knowledge, then your botheration of thisfull of knowledge, full of bliss, and eternal. That is our mission. So this knowledge we must get. \"Knowledge is the solution.\" This is the subject matter of our speech today: \"Knowledge is the solution.\" This is knowledge, that everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa, or God. We can use them as much as we like.\nJust like the elephant is eating hundred pounds. Oh, God is supplying: \"Yes. Come on. Take hundred pounds.\" But he's not stocking. He's eating both times hundred pounds in the morning, hundred pounds in the evening. He's supplied. Nature supplies: \"Come on.\" You know gorilla. They are very big animals. And where gorillas are prominent in the African jungle, there is a tree which produces a nut which is stronger than the iron bullets. And the gorilla uses those as peas and chew it nicely. So there is food supply there even for the gorilla, for the elephant, and for the ant also. The ant requires one grain of sugar. And he's also struggling. So here is a struggle. But the supply is there. Supply is there. Supply is already fixed up.\nSo your struggle should be—human form of life—the struggle should be how to realize yourself, how to go to, to go back to Godhead, go back to Kṛṣṇa. That should be your struggle, not for economic development. The economic solution is there. If it is there for the elephant, for the ant, why not for you? Because we are in ignorance, we are thinking that we have to devote more time for economic development than to spiritual realization. No. The whole thing is planned like that, that for economic development you need not, you need not try, you need not attempt. You simply try for spiritual realization, for getting out of this entanglement of material life. That is knowledge. And that will make your solution.\nThank you very much. If there is any question, you can ask. [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/680614bg-montreal/
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"content": "\n[indistinct background talk amongst devotees]",
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"content": "\n[aside to other devotee] You have that extension cord?\nSwāmījī?",
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"content": "\n Yes?",
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"content": "\n I didn't understand something in here. I was wondering if you could explain it for me. Can I just... Just this paragraph. This one paragraph.",
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"content": "\nWhich one?",
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"content": "\nThis paragraph. It's a long, long world[?], all about completes, small and complete within the large complete. \"Small completes exist in the whole complete, while complete [indistinct].\"",
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"content": "\nWe are small complete.\n[break] Janārdana is not here?",
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"content": "\nNo, he said he couldn't come tonight. He has a kind of a job tonight. He's playing in a band.\n[02:04]",
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"content": "\n [sings maṅgalācaraṇa prayers] [kīrtana]\nvande 'haṁ śrī-guroḥ śrī-yuta-pada-kamalaṁ śrī-gurūn vaiṣṇavāṁś ca\nśrī-rūpaṁ sāgrajātaṁ saha-gaṇa-raghunāthānvitaṁ taṁ sa-jīvam\nsādvaitaṁ sāvadhūtaṁ parijana-sahitaṁ kṛṣṇa-caitanya-devaṁ\nśrī-rādhā-kṛṣṇa-pādān saha-gaṇa-lalitā-śrī-viśākhānvitāṁś ca\n[I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of my spiritual master and of all the other preceptors on the path of devotional service. I offer my respectful obeisances unto all the Vaiṣṇavas and unto the Six Gosvāmīs, including Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī, Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, Jīva Gosvāmī and their associates. I offer my respectful obeisances unto Śrī Advaita Ācārya Prabhu, Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and all His devotees, headed by Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura. I then offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and all the gopīs, headed by Lalitā and Viśākhā.]\nnama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale\nśrīmate bhaktisiddhānta-sarasvatīti nāmine\n[I offer my respectful obeisances unto His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, who is very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa, having taken shelter at His lotus feet.]\nśrī-vārṣabhānavī-devī-dayitāya kṛpābdhaye\nkṛṣṇa-sambandha-vijñāna-dāyine prabhave namaḥ\nI offer my respectful obeisances to Śrī Vārṣabhānavī-devī-dayita dāsa [another name of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī], who is favored by Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and who is the ocean of transcendental mercy and the deliverer of the science of Kṛṣṇa.\nmādhuryojjvala-premāḍhya-śrī-rūpānuga-bhaktida\nśrī-gaura-karuṇā-śakti-vigrahāya namo 'stu te\nI offer my respectful obeisances unto you, the personified energy of Śrī Caitanya's mercy, who deliver devotional service which is enriched with conjugal love of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, coming exactly in the line of revelation of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī.]\nnamas te gaura-vāṇī-śrī-mūrtaye dīna-tāriṇe\nrūpānuga-viruddhāpasiddhānta-dhvānta-hāriṇe\n[I offer my respectful obeisances unto you, who are the personified teachings of Lord Caitanya. You are the deliverer of the fallen souls. You do not tolerate any statement against the teachings of devotional service enunciated by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī.]\nnamo gaura-kiśorāya sākṣād-vairāgya-mūrtaye\nvipralambha-rasāmbhodhe pādāmbujāya te namaḥ\n[I offer my respectful obeisances unto Śrīla Gaurakiśora dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja [the spiritual master of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī], who is renunciation personified. He is always merged in a feeling of separation and intense love of Kṛṣṇa.]\nnamo bhaktivinodāya sac-cid-ānanda-nāmine\ngaura-śakti-svarūpāya rūpānuga-varāya te\n[I offer my respectful obeisances unto Śrīla Saccidānanda Bhaktivinoda, who is the transcendental energy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He is a strict follower of the Gosvāmīs, headed by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī.]\ngaurāvirbhāva-bhūmes tvaṁ nirdeṣṭā saj-jana-priyaḥ\nvaiṣṇava-sārvabhaumaḥ śrī-jagannāthāya te namaḥ\n[I offer my respectful obeisances to Śrīla Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī, who is respected by the entire Vaiṣṇava community and who confirmed the discovery of the place where Lord Caitanya appeared.]\nvāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca\npatitānāṁ pāvenebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ\n[I offer my respectful obeisances unto all the Vaiṣṇava devotees of the Lord. They are just like desire trees who can fulfill the desires of everyone, and they are full of compassion for the fallen conditioned souls.]\nnamo mahā-vadānyāya kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te\nkṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇa-caitanya-nāmne gaura-tviṣe namaḥ\n[O most munificent incarnation! You are Kṛṣṇa Himself appearing as Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu. You have assumed the golden color of Śrīmātī Rādhārāṇī, and You are widely distributing pure love of Kṛṣṇa. We offer our respectful obeisances unto You.]\npañca-tattvātmakaṁ kṛṣṇaṁ bhakta-rūpa-svarūpakam\nbhaktāvatāraṁ bhaktākhyaṁ namāmi bhakta-śaktikam\n[I offer my obeisances unto the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, who is nondifferent from His features as a devotee, devotional manifestation, devotional incarnation, pure devotee and devotional energy.]\nhe kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho dīna-bandho jagat-pate\ngopeśa gopikā-kānta rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te\n[O my dear Kṛṣṇa, O ocean of mercy, O friend of the distressed and the source of creation, O master of the cowherd men and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṇī, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.]\njayatāṁ suratau paṅgor mama manda-mater gatī\nmat-sarvasva-padāmbhojau rādhā-madana-mohanau\n[Sambandhādhideva Praṇāma]\n[Glory to the all-merciful Rādhā and Madana-mohana! I am lame and ill advised, yet They are my directors, and Their lotus feet are everything to me.]\ndīvyad-vṛndāraṇya-kalpa-drumādhaḥ\nśrīmad-ratnāgāra-siṁhāsana-sthau\nśrīmad-rādhā-śrīla-govinda-devau\npreṣṭhālībhiḥ sevyamānau smarāmi\n[Abhidheyādhideva Praṇāma]\n[In a temple of jewels in Vṛndāvana, underneath a desire tree, Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Govinda, served by Their most confidential associates, sit upon an effulgent throne. I offer my most humble obeisances unto Them.]\nśrīmān rāsa-rasārambhī vaṁśī-vaṭa-taṭa-sthitaḥ\nkarṣan veṇu-svanair gopīr gopīnāthaḥ śriye 'stu naḥ\n[Prayojanādhideva Praṇāma]\n[Śrī Śrīla Gopīnātha, who originated the transcendental mellow of the rāsa dance, stands on the shore in Vaṁśīvaṭa and attracts the attention of the cowherd damsels with the sound of His celebrated flute. May they all confer upon us their benediction.]\ntapta-kāñcana-gaurāṅgi\nrādhe vṛndāvaneśvari\nvṛṣabhānu-sute devi\npraṇamāmi hari-priye\n[I offer my respects to Rādhārāṇī, whose bodily complexion is like molten gold and who is the Queen of Vṛndāvana. You are the daughter of King Vṛṣabhānu, and You are very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa.]\nhare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare\nhare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare\n[My dear Lord, and the spiritual energy of the Lord, kindly engage me in Your service. I am now embarrassed with this material service. Please engage me in Your service.]\n[prema-dhvani] [devotees offer obeisances]\n[28:30]\nWhy he is sitting there? Come. Come here.\noṁ ajñāna-timirāndhasya\njñānāñjana-śalākayā\ncakṣur-unmīlitaṁ yena...\nSit down.\n...tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ\n[I offer my respectful obeisances unto my spiritual master, who with the torchlight of knowledge has opened my eyes, which were blinded by the darkness of ignorance.]\nśrī-caitanya-mano-'bhīṣṭaṁ\nsthāpitaṁ yena bhū-tale\nsvayaṁ rūpaḥ kadā mahyaṁ\ndadāti sva-padāntikam\n[When will Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī Prabhupāda, who has established within this material world the mission to fulfill the desire of Lord Caitanya, give me shelter under his lotus feet?]\nparitrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ\nvināśāya ca duṣkṛtām\ndharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya\nsambhavāmi yuge yuge\n[Bg. 4.8]\n[In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium.]\nThis verse we have been discussing, that the Lord descends out of His own spiritual energy. He descends, appears, yuge yuge sambhavāmi, in every millennium. And dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya. Two things are visible in His characteristics. One thing is paritrāṇāya sādhūnām. Those who are pious, following strictly the rules and regulation of particular type of scripture, to protect such persons, and to vanquish duṣkṛtām, miscreants.\nMiscreants... Who are miscreants? Miscreants, means just like outlaw. A person may be very nice, well-educated or wealth. So many qualification he might have. But if he is an outlaw, then all his qualification becomes damned. Similarly, duṣkṛtām, miscreants, outlaw, those who are not obedient to the laws of nature or laws of God.\nThere is no difference between laws of nature and laws of God. Laws of nature means laws of God. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam [SB 6.3.19].\n[Real religious principles are enacted by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Although fully situated in the mode of goodness, even the great ṛṣis who occupy the topmost planets cannot ascertain the real religious principles, nor can the demigods or the leaders of Siddhaloka, to say nothing of the asuras, ordinary human beings, Vidyādharas and Cāraṇas.]\nTherefore Bhāgavata says that religious principle cannot be manufactured by any human being. It is the law of God. Therefore one has to obey it. One cannot disobey. Law of nature you cannot disobey. It will be enforced upon you. Just like law of nature, the winter season. You cannot change it. It will be enforced upon you. Law of nature, summer season, you cannot change it, anything. Laws of nature or laws of God, the sun is rising from the eastern side and setting on the western side. You cannot change it, anything. That you have to understand, how laws of nature is going on.\nThat is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, to understand laws of nature. And as soon as speak of laws of nature, we must accept that there is a law maker. Laws of nature cannot develop automatically. There must be some authority on the background. Bhagavad-gītā therefore says in the Tenth Chapter that mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram [Bg. 9.10]: \"Under My direction, superintendence, the material laws are working.\"\n[This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kuntī, and it is producing all moving and unmoving beings. By its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.]\nThe scientist, they are studying material laws, but they have no information of the law maker. They are surprised with the wonderful laws. Now, you can study your own body, how laws of nature is working under the direction of a living entity. You just try to understand your own body.\nYou are eating, it is going to the stomach, and it is transforming into different secretion. Then it is pumped up to the heart. And in the heart it becomes reddish, blood, and the blood is transfused or transported to different parts of the body through the veins. There is a big mechanical arrangement undoubtedly. Every scientist or every sane man will admit.\nBut it is just like a machine. It is just like a machine. Any machine you take—motorcar, typewriting, whatever you have got experience... There are many in your country; it is machine country. So the constructor..., construction of the machine may be very complicated, wonderful, very nice, everything is all right, but a living entity required to pull on the button.\nWithout pulling on the button, however nice arrangement may be in the machine, it cannot work. That is our experience. We cannot deny it. The wonderful machine, working... Now, business machine, there are so many wonderful machine, they are working also. Sometimes calculating brain is required; electrical brain is there. Everything is all right. But unless a man puts on the button, press the button, it cannot work. That thing is important.\nSimilarly, the statement of Bhagavad-gītā, that mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram [Bg. 9.10], this material world, this cosmic manifestation, is working very wonderfully, and controlling the moving and the not-moving. We have got experience. Just like we are moving, man, animal. But there are certain other things, just like trees, mountain, they do not move. So moving or unmoving. But everyone is being controlled by the laws of nature.\nCarācaram. Cara means moving; acaram means not moving. Hetunānena kaunteya: \"Because I am on the background,\" kaunteya, \"My dear Arjuna, for this reason...\" Hetunānena kaunteya.\nmayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ\nsūyate sa-carācaram\nhetunānena kaunteya\njagad viparivartate\n[Bg. 9.10]\n[This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kuntī, and it is producing all moving and unmoving beings. By its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.]\nJagat, the progressive world, is parivartate, changing. In so many ways they are changing. This is a fact.\nNow how you can deny the living force behind this gigantic mechanical arrangement? Call it material world, material machine or whatever you may call. How you can deny? At least from your practical experience you cannot deny. You may put some jugglery of words, but the actual fact is this.\nSo duṣkṛtina means a person who does not believe in this. They are called miscreants. Paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām [Bg. 4.8].\n[In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium.]\nSo God, in His incarnation, appears with two missionary purposes. One purpose is paritrāṇāya sādhūnām, just to protect the pious who are obedient to the laws of God, or the laws of nature; and to vanquish persons who are disobedient. They are called duṣkṛtina.\nThis duṣkṛtina, or miscreant, is described in another place also in the Bhagavad-gītā: na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ [Bg. 7.15].\n[Those miscreants who are grossly foolish, lowest among mankind, whose knowledge is stolen by illusion, and who partake of the atheistic nature of demons, do not surrender unto Me.]\nThe purport is, Kṛṣṇa says, that those who are miscreants, always disobeying the laws of nature or always denying the prime factor behind the wonderful activities of nature, such miscreants, na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ [Bg. 7.15]. \nMūḍhāḥ means they are rascals. They cannot... They will put so many theories that \"There is no God,\" and none of the theories are practical, neither they can prove it by experimental knowledge. Still, they will insist on. That is their business. And when we say... When somebody says, \"You prove it,\" the answer is, \"Well, we are advancing. Some day will come, we shall prove it.\" That's all. \"Some day will come.\"\nThey do not understand that \"Trust no future, however pleasant.\" Why you are expecting that some day will come when science will be perfect? Throughout the whole history of the human society, never it has been possible that one can give life. There is no such instance in the history. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam [Bg. 13.9].\n[Humility, pridelessness, nonviolence, tolerance, simplicity, approaching a bona fide spiritual master, cleanliness, steadiness and self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense gratification, absence of false ego, the perception of the evil of birth, death, old age and disease; nonattachment to children, wife, home and the rest, and evenmindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to Me, resorting to solitary places, detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self-realization, and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth—all these I thus declare to be knowledge, and what is contrary to these is ignorance.]\nThe four principles of material inebrieties, namely birth, death, old age and disease, nobody has been able to check it in the past history of human society, and how you can believe that in future these problems, namely janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi, birth, death, old age and disease, will be solved by the advancement of science? So at least we cannot believe. And no sane man will believe it.\nTherefore those who are trying to defy the presence of God, saying, \"God is dead,\" \"There is no God,\" and trying to prove by so-called scientific method there is no God, the matter is working out of his own way, and things are taking place—there are so many theories—they are all classified as miscreant. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ. Miscreants, and mūḍhāḥ, means rascal.