Srila Prabhupada speaks on: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.3.23

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.3.23

Los Angeles, June 20, 1972

Audio for this lecture: https://prabhupadavani.org/transcriptions/720620sbla/
Prabhupada Radio: https://prabhupadaradio.com

Prabhupāda: Hmm.

Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Page 161, text 23. [leads chanting of verse] [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat]

jīvañ chavo bhāgavatāṅghri-reṇuṁ
na jātu martyo 'bhilabheta yas tu
śrī-viṣṇu-padyā manujas tulasyāḥ
śvasañ chavo yas tu na veda gandham
[SB 2.3.23]

Prabhupāda: Karandhara? Now, word meaning.

Pradyumna: [leads chanting of synonyms]

jīvan---while living; śavaḥ---a dead body; bhāgavata-aṅghri-reṇum---

[break] the dust of the feet of a pure devotee; na---never; jātu---at any time; martyaḥ---mortal; abhilabheta---particularly received; yaḥ---a person; tu---but; śrī---with opulence; viṣṇu-padyāḥ---of the lotus feet of Viṣṇu; manu-jaḥ---a descendant of Manu (a man); tulasyāḥ---leaves of the tulasī tree; śvasan---while breathing; śavaḥ---still a dead body; yaḥ---who; tu---but; na veda---never experienced; gandham---the flavor.

[08:08]

Translation = "The person who has not at any time received the dust of the feet of a pure devotee of the Lord upon his head certainly is a dead body. And the person who has never experienced the flavor of the tulasī leaves from the lotus feet of the Lord is also a dead body, [break] although breathing."

Prabhupāda: So... Prahlāda Mahārāja was asked by his father, "How did you develop this Kṛṣṇa consciousness?" So he replied that naiṣāṁ matis tāvad urukramāṅghrim [SB 7.5.32] = "This Kṛṣṇa consciousness cannot be developed..." Spṛśaty anartha upasamo yad-arthaḥ. Kṛṣṇa consciousness, development of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, means anartha upasama. Anartha means things we do not require. Anartha. Artha, anartha. Artha means which is essentially required, and anartha means which is not required; artificially we have requisitioned.

So when one grows his Kṛṣṇa consciousness, immediately his artificial life becomes finished. Bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt [SB 11.2.42]. This is the symptom of development of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that he's not any more interested for material, unnecessary things. This is the test. If one is increasing Kṛṣṇa consciousness, at the same time he has got full attachment for material things, that means he's not developing. Material things means āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca: eating, sleeping, mating and defending.

So sometimes the karmīs are afraid of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, because they know that as soon as one becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious, he is no more interested with these material things. Just like we say, "Don't eat meat." So actually, if all people become Kṛṣṇa conscious and give up meat-eating, then the slaughterhouse will be closed. Automatically. We say no meat-eating and no intoxication. So if all people become Kṛṣṇa conscious and give up drinking and smoking, the big business---breweries and cigarette manufacturers---will be closed.

Similarly, no illicit sex. If people take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then so many brothels and clubs and nudies and everything will be closed. So they are afraid of their business; therefore they don't encourage this movement. Because ultimately, if this movement goes on, then where they stand? Everywhere we go, the advertisement is for intoxication, for sex and for meat-eating. These are the advertisements. Business is going on very nicely.

But Kṛṣṇa consciousness means viraktir anyatra syāt. If one tastes Kṛṣṇa consciousness, like the dust of a pure devotee, if he takes the dust of the lotus feet of a pure devotee, immediately he becomes freed from all these unnecessary demands.

naiṣāṁ matis tāvad urukramāṅghriṁ
spṛśaty anarthāpagamo yad-arthaḥ
niṣkiñcanānāṁ... niṣkiñcanānāṁ...
mahīyasāṁ pāda-rajo-'bhiṣekhaṁ
[SB 7.5.32]

Kṛṣṇa consciousness cannot be developed unless one takes the dust of the lotus feet of a pure devotee. This is these words, Prahlāda Mahārāja's remark. In other words, unless one comes in contact with a pure devotee, Kṛṣṇa consciousness cannot be developed. It is not possible. Therefore here it is recommended by Sūta Gosvāmī that jīvañ chavo bhāgavatāṅghri-reṇuṁ na jātu martyo 'bhilabheta yas tu. Reṇu. Reṇu means dust.

If one does not try to secure the dust of the lotus feet of bhāgavata... Bhāgavata means pure devotee of the Lord. One bhāgavata is this book Bhāgavata, another bhāgavata, the person bhāgavata. Who lives on the book Bhāgavata, he is person bhāgavata. Two kinds of bhāgavata. So we have to learn Bhāgavatam from the living bhāgavata.

Caitanya Mahāprabhu's secretary, Svarūpa Dāmodara, he advised one brāhmaṇa. One brāhmaṇa wrote something about Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. There were many poets and writers used to come and visit Caitanya Mahāprabhu when He was at Jagannātha Purī, and they would present some writings, but these writings would not be presented before Caitanya Mahāprabhu unless it was sanctioned by His secretary, Svarūpa Dāmodara. That was the system. So one brāhmaṇa, he wrote one poetry that... The purport of the poetry was that "Jagannātha is Kṛṣṇa. But He cannot move. He's wooden Kṛṣṇa. And Caitanya Mahāprabhu is also Kṛṣṇa, but He is moving Kṛṣṇa." That means he distinguished between Jagannātha and Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

So this is not siddhānta. This is not conclusion of the śāstra. Śāstra conclusion is = the Deity and Kṛṣṇa, the same. There is no difference. We have many times explained this. Deity, the worshipful Deity in the temple, is not different from Kṛṣṇa. So Svarūpa Dāmodara did not approve of the poetry to be presented to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. At that time he chastised him, that "You do not know the conclusion, and you dare to write some poetry. Don't do this." And he said, bhāgavata para giya bhāgavata-sthāne: "If you want to understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, then you go and study Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from the pure devotee. Then you'll understand. Otherwise, you'll write all these nonsense." Bhāgavata para giya bhāgavata-sthāne. So one bhāgavata... The two bhāgavatas. You study Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from living bhāgavata. So if one does not take or does not surrender unto the living bhāgavata, he cannot understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Many scholarly, learned scholar, Sanskrit scholar, they cannot understand Bhāgavatam. I have seen many scholar, they cannot understand Bhāgavata. Sanskrit scholar, they will read, but they will not be able to understand. Similarly, Bhagavad-gītā also. If anyone studies Bhagavad-gītā from scholarly point of view, A-B-C-D, he'll not understand. Kṛṣṇa therefore said that "Arjuna, I shall speak the lessons of Bhāgavata unto you because you are My very dear friend and you are My devotee." Kṛṣṇa did not want to speak Śrīmad..., Bhagavad-gītā to a scholarly student. No. These books are not to be understood by mundane scholarship. That is not possible, all the Vedic śāstras. All the Vedic śāstras.

