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vṛddhāv anāthau pitarau nānya-bandhū tapasvinau aho mayādhunā tyaktāv akṛtajñena nīcavat My father and mother were old and had no other son or friend to look after them. Because I did not take care of them, they lived with great difficulty. Alas, like an abominable lower-class man, I ungratefully left them in that condition. According to Vedic civilization, everyone has the responsibility for taking care of brāhmaṇas, old men, women, children and cows. This is the duty of everyone, especially an upper-class person. Because of his association with a prostitute, Ajāmila abandoned all his duties. Regretting this, Ajāmila now considered himself quite fallen.
sarvāḥ samuddhared rājā piteva vyasanāt prajāḥ ātmānam ātmanā dhīro yathā gaja-patir gajān Just as the chief bull elephant protects all other elephants in his herd and defends himself as well, similarly, a fearless king, just like a father, must save all of the citizens from difficulty and also protect himself. Lord Kṛṣṇa, having concluded His discussion of brahminical duties, now describes the character and activities of a king. Protecting all of the citizens from difficulty is an essential duty for the king.
ācārya gosāñira guṇa-mahimā apāra jīva-kīṭa kothāya pāibeka tāra pāra The glory and attributes of Advaita Ācārya are unlimited. How can the insignificant living entities fathom them? None
Letter to: Hansadutta 68-01-22 My Dear Hansadutta, Please accept my blessings. I acknowledge receipt of your letter dated Jan. 16, 1968, and noted the contents with pleasure. The idea of opening an asrama in the near future is certainly a wish of Krishna's. To develop our institution to its fullness, we require such an asrama without doubt. Child is the father of man, so the basic principle of any type of life is to instruct to the children from the very beginning. Krishna Consciousness. Children grow to be the topmost leaders of the human society. In the Bhagavatam it is said that the Brahmanas are the head of the social body, the Ksatriyas are the arms of the social body, the Vaisyas are the waist of the social body, and the Sudras are the legs of the social body. The legs may be placed in a lower position than the head ephemerally, but actually the legs are as important as the head for maintaining the body as it is. It is not that the legs should not be taken care of and just the head should be cared for. But it is a fact that if there is not a head it is a dead body. The modern civilization is a sort of a social body without a head, or actually it is a dead body. The body is dead since the very beginning of it's birth, and it is the spirit that keeps it moving. Therefore, spiritual enlightenment is the basic principle of civilization. The modern civilization is lacking in that respect and there are so many disadvantages on account of this deficiency. So we have to grow children to become the head of the human society and there is great need for this. I pray Krishna that you may give a starting to such an asrama in full Krishna Consciousness. In the asrama there must be a grand temple as the deity of the asrama. Another proposal is I want to form a sankirtana party in which two members will play mrdanga, eight will play the cymbals, two will play on tampura, and one harmonium, besides that there will be the leader of the party. This party will be so trained that exhibitions of our chanting and dancing along with distribution of prasadam will be performed on a stage and for this performance we will sell tickets to the public. It will be known as a spiritual movement. Suppose if we begin it from New York and there is good response from the public, then our attempt will be successful prior to our traveling all over the world. We will earn money by stage exhibitions and attract attention of the elite public and move from one station to another. A shorter type of this exhibition was held during our television show and the performance was very much appreciated. So I want to train such a party immediately. I do not know where such training will take place, but I want to do it immediately in my presence. So consult with Brahmananda and others about this proposal. Give me your return suggestions about this proposal. I quite approve your plan for manufacturing Jagannathas and do some profit out of it for maintenance of our temple. Hope you are well. Your ever well-wisher A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami P.S. I think you can save money for this Ashram as much as possible. The Ashram may be named as "ISKCON-Nagari" or New Vrindaban and a separate a/c may be opened in the Bank.
Letter to: Kurusrestha 75-07-02 Denver Dear Kurusrestha, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated July 2, 1975. Upon your recommendation, I am accepting the following twice born brahmanas; Koshalendra Das Adhikari, Jyoti Das Adhikari. Enclosed please find their threads sanctified by me. I also accept as my initiated disciples the following devotees and their spiritual names follow: Al Rhiener—Adhata, Cleef Athey—Kamari Das. Please see that they are chanting 16 rounds & following the four regulative principles. Now hold a fire sacrifice and let the brahmanas hear the Gayatri mantra tape that I have spoken in their right ear. I hope this meets you in good health. Your ever well wisher, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
ete cāṁśa-kalāḥ puṁsaḥ kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam indrāri-vyākulaṁ lokaṁ mṛḍayanti yuge yuge 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. In this particular stanza Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, is distinguished from other incarnations. He is counted amongst the avatāras (incarnations) because out of His causeless mercy the Lord descends from His transcendental abode. Avatāra means “one who descends.” All the incarnations of the Lord, including the Lord Himself, descend to the different planets of the material world as also in different species of life to fulfill particular missions. Sometimes He comes Himself, and sometimes His different plenary portions or parts of the plenary portions, or His differentiated portions directly or indirectly empowered by Him, descend to this material world to execute certain specific functions. Originally the Lord is full of all opulences, all prowess, all fame, all beauty, all knowledge and all renunciation. When they are partly manifested through the plenary portions or parts of the plenary portions, it should be noted that certain manifestations of His different powers are required for those particular functions. When in the room small electric bulbs are displayed, it does not mean that the electric powerhouse is limited by the small bulbs. The same powerhouse can supply power to operate large-scale industrial dynamos with greater volts. Similarly, the incarnations of the Lord display limited powers because so much power is needed at that particular time.
dakṣa uvāca śuddhaṁ sva-dhāmny uparatākhila-buddhy-avasthaṁ cin-mātram ekam abhayaṁ pratiṣidhya māyām tiṣṭhaṁs tayaiva puruṣatvam upetya tasyām āste bhavān apariśuddha ivātma-tantraḥ Dakṣa addressed the Supreme Personality of Godhead: My dear Lord, You are transcendental to all speculative positions. You are completely spiritual, devoid of all fear, and You are always in control of the material energy. Even though You appear in the material energy, You are situated transcendentally. You are always free from material contamination because You are completely self-sufficient. None
Prabhupāda: ye vā mayīśe kṛta-sauhṛdārthā janeṣu dehambhara-vārtikeṣu gṛheṣu jāyātmaja-rātimatsu na prīti-yuktā yāvad-arthāś ca loke [SB 5.5.3] We have described about mahat, mahat-sevāṁ, mahātmā. Mahātmā, their..., description of their quality, mahāntas te sama-cittāḥ praśāntā vimanyavaḥ suhṛdaḥ sādhavo [SB 5.5.2] So we have tried to explain the symptoms of mahātmā. Everything should be taken from the standard śāstra. Then human society will be helped. Śāstra means which is faultless. In the general behavior, we conditioned soul, we have got four defects. One defect is that however I or you may be great by the estimation of the modern society, we commit mistake, calculation mistake. That is one defect. Another mis... Another defect is that we are sometimes illusioned---we accept something in place of something else. Just like generally we accept this body as my self. But this is illusion. I am not this body; I am spirit soul. And on the basis of this false understanding we commit so many mistakes. So to commit mistake, to be illusioned, and imperfectness of senses. Our senses are not perfect. We are very much proud of seeing things. We say, "Can you show me?" But we do not consider that what is my seeing power. We are just now seeing one another because there is light. As soon as it will be darkness, we cannot see. So our seeing, this exercise is possible under certain conditions. Therefore it is to be concluded that we have got imperfect senses. Imperfect senses; committing mistake; being illusioned. If we try to give some knowledge, that is cheating. So this is going on. We are accepting leaders who has got all these defects, and still we accept somebody as leader. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānās [SB 7.5.31]. Such leadership is just like a blind man, he is leading other blind men. So then that will create disaster. Therefore our, I mean to say, verdict or decision is always defective. For example, sometime before in India there was Prohibition, and now there is encouragement of drinking. So unless we accept something standard which is correct in all circumstances, that will mislead us. Therefore our Vedānta-sūtra says that we should see through the śāstra. That is standard. So we have discussed the standard of mahat, or mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimuktes. Sādhava, the standard of sādhu. They are generally on the renounced order of life, but there are other sādhus also, they may be not in renounced order, as gṛhastha, gṛhe tiṣṭhati, with wife and children. They are also sometimes mahātmās. That their symptoms is now being described = ye vā mayīśe kṛta-sauhṛdārthā. Their life is not for material enjoyment. Their life is dedicated to make friendship with the Supreme Lord. Mayi īśe. Īśe means "unto Me, the Supreme Lord." Because this instruction is being given here by Ṛṣabhadeva. He is incarnation of God. So, just like Arjuna..., Arjuna is friend of Kṛṣṇa. For Kṛṣṇa’s sake he can do anything. That is called kṛta-sauhṛdārthā. For friendship of Kṛṣṇa he did everything which he was not willing to do. From his personal point of view, he was reluctant to fight with his cousin-brothers or to kill Bhīṣmadeva, Droṇācārya and big, big others, stalwart. There were teachers, grandfather, very exalted personalities. So Arjuna was not willing to fight with them. But on account of friendship with Kṛṣṇa, he did everything. He killed them. This is called kṛta-sauhṛdārthā. For to keep friendship with Kṛṣṇa he was prepared to do everything. They are called kṛta-sauhṛdārthā. His only business is to keep friendship with Kṛṣṇa, and for that purpose he can do anything. So it doesn’t matter whether one is a sannyāsī or a gṛhasta. The point is whether he is fully devoted to Kṛṣṇa. That is the point. Caitanya Mahāprabhu also says the same thing. When He was talking with Rāmānanda Rāya... Rāmānanda Rāya was a dakṣiṇe, South Indian gentleman, and he was Governor of Madras under the sovereignty of Mahārāja Pratāparudra, but a very exalted person, gṛhasta. He was one of the best confidential devotee of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, although he was gṛhasta and Caitanya Mahāprabhu was sannyāsī. So when discussion was going on with Rāmānanda Rāya and Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Rāmānanda Rāya was feeling little hesitation, that Caitanya Mahāprabhu coming from very exalted brāhmaṇa family, and was in the sannyāsa order, great ācārya, He was asking him question, and Rāmānanda Rāya was replying. So he felt some hesitation = "Sir, I am gṛhasta; You are sannyāsī. How I can teach You?" So Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, kibā vipra, kibā nyāsī, śūdra kene naya yei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā, sei ‘guru’ haya [Cc. Madhya 8.128] "It doesn’t matter whether one is sannyasi or whether one is brāhmaṇa or śūdra. Anyone, it doesn’t matter, if he knows the science of Kṛṣṇa, he can take the place of guru." This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s direction. Yei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā. Kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā means one who knows what is Kṛṣṇa. Such person can become guru. There are other statements like that, who can become guru. The sum and substance is that if one knows what is God fully, he can become God, er, guru. Otherwise not. Not that because one is brāhmaṇa or a sannyāsī, therefore he can become guru. No. One must know the science of Kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā. So that is not very easy thing. Kṛṣṇa says, manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye yatatām api siddhānāṁkaścin māṁ vetti tattvataḥ [Bg. 7.3] To understand kṛṣṇa-tattva is very difficult job. Kṛṣṇa says out of many millions of persons who are aspiring to become perfect, or one who has become perfect. "Perfect" means one who has understood that he is not this body but spirit soul, ahaṁ brahmāsmi. That is the standard of perfection of human life. Everyone is working on the bodily concept of life. They have been described as imperfect, or mūḍhā. So perfection of life. And then out of the perfect, one who has attained perfection, maybe one may understand what is Kṛṣṇa = yatatām api siddhānāṁ. So kṛṣṇa-tattva, the truth about Kṛṣṇa, is not so easy to understand. But fortunately, if we take advantage of Kṛṣṇa’s mercy... Kṛṣṇa is merciful. He has come down from Goloka Vṛndāvana, Vaikuṇṭha, spiritual world. yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham [Bg. 4.7] He comes. He loves us. Why not? We are His sons; why He will not love us? He is supplying all necessities, and He wants to see that we are properly trained up in religious principles. paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya sambhavāmi yuge yuge [Bg. 4.8] Kṛṣṇa comes once in a day of Brahmā, after so many thousands of years. That is the scheduled time. So Kṛṣṇa is anxious to take us back to home, back to Godhead. That is His business; therefore He comes. Kṛṣṇa does not want to see us we are struggling for existence in this material world. This is unnecessary. manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati [Bg. 15.7] We are struggling for existence, working so hard. Kṛṣṇa does not want this. Kṛṣṇa says, "Why you are working so hard, unnecessarily? You come back to Me, you live with Me, you enjoy My property and be happy." That Kṛṣṇa wants, and therefore He comes. But we are determined to work here like hogs and dogs and do not wish to go back to home, back to Godhead. This is our... So if any person has understood the science of Kṛṣṇa and wants to keep friendship with Him, relationship with Him, friendly way... You can keep your relationship with Kṛṣṇa in so many ways. You can keep your friendship with Kṛṣṇa; you can love Kṛṣṇa as your master or as your son or as your lover. Kṛṣṇa is ready. There are twelve kinds of rasas, mellows, to establish relationship with Kṛṣṇa out of faith. Five rasas are principal, mukhara = śānta, dāsya, sakhya, vātsalya, mādhurya. And seven rasas are indirect. So one of the rasas indirect are to fight with Kṛṣṇa. Just like the demons = Kṛṣṇa makes His servitors sometimes demons to enjoy fighting. Therefore He sends His... Just like Hiraṇyakaśipu. He was, Hiraṇyakaśipu, two doormen in Vaikuṇṭha, and Kṛṣṇa desired to fight. Therefore they were sent to this material world to become staunch enemy of Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa has got all the rasas, but the indirect rasas cannot be enjoyed in the spiritual world. Therefore sometimes He is..., comes down and creates some of His devotee as demon, and fighting is going on. That is also enjoyment for Kṛṣṇa. So these things are to be understood very scientifically. That is called kṛṣṇa tattva-vit. Why Kṛṣṇa comes? Janma karma ca me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ [Bg. 4.9] The fighting of Kṛṣṇa is also divine. If anyone understands why Kṛṣṇa comes and fights, yo jānāti tattvataḥ tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya, he also becomes liberated soul. So when one becomes kṛṣṇa tattva-vit, fully aware of the science of Kṛṣṇa, then any circumstances, it doesn’t matter whether he is a sannyāsī or gṛhastha or śūdra or brāhmaṇa, they are situated on the transcendental platform. So such persons described here, because the recommendation is mahat-sevā. So it does not mean mahat is only to be found in..., among the sannyāsīs, or higher circle, brāhmaṇas. No. Mahat can be found in other circle also, but what is the qualification? The qualification is, ye vā mayīśe kṛta-sauhṛdārthā. His only business is to keep friendly relationship with Kṛṣṇa. That is the first qualification. The first-class example is Arjuna. He was a military man, a politician, and gṛhastha, kṣatriya---not brāhmaṇa, not sannyāsī---but still Kṛṣṇa accepts him = sakhā ceti, "For you are My dear friend." Bhakto 'si sakhā ceti: "You are not only My devotee, you are My best friend," Kṛṣṇa says. Although he is gṛhastha, a military man, and as kṣatriya, still Kṛṣṇa accepts him that "I shall speak to you the mystery of Bhagavad-gītā, because you are My dear friend and bhakta." Bhakto 'si sakhā ceti rahasyaṁ hy etad uttamam [Bg. 4.3]. Kṛṣṇa also wants somebody friendly. It doesn't matter whether he is a sannyāsī or gṛhastha. So any gṛhastha whose only aim is how to keep friendship with Kṛṣṇa, he is also mahat, mahātmā. He also mahat. Because the recommendation, mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimuktes [SB 5.5.2] = one has to take shelter of a mahātmā and serve him with surrender, then his path of liberation will be open. So, if somebody says... I think the other day somebody was questioning that "If I cannot contact sannyāsī because I am gṛhastha, I am family man, so how my path of liberation will be open?" Yes, that is possible, provided you find amongst your society a person like this, ye va mayīśe kṛta-sauhṛdārthā. If you can find out amongst your associate a person who is only dedicated to Kṛṣṇa, you can associate with him. Then your path of liberation will be open. So that symptoms are described here, janeṣu... ye vā mayīśe kṛta-sauhṛdārthā janeṣu dehambhara-vārtikeṣu gṛheṣu jāyātmaja-rātimatsu na prīti-yuktā... [SB 5.5.3] Janeṣu dehambhara-vārtikeṣu. Generally people, they're interested how to maintain this body, because they are in bodily concept of life. Just like we pass through the streets, there are so many shopkeepers, and they're all decorating their shop to supply the needs of the body. Cloth shop, tailor shop, wine shop, this shop, that shop---but what are these shops? Dehambhara-vārtikeṣu, they are simply interested in maintaining this body, that's all. This is only business in the big, big cities = you'll find that business is going on, how to maintain this body. There is advertisement, "As you look just like a human being, not some...," something advertisement, that's all. So that is going on. We..., our business at the present moment in conditioned life, nidrayā hriyate naktam. At night we sleep, and vyavāyena ca vā vayaḥ. Vyavāyena means sex. At night our business is to sleep and to indulge in sex. In this way we are wasting time, night. And daytime, divā cārthehayā rājan kuṭumba-bharaṇena vā [SB 2.1.3]. And at the daytime, we are very busy going this side, that side. Why? To get some money, divā ca artha ihayā. Desiring, "Where I shall get money? Where I shall get money?" Divā cārthehayā, and as soon as I get money, I spend it, kuṭumba-bharaṇena vā, to maintain our family. So where is time for Kṛṣṇa consciousness? There is no time, sir. So one should not be interested in that way. Therefore it is said that dehambhara-vārtikeṣu, those who are busy only for maintenance of this body, to such person, he is not interested, na prīti-yuktā. This is the sign. He..., he may be a gṛhastha, it does not matter, but he is interested with Kṛṣṇa's business, not dehambhara-vārtikeṣu. Those who are interested with this body only, with them he has no interest. This is the sign. That is also mahātmā. Ye vā mayīśe kṛta-sauhṛdārthā. His only business is how to keep friendship with Kṛṣṇa. That is his only business. Then he is mahātmā. And so far janeṣu, people in general, who are simply interested how to maintain this body, janeṣu dehambhara-vārtikeṣu... And then what about his family? Yes, gṛheṣu, at home. Jāyā, jāyā means wife. Jāyā ātma-ja, ātma-ja means children. Gṛheṣu jāyātmaja-rātimatsu, and business about earning money, na prīti-yuktā, he's not interested. Although he is at home, he is not interested at home. Therefore generally devotees, they become very reluctant in the interest of maintaining family, children, wife. Simply as far as possible, duty. So much interested, not any more. These are the signs. If you want to find out a gṛhastha mahātmā, then he has got his family, he has got his children, he has got his wife, he has got his business, he has got to meet so many other people---but they are..., he's not at all interested. Simply behavior, official = "Yes, yes, it is all right. Yes, it is all right. What you say it is all right, but I am not interested." This is called disinterested. People are generally very much interested in these things. So if you want to find out a mahātmā within the society, not as a renounced sannyāsī, then these are the symptoms. There are other symptoms. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma [SB 5.5.4], that we shall describe later on. These are the general symptoms of a mahātmā gṛhastha. He is not interested in this bodily concept of life, or maintaining very opulently his family members, or talking very seriously with persons who are simply materially interested, dehambhara, just to maintain this body. Of course, we require to maintain this body. He is not neglectful. There is no question of negligence. He takes care of his children, of his wife, everything---but without any attachment. That is recommended by the Gosvāmīs, that anāsaktasya viṣayān yathārham upayuñjataḥ. You give education to your children; that is required. You maintain your wife, that is also required---no negligence, but no attachment at the same time. No attachment, that I shall sacrifice everything for my wife and children and home. That is not a mahātmā's business, because he knows that he cannot improve the destiny. Everybody has got his body with certain destiny already settled up. That you cannot change. Otherwise, everyone is trying to become very rich, very important. There is no scarcity of endeavor. But not that everyone is becoming like that. That is called destiny. So those who are believer in the śāstras, believer in the Supreme Lord, they believe in destiny also. Therefore śāstra says, tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ [SB 1.5.18]. We should try for advancing our Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is our main business. Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido. Kovidaḥ means very expert. He should try for advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, not for material advancement. This is civilization. That is, we have already discussed, nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye [SB 5.5.1]. If you think that "If I work very hard, then I shall improve my position," that is not possible. Your position is already fixed up. "Then shall I not try for my happiness?" Yes. That is replied in the śāstra = tal labhyate duḥkhavad anyataḥ sukham. You do not try for distress of life. Why does it come? You do not ask God, "Please give me distress." Nobody asks, but why distress comes? Similarly, if you do not pray for happiness, if you have got happiness in your destiny, it will come, as the distress comes. Tal labhyate duḥkhavad anyataḥ sukham. So don't be misled by so-called happiness and distress. It is already fixed up. Simply try for advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is real business. Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido [SB 1.5.18]. That business can be done very perfectly well when, mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimuktes, when we associate with mahātmā. It doesn't matter whether he's a sannyāsī or gṛhastha, he must be mahātmā. Mahātmā means one who has got relationship with Kṛṣṇa. That is described in the Bhagavad..., mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ, bhajanty ananya-manaso [Bg. 9.13]. That is mahātmā. You cannot stamp anybody and become a mahātmā. No. Mahātmā's sign is, mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ, bhajanty ananya-manaso. He has no other business. Simply he has only one business = how to please Kṛṣṇa. That is mahātmā. Ānukūlyena kṛ..., just like Arjuna did. Arjuna did not like to fight. He completely denied. He set aside his arrows and bows, became very morose, and then he asked Kṛṣṇa, "I am now puzzled. You can give me instruction, what is my duty, because kārpaṇya doṣa upahata svabhāvaḥ. Actually my..., it is duty, my duty, that, uh, I am kṣatriya, and there is fight, battlefield, I should take advantage of it, but still, kārpaṇya doṣa upahata svabhāvaḥ. I am going against my nature, so I do not know what to do. Please instruct." Śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam [Bg. 2.7]. So actually, Arjuna was not willing to fight, because he is a Vaiṣṇava. He does not want to kill, even if he is..., even if he was put into so many difficulties. That was his attitude. So his decision was that he would not fight, but for the sake of Kṛṣṇa, when he understood that Kṛṣṇa wants this fight... Kṛṣṇa said finally, nimitta-mātraṁ bhava savya-sācin [Bg. 11.33] = "Don't think that these people who have come here will go back home. They will be killed here. That is My plan. You simply become an instrument, so that you may take the credit. I shall be happy. But they are already finished. This is My plan." So when he understood that "Kṛṣṇa wants me to fight," took the credit of becoming victorious. So he doesn't care for credit, but he understood that "This is my duty, to please Kṛṣṇa." Then when Kṛṣṇa asked him, "What is your decision?" He said, "Yes, kariṣye vacanaṁ tava [Bg. 18.73], I shall fight," and he fought. This is called kṛta-sauhṛdārthā. For Kṛṣṇa's sake they can do anything. There are many other devotees also, just they..., the gopīs, for Kṛṣṇa's sake they sacrificed everything = their reputation, their family, their husband, their father, their brother. "No, Kṛṣṇa is now playing on His flute. He wants to dance with us. Let us go there." Father is asking, "Where are you going?" Brother is, "Where are you going?" "Oh, you are going to Kṛṣṇa." So this is called Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Ye vā mayīśe kṛta-sauhṛdārthā [SB 5.5.3]. One is not interested in anything else; he is only interested in Kṛṣṇa. Ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-śīlanam [Cc. Madhya 19.167], to serve Kṛṣṇa as He desires. So as He desires... If we have no relationship with Kṛṣṇa, no connection with Kṛṣṇa, how we can understand as He desires? Yes, that we will have. Kṛṣṇa is within you, īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati [Bg. 18.61]. As soon as you become sincere, if you are qualified to serve Kṛṣṇa, then Kṛṣṇa will dictate from within, "Do like this." Buddhi-yogaṁ dadāmi taṁ yena mām upayānti te [Bg. 10.10]. To whom? Teṣāṁ nityābhiyuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam. One who is engaged in loving service of Kṛṣṇa... And Kṛṣṇa is very expert. He can understand how you want to serve Him = with a motive or without motive. When He understands, then He personally gives you dictation, "You do like this, you do like that." So that is Kṛṣṇa's friendship. Kṛṣṇa is always available. Kṛṣṇa can be seen twenty-four hours, provided you elevate to the position how to talk with Kṛṣṇa, how to see Kṛṣṇa, how to act for Kṛṣṇa. It is not very difficult. So the symptom is described, how even a gṛhastha can become fully Kṛṣṇa conscious. The negative side is described that he's not interested with this worldly, so-called advancement of social position or advancement of economic problem. So many things they have created. These are described here. Gṛheṣu jāyātmaja-rātimatsu. Ātmaja-rātimatsu na prīti-yuktā yāvad-arthāś ca loke. Neither neglectful as far as possible, yāvat-arthāḥ, not too much overwhelmed, because after all, this is temporary. Our so-called society, friendship, love in this material world, they are all, they are called illusory, phenomenal. Therefore Śaṅkarācārya said, jagan mithyā. He says little bluntly, but actually it has no meaning, because this social condition of life is existent so long this body is there. As soon as I change my body, even in this country... We are very much fond of our country, janani janma-bhūmiś ca svargād api gariyasi, but the country is so ungrateful. Suppose... There are many vivid examples. Mahatma Gandhi, he worked so much for his country. The result was that he was killed by his countrymen. So, just see the example. So in this material life, you will never be able to make anyone happy by your activities. That is not possible. Neither you will be happy. Kāmādīnāṁ kati na katidhā pālitā durnideśās teṣāṁ mayi na karuṇā jātā na trapā nopaśāntiḥ. That is the intelligent, that I have served the so-called society, friendship and love just to serve my own lusty desires, that's all. Kāmādīnāṁ kati na katidhā pālitā durnideśās. Everyone is serving the so-called societies, and for his own satisfaction, sense gratification. Nobody wants to serve anyone. He wants to serve himself. That is the position, real position. So in this way, if we spoil, spoil our life... We are serving, but serving our senses, lusty desires. We have to change this mood of service to serve Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We have to serve. We cannot become master. That is not possible. As soon as you become master, you will be kicked. But that is also false position. We cannot become master; we are servant. But instead of serving Kṛṣṇa, we are serving māyā. That is our position. So we have to change this position. We, instead of serving māyā, we have to transfer our service to Kṛṣṇa. That is perfection of life. Thank you very much. Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. [break] Prabhupāda: That is explained in Bhagavad-gītā, bhakto 'si priyo 'si [Bg. 4.3] = "You are My dear friend, and friend, at the same time devotee." So rahasyam etad uttamam. Bhagavad-gītā is a mystery, rahasyam, and uttamam, transcendental. So without becoming a devotee of Kṛṣṇa, nobody can understand Bhagavad-gītā. The karmī, jñānī, yogī, they cannot understand Bhagavad-gītā. Otherwise, Kṛṣṇa would have instructed Bhagavad-gītā to many karmīs, jñānīs, yogīs. They were present. But He knows it well, these karmīs, jñānīs, yogīs, they cannot understand Bhagavad-gītā. Therefore He said to His devotee and friend, bhakto 'si, priyo 'si. So in order to understand Bhagavad-gītā, one has to come to this position to become a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. It is a business between Bhagavān and bhakta. Just like, if you go to the marketplace, if some merchant is talking with some broker or somebody about business, he is talking about that business, that is concluded. Similarly, Bhagavad-gītā is spoken by Bhagavān, and it is heard by the bhakta. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā there is no other business than bhakti. There is no other business. Karma, jñāna, yoga, they are described, but with the aim to culminate in bhakti. Just like karma. Kṛṣṇa said, yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi yat tapasyasi kuruṣva tat mad-arpaṇam [Bg. 9.27] = "Give it to Me." This is bhakti. So far jñānīs are concerned, Kṛṣṇa concludes, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate [Bg. 7.19]. Jñānīs, after many, many births' cultivation of knowledge, when he actually begins to become a bhakta, then his perfection is there. bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ [Bg. 7.19] This is for the jñānīs. And for the karmīs, yat karoṣi. Yat karoṣi: "Whatever you do, the result you give it to Me." That means bhakti miśra karma, jñāna miśra bhakti. And for the yogīs, He says, yoginām api sarveṣāṁ mad-gatenāntarātmanā śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṁ sa me yuktatamo mataḥ [Bg. 6.47] "The first-class yogī is who is always thinking of Me. He is first-class yogī." Yogī's business is to see God within the heart. That is real yogī. Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yogino [SB 12.13.1]. Yogī's business is to see in meditation always Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu within the heart. That is real yogī. Dhyānāvasthita, by meditation, one has to see continually. That is called samādhi. yoginām api sarveṣāṁ mad-gatenāntarātmanā śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṁ sa me yuktatamo mataḥ [Bg. 6.47] He is first-class yogī. So everything is there, ending in bhakti. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā, the only talk is about bhakti, in a different way, either through karma-yoga, or jñāna-yoga, or haṭha-yoga. The point is how to become a devotee, and at the end He concludes, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja [Bg. 18.66]. This is the conclusion of... So these things cannot be understood by anyone who is not a devotee. Without being devotee, you cannot understand. Therefore there are so many, the politicians, the scholars, they are commenting Bhagavad-gītā in so many ways, but they are misled. Because they are not devotee of Kṛṣṇa, they cannot poke their nose in the Bhagavad-gītā. It is not possible. So Arjuna was bhakta, therefore Bhagavad-gītā was spoken to him. Not to a yogī, not to a karmī, not to a jñānī. This is the answer. Acyutānanda: [reading question put by audience] "Śrī Kṛṣṇa says in the end of the Gītā, sarva-dharmān parityajya [Bg. 18.66], but in another place in the Gītā, twice it is mentioned, śreyān sva-dharmo, para-dharmo bhayāvahaḥ: one should perform his own duty rather than another's duty." Prabhupāda: Yes. Acyutānanda: "How can we..." Prabhupāda: I may say many things to you, but when I say something directly, "Do it," your first duty is to do that. You cannot argue, "Sir, you said me like this before." No, that is not your duty. What I say now, you do it. That is obedience. You cannot argue. Of course, Kṛṣṇa never said anything contradictory, but if when one thinks foolishly that Kṛṣṇa said something contradictory, no, that is not to be. You could not understand. So "Even though you could not understand, you take My direct orders now, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām e... [Bg. 18.66]. That is your business." The master says like that, and the servant's business is to accept it as it is, without any argument. That's all right. Acyutānanda: "Are not all the poor, the miserable and the weak God? Why not worship the living God first?" Prabhupāda: Who is living God? Who is living God? That he has not mentioned? Acyutānanda: The poor. Prabhupāda: Poor is God? Then why rich is not God? If you have so broad vision that you see God everywhere, so why you make distinction between poor God and rich God? Why you make distinction? If poor is God, the rich is also God. Paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ [Bg. 5.18]. If you have got so broader vision, then why you distinguish between poor and rich? A paṇḍita, a learned scholar, vidyā-vinaya sampanne brāhmaṇe gavi hastini śuni caiva śva-pāke ca paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ [Bg. 5.18] Sama-darśī means he has no distinction. Why you should make distinction between poor and rich? That is sama-darśī. As soon as you make distinction, then your vision is imperfect. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu [Bg. 18.54]. Samata. Not that I distinguish between this particular class to another particular. That is not brahma-darśana, neither it is sama-darśana. Acyutānanda: "You said that Lord Kṛṣṇa has many opulences, but in Chapter Thirteen, verse fifteen, He says that He is nirguṇa. How to reconcile this statement?" Prabhupāda: What did..., does He mean by nirguṇa? That let him explain first of all. What is nirguṇa? What does he mean by nirguṇa? Nirguṇaṁ guṇa-bhoktṛ ca [Bg. 13.15]. He is... Kṛṣṇa is described, nirguṇaṁ guṇa-bhoktṛ ca. He is nirguṇa, at the same time enjoyer of guṇas. What is that enjoyer of guṇa and nirguṇa? Can you explain? Nirguṇa means one who does not live under the condition of material guṇas---sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. Transcendental. That is called nirguṇa. But nirguṇa does not mean that He has no transcendental qualities. Just like Kṛṣṇa is bhakta-vatsala. That is His guṇa, but that is not material guṇa. That is spiritual guṇa. Kṛṣṇa is nirguṇa means He is not controlled by the material qualities, but He has got innumerable spiritual qualities. That is called guṇavati. So unless we understand the distinction between matter and spirit, we cannot understand what is the meaning of nirguṇa. That is not possible. Acyutānanda: "In India, there are many svāmīs who claim themselves to be Kṛṣṇa. How to detect them?" Prabhupāda: Hmm? Many svāmīs...? Devotee: Claim to be Kṛṣṇa. How to detect them? Prabhupāda: Let them prove that he is Kṛṣṇa. If you are foolish, then they will accept. If you are intelligent, then you'll ask him, "First of all lift the Govardhana Hill, then you become Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise you are rascal, I kick you on your face." [laughter] This is our version. We do not accept these rascals as Kṛṣṇa. We want to test, first of all, that you are Kṛṣṇa. Why should we accept a rascal as Kṛṣṇa unless he proves himself that he is Kṛṣṇa? Kṛṣṇa lifted Govardhana Hill when He was seven years old. What he has done that we shall accept him Kṛṣṇa? Don't be foolish. First of all let him prove that he's Kṛṣṇa. Test him. Then accept. Acyutānanda: "Why, at the time of death, the name of God does not come to the tongue?" Prabhupāda: Because you are not practiced. You practice to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, at the time of death it will come. Abhyāsa-yoga-yuktena cetasā nānya-gāminā [Bg. 8.8]. That is advised. You practice it and you'll remember. Sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ. If you practice twenty-four hours "Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa," then at the time you'll chant "Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa." Otherwise, there is no possibility. Sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajaty ante kalevaram [Bg. 8.6]. So we have to practice. That is natural. If you always think of something, at the time of death you will think like that. So if you think of Kṛṣṇa, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ nama... Therefore Kṛṣṇa adv..., mām evaiṣyasi asaṁśayaḥ [Bg. 18.68]. You simply adopt these four principles = "Always think of Me, you become My devotee, and offer obeisances unto Me," man-manā bhava mad..., mad-yājī, "worship Me." You do these four things, then mām evaiṣyasi asaṁśayaḥ, "Without any doubt you are coming to Me." So why don't you do this, four things, very easy things? Is it very difficult to constantly remember Kṛṣṇa? You can do it. You are remembering something. A mind is occupied always with something. Just practice to occupy the mind with Kṛṣṇa, that's all. Where is the difficulty? Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namas... Everything is there. You practice it. Don't [indistinct]. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor [SB 9.4.18]. Mahārāja Ambarīṣa, he was a great emperor of this world, but his mind was fixed up on the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padaravindayor vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane. When you talk, you will talk about Kṛṣṇa only. You practice. You always see, you see Kṛṣṇa's picture, Kṛṣṇa's Deity. You hear Kṛṣṇa's topics, Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In, in this way engage all your senses = your seeing power, your hearing power, your talking power, your eating power, your sleeping power. Everything, if you make Kṛṣṇa conscious, then generally or automatically, you'll remember at the time of death Kṛṣṇa. And as soon as you remember Kṛṣṇa, ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ [SB 2.1.6], then your life is perfect. There is no difficulty. Simply you have to practice. Abhyāsa-yoga-yuktena cetasā nānya-gāminā [Bg. 8.8]. Don't allow your mind to go astray, then everything is all right. Hmm. Acyutānanda: "When you said that everyone is destined to a particular goal, then where is the question of preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness?" Prabhupāda: Therefore I said, tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta ko... You should try only for Kṛṣṇa consciousness; other things are destined. That is my... You did not hear properly, that you should not try for anything else, because that is already destined. If you want success, then simply try for Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is wanted. Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ [SB 1.5.18]. We did not try in our other life. Other than human life, we did not try it. We simply tried for eating, sleeping, mating and defending. Animal life. If you do the same thing again, and do not take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then you are losing your time. Therefore it is advised, you should try only for Kṛṣṇa consciousness, not for other things. They are already destined. This is the instruction. Acyutānanda: "What would be the result if all the people became devotees of Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu?" Prabhupāda: Very good result. He is lamenting, that he doesn't want this good result that everyone will become Kṛṣṇa consciousness? Eh? There is a story in this connection that there was a haṭṭa, a fair or market. So many people came there, and one old lady began to cry, "Where shall I give them place? So many people have come here." She began to cry. Then her son said, "My mother, see in the evening. You don't worry about giving them place." So in the evening she saw everyone has gone. Similarly, in due course of nature's activities, prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ [Bg. 3.27], everything will go nicely. You haven't got to be worried. You better be worried how to develop your Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Other things will go on. And what is the harm there? If all people become Kṛṣṇa conscious and go back to home, back to Godhead, what is the harm there? Do you mean to say, to remain here in this material existence and suffer three-fold miseries, is that very good business? That will not happen. Don't be worried. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not so cheap. Only a few fortunate people will take it. Others will remain. Don't worry. [laughter] Acyutānanda: "How is that there are different types of religions in the world?" Prabhupāda: There is no religion. This is manufactured religion. Real religion is to surrender to Kṛṣṇa, sarva-dharmān parityajya [Bg. 18.66]. Therefore it is advised that you give up all these so-called religions, sarva-dharmān. You become surrendered to Kṛṣṇa. That is real religion. All others, cheating religion, that's all. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam [SB 6.3.19]. Just like there may be so many laws, but the real law is what is given by the government. Similarly, there may be so many so-called religious system, but the real religious system is what is spoken by God Himself. That is real. Acyutānanda: "Do you think Kṛṣṇa consciousness will last forever? Some people accuse that you are hippies." Prabhupāda: Some people says, "You are hippie"? So you take that. What can be done? These are all nonsense questions. [chuckles] Any other question? Acyutānanda: "Even after repeated chanting of kṛṣṇa-nāma, I could not get solace due to family worries. May I leave the family to their fate and devote myself to become a devotee of Kṛṣṇa?" Prabhupāda: What is that? Devotee: He wants to know if he should leave his family and become a devotee, because... Prabhupāda: No, we never said that. Just now we explained, ye vā mayīśe kṛta-sauhṛdārthā: you keep your intimate relationship with Kṛṣṇa, it doesn't matter whether you are in family or without family. It doesn't matter. Just like I have given already example. Arjuna, he is a family man, he is not a sannyāsī. Not only family man, a military man and politician. But he was prepared to sacrifice everything for Kṛṣṇa. That is wanted. If you do not become a family man, so what is the gain there? Or if you remain a sannyāsī, if you have no Kṛṣṇa consciousness, just like you said, "So many svāmīs, they want to become Kṛṣṇa instead of becoming devotee of Kṛṣṇa." So this kind of sannyāsī is also useless. Similarly, gṛhastha, if he's simply attached to family, that is also useless. Any condition of life, if you remain fixed-up with Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is your perfection of life. Yei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā, sei 'guru' haya [Cc. Madhya 8.128]. Anyone who is fully Kṛṣṇa conscious and fixed-up in devotional service, knowing fully well what is Kṛṣṇa, he is guru. It doesn't matter whether he is a sannyāsī or gṛhastha or brāhmaṇa and śūdra. It doesn't matter. Is that all right? Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda. [end]
āmāra saṅge rahite cāha, — vāñcha nija-sukha tomāra dui dharma yāya, — āmāra haya ‘duḥkha’ “Your wanting to go with Me is simply a desire for sense gratification. In this way, you are breaking two religious principles, and because of this I am very unhappy. None
Letter to: Jayatirtha 74-03-31 My Dear Jaya tirtha, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated March 20, 1974. I have noted the contents and duly received receipts for money deposited in the Union Bank. I understand three checks totalling $1,278.21 are sent for collection to various countries and you will notify me when these are credited to my account at the Union Bank. In your letter you made no reference to my letter of March 15 to you, and I am therefore enclosing a copy of same. Please let me hear from you on this. I want arrangement that the money from my interest of the Certified Deposit arrive at the Punjab National Bank three days after remittance by the bank in the U.S. If the Union Bank cannot arrange this I want you to inquire to see if the Security Pacific Bank is able to do it, as stated in my letter of March 15. In reference to your proposal that you switch banks in order to get higher rates that should be investigated very carefully that the bank is very reliable. Hope this finds you in good health. Your ever well-wisher, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
ādau mālā advaitere svarūpa parāila pāche govinda dvitīya mālā āni’ tāṅre dila At the beginning, Svarūpa Dāmodara came forward and garlanded Advaita Ācārya. Govinda next came and offered a second garland to Advaita Ācārya. None
Letter to: Krsna dasa 69-03-15 Hamburg My Dear Krishna das, Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter of March 2, 1969, along with the German handbill, which appears to be very nicely presented. I could not read anything save and except the known lines of Hare Krishna, and A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. So the press work is started and I am sure as soon as Jaya Govinda arrives in Germany the press work will go on in full swing. Jaya Govinda is very much anxious for the press work at your end because he writes like this: "I think of the printing press lying idle (as far as I know) in Germany, and as printing and the graphic arts field is what I have the greatest amount of experience and training in, that seems to be the place for me to go." This means he is very anxious to come to Germany and I am glad to learn from your letter also that you are trying to get him in Germany by the end of this week. This means perhaps you have already arranged for his come back to Germany. If not, please do it immediately because it will be a great help to our German center, and I am sure you will be able to start BTG in our press there in the German language immediately on his arrival. Regarding other points, that there are many people living in German villages and when you distribute BTG in German, if you go from village to village then at that time you will make my mission successful. You are very sincere worker and I am sure Krishna will give you the required strength for this preaching work. I am sorry to learn that you are also attacked with the flu fever as most of the boys in this country are also attacked this past winter. So this attack of Maya's agent is not very uncommon. When Krishna Himself was present He was being attacked by Maya's agent almost everyday during His childhood. When He was just born, within three months, he was attacked by Putana. When He was a little grown then He was attacked by Sakatasura, then by Trnavarta, then Agha, Makasu, then Kaliya, then Godavarsu, and so on. So the Maya's agents does not let go even Krishna, then what to speak of Krishna's devotees. They will act in their own way, but as Krishna miraculously saved Himself from the hands of all these demons, similarly, He will always save His devotees. He has declared in the Gita, "My Dear Son of Kunti, just declare it to the whole world that my devotees will never be vanquished." Therefore your only business is how to become pure devotee of Lord Krishna. Then everything is all right. Please remember this truth always, and do your duty for strongly pushing on this Krishna Consciousness movement in Germany, in cooperation with Sivananda, Uttama Sloka, and Jaya Govinda, who I think might have already joined you. So far my going there, it is not very important thing—I may go or not go, my beloved spiritual sons are there, and they are acting very nicely. That is my great satisfaction. I am glad to learn that the local Indian community is also cooperating with you. Actually my ambition is to form a strong Sankirtana party and travel all over Europe, and then in Africa, Asia, India, and Japan, etc. This is my thought. Please try to give it effect. I am glad to learn that the temple is looking very nice. And as soon as you get at least $100 extra, I shall ask you immediately to get some temple goods from India; when you are ready with the money, I shall let you know farther on this matter. I have received from London pictures, and it appears things are going there also very nice. No letter from you is useless for me—they are all important. And you can write as long a letter as you can. I shall read them carefully with attention in spite of my various duties always. Regarding the tape lecture which you requested, I have got the copy in L.A. most probably, so I shall have to send it to you when I get back to the mainland. All the devotees are very much thankful here for your good wishes, and they also are hoping all is going well there for you, and are feeling your separation as well. I hope you are all feeling happy and well in Krishna Consciousness. Your ever well wisher, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Nitāi: Translation = "In this life, any person, to the proportionate degree of the varieties of work, either religious or irreligious, as they are performed in the next life also, the same person to the same degree, the same variety, the resultant action of his karma must enjoy or suffer." Prabhupāda: yena yāvān yathādharmo dharmo veha samīhitaḥ sa eva tat-phalaṁ bhuṅkte tathā tāvad amutra vai [SB 6.1.45] So in the previous verse we have discussed, dehavān na hy akarma-kṛt [SB 6.1.44]. Anyone who has got this material body, he has to work. Everyone has to work. In the spiritual body also you have to work. In the material body also you have to work. Because the working principle is the soul---soul is living force---so he is busy. Living body means there is movement, there is work. He cannot sit idly. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, "Not even for a moment one can be idle." That is the symptom of living being. So this working is going on according to the particular body. The dog is also running, and a man is also running. But a man thinks he is very much civilized because he is running on motorcar. Both of them are running, but a man has got a particular type of body by which he can prepare a vehicle or cycle, and he can run on. He is thinking that "I am running in greater speed than the dog; therefore I am civilized." This is the modern mentality. He does not know that what is the difference between running on fifty miles speed or five miles speed or five thousand miles speed or five millions miles of speed. The space is unlimited. Whatever speed you discover, it is still insufficient. Still insufficient. So this is not life, that "Because I can run in more speed than the dog, therefore I am civilized." panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara-sampragamyo vāyor athāpi manaso muni-puṅgavānāṁ so 'py asti yat-prapada-sīmny avicintya-tattve govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi [Bs. 5.34] Our speed... What for speed? Because we want to go to certain destination, that is his speed. So the real destination is Govinda, Viṣṇu. And na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇu [SB 7.5.31]. They are running in different speed, but they do not know what is the destination. Our one big poet in our country, Rabindranath Tagore, he wrote an article---I read it---when he was in London. So in your country, Western countries, the motorcars and the..., they run in high speed. So Rabindranath Tagore, he was poet. He was thinking that "These Englishmen's country is so small, and they are running on so great speed, they will fall in the ocean." He remarked like that. Why they are running so fast? So similarly, we are running so fast for going to hell. This is our position. Because we do not know what is the destination. If I do not know what is the destination and try to drive my car in full speed, then what will be the result? The result will be disaster. We must know why we are running. Running means just like the river is running in great tide, flowing, but the destination is the sea. When the river comes to the sea, then its destination gone. So similarly, we must know what is the destination. The destination is Viṣṇu, God. We are part and parcel of God. We are... Somehow or other, we are fallen in this material world. Therefore our destination of life will be to go back to home, back to Godhead. That is our destination. There is no other destination. So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is teaching that "You fix up your goal of life." And what is that goal of life? "Back to home, back to Godhead. You are going this side, opposite side, toward the side of hell. That is not your destination. You go this side, back to Godhead." That is our propaganda. So we have not manufactured this; this is the standard. Just like Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇam [Bg. 18.66]. Why you are unnecessarily running just like dog? That street dog, we have seen just now on the beach, he has no master. So sometimes he is running this way, sometimes this running way, and he saw us. He knows---after all, he is a living being---that "There are some Vaiṣṇavas. So let me go with them if they will give us shelter." That is the purpose. He was coming. You were making "Hut!" [laughter] But he wanted some master, because a dog without master, his position is very precarious. Without master... So we are all servant. Every one of us, we are all servants of māyā. Māyā means we are servant of our desires. We are servant of our different desires. Somebody is thinking, "I shall be happy in this way"; somebody is thinking, "I shall be happy in this way." In this way we have got different desires, and we are servant of the desires. So servant of desire means just like the street dog. He is also desiring = "If these gentleman will accept me as his dog?" But he is going there, and he is driven away = "Hut! Hut!" He is going to some house, moving his tail, "My dear sir, will you give me some food?" "No, no. Go away." We are also going also = "My dear sir, will you give me some service?" "No vacancy. Get out." This is our position. Hana māyāra dāsa kori nāna abhilāṣa. Because we are constitutionally servant of God, but we have given up that service; we have now become the servant of māyā. Therefore our life is frustrated, because you do not know "What is my actual position." Caitanya Mahāprabhu teaches, jīvera svarūpa haya nitya kṛṣṇa dāsa [Cc. Madhya 20.108-109]. Caitanya Mahāprabhu's teaching, that "Why you are going door to door like a dog = 'Will you give me some food? Will you give me some duty? I am prepared to serve you,' and refusing, nāna abhilāṣa, and desiring again and again, this way, that way? But I do not know what is my real destination, how I shall be happy." That information is given by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, that "You are suffering in this way for a permanent service to become happy. Why you are going here and there? You are servant of Kṛṣṇa. Go there. Then you will be happy." This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We are teaching people that "You are suffering life after life." Now the human society has come to such a position that they do not know that there is life after this life. They are so advanced. Exactly the cats and dogs, they do not know that there is life after life. That is here stated = yena yāvān yathādharmo dharmo veha samīhitaḥ. Iha. Iha means "in this life." Sa eva tat-phalaṁ bhuṅkte tathā tāvat amutra vai. Amutra means "next life." So we are preparing our next life in this... Yatha adharmaḥ, yathā dharmaḥ. There are two things = you can act piously or impiously. There is no third, no third path. One path is pious; one path is nonpious. So here both are mentioned. Yena yāvān yathādharmaḥ, dharmaḥ. Dharma means constitutional. Dharma does not mean, as it is stated in some of the English dictionary, "a kind of faith." Faith may be blind. That is not dharma. Dharma means original, constitutional position. That is dharma. I have several times said... Just like water. Water is liquid. That is its dharma. Water, if by circumstantially it becomes solid, ice, but still, it tries to become again liquid because that is its dharma. You put ice, and gradually it will become liquid. That means this solid condition of the water is artificial. By some chemical composition the water has become solid, but by natural course it becomes liquid. So our present position is solid = don't hear anything about God. But natural position is that we are servant of God. Because we are seeking master... The supreme master is Kṛṣṇa. Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka maheśvaram [Bg. 5.29]. Kṛṣṇa says, "I am the master of the whole creation. I am the enjoyer." He is the master. Caitanya-caritāmṛta also said, ekala īśvara kṛṣṇa. Īśvara means controller or master. Ekala īśvara kṛṣṇa āra saba bhṛtya [Cc. Ādi 5.142] = "Except Kṛṣṇa, they are, any big or small living entity, they are all servants except Kṛṣṇa." You will therefore see = Kṛṣṇa is not serving anybody. He is simply enjoying. Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka... Others like us, they first of all work very hard, and then he enjoys. Kṛṣṇa never works. Na tasya kāryaṁ kāranaṁ ca vidyate [Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8]. Still, He enjoys. That is Kṛṣṇa. Na tasya... This is the Vedic information. Na tasya kāryaṁ kāranaṁ ca vidyate: "God, Kṛṣṇa, He has nothing to do." You see, therefore, Kṛṣṇa always dancing with the gopīs and playing with the cowherd boys. And when He feels fatigue, He lies down on the Yamunā, and immediately His friends come. Somebody fans Him; somebody gives massage. Therefore He is the master. Anywhere He goes, He is master. Ekala īśvara kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ [Bs. 5.1]. The supreme controller is Kṛṣṇa. "Then who is controller?" No, there is no controller of Him. That is Kṛṣṇa. Here we are director of such and such, president of United States, but I am not supreme controller. As soon as the public wants, immediately pulls me down. That we do not understand, that we are posing ourself as master controller, but I am controlled by somebody else. So he is not controller. Here we will find a controller to some extent, but he is controlled by another controller. So Kṛṣṇa means He is controller, but nobody is there to control Him. That is Kṛṣṇa; that is God. This is the science of understanding. God means He is controller of everything, but He has no controller. So we are, at the present moment, in different conditions of life on account of our different activities, pious and impious, dharma, adharma. So pious activities means to be controlled by Kṛṣṇa, and impious activities means to be controlled by māyā. We have to be controlled. Our position is such that we cannot become controller. That is not possible. If we want to become controller, that is my artificial desire. And the resultant action we will have to suffer. First of all you must understand this, that we are controlled. Either you agree to be controlled by Kṛṣṇa or you agree to be controlled by māyā, but you cannot become controller. Is there anyone here who can say that "I am controller"? Is there anyone who will answer this? So I may think that "I am controller," but I am controlled by drugs, by sense gratification, desires---kāma krodha lobha moha mātsarya. So there is no question of the living entity's being independent. That is not possible. He is dependent. But if he becomes dependent on Kṛṣṇa, then life is successful. Exactly the position, the dog. The dog is loitering without being controlled by somebody. He is seeking, "Somebody may control me." He's seeking position. But if he does not get anybody to control him, his life is very precarious; he is not happy. Therefore, if you want to be happy, then we must return to our own original position = to be controlled by Kṛṣṇa. This is perfection of life. So here it is said, generally, yena yāvān yathādharmaḥ. Adharma I have already explained. Dharma means to become servant of Kṛṣṇa, and adharma means to become servant of māyā. This is the distinction between dharma and adharma, religious and irreligious. Dharma means the order of God, Kṛṣṇa. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam [SB 6.3.19]. As I have explained several times = just like law. Law means the order of the government. If somebody, ordinary man, makes some law, nobody will accept that law. That is not law. But government gives some law that "Keep to the right," you have to obey it. If you break this law, you will be punished. You can say, "What wrong I have done? Instead of going to the right, I have gone to the left. Both ways there are roads and streets." The government says, "No, I ordered you to keep to the right. You have violated. You must be punished." Simple thing. This is adharma: "You have violated the laws of the government. You must be punished." So a dog, of course, if he violates the law, he is not punished. The punishment is meant for the human being, because he has got developed sense. He cannot violate the laws. If he violates... All the books, laws, everything---education, culture, philosophy, science---it is all meant for the human being, not for the cats and dogs. So the human being must know what is the actual law. That is dharma. Therefore in the human society there is some form of dharma. Either you are Christian or Hindu or Muslim or Buddhist, throughout the whole world, any civilized nation, they have got some dharma, or religious system. Why? Through it, you should understand what is the goal of your life. If you do not know that, then proportionately, as you are ignorant, fool, you will be punished. You will be punished. So nature's way, evolution... The punishment is beginning from the aquatics. Then gradually, gradually, by evolutionary process, nature gives the chance that from aquatics you become plants and trees; then from plants and trees you become insect, reptiles; then from that, you become bird; then from that, you become beast; and from that beast, you become human being. In this way, by evolutionary process, you come to the platform of becoming a human being. Now, developed consciousness, you have to decide, "Where... Whom I shall serve now? I have... So long I have served the laws of material nature, and it has brought me to this platform." Now you have to decide, "What kind of service I shall accept?" That is human life. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. Jijñāsā means enquiry. A sane man will understand that "I have been engaged in different types of service, and now, by evolutionary process, I have come to the human form of life. What is my real service? Under whom I shall work? Shall I loiter in the street like the dog, or find out some good master?" This is human life. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. So the śāstra... You have to learn from the śāstra that who is the master. I have to serve. The master is Kṛṣṇa. And that is our natural position. And if we do not serve Kṛṣṇa, if we serve a big man or a demigod or any other but he is not Kṛṣṇa, that is adharma. So dharma and adharma, these two things, are there. You serve either of them. But the result---according to your service. If you are serving as high-court judge, that salary, and if you serving as ordinary, what is called, washer of dishes, that salary cannot be equal. You cannot expect, becoming a dishwasher, to draw the same salary as the high-court judge is drawing. That is not possible. Therefore it is said, sa eva tat-phalaṁ bhuṅkte. You get... You can become high-court judge. There is no, I mean to say, obstacle. You could be qualified like the high-court judge. Now you are qualified like this, so you have to accept this. Therefore it is said, sa eva tat-phalaṁ bhuṅkte tathā tāvat amutra vai. Amutra. So our life is continuity, eternal. Just like a boy takes education, expecting to become one day high-court judge. But one who has not taken education---he simply played in the street---how he can become a high-court judge? It is not possible. Therefore it is said, sa eva tat-phalaṁ bhuṅkte tathā tāvat amutra, "in future life." But these rascals, they do not know what is future life. This is modern civilization. They are so rascal. But there is future life. So in this life, if you prepare yourself for the next life, then you are intelligent. If you remain irresponsible rascal, do not know what is going to happen next life, then you will have to suffer. That we must know. How I shall know? What I shall prepare for, and where shall I go? That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā = yānti deva-vratā devān [Bg. 9.25]. If you act in goodness, then you will be promoted to the higher planetary system, devān, where demigods live. They have ten thousand years of life, very high standard of life. Yānti deva-vratā devān pitṝn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ. And if you are attached to pitṛ-loka, you can go there. Bhūtejyā yānti bhūtāni. And if you are materially attracted, then you will remain in this material... Mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām: "If you My become devotee, you'll come to Me." Now it is your choice. Make your choice, what you want. So what is the difference between going to the heavenly planet and going to Kṛṣṇa? The difference is, ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna [Bg. 8.16] = "My dear Arjuna, if you go even to the highest planetary system, Brahmaloka, you will again fall down." Then? Mad-gatvā na nivartante: "If you come to Me, you will have not..." So why not select this, that "I have to work for the next life. Why not devote this life for Kṛṣṇa? I shall go back to home, back to Kṛṣṇa"? This is intelligence. I am suffering so many lives, accepting this fish life or the tree life, the plant life, the moth life, the insect life, the serpent life, the bird's life. And not only bird's life---there are so many varieties of birds, beginning from the eagle. There is a big eagle bird. We have no information. They are very big bird. They are flying in the sky, and their rest is from one planet to another. Just like here you find the birds, they are flying from one tree to another, similarly, there are so big birds... They are called garuḍa. So garuḍa, these birds, they start their flying from one planet and sits in another planet. Just try to understand what is their flying. Not only that, they also lay eggs while flying, and the eggs, while falling down, it becomes another bird. And these birds can pick up elephants for eating. So this is God's creation. So if you want to become such a big bird, you can become. [laughter] Yes. Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante [Bg. 4.11]. God is so kind. Whatever you desire, you will get. Therefore it is depending upon our discretion, that "What kind of desire I shall maintain?" That desire is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then you will be happy. Otherwise, you prepare your next life and you suffer or enjoy, and again next life, again next life... That is not very good. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate [Bg. 8.19]. Nobody wants that, that "I accept some position = again it is lost. Again I accept another position, again it is lost." So we are becoming so dull-headed by so-called education, we do not know anything of these things, that there is next life and I can become immortal; I can avoid death..., birth, death, old age and disease. There is no discussion of these scientific... It is only the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement which is giving all this information. It is very scientific and authorized. So I am very glad so many devotees here. Try to make your life perfect by accepting Kṛṣṇa consciousness and studying the philosophy and practicing the method. Then you will be happy. Thank you very much. Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda. [end]
aiśvaraṁ śāstram utsṛjya bandha-mokṣānudarśanam vivikta-padam ajñāya kim asat-karmabhir bhavet [Nārada Muni had spoken of a swan. That swan is explained in this verse.] The Vedic literatures [śāstras] vividly describe how to understand the Supreme Lord, the source of all material and spiritual energy. Indeed, they elaborately explain these two energies. The swan [haṁsa] is one who discriminates between matter and spirit, who accepts the essence of everything, and who explains the means of bondage and the means of liberation. The words of scriptures consist of variegated vibrations. If a foolish rascal leaves aside the study of these śāstras to engage in temporary activities, what will be the result? The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is very eager to present Vedic literature in modern languages, especially Western languages such as English, French and German. The leaders of the Western world, the Americans and Europeans, have become the idols of modern civilization because the Western people are very sophisticated in temporary activities for the advancement of material civilization. A sane man, however, can see that all such grand activities, although perhaps very important for temporary life, have nothing to do with eternal life. The entire world is imitating the materialistic civilization of the West, and therefore the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is very much interested in giving the Western people knowledge by translating the original Sanskrit Vedic literatures into Western languages.
TEXT 21 titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām ajāta-śatravaḥ śāntāḥ sādhavaḥ sādhu-bhūṣaṇāḥ The symptoms of a sādhu are that he is tolerant, merciful and friendly to all living entities. He has no enemies, he is peaceful, he abides by the scriptures, and all his characteristics are sublime. A sādhu, as described above, is a devotee of the Lord. His concern, therefore, is to enlighten people in devotional service; that is his mercy. He knows that without devotional service, human life is spoiled. A devotee travels all over the country, from door to door, preaching, “Be Kṛṣṇa conscious. Be a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Don’t spoil your life in simply fulfilling your animal propensities. Human life is meant for self-realization, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness.” These are the preachings of a sādhu. He is not satisfied with his own liberation. He always thinks about others. He is the most compassionate personality toward all fallen souls. One of his qualifications, therefore, is kāruṇika, great mercy to the fallen souls. While engaged in preaching work, he has to meet with so many opposing elements, and therefore the sādhu has to be very tolerant. Someone may ill-treat him because the conditioned souls are not prepared to receive the transcendental knowledge of devotional service. They don’t like it; that is their disease. The sādhu has the thankless task of impressing upon them the importance of devotional service. Sometimes devotees are personally attacked with violence. Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, Haridāsa Ṭhākura was caned in twenty-two marketplaces, and Lord Caitanya’s principal assistant, Nityānanda, was violently attacked by Jagāi and Mādhāi. But still they were tolerant because their mission was to deliver fallen souls. A sādhu is merciful because he is the well-wisher of all living entities. He is not only a well-wisher of human society, but a well-wisher of animal society as well. The word sarva-dehinām refers to all living entities who have accepted material bodies. Not only does the human being have a material body, but other living entities have one as well. The devotee of the Lord is merciful to everyone – cats, dogs, trees, etc. He treats all living entities in such a way that they can ultimately get salvation from this material entanglement. Śivānanda Sena, one of the disciples of Lord Caitanya, gave liberation to a dog by treating the dog transcendentally. There are many instances where a dog got salvation by association with a sādhu, because a sādhu engages in the highest philanthropic activities for the benediction of all living entities. Yet although a sādhu is not inimical toward anyone, the world is so ungrateful that even a sādhu has many enemies. What is the difference between an enemy and a friend? It is a difference in behavior. A sādhu behaves with all conditioned souls for their ultimate relief from material entanglement. Therefore, no one can be more friendly than a sādhu in relieving a conditioned soul. A sādhu is calm, and he quietly and peacefully follows the principles of scripture. A sādhu is also one who follows the principles of scripture and at the same time is a devotee of the Lord. One who actually follows the principles of scripture must be a devotee of God because all the śāstras instruct us to obey the orders of the Personality of Godhead. A sādhu, therefore, is a follower of the scriptural injunctions and a devotee of the Lord. All good characteristics are prominent in a devotee, and he develops all the good qualities of the demigods, whereas a nondevotee, even though academically qualified, has no good qualifications or good characteristics according to the standard of transcendental realization. There are 8,400,000 life forms according to the Padma Purāṇa, and the ātmā is the same in all of them. The sādhu can understand this, as Bhagavad-gītā (5.18) indicates: vidyā-vinaya-sampanne brāhmaṇe gavi hastini śuni caiva śva-pāke ca paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ “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].” It is not that a brāhmaṇa is the same as a dog, but that the brāhmaṇa is a spirit soul, and the dog is also a spirit soul. We are conditioned according to our different bodies, which are given by superior forces. Yamarāja offers the living entity a body according to his karma. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa. We have already discussed the point that bodies are awarded according to one’s qualifications. If we acquire the qualities of a brāhmaṇa and work as a brāhmaṇa, we become a brāhmaṇa. If we act as a dog and do the work of a dog, we become a dog. Nor should one think that simply because one is born as a brāhmaṇa, one is automatically a brāhmaṇa. There are characteristics mentioned in Bhagavad-gītā by which one can tell to which caste one belongs. Śrīdhara Svāmī has also noted that birth is not everything. One has to acquire the qualities. Whatever body we may have, our position is temporary. We cannot remain in any position indefinitely. We may think that at present we are Americans and are very happy, and that’s all right. We may chalk out our plans for continued happiness, but nature will not allow us to stay indefinitely. As soon as nature calls, we die and give up our post. Then we have to take the post of a dog, a cat, a demigod, a human being or whatever. We are now given a most exalted life form, that of a human being, but if we do not act accordingly, we have to take a lower body. This is karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa. We should therefore be very careful in this human form that our aim is to become devotees of Lord Kṛṣṇa. That is the path of liberation. Previously, great personalities in India used to go to the forest in order to meditate to stop the repetition of birth and death. That is the highest occupation for man, and actually every man is meant for that. Unless we conquer repeated birth and death, we simply waste our lives like animals – eating, sleeping, defending and mating. People in this age especially cannot distinguish between animal life and human life. They think the difference is that animals sleep in the street and human beings sleep in nice apartments. However, the śāstras do not define civilization in this way. Whether one sleeps in the street or in an apartment, the activity is the same. A dog may eat out of a garbage can, and a human being may eat on a golden plate, but this does not mean that they are engaged in different activities. In either case, both the dog and the man are taking food into their bodies. A dog may have sex in the street, and a human being may have sex in a very nice bed in a secluded place, but that does not change the activity. People are thinking that advancement of civilization means improving eating, sleeping, mating and defending, but actually these activities have nothing to do with civilization. They simply tighten our bondage to material life. Human life is meant for yajña, sacrifice for the satisfaction of the Supreme Person. We may perfect our activities, but our success lies in satisfying Kṛṣṇa by our talents. Presently we may be attached to material activity, but we should transfer that attachment to a sādhu. Then our lives will be successful. Presently we are attached to money, women, nice houses, country, society, friends, family and so forth. This attachment is called arjaraṁ pāśam. The word pāśu means “rope.” When we are bound with a rope, we are helpless, and now we are bound by the guṇas, or the three modes of material nature. The word guṇa also means “rope.” We cannot free ourselves, for we are conditioned. We cannot move freely without the sanction of the supreme authority. It is generally said that not a blade of grass moves without God’s sanction. Similarly, we cannot do anything without the supervision of a superior authority. It is not that God has to take personal supervision of this. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate . . . na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate: in the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (6.8), it is thus stated that the Supreme Lord does not have to act personally. He has many agents to perform everything for Him. We are so controlled that we are not even free to blink our eyes. We may be moving our hands very freely, but at any moment they can be immediately paralyzed. Presently I am claiming, “This is my hand.” But what is this? The hand could be paralyzed immediately. This is conditioned life, and how can we improve it? Our business is to become liberated from all this conditioning. How is this possible? Sa eva sādhuṣu kṛto mokṣa-dvāram apāvṛtam ( Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.25.20 ). We have to turn our attachment from material things to a sādhu. ‘Sādhu-saṅga’, ‘sādhu-saṅga’ — sarva-śāstre kaya: this is the advice of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. All śāstras advise us to associate with a sādhu. Even Cāṇakya Paṇḍita, the great politician, recommended: tyaja durjana-saṁsargaṁ bhaja sādhu-samāgamam. One Vaiṣṇava householder asked Caitanya Mahāprabhu what the duty of a householder is, and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu immediately replied, asat-saṅga-tyāga — ei vaiṣṇava-ācāra: “Don’t associate with nondevotees, but search out a sādhu. ” ( Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya 22.87 ) At the present moment it is very difficult to avoid the company of asādhus, those who are not sādhus. It is very difficult to find a sādhu for association. We have therefore started this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement to create an association of sādhus so that people may take advantage and become liberated. There is no other purpose for this society. Kṛṣṇa states in Bhagavad-gītā (6.47) that the first-class sādhu is one who is always thinking of Him. This process is not very difficult. We should always think of Kṛṣṇa, but how is this possible? We think of our business, our dog, our family, our lovable object and so many other things. We have to think of something; without thinking, we cannot remain. We simply have to divert our thoughts to Kṛṣṇa. It is the sādhu’s business to teach this, and one can learn this in the association of a sādhu. Actually a sādhu will not teach anything else. Ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgaḥ ( Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.4.15). This is the way to make spiritual advancement. One has to associate with a sādhu. Often the sādhu’s task is a thankless one, but he has to be tolerant. Despite all the trouble a sādhu may encounter, he is very merciful upon fallen conditioned souls. He sees that people are suffering due to a lack of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and because he is always thinking of the welfare of others, he is suhṛt. Other people are always envious, but the sādhu is always thinking how to save others from the clutches of māyā. A sādhu is kind not only to human beings but to cats, dogs, trees, plants and insects; he will hesitate even to kill one mosquito. He does not simply think, “I shall just take care of my brother.” He looks on all living beings as his brothers because Kṛṣṇa says that He is the father of all living entities. Because a sādhu lives in this way, he does not create enemies. If there are enemies, they become enemies out of their own character, not out of any provocation on the part of a sādhu. A sādhu simply teaches, “My dear human being, my dear friend, just surrender to Kṛṣṇa.” Enemies arise due to man’s envious nature. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says that there are two envious animals – serpents and men. Although you may be faultless, either may kill you. Of the two, Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says that the envious man is more dangerous because a serpent can be subdued by chanting a mantra or by some herbs, but an envious man cannot be so subdued. In Kali-yuga, practically everyone is envious, but we have to tolerate this. Envious people create many impediments to the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, but we have to tolerate them. There is no alternative. One must be peaceful and depend on Kṛṣṇa in all circumstances. These are the ornaments of a sādhu. We should find a sādhu and associate with him. Then our path of liberation will be open. In the next verse, Lord Kapila further explains the activities of a sādhu. TEXT 22 mayy ananyena bhāvena bhaktiṁ kurvanti ye dṛḍhām mat-kṛte tyakta-karmāṇas tyakta-svajana-bāndhavāḥ Such a sādhu engages in staunch devotional service to the Lord without deviation. For the sake of the Lord he renounces all other connections, such as family relationships and friendly acquaintances within the world. A person in the renounced order of life, a sannyāsī, is also called a sādhu because he renounces everything – his home, his comfort, his friends, his relatives and his duties to friends and to family. He renounces everything for the sake of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. A sannyāsī is generally in the renounced order of life, but his renunciation will be successful only when his energy is employed in the service of the Lord with great austerity. It is said here, therefore, bhaktiṁ kurvanti ye dṛḍhām. A person who seriously engages in the service of the Lord and is in the renounced order of life is a sādhu. A sādhu is one who has given up all responsibility to society, family and worldly humanitarianism, simply for the service of the Lord. As soon as he takes his birth in the world, a person has many responsibilities and obligations to the public, demigods, great sages, general living beings, parents, forefathers and many others. When he gives up these obligations for the service of the Supreme Lord, he is not punished for his renunciation. But if for sense gratification a person renounces these obligations, he is punished by the law of nature. Kṛṣṇa and all the śāstras say that our only obligation is to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. If we take to His service, we are no longer obliged to anyone. We are free. How is this possible? By almighty God’s power. A man may be condemned to death, but if a president or a king excuses him, he is saved. Kṛṣṇa’s final instruction in Bhagavad-gītā is to surrender everything to Him. We can sacrifice our life, wealth and intelligence, and this is called yajña. Everyone has some intelligence, and everyone uses his intelligence in one way or another. Generally people use their intelligence in trying to gratify their senses, but even an ant can do this. We should try to gratify not our senses but Kṛṣṇa’s senses. Then we become perfect. We have to learn this purificatory process from a sādhu. Inasmuch as we try to gratify our senses, we become attached to the material world. We may render service to the sādhu or to Kṛṣṇa. The sādhu is the representative of Kṛṣṇa. He will never say, “Serve me,” but will say, “Serve Kṛṣṇa.” Therefore we have to approach Kṛṣṇa through the sādhu. This is confirmed by the Vaiṣṇava ācārya Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura: chāḍiyā vaiṣṇava-sevā nistāra peyeche kebā. We cannot directly approach Kṛṣṇa; we have to go through the transparent via media, Kṛṣṇa’s representatives. Those who are after material concessions go to different demigods. They take something from Śiva, Durgā, Kālī, Gaṇeśa, Sūrya and whomever. However, it was the goddess Pārvatī who asked Lord Śiva, “What is the best type of worship?” Lord Śiva advised, ārādhanānāṁ sarveṣāṁ viṣṇor ārādhanaṁ param ( Padma Purāṇa ). “My dear Pārvatī, of all kinds of worship, worship of Lord Viṣṇu is the best.” Then he added: tasmāt parataraṁ devi tadīyānāṁ samarcanam. “And even better than the worship of Lord Viṣṇu is the worship of a Vaiṣṇava, a devotee.” Spiritual life begins with the association of a devotee, a sādhu. One cannot progress an inch without the mercy of a sādhu. Prahlāda Mahārāja has also indicated this: naiṣāṁ matis tāvad urukramāṅghriṁ spṛśaty anarthāpagamo yad-arthaḥ mahīyasāṁ pāda-rajo-’bhiṣekaṁ niṣkiñcanānāṁ na vṛṇīta yāvat “Unless they smear upon their bodies the dust of the lotus feet of a Vaiṣṇava completely freed from material contamination, persons very much inclined toward materialistic life cannot be attached to the lotus feet of the Lord, who is glorified for His uncommon activities. Only by becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious and taking shelter at the lotus feet of the Lord in this way can one be freed from material contamination.” ( Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.5.32 ) Hiraṇyakaśipu asked Prahlāda Mahārāja, “My dear son Prahlāda, how have you become so advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness?” Although Hiraṇyakaśipu was a demon, he was nonetheless inquisitive. Prahlāda Mahārāja replied, “My dear father, O best of the asuras, one can receive Kṛṣṇa consciousness only from the instructions of a guru. One cannot attain it simply by speculating. Ordinary men do not know that their ultimate destination is to return to Viṣṇu.” In the material world, people are always hoping for something. They hope against hope, yet their hopes will never be fulfilled. People are trying to become happy by adjusting the external energy, but they do not know that happiness cannot be achieved without approaching God. People are thinking, “I must first of all see to my own interest.” That’s all right, but what is that interest? That they do not know. People are thinking that by adjusting the material energy they will be happy, and everyone is trying this individually, collectively or nationally. In any case, it is not possible. People will ultimately be frustrated. Why attempt a process that will ultimately meet with frustration? It is therefore said: adānta-gobhir viśatāṁ tamisraṁ punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām ( Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.5.30 ). People are being baffled in so many ways because they cannot control their senses. Their only possibility of rescue is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore in this verse it is said: mayy ananyena bhāvena bhaktiṁ kurvanti ye dṛḍhām. Prahlāda Mahārāja simply thought of Kṛṣṇa. Because of this, he had to undergo a great deal of trouble given by his father. Material nature will not give us freedom very easily. If we become strong enough to try to capture the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, māyā will try to keep us under her clutches. However, if one gives up everything for Kṛṣṇa’s sake, māyā can have no effect. The most excellent example of this is the gopīs. They gave up everything – family, prestige and honor – just to follow Kṛṣṇa. That is the highest perfection, but that is not possible for ordinary living entities. We should, however, follow the Gosvāmīs in their determination to worship Kṛṣṇa. Sanātana Gosvāmī was an important minister in the government of Hussain Shah, but he gave up everything to follow Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He adopted the life of a mendicant and lived under a different tree every night. One may ask, “After giving up material enjoyment, how can one live?” The Gosvāmīs lived by dipping into the ocean of the transcendental loving affairs between Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs. Since that was their asset, they could live very peacefully. We cannot simply give up everything. We will become mad if we try to give up everything without having staunch faith in Kṛṣṇa. Yet if we find Kṛṣṇa’s association, we can easily give up our opulent positions – our family, business and everything. However, that requires sādhu-saṅga, association with a sādhu, a devotee. When we associate with a devotee, the day will eventually come when we can give up everything and become liberated persons, fit to return home, back to Godhead. Presently we are attached to material enjoyment, and Kṛṣṇa even gives us a chance to gratify our senses. He lets us enjoy ourselves to the fullest extent because we have come to this material world to enjoy sense gratification. However, this is called māyā, illusion. It is not really enjoyment, but simply struggle. When one realizes that he is simply struggling life after life, that there is actually no real enjoyment in the material world, one becomes a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. That realization requires knowledge, and that knowledge can be acquired by association with a sādhu, a devotee. Freedom from this struggle with material existence is further explained by Lord Kapila in the next verse. TEXT 23 mad-āśrayāḥ kathā mṛṣṭāḥ śṛṇvanti kathayanti ca tapanti vividhās tāpā naitān mad-gata-cetasaḥ Engaged constantly in chanting and hearing about Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the sādhus do not suffer from material miseries because they are always filled with thoughts of My pastimes and activities. There are multifarious miseries in material existence – those pertaining to the body and the mind, those imposed by other living entities and those imposed by natural disturbances. But a sādhu is not disturbed by such miserable conditions because his mind is always filled with Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and thus he does not like to talk about anything but the activities of the Lord. Mahārāja Ambarīṣa did not speak of anything but the pastimes of the Lord. Vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane. He engaged his words only in glorification of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Ordinary conditioned souls, being forgetful of the activities of the Lord, are always full of anxieties and material tribulations. On the other hand, since the devotees always engage in the topics of the Lord, they are forgetful of the miseries of material existence. Thus they differ from other living entities, who are simply suffering. There is no one in the world materially engaged who can boldly say, “I am not suffering.” I challenge anyone to say this. Everyone in the material world is suffering in some way or another. If not, why are so many drugs being advertised? On the television they are always advertising tranquilizers and pain killers, and in America and in other Western countries they are so advanced that there are dozens of tablets for various pains. Therefore there must be some suffering. Actually, anyone who has a material body has to accept suffering. There are three types of suffering in the material world: ādhyātmika, ādhibhautika and ādhidaivika. Ādhyātmika refers to the body and mind. Today I have a headache or some pain in my back, or my mind is not very quiet. These are sufferings called ādhyātmika. There are other forms of suffering called ādhibhautika, which are sufferings imposed by other living entities. Apart from this, there are sufferings called ādhidaivika, over which we have no control whatsoever. These are caused by the demigods or acts of nature, and include famine, pestilence, flood, excessive heat or excessive cold, earthquakes, fire and so on. Nonetheless, we are thinking that we are very happy within this material world, although in addition to these threefold miseries there is also birth, old age, disease and death. So where is our happiness? Because we are under the spell of māyā, we are thinking that our position is very secure. We are thinking, “Let us enjoy life,” but what kind of enjoyment is this? Obviously we have to tolerate suffering. One of the characteristics of a sādhu is tolerance. Everyone is tolerant to a degree, but a sādhu’s tolerance and an ordinary man’s tolerance are different. This is because a sādhu knows that he is not the body. According to a Bengali Vaiṣṇava song: deha-smṛti nāhi yāra saṁsāra-bandhana kāhāṅ tāra. If we properly understand that we are not the body, although we may suffer, we will not feel the suffering as acutely. For instance, if one thinks, “This is my car,” and is very attached to it, he suffers more when it is wrecked than a person who thinks, “It can be repaired, or I can leave it.” It is a question of mental absorption. Because he is more like an animal, a materialist suffers more. The devotee, on the other hand, takes Kṛṣṇa’s advice in Bhagavad-gītā (2.14) : mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ āgamāpāyino ’nityās tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata “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.” In summer we suffer, and in winter we suffer. In the summer, fire brings suffering, and in the winter the same fire is pleasing. Similarly, in the winter, water is suffering, but in the summer it is pleasing. The water and the fire are the same, but sometimes they are pleasing, sometimes they are not. This is due to the touch of the skin. We all have some “skin disease,” which is the body, and therefore we are suffering. Because we have become such rascals, we are thinking, “I am this body.” According to the Āyur-vedic system, the body is composed of three material elements: kapha-pitta-vāyu. The more we are in the bodily conception, the more we suffer. Presently so many “ism’s” are being developed according to the bodily conception – nationalism, communism, socialism, communalism and so on. In Calcutta during the 1947 Hindu-Muslim riots, there was more suffering because everyone was thinking, “I am a Hindu” or “I am a Muslim.” But, if one is advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he will not fight according to such conceptions. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person knows that he is neither Hindu nor Muslim but the eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa. Because people are being educated to become more body conscious, their sufferings are increasing. If we reduce the bodily conception, suffering will also be reduced. Those who are Kṛṣṇa conscious, who are always thinking of Kṛṣṇa within their minds and within their hearts, are not suffering as much because they know that whatever they might suffer is due to Kṛṣṇa’s desire. Therefore they welcome suffering. For instance, when Kṛṣṇa was leaving, Queen Kuntī said, “My dear Kṛṣṇa, when we were in a dangerous situation, You were always present as our friend and adviser. Now we are well situated with our kingdom, and now You are leaving for Dvārakā. This is not good. It is better that we again suffer so that we can always remember You.” Thus the devotee sometimes welcomes suffering as an opportunity to remember Kṛṣṇa constantly. When a devotee suffers, he thinks, “This is due to my past misdeeds. Actually I should be suffering a great deal, but due to Kṛṣṇa’s grace I am suffering just a little. After all, suffering and enjoyment are in the mind.” In this way, a devotee is not greatly affected by suffering, and this is the difference between a devotee and a nondevotee. Prahlāda Mahārāja, a five-year-old boy, had to undergo a great deal of suffering at the hands of his father, who was torturing him for being a devotee. The boy was trampled by elephants, thrown from a mountain, placed in burning oil and thrown into a snake pit, yet he was silent during this whole ordeal. Similarly, Haridāsa Ṭhākura, a Muhammadan by birth, was a very great devotee and was always chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. That was his only fault. However, the Muslim Kazi called him forth and said, “You are a Muhammadan, born in a great Muhammadan family, yet you are chanting this Hindu Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. What is this?” Haridāsa Ṭhākura mildly replied, “My dear sir, there are many Hindus who have become Muhammadans. Suppose I have become a Hindu? What is wrong with this?” The Kazi became very angry and ordered Haridāsa Ṭhākura to be whipped in twenty-two bazaars. This essentially meant that he was to be beaten to death, but because he was such a great devotee he did not actually feel the pain. Although a devotee may sometimes have to suffer, he tolerates the suffering. At the same time, he is very kind to conditioned souls and tries to elevate them to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is one of the primary features of a devotee’s life. People are always putting a sādhu into difficulties, but he does not give up his job, which is to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness so that others may become happy. It was Prahlāda Mahārāja who said: “My Lord, I am not suffering, for I know the art of being happy.” How is this? “Simply by hearing about You and chanting about You I am happy.” This is the business of a devotee – hearing and chanting about the Lord. This is śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇam. Now this śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam is taking place all over the world through the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Even in ordinary life it is possible for the mind to be absorbed in such a way that even a surgical operation may not disturb a man. Years ago, when Stalin had to undergo a surgical operation, he refused the use of chloroform. If this is possible even in an ordinary materialistic life, then what to speak of spiritual life? One’s mind should always be absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, in thinking of Kṛṣṇa. It is Kṛṣṇa’s injunction, “Always think of Me.” The European and American youths in the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement have been accustomed to many bad habits since birth, but now they have given these up. Many people think that it is impossible to live without illicit sex, intoxication, meat-eating and gambling. One famous Marquis told one of my Godbrothers, “Please make me a brāhmaṇa. ” My Godbrother said, “Yes, it is not a very difficult thing. Simply give up these bad habits – intoxication, illicit sex, meat-eating and gambling. Then you can become a brāhmaṇa. ” The Marquis then said, “Impossible! This is our life.” Actually we have seen that in Western countries older men cannot give up these habits, and because of this they are suffering, yet many young boys and girls have given them up, and there is no suffering. This is due to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This process is open to everyone. Everyone has heard of the Bhagavad-gītā. We can attain perfection simply by following the instructions given in this book. It is not necessary to abandon our responsibilities. Mahārāja Ambarīṣa was a great emperor administering to his kingdom, yet at the same time he spoke only of Kṛṣṇa. Caitanya Mahāprabhu requested that His devotees only talk about Kṛṣṇa. If we simply talk about Kṛṣṇa and hear about Him, the stage will come when we will no longer suffer. This is called ānanda-mayo ’bhyāsāt in the Vedānta-sūtra. The living entity and Kṛṣṇa are both ānanda-maya, transcendentally blissful. On that platform, there is no possibility of material suffering. It is not a question of displaying some magical feats. The greatest magic is freedom from suffering, and this is the freedom of a devotee. When we feel pleasure from hearing about Kṛṣṇa and talking about Him, we should know that we are making progress on the path of perfection. At that time, material suffering will not be felt at all. This is the practical effect of rendering devotional service, which Lord Kapila is pointing out to His mother. TEXT 24 ta ete sādhavaḥ sādhvi sarva-saṅga-vivarjitāḥ saṅgas teṣv atha te prārthyaḥ saṅga-doṣa-harā hi te O My mother, O virtuous lady, these are the qualities of great devotees who are free from all attachment. You must seek attachment to such holy men, for this counteracts the pernicious effects of material attachment. Kapila Muni herein advises His mother, Devahūti, that if she wants to be free from material attachment, she should increase her attachment for the sādhus, or devotees who are completely freed from all material attachment. In Bhagavad-gītā (15.5) it is stated, nirmāna-mohā jita-saṅga-doṣāḥ. This refers to one who is completely freed from the puffed up condition of material possessiveness. A person may be materially very rich or respectable, but if he at all wants to transfer himself to the spiritual kingdom, back home, back to Godhead, he has to be freed from material possessiveness because that is a false position. The word moha used here means the false understanding that one is rich or poor. In this material world, the conception that one is very rich or very poor – or any such consciousness in connection with material existence – is false, because this body itself is temporary. A pure soul who is prepared to be freed from this material entanglement must first be free from the association of the three modes of nature. Our consciousness at the present moment is polluted because of association with the three modes of nature; therefore in Bhagavad-gītā the same principle is stated. It is advised, jita-saṅga-doṣāḥ: one should be freed from the contaminated association of the three modes. Here also, in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, this is confirmed: a pure devotee, who is preparing to transfer himself to the spiritual kingdom, is also freed from the association of the three modes. We have to seek the association of such devotees. For this reason we have begun the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. There are many mercantile and scientific associations in human society established to develop a particular type of education or consciousness, but there is no association which helps one to get free from all material association. If anyone wishes to become free from this material contamination, he has to seek the association of devotees, wherein Kṛṣṇa consciousness is exclusively cultured. Because a devotee is freed from all contaminated material association, he is not affected by the miseries of material existence, even though he appears to be in the material world. How is it possible? A cat carries her kittens in her mouth, and when she kills a rat, she also carries the booty in her mouth. Thus both are carried in the mouth of the cat, but they are in different conditions. The kitten feels comfort in the mouth of the mother, whereas when the rat is carried in the mouth of the cat, the rat feels the blows of death. Similarly, those who are sādhus, or devotees engaged in the transcendental service of the Lord, do not feel the contamination of material miseries, whereas those who are not devotees in Kṛṣṇa consciousness actually feel the miseries of material existence. One should therefore give up the association of materialistic persons and seek the association of those engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. By such association one will be benefited by spiritual advancement. By their words and instructions, one will be able to cut off his attachment to material existence. In this Kali-yuga, the present age, the dangerous modes of rajo-guṇa and tamo-guṇa, passion and ignorance, are especially prominent. Practically everyone in this age is contaminated by lusty desire, greed and ignorance. It is said in the śāstras that in this age of Kali, sattva-guṇa, the mode of goodness, is practically nonexistent. The fourteenth chapter of Bhagavad-gītā nicely explains how one can free oneself of contamination by the material modes. Now Kapiladeva advises, “Mother, if you want to get rid of the contamination of material nature, you should associate with a sādhu. ” Attachment to the material modes brings about our bondage. If we want to be free from this bondage, we have to transfer our attachment to a sādhu. Actually everyone is attached to something. No one can say that he is free from attachment. The Māyāvāda and Buddhist philosophies tell us to become detached, but this in itself is not possible. A child is attached to playing in so many ways, but gradually his attachments should be transferred to reading and going to school to acquire an education. It is a question not of stopping attachment but of transferring it. If one simply tries to put an end to attachment, he will become mad. Something must be given in the place of attachment. For instance, we tell our disciples to stop eating meat, but how is this meat-eating stopped? In the place of meat, we are supplying kacaurīs, rasagullā and many other palatable things. In this way, detachment is possible. First of all, nullify the inferior attachment, and then supply a better attachment. There is no question of forcing a living entity. This must be done gradually. A child may have some attachment, but by the system of replacing attachment, his attachment is overturned. Similarly, our consciousness has somehow or other become contaminated. Now it has to be purified. Then Kṛṣṇa consciousness will automatically arise and awaken. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is our original consciousness, but somehow or other it has become covered by material attachment. The question is how to give up material attachment and become attached to Kṛṣṇa. The process is sādhu-saṅga, association with a sādhu. We have many attachments in this material world, but we cannot make these attachments void. We simply have to purify them. Some say that if the eye is diseased, it should be plucked out, but that is not treatment. Treatment is removing the disease. Somehow or other there is a cataract, and if the cataract is removed, one’s eyesight will be revived. We have many desires, but we have to divert these desires to Kṛṣṇa’s service. For instance, we may be very attached to making money; therefore Kṛṣṇa says, “Yes, go ahead and conduct your business. There is no harm. Simply give Me the results.” As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (9.27) : yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi yaj juhoṣi dadāsi yat yat tapasyasi kaunteya tat kuruṣva mad-arpaṇam “O son of Kuntī, all that you do, all that you eat, all that you offer and give away, as well as all austerities that you may perform, should be done as an offering unto Me.” This is the beginning of bhakti-yoga. If we conduct business and earn money, we should spend it for Kṛṣṇa. This is a form of bhakti. Another vivid example is Arjuna, who was a fighter. By fighting, he became a devotee. He did not become a devotee by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa but by fighting in the Battle of Kurukṣetra. Kṛṣṇa advised him to fight, but because Arjuna was a Vaiṣṇava, in the beginning he was unwilling. A Vaiṣṇava does not like to kill anything, but if Kṛṣṇa orders him, he must fight. He does not fight out of his own will, because a Vaiṣṇava’s natural instinct is not to do harm to anyone. However, when a Vaiṣṇava knows that Kṛṣṇa wants a particular thing done, he does not care for his own considerations. In any case, everyone has some particular type of duty, an occupation. If we perform our occupation in the worship of Kṛṣṇa, our life will be perfect. This is also the instruction given in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.13) : ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhā varṇāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ sv-anuṣṭhitasya dharmasya saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam “O best of 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.” Formerly, the varṇāśrama-dharma was prominent, and everyone had a particular duty according to his position in society. Now the occupational duties have expanded, but it doesn’t matter whether one is an engineer, a doctor or whatever. Simply try to serve Kṛṣṇa by the results of work. That is bhakti. It is not the philosophy of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement to disengage people from their activities. One should engage in his occupation, but one should never forget Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa advises us to always become Kṛṣṇa conscious, and we should always think that we are acting for Kṛṣṇa. Of course, we should work by the order of Kṛṣṇa or His representative, not whimsically. If we perform some nonsensical action and think, “I am doing this for Kṛṣṇa,” that will not be accepted. The work must be verified by Kṛṣṇa’s acceptance or by the acceptance of Kṛṣṇa’s representative. Arjuna did not fight without Kṛṣṇa’s order; therefore we must receive our orders also. We may say, “I cannot find Kṛṣṇa. How can I follow His order?” It is the role of the sādhu to impart Kṛṣṇa’s orders. Since Kṛṣṇa’s representative is the sādhu, Kapiladeva advises His mother to associate with sādhus. We have described the symptoms of a sādhu, and we have stated that a sādhu should be accepted by his characteristics. It is not that we accept anyone who comes along and says, “I am a sādhu. ” The characteristics of a sādhu have to be present. Similarly, it is not that anyone is accepted who comes along and says, “I am an incarnation of God.” There are characteristics of God given in the śāstras. Sādhu-saṅga, association with a sādhu, is very essential in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. People are suffering due to contamination by tamo-guṇa and rajo-guṇa. The sādhu teaches one how to remain purely in sattva-guṇa by truthfulness, cleanliness, mind control, sense control, simplicity, tolerance, and full faith and knowledge. These are some of the characteristics of sattva-guṇa. Instead of thinking, “Unless I have a drink, I will go mad,” one should think, “Unless I associate with a sādhu, I will go mad.” When we can think in this way, we will become liberated. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has stated that He wants every village in the entire world to be a center for Kṛṣṇa consciousness so that people can take advantage of sādhus and in turn become sādhus. This is the mission of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We simply have to voluntarily undergo some penance in the beginning. It may be a little painful in the beginning to refrain from illicit sex, intoxication, meat-eating and gambling, but one has to be tolerant. To be cured of a disease, we may have to agree to undergo some surgical operation. Although the operation may be very painful, we have to tolerate it. This is called titikṣavaḥ. At the same time, we have to be kāruṇikāḥ – that is, we have to take compassion upon fallen souls by going from town to town to enlighten others in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is a sādhu’s duty. Those who are preachers are superior to those who go to the Himalayas to meditate. It is good to go to the Himalayas to meditate for one’s personal benefit, but those who undergo many difficulties in order to preach are superior. They are actually fighting for Kṛṣṇa’s sake, and they are certainly more compassionate. Those sādhus who leave Vṛndāvana to go fight in the world, to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness, are superior sādhus. This is the opinion of Kṛṣṇa in Bhagavad-gītā (18.68–69): ya idaṁ paramaṁ guhyaṁ mad-bhakteṣv abhidhāsyati bhaktiṁ mayi parāṁ kṛtvā mām evaiṣyaty asaṁśayaḥ na ca tasmān manuṣyeṣu kaścin me priya-kṛttamaḥ bhavitā na ca me tasmād anyaḥ priya-taro bhuvi “For one who explains the supreme secret to the devotees, devotional service is guaranteed, and at the end he will come back to Me. There is no servant in this world more dear to Me than he, nor will there ever be one more dear.” If we want to be quickly recognized by Kṛṣṇa, we should become preachers. This is also the message of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. It is not that one should remain in India; rather, one should travel all over the world to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The sādhu is suhṛt; he is the well-wisher of everyone. This does not mean that he is a well-wisher for an Indian nationalist or whatever. No, he is a well-wisher even of cats and dogs. A devotee even wishes to benefit cats and dogs by giving them prasāda. Once, when devotees from Bengal were going to see Caitanya Mahāprabhu, a dog began to follow them, and the leader of the party, Śivānanda Sena, was giving prasāda to the dog. When they had to cross a river, the boatman would not take the dog, but Śivānanda Sena paid him more money and said, “Please take this dog. He is a Vaiṣṇava, for he has joined our company. How can we leave him behind?” Caitanya Mahāprabhu Himself actually threw some of His food to the dog, and in this way the dog attained Vaikuṇṭha. Not only is a sādhu everyone’s well-wisher, but he is not an enemy of anyone. He is also śānta, peaceful. These are the preliminary characteristics of a sādhu. He is also attached to no one but Kṛṣṇa. Mayy ananyena bhāvena. These are the external and internal symptoms of a devotee. A devotee also respects the demigods because he knows their position in relation to Kṛṣṇa. In Brahma-saṁhitā (5.44) , the goddess Durgā is worshiped as the external energy, or potency, of Kṛṣṇa. sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktir ekā chāyeva yasya bhuvanāni bibharti durgā icchānurūpam api yasya ca ceṣṭate sā govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi “The external potency, māyā, who is of the nature of the shadow of the cit, spiritual, potency, is worshiped by all people as Durgā, the creating, preserving and destroying agency of this mundane world. I adore the primeval Lord Govinda, in accordance with whose will Durgā conducts herself.” The goddess Durgā is so powerful that she can create, maintain and annihilate. However, she cannot act independent of Kṛṣṇa. She is like a shadow of Kṛṣṇa. A sādhu knows that prakṛti, nature, is working under Kṛṣṇa’s direction. Similarly, a policeman knows that he is not working independently but under government orders. This knowledge is required in order that the policeman, who has some power, will not think that he has become God. No, God is not so cheap. God has multienergies, and one of these energies is Durgā. It is not that she is all and all, for there are many millions of Durgās, just as there are many millions of Śivas and millions of universes. Although there are millions of demigods, God is one. It is not that there are a million Gods. Of course, God can expand in millions of forms, but that is different. A devotee offers respects to the demigods as the assistants of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, not as the supreme power. One who does not know God as He is considers the demigods to be supreme. Such people are less intelligent. A devotee offers respects to the demigods, but he knows that the Supreme Lord is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam. Actually a sādhu, a Vaiṣṇava, offers respects to everyone, and he is ready to give up relatives and everything else for Kṛṣṇa’s sake. A sādhu simply takes pleasure in hearing about Kṛṣṇa and talking about Him. There are many pastimes enacted by Kṛṣṇa. He fights and kills demons, and He performs His pastimes with the gopīs. He plays as a cowherd boy in Vṛndāvana and as King of Dvārakā. There are many books about Kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa-kathā, and this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement has already published many of them. Apart from Bhagavad-gītā, which is spoken by Kṛṣṇa, we can read these other books. In this way, one can learn the art of becoming a sādhu. Simply by hearing about Kṛṣṇa and speaking about Him, we will be immediately relieved from the suffering of this material condition. As stated in this verse: ta ete sādhavaḥ sādhvi sarva-saṅga-vivarjitāḥ These symptoms are visible when one no longer has material attachment. A sādhu does not think himself Hindu, Muslim, Christian, American, Indian or whatever. A sādhu simply thinks, “I am the servant of Kṛṣṇa.” Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said, “I am not a brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, brahmacārī or whatever. I am simply the servant of the servant of the servant of Kṛṣṇa.” One need only learn this process in order to render the best service to humanity.
Prabhupāda: Now when I was coming on the dais, one gentleman remarked that "Your this movement will help forgetful Indians who are trying to forget God." Not only in India; throughout the whole world they are trying to forget God. And this forgetfulness of our relationship with God is material condition. Material life and spiritual life, the difference is that when we forget God, that is material. And when we are fully conscious of God, that is spiritual life. [aside:] Why they are allowed to sit here? [indistinct] Śyāmasundara: All the children should leave? Should I ask? All the children should leave? Prabhupāda: Not leave; just keep them quiet. Śyāmasundara: Would all the children kindly be very quiet during tonight's lecture, please? Can your parents have their children here, kindly keep them quiet so that Śrīla Prabhupāda can be heard by everyone, please. Prabhupāda: The real disease is, as it is stated by a Vaiṣṇava poet, kṛṣṇa bhuliya jīva bhoga vañcha kare pāśate māyā tāre jāpaṭiyā dhare [Prema-vivarta] When we forget Kṛṣṇa and want to lord it over the material nature, this is called māyā. Māyā means which has no factual existence. So this idea that "I shall lord it over the material nature," this is māyā. kṛṣṇa bhuliya jīva bhoga vañcha kare pāśate māyā tāre jāpaṭiyā dhare [Prema-vivarta] As soon as we think of becoming the Lord or lording it over the Lord's creation, that is called māyā. And Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is just an attempt to revive the original consciousness that "I am not the Lord, but I am the servant of the Lord." This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So our program is to speak on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in the evening and to speak in English, and in the morning we speak on Bhagavad-gītā in Hindi. So we are very much grateful to you that you are kindly trying to cooperate with this movement and hear about Kṛṣṇa. Your cooperation means you please hear about Kṛṣṇa. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura said, rādhā-kṛṣṇa bolo saṅge calo ei-mātra duhkhā cāi [from Gītāvalī]. We are simply begging you that you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and please come along with us. This much begging we are submitting. Śyāmasundara: Śrīla Prabhupāda? The slide show is ready for the children if they would like to go. Prabhupāda: So why not? Yes? Śyāmasundara: [making announcement] There is, in this tent on this side, there is a slide show for the children, which is beginning just now. So if all of the children would like to go there, they can see many nice pictures of Kṛṣṇa and of all our activities all over the world. Very nice show. [aside:] It's working. [noise as children leave] Prabhupāda: Hmm. Hare Kṛṣṇa. So māyā, or illusion... There are two platforms = māyā and Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is just like sun. It is said that Kṛṣṇa is just like the sun, and māyā is just like the darkness. So whenever there is sun, there is no more darkness. Just like at the present moment it is dark night because the sun is absent from our vision. This is called māyā. Sun is always there in the sky, but when the sun is not visible, that is called darkness. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is present always within our heart, everywhere. It is said in the Brahmā-saṁhitā, aṇḍāntara-sthaṁ paramāṇu-cayāntara-sthaṁ govindam adi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi [Bs. 5.35] Aṇḍāntara-sthaṁ. Kṛṣṇa is within the universe, Kṛṣṇa is within your heart, Kṛṣṇa is within the atom. Aṇḍāntara-sthaṁ paramāṇu-cayāntara-sthaṁ. You can take it from the śāstras, from the Vedas, that Kṛṣṇa is always present everywhere; therefore He's God, the original Viṣṇu, all-pervasive. This is also stated in the Brahmā-saṁhitā: yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-bilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ viṣṇur mahān sa iha yasya kalā-viśeṣo govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi [Bs. 5.48] The Mahā-Viṣṇu, from whose breathing period millions of universes are coming out, and when He is inhaling, the millions of universes are going within Him, He is called Mahā-Viṣṇu. That Mahā-Viṣṇu is described in the Brahmā-saṁhitā. That Brahmā, Lord Brahmā, who exists only on the breathing period of Mahā-Viṣṇu, that Mahā-Viṣṇu is partial expansion of Kṛṣṇa. This is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa says that there are many manifestations of the Supreme Lord, Viṣṇu. Just like candles = there are many candles; each candle has got the illuminating power. Similarly, eko bahu syām, Viṣṇu expands Himself in many, many millions of forms. Those forms are called svāṁśa and vibhinnāṁśa. Svāṁśa, personal expansion, and separated expansion. The separated expansions are we, we living entities. As it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, mamaivāṁso jīva bhūta [Bg. 15.7]. So we are also expansions of Viṣṇu, or Kṛṣṇa, but we are separated. Means we are not personal expansion. The personal expansion is called viṣṇu-tattva, and the separated expansion is called jīva-tattva. And jīva-tattva is also śakti-tattva. Viṣṇu is śaktimān, and we are śakti. That is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakṛti parām jīva-bhutāṁ mahā-baho yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat [Bg. 7.5] So we are śakti-tattva. We are not śaktimān-tattva. It is not corroborated. One who thinks that "I am God," śaktimān-tattva, that is false. We are śakti-tattva. Śaktimān means the powerful, one who possesses the power, and śakti means the power, or energy. Or one who controls the energy, He is called śaktimān, and the energy acts in different way. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate [Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8, Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport]. There are different kinds of, millions of energies, of the śaktimān. So we are energy of Kṛṣṇa. We cannot be Kṛṣṇa. Just like fire and heat or light = heat is not different from fire, but heat is not fire. If you feel heat, it does not mean that you're touching the fire or you are being burned. So simultaneously one and different. This philosophy of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, acintya-bhedābheda-tattva: simul..., inconceivable one and different, that is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's philosophy, Vaiṣṇava philosophy. We are neither different nor one---simultaneously---and therefore it is called inconceivable, acintya. In our material conception we cannot think that one thing may be simultaneously one with another and different from another. So this is our position = jīva is śakti-tattva, and bhagavān is śaktimān-tattva. But śakti, śaktimān abheda, there is no difference. There are many other examples. Just like the sun and sunlight. Sunlight is not different from the sun, and still the sunlight is not the sun. In the morning, when you find that there is sunlight within your room, you can say the sun is within your room. You can say that, but the actual sun is far, far away, 93,000,000's miles away from us. So there are so many examples that we are energy of the Supreme Lord, we living entities. So the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam therefore begins with the first aphorism of Vedānta-sūtra, janmādy asya yataḥ [SB 1.1.1], the Absolute Truth. Vyāsadeva is giving you Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam after his mature experience. He wrote all the Vedic literatures, but he was not happy. So when he was not in his mood[?], he was deeply thinking that "What is the defect in my writings that after writing so many Vedic literatures I am not feeling very happy?" At that time his spiritual master happened to appear before him, and he explained that why he was not happy. He explained that "You have touched many subject matters about dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa---religion, economic development, sense gratification and liberation---but you have not explained about the Supreme Personality of Godhead; therefore you are feeling unhappy." So Vyāsadeva, after writing Vedānta-sūtra, he, by the instruction of Nārada Muni, his spiritual master, he compiled this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is explanation of the Vedānta-sūtra. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is explanation by the same author. Vyāsadeva is the author of the Vedānta-sūtra, and he explains what does he mean by the Sūtras. That is very nice. The author explains his mind. That is perfect explanation. I cannot understand the author's mind. I may imagine something, but you cannot understand the author's mind, what does he want to explain. Therefore Vyāsadeva explains himself about the Vedānta-sūtra = athāto brahma jijñāsā, janmādy asya yataḥ [SB 1.1.1]. The human life, atha, now it is the time for inquiring about the Supreme Absolute Truth. Not in other life. "Other" means other than the human life = animal life, beast life, plant life, aquatic life, insect life. There are so many, 8,400,000's of species of life. By evolutionary process, when we come to the human form of life, it is our duty to understand and inquire about Brahman. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. That Brahman is explained by the author, that Brahman is that from where everything emanates, janmādy asya yataḥ. Janma, śiti and loi[?]. Janma means birth, śiti means stay, and loi[?] means annihilation. So wherefrom everything is coming out, and from whom everything is staying, and after annihilation, where everything is entering---that is Brahman. Janmādy asya [SB 1.1.1]. Janma ādi. Now, that source of energy wherefrom everything is emanating, then what is the actual position of that thing? Is it inanimate or animate? Just like some scientist explains the theory of creation that "There was a chunk that was inanimate. From inanimate things animation has developed under certain condition." That is not possible. We have no such experience that from inanimate things some animation has developed. Sometimes we see, it is called vṛścika taṇḍula nyāya. Sometimes we see that from heap of rice stock, one scorpion is coming out. It does not mean that the inanimate rice has given birth to a scorpion. No. The actual fact is the scorpion lays down eggs within the rice; by fermentation they develop, and then it comes out. So there are different types of emanation. That is biological subject matter. But here in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Vyāsadeva says that origin of the emanation of everything, He is sentient, conscious. He is not like matter, unconscious. Janmādy asya yataḥ 'nvayād itarataś cārtheṣv abhijñaḥ sva-rāṭ. He says that the origin of creation must be conscious, abhijñaḥ. Abhijñaḥ means conscious. Unless the origin of creation is conscious, how things are so happening so rightly and nicely? How all the planets are rotating in their orbit, there is no collision, there is no fall-down? So there is a great plan. Therefore the creator must be conscious, a person. That is the verdict of Vyāsadeva. And anyone who is also conscious and intelligent can understand. He says, janmādy asya yataḥ anvayād. Anvayād: directly and indirectly. Directly He's conscious of the creation, and indirectly, as we are, we are also conscious because we are part and parcel of the Supreme. Another explanation is that my birth has taken place from my father. My father's birth has taken place from his father. In this way you go on researching---his father, his father, his father. So everyone is a conscious personality. So why the original source of everything should not be conscious personality? This is another reason. Conscious and person. Just like my father is conscious and person, his father is conscious and person. In this way you go on researching according to our Vedic knowledge, we come to Brahmā. Brahmā is considered to be the original creature within the universe, ādi-kavi. So now this Brahmā is also born from the navel lotus of Viṣṇu; the Viṣṇu, He must be conscious. Viṣṇu is conscious, abhijñaḥ. So the origin of creation cannot be unconscious. Origin of creation must be conscious. That is the version of the Vedas, Vedic literature. Janmādy asya yataḥ, this is the Vedānta-sūtra verse. He must be conscious. Now Vyāsadeva is explaining that supreme consciousness. He has already offered his respect, oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, janmādy asya yataḥ. Śrīpāda Śrīdhara Svāmī has commented on this oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya that Vāsudeva means kṛṣṇāya. Cinma karundaya kṛṣṇāya, he has said in his comment. Oṁ namo bhagavate parama..., paramahaṁsa asādhika caraṇa kamala.[?] Paramahaṁsa. This consciousness, supreme consciousness, can be realized by the paramahaṁsa asādhi. The paramahaṁsas can taste what is that supreme consciousness. Paramahaṁsa asādhika caraṇa kamala cinmakarundaya bhaktajana manasa nivasaya śrī kṛṣṇāya. Bhaktajana manasaya nivasaya. That Supreme Absolute Truth, cinmakarundaya, the blissful lotus within the heart, He lives there. He lives in everyone's heart. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati [Bg. 18.61]. Kṛṣṇa has explained that Īśvara, the Supreme Lord... He is the Supreme Lord. He says that Īśvara, the Supreme Lord, lives in everyone's heart, and He also lives there as Paramātmā, cinmakarundaya. So the Paramātmā and ātmā, both are living within the heart. Cinmakarundaya kṛṣṇāya. So Paramātmā is partial expansion of Kṛṣṇa, and jīvātmā is separated part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. And Kṛṣṇa is the original person, Supreme Personality of Godhead. īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇah sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ anādir ādir govindaḥ sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam [Bs. 5.1] Sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam. In the Bhagavad-gītā also it is said, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate [Bg. 10.8]. Sarvam means the creative deities = Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśvara. They are also from Kṛṣṇa. The Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśvara are called guṇa-avatāra of Kṛṣṇa, incarnation of the material qualities. Brahmā is incarnation of the material quality passion, rajo-guṇa, and Viṣṇu is incarnation of the quality of sattva-guṇa, and Lord Śiva is the incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in tamo-guṇa. So the example is explained in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also, what is the difference between Lord Śiva, Lord Brahmā and Lord Viṣṇu. The difference is they are one, but they are different manifestation. Just like firewood. In the wood there is fire. So in the beginning there is no fire, but when there is little fire, there is smoke, then there is ignition, flame. But we are concerned with the flame, neither with the wood nor with the smoke. Similarly, although Lord Śiva, Lord Viṣṇu and Lord Brahmā are different manifestation of the same thing, Absolute Truth, still we are concerned with the fire of Viṣṇu, not with the wood, nor with the fire.., er, smoke. This is the conclusion of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Therefore Vyāsadeva says that the original person, or the Absolute Truth, must be conscious, anvayād [indistinct]. Directly and indirectly He knows everything. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is also said, vedāhaṁ samatītāni [Bg. 7.26] = Kṛṣṇa knows everything, past, present and future. That is also explained in the Fourth Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, when Kṛṣṇa said that "Long, long ago I spoke this philosophy of Bhagavad-gītā to the sun-god." Vivasvān manave prāha, imaṁ ivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam. "This version of Bhagavad-gītā, avyayam, inexhaustible knowledge, was first spoken by Me to the sun-god." imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam vivasvān manave prāha manur ikṣvākave 'bravīt [Bg. 4.1] So at that time Arjuna inquired from Kṛṣṇa for clearance how Kṛṣṇa spoke millions of years ago this Bhagavad-gītā, or about this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, to the sun-god. He inquired as an ordinary man, "My dear Kṛṣṇa"---Kṛṣṇa was his friend and cousin-brother also---that "how can I believe that You spoke this Bhagavad-gītā millions and trillions of years ago to the sun-god?" What was the reply by Kṛṣṇa? The reply was, Kṛṣṇa said, [break] "...have forgotten. I remember all of it." "I remember all of it." That is the difference between Kṛṣṇa, or God, and the ordinary living entity. We have forgotten. If I ask you what you were doing last evening at this time, you will have to remember, "Yes. I was doing like that." I forget. But Kṛṣṇa will not forget. Therefore, this is described here, [indistinct Sanskrit]. He knows everything. [break] "I am sitting in everyone's heart." Sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭho mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca [Bg. 15.15]. "From Me there is remembrance; jñāna, knowledge; and forgetfulness." Kṛṣṇa... [break] Helps one to remember. He helps everyone to remember and He also helps... [break] That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā: ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham mama vartmānuvartante manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ [Bg. 4.11] So Kṛṣṇa is very kind, as I have already explained. Two spiritual identities, namely the ātmā and the Paramātmā, are there within your heart. The Paramātmā is giving you direction. Paramātmā is giving you direction. What kind of direction? Because I wanted to forget Kṛṣṇa, He sometimes gives me direction that "Yes, you forget like this." And anyone who wants to remember Kṛṣṇa, to revive Kṛṣṇa consciousness, He helps you also. This is Kṛṣṇa. Why? Because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is fully independent. That is also explained here---abhijñaḥ svarāṭ. Svarāṭ means fully independent. The Absolute Truth, the Supreme Person, is fully independent. Not only conscious, abhijñaḥ, but He is independent. But we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa; therefore the quality of independence of Kṛṣṇa is there, but in minute quantity. Our independence and Kṛṣṇa's independence is not the same. Just like here is the Arabian Sea. You take a drop of water from the Arabian Sea, you taste it, you'll find it is salty. The salt is there in a drop of the Arabian Sea water, and salt is there in the Arabian Sea. But the quantity of salt in the whole Arabian Sea and the quantity of salt in the drop of water, they are different. Similarly, because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, all the qualities of Kṛṣṇa, they are also present within us in minute quantity. And because it is in minute quantity, sometimes it becomes lost. Therefore our consciousness, originally, because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, our original consciousness is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but somehow or other, being in contact with this matter, we have lost our Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore this movement is to revive Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is our original constitutional position. That I was explaining, quoting the Bengali poet: kṛṣṇa bhuliya jīva bhoga vañcha kare pāśate māyā tāre jāpaṭiyā dhare [Prema-vivarta] Because somehow or other in material contact we have lost our Kṛṣṇa consciousness, it has to be revived. It has to be revived; then we shall be happy. That is the particular point we want to stress on this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement---revival of the original consciousness. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has explained this as ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam [Cc. Antya 20.12], cleansing the heart. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpanaṁ. If we cleanse our heart, that means if we come to the original Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpanaṁ: this blazing fire of material consciousness will immediately extinguish. That is the process. Every one of us trying to be happy, peaceful and blissful also, but unless we revive our original Kṛṣṇa consciousness, it is not possible. So this movement is very important movement, that we are attempting to revive one's original consciousness. The original consciousness is clean. Just like the water = originally, when it drops from the clouds, it is distilled water, clean, but as soon as it comes in touch with the muddy earth, it becomes unclean. Similarly, originally our consciousness was Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Now, in touch with the material modes of nature, we have formed different types of consciousness. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo asya sad-asad-yoni-janmaṣu [Bg. 13.22]. This is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Kāraṇam---the cause, the cause of our tribulation. What is that tribulation? Sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu. We are taking repeatedly birth, one after another, sometimes very good birth and sometimes very bad, sad asad. There are 8,400,000 species of life. Sometimes I may become Brahmā and sometimes I become the insect or the germ in the stool. That is my position. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya. Because we have lost the original consciousness, I am being in contact with the material modes of nature, means sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgaḥ. We are mixing with the different types of material qualities, and as such we are developing different modes of material nature in our consciousness. This consciousness has to be cleared. This consciousness... Even our consciousness is goodness... Just like there are many people who are very charitably disposed = they want to make charity, they want to open schools, that want to open hospitals. That is goodness. That is all right. But still it is material; it is not spiritual. Similarly, there are others also who are contacting the modes of passion, just like big, big kings, they are very much anxious or very much ambitious to expand their kingdom. This is called association with the modes of passion. Similarly, there are mixture also, mixture of goodness, passion and ignorance. So according to these different types of mixture, or original quality, there are different classes of men. That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā = cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ [Bg. 4.13]. These three qualities, when one is developed in the modes of goodness, he is very intelligent, or he is brāhmaṇa. When we are developed..., our consciousness is passion, that is called kṣatriya---brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya. And when it is mixed up, it is called vaiśya. And when it is ignorance, it is called śūdra. These are the divisions. So here Kṛṣṇa says, "If you want to transcend these qualitative situation of material life, then you have to come to Me." Because these are..., all these qualities are different modes of material nature, which is called māyā. So we are now compact in the association of māyā, in different qualities, and Kṛṣṇa says that mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te [Bg. 7.14]. If you actually want to revive your own consciousness, original consciousness, then you have to surrender. That is being explained by Vyāsadeva here, satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi [SB 1.1.1]. He says, satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi. Dhīmahi is gāyatrī-mantra = oṁ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ tat savitur vareṇyaṁ bhargo devasya dhīmahi. So by brahminical culture, by chanting the gāyatrī-mantra or the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, gradually we become purified. That is explained by Caitanya Mahāprabhu, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam [Cc. Antya 20.12]. Come to the original consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then you'll become happy. Original consciousness, the beginning of original consciousness = to understand one's self as Brahman, not matter. Brahman means spirit. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi: "I'm not matter, I'm spirit soul." This is the beginning of spiritual consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā: brahma bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām [Bg. 18.54] Unless you come to the platform of brahma bhūta consciousness, you cannot treat everyone on the same level. It is not possible. The so-called universal brotherhood is not possible on this material condition of life. Therefore you can see that materially there are so many attempts to find out a platform of universal brotherhood. But there is no universal brotherhood. There is simply platform of enemy. The United Nation is trying to come to the platform of universal brotherhood. When I go to New York, I see the great institution. There are hundreds and thousands of flags. Instead of being united, the flags are increasing, because this universal brotherhood, this equality, fraternity, cannot be established on this material platform. That is not possible. You have to come to the point, to the platform of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or brahma bhūta stage, then it is possible. brahma bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām [Bg. 18.54] So everything is scientifically described in the Vedic literature. You haven't got to make any research. It is already there. You have to simply accept it and take it. Then your life will be sublime, your life will be successful. Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission is that, to make everyone's life successful. Sarve sukhino bhavantu: everyone become happy. That is the mission of everyone. "Everyone" means those who are devotees. How people will be happy? That is their mission. It is not that we start a mission just to make some money and to fill up our belly, hungry belly. No. It is a mission to see that everyone is happy in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is the mission. Our ācāryas, just like Rūpa Goswāmī, about him Śrinivāsācarya writes, nana-śāstra-vicaraṇaika-nipunau sad-dharma-pravarthakau lokanam hita-karinau tri-bhuvane manyau saranyakarau radha-kṛṣṇa ... bhajananandena-mattalikau vande rupa-sanātana raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau [Ṣaḍ-gosvāmy-aṣṭaka] They engaged themselves. They were ministers. Rūpa Goswāmī and Sanātana Goswāmī, they were two great ministers in the government of Pathan kingdom in Bengal. And they resigned the post just for the benefit of the mass of people. They became mendicant, tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śreṇīṁ. So this is the mission of all who is born in India. That is the statement by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, bhārata bhumite haila manuṣya-janma yāra janma sārthaka kari kara para-upakāra [Cc. Ādi 9.41] So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is for para-upakāra, for doing good to others---this best welfare activities in the world. And it is India's duty, it is India's prerogative to take this knowledge and broadcast all over the world for para-upakāra. And actually it is happening. All these European and American boys and girls, they are trying to understand this Kṛṣṇa conscious movement very seriously. So it is very scientific, authorized and practical also. So we hope that all of you who are present here will try to cooperate with this movement, and let us meet at least so long as I am here. That will be very much beneficial. Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Devotee: All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. [end]
tasmād asaktaḥ satataṁ kāryaṁ karma samācara asakto hy ācaran karma param āpnoti pūruṣaḥ 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. The Supreme is the Personality of Godhead for the devotees, and liberation for the impersonalist. A person, therefore, 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. Arjuna is told that he should fight in the Battle of Kurukṣetra for the interest of Kṛṣṇa because Kṛṣṇa wanted him to fight. To be a good man or a nonviolent man is a personal attachment, but to act on behalf of the Supreme is to act without attachment for the result. That is perfect action of the highest degree, recommended by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ viṣṇur mahān sa iha yasya kalā-viśeṣo govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi 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. The supreme majesty of the subjective nature of Viṣṇu is shown here.