\nMūḍha... Real meaning of mūḍha is ass. Ass has no knowledge. He is working day and night, or very... But he does not know what for he is working. He has no ambition; he has no information where is the destination of perfection. Therefore they are called mūḍhāḥ. Mūḍhāḥ means rascal. So na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ [Bg. 7.15]. Narādhama means lowest of the mankind. Na prapadyante: \"They do not surrender unto Me, God.\" Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ.\nNow the question may be that \"Why they do not surrender? Why they do not believe in God? Why they do not take to God consciousness or Kṛṣṇa consciousness? They are very educated, advanced. They have got university degrees. But why they do not do it? They are supposed to be very culturally advanced.\" So the answer is given there in the Bhagavad-gītā, māyayāpahṛta-jñānā āsuraṁ bhāvam āśritāḥ [Bg. 7.15]. Because their intention is to deny God, therefore although they are very much advanced in so-called education, the effect of knowledge has been taken away by the illusory energy of māyā. The māyā has taken away the effect of knowledge.\nJust like we met some Indian gentleman while coming. I asked him, \"Why don't you come to temple?\" \"Swāmījī, I am searching after some employment. I have lost my employment.\" Just see. He has come from India—so, about fifteen thousand miles away—and the problem is still unemployment. Why he has come here, so far distant? That means he's educated. Otherwise, this country would not allow him immigration. But the problem is there, unemployment.\nSo there is very nice program, er, proverb in Bengali: yadi yao bhaṅge kaphala yabe saṅge.[?] That means, \"Wherever you go, your this fortune...\" Generally, when we speak of fortune we touch our head. Sometimes we say, \"Oh, it is my misfortune.\" That means fortune may be written here. It is said. So, \"Wherever you go, your this fortune will go with you.\" So how you can avoid your...?\" If you have got nonsense fortune, then it will go with you. Either you go to Canada or you go to hell or you go to heaven, the fortune will go with you.\nThe Bhāgavata says, therefore, tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ [\nSB\n 1.5.18].\n[Persons who are actually intelligent and philosophically inclined should endeavor only for that purposeful end which is not obtainable even by wandering from the topmost planet [Brahmaloka] down to the lowest planet [Pātāla]. As far as happiness derived from sense enjoyment is concerned, it can be obtained automatically in course of time, just as in course of time we obtain miseries even though we do not desire them.]\nYou cannot change your fortune. That means, fortune means, you are, with this body, you have got certain amount of enjoyment and certain amount of distress. That is made already according to your past activities. That you can change. Just like due to some mistake, I may have some disease or infection, but there is medicine also to counteract that infection. That is possible. It is not that because I am misfortunate, it cannot be changed. It can be changed.\nSimilarly, what should be my attempt? The attempt should be, according to Bhāgavata, to understand the laws of nature, or the laws of God, and how it is working under His direction. That should be the attempt. You are making research. That's very nice. But your research is not complete, because you take something halfway: \"This is the beginning of life\" or \"This is the beginning of the creation.\" No. You have to go still further, still go further. And science means you have to prove by experiment that \"This law is working like this, and therefore things are happening like this.\" If you simply presuppose that \"Here is the beginning,\" that is not perfect.\nSo duṣkṛtina means that those who do not believe in the authority. So many things are there which is beyond our conception, beyond our understanding. Our senses, our, I mean to say, instrument of acquiring knowledge, are so imperfect that it is not possible simply by handling our the present senses to understand the right knowledge. It is not possible.\nSo Śrīmad-Bhāgavata says, tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ [\nSB\n 1.5.18]. Factually, an intelligent person is he who is trying to achieve that highest perfectional stage of life which cannot be achieved simply by touring different planets. Upary adhaḥ. Now we are trying to go to the moon planet and other planet. This is not new thing. It is very old attempt. Since there are human beings we have got so many instances. But in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna [Bg. 8.16]: even if you can go to the highest planet, which is called Brahmaloka, still, the problems of life cannot be solved.\n[From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My abode, O son of Kuntī, never takes birth again.]\nThe four problems of life—birth, death, old age and disease—cannot be solved.\nTherefore our attempt should be that we do not care for these problems. We have taken it, accepted that \"All right, we shall take birth. We shall die. We shall become old. We shall become diseased. Doesn't matter. Still we are progressing.\" Just see. What is the progress? If you cannot solve these problem, then what kind of progress you are making? But they are satisfied, \"Yes, we are making progress.\"\nSo this is called māyayāpahṛta-jñānāḥ [Bg. 7.15].\n[Those miscreants who are grossly foolish, lowest among mankind, whose knowledge is stolen by illusion, and who partake of the atheistic nature of demons, do not surrender unto Me.]\nThey are not making any progress, even an inch, and still, they are proud of their progressive knowledge. This is called māyā. Māyā means what is not. Māyā. Mā means not. Not. Yā means this. This is māyā.\nHe is thinking... The modern human society, they are thinking that advancing. But māyā: it is not. You are not advancing. What advancement you have made? Your problem is, the primary problem is, eating, sleeping, mating and defending. Oh, that is not solved. Your problem is birth, death, old age and disease. That is not solved. Then what, nuisance, you are doing in the name of progress? There is no progress. The real progress is to understand the laws of nature and how it is being conducted under the direction of the Supreme Lord. That is real progress.\nSo Bhāgavata indicates, tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovidaḥ. Kovida means one who is actually intelligent. Not the mūḍhāḥ, rascals; actually one who is intelligent. He should try to solve the problems which is not possible to be done even if you travel over all the spaces up to the highest planet. Upary adhaḥ. Upary adhaḥ means upside all planets and downside all planets. There are millions of planets. If you travel...\nBut these problems... Just like your fortune will go with you in your head. You may go to moon planet, but this head will go with you. Yadi yao bhaṅge kaphala yabe saṅge.[?] You cannot change. If you have to attempt anything for real progress, then this is real progress. What is that? To know the Supreme Absolute Truth, which is manipulating all activities. That is real progress.\nBhāgavata again says, na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum [SB 7.5.31]: \"These rascals, they do not know where is the ultimate destination of his self-interest.\"\n[Persons who are strongly entrapped by the consciousness of enjoying material life, and who have therefore accepted as their leader or guru a similar blind man attached to external sense objects, cannot understand that the goal of life is to return home, back to Godhead, and engage in the service of Lord Viṣṇu. As blind men guided by another blind man miss the right path and fall into a ditch, materially attached men led by another materially attached man are bound by the ropes of fruitive labor, which are made of very strong cords, and they continue again and again in materialistic life, suffering the threefold miseries.]\nEveryone is very much busy or very serious about his self-interest. Everyone. Just like the gentleman. He could not come to the temple because he is interested with his self-interest, where to get the employment. But what is that real self-interest they do not know. This is temporary self-interest. But the real self-interest is Viṣṇu, the Supreme Lord, Absolute Truth. Na te viduḥ. But modern education and any education, modern or past, in the material world, those who are conditioned by the material laws, they do not know. So what is his ultimate destination of self-interest? Na te viduḥ. They do not know.\nNa te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum. Viṣṇu means the Supreme Lord, all-pervading. Why? Durāśayā. Durāśayā means ill-conceived plan. They are thinking that they will be happy by planning in this material world. This is called durāśā. It will never be fulfilled. It will never be fulfilled. Durāśā. Dura means it is impossible. But they will not accept it. They will not accept it. They are being knocked so many times—failure, failure, failure, failure. Still, they will not accept. Durāśayā. Bahir-artha-māninaḥ: \"They are captivated by the glamour of this external energy.\" Bahir-artha-māninaḥ.\nAdānta-gobhiḥ: \"And the main disease is uncontrolled senses.\" Adānta. Adānta means uncontrolled, unbridled senses. Because the senses, being unbridled, they will not allow you to understand in cool head what is the problem. Adānta-gobhir viśatāṁ tamisram. Just like if you are sitting on a car where the horses are unbridled, and it is running on in great speed without your control, you do not know where..., when you will be in danger. You will be in danger. You are already in danger, because the horses are unbridled. It is pulling you anywhere it likes. Similarly, our horses—the senses are called horses—it is being uncontrolled. Viśatāṁ tamisram. It is going to the darkest region of hellish condition.\nPunaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām [SB 7.5.30].\n[Prahlāda Mahārāja replied: Because of their uncontrolled senses, persons too addicted to materialistic life make progress toward hellish conditions and repeatedly chew that which has already been chewed. Their inclinations toward Kṛṣṇa are never aroused, either by the instructions of others, by their own efforts, or by a combination of both.]\nAnd such persons are repeatedly chewing the chewed. One plan is made; that is frustrated. Another plan again made, again frustrated. Again plan made, again frustrated. But still, they will go on plan-making, but they will never accept the actual truth. Therefore Bhagavad-gītā says, māyayāpahṛta-jñānāḥ [Bg. 7.15]:\n[Those miscreants who are grossly foolish, lowest among mankind, whose knowledge is stolen by illusion, and who partake of the atheistic nature of demons, do not surrender unto Me.]\n\"Their knowledge has been taken away by the energy of māyā.\" Māyā apahṛta-jñānāḥ.\nWhy māyā is taking away? Āsuri bhāvam āśritāḥ. Because they have taken this principle, to deny God. That's it. Only for this reason, for this fault only, the māyā is acting so severely. Māyā will never allow such person to understand the real thing. They will go on making plan-making; it will be frustrated. Again plan-making, again frustrated, again frustrated.\nSo this process is going on because they do not know that their self-interest is that Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that He comes, He descends, with two purposes: paritrāṇāya sādhūnām [Bg. 4.8], to give relief to the pious, to the righteous; and to vanquish the miscreants, and to establish the real religious principle.\n[In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium.]\nAnd what is that real religious principle? That is stated in the last instruction: sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja [Bg. 18.66].\n[Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.]\nThis is real religion, to surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That's all. This is done even by great philosophers. He has to do that.\nBahūnāṁ janmanām ante [Bg. 7.19].\n[After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.]\nBut he's now mentally speculating to find out the Absolute Truth, but when his knowledge will be mature, bahūnāṁ janmanām, after many, many births of speculation, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate, when he is actually in knowledge, he surrenders unto the Supreme Lord, vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti [Bg. 7.19]: \"Oh, Lord Kṛṣṇa, Vāsudeva, Vāsudeva is everything.\" Sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ: \"Such kind of great soul is very rare.\"\nBut fortunately, we have got these instruction of Bhagavad-gītā, and the teacher is Lord Caitanya. If we follow these principles and try to understand it with all our knowledge, all our logic and argument, then our life is successful. Here is an opportunity: the movement of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And it is very easy. You simply sit down. If you don't like to come to this temple, it doesn't matter.\nAt..., in your home only, you sit down with your friends, with your boyfriend or girlfriend or family members, children. Sit down and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. If you have got a nice musical instrument, it is all right. Otherwise, God has given you these hands. You can clap, [claps] \"Hare Kṛṣṇa.\" Very easy. Just try it, and you will understand everything gradually.\nCeto-darpaṇa-mārjanam [Cc. Antya 20.12].\n[”’Let there be all victory for the chanting of the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṇa, which can cleanse the mirror of the heart and stop the miseries of the blazing fire of material existence. That chanting is the waxing moon that spreads the white lotus of good fortune for all living entities. It is the life and soul of all education. The chanting of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa expands the blissful ocean of transcendental life. It gives a cooling effect to everyone and enables one to taste full nectar at every step.’]\nBy simply chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, gradually all coverings, all dust accumulated on the mirror of your...\n[break] ...and what are the activities. These five things are there: God, the living entity, the material nature, the time and the activities. If you can thoroughly study these five principles, then you become perfectly advanced in knowledge, and your life is successful. And all this will be possible simply by this chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. And when your mind will be cleansed, you will be able to understand the instruction of Bhagavad-gītā automatically. These things are there.\nThank you very much. Any question?",
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"content": "\n Swāmī, for my benefit, and perhaps everyone else's, [indistinct], can you tell us briefly what you mean by Kṛṣṇa consciousness?",
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"content": "\n I have several times explained this Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Again I shall explain. It is very nice question. You have got your consciousness. Is it right? Every one of us, we have got consciousness. Is that right? Now, this consciousness is eternal. This consciousness is not a result of the combination of matter. You cannot create consciousness by mixing so many chemicals or material things in the laboratory. That is not possible. This consciousness, eternal.\nHow do we know it? Because we understand it from Bhagavad-gītā. It is stated that avināśi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idaṁ tatam [Bg. 2.17]:\n[Know that which pervades the entire body is indestructible. No one is able to destroy the imperishable soul.]\n\"That thing which is spread all over your body.\" And what is that thing? This consciousness. You pinch any part of your body, you feel pain, because the consciousness is there. \"So that thing, consciousness,\" Kṛṣṇa says, the teacher of Bhagavad-gītā, \"that is eternal.\" Eternal. Now, how it is eternal? When you were a child, the consciousness was there. Then you grew up to your boyhood—the consciousness was there. Then you are now young—the consciousness is there. And when you become old man like me, the consciousness will be there.\nTherefore, in spite of my changing different kinds of body, the consciousness is there. And when I shall change this body for another new body, this consciousness will go with me. And according to that consciousness, I'll get a particular type of body.\nSo at the present moment, because we are changing different kinds of body, that means my consciousness is not pure. And we have to make our consciousness pure, which is technically called Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And as soon as the consciousness is pure, you get your eternal, existentional life. That is the sum and substance of becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious. And this movement is for that purpose, Kṛṣṇa consciousness.\nYou have any other inquiry about... [break]",
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"content": "\n Yes, Swāmī. You mentioned new bodies. Does this embrace reincarnation? That is, when we leave the physical body we have now on death, do you mean that the consciousness goes on?",
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"content": "\n Yes. This incarnation is going on every minute, because you are changing your body. Imperceptibly you are changing your body. That is a medical, scientific point, that we are changing our body every second, every minute. This change—you call change, or you can transfer your identity from one body to another, it means the same thing. You see?\nSo similarly, the ultimate change of this body is called death. When this body is no more workable, then we transmigrate to another body. That body is offered to us according to our consciousness. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā: yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran loke tyajaty ante kalevaram [Bg. 8.6].\n[Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, that state he will attain without fail.]\nAt the time of death, the situation of your consciousness makes you ready for accepting a similar body. And if you quit this body in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then you get a body by which you can associate with Kṛṣṇa. That is to be understood, how it is possible. Therefore the training should be Kṛṣṇa conscious.\n[break] ...in particular type of consciousness. That we cannot deny. Now if we change our consciousness to Kṛṣṇa type of consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is perfection of our life. The process is: by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa we keep always alive to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. [break]",
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"content": "\n ...how long it will take for anyone can achieve perfection? How many stages one must go through, or how many years, how many centuries?",