There is a big commentary on Bhagavad-gītā by a great scholar and political leader, Lokmanya Tilak. So one of his devotee... He's also politician. When I was in London in 1968... So he has got a society there. They're preaching the Tilak's political view, like that. He has got a... So he came to see me, and he was very much eulogizing Lokmanya Tilak, that he has written his big commentary, Karma-yoga. So he wanted to invite me in talk on Tilak's great task. So I told him that "Tilak does not understand Bhagavad-gītā." So immediately he was surprised. Then we had a talk, and I convinced him that "Tilak was a politician, maybe a big scholar, but that does not mean he can understand Bhagavad-gītā."

Bhagavad-gītā is understood by devotee. He may be illiterate; it doesn't matter. Still... As Caitanya Mahāprabhu certified the illiterate brāhmaṇa who was reading Bhagavad-gītā in Raṅganātha temple... You know the story. The brāhmaṇa was illiterate. His guru ordered him that "You read Bhagavad-gītā daily, eighteen chapters." So he could not refuse the order of Guru Mahārāja; so he was taking the book and simply seeing. So those who knew that he was illiterate, they were criticizing, "Well, brāhmaṇa, how you are reading Bhagavad-gītā?" He could not answer, because he knew that "I am illiterate. I do not know."

Caitanya Mahāprabhu saw this fun and approached him, "Well, brāhmaṇa, what you are reading?" So he could understand that this Caitanya Mahāprabhu has not come to criticize him = "He's serious." So he informed Him, "Sir, I am reading Bhagavad-gītā, but I am illiterate. I am illiterate, but my spiritual master has ordered to read. So what can I do? I have taken this book and moving these pages, that's all. What can I do? Actually I cannot read."

Then Caitanya Mahāprabhu inquired, "But I see you are sometimes crying." "Yes, sir, I sometimes cry." "Why?" "Now, because as soon as I take this book in my hand and I see the picture that Lord Kṛṣṇa is driving the chariot of Arjuna, I cry. 'Oh, Kṛṣṇa is so kind that He has taken the service of His devotee. He should have been seated on the chariot---Arjuna should have driven the chariot---but He's driving the chariot and Arjuna is sitting on the seat. So Kṛṣṇa is so kind and beloved that He can serve His devotee. It is the duty of the devotee to serve Him, but He's so kind and affectionate that He serves His devotee.' So as soon as I think of this---Kṛṣṇa's magnanimity---I cry."

Then immediately, Caitanya Mahāprabhu embraced him, that "You are... Your reading of Bhagavad-gītā is perfect, because you have understood the essence of the Bhagavad-gītā." The scholars, they will say... When Kṛṣṇa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru [Bg. 18.65], the scholars will say, "It is not to Kṛṣṇa the person, it is to the impersonal Brahman which is within Kṛṣṇa." They cannot conceive that the Supreme Absolute Truth can become a person.

They cannot conceive. Such a huge cosmic manifestation is created by a person like us, resembling like us, two hands, two legs---their poor brain cannot accommodate. Paraṁ bhāvam ajānantaḥ. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam [Bg. 9.11]. That is stated in Bhagavad-gītā. Mūḍhāḥ, "Fools and rascals," avajānanti, "deride at Me, thinking Me as ordinary man." Paraṁ bhāvam ajānantaḥ: "He does not know what is the transcendental potency behind Me." Paraṁ bhāvam ajānantaḥ.

So the Māyāvādīs and poor fund of knowledge, they cannot understand Kṛṣṇa unless he becomes a devotee. And how he can become a devotee? That is stated here = bhāgavatāṅghri-reṇum. One has to surrender himself to His representative, bhāgavata. Bhāgavata means... God is called Bhagavān. Bhagavat, the original word is bhagavat, and one who has got intimate relation with bhagavat, he is called bhāgavata.

So here it is recommended, bhāgavatāṅghri-reṇuṁ na jātu martyaḥ. Martya means one who will die. Every one of us will die. But abhilabheta yas tu: but we can achieve a great success. Although this body's mortal, we can get..., we can achieve a great success. And what is that? To take the dust of the lotus feet of a bhāgavata. Simple thing. Therefore it is said, jīvañ chavaḥ. Jīvañ chavo bhāgavatāṅghri-reṇuṁ na jātu martyo 'bhilabheta yas tu.

After all, this body is dead. Everyone knows. It is simply moving on account of the presence of the spirit soul. As soon as the spirit soul is out of this body, out of this bag of flesh and bone... We are so much attached to this bag of flesh and bone, but those who are learned, they know that this body is nothing but flesh and bone. The real person, the real force, is the soul. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke [SB 10.84.13] = a bag of bones and fleshes. This is not our identification. I am not this body.

Do you think if you take some bones and flesh and accumulate them and bundle them, will they produce any intelligence? If I am this body, then this body means a bundle of flesh and bones. So the flesh and bones can be had outside. The scientists can take them and bind them together and then see that it is coming, a scientist, another scientist, Professor Einstein is coming from the bones and the flesh. Is it possible? It is not possible. The bones and flesh are bones and flesh. The real identity is the soul. According to his karma, he manifests his intelligence, although this intelligence is coming out through this bones and flesh.

Just like I am seeing through this glass. That does not mean the glass is seeing. The seeing power is different from the glass. Similarly, those who are thinking that they are this body, under bodily concept of life...

yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke
sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiśu bhauma ijya-dhīḥ
yat-tīrtha-buddhiḥ salile na karhicij
janeṣv abhijñeṣu sa eva go-kharaḥ
[SB 10.84.13]

Bhāgavata says, "One who accepts this body as the self, he is no better then the cow and the ass." Foolish animals. I have several times explained why ass is called foolish, why cow is also foolish. Simple. Cow is simple; cow is... So they are compared with animals, one who accepts... Therefore this body continues to be animal body or a dead body unless in the human form of life one takes advantage of touching the dust of the lotus feet of a devotee. Jīvañ chavo bhāgavatāṅghri-reṇuṁ na jātu martyo 'bhilabheta yas tu...

[aside:] She is sleeping.