sārdha sapta-prahara kare bhaktira sādhane cāri daṇḍa nidrā, seha nahe kona-dine He engaged himself in devotional service for more than twenty-two and a half hours a day, and for less than two hours he slept, although on some days that also was not possible. None
Prabhupāda: They'll never accept it. But if they simply accept chanting, it will work. [tape of Prabhupāda chanting Govindam prayers in background] [break] ...say on these big, big buildings, but chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gurukṛpā: Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ [SB 10.14.3]. Prabhupāda: If you make condition that you stop this, it will be failure. And it is not possible. Gurukṛpā: I don't think you did like that in the beginning. Prabhupāda: Eh? Gurukṛpā: In the beginning you just asked everyone to chant, and naturally they wanted to do more after. Prabhupāda: And if they chant, gradually they'll be purified. [chants japa] [break] ...you take another body, you will greet... This philosophy does not appeal to the Westerners. Eh? I think so. "Oh, what nonsense this is, speaking?" Eh? Do they not think like that? Gurukṛpā: Yes, they do. Prabhupāda: But that is the actual fact. Devotee (1): This philosophy's alien to everything they've heard, so it's different than everything they've heard. Prabhupāda: No, no, the... A fact is there. Why it is alien? Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Well, the Western religions have taught that whatever you do in this lifetime will determine whether you go to heaven or hell, and there's no second chance. Prabhupāda: So... So they are not afraid of going to hell? There are two alternatives = either heaven or hell. But if he's going to hell? Gurukṛpā: That's why they have confession. Prabhupāda: Oh, finished, everything. Devotee (2): Contract. Prabhupāda: How he...? Gurukṛpā: Like my father is very sinful, but he would always say, "The good Lord is protecting me." He would always say, "God, God," but he never would follow anything. [break] Prabhupāda: ...wars? Why...? Why the God does not stop the wars? And they are so much afraid of war. What is the answer? Gurukṛpā: Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti [SB 5.5.4]. They are mad for sense gratification. Prabhupāda: No. That is all right, but God... Your father says Lord will protect, but when there is atomic bomb, why He does not protect? Gurukṛpā: Well, up to now He's protected. Prabhupāda: He is protected. Others are not protected. So his term has not yet come. But what is the answer, that "Lord has become your obedient servant to protect. And when He does not?" Actually, He does not. The... In Europe they are very, very much afraid of war, next war. You know that? It becomes a terrible fright for them. Therefore war was not declared. They are very much frightened. They have suffered two big world wars. So why the God did not protect them? [break] So cow dung philosophy. Cow dung philosophy you know? That one cow dung is just passed through, and the other cow dung is being burned. So this cow dung is laughing, "Oh, you are burned." [laughter] He does not know that when the..., she will be burned. She will be dried up; she will be burned. So your father's logic is like that, "I am protected," laughing at the death of others. Cow dung philosophy. Gurukṛpā: I wouldn't even give him cow dung. Too good for him. [break] Prabhupāda: ...gobar hase. Gobar means just fresh cow dung. And she is laughing. And the dry cow dung, he is burning. Ghute pore gobar hase. This is little logic is very good. Devotee (1): Some people think, "I will never grow old and die." Prabhupāda: Kim āścaryam ataḥ param. ahany ahani lokāni gacchanti yama-mandiram śeṣaḥ sthitam icchanti kim āścaryam ataḥ param [Mahābhārata] That is the eighth wonder. [break] Gurukṛpā: ...yesterday that in India even a simple village man, he has no material affluence, and still he can understand he is not this body. But here they are big, big learned philosophers, and they cannot understand the first thing. Prabhupāda: But how they received, eh? You were present. They came to receive = "Oh, it is our great fortune you have come." And in your country, it is trespassing. Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: That was when we were in the field in Vṛndāvana. Prabhupāda: Yes. Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Very poor farmers came up very nicely to greet Prabhupāda. Devotee (1): The Western people want to think they're the body. Otherwise how can they enjoy all their technology? Prabhupāda: Hmm? What is that? Devotee (1): They want to think they're the body. They don't want to hear that "I'm not the body," because if they're not in illusion, they can't try and enjoy so much the things of the West. Prabhupāda: That means foolish, less intelligent. Gurukṛpā: We are walking across everyone's field to go the river, and they are saying, "Haribol!" Prabhupāda: Yes. Gurukṛpā: Here they are coming with dogs. Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Fences. Gurukṛpā: Especially if it's a devotee, they'll be more eager to shoot. [break] Prabhupāda: ...foreign or this, a small river. [break] Devotee (2): 1717. Captain Cook. Gurukṛpā: He's the same one that went to Hawaii. Prabhupāda: Oh. Gurukṛpā: You know, and they never saw a white man there before. So the natives there in Hawaii were very enamored to see such a big white man, so they took him as God, and they were worshiping him. And one day... Prabhupāda: Captain Cook? Gurukṛpā: Yes. And one day he was walking across the rocks and he hit his foot on a rock and he began to bleed. When they saw the blood, they said, "He is not a God. He is just like us." So they killed him and ate him. Prabhupāda: Oh, oh. Killed him? Gurukṛpā: Yeah, they killed him and ate him. Prabhupāda: Ācchā? Gurukṛpā: Yeah. Prabhupāda: He was eaten? Gurukṛpā: Yes. [laughter] He was taking advantage of their ignorance. [break] Prabhupāda: ...these original Hawaiians, they were man-eaters. Gurukṛpā: Yes. Devotee (1): No, they weren't. They just ate him. He had been there a couple of times, so they became suspicious when he came back. He had been exploiting them. [break] Gurukṛpā: ...were so worried, but this country is so big, and there's only twelve million people. More people live in New York City than in this whole country. And they say "overpopulation." Prabhupāda: They would not allow. Gurukṛpā: Yes, they don't allow. Devotee (3): They have the "White Australia policy." Prabhupāda: Hmm? Devotee (3): "White Australia policy." [break] Prabhupāda: ...Chinese man, Indians, they will come in large number. But they will not allow. That is the difficulty. Gurukṛpā: There's more cows in this country than people. Prabhupāda: They are killing? Gurukṛpā: They are eating them. Prabhupāda: And other countries, they are starving for want of milk. Therefore I say the United Nation simply barking dogs. What is the value if they cannot adjust? United Nation, all the nations should take advantage all the facilities offered, but that they will not allow. And they are named "United Nation." Just see. Farce. Devotee (1): In New Zealand they have a hundred million tons of surplus milk powder, and they can't sell it, so they decided to feed it to the pigs. They could send it all over the world. Prabhupāda: Why not take it free and send it to India? [break] ...of the world. Everything is sufficiently there, but still, some are starving and some are enjoying, for want of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Gurukṛpā: The rascals, they try to blame everything on Kṛṣṇa by saying, "Why is Kṛṣṇa letting people starve?" Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa is giving them sufficient. They are mismanaging. Still, Kṛṣṇa is still bad. Envious. Kṛṣṇa created this earth. Did He say, "This is for the Australians. This is for the Americans"? Did He say? Why you are keeping so much land as "Australia"? That is also Kṛṣṇa's fault? Australia was never given to the Englishmen. They came and they, by force they took it. So similarly America, the land was there. Devotee (3): They call this colonization, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Prabhupāda: Whatever you may call, there are thieves, rogues and thieves. That's all. Devotee (3): Exploiting. Gurukṛpā: Now they're dividing up the booty, fighting over it. Prabhupāda: That story, that some thieves stolen. Now, when they are dividing, they say, "Please honestly, religious divide." [laughs] The things are stolen, and now it is to be divided religiously. The foundation of the thing is stealing, and they are dividing in... Now they are making laws, morality. Devotee (1): They have a saying, "Honor among thieves." Prabhupāda: Yes. [break] This has been named [indistinct], kaitava, simply cheating. Dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra [SB 1.1.2]. The duplicity, hypocrisy, is there completely rejected. Gurukṛpā: Kṛṣṇa is a better cheater, though. He will cheat them in the end. Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa is not cheater. The Kṛṣṇa's energy is so powerful that anyone who is a cheater, he will be cheated, that's all. Automatically. [break] If you infect some disease, you'll have to suffer, automatically. It is not that the disease has to be injected. No. Because you have infected, you'll suffer. The same law is there = you have done this sinful---you'll suffer that. That is the cycle of birth and death. You have created mentality; you'll become the same animal, and you suffer. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya [Bg. 13.22]. [break] ...very clear. We have seen this cloud, extraordinary. Devotee (2): They can also... Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: The horn. The horn[?]. Prabhupāda: Yes. Devotee (2): So it's very dirty river. Prabhupāda: Ah. Devotee (3): They say it is the upside-down river. It is more blue on the bottom than it is on the top. Devotee (2): In factories they put all of their waste into the river. [break] Devotee (1): Prabhupāda, last night you were describing how people serve their dogs. And now, in the Western countries, they have restaurants where you can take your dog, and he sits at the table with you and they serve a meal for him. And they have catering services. You can call up, and they will bring a special meal to your dog, so he can eat at his home. They have beauty parlors for dogs---everything. Prabhupāda: Yes, they have taken dogs as God. According to Vedic civilization, dog is untouchable. [break] ...all the centers, then how many days it takes? Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: To visit all of our centers in the world? Prabhupāda: No, Europe, America. That is world round. Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: About three months if you stayed one day in each center. Prabhupāda: No, no, no. One day only? Gurukṛpā: Thirty-five days. Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: No, no, to visit each center and stay there for some time. Gurukṛpā: Some time? Prabhupāda: "Some time" means five to seven days. Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Prabhupāda: Say average, six days. Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: At least a half a year---six months, seven months. Prabhupāda: So, so much time. Gurukṛpā: Some of the temples are very small, though. Prabhupāda: No, average... Gurukṛpā: They can come to the big temple. Like here we have three centers. They all come here. Say the big ones in America, there's about six, six, seven big temples which the others can go to. They have facility to accommodate them. Then six or seven temples would be about a month and a half. Prabhupāda: And similarly six and seven there in Europe. Gurukṛpā: Europe, there are... England, France and let's say Germany. No, that's big. Say about... Prabhupāda: Switzerland. Gurukṛpā: ...four or five weeks. Altogether it's eleven weeks, maybe even two and a half, three months. Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: I think you were possibly wanting to stop in Tehran this year on the way back to India? Prabhupāda: Hmm, yes. Devotee (2): We have word from the Melbourne City Council that they intend now not to let us have our annual Rathayātrā festival. Prabhupāda: Eh? Devotee (2): They want to stop our Rathayātrā festival. Prabhupāda: Where? Devotee (2): In Melbourne. We have got official letter from the City Council, and they are saying that we need not apply anymore. Prabhupāda: Hmm. That? Gurukṛpā: So we will make propaganda several months before the festival. Prabhupāda: No, you can go to the court. Devotee (2): They are claiming we make too much mess on the streets after the festival, too many flowers on the streets. Prabhupāda: So it is a festival. There must be crowd. You have no festival? Unfortunate. Gurukṛpā: They have festival, and it's beer cans, not flowers. Prabhupāda: So you must fight to the court. How they can stop? It is our religious function. [pause] [break] Prabhupāda: ...to curb down this movement. In Europe, America, Australia... Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda. [break] Prabhupāda: ...[indistinct] [in car] Gurukṛpā: Things are to stop their farms. Prabhupāda: I think so. They have gone deliberately. We are against cow-killing, so if the movement increases, then their cow-killing may be jeopardized. Gurukṛpā: Then they'd have to close many farms. On the grounds that milk causes hepatitis... Prabhupāda: Yes. Gurukṛpā: ...they'd have to close many farms. The government gives aid to so many different groups, but they will not give any aid to our group, although we are doing the most work. Prabhupāda: What is the reason? Devotee (1): [indistinct] Gurukṛpā: No, we are too much revolutionary for them, our lifestyle, everything. Prabhupāda: That means they do not like this movement. Gurukṛpā: Just like those people that came yesterday. They could appreciate our movement, but if they felt that we jeopardized their job or something of that nature, then they would go against us. 'Cause we are very small, but if we became very popular movement, so... Prabhupāda: Then what to do? Gurukṛpā: Go on with our work. Prabhupāda: Yes. Gurukṛpā: We are here to please Kṛṣṇa... Prabhupāda: That's it. Gurukṛpā: ...not to please them. Prabhupāda: One thing immediately inform Rāmeśvara. In the Bhagavad-gītā yesterday they have edited "cattle-raising." Gurukṛpā: Kṛṣi-go-rakṣya. Prabhupāda: But not cattle-raising. Cattle-raising means to grow and killing. That is the... Means the rascals, they have edited. Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, and we're.... [interference] Prabhupāda: And "protection of cows," clearly. Gurukṛpā: Chapter Eighteen, Bhagavad-gītā, that the vaiśyas work... Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Oh, kṛṣi-go-rakṣya. Prabhupāda: Ah, kṛṣi-go-rakṣya. Immediately inform them. Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Okay. I noticed that also. I thought it was strange, some time back. [break] Prabhupāda: Hayagrīva edited. He thought "cattle-raising." Not "cattle-raising," but the word... There... It is mistranslation. It is go-rakṣya, "giving protection to the cows." Especially mentioned, go-rakṣya, not otherwise. The animal-eaters may take other animals, but not cow. They can take the pig, goats, lambs, rabbits, so many others, if they at all want to eat meat. Birds, these so many. There is no such mention that "Animals should be protected." No. "Cows should be protected." That is Kṛṣṇa's order. [break] They have decided to kill the cow. They have decided, "No brain. Eat." And our prayer is go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca, "to do good to the brāhmaṇas and the cows." Actually it is revolutionary to the modern age. But how it is possible we say otherwise? That Bon Mahārāja came and said. Right? Am I right? When Bon Mahārāja here... When our students said something, "Oh, that you cannot say. That you cannot say." He said like that. Gurukṛpā: Yeah? Prabhupāda: Yes. Gurukṛpā: We can say; you cannot say. Prabhupāda: He's such a rascal. Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: [indistinct] says the devotees... We're preaching along the lines that we're preaching, and he was saying, "You cannot say this"? Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Gurukṛpā: Just like we don't say, "You are a rascal." We say, "Kṛṣṇa says you are a rascal." Prabhupāda: Yes. Gurukṛpā: "So you are saying Kṛṣṇa cannot say?" Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīm [Cc. Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4]. He's looking for some following. Prabhupāda: That's all. Gurukṛpā: He cannot hit the heart. Prabhupāda: He was begging, "Give me. Give me transportion check." Who is the rascal that he'll give him transportation check? What he is? But he is such a fool, he's begging, "Give me transportation check." Why they'll give you? Then what benefit they'll derive? But he has no common sense to think. Gurukṛpā: That is what I think this disease is with the Siddha's group. They are looking for followers, and they do not preach in your style because they would not attract people. Prabhupāda: Śrīdhara's group? Gurukṛpā: Yes. Prabhupāda: Śrīdhara Svāmī? Gurukṛpā: No, Siddha-svarūpa. Prabhupāda: Oh, Siddha-svarūpa, oh. Gurukṛpā: They are after followers, and they do not speak strongly, for then people would go away. Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: In one sense it's also confirmed by Rūpa Gosvāmī, yena tena prakāreṇa manaḥ kṛṣṇe niveśayet, sarve vidhi-niṣedhā syur... [Brs. 1.2.4]. Prabhupāda: Eh? Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: That "First of all help people to think of Kṛṣṇa, and then later on, the rules and regulations..." Gurukṛpā: But we follow in the footsteps... Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ [Cc. Madhya 17.186]. We must follow what the spiritual master is doing. We cannot create our own way. Then we will not be successful. Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: No, that's true, but... Gurukṛpā: That is their idea. They have created their own way to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Prabhupāda: Yes, that idea is there. They are thinking of their own way. That is bad. We have got so much..., so many literatures. They are printing their own literature and... That is disturbing, yes. What he'll prepare? He's not a liberated person. He's thinking, somebody said, that "I'll give my interpretation on Bhāgavata." If these things are going, they are... It is against our principles. [break] Gurukṛpā: You know how to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness; therefore I follow. I don't even know what Kṛṣṇa is. I'm just trying to follow. Therefore that will be successful. Prabhupāda: That is my preaching. What Kṛṣṇa said, you say as it is. Don't change. How you can give interpretation? And if he thinks that he can give another interpretation, what is this nonsense? Then he's not following guru or Kṛṣṇa, both. Guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya [Cc. Madhya 19.151]. One has to receive the mercy of guru and Kṛṣṇa. Through guru, Kṛṣṇa's mercy. Gurukṛpā: If they go on like this, can this be considered sampradāya-vihīna ye mantras te viphalaṁ mataḥ [Padma Purāṇa]? That is, their mantra is not so effective if people are surrendering to Kṛṣṇa. [break] [end]
suhṛdo jñātayaḥ putrā bhrātaraḥ pitarāv api nānusmaranti sva-janaṁ yasya daivam adakṣiṇam Friends and family members — even children, brothers and parents — forget a dear one whom Providence no longer favors. Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī and Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura both comment that Kuntī does not blame her relatives for her suffering. Thus she calls them “most saintly persons” and alludes here to her own bad fortune as the cause of her unhappiness.
taṁ bandhum āgataṁ dṛṣṭvā dharma-putraḥ sahānujaḥ dhṛtarāṣṭro yuyutsuś ca sūtaḥ śāradvataḥ pṛthā When they saw Vidura return to the palace, all the inhabitants — Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, his younger brothers, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Sātyaki, Sañjaya, Kṛpācārya, Kuntī, Gāndhārī, Draupadī, Subhadrā, Uttarā, Kṛpī, many other wives of the Kauravas, and other ladies with children — all hurried to him in great delight. It so appeared that they had regained their consciousness after a long period. Gāndhārī: The ideal chaste lady in the history of the world. She was the daughter of Mahārāja Subala, the King of Gāndhāra (now Kandahar in Kabul), and in her maiden state she worshiped Lord Śiva. Lord Śiva is generally worshiped by Hindu maidens to get a good husband. Gāndhārī satisfied Lord Śiva, and by his benediction to obtain one hundred sons, she was betrothed to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, despite his being blind forever. When Gāndhārī came to know that her would-be husband was a blind man, to follow her life companion she decided to become voluntarily blind. So she wrapped up her eyes with many silk linens, and she was married to Dhṛtarāṣṭra under the guidance of her elder brother Śakuni. She was the most beautiful girl of her time, and she was equally qualified by her womanly qualities, which endeared every member of the Kaurava court. But despite all her good qualities, she had the natural frailties of a woman, and she was envious of Kuntī when the latter gave birth to a male child. Both the queens were pregnant, but Kuntī first gave birth to a male child. Thus Gāndhārī became angry and gave a blow to her own abdomen. As a result, she gave birth to a lump of flesh only, but since she was a devotee of Vyāsadeva, by the instruction of Vyāsadeva the lump was divided into one hundred parts, and each part gradually developed to become a male child. Thus her ambition to become the mother of one hundred sons was fulfilled, and she began to nourish all the children according to her exalted position. When the intrigue of the Battle of Kurukṣetra was going on, she was not in favor of fighting with the Pāṇḍavas; rather, she blamed Dhṛtarāṣṭra, her husband, for such a fratricidal war. She desired that the state be divided into two parts, for the sons of Pāṇḍu and her own. She was very affected when all her sons died in the Battle of Kurukṣetra, and she wanted to curse Bhīmasena and Yudhiṣṭhira, but she was checked by Vyāsadeva. Her mourning over the death of Duryodhana and Duḥśāsana before Lord Kṛṣṇa was very pitiful, and Lord Kṛṣṇa pacified her by transcendental messages. She was equally aggrieved on the death of Karṇa, and she described to Lord Kṛṣṇa the lamentation of Karṇa’s wife. She was pacified by Śrīla Vyāsadeva when he showed her dead sons, then promoted to the heavenly kingdoms. She died along with her husband in the jungles of the Himālayas near the mouth of the Ganges; she burned in a forest fire. Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira performed the death ceremony of his uncle and aunt.
tāte jāni — pūrve tomāra pāñāche prasāda tāhā vinā nahe tomāra hṛdayānuvāda” “Had You not previously bestowed Your mercy on him,” they said, “it would not have been possible for him to express Your internal feelings.” Devotees acknowledge Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s special mercy upon Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī in the following words:
ei saba haya śrī-kṛṣṇera avatāra nirantara dekhi sabāra bhaktira ācāra These are all incarnations of Lord Kṛṣṇa, yet we always find that they act as devotees. None
yadyapi āmāra sparśa koṭīndu-śītala rādhikāra sparśe āmā kare suśītala “And although My touch is cooler than ten million moons, I am refreshed by the touch of Śrīmatī Rādhikā. None
tvam ādi-devaḥ puruṣaḥ purāṇas tvam asya viśvasya paraṁ nidhānam vettāsi vedyaṁ ca paraṁ ca dhāma tvayā tataṁ viśvam ananta-rūpa You are the original Personality of Godhead, the oldest, the ultimate sanctuary of this manifested cosmic world. You are the knower of everything, and You are all that is knowable. You are the supreme refuge, above the material modes. O limitless form! This whole cosmic manifestation is pervaded by You! Everything is resting on the Supreme Personality of Godhead; therefore He is the ultimate rest. Nidhānam means that everything, even the Brahman effulgence, rests on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. He is the knower of everything that is happening in this world, and if knowledge has any end, He is the end of all knowledge; therefore He is the known and the knowable. He is the object of knowledge because He is all-pervading. Because He is the cause in the spiritual world, He is transcendental. He is also the chief personality in the transcendental world.
kintu śāstra-dṛṣṭye eka kari anumāna śrī-bhāgavata-śāstra — tāhāte pramāṇa “But I can make a guess in terms of directions from the śāstra. The Vedic scripture Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam gives the direct evidence in this matter. None
eta bali namaskari’ gelā gopī-gaṇa hena-kāle rādhā āsi’ dilā daraśana After saying this and offering obeisances, all the gopīs dispersed. Then Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī came and appeared before Lord Kṛṣṇa. None
Letter to: Bhutatma My dear Bhutatma, Please accept my blessings. I am in receipt of your letter sated December 11, 1973. I hereby accept the following devotees for first and second initiation as recommended by you: John - Vatsara dasa Elena - Kalakantha dasi Peter - Vatsala dasa Deborah - Sasikala dasi Paul - Vatsi das Cheryl - Kandarpa-sundari dasi Naomi - Kamalalita dasi Enclosed find three sacred threads and three gayatri mantras for the second initiates. Hold a fire yajna, after which they may listen to the mantra once through the right ear from from the cassette tape I have have made. You may send the beads of the first initiates to Kirtanananda Maharaj and send it to me in Los Angeles. I hope this meets you well. Your ever well wisher, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami ACBS/Kda ISKCON San Francisco Enclosures - 6
kṛṣṇera prābhava-vilāsa — vāsudevādi cāri jana sei cāri-janāra vilāsa — viṁśati gaṇana “Vāsudeva and the three others are direct prābhava pastime forms of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Of these quadruple forms, the pastime expansions are twenty in number. None

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