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"content": "\n No. There is no such stereotype rules that you have to do it for so many years, so many... It depends on your personal energy of progress. It is very simple to understand. Suppose a man is diseased. No doctor can guarantee that \"This will be cured in so many days.\" You see? It depends on the situation of the patient's condition and accepting the treatment. Similarly, it can be cured in one day or it may not be cured in one thousand days. That will depend on the patient.\n[break] ...have got instances that one got perfection in Kṛṣṇa consciousness within a few second also. That is also possible. Because it is spiritual, it does not depend on any material rules and regulation. It depends on my seriousness. Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā you have got instruction by Lord Kṛṣṇa,\nsarva-dharmān parityajya\nmām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja\nahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo\nmokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ\n[Bg. 18.66]\n[Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.]\n\"My dear Arjuna, you just surrender unto Me, and I take charge of you and make you free from all reaction of your past activities.\" So if we seriously surrender to God, or Kṛṣṇa, then immediately our desire is fulfilled. Immediately.\nBut we are not prepared. That is the difficulty. Māyā will instruct me, \"Why? Why you shall surrender?\" That's it. So it depends on me how long it will take to cure this disease. Therefore in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said, sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje [SB 1.2.6]:\n[The supreme occupation [dharma] for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self.]\n\"That type of religion is perfect by which one can surrender or can incline, can be inclined, or develop love of God.\" That's all.\nIt does not mention which religion you shall accept. You accept any religion. But test is, perfection of that religious procedure, whether you have developed ecstatic love for God. If you have achieved that, then that religious principle is first class. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmaḥ. Para means transcendental, first class; yato bhaktiḥ: \"By executing which, you can have, I mean, develop, Kṛṣṇa consciousness or God consciousness.\" And that process is called ahaituki, \"without any reason\"; apratihatā, and it cannot be checked by any material condition.\nIf somebody thinks that \"Well, I have been sinful for so many years, and even if I surrender to the God, it will take so many years,\" no, it is not like that. The surrendering process, if it is perfect, the result is immediately perfect. Ahaituky apratihatā yayātmā suprasīdati. And by such Kṛṣṇa consciousness, development of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one's mind becomes fully satisfied. Yayātmā suprasīdati. Prasīdati means satisfaction, fully satisfied. Every one of us are trying to satisfy, to become satisfied. That is possible by attaining full Kṛṣṇa consciousness. [break]",
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"content": "\n What happens to the miscreants when they are vanquished?",
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"content": "\nMiscr...?",
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"content": "\n [explaining] What happens to the miscreants when they are vanquished?",
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"content": "\n Don't you see how many miscreants are suffering? Even you go to the law court, you see how they are suffering. Somebody is putting into jail for so many years, somebody is being ordered to be hanged, somebody is being ordered to be whipped, and so many things are happening. And then you see so many animal life. There are 8,400,000's of different species of life. They are suffering.\nThe tree... If you get the body of a tree, you stand up for ten thousands of years in one place. We have got experience when teacher punishes us, \"Stand up on the bench\" for a few minutes, we become disturbed: \"Sir, please excuse me. I shall not do this.\" Now, if you have to stand up for ten thousands of years in one place, just see. These are the punishment to the miscreants.\nSo this human body is the only opportunity to understand all these things and make your life successful so that you may not come again for standing up for seven thousand years or ten thousand years. You see? But the miscreants will not believe this. They think, \"A tree, it is another thing. I am perfect.\" He does not know that every chance there is that you also become a tree.\nThese are practical examples. You can study. By nature's study you can understand how the miscreants are punished. But unfortunately we have become so dull that even by seeing or by hearing we do not believe them. That's it. Just like a thief. He sees personally that a man who has committed theft is taken away by the police to the custody, to the prison. He is seeing that, and he has heard the law that \"Any man who steals, he will be punished.\" He has heard it, and he has seen it. Still, he commits, I mean to say, theft. Why? He is seeing, and he is hearing. In both ways he is understanding, but still, he is committing theft. That means his heart is not pure.\nSo the first thing is to make one's heart purified. And this is the process, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam, paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam [Cc. Antya 20.12]: by simply chanting, without paying any price, without any loss on your part.\n[”’Let there be all victory for the chanting of the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṇa, which can cleanse the mirror of the heart and stop the miseries of the blazing fire of material existence. That chanting is the waxing moon that spreads the white lotus of good fortune for all living entities. It is the life and soul of all education. The chanting of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa expands the blissful ocean of transcendental life. It gives a cooling effect to everyone and enables one to taste full nectar at every step.’]\nPlease try to chant this Hare Kṛṣṇa and see the result. It is so nice movement.\n[break] ...take it very seriously that \"Here is an animal. Here is a tree. They have also got life. They are also living entities as we are. Simply it is different body. That's all.\" He has got that sort of body; I have got this sort of body. But the demands of the body are there. Even in cats and dogs the eating, sleeping, mating and defending... There is four symptoms of life.\nThe cat also, or dog also, eat; we also eat. They also sleep; we also sleep. They have their sex desires; we have got our sex desire. We want to defend from enemies; they also want to defend from enemies. Similarly, in every species of life we will find these four principles existing. How you can say that you are better than him?\nYou are better than him when you understand how the laws of material nature is working so that one has become tree to stand up for ten thousands of years, and I have got all freedom to move and to make education, to go to the school, colleges, take education, advancement of knowledge. That is the difference between tree and me.\nSo far necessities of the body, material body, is concerned, the demand is there; demand is here. You can accept from that type of body, by this body, simply by understanding, by advancing in knowledge. And the perfection of knowledge is to know who is God or where is God. That is perfection of knowledge.\nSo long one does not understand what is God or the Absolute Truth by whom everything is being emanated, the knowledge is imperfect. Knowledge is not finished. Therefore Bhagavad-gītā says, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante [Bg. 7.19]:\n[After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.]\n\"After many, many births of cultivating knowledge, one comes to the understanding of accepting God is the prime source, fountainhead of everything.\" That is perfection of knowledge.\nAt the present moment people are denying the existence of God, or they are thinking that God is dead. That means imperfection of knowledge. They have to still make progress to the perfectional point. And that test is to understand, \"Here is God, and He is the fountainhead of everything.\" That perfection of knowledge you will have simply by reading... Any scripture you can read, the same conception is there. But in the Bhagavad-gītā it is more clearly explained so that you can understand with all reason, arguments, and scrutiny too. It is not dogmatic. That is the beauty of Bhagavad-gītā.\nJust like in some dictionary the word is explained in one word; in some dictionary it is explained that \"The history of this word is like this,\" \"This word can be explained like this, like that, like that,\" some pages like that. Similarly, so far dictionary, the small pocket dictionary is also dictionary, and that Webster's International big dictionary, that is also dictionary.\nThe difference is that international dictionary, you get details of one word. Similarly, any scripture is perfectly giving direction towards understanding what is God. But actually how God is great, how He is working, how His laws are working, all these things you can find in the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. \n[pause] Chant.\n[89:28]\n[kīrtana] [prema-dhvani] Thank you very much. [devotees offer obeisances] Hare Kṛṣṇa. [end]",
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"content": "\n All glories to the assembled devotees.",
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"content": "\n Jaya! Haribol! [cheers]\nPage 98.",
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"content": "\n Go on. Purport.",
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"content": "\nVerse 18 is that good? Verse 18.",
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"content": "\nYes. Ninety-eight. Oh, yes.",
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"content": "\n This is the chapter entitled Karma-yoga.",
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"content": "\n Yes. Yes, go on. Go on reading.",
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"content": "\n Eighteen: \"A self-realized man has no purpose to fulfill in the discharge of his prescribed duties, nor has he any reason not to perform such work. Nor has he any need to depend on any other living being.\"",
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"content": "\n Hmm. This is very important. What is actually self-realization? All processes, religious process, yoga practice, philosophical speculation or anything for self-realization, any method, what is the purpose? And what is the ultimate goal of the self-realization?\nThat ultimate goal is to understand that \"I am eternal servant of God, Kṛṣṇa.\" That's all. This is self-realization. So long one is identifying oneself with this material world, with this body, with this mind, it is not self-realization. Self-realization means that I am spirit, and the Supreme Lord is also spirit, so I am part and parcel of the Supreme.\nJust like take for example this finger. The finger is the part and parcel of this body. So when the finger can understand that \"I am part and parcel of this whole body and my duty is to serve the whole body,\" that is self-realization. So long one is not understanding this point, he is illusioned. What is the position of this finger? Suppose this finger is a person. Any individual spirit is a person. That we have discussed in the Second Chapter. Everyone, every one of us, individual person.\nSo as individual person what is my position? My position is... Just like you are individual citizen of the state. What is your position? To serve the state. That is your position. That is good citizenship. What does it mean, a good citizen? One who is trying to serve the state. Take, for example, in Russia, in China: they have made the state as worshipable.\nAny component part of the state, citizen, is to sacrifice everything for the state. In your country also, the draft board is calling, \"Come on. You have to go to the fight.\" But you cannot say \"No,\" because you are component part of the state. If you deny, then you are not a good citizen. You'll be arrested, you'll be harassed by the government.\nSimilarly, we are component parts of the whole, supreme whole. This is self-realization. It is very simple thing. Self-realization does not mean anything very extraordinary. Hitvā anyathā-rūpaṁ svarūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ [SB 2.10.6]. \n[The merging of the living entity, along with his conditional living tendency, with the mystic lying down of the Mahā-Viṣṇu is called the winding up of the cosmic manifestation. Liberation is the permanent situation of the form of the living entity after he gives up the changeable gross and subtle material bodies.]\nMukti, this is called... Mukti means liberation or self-realization. What is that? Hitvā anyathā-rūpam: giving up a different identity. In the conditioned state we are identifying, \"I am American,\" \"I am Indian,\" \"I am human being,\" \"I am this,\" \"I am that,\" \"I am white,\" \"I am black.\" These are all designation. Actually, this is not self-realization.\nSelf-realization is that \"I am neither American nor Indian nor black nor white, nor anything. I am a spirit soul, part and parcel of the whole, Kṛṣṇa.\" This is self-realization. So long it is not completely realized, so long we have got doubt, we have to make progress. And as soon as we come to the point and firmly convinced, that is self-realization.\nTherefore here it is stated, \"A self-realized man has no purpose to fulfill in the discharge of his prescribed duties.\" Prescribed duties, either take for... Any scripture—take your Bible, take Koran, take Vedas—there are some prescribed duties. Just like in your Bible, there are ten commandments: \"Thou shall not kill.\" So for whom? One who is not self-realized.\nOne who is self-realized that \"I am part and parcel of the Supreme God, everyone is part and parcel of the Supreme God, and human being, animal, ant, aquatic, beast, bird, every living entity is part and parcel of the Supreme Lord...,\"that is self-realization. Then how can you kill? If everyone is part and parcel, son of the Supreme, how you can kill your brother? This is self-realization. You'll not... You'll hesitate even to kill even an ant.\nJust like we published that picture in our Back to Godhead, \"The Hunter.\" The hunter was taking pleasure in killing animals half dead, and when he was self-realized, he was hesitating to kill even an ant. You see? Why? Self-realized. So he has no prescribed duties. To him you haven't got to say, \"Thou shall not kill.\" He will automatically not kill, because he is self-realized.\nSelf-realized person does not do any harm to anyone, because he knows everyone in relationship with the Supreme. His central point is Kṛṣṇa. Neither he'll misuse anything. He makes everything proper use. \"This nice foodstuff, it is given by Kṛṣṇa. Let it be offered to Kṛṣṇa.\" That is not misuse; that is the proper use. \"Here is nice rose flower, it is manufactured by Kṛṣṇa's energy. Let it be offered to Kṛṣṇa.\" This is self-realization.\nSo one who has got this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he is self-realized. Everything dovetailing with Kṛṣṇa. So what he has got to follow any other prescribed? Everything is complete there. Ārādhito yadi haris tapasā tataḥ kim [Nārada Pañcarātra 1.2.6].\n[If one worships Lord Kṛṣṇa and considers Him the goal of life, then there is no need to execute severe types of austerity. And, if after executing all kinds of tapasya, one cannot reach Kṛṣṇa, then all his tapasya has no value, for without Kṛṣṇa consciousness different types of austerities are wasted labor.]\nIf one has realized the Supreme Lord, then he has no more any duty for undergoing austerities, penance, this or that, all prescribed rules. His business is finished. When a man is cured, there is no more requisition of medicine. He's in healthy state. To be engaged in devotional service, in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, means he's in healthy state. He has no more any prescribed duty. You see? So [he] not has any reason not to perform such work.\nAnother thing: one should not think, \"Because I am in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, therefore, oh, I shall not rise early in the morning. This is prescribed duty for one who is...\" No. You have to do that. Loka-saṅgraha. So he practically has no duty, but to show example to the general mass of people, he has got so many duty. Even Kṛṣṇa.\nKṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead; He was also going to school to study. He accepted spiritual master. He was offering respect to His elderly brother in relationship. So he does not... A self-realized person is always engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but he does not deviate with the prescribed duties also, because others will follow. Others will also, \"Oh, I am also self-realized.\" Therefore one has to do.\nNor has he any need to depend on any other living being. He is free, because he knows that \"I am part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, so I'm dependent on Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is providing millions and trillions of living entities. Why not me? I am directly engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service.\" This is the position of self-realized. Nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve na kutaścana bibhyati [SB 6.17.28].\n[Devotees solely engaged in the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa, never fear any condition of life. For them the heavenly planets, liberation and the hellish planets are all the same, for such devotees are interested only in the service of the Lord.]\nGo on.",
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"content": "\n \"Therefore, without being attached to the fruits of activity, one should act as a matter of duty, for by working without attachment one attains the Supreme.\" [Bg. 3.19]\n[Therefore, without being attached to the fruits of activities, one should act as a matter of duty; for by working without attachment, one attains the Supreme.]",
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"content": "\n Yes.",
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"content": "\n Purport: \"This Supreme is the Personality of Godhead for the devotees and liberation for the impersonalists.\"",
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"content": "\n Then what is that Supreme? The conception of Supreme... For the impersonalist, the impersonal Brahman effulgence is the Supreme. Just like light. When you come to the sunshine, that is light. But the devotee, they are not satisfied with the sunshine.\nThey want to penetrate into the sun planet and see the sun-god. That is devotee's position. And one who cannot do so, he is satisfied with the sunshine. Everything is light. Sunshine is light, sun globe is light and, if you enter in the sun globe, there is also light.\nSo these are all spiritual position, impersonalist or personalist. But the impersonalist goal is partial, because they are satisfied simply by seeing the light. And the devotees, they are not satisfied simply by seeing the light. They want to enter within the light to see wherefrom the light is coming. That is the difference between impersonalist and personalist. They are farther advanced.\nSac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ [Bs. 5.1].\n[Kṛṣṇa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.]\nThe Lord is full bliss, eternal knowledge. So the impersonalists, they are satisfied with only knowledge, jñāna, light. That's all. Knowledge is light. But farther advanced, say, the yogīs, they want to see the localized, just like the sun globe. And the devotees, they want to see the person who is predominating over the sun globe. This is a crude example.\nSo the goal, ultimate goal, it is described, \"The Supreme is the Personality of Godhead for the devotees and liberation for the impersonalist.\" The impersonalists, they simply want to be free from this material atmosphere and go to the spiritual atmosphere. Just like one who is in the darkness of a room, his aspiration is how to see light. That's all. The impersonalist means simply to see light, knowledge. And personalist means to direct, to be in direct touch with the Supreme Personality of Godhead.\nGo on.",