Śrī-viṣṇu-padyā manujas tulasyāḥ śvasañ chavo yas tu na veda gandham. The nostrils... We smell. So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness smelling means we should offer all nice flowers and tulasī on the lotus feet of the Lord. And we shall accept prasādam. The priest will offer, and if we smell that, then our smelling power is fulfilled. That means... These Kumāras, catuḥsana Kumāra, Sanaka-kumārādi, they were first of all impersonalist, but after smelling the tulasī leaves which was offered to the lotus feet of Viṣṇu, they become personalist. So this is an opportunity. If anyone comes, smells the flowers and the tulasī offered to Viṣṇu, tastes the viṣṇu-prasāda and sees the Lord's form, in this way he develops Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

So this is opportunity. This temple means an opportunity, a process, a simple process. Not simple for ordinary man, but actually it is simple. Anyone can smell the flowers offered to Kṛṣṇa. Anyone can eat the foodstuff offered to Kṛṣṇa. Anyone can see the Deity so nicely decorated. Anyone can hear Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. So we have got these senses. So if we engage our senses in this way---our seeing power, our hearing power, our talking power, our smelling power, our touching power, our tasting power---in this way, if we engage everything in connection with Kṛṣṇa, very easily we become Kṛṣṇa conscious. And as soon as we become Kṛṣṇa conscious, then our life is successful. We become liberated from this bondage of birth and death. So this is the process.

Now read.

Pradyumna: "According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, the breathing dead body is a ghost. When a man dies, he is called dead, but when he again appears in a subtle form not visible to the present vision and yet acts, such a dead body is called a ghost. Ghosts are always very bad elements, always creating a fearful situation for others. Similarly, the ghostlike nondevotees who have no respect for the pure devotees, nor for the Viṣṇu Deity in the temples, create a fearful situation for the devotees at all times. The Lord never accepts any offering by such impure ghosts.

"There is a common saying that one should first love the dog of the beloved before one shows any loving sentiments for the beloved. The stage of pure devotion is attained by sincerely serving a pure devotee of the Lord. The first condition of devotional service to the Lord is therefore to be a servant of a pure devotee, and this condition is fulfilled by the statement 'reception of the dust of the lotus feet of a pure devotee who also served another pure devotee.' That is the way of pure disciplic succession, or devotional paramparā.

"Mahārāja Rahūgaṇa inquired from the great saint Jaḍa Bharata as to how he attained such a liberated stage of a paramahaṁsa, and in answer the great saint replied as follows:

rahūgaṇaitat tapasā na yāti
na cejyayā nirvapaṇād gṛhād vā
na cchandasā naiva jalāgni-sūryair
vinā mahat-pāda-rajo-'bhiṣekam
[SB 5.12.12]

" 'O King Rahūgaṇa, the perfectional stage of devotional service, or the paramahaṁsa stage of life, cannot be attained without being blessed by the dust of the feet of great devotees. It is never attained by tapasya [austerity], the Vedic worshiping process, acceptance of renounced order of life, the discharge of the duties of household life, the chanting of Vedic hymns or the performance of penances in the hot sun, within cold water or before the blazing fire.'

"In other words, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the property of His pure, unconditional devotees, and as such only the devotees can deliver Kṛṣṇa to another devotee. Kṛṣṇa is never obtainable directly. Lord Caitanya therefore designated Himself as the gopī-bhartuḥ dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ [Cc. Madhya 13.80], or 'the most obedient servant of the servants of the Lord, who maintains the gopī damsels at Vṛndāvana.' A pure devotee therefore never approaches the Lord directly, but tries to please the Lord's servant of servants, and thus the Lord becomes pleased, and the devotee can then only relish the taste of the tulasī leaves stuck to His lotus feet.

"In the Brahmā-saṁhitā it is said that the Lord is never to be found by becoming a great scholar of the Vedic literatures, but He is very easily approachable through His pure devotee. In Vṛndāvana all the pure devotees pray for the mercy of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, the pleasure potency of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is a tenderhearted feminine counterpart of the supreme whole, resembling the perfectional stage of the worldly feminine nature. Therefore, the mercy of Rādhārāṇī is available very readily by the sincere devotees, and once She recommends such a devotee to Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Lord at once accepts the devotee's admittance in His association.

"The conclusion is, therefore, that one should be more serious about seeking the mercy of the devotee than that of the Lord directly, and by doing so [by the good will of the devotee] the natural attraction for the service of the Lord will be revived."

Prabhupāda: Hmm. All right. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotees: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya. [end]

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Srila Prabhupada speaks on: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.3.19

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.3.19

Los Angeles, June 14, 1972

Audio for this lecture: https://prabhupadavani.org/transcriptions/720614sbla/
Prabhupada Radio: https://prabhupadaradio.com

Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Page 151, text number 19. [leads chanting of verse] [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat]

śva-viḍ-varāhoṣṭra-kharaiḥ
saṁstutaḥ puruṣaḥ paśuḥ
na yat-karṇa-pathopeto
jātu nāma gadāgrajaḥ
[SB 2.3.19]

Prabhupāda: [corrects devotees' pronunciation] That's all.

Pradyumna: [leads chanting of synonyms]

śva---a dog; viṭ-varāha---the village hog who eats stool; uṣṭra---the camel; kharaiḥ---and by the asses; saṁstutaḥ---perfectly praised; puruṣaḥ---a person; paśuḥ---animal; na---never; yat---of him; karṇa---ear; patha---path; upetaḥ---reached; jātu---at any time; nāma---the holy name; gadāgrajaḥ---Lord Kṛṣṇa, the deliverer from all evils.

[04:52]

Translation = "Men who are like dogs, hogs, camels and asses praise those men who never listen to the transcendental pastimes of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the deliverer from evils."

Prabhupāda: Hm so, one who does not listen to the glories of the Lord... Because the human life, this life is meant for learning how to engage our senses in the service of the Lord. That is the mission of human life. In other lives the senses are engaged for sense gratification. And in the human life, when we have got developed consciousness, at that time the senses are meant for being engaged in the service of the Lord. So ear is the most important sense, because our spiritual enlightenment begins from this sense, hearing. Na yat-karṇa-pathopetaḥ. Karṇa-patha means aural reception.

So one has to go to hear from the realized person, guru, spiritual master. That is the meaning. Śruti. Śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham [MU 1.2.12]. One has to approach a spiritual master, śrotriyam, who has also heard from a spiritual master. This... Our knowledge is by hearing, śruti. Therefore Vedas are called śruti. Śruti means this is not experimental knowledge. This knowledge is acquired by hearing. That's all. If you have got nice receptive power through the ear, then your life can be successful. You don't require to use any other sense. This one sense will make you correct.