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"content": "\n \"A person acting for Kṛṣṇa, or in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, under proper guidance and without attachment to the result of the work, is certainly making progress toward the supreme goal of life. Indirectly, Arjuna is told that he should fight the Battle of Kurukṣetra without attachment in the interest of Kṛṣṇa, because Kṛṣṇa wanted him to fight.\n\"To be a good man or a nonviolent man is also a personal attachment, but to act on behalf of the Supreme's desire is to act without attachment for the result. That is the perfect action of the highest degree, recommended by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa.\n\"Vedic rituals, like prescribed sacrifices, are performed by persons for purification of impious activities that were performed in the field of sense gratification. But a person who is acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is transcendental to the actions and reactions of good or evil work. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person has no attachment for the result, but acts on behalf of Kṛṣṇa alone. He engages in all kinds of activities, but is completely nonattached.\"",
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"content": "\n Yes. Just like you go to your office. You are working on behalf of the particular office. So your duty is to discharge the occupation which is entrusted upon you. So far the loss or gain of that department or that establishment, you have nothing to do.\nSo a Kṛṣṇa conscious person acts on behalf of Kṛṣṇa. These boys, they are going to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness. People may receive it or not receive it, that doesn't matter; their duty is to preach. The fortunate person will be attracted, unfortunate may not be attracted, but they have to do the duty. It is very simple.\nSo a Kṛṣṇa conscious person should not be disturbed whether his preaching work is being accepted by the people or not. It doesn't matter. My Guru Mahārāja used to say that... If somebody said that \"We went to preach in such-and-such place. Only there were three or four, attendance,\" so my Guru Mahārāja used to encourage them—and it is factual—that \"Why, two, three men were there was sufficient. If there were none, you could speak and the walls would hear you.\" You see? \"Why you are disappointed?\"\nSo even the walls, they hear, then our kīrtana is sufficient. You don't mind. Because only fortunate person... Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante [Bg. 7.19]. \n[After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.]\nManuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu [Bg. 7.3].\n[Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth.]\nSo to become God conscious, to [become] Kṛṣṇa conscious, is not very cheap thing. It requires a great amount of austerity, penance to come to this stage. So never be disappointed that because people are not responding. You see?\nThere are many good examples. When Lord Jesus Christ also preached God consciousness, only a few followers were there, and still, he had to sacrifice his life. But he was never disappointed. That should be attitude of the preacher. People may accept it or not accept it, we should go on. Because if Kṛṣṇa is satisfied, if Kṛṣṇa sees, \"Oh, these boys are doing very nice. They are trying their best to preach,\" that is your reward. That's all. People may accept or not accept, it doesn't matter.\nGo on.",
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"content": "\n Twenty: \"Even kings like Janaka and others attained the perfectional stage by performance of prescribed duties. Therefore just for the sake of educating the people in general you should perform your work.\" Purport...",
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"content": "\n There is no cause of disappointment. You have to do your duty, that's all. Kāryam. Kāryam means \"It is my duty, I have to do it.\" Go on.",
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"content": "\n Purport: \"Kings like Janaka and others were all self-realized souls; consequently they had no obligation to perform the prescribed duties in the Vedas. Nonetheless, they performed all prescribed activities just to set examples for the people in general. Janaka was the father of Sītā and father-in-law of Lord Śrī Rāma. A great devotee of the Lord like King Janaka was transcendentally situated. But because he was the king of Mithilā [a subdivision of Bihar province in India] he had to teach his subjects how to act.\n\"In the Battle of Kurukṣetra, the Lord wanted to teach people in general that violence is also necessary in a situation where good arguments fail. Before the Battle of Kurukṣetra there was every effort to avoid the war, even by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but the other party was determined to fight. So in such a right cause there is a necessity for fighting. Therefore although one who is situated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness may not have any interest in the world, he still works to teach the people how to live and how to act. Experienced persons in Kṛṣṇa consciousness can act in such a way that others will follow, and this is explained in the following verse.\"",
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"content": "\n Yes.",
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"content": "\n Twenty-one: \"Whatever action is performed by a great man, common men will follow in his footsteps. And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues.\"",
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"content": "\n This is very important. Therefore leaders must be very ideal men. Then automatically the country or the society becomes nicely situated. Because if the leader of the society is perfect... Therefore formerly, monarchy, monarchy was current, and the king was educated very highly how to administer state.\nJust like Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira. Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, ideal king. Lord Rāmacandra, ideal king. Somebody came to Lord Rāmacandra and made Him responsible, that \"How Your kingdom is going that my son, in the presence of his father, has died?\" You see? King was responsible for that. If there is severe cold, the king is responsible for that. If there is severe heat, the king is responsible for that.\nJust try to understand how much a king was responsible for the happiness of the citizen. They were ideal king, and therefore the citizens also followed. They became Kṛṣṇa conscious. They became all devotees. And if the leader is a sinful man and doing all impious activities, then how you can expect the citizens to be all good and pious? It is not possible.\nTherefore here, it is a very important subject matter: \"Whatever action is performed by a great man, common men will follow in his footprints.\" Therefore good leader wanted. You haven't got to educate individually every citizen. If you have got a good leader, then the citizens automatically become good. \"And whatever standard he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues.\"\nGo on.",
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"content": "\n Twenty-two: \"O son of Pṛthā, there is no work prescribed for Me within all the three planetary systems. Neither am I in want of anything, nor have I need to obtain anything, and yet I am engaged in work.\"",
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"content": "\n Yes. Just see. Kṛṣṇa, He's the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We work because we need something, but what need He has? He is full. He's self-sufficient, but still, He comes. As it is stated, yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata [Bg. 4.7]:\n[Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion—at that time I descend Myself.]\n\"As soon as there is discrepancies in the discharge of religious principle,\" abhyutthānam adharmasya, \"and there is prominence of irreligiosity,\" tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham, \"at that time, I descend.\"\nWhy Kṛṣṇa descends? That is explained by Kṛṣṇa. He comes Himself, He sends His representative, He sends His son to reform. Kṛṣṇa or Kṛṣṇa's devotee or Kṛṣṇa's son... Why Lord Jesus Christ sacrificed his life? Just to show that the human society must be God conscious. But unfortunately, people do not take care.\nThey are following, they are calling themselves as Christian, but they're not following the example of Lord Jesus Christ. But they should follow, everyone. A person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they also should follow what Kṛṣṇa's devotee and Kṛṣṇa... That is required.\nSo either Kṛṣṇa or His representative who come on this planet or in this world just to show example how you should live, how you should utilize your human form of life, they have nothing to gain. They are complete. Those who are coming from spiritual kingdom or kingdom of..., they have no want. They haven't got to do anything. They are all perfect. But still, they do.\nSimilarly, those who want to be leader of the society, they should be ideal persons, they should be Kṛṣṇa conscious person. Then the whole world will be happy. Otherwise, these nonsense, simply by manipulating votes if they become leader, what they can do? They have no education. They have no training how to do good to the people. They cannot do. Only those who are devotees, those who are Kṛṣṇa conscious or God conscious, they can do actual benefit to the society. Others cannot do.",
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"content": "\n \"Everything being in full opulence in the Personality of Godhead and naturally existing in all truth, there is no duty for the Supreme Personality of Godhead to perform. One who must receive the results of work has some designated duty, but one who has nothing to achieve within the three planetary systems certainly has no duty. And yet, Lord Kṛṣṇa is engaged on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra as the leader of the kṣatriyas because the kṣatriyas are duty-bound to give protection to the distressed. Although He is above all the regulations of revealed scriptures, He does not do anything which is not directed in the revealed scriptures.\"\nTwenty-three: \"For if I did not engage in work, O Pārtha, certainly all men would follow My path.\"\nTwenty-four: \"If I should cease to work, then all these worlds would be put to ruination, and I would be the cause of creating unwanted population and thereby destroy the peace of all sentient beings.\"\nPurport: \"Varṇa-saṅkara is unwanted population which disturbs the peace of the general society. In order to check this social disturbance there are prescribed rules and regulations by which the population can automatically become peaceful and organized for spiritual progress in life. When Lord Kṛṣṇa descends, naturally He deals with such rules and regulations in order to maintain the prestige and necessity of such important performances.\n\"The Lord is said to be the father of all living entities, and if the living entities are misguided, indirectly the responsibility goes to the Lord. Therefore whenever there is general disregard for such regulative principles, the Lord Himself descends and corrects the society. We should, however, note carefully that although we have to follow in the footsteps of the Lord, we still have to remember that we cannot imitate Him. Following and imitating are not on the same level.\"",
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"content": "\n Now Kṛṣṇa, at the age of seven years old, He lifted Govardhana Hill. So if we try to imitate, \"Oh, Kṛṣṇa lifted the Govardhana Hill. Let me also try,\" that is not following. You cannot do that. [chuckling] You see? Because sometimes the foolish rascals, they say, \"Oh, Kṛṣṇa performed rāsa-līlā. Let me also perform rāsa-līlā.\" Therefore I forbid, that don't discuss Kṛṣṇa's rāsa-līlā with the ordinary persons. They cannot understand. They'll simply think that \"Oh, it is very nice to dance with girls, boys and girls dancing.\" No.\nWe have to follow His instruction, what is given in the Bhagavad-gītā. We cannot imitate Him. He is all-powerful. That the same example, just like the sunshine. The sunshine can absorb moisture from filthy place, but he..., it is not infected. Sun is not infected. But if you go to a filthy place, you become contaminated immediately. Yes. So nobody should try to imitate the all-powerful, but one should try to follow His instruction. That should be the motto of life.\nGo on. \"Following and imitating are not the same thing, same level.\" Yes.",
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"content": "\n \"We cannot imitate the Lord by lifting Govardhana Hill as the Lord did in His childhood. It is impossible for any human being. We have to follow His instructions, but we may not imitate Him in any level. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam affirms this as follows: 'One should simply follow the instructions of the controllers and should not imitate them in their activities. Their instructions are all good for us, and any intelligent person must perform them as instructed. However, one should guard against trying to imitate their actions. One should not try to drink the ocean of poison, imitating Lord Śiva.'\n\"We should always remember the position of the īśvaras, or those who actually control the movements of the sun and moon. Without such power, one cannot imitate īśvara, or the superpowerful. The example set herein is very appropriate. Lord Śiva drank poison to the extent of swallowing an ocean, but if any common man tries to drink even a fragment of such poison he will be killed.\n\"There are many pseudo-devotees of Lord Śiva who want to indulge in smoking gāñjā [marijuana] and similar intoxicating drugs, forgetting that by so imitating the acts of Lord Śiva they are calling death very near. Similarly, there are some pseudo-devotees of Lord Kṛṣṇa who prefer to imitate the Lord in the matter of the rāsa-līlā, or dance of love, forgetting their inability to lift the Govardhana Hill.\n\"It is best, therefore, that one not try to imitate the powerful, but simply endeavor to follow their instructions. Nor should one try to occupy the posts of the powerful without qualification. There are so many 'incarnations' of God without the powers of the Supreme Godhead.\"\nTwenty-five: \"As the ignorant perform their duties with attachment to results, similarly...\"",
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"content": "\n This morning, the press representative, he was astonished that \"Swāmījī, so many people are coming, they are declaring that 'I am God.' What is this?\" So these rascals are like that. Therefore there are so many incarnation of God without the powers of. So people, why they should be cheated? If somebody comes and says that \"I am God,\" why don't you test? For testing this... When Kṛṣṇa assumed, the Supreme Personality of Godhead... Of course, Arjuna was convinced. He accepted, paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma [Bg. 10.12],\n[Arjuna said: You are the Supreme Brahman, the ultimate, the supreme abode and purifier, the Absolute Truth and the eternal divine person. You are the primal God, transcendental and original, and You are the unborn and all-pervading beauty. All the great sages such as Nārada, Asita, Devala, and Vyāsa proclaim this of You, and now You Yourself are declaring it to me.]\nBut for future guidance, he requested Kṛṣṇa, \"Please show me Your universal form.\" Otherwise, without showing universal [form], they're still claiming that \"I am God.\" God is not so cheap thing. They're imitating, trying to imitate. This is very dangerous.\nAnd those who are accepting such rascals, they are also not intelligent. They should know. Just like I asked the press representative, \"Suppose if I come and say that I am President Johnson, would you accept me?\" So similarly, people should know what is God, what is the definition of God. How can I accept a rascal as God? They have no sense also. Somebody comes, \"I am God,\" and he accepts, \"Yes, he's God.\" What is this nonsense?\nGo on.",
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"content": "\n \"As the ignorant perform their duties with attachment to results, similarly, the learned may also act, but without attachment, for the sake of leading people on the right path.\"\nTwenty-six: \"Let not the wise disrupt the minds of the ignorant who are attached to fruitive action. They should not be encouraged to refrain from work but to engage in work in the spirit of devotion.\"\nTwenty-seven: \"The bewildered...\"",
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"content": "\n Just like Haridāsa Ṭhākura. Haridāsa Ṭhākura was chanting in a secluded place always. Now, if somebody, without being elevated to such high position, imitates, \"Oh, Haridāsa Ṭhākura chanted. Let me sit down in a solitary place and chant,\" he cannot do that. It is not possible. He'll simply imitate and he'll do all nonsense.\nTherefore everyone should be engaged in his own work, and by the fruit of his work, he should serve Kṛṣṇa. We cannot imitate Haridāsa Ṭhākura. That is a different position. If one is elevated to that position, that is a different thing, but generally, that is not meant for ordinary person. Therefore everyone should do his occupational duty and try to serve the Lord by the result of his work. That should be the motto of life.\nGo on.",
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"content": "\n \"The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities which are in actuality carried out by nature.\" [Bg. 3.27]\n[The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities, which are in actuality carried out by nature.]\nPurport: \"Two persons, one in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and the other in material consciousness working on the same level, may appear to be working on the same platform, but there is a wide gulf of difference in their respective positions. The person in material consciousness is convinced by false ego that he is the doer of everything. With him there is no consideration that the mechanism of the body is produced by material nature or that material nature is under the supervision of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.\n\"A materialistic person has no knowledge that ultimately he is under the control of Kṛṣṇa. The person in false ego takes all credit for doing everything independently, and that is the symptom of his nescience. He does not know that this gross and subtle body is the creation of material nature under the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and as such his bodily and mental activities should be engaged in the service of Kṛṣṇa in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.\n\"He does not know that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is known as Hṛṣīkeśa, or the master of all senses. But due to his long misuse of the senses he is factually bewildered by the false ego, and that is the cause of his forgetfulness of his eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa.\"\nTwenty-eight: \"One who is in knowledge of the Absolute Truth, O mighty-armed, does not engage himself in the senses and sense gratification, knowing well the differences between work in devotion and work for fruitive result.\"\nPurport: \"The knower of the Absolute Truth is convinced of his awkward position in material association. He knows that he is part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, and that his position should not be in the material creation. He knows his real identity as part and parcel of the Supreme, who is eternal bliss and knowledge, and he realizes that somehow or other he is now entrapped in the material conception of life.\n\"In his pure state of existence, he is meant to dovetail his activities in devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. He therefore engages himself in the activities of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and becomes naturally unattached to the activities of the material senses, which are all circumstantial and temporary. He knows that his material condition of life is under the supreme control of the Lord; consequently he is not disturbed by any kind of material reaction, which he considers to be the mercy of the Lord.\n\"According to the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, one who knows the Absolute Truth in three different features—namely Brahman, Paramātmā and the Supreme Personality of Godhead—is called tattva-vit, for he knows also his own factual position in relationship with the Supreme.\"",
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"content": "\n There is a verse in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam [SB 1.2.11]. \n[Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān.]\nTattva-vit. Tattva means truth, and vit means one who knows. So a person who knows all these things, he's called tattva-vit.\nGo on.",
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"content": "\n Twenty-nine: \"Bewildered by the modes of material nature, the ignorant fully engage themselves in material activities and become attached. But the wise should not unsettle them, although these duties are inferior due to the performers' lack of knowledge.\"\nPurport: \"Men who are ignorant cannot appreciate activities in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and therefore Lord Kṛṣṇa advises us not to disturb them and simply waste valuable time. But the devotees of the Lord are more kind than the Lord, because they understand the purpose of the Lord. Consequently, they undertake all kinds of risks, even to the point of approaching ignorant men to try and engage them in the acts of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, which are absolutely necessary for the human being.\"\nThirty:...",
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"content": "\n Yes. Kṛṣṇa said that devotees, that you should not disturb them. But devotees are so kind that taking all risk. Just like Nityānanda Prabhu took all risk, Lord Jesus Christ took all risk. Therefore a devotee is more kind than God. A devotee is more merciful than God Himself. We should always remember this.\nAnd therefore Kṛṣṇa says, mad-bhaktaḥ pūjyābhyādhika: \"Anyone who worships My devotee, he worships more than what he can do for Me.\" That means He appreciates the worship of His devotee than to Himself. So actually, devotees are so kind. Kṛṣṇa says, \"Those who are absorbed too much in material consciousness, don't disturb them.\"\nBut devotees take the risks, even at the cost of life. Therefore devotee is so, I mean to say, dear to Kṛṣṇa. That will be explained in the Eighteenth Chapter, that \"Person who takes all risk for preaching God consciousness, nobody is dearer than him in the human society.\" Kṛṣṇa says like that.\nGo on.",
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"content": "\n Thirty: \"Therefore, O Arjuna, surrendering all your works unto Me, with mind intent on Me, and without desire for gain and free from egoism and lethargy, fight.\"\nPurport: \"This verse clearly indicates the whole purpose of the Bhagavad-gītā. The Lord instructs that one has to become fully Kṛṣṇa conscious to discharge duties, as if in military discipline. Such an injunction may make things a little difficult, but that is the constitutional position of the living entity.\n\"The living entity cannot be happy independent of the cooperation of the Supreme Lord, because the eternal constitutional position of the living entity is to become subordinate to the desires of the Lord. Arjuna was therefore ordered by Śrī Kṛṣṇa to fight as if the Lord were his military commander.\n\"One has to sacrifice everything for the good will of the Supreme Lord, and at the same time discharge his prescribed duties without claims of proprietorship. Arjuna did not have to consider the order of the Lord; he had only to execute His order. The Supreme Lord is the soul of all souls. Therefore one who depends solely and wholly on the Supreme Soul without personal consideration, or in other words, one who is fully Kṛṣṇa conscious, is called adhyātma-cetas...\"",
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"content": "\n Adhyātma-cetasa.",
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"content": "\n \"...full of self-knowledge.\"",
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"content": "\n Yes.",
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"content": "\n \"One has to act on the order of the master. One should not expect any fruitive results. The cashier may count millions of dollars for his employer, but he does not claim a cent out of the great amount of money. Similarly, one has to take it for granted that nothing in the world belongs to any individual person, but everything belongs to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the real purport of Kṛṣṇa saying 'unto Me.' And when one acts in such Kṛṣṇa consciousness, certainly he does not claim proprietorship over anything. So this consciousness is called nirmama, or 'nothing is mine.'\n\"And if there is any reluctance to execute such a stern order, which is without consideration of so-called kinsmen in the bodily relationship, that reluctance should be thrown off. In this way one may become without feverish mentality or lethargy. Everyone, according to his quality and position, has a particular type of work to discharge, and all such duties may be discharged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness as described above. That will lead one to the path of liberation.\"",
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"content": "\n Thank you. That's all.",
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"content": "\n Hare Kṛṣṇa. [obeisances]",
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"content": "\n Now if anybody has any question?",
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"content": "\n In the past, when there were men who practiced yoga, concentration on Kṛṣṇa within the heart, when they perfected this, were they rendering devotional service?",
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"content": "\n Yes. Devotional service, there are nine kinds of:\nśravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ\nsmaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam\narcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ\nsakhyam ātma-nivedanam\n[SB 7.5.23]\n[Prahlāda Mahārāja said: Hearing and chanting about the transcendental holy name, form, qualities, paraphernalia and pastimes of Lord Viṣṇu, remembering them, serving the lotus feet of the Lord, offering the Lord respectful worship with sixteen types of paraphernalia, offering prayers to the Lord, becoming His servant, considering the Lord one's best friend, and surrendering everything unto Him (in other words, serving Him with the body, mind and words)—these nine processes are accepted as pure devotional service. One who has dedicated his life to the service of Kṛṣṇa through these nine methods should be understood to be the most learned person, for he has acquired complete knowledge.]\nSo śravaṇam, just you are very kindly hearing. This is also devotional service. Those who are patiently hearing these topics of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they are also discharging devotional service, hearing. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam, and just you are reading, you are also rendering service.\nSimilarly, those who are always thinking of Kṛṣṇa, he's also rendering service. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam. Those who are engaged in the service of this temple, they are discharging devotional service, pāda-sevanam. \nArcanam: those who are engaged in the service of the Deity, they are executing devotional service. Vandanam: those who are offering prayers, they are engaged in devotional service. Just like in Christian church or mosque, they have no Deity, but they offer prayer. That is devotional service.\nSo everyone, in relationship with God... There are so many formulas. If he follows all the formulas, or some of them, or at least one of them, sincerely, then he'll get perfection. That is the way.\nśravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ\nsmaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam\narcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ\nsakhyam ātma-nivedanam\n[SB 7.5.23]\nBut for all devotional service, the main pillar is śravaṇam, hearing. Without hearing, other processes of devotional service will not be perfect. Therefore hearing is most important. Hearing, according to our Vaiṣṇava philosophy, especially Lord Caitanya's, this hearing and chanting are two main pillars for devotional service. [aside:] Drink water. Yes.\nSo those who are concentrating mind, thinking of Kṛṣṇa, that is the perfection of yoga system. But they have no idea of Kṛṣṇa. They make some circle, they concentrate. That is a practice only, how to engage one's mind. Because mind is so flickering, I am thinking of a red circle, and then next moment, I think something red, and from that red, I go to something red, something red, oh... Mind is gone. You see?\nSo this concentration of mind is very difficult in this age, because mind is so agitated. Therefore force them to hear Hare Kṛṣṇa. Even they have no mind to hear, you chant loudly Hare Kṛṣṇa, they will hear. Their mind will be dragged. It is so nice thing. He hasn't got to [chuckling] concentrate. I'll force him. You see? So as soon as he hears \"Kṛṣṇa,\" oh, he advances immediately one step. This is the nicest and the great service to the humanity: chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. And then they'll be profited. You see? Yes?",
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"content": "\n When you talk about Lord Śiva and you shouldn't imitate him, and people do imitate him and then they say, \"Oh, we smoke marijuana because Śiva does it,\" is it all right to say, \"Oh? You want to imitate him? Then you must also drink an ocean of poison.\"? Then if they want to imitate him, then let 'em imitate him.",
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"content": "\n Yes, they will die, because they're imitating. The result will be death. That's all. Yes?",
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"content": "\n Is it all right to disturb the minds of the envious?",
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"content": "\n Huh?",
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"content": "\n Is it all right to disturb the minds of the envious?",
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"content": "\n Envious?",
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"content": "\n Yes. So many people are so envious of God...",
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"content": "\n Everyone is envious. This world is envious. They have declared that God is dead. You see? [laughs] [Bengali] There is a proverb in Bengali that one person wanted to see how many thieves are there in this village, and when he began to scrutinize, he saw that everyone is a thief. [laughter]\nSimilarly, envious, you begin from President Johnson and go to anyone, they are all envious of God consciousness. You see? Otherwise in Los Angeles city, there are millions and trillions of people, and only a dozen people are coming here. You see? Why? They are envious: \"What is this nonsense God consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness?\" You see?\nSo we have to disturb them. That is our duty. [laughter] We have to disturb these envious persons, \"Hare Kṛṣṇa!\" [laughter] That is our duty, to disturb them. And that is the greatest service. Just like a man is sleeping, and somebody is coming to kill him, and other friend, \"Mr. Such-and-such, wake up! Wake up! Wake up!\"\nSo he may say, \"Why you are disturbing me?\" But that is the greatest service. He'll be saved. Māyā is coming to kill him, to send him to the darkest region of hell, and you are saving him: \"Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and be saved.\" Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā [Bg. 7.14].\n[This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.]\nThese people, they do not know how much they are under the trap of māyā, illusion. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā. They are thinking that they are very happy, they are making progress, but they do not know actually the position. This is called illusion.\nAny other question? Yes?",
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"content": "\n Prabhupāda, in this age of Kali, when there is no social structure or varṇāśrama-dharma, how can one discriminate how he is utilizing his energies for his prescribed duties? How can one determine his prescribed duties, as Lord Kṛṣṇa has described here, for Arjuna to follow his prescribed duties?",
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"content": "\n Yes. Before coming to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, were you in the varṇāśrama?",
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"content": "\n No.",
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"content": "\n Then how you have come?",
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"content": "\n Pardon?",
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"content": "\nHow you have come to this position?",
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"content": "\n Out of misery.",
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"content": "\n No, no, no. You have come to execute Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Before coming to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, were you in varṇāśrama-dharma? No. So at the present moment, there is no possibility of persons following the principles of varṇāśrama-dharma, either here or anywhere. Everyone is varṇa-saṅkara. Kalau śūdra-sambhavaḥ. In this age, everyone is a śūdra. Nobody is brāhmaṇa, nobody is kṣatriya, nobody is vaiśya. Śūdra. So in this age, you won't find anybody following the varṇāśrama-dharma.\nTherefore this is the panacea, to engage everyone in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. He comes above the highest principle of brāhmaṇism. This is the greatest gift to the humanity, that even he is in the, I mean to say, fallen condition, the most degraded position, he can be raised to the highest position simply by chanting. This is the only remedy.\nNow you cannot again introduce this system of varṇāśrama. It is not possible. If one takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, automatically he becomes immediately a brāhmaṇa and above the brāhmaṇa. A Vaiṣṇava is above the brāhmaṇa. Just like when we initiate, give Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, he is supposed to be above the all material modes of nature. And when he has practiced, we offer him the sacred thread. This is the prescription of this age.\nOtherwise, you cannot select who is brāhmaṇa, who is śūdra, who is kṣatriya. It is very difficult. Only one who takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he comes to the transcendental platform, and he's above the brāhmaṇas. He is no longer a śūdra, kṣatriya. He's above the brāhmaṇas: a Vaiṣṇava. So this is the only process to raise a person from the lowest position to the highest standard. And that is factual.\nNow, take a brāhmaṇa who has come from India and compare his character and the character of our student, how he has become more than a brāhmaṇa, the so-called brāhmaṇa. This is practical. The so-called brāhmaṇas, they have come here, they are doing all nonsense, not following any rules and regulation. But still, they are claiming that they are brāhmaṇas. Brāhmaṇa is not meant like that. Kṛṣṇa says, cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ [Bg. 4.13]:\n[According to the three modes of material nature and the work ascribed to them, the four divisions of human society were created by Me. And, although I am the creator of this system, you should know that I am yet the non-doer, being unchangeable.]\n\"The four castes, they are introduced by Me according to quality and work.\" There is no question of birth. Kṛṣṇa never said birth. Otherwise He would have said, cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ janma-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ. No. He says guṇa-karma. Guṇa means quality, and karma.\nJust like if you have achieved the quality of a medical practitioner, then your work shall be a medical practitioner. Similarly, if one has achieved the quality of a brāhmaṇa or Vaiṣṇava, then his activities should be like that. If I become Kṛṣṇa conscious and if I work as a butcher, that will not be. You have to work just like a Vaiṣṇava. So guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ. You have to acquire the qualities and work like that. Then it is perfect.\nSo this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is teaching people to work for Kṛṣṇa and to qualify himself for Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the highest perfection. Without any consideration of His previous position or qualification or social standard. There is no such thing. Simply if he takes to Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and prosecutes nicely according to direction, he becomes the, I mean to say, in transcendental position. Highest position. More than a brāhmaṇa.\nYes. Chant. [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/680510le-boston/
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"content": "\n [kīrtana] [prema-dhvani] [devotees offer obeisances]\n[20:49]\n[aside:] You can speak? You can take this.",
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"content": "\n My name is Brahmānanda dāsa Brahmacārī. I'm the president of the New York chapter of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. The International Society for Krishna Consciousness was established in 1966 by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, who has come to this country from Calcutta, India, to preach the science of God realization which is recommended for this age, this age of Kali, this age of disagreement. This process was started by Lord Caitanya five hundred years ago in India.\n[break] You may want to ask the Swāmī about Bhagavad-gītā or transcendental philosophy. Now I present His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami.\n[22:20]",