Therefore those who are not taking advantage of this facility of hearing... He may be a very big man in the estimation of persons who are like dogs, asses, camel and such nice animals. You can say, "Oh, here is a big man, and... Mr. Such-and-such, such a great politician, great scientist, great... So we must praise." But the Bhāgavata says, "Whether he has given any aural reception about Kṛṣṇa, that is the test." No. He has no knowledge about Kṛṣṇa. Then he must be praised by persons who are like camel, asses, dogs, hogs. That means, "No human being will praise him." If he is voted or praised, the vote must be coming from the asses, dogs, hogs, like that. That is going on.

Asses, hogs, dogs, camels, they are giving vote. How they can select? These animals, any animal, they do not know which person is perfect and should be selected as leader. They do not know. Śūdras. Śūdras, animals, the same thing. So people are being educated like dogs, hogs, camels and asses. So how they can expect any real happiness? That is not possible. The test should be... Public, general public, they may be like cats, dogs, hogs naturally, because they have no sufficient education. Not they are expected to be highly educated, general mass of people. But if arrangement is made to give them chance of hearing Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, then they will be very big men, perfect men.

That should be the policy of Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We should accept the general mass of people no better than dogs, hogs. You see in your country, dog is best friend. Because he is a dog, therefore he has chosen a best friend, dog. And cow, mother, giving milk and actually drinking---"Send her to the slaughterhouse." Just see. Is it not a animal? He is making friendship with dog and sending mother to the slaughterhouse. What is your answer? This is my charge against your country. What is your answer?

Devotee: They are [indistinct].

Prabhupāda: Yes. They are such foolish persons, they are making friendship with dog, which has no value except creating some offense. The dog's business is, you are not offender, still it will offend, "Gow! Gow! Gow!" [laughter] "Oh, I have not entered your house. Why you are barking?" No, it is his business. He will disturb you. He'll come. We have experience. Unnecessarily they come. At least, make a show of, to attack. That means offending. If... Suppose you are passing on the road, and if I come with a stick, "Why you have come here?" is it not offense? All right, if I trespass in your house, you can attack me with a stick. Or no, in your country one can kill. You see? Such a nice mentality. But men are also like that. They deserve to be killed. This is going on. So the animal society. You cannot believe a man, just like animal cannot believe another animal. This is...

So it is very rightly written, śva-viḍ-varāha uṣṭra khara. Śva-viḍ-varāha uṣṭra-kharaiḥ saṁstutaḥ puruṣaḥ paśuḥ. The general mass of people is no better than these animals, and they are voting to select their leader. So whom they will vote? Another paśu, another animal. Because they have no choice. They are animals, and how they can select a man? A man means karṇa-pathopetaḥ, one who is hearing about Kṛṣṇa. He is man. Otherwise, all animals. Now, you say, how this charge can be refuted by you? Bhāgavata says, "He is not man." Na yat-karṇa-pathopeta jātu nāma gadāgrajaḥ. He may be in the form of a man, but if he has not heard about Kṛṣṇa, if he has not given aural reception to kṛṣṇa-kathā, then he is paśu, animal. And what kind of animal? Dog, hog, camel, asses. Why these nice animals have been selected? That is described.

Now you can read the purport.

Pradyumna: "The general mass of people, unless they are trained systematically for a higher standard of life in spiritual values, are no better than the animal, and in this verse they have been particularly put on the level of dogs, hogs, camels and asses. Modern university education practically prepares one to acquire a doggish mentality to accept the service of a greater master.

"Like the dogs, after finishing the so-called education, the so-called educated persons move from door to door with applications for some service, and mostly they are driven away, informed of no vacancy. As the dogs are negligible animals and serve their master faithfully for bits of bread, similarly one serves a master without sufficient rewards. Persons who have no discrimination in the matter of foodstuff and who eat all sorts of rubbish are compared with the hog. Hogs are very much attached to eating stools. So the stool is a kind of foodstuff for a particular type of animal. And even the stones are eatables..."

Prabhupāda: This is very important. Why hog has been selected? The hog has no discrimination. He is prepared to eat even stool. Therefore hog is selected. So people are now eating anything, everything. So we have heard that in Korea they eat cats, snakes, dogs. In other places also seen---anything. They have no discrimination. No discrimination. Jīvo jīvasya jīvanam. One living entity is the source of vital strength for another living entity. That is law.

Just like we are vegetarians. We are vegetarian. We are also eating some... Not killing, but eating. We are taking fruit. That means we are not killing the tree. We are taking grains. We are not killing the cow. We are eating milk, but we are not eating..., drinking the blood. Milk is nothing but blood of cow. But we know the art, how to drink the blood of cow without killing. That is civilization. That is civilization. Medically, they say the cow's blood or bull's blood is very effective, and that is accepted. But you must know the art.

It is the arrangement of God that cow's milk... Cow's own milk, she does not drink. She eats grass. That means God's arrangement is like that, that "Let the human being drink the milk of cow, and the cow may eat grass." Because they haven't got good brain. Foodstuffs should be given, nice foodstuff given, should be given to the particular person for developing nice brain. Milk is a foodstuff which can develop your finer tissues of the brain so that you can understand higher philosophy. And if you become blunt, and you eat meat by killing any animal, then how you will understand? The finer tissues given in the human form of life for understanding spiritual things... You cannot.

Vinā paśughnāt. Therefore Parīkṣit Mahārāja says, vinā paśughnāt. Nivṛtta-tarṣair upagīyamānād bhavauṣadhāc chrotra-mano-'bhirāmāt, uttamaśloka-guṇānuvādāt [SB 10.1.4]. Uttamaśloka, Kṛṣṇa, guṇānuvādāt, glorifying His activities, who can be bereft of this opportunity, vinā paśughnāt, unless he is a animal-killer? Unless he is animal-killer, nobody will deny to hear about Kṛṣṇa. Because the animal-killers, they have lost their brain. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mercy is so great that even who has lost his brain, he can be revived by hearing Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's... Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam [Cc. Antya 20.12]. Yes, in this age everyone is fallen. But he can be, I mean to say, elevated to the position of nice brain. How? By paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam. Simply by chanting.

So in this age everyone is blunt-headed, animal-killer. They cannot understand what is kṛṣṇa-kathā, what is spiritual life. We see actually = they are not at all interested. They feel disturbance = "What these people are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa?" They cannot make any solution of the problems. Just like Atreya Ṛṣi was speaking that government is embarrassed how to solve the question of intoxication, LSD-taking. They could not. Huge amount they are spending. But here is the remedy; they will not take. Why? Paśughnāt, killing, animal-killers. So animal-killer cannot take it. Vinā paśughnāt [SB 10.1.4]. Vinā means without. Unless one is animal-killer, he cannot give up this opportunity of hearing about Kṛṣṇa. Therefore we forbid, "No meat-eating." This is the qualification. Unless you stop meat-eating, you cannot understand. Blunt head.