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"content": "\n The primary principles of Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement have been briefly described by my disciple Śrīman Brahmānanda Brahmacārī. It is a very important science of God, understanding what is God. Of course, in every religion this conception of God is there. Simply by understanding \"God is great\" is not sufficient. We must have knowledge about our relationship with God.\nGenerally, we take it for granted that God is our order-supplier. We take it that God is great, because He... That is also not the conception of the atheist class of men. Those who believe in God, generally they approach God in distress, when they're in need of money, and somebody wants to study what is God out of inquisitiveness, and somebody wants to understand the science of God.\nThere are four classes of men. They are called persons with pious activities on the background. Without pious activities on the background, nobody is interested in the science of God. And those who are unfortunate or impelled by impious activities, they do not believe in God. They never care for God. And this class of men are always known as atheist class of men.\nSo, so far atheist class of men, it is very difficult for them to understand. But atheist or theist, it doesn't matter—everyone is conscious. That is a fact. It doesn't matter whether you believe in God or do not believe in God, but you are conscious. As soon as I pinch in any part of your body, you at once protest; you feel that \"Somebody is pinching me. I am feeling pain.\" This consciousness is there even in the animal or in man and everyone.\nNow what is this consciousness? The Bhagavad-gītā replies what is this consciousness. The Bhagavad-gītā says, avināśi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idaṁ tatam [Bg. 2.17].\n[Know that which pervades the entire body is indestructible. No one is able to destroy the imperishable soul.]\nThat consciousness which is spread all over your body, that is eternal. How it is eternal? That also you can understand by practical experience. Just like in your childhood, there was consciousness. When you were in the womb of your mother, of course, at a certain stage there was consciousness. In your boyhood, there was consciousness; in your youthhood, there is consciousness; and as you make progress, in your old age, there is also consciousness. Now, your body is changing but consciousness is continuing. That you cannot deny.\nTherefore the Bhagavad-gītā says, avināśi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idaṁ tatam. That consciousness is eternal, and that does not vanquish with the destruction of the body. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre [Bg. 2.20].\n[For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.]\nNow as soon as this consciousness is over, the body is called dead body. Now what is this consciousness? This consciousness is the symptom of the soul. That is... Just like in a light, in a fire, there is distribution of heat and light, similarly, the spirit soul being present in your body, the consciousness is spread all over your body. This is the fact.\nNow this consciousness is being carried. Just like from your childhood this consciousness is being carried. From childhood body to boyhood body to youthhood body, the consciousness is continuing. Similarly, this consciousness will also carry you in another body, and that transformation or transmigration from one body to another, it is called death.\nDeath means when this body cannot be carried any more, the consciousness has to be transferred to another, new body. Just like when your garment is too old, it has to be changed; similarly, when this material body is too old to carry on, then this consciousness is transferred to another body and you begin another life. This is the process of nature.\nBut unfortunately, in the modern education system, there is no departmental education about this consciousness or spirit soul, although it is the most important factor. Without consciousness, without the soul's being present, this body is useless. But unfortunately we take care very much for this body, but we have no knowledge of the consciousness or the spirit soul. This is called illusion, ignorance or māyā.\nWe are very much serious about the nonpermanent things, the body, which will not exist, which will be vanquished after certain period of years, but we do not take care of the eternal consciousness, which is changing from one body to another. This is the defect of the modern civilization. And so long we are unaware of the presence of the spirit soul in the body, so long we do not inquire what is the spirit soul, so long our all activities are simply wasting our time.\nIn the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said that parābhavas tāvad abhodha-jātaḥ [SB 5.5.5].\n[As long as one does not inquire about the spiritual values of life, one is defeated and subjected to miseries arising from ignorance. Be it sinful or pious, karma has its resultant actions. If a person is engaged in any kind of karma, his mind is called karmātmaka, colored with fruitive activity. As long as the mind is impure, consciousness is unclear, and as long as one is absorbed in fruitive activity, he has to accept a material body.]\nThe foolish person or the foolish living entity. Anyone who has accepted this temporary body is understood to be foolish. So every one of us is born foolish, because we identify with this temporary body as myself. Therefore we are foolish. Everyone knows that the body does not exist, and still, everyone identifies himself with this body. This is called ignorance, or illusion.\nSo the whole world, or the mostly people, are hovering in ignorance, and he does not know that he is spirit soul and he is transmigrating from one body to another. He does not want to die, but the death, cruel death, is enforced upon him. So these problems they do not consider very seriously, and they are thinking very happy on the principles of animal life. The animal life is based on four principal things: eating, sleeping, mating, and defending. And at the present moment the human civilization is very much proud of advancement of knowledge, but they are concerned with these four principles of life, namely eating, sleeping, defending and mating.\nSo according to Vedic literature, this way of life is no better than animal life. Human life is meant for advanced knowledge. And what is that advanced knowledge? To know oneself, what I am. In every civilized country, in every civilized form of civiliza..., of society, there is some kind of religious principles, either you accept Muhammadanism or Christianism or Jewism or Hinduism or Buddhism. And what is the purpose of the scriptures and religious principles? To understand this consciousness, to understand the spirit soul and how it is fallen into this material conditional life, how they are transforming or transmigrating in different species of life.\nThere are 8,400,000's of species of life, and we are wandering in so many species of life. And this is the opportunity, when we have got this human form of life, to understand \"What I am.\" If we do not understand \"What I am,\" then I am missing the opportunity. If I simply waste my time in the propensities of animal life—the same thing: eating, sleeping, defending and mating—and if you do not inquire that \"I do not wish to die.\nWhy death is enforced upon me? I do not want to be diseased. Why disease is enforced upon me?\" They do not inquire. They simply think, \"All right, I am diseased. Let me go to the doctor and have some medicine.\" But from innermost part of his heart, he doesn't want to be diseased or doesn't want to be dead. Why? Because he is eternal. His real position is eternal life, blissful life, without any death, without any birth, without any disease.\nSo this is the opportunity. This human form of life is the opportunity to achieve that highest perfection of life. If we do not make progress with that vision of life, then we are simply spoiling our this opportunity of human civilized life. Especially I mean this civilized form of life with developed consciousness, developed education. If you do not take care \"What I am? Why I am meeting death? I do not wish to die.\nWhy calamities are enforced upon me?\" Nobody wants to meet calamities. In your country, especially I see in every city, the fire brigade, ambulance car is always wandering in the street. That means who wants that his house should be set in fire? Who wants that he should meet an accident?\nBut these things are being enforced, but there is no question that \"Why these things are enforced? I do not want this. Why this...?\" This is self-realization. As soon as we become inquisitive that \"I do not want all these miserable condition of life. Why they are enforced...?\" They are trying to solve these problems by so-called scientific research or so-called philosophical research, but actually the solution is to reform or to purify your consciousness.\nIf you purify your consciousness, as by impure consciousness we are transmigrating from... Now this time, you may be very happy that you have got a very nice body, American body, or you are enjoying life. But do you know what is the next life? That you do not know. Either you do not believe in the next life or you do not know. But you should know that life is continuity. This platform is a flash only. Why there are so many species of life if it is not a flash? You are changing. So these questions are there.\nSo this movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, is the movement for purifying consciousness. If you take to this movement, it is very simple. Just like our president, Brahmānanda, explained to you, that it is simply sixteen words: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. Simply to chant these sixteen words. We are simply requesting you to chant these sixteen words. There is no loss on your part, but there is immense gain. Why don't you make an experiment?\nIt is not very difficult. These American boys, they are also chanting. Similarly, although it is written in Sanskrit words symbolically, but it is vibration. It is transcendental vibration. If you take to this vibration, then we become directly in touch with the Supreme Lord. That makes us purified. Just like if you go to the fire you become warm, similarly, if you be directly in touch with the Supreme Spirit, then our purification begins.\nSo if you take to this movement, if you chant this Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, then this impure consciousness will be purified, and you will know what you are. Just like Brahmānanda said that it is the process of cleansing the mind, cleansing the mind from all dirty things. And as soon as you are cleansed of all dirty things, then your material anxieties are immediately over. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā:\nbrahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā\nna śocati na kāṅkṣati\nsamaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu\nmad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām\n[Bg. 18.54]\n[And of all yogīs, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.]\nBrahma-bhūtaḥ means as soon as you come to the platform of your spiritual understanding, then immediately you get free from all material anxieties. Na śocati na kāṅkṣati. You are no more hankering after any profit, neither you are very sorry when there is a great loss. Then you can see everyone on the equal level, and then your relationship or your lost relationship is again established with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Then your real life begins.\nSo Kṛṣṇa consciousness means to begin our real life, and to get free from this temporary life, changing from one body to another. So this is very important movement. Try to understand this movement. We have got magazine, Back to Godhead. We have got publication, we have got our branches in several places in your country.\nWe have got here one branch in the 95, Glenville Avenue. So we invite you that you come. You have no expenditure. We simply request you that you come. You try to understand this movement. It is very scientific movement. It is not a bogus, bluffing. You try to understand with all your arguments, reason, logic, and whatever way you want to understand, we are prepared to answer you.\nSo this is for your benefit. It is not an institution to make some profit. It is just to render service to the whole humanity so that they may understand the scientific knowledge of God and be benefited in this human form of life. That is our problem[?], and we present this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement before you. Now it depends up to you to accept it or not.\nThank you very much. If there is any question you can... Yes.",
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"content": "\n [indistinct]\n [explaining question] How does Kṛṣṇa consciousness relate to advaita philosophy?\n Yeah. Total nonbeing.",
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"content": "\n Advaita philosophy means nondifferent from God. Have you studied advaita philosophy? Yes. The basic principle of advaita philosophy is nondifference from God. That is a fact. We are nondifferent from God. Just like the president of your country, he is American; you are also American. So there is no difference so far \"American\" is concerned. You are nondifferent. But at the same time, you are not the president. Because you are American it does not mean that you are on the equal level with the president. Is it not a fact?\nSimilarly, we are qualitatively one with God. Qualitatively means that whatever you have got as spirit soul, the same thing is also in God. There is no difference in quality. Just like you take a drop of water from the vast Atlantic sea and you chemically analyze the ingredients, the composition of the drop of water is equal to the composition of the vast Atlantic water.\nDrop of water is equal to the vast mass of water in the Atlantic Ocean. Similarly, you are a spark of the Supreme Spirit Soul. You have got all the chemical qualities or composition as God has. But God is great; you are minute. He is infinite; you are infinitesimal. Qualitatively one, but quantitatively different.\nSo those who are simply accepting the feature of being qualitatively one, they are called Advaitavādi. They are mistaking that quantitatively they cannot be equal. If quantitatively the living entity is equal to God, then why he is fallen in this conditional life of material existence? That means being his constitutional position very infinitesimal, he is prone to be caught up by the influence of māyā. And if you say that you are also the Supreme, then how you are caught by the māyā? Then māyā becomes great; God is not great. These things are to be considered.\nSo our philosophy, the Vedānta philosophy, acintya-bhedābheda: we support the philosophy of simultaneously being one and different from God. Simultaneously. We are qualitatively one with God, but quantitatively we are different. That is our philosophy. That is Vaiṣṇava philosophy. So advaitavāda and dvaitavāda, they are facts. Dvaitavāda means different, and advaitavāda means nondifferent. So we are both: nondifferent in quality, different in quantity. That is perfect philosophy.\nIs that clear to you?",
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"content": "\n Another question. [indistinct]",
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"content": "\n Well, water is being poured and water is being taken out. That is a fact. From the sea water, water is evaporated, and the cloud..., and the cloud again falls down in water. So that does not mean water is fixed up. Water is not fixed up. That is eternally going on. [indistinct Sanskrit]\nWater is taken out from the sea, and again it is poured out. So you cannot stop this process. You do not think that because once you have mixed with the sea water, then there is no chance of coming out again. You have to come out. But if you enter within the water and be one of the living entities in the water, then you haven't got to come back.\nSo our philosophy is not to mix with the water. We go deep into the water and become one of the aquatics in the water. Therefore we haven't got to come back again. And if you remain water, then you have to come back. Even you think that \"I am mixed with water in the vast sea,\" that is your false identity. You have to come out.\nTherefore in the Bhāgavata says that,\nye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas\ntvayy asta-bhāvad aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ\nāruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ\npatanty adho 'nādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ\n[SB 10.2.32]\n[[Someone may say that aside from devotees, who always seek shelter at the Lord's lotus feet, there are those who are not devotees but who have accepted different processes for attaining salvation. What happens to them? In answer to this question, Lord Brahmā and the other demigods said:] O lotus-eyed Lord, although nondevotees who accept severe austerities and penances to achieve the highest position may think themselves liberated, their intelligence is impure. They fall down from their position of imagined superiority because they have no regard for Your lotus feet.]\nThis is a very nice verse. It is said that those persons are thinking that they have become liberated by Brahman realization, their thoughts are not yet purified. Because after severe austerities they may come to the brink of the water, but being given shelter by the water, he comes back again.\nSo if you don't want to come back again, then you have to enter deep into the water and remain as one of the living creatures in the water. That is the philosophy of Vaiṣṇava philosophy, that we want to enter into the spiritual kingdom and we want to live in our spiritual identity, not superficially simply we mix with water and again evaporate, again come back.\nSo advaita philosophy, the example which you have given, they generally give this example. But any sane man can understand that by mixing with superficially with the water there is no solution. There is chance of coming out again, being evaporated. If you take that example, you have to accept this also. How you can say that you are not coming back? It is a fact. So if you don't want to come back again, you go deep into the water and live as one of the living entities under the shelter of the water. They have no problem. They do not come back.\nThe big animal, or big aquatics, they peacefully live within the water. They never come into the river, because in the river there is no place to accommodate them. There are so big, gigantic aquatics. So if you want to live perpetually in the water, then you have to keep your identity as one of the aquatics in the water. Then you'll be perfect. Otherwise you'll be baffled. That's all. Is that..., your answer is satisfactory? Yes. Any other question?\nYour question is very intelligent. Unfortunately, people are not intelligent enough even to put questions and to answer this great science. And we are very much proud of our advanced education. They do not know what he is. Simply coming, accepting a body and living for some time, and just dying like cats and dogs. That's all. They are most abominable condition of human civilization at the present moment that they do not take care about the real identity of his self. He's simply mistakenly identifying himself with this body, which he's not.\nYasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke [SB 10.84.13].\n[One who identifies his self as the inert body composed of mucus, bile and air, who assumes his wife and family are permanently his own, who thinks an earthen image or the land of his birth is worshipable, or who sees a place of pilgrimage as merely the water there, but who never identifies himself with, feels kinship with, worships or even visits those who are wise in spiritual truth—such a person is no better than a cow or an ass.]\nThe Bhāgavata says one who identifies this body with his self, and one who thinks that the bodily relationship is the protector or his kinsmen, and the body produced in certain part of the land is accepted as worshipable—there are so many description—such man is no better than an ass or cow. Sa eva go-kharaḥ [SB 10.84.13]. Go means cow, and khara means ass. So these are the description in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. This is a challenge.\nBut people are so much engrossed in ignorance that they don't care: \"All right. Let us go on like this.\" And if I say that \"You are God. You can do whatever nonsense you like, you do,\" then you'll be very pleased. You'll be very pleased. And people will be very much eager to hear me, you see? But we cannot say such thing, bluffing thing.\nAny other questions? Let us have kīrtana. Or at least chant with us Hare Kṛṣṇa for some time.",
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"content": "\n Simply chant the mantra, then I repeat: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. And simply fix... [break]",
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"content": "\n Chant.\n[54:58]\n[kīrtana] [prema dhvani] Thank you very much. [devotees offer obeisances]\n[break] So... You may..., you make one dozen pictures like this.",
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"content": "\n What? One dozen?",
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"content": "\n Pictures. You make like that.\nYes. [indistinct] [break] [end]",
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https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/710401bg-bombay/
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"content": "\n[prema-dhvani] Thank you very much. [devotees offer obeisances] [break]\n[om ajñāna-timirāndhasya] jñānāñjana-śalākayā\ncakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave-namaḥ\n[\"I offer my respectful obeisances unto my spiritual master, who with the torchlight of knowledge has opened my eyes, which were blinded by the darkness of ignorance.\"]\nśrī-caitanya-mano-'bhīṣṭaṁ sthāpitaṁ yena bhū-tale\nsvayaṁ rūpaḥ kadā mahyaṁ dadāti sva-padāntikam\n[\"When will Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī Prabhupāda, who has established within this material world the mission to fulfill the desire of Lord Caitanya, give me shelter under his lotus feet?\"]\nvande 'haṁ śrī-guroḥ śrī-yuta-pada-kamalaṁ śrī-gurūn vaiṣṇavāṁś ca\nśrī-rūpaṁ sāgrajātaṁ saha-gaṇa-raghunāthānvitaṁ taṁ sa-jīvam\nsādvaitaṁ sāvadhūtaṁ parijana-sahitaṁ kṛṣṇa-caitanya-devaṁ\nśrī-rādhā-kṛṣṇa-pādān saha-gaṇa-lalitā-śrī-viśākhānvitāṁś ca\n[\"I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of my spiritual master and of all the other preceptors on the path of devotional service. I offer my respectful obeisances unto all the Vaiṣṇavas and unto the six Gosvāmīs, including Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī, Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, Jīva Gosvāmī and their associates. I offer my respectful obeisances unto Śrī Advaita Ācārya Prabhu, Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and all His devotees, headed by Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura. I then offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and all the gopīs, headed by Lalitā and Viśākhā.\"]\nhe kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho dīna-bandho jagat-pate\ngopeśa gopikā-kānta rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te\n[\"O my dear Kṛṣṇa, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the cowherd men and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṇī. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.\"]\ntapta-kāñcana-gaurāṅgi rādhe vṛndāvaneśvari\nvṛṣabhānu-sute devi praṇamāmi hari-priye\n[\"I offer my respects to Rādhārāṇī, whose bodily complexion is like molten gold and who is the Queen of Vṛndāvana. You are the daughter of King Vṛṣabhānu, and You are very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa.\"]\nvāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca\npatitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ\n[\"I offer my respectful obeisances unto all the Vaiṣṇava devotees of the Lord. They can fulfill the desires of everyone, just like desire trees, and they are full of compassion for the fallen souls.\"]\nśrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu nityānanda\nśrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda\n[\"I offer my obeisances to Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, Prabhu Nityānanda, Śrī Advaita, Gadādhara, Śrīvāsa and all others in the line of devotion.\"]\nhare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare\nhare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare\n[\"My dear Lord, and the spiritual energy of the Lord, kindly engage me in Your service. I am now embarrassed with this material service. Please engage me in Your service.\"]\n[02:52]\nLadies and Gentlemen, I thank you very much for your coming here and participating with our this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.\nSo Kṛṣṇa says,\nmattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat\nkiñcid asti dhanañjaya\nmayi sarvam idaṁ protaṁ\nsūtre maṇi-gaṇā iva\n[Bg. 7.7]\nSo Kṛṣṇa is present everywhere, because everything is resting on Him, on His energies. Just like in a big factory the proprietor may be out of the factory, but every worker is aware that \"This factory belongs to such-and-such person.\" As this is possible to have always a consciousness of the proprietor of the factory by the worker, similarly, it is possible for everyone to become Kṛṣṇa conscious in every activity. That is the philosophy we are trying to preach all over the world.\nThe Bhagavad-gītā philosophy is like that. Yudhyasva mām anusmara [Bg. 8.7]. You have to... This world is so made that one has to work. Without working, nobody even can maintain his body and soul together. That you cannot avoid. But at the same time, we can remember Kṛṣṇa. That is... That depends only on practice and understanding, pure understanding.\nSo here Kṛṣṇa says that \"There is nobody greater than Me.\" That is the verdict of all ancient Vedic literature. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also, the same thing is confirmed, that kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam [SB 1.3.28]. There is a list of different incarnations of God. In that list Lord Buddha's name is also there. Lord Buddha's name is described: kīkaṭeṣu bhaviṣyati. Buddho nāmnāñjana-sutaḥ kīkaṭeṣu bhaviṣyati [SB 1.3.24]. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam the Lord Buddha's name is mentioned as future incarnation. Bhaviṣyati, \"will appear\"; kīkaṭeṣu, \"in the province of Gayā.\"\nSo this is called śāstra. Because Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam was composed five thousand years ago, and Lord Buddha appeared 2,600 years ago. Therefore five thousand years ago Lord Buddha's case was in the future. Therefore it is said bhaviṣyati, \"He will appear.\" This is called śāstra. Trikāla-jña. Śāstra writer, they are not ordinary men. Just like Kṛṣṇa is speaking. He is not ordinary man. Nobody will be interested so much if Bhagavad-gītā was written by ordinary man. It was spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and it was recorded by His incarnation, Vyāsadeva.\nSo it is transcendental literature. Ordinary literatures, they cannot be perfect because there are four defects: bhrama-pramāda-karaṇāpāṭava-vipralipsā [Cc. Ādi 2.86]. Bhrama means \"to commit mistake\"; pramāda means \"illusion\"; and vipralipsā means \"cheating\"; and karaṇāpāṭava, \"inefficiency of the senses.\" So śāstra means above these defects. Where there is no such defect, that is śāstra.\nAnd you can understand how five thousand years ago Lord Buddha's appearance was predicted. Similarly, still there is prediction about kalki-avatāra, which will take place about four lakhs and 27,000 years hereafter. Kalki-avatāra's name, his father's name and where He will appear, everything is there. This is called śāstra.\nSo we have to understand Kṛṣṇa from the śāstra. Kṛṣṇa Himself speaking that mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya [Bg. 7.7]: \"There is nobody else greater than Me.\" And when Arjuna understood Bhagavad-gītā, he also accepted Kṛṣṇa like that. Paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān [Bg. 10.12]: \"You are Para-brahman.\"\nSo Kṛṣṇa is Para-brahman. Brahman, we are all Brahman, because we are part and parcels of Para-brahman. But we are not Para-brahman. We are subordinate Brahman. Eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān [Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13]. We are supported by Kṛṣṇa. We are supported by God. He is one. God is one. And the supported Brahmans, or living entities, they are innumerable, beyond the numerical strength. Asaṅkhyam. Nobody can count how many living entities are there, but God is one.\nSo from the ancient literature we understand that kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam [SB 1.3.28]. There are many incarnation of Kṛṣṇa, expansion of Kṛṣṇa, svāṁśa and vibhinnāṁśa. Some of the expansions are direct personal expansions, just like Lord Rāma, Nṛsiṁha-deva, Varāha. There are many. Rāmādi-mūrtiṣu kalā-niyamena tiṣṭhan [Bs. 5.39]. Kṛṣṇa is existing, expanding Himself in various forms like Rāma, Nṛsiṁha, Varāha, and so many others.\nThere are different kinds of incarnations, avatāras—śaktyāveśāvatāra, guṇāvatāra, manvantarāvatāra, yugāvatāra. Many incarnations. And in the Bhāgavata it is concluded that the Lord's incarnations are so numerous that you cannot count. Just like if you sit down on the bank of a river, you cannot keep an account of the waves, how many waves are passing, similarly, there is no account how many incarnations are coming out from Kṛṣṇa. But Kṛṣṇa is above all.\nHere Kṛṣṇa personally says, and it is confirmed by all the sages, authorities, formerly by great sages like Nārada Muni, Vyāsadeva, Asita, Devala, and in the modern age by all the ācāryas: Śaṅkarācārya, Madhvācārya Rāmānujācārya, Viṣṇu Svāmī—so many other ācāryas—Lord Caitanya. Everyone accepts that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. How can [indistinct] you deny? We have to be guided by the ācāryas. Ācāryavān puruṣo veda [Chāndogya Upaniṣad 6.14.2]. One who follows the principles of ācārya, he knows the things as they are. That is the verdict.\nIn the Bhagavad-gītā also, you find: ācāryopāsanam [Bg. 13.8]. We have to follow the footprints, footsteps, of the ācāryas, because they can give us right direction. And one who does not follow the ācāryas and creates and manufactures his mental concoction, his version will not be accepted.\nThere are many different commentaries on the Bhagavad-gītā, but not all of them are according to the direction of the ācāryas. You have to accept Bhagavad-gītā as it is, under the direction of the ācāryas. They do not make any change. They explain how Kṛṣṇa is the greatest, not that comment in a different way and deviate you that Kṛṣṇa is ordinary man.\nSo Kṛṣṇa, from Kṛṣṇa, the next expansion is Baladeva, svayaṁ prakāśa. And from Baladeva, there is catur-vyūha: Saṅkarṣaṇa, Aniruddha, Pradyumna. So again there is, from Saṅkarṣaṇa, there is Nārāyaṇa. From Nārāyaṇa, there is another expansion, the same: Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, Aniruddha. And from that Saṅkarṣaṇa, there is puruṣāvatāra, Mahā-Viṣṇu. From Mahā-Viṣṇu, there is Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. From Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, there is Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. The Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is situated in everyone's heart. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati [Bg. 18.61].\nIn this way, Kṛṣṇa is expanding in so many ways: by personal expansion, by the expansion of His energy, by the expansion of His differentiated parts and parcels. Just like we are. We are, we living entities, are vibhinnāṁśa. We are also expansions of Kṛṣṇa. So He is expanding Himself in so many ways: svāṁśa, vibhinnāṁśa and śakti, taṭasthā-śakti, cit-śakti, antaraṅga-śakti, bahiraṅga-śakti. So we have to understand Kṛṣṇa in that way.\nAnd if we study scrutinizingly all this literature, we shall come to the conclusion that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And if there is any name of God, that is perfectly given in this word Kṛṣṇa, \"all-attractive.\" There are many [indistinct] meaning of Kṛṣṇa given by the ācāryas, but on the whole, Kṛṣṇa is the actual name of God.\nSo how you have to... For ordinary man, how one can understand Kṛṣṇa, that He is all-pervading? He is all-pervading. He is everywhere. Now, how to appreciate that He is all-pervading? That direction is given by Kṛṣṇa Himself. If we follow the direction of Kṛṣṇa, how to appreciate Him, then naturally and surely we shall come to the point to understand Kṛṣṇa, although He is all-expansive.\nSo Kṛṣṇa says,\nraso 'ham apsu kaunteya\nprabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ\npraṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu\nśabdaḥ khe pauruṣaṁ nṛṣu\n[Bg. 7.8]\nJust try to understand Kṛṣṇa by your daily experience. Kṛṣṇa says that \"When you drink water and when you quench your thirst, when you feel the nice taste of Kṛṣṇa..., er, water, that taste I am.\" Kṛṣṇa says. So you can understand Kṛṣṇa daily as soon as you drink water. Why one should say that there is no God? You just try to appreciate God according to the prescription given by God. Then you'll understand.\nJust like a doctor gives you medicine, and he gives you direction also, that \"You drink this medicine, take the bottle and take two drops\" or \"five drops,\" as he gives direction. Then gradually you understand that by taking that medicine, you are being cured, you are feeling in health. Similarly, these prescriptions given by Kṛṣṇa... This is meditation actually. When we meditate upon the taste of the water, that means we are meditating on Kṛṣṇa.\nSimilarly, Kṛṣṇa says, prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ [Bg. 7.8]: \"I am the sunshine, moonshine.\" So who has not seen the sunshine? If you have seen sunshine and if you follow this prescription given by Kṛṣṇa, then in early in the morning you'll see Kṛṣṇa. Why do you say that \"I have not seen Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is not present before Me\"? But you follow Kṛṣṇa's instruction, and He will be present. He is present; simply we have to purify our eyes and senses to understand Him. That is required. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu [Bs. 5.38].\nSuppose you have a beloved friend. As soon as you call to..., you hear telephone call, \"Who is it?\" \"I am this,\" \"Oh.\" You immediately see him. Does it not? Immediately, by the sound. Why? Because you are known to him, you are in love with him. Similarly, in this way if you develop your dormant love of Kṛṣṇa, you'll see Kṛṣṇa in every moment.\nPremāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena\nsantaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti\n[Bs. 5.38]. \nIt is not at all difficult to see Kṛṣṇa. Why do you say, \"Can you show me God?\" Why you are not seeing God? Here is God.\nSo Kṛṣṇa says, raso 'ham apsu kaunteya prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ [Bg. 7.8]. So who has not seen the sunshine? Who has not seen the moonshine? Simply to understand, one has to understand that what is this sunshine. The sunshine is the reflection of Kṛṣṇa's bodily effulgence. Just like what is this moonshine? This is reflection of the sunshine. Similarly, the sun is also reflection of the brahma-jyotir. And what is the brahma-jyotir? Brahmajyoti is Kṛṣṇa's bodily effulgence. Then why do you say that you have not seen Kṛṣṇa?\nThere are many other instances. Kṛṣṇa is giving some of them. If you study, if you meditate upon them, then you will see Kṛṣṇa gradually. He will be revealed. He'll be present immediately. It is all revelation. Not that by your eyes you can see. But if you follow the prescription, the direction, you will see Kṛṣṇa daily, always, twenty-four hours.\nSo when one is elevated devotee, mahā-bhāgavata—he is called mahā-bhāgavata—he does not see anything but Kṛṣṇa. Everywhere he sees Kṛṣṇa. Sthāvara-jaṅgama dekhe nā dekhe tāra mūrti [Cc. Madhya 8.274]. He is seeing on the seaside a great ocean, a great sea, but he is not seeing the sea, but he is seeing Kṛṣṇa. He's [seeing] Kṛṣṇa's energy, how Kṛṣṇa's energy is working, and it is producing such vast ocean and sea.\nHe is thinking like that. That is meditation. Anywhere he goes, he simply thinks of Kṛṣṇa. Sthāvara-jaṅgama dekhe nā dekhe tāra mūrti. He does not see the material form of anything. Sarvatra haya nija iṣṭa-deva-sphūrti. Everywhere he sees Kṛṣṇa. This is called Kṛṣṇa consciousness.\nSo one has to develop. How one can develop? This is the process: śravaṇādi-śuddha-citte [Cc. Madhya 22.107]—if you hear. And as you go on hearing, your dirty things on the heart becomes clear. This hearing process is so nice.\nśṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ\npuṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ\nhṛdy antaḥ-stho hy abhadrāṇi\nvidhunoti suhṛt satām\n[SB 1.2.17]\nIf you simply hear about Kṛṣṇa. Just like we are speaking about Kṛṣṇa from this Bhagavad-gītā. So if you try to understand Kṛṣṇa as directed by Kṛṣṇa, then Kṛṣṇa will also cooperate with you.\nJust like a teacher, when he sees that a student is very intelligent—he is following the direction—the teacher is more interest..., takes more interest on that student. That is natural. If the teacher says, \"My dear child, my dear boy, you write in this way,\" and if he tries, then the teacher takes more interest. Similarly, as soon as you will try to understand Kṛṣṇa according to the direction given by Him, Kṛṣṇa is within you, He will help you more and more. Teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam, dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ tam [Bg. 10.10]. Kṛṣṇa says, \"I give him special intelligence to understand.\"\nSo therefore our duty is to follow the instruction of Kṛṣṇa as it is given. So Kṛṣṇa says, praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu. The oṁkāra, praṇava... Oṁ tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padaṁ sadā paśyanti sūrayaḥ [Ṛg Veda 1.22.20]. The Vedic mantras, oṁ bhagavate vāsudevāya namaḥ. This oṁkāra, this praṇava, is Kṛṣṇa. So anyone who is chanting the Vedic hymns, and as soon as he vibrates this sound, transcendental sound, oṁ, here is Kṛṣṇa.\nSo how we can avoid Kṛṣṇa? Simply we have to know. You have to purify your eyes. You have to purify your ears. You have to purify your hands. You have to purify your legs. In this way, when your senses are purified in every step, in every moment, you will see Kṛṣṇa, nothing but Kṛṣṇa. The purificatory process—just to purify the eyes.\nKṛṣṇa is present before you in arcā-mūrti, arcāvatāra, nicely dressed by the devotees. Śrī-vigrahārādhana-nitya-nānā **. It is the duty of the devotee to decorate the śrī-vigraha, the form, the transcendental form of Kṛṣṇa very nicely so that thousands of people may come in the temple and see Kṛṣṇa. And as you go on seeing Kṛṣṇa and your eyes become purified, then you will see Kṛṣṇa, how nice Kṛṣṇa is. Just like when Caitanya Mahāprabhu entered the Jagannātha temple, as soon as He saw Kṛṣṇa, immediately He fainted, because His eyes were prepared to see Kṛṣṇa.