So the hog has been especially mentioned because he has no discrimination of food. Our Ramakrishna Mission, they say, "What is there in food? Whatever you like, you can eat. It has nothing to do with spiritual life." Nonsense. You see? Āhāra, śuddha āhāra. Even George Bernard Shaw, he wrote one book that "You are what you eat." Actually, that is so. Why there are so many varieties of foodstuff? Because there are varieties of men. Those who are meat-eaters, if you give them so many varieties of fruits and sandeśa and rasagullā, he won't like it. He won't like it. If before the hog you put nice, first-class halavā, "No, sir. Stool. Give me stool." Therefore hog. All right.

One who has no discrimination of foodstuff, he is going to be hog next life. That is the punishment by nature. One who are loitering in the street naked, they are going to have next life tree = "Stand up naked for ten thousand of years. That's all right." But they are enjoying. They're showing beauty by naked, nakedness. But nature will not tolerate. Prakṛteḥ... Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā... [Bg. 7.14]. There is nature. They do not consider how one living entity has got the body of a tree, how one living entity has got the body of a hog, how one living entity has got the body of a demigod, how one has got the body of a Vaiṣṇava. They do not know. They do not know. The education is so cramped, they do not even consider that these are... They say, Darwin's theory, "developing the body."

So the education is going on in that way. This is our position. You should take advantage of the scientific knowledge given by Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Śrīmad-bhāgavatam amalaṁ purāṇam [SB 12.13.18]. Amalaṁ purāṇam, spotless education, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Therefore, in the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra [SB 1.1.2]. Atra śrīmad-bhāgavata. "In this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, cheating type of religious system is kicked out." Kicked out. In religion where there is no discrimination of foodstuff, what is that religion? What is that religion? This is fanaticism. That is not religion. Religion is to understand God. And one cannot understand God, the purest of all pure, unless one is pure.

Next? Hog?

Pradyumna: "And even stones are eatables for a particular type of animal or bird. But the human being is not meant for eating everything and anything, save grains, vegetables, fruits, milk, sugar, etc. Animal food is not meant for the human being. For chewing solid food the human being has a particular type of teeth meant for cutting fruits and vegetables. The human being is endowed with two canine teeth as a concession..."

Prabhupāda: Our teeth is just like... You take fruits, you can easily cut. But if you take meat... [gesticulates] Like this. That is not natural. Unnaturally. But you take fruit, immediately you cut, and... So that is discrimination, that "We have to take some food, but what kind of food we shall take?" So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is that you take only kṛṣṇa-prasādam. That's all. You save yourself. Even if I cannot discriminate, Kṛṣṇa's prasādam I'll take, it is transcendental; I don't require any discrimination. Don't require. Kṛṣṇa-prasādam. And Kṛṣṇa says, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati [Bg. 9.26]. We offer Kṛṣṇa foodstuff, what He wants. Kṛṣṇa is God. He can take anything. He can eat the whole world. And eating the whole world means all animals, all men, all everything, vegetable, not vegetable. Everything goes in His... Just like Yaśodā-mā saw within the mouth of the whole universe.

So Kṛṣṇa can take everything. But He does not take, because He is..., appears to educate us. Therefore He is giving very importance cow-keeping, tending the cows, personally. Personally taking, protect cow. He is stealing butter, showing us that "These things should be stolen. If you have no money, then you steal and eat." [laughter] You see? These things are eatable. You see? Produce huge quantity of milk, and make so many preparation out of it, and become healthy. This is the instruction Kṛṣṇa is giving. Otherwise, what Kṛṣṇa business, He has got to do some such business? No. He is teaching us. Even the urine in cow is valuable. Stool of cow is valuable. Kṛṣṇa, in His..., while He is crawling on the yard, He captures the tail of a calf and he drags Him, and He is smeared with all stools and urine of the cows, Kṛṣṇa enjoys. He is showing that even the stool and urine of cow is valuable, what to speak of its milk. Cow is so important. Personally, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is teaching us.

And He is ordering in the Bhagavad-gītā, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati [Bg. 9.26]. He is mentioning especially vegetable, grains, fruits. But not that everyone can offer Kṛṣṇa all these things. No. He says, yo me bhaktyā prayacchati. He does not accept anything from the hand of a nondevotee. Therefore the non-initiated student cannot offer food. He doesn't accept. He says especially, yo me bhaktyā prayacchati: he must be devotee.

He is not hungry, that He has come to your temple to eat. No. He is giving food to all the living entities. Eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. That one Kṛṣṇa is giving all the necessities of life to all the living entities. So what we can offer? We cannot offer anything. Everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa. Still, He is very kind. He comes before you as you can handle Him, as you can dress Him, as you can wash Him, you can touch His lotus feet. Kṛṣṇa is giving you chance. It is very difficult to approach Kṛṣṇa, but Kṛṣṇa is so kind that He has appeared in your temple and He is accepting. According to the rules and regulation, if you offer, He will accept.

This is the process of Deity worship. If you have no such feelings that "Here is Kṛṣṇa personally present, and He has given me the chance in a way by which I can approach Him," and if I think, "He is stone. He is wood. I can do anything; He cannot speak," then he will worship only stone and wood, not Kṛṣṇa. Not Kṛṣṇa. If you are not fully Kṛṣṇa conscious, if you do not know who is He, then your effect will be touching the stone and wood of... That's all.

So every one of you must be very careful that "Here is Kṛṣṇa personally present." Not that wood and stone, as atheists think. Atheist will think, "Oh, they are worshiping a wood, a stone statue." Because they have their ideas, worshiping of great men. They make also statue, but place them in the open air, and their worship is by the stools of crows, worshiping. So if... The crows take it a place of passing stool on the head of your leader. [laughter] That is their method of worship. They are respecting president George Washington, keeping a statue and honoring him with the stool of crows. You see? This is their intelligence. This is their intelligence.

And our Indian people are also imitating. I have seen one statue of Sir Asutosh Mukherjee. He was a very respectable man. Or Gandhi. The whole year, the crows passed stool on the face. It becomes covered with stool. And the day of their anniversary the municipal washing brush, street, they brush over the..., in the morning. [laughter] They brush over the... Because they do..., no gentlemen will go; they have to call some sweeper. So he will brush the face of Sir Asutosh Mukherjee and wash, and then in the evening, big garland. In the morning it was washed with municipal brush, and in the evening there is big garland.

So people have become so... Therefore they are compared with these dogs, asses, camels. They have no intelligence. We are worshiping Deity. Shall we allow like that? That is worship. But this is a fictitious thing, and they are thinking, "We are honoring Sir Asutosh Mukherjee" or "President Jawaharlal Nehru," like that. Such foolish persons. If I know that "This is Sir Asutosh Mukherjee," how I can allow his mouth to be washed by the municipal brush? No. They know it is stone. It is stone.

Therefore it has been forbidden, arcye viṣṇau śilā-dhīr guruṣu nara-matir vaiṣṇave jāti-buddhiḥ [Padma Purāṇa]. If anyone, the Deity in the temple, thinks śilādhīḥ, stone and wood; vaiṣṇave jāti-buddhiḥ, if anyone considers a Vaiṣṇava under certain particular race or caste; guruṣu nara-matiḥ, if one considers guru as ordinary human being, then he is hellish. These are forbidden. We should know the arcā-vigraha, the worshipable Deity, Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, present. He is not wood and stone, but because we cannot touch except wood and stone, therefore He has appeared as wood and stone. He is not wood and stone; He is all-powerful.

So to show me favor... If somebody says, "Here is Kṛṣṇa standing," but I have no eyes to see Kṛṣṇa... Spirit, I cannot see even your spirit, my spirit. Spirit is there, but I have no eyes to see the spirit, what to speak of touching. Therefore Kṛṣṇa, although He is spirit... In connection with Him, He is stone also. Because everything is Kṛṣṇa. Everything is product of Kṛṣṇa, energy. So we are not worshiping stone. We are worshiping Kṛṣṇa in a form which is tangible for us. That's all. Not that Kṛṣṇa is stone. Kṛṣṇa is stone also, because stone is nothing but Kṛṣṇa's energy.

So in this way you should understand what is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Don't remain foolish. Perfect knowledge. Perfect knowledge. Yasmin vijñāte sarvam idaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavati [Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.3] = simply if you understand Kṛṣṇa, everything will be known to you. And if you actually understand Kṛṣṇa, then your life is successful---immediately you are eligible to go back to home, back to Godhead. Immediately. [break] Janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti [Bg. 4.9] = "Such man who has understood Me rightly, he is no more coming back to accept this temporary material body. He comes to Me."

So try to understand Kṛṣṇa. And the beginning is karṇa-patha, these holes of the ear. Lend your ears to hear from the devotee. That's all. Na yat-karṇa-pathopetaḥ. It is not that you have to pass M.A.C., D.H.C. No. Simply lend your ear = "Oh, let us hear about Kṛṣṇa." Then everything is all right. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ [SB 10.14.3]. Kṛṣṇa is unconquerable, but if you simply hear about Him in your position, śruti-gatām, through the aural reception, you will conquer Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa's name is Ajita. Nobody can conquer Kṛṣṇa. But if you simply hear about Kṛṣṇa, time will come, you will conquer Kṛṣṇa, like the gopīs. They conquered Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa was within the hand, or the grip, of the gopīs.

[distorted audio]

Kṛṣṇa could not go away even an inch from Vṛndāvana [break] on account of the gopīs. What was their education? They were village girls. Not even [break] brāhmaṇa. Uneducated girls, village girls, but they conquered Kṛṣṇa. So this aural reception is so great.

Read little more.

Pradyumna: "The human being is endowed with two canine teeth as a concession for such persons who will eat animal food at any cost. It is known to everyone that one man's food is another man's poison. Human beings are expected to accept the remnants of food offered to Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and the Lord accepts foodstuff from the categories of leaves, flowers, fruits, etc. [Bg. 9.26]

"No animal food is offered to the Lord, as prescribed by Vedic scriptures. Therefore, a human being is meant to eat a particular type of food and should not imitate the animals to derive so-called vitamin values. Therefore, a person who has no discrimination in regard to eating is compared with the hogs. The camel is a kind of animal that takes pleasure in eating [break] thorns. Similarly, a [break] who wants to enjoy family life or the worldly life of [break] enjoyment is compared to the camel. Materialistic life is full of thorns. So one should live only by the prescribed method of Vedic regulations, [break] just to make the best use of a bad bargain. Life in the..."

Prabhupāda: Is it not materialistic way of life, he's lying down on thorns? Is it not like that? [break] So, the so-called materialistic way of life, tātala saikate vāri-bindu-sama suta-mita-ramaṇi-samāje [Śrīla Vidyāpati Ṭhākura], [break] ...society, friendship and love [break] even learn so-called, it is simply full of thorns. That's all. But the camel likes that thorns.

Therefore those who do not understand what is the value of materialistic way of life, they are just like camel. Camel is eating thorn and cutting the tongue, and blood is coming out---it is mixed with thorn---he is thinking that it is very nice food. Actually, he is tasting his own blood, and he is thinking, "Thorn is very nice." Similarly, those who are materialistic person, working day and night very hard, eating his own blood, and he's thinking is very happy life. That's all. Therefore they are camels.

That's all right. Have kīrtana.

Devotees: Jaya. All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. [obeisances] [end]

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Srila Prabhupada speaks on: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.3.11–12

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.3.11–12

Los Angeles, May 29, 1972

Audio for this lecture: https://prabhupadavani.org/transcriptions/720529sbla/
Prabhupada Radio: https://prabhupadaradio.com

Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [leads chanting of verse] [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat]

etāvān eva yajatām
iha niḥśreyasodayaḥ
bhagavaty acalo bhāvo
yad bhāgavata-saṅgataḥ
[SB 2.3.11]

Prabhupāda: So? Any girls? [girl devotees chant]

etāvān eva yajatām
iha niḥśreyasodayaḥ
bhagavaty acalo bhāvo
yad bhāgavata-saṅgataḥ
[SB 2.3.11]

Then? Word meaning?

Pradyumna: [leads chanting of synonyms]

etāvān---all these different kinds of worshipers; eva---certainly; yajatām---while worshiping; iha---in this life; niḥśreyasa---highest benediction; udayaḥ---development; bhagavati---unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead; acalaḥ---unflinching; bhāvaḥ---spontaneous attraction; yat---which; bhāgavata---the pure devotee of the Lord; saṅgataḥ---association. [break]

Prabhupāda: ...factor. Now, translation?

Pradyumna: "All the different kinds of worshipers of multi-demigods can attain the highest perfectional benediction, which is spontaneous attraction unflinchingly fixed upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead, only by the association of the pure devotee of the Lord."

Prabhupāda: This is the secret = association of the pure devotee of the Lord. Without association of pure devotee of Lord, nobody can come to the stage, unflinching faith and devotion to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

I think last purport we did not read? Read it.

Pradyumna: No, we didn't read the last one. Purport = "The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, is described in the Bhagavad-gītā as the puruṣottama, or the Supreme Personality. It is He only who can award liberation to the impersonalists by absorbing such aspirants in the brahma-jyotir, the bodily rays of the Lord.

The brahma-jyotir is not separate from the Lord, as the glowing sun ray is not independent of the sun disc. Therefore one who desires to merge into the supreme impersonal brahma-jyotir must also worship the Lord by bhakti-yoga, as it is recommended here in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Bhakti-yoga is especially stressed here as the means of all perfection.

"In the previous chapters it has been stated that bhakti-yoga is the ultimate goal of both karma-yoga and jñāna-yoga, and in the same way in this chapter it is emphatically declared that bhakti-yoga is the ultimate goal of the different varieties of worship of the different demigods. Bhakti-yoga, thus being the supreme means of self-realization, is recommended here. Everyone must therefore seriously take up the methods of bhakti-yoga, even though one aspires for material enjoyment or liberation from material bondage.

"Akāmaḥ is one who has no material desire. A living being, naturally being the part and parcel of the Supreme Whole puruṣaṁ pūrṇam, has as his natural function to serve the Supreme Being, just as the parts and parcels of the body, or the limbs of the body, are naturally meant to serve the complete body. Desireless means, therefore, not to be inert like the stone, but to be conscious of one's actual position and thus desire satisfaction only from the Supreme Lord.

"Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī has explained this desirelessness as bhajanīya parama-puruṣa-sukha-mātra-sva-sukhatvam in his Sandarbha. This means that one should only feel happy by experiencing the happiness of the Supreme Lord. This intuition of the living being is sometimes manifested even during the conditioned stage of a living being in the material world, and such intuition is expressed in the manner of altruism, philanthropism, socialism, communism, etc., by the undeveloped minds of less intelligent persons.

"In the mundane field, such an outlook of doing good to others in the form of society, community, family, country or humanity is a partial manifestation of the same original feeling in which a pure living entity feels happiness by the happiness of the Supreme Lord. Such superb feelings were exhibited by the damsels of Vrajabhūmi for the happiness of the Lord. The gopīs loved the Lord without any return, and this is the perfect exhibition of the akāma spirit. Kāma spirit, or the desire for one's own satisfaction, is fully exhibited in the material world, whereas the spirit of akāma is fully exhibited in the spiritual world.

"Thoughts of becoming one with the Lord, or being merged in the brahma-jyotir, can also be exhibitions of kāma spirit if they are desires for one's own satisfaction to be free from the material miseries. A pure devotee does not want liberation..."

Prabhupāda: Prahlāda Mahārāja said that "I don't want my liberation alone. Unless I deliver all these fools who are rotting in this material world, I do not want my personal liberation." This is Vaiṣṇava philosophy. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they are going to Himalaya or some secluded place for personal benefit. But a Vaiṣṇava, he has no desire for personal benefit. The personal benefit is already there in Vaiṣṇava, because he's in touch with the Supreme Lord by his service.

Prahlāda Mahārāja said,

naivodvije para deva duratyaya-vaitaraṇyās
tvad-vīrya-gāyana-mahāmṛta-magna-cittaḥ
śoce tad vimukha-cetasa...
māyā-sukhāya bharam udvahato vimūḍhān
[SB 7.9.43]

"My dear Lord, I am not anxious for myself, because I have got the thing. I have no problem how to cross over the nescience or how to go to Vaikuṇṭha or to become liberated. These problems are solved." Why? How you have solved? Now, tvad-vīrya-gāyana-mahāmṛta-magna-cittaḥ: "Because I am engaged always in glorifying your activities, so my problem is solved."

Then what is your problem? The problem is śoce: "I am lamenting," śoce tato vimukha-cetasaḥ, "those who are averse to You. Being averse to You, they are working so hard," māyā-sukhāya, "for so-called happiness, these rascals. So I am simply lamenting for them." This is our Vaiṣṇava philosophy. One who has taken shelter of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, he has no problem. But his only problem is how to deliver the rascals who are simply working hard, forgetting Kṛṣṇa. That is the problem.

Go on. "A pure devotee does not want liberation..."

Pradyumna: [continues reading] "A pure devotee does not want liberation so that he may be relieved from the miseries of life. Even without so-called liberation, a pure devotee is aspirant for the satisfaction of the Lord. Influenced by the kāma spirit, Arjuna declined to fight in the Kurukṣetra battlefield because he wanted to save his relatives for his own satisfaction. But being a pure devotee, he agreed to fight on the instruction of the Lord because he came to his senses, and satisfaction of the Lord at the cost of his own satisfaction was his prime duty. Thus he became akāma. That is the perfect stage of a perfect living being.

"Udāra-dhīḥ means one who has a broader outlook. People with desires for material enjoyment worship small demigods, and such intelligence is condemned in the Bhagavad-gītā [Bg. 7.20] as hṛta jñāna, the intelligence of one who has lost his senses. No one can obtain any result from demigods without getting sanction from the Supreme Lord. Therefore a person with a broader outlook can see that the ultimate authority is the Lord, even for material benefits.

"Under the circumstances, one with a broader outlook, even with the desire for material enjoyment or for liberation, should take to the worship of the Lord directly. And everyone, either an akāma or sakāma or mokṣa-kāma, should worship the Lord with great expedience. This implies that bhakti-yoga may be perfectly administered without any mixture of karma and jñāna. As the unmixed sun ray is very forceful and is therefore called tīvra, similarly, unmixed bhakti-yoga of hearing, chanting, etc., may be performed by one and all, regardless of inner motive."

Prabhupāda: Next?

Pradyumna: "All living entities in different statuses of life within the material creation, beginning from the first demigod, Brahmā, down to the small ant in different stauses of life, are conditioned under the law of material nature, or the external energy of the Supreme Lord. The living entity in his pure state is conscious of the fact that he is a part and parcel of the Lord, but when he is thrown into the material world on account of his desire to lord it over material energy, he becomes conditioned by the three modes of material nature and thus struggles for existence for the highest benefit.

"This struggle for existence is something like following the will-o'-the-wisp under the spell of material enjoyment. All plans of material enjoyment, either by worship of different demigods as described in the previous verses of this chapter or by modernized advancement of scientific knowledge without the help of God or demigod, are illusory only, because despite all such plans for happiness, the conditioned living being within the compass of material creation can never solve the problems of life, namely birth, death, old age and disease. The history of the universe is full of such plan-makers, and many kings and emperors come and go, leaving a plan-making story only. But the prime problems of life remain unsolved, despite all endeavors by such plan-makers.