\nSo we have to prepare our eyes to see. We have to prepare our ears to hear about Kṛṣṇa. In this way we can see Kṛṣṇa. And this is the process, how to... Just like we use our tongue. That is one of our senses. So Kṛṣṇa says that raso 'ham apsu kaunteya [Bg. 7.8]. Everyone drinks water. So he tastes it, I mean to say, relishes the taste of the water. So as soon as he relishes the taste of the water, according to the direction of Bhagavad-gītā, he can see Kṛṣṇa.\nSimilarly, by the tongue you can eat bhagavat-prasādam, the foodstuff offered to Kṛṣṇa. And as soon as you taste the foodstuff offered to Kṛṣṇa, you immediately remember Kṛṣṇa, how nicely Kṛṣṇa has taken this foodstuff. So by the tongue you can begin. Simply by eating kṛṣṇa-prasādam, without reading any Vedic literature, without reading even Bhagavad-gītā, if you simply think of Kṛṣṇa, \"How nicely Kṛṣṇa has tasted this foodstuff,\" you become Kṛṣṇa conscious.\nSo to become Kṛṣṇa conscious is not very difficult job. Simply you have to follow the direction. That's all. But if you manufacture your own meaning, commentation on Bhagavad-gītā, then you are deviated. You are lost. Śrama eva hi kevalam [SB 1.2.8]. Then such kind of reading Bhagavad-gītā is simply waste of time and energy. That's all. Therefore those who are not Kṛṣṇa conscious, who are not hearing from Kṛṣṇa conscious personality, they are simply wasting time.\nThe so-called reading of Bhagavad-gītā, lecture on Bhagavad-gītā, without Kṛṣṇa... God, kingdom of God without God. We want kingdom of God, peace and prosperity, but without God. There must not be God. That is our secular government. We want kingdom of God, but without God. That is not possible. If you give up God or God's relationship, there is no question of kingdom of God or peace and prosperity.\nThen Kṛṣṇa says, praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu śabdaḥ khe pauruṣaṁ nṛṣu [Bg. 7.8]. When one man is famous... Yad yad vibhūtimat sattvaṁ mama tejo 'ṁśa-sambhavam [Bg. 10.41]. Anything extraordinary, if you find... Kṛṣṇa is the most extraordinary personality, but even within this world, if you find some great leader, great politician, great scientist, great businessman—there are so many—and he is very famous, so you should know that this fame and name of this person is due to Kṛṣṇa's mercy. You see Kṛṣṇa there.\nNobody can be greater than any other friend unless he is specially bestowed the mercy of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, yad yad vibhūtimat sattvaṁ mama tejo 'ṁśa-sambhavam. A little portion of Kṛṣṇa's mercy is there. Kṛṣṇa is most opulent. Aiśvaryasya samagrasya [Viṣṇu Purāṇa 6.5.47]. You can claim that you are proprietor of ten crores of rupees or other can claim that \"I am proprietor of fifty crores of rupees,\" and other can claim a hundred crores of rupees, but nobody can claim that \"I am the proprietor of all the money that is available within this material world.\" Nobody can say that. Even Brahmā cannot say. But Kṛṣṇa, oh, His description is that samagrasya aiśvaryasya: all the wealth that is conceivable, He is the proprietor.\nSo any wealthy person, any rich person you see within this material world, it should be understood that a portion of Kṛṣṇa's money has been taken by him. That's all. Nobody can claim that \"I am the proprietor of all the money that is here in this material world.\" That is not possible. So if that man also thinks that \"Whatever money I have got, it is Kṛṣṇa's money, Kṛṣṇa's mercy. Kṛṣṇa has mercifully given me this money,\" then what is his next duty? He should spend it for Kṛṣṇa. That is the proper utilization of money.\nSimilarly, if one is famous, he should utilize his fame for Kṛṣṇa's service. Suppose I am trying to spread this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, but if a very famous man tries for it, it will be very quickly spread. That is the utilization of his fame. If a scientist, if he proves Kṛṣṇa's supremacy by scientific law, then his knowledge in science is perfect.\nSo everyone who possesses anything, if he knows that it is the gift of Kṛṣṇa and it should be utilized for Kṛṣṇa, then his life is successful.\nataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhā\nvarṇāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ\nsvanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya\nsaṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam\n[SB 1.2.13]\nSaṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam. It doesn't matter what you are. You may be a engineer, you may be a lawyer, you may be a businessman. Whatever you are, it doesn't matter. But try to satisfy Kṛṣṇa by your profession, by your occupation. Then you are successful. Saṁsiddhi. It doesn't matter what you are doing. It doesn't require that you have to give up your profession as a lawyer and join us as a sannyāsī and dance. If you cannot do that... Everyone can do that, but if you think that you cannot do this, then utilize your profession for Kṛṣṇa's service. Then you become perfect.\nSo Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not a necessity for the members of this Society; it is the necessity of everyone throughout the whole world, without any discrimination. One has to take this advantage to become Kṛṣṇa conscious, to understand Kṛṣṇa in this way. Then the result will be sublime. Yo jānāti tattvataḥ. Janma karma me divyaṁ jānāti tattvataḥ [Bg. 4.9].\nJust like anyone who understands that the taste of the water is Kṛṣṇa's energy, the sunshine is Kṛṣṇa's energy, the moonshine is Kṛṣṇa's energy, the Vedic mantras, that is also to please Kṛṣṇa, and the sound vibrated in the sky, or anywhere, the sound element is Kṛṣṇa... And the energy or the name, fame, opulence of big men of this world, that is also Kṛṣṇa. In this way, if we study Kṛṣṇa, then we know Him gradually. And as soon as we understand Him, janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ: \"One who understands in truth,\" tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya [Bg. 4.9], \"immediately he becomes liberated, so much so that after quitting this body he comes to Me.\"\nSo what is the difficulty? Even in your ordinary life you can study Kṛṣṇa, you can understand Kṛṣṇa. And Kṛṣṇa will help you. As soon as you begin studying Kṛṣṇa, understanding Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa will help you from within. Kṛṣṇa is with you. Kṛṣṇa is not far away. He is so kind that He is sitting in your heart as your friend just to help you how you become liberated from this material contamination. Why you do not take this advantage?\nEvery sane man should take advantage of this instruction of Bhagavad-gītā, but rightly, as it is said. Then anywhere he may be, it doesn't matter, he is a liberated person.\nīhā yasya harer dāsye\nkarmaṇā manasā vācā\nnikhilāsv apy avasthāsu\njīvan-muktaḥ sa ucyate\n[Brs. 1.2.187]\nAnyone who is trying to become Kṛṣṇa conscious, and being Kṛṣṇa conscious he is trying to serve Kṛṣṇa sincerely... He may be situated anywhere. It does not matter he is Indian or Hindu or Mussulman or Christian or this or that. Simply if he thinks of Kṛṣṇa always in the process as described here, he becomes liberated.\nSo you can become liberated at your home. Simply you have to think of Kṛṣṇa. The gopīs were so elevat ed devotees. What was their function? The only function was that they were always thinking of Kṛṣṇa. That's all. Lord Caitanya therefore recommends, ramyā kācid upāsanā vraja-vadhū-vargeṇā yā kalpitā [Caitanya-manjusa]. These vraja-vadhūs, they are village girls.\nThey are daughters of cowherd's men, naturally they are not brāhmaṇas, daughter's of brāhmaṇas, they have, they have no Vedic understanding Vedānta philosophy. But their only business was 24 hours thinking of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Lord Caitanya recommends, ramyā kācid upāsanā vraja-vadhū-vargeṇā yā kalpitā [Caitanya-manjusa]. \"There is no more first-class type of worshipping Kṛṣṇa, than it was conceived by the vraja-vadhūs,\" or the cowherd girls, dancers in Vṛndāvana.\nSo it does not require any education or any philosophical knowledge, simply if you give oral reception to these instruction of Kṛṣṇa and wherever you may be you simply think of Kṛṣṇa in this way, \"oh, this taste is Kṛṣṇa, the sunshine is Kṛṣṇa, the moonshine is Kṛṣṇa, the vibration in the sky is Kṛṣṇa, this name and fame of this gentleman is Kṛṣṇa.\" Then where is no Kṛṣṇa consciousness? What is the difficulty?\nThere is no difficulty. Simply we have to adopt and it is very easy, sahajiyā, sahajiyā means it is born with you. Kṛṣṇa because he is within your heart therefore Kṛṣṇa is with you, from your birth and He is trying to divert your attention to Kṛṣṇa. From intern.. From inside and from outside also, so we have to take advantage of this. So there are so many symptoms and Kṛṣṇa again says;\npuṇyo gandhaḥ pṛthivyāṁ ca\ntejaś cāsmi vibhāvasau\njīvanaṁ sarva-bhūteṣu\ntapaś cāsmi tapasviṣu\n[Bg 7.9]\nOne person is undergoing severe austerities and penances for self-realisation, and what is that self? That is Kṛṣṇa. And that tapasya is also Kṛṣṇa because Kṛṣṇa and the means of attaining Kṛṣṇa is the same. It is not that you take some means and when you attain your ultimate goal you give up the means. No. In Kṛṣṇa's affairs there is nothing given up, just like we are now chanting or any devotee is chanting of Kṛṣṇa's name.\nWhen he actually becomes liberated it is not that the means, chanting means is rejected. The chanting means more and more elevated, the relish, the taste of chanting increases—but chanting goes on. Just like the devotees are worshipping Kṛṣṇa here and when he approaches directly Kṛṣṇaloka the same business will go on.\nSo Kṛṣṇa and the means of attaining Kṛṣṇa is identical, there is no difference. The chant Hare Krishna and to meet Kṛṣṇa is the same thing, simply we have to follow and then it will be revealed. You will understand that there is no difference between Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's name. There is no difference between Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's activities. Otherwise what is the use of studying this Bhagavad-gītā which is taught by Kṛṣṇa in the battlefield? So the battlefield is also Kṛṣṇa because Kṛṣṇa is there.\nIn this way wherever there is Kṛṣṇa, if one realises that Kṛṣṇa is present in this way, nirbandhe kṛṣṇa-sambandhe yukta-vairāgyam ucyate [Brs. 1.2.255]. He hasn't got to give up his family or his occupation that is yukta-vairāgya. To accept sannyāsa means vairāgya but one who is constantly in Kṛṣṇa consciousness that is perfect vairāgya, perfect sannyāsa.\nvāsudeve bhagavati\nbhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ\njanayaty āśu vairāgyaṁ\n[SB 1.2.7]\nBecause as soon as he goes on thinking of Kṛṣṇa then naturally he has no more any interest of this material affairs. Vairāgya automatically arises. But taking sannyāsa it is a—a formality regulative principles that one has to give up, his family connections, worldly connections but one who is Kṛṣṇa conscious he is automatically attained that state. Attained that stage of vairāgya.\nvāsudeve bhagavati\nbhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ\njanayaty āśu vairāgyaṁ\njñānaṁ ca yad ahaitukam\n[SB 1.2.7]\nJanayaty āśu, in order to practice vairāgya, or renounce this material world, just like Lord Buddha-deva taught us meditation for so many years. There are many instances, there is a devo to the father, to the Himalayas, to meditate in order to try to escape the contamination of this material world. But if you think of Kṛṣṇa or Vāsudeva, if you are engaged in His devotional service, vāsudeve bhagavati. Vāsudeva is bhagavān the Supreme Personality of Godhead.\nvāsudeve bhagavati\nbhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ\njanayaty āśu vairāgyaṁ\n[SB 1.2.7]\nImmediately vairāgyam which others cannot achieve after doing so much austerities in the Himalayas. You can attain that vairāgya the perfectional stage simply by thinking of Kṛṣṇa in the process as it is described. So I request to everyone is that you read Bhagavad-gītā in this way and try to understand Kṛṣṇa. It does not matter where you are, think—then according to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam you will be purified and there will be vairāgya.\nVairāgya means—unless you become detached from the attraction of this material world we have to continue repetition of birth and death in different forms. But when you are fully apart from this material sense gratification that, \"I do not want any more of this material sense gratification but I want Kṛṣṇa.\" Then you are immediately purified, immediately. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā;\nmāṁ ca yo 'vyabhicāreṇa\nbhakti-yogena ya sevate\n[Bg 14.26]\nSimply you are engaged in the service of transcendental loving service of Kṛṣṇa by thinking in this process you become liberated. So Kṛṣṇa is giving you further references how you can think of Kṛṣṇa. Just like here it is said, puṇyo gandhaḥ pṛthivyāṁ ca, just like the rose flower, rose flower it has got a special flavour and as soon as you smell that flavour you should understand this exquisite nice flavour is Kṛṣṇa, puṇyo gandhaḥ pṛthivyāṁ.. There are many other flowers, so these flavours they are Kṛṣṇa, we have to think like that.\npuṇyo gandhaḥ pṛthivyāṁ ca\ntejaś cāsmi vibhāvasau\n[Bg 7.9]\nAnything dazzling, just you.. Just like a diamond, dazzling and immediately you should remember this dazzling is Kṛṣṇa, vibhāvasau, tejaś cāsmi vibhāvasau jīvanaṁ sarva-bhūteṣu. Anything living beginning from the elephant to the ant, so long one is living he should know that there is Kṛṣṇa within him. Here Kṛṣṇa says:\nīśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ\nhṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati\n[Bg 18.61]\nSo Kṛṣṇa is within the heart of the ant, Kṛṣṇa is within the heart of an elephant, Kṛṣṇa is within the heart of a man, within a dog, within a.. Any living entity it doesn't matter but that does not mean that dog is Kṛṣṇa, then it is a mistake. Kṛṣṇa by inconceivable potencies he can live within the heart of a dog but if you miss-conclude that dog is Kṛṣṇa then you are, I mean, misled. Kṛṣṇa can live anywhere, Kṛṣṇa can create His Vaikuṇṭha anywhere, just like, take for example the Governor wherever he goes immediately there is government.\nThere is place, the Governor's place, Governor's Secretary, Governor's military commander, everyone is present there. It doesn't matter whether the Governor goes to the jungle or in a very nice city or anywhere. Similarly wherever Kṛṣṇa is, immediately Kṛṣṇa's own atmosphere Vaikuṇṭha is there. So Kṛṣṇa says that, nāhaṁ tiṣṭhāmi vaikuṇṭhe [Padma Purāṇa]. \"It is not that I am patient[?] or I am stranded in Vaikuṇṭha, I can live anywhere.\" tatra tiṣṭhāmi nārada yatra gāyanti mad-bhaktā. If there is a devotee, [clapping noise] ah, if there is a devotees and if he is chanting the Kṛṣṇa's name, Kṛṣṇa's glories, Kṛṣṇa is there.\nSo you can, by your devotional power, you can see Kṛṣṇa everywhere and Kṛṣṇa said that is all pervading nature of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa—it is not that Kṛṣṇa is sitting here only but Kṛṣṇa is everywhere, just like electricity is everywhere. Simply one has to know how to capture that electricity, similarly Kṛṣṇa said that, \"I am here, I am here, I'm here.\" You have to capture Kṛṣṇa.\njīvanaṁ sarva-bhūteṣu\ntapaś cāsmi tapasviṣu\n[Bg 7.9]\nbījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ\nviddhi pārtha sanātanam\n[Bg 7.10]\nBījam, you can understand bījam, bījam means the seed, just like take this seed of a Banyan tree, you have seen the fruits of Banyan tree. Very small seed but that seed contains another Banyan tree. If it is given chance to fructify that seed will develop into very big Banyan tree and from that Banyan tree you will have many many millions of, I mean to say, figs and in each fig there are many many millions of seeds.\nSo Kṛṣṇa's seed is like that, Kṛṣṇa is the original seed and from that seed so many things have developed, bījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ, bījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ viddhi pārtha sanātanam. And that bīja is sanātana eternal. It is not annihilated, just like we are Kṛṣṇa's part and parcel, we all living entities. And Kṛṣṇa is the original bīja we are part and parcel of the bīja, therefore Kṛṣṇa is the original bīja. Bījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ, sanātanam eternal, Kṛṣṇa is eternal we are also eternal.\nbuddhir buddhimatām asmi\ntejas tejasvinām aham\n[Bg 7.10]\nThe intelligence, you find many intelligent man, very good scientist, very good work men. Now as soon as you see extraordinary intelligence, every intelligence is Kṛṣṇa. Especially when you find somebody who is extraordinarily intelligent you should know this intelligence is Kṛṣṇa. So what is the difficulty of understanding Kṛṣṇa? Kṛṣṇa also says in the fifteenth chapter;\nsarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo\nmattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ\n[Bg 15.15]\nOne man is very intelligent and one man is very dull. So this dullness is also Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa says in another centre.. Why a man becomes dull? And why a man becomes intelligent? It is Kṛṣṇa's manipulation, He says, mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ. So Kṛṣṇa can be seen, Kṛṣṇa can be understood in this way;\nbalaṁ balavatāṁ, balaṁ balavatāṁ cāhaṁ\nkāma-rāga-vivarjitam\n[Bg 7.11]\nHe says, kāma-rāga-vivarjitam strength should be used, just like Arjuna. Arjuna was very strong, a strong fighter but that strength is Kṛṣṇa's. Why it is Kṛṣṇa? Because Kṛṣṇa.. Arjuna has no idea of sense gratification. He was in the beginning, he was trying to satisfy his senses, \"my dear Kṛṣṇa they are my brothers, there is my grandfather, I shall not fight.\" That is sense gratification but as soon as he fought under the direction of Kṛṣṇa.\nAs Kṛṣṇa said then, \"what is your now conclusion, I have said everything to you?\" And Arjuna said—agreed yes, kariṣye tad-vacanam [Bg. 18.73] \"now I shall fight, my illusion is now over.\" This is kāma-rāga-vivarjitam, there is no question of sense gratification. If you have some strength, if you don't use for your sense gratification but if you use for Kṛṣṇa's service then you can realise Kṛṣṇa, kāma-rāga-vivarjitam.\ndharmāviruddho bhūteṣu\nkāmo 'smi bharatarṣabha\n[Bg 7.11]\nDharmāviruddhaḥ, just like sex intercourse, sex intercourse is lusty but when you beget a child even you are lusty, if you beget a child according to the śāstras, dharmāviruddhaḥ. You cannot enjoy your wife for sense gratification, if you can enjoy, or you can use your wife only for begetting children. In our society these restriction is there we don't allow illicit sex life simply one can have a marital life sex and that is also for begetting children.\nNot for any other purpose, so Kṛṣṇa says here that; dharmāviruddho bhūteṣu kāmo 'smi bharatarṣabha. That kind of lusty conjunction between husband and wife, \"I am.\" Kṛṣṇa says. So it is not that Kṛṣṇa conscious people are forbidden from sex life but their sex life is for serving Kṛṣṇa. To produce Kṛṣṇa conscious children, not cats and dogs. That is Kṛṣṇa, that sexual intercourse is Kṛṣṇa, here Kṛṣṇa says.\nSo we have to follow in this way in every step of life, how we can realise Kṛṣṇa then our life becomes sublime. Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa.",
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