"Actually, human life is meant for making a solution to the problems of life. Such problems can never be solved by satisfying the different demigods, by different modes of worship, or by so-called scientific advancement in knowledge without the help of God or the demigods. Apart from the gross materialists, who care very little either for God or for the demigods, the Vedas recommend worship of different demigods for different benefits, so they are neither false nor imaginary. The demigods are as factual as we are, but they are much more powerful due to their being engaged in the direct service of the Lord by managing different departments in the universal government.

"The Bhagavad-gītā confirms this, and the different planets of the demigods are mentioned there, including the one of the supreme demigod, Lord Brahmā. The gross materialists believe neither in the existence of God nor the demigods. Nor do they believe that different planets are dominated by different demigods. They are creating a great commotion about reaching the closest celestial body, the Candraloka, or the moon, but even after much mechanical research they have only very scanty information of this moon, and in spite of much false advertisement for selling land on the moon, the puffed-up scientists or gross materialists cannot live there, and what to speak of reaching other, innumerable planets, which they are unable even to count.

"However, the followers of the Vedas have a different method of acquiring knowledge. They accept the statements of the Vedic literatures as authority in toto, as we have already discussed in Canto One, and therefore they have full and reasonable knowledge of God and demigods and of their different residential planets situated within the compass of the material world and beyond the limit of the material sky. The most authentic Vedic literature, accepted by the great Indian ācāryas like Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja, Madhva, Viṣṇu Svāmī, Nimbārka, Caitanya, etc., and studied by all important personalities of the world, is the Bhagavad-gītā, in which the worship of the demigods and their respective residential planets are mentioned.

"The Bhagavad-gītā affirms:

yānti deva-vratā devān
pitṝn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ
bhūtāni yānti bhūtejyā
yānti mad-yājino 'pi mām

" 'The worshipers of demigods reach the respective planets of the demigods, and the worshipers of forefathers reach the planets of the forefathers. The gross materialist remains in the different material planets, but the devotees of the Lord reach the kingdom of God.' [Bg. 9.25]

"We also have information from the Bhagavad-gītā that all the planets within the material world, including the Brahmaloka, are but temporarily situated, and after a fixed period they are all annihilated. Therefore the demigods and their followers are all annihilated at the period of devastation. But one who reaches the kingdom of God gets a permanent share in eternal life. That is the verdict of Vedic literature.

"The worshipers of the demigods have one facility more than the unbelievers, due to their being convinced of the Vedic version, by which they can get information of the benefit of worshiping the Supreme Lord in the association of the devotees of the Lord. The gross materialist, however, without any faith in the Vedic version, remains eternally in darkness, driven by a false conviction on the basis of imperfect experimental knowledge, or the so-called material science, which can never reach into the realm of transcendental knowledge.

"Therefore unless they come in contact with a transcendentalist like the pure devotee of the Lord, the attempts of the gross materialist or the worshipers of the temporary demigods are simply a waste of energy. Only by the grace of the divine personalities, the pure devotees of the Lord, can one achieve pure devotion, which is the highest perfection of human life. Only a pure devotee of the Lord can show one the right way of progressive life. Otherwise, both the materialistic way of life, without any information of God or the demigods, and the life engaged in the worship of demigods, in pursuit of temporary material enjoyments, are all different phases of phantasmagoria. They are nicely explained in the Bhagavad-gītā also, but the Bhagavad-gītā can be understood in the association of pure devotees only, and not by the interpretations of politicians or dry philosophical speculators."

Prabhupāda: So, next?

Pradyumna: [leads chanting of verse]

jñānaṁ yad āpratinivṛtta-guṇormi-cakram
ātma-prasāda uta yatra guṇeṣv asaṅgaḥ
kaivalya-sammata-pathas tv atha bhakti-yogaḥ
ko nirvṛto hari-kathāsu ratiṁ na kuryāt
[SB 2.3.12]

Prabhupāda: [interrupting, correcting Pradyumna's pronunciation] In the text it is yadā. So why it is divided in that way "yad ā"? The text is yadā. Yadā means "when." Jñānaṁ yadā pratinivṛtta-guṇormi-cakram. Read it.

Pradyumna: [continues chanting, then devotees chant verse]

Prabhupāda: Anyone else? [devotee chants]

jñānaṁ yadā pratinivṛtta-guṇormi-cakram
ātma-prasāda uta yatra guṇeṣv asaṅgaḥ
kaivalya-sammata-pathas tv atha bhakti-yogaḥ
ko nirvṛto hari-kathāsu ratiṁ na kuryāt
[SB 2.3.12]

Prabhupāda: Hmm. Word meaning?

Pradyumna: [leads chanting of synonyms]

jñānam---knowledge; yat---that which; ā---up to the limit of; pratinivṛtta---completely withdrawn; guṇa-ūrmi---the waves of the material modes; cakram---whirlpool; ātma-prasādaḥ---self-satisfaction; uta---moreover; yatra---where there is; guṇeṣu---in the modes of nature; asaṅgaḥ---no attachment; kaivalya---transcendental; sammata---approved; pathaḥ---path; tu---but; atha---therefore; bhakti-yogaḥ---devotional service; kaḥ---who; nirvṛtaḥ---absorbed in; hari-kathāsu---in the transcendental topics of the Lord; ratim---attraction; na---shall not; kuryāt---do.

[30:34]

Prabhupāda: Jñānaṁ yadā pratinivṛtta-guṇormi-cakram. Knowledge, progressive knowledge, so when it comes to the real standard, yadā, jñānaṁ yadā, when the knowledge or speculative empiric knowledge, pratinivṛtta-guṇormi-cakram, no more affected by the waves of these modes of nature. Our present conditioned stage is due to our being carried away by the waves of material nature. They are being carried away.

Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has translated in his song, keno māyār bośe, jāccho bhese', khāccho hābuḍubu bhāi: "Why you are being carried away by the waves of māyā, and sometimes drowned and sometimes on the surface? Why you are taking so much trouble?" Jīv kṛṣṇa-dās, e biśwās, korle to' ār duḥkho nāi [Gītāvalī]. As soon as you take it... It is a fact, but you are misled. It is a fact that you are eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa, but artificially you are thinking that you are master---you are master, you are God, you are enjoyer, you are this, you are that. That is artificial.

So real knowledge means when one is not any more disturbed by the influence of the modes of material nature. The modes of material nature is working. Somebody is influenced by passion, somebody is influenced by ignorance, and somebody is influenced by goodness also. That is also one nature. If, on the platform of goodness, if one stops, then he's also bound, he's also conditioned. "I am very learned man; I know what is Brahman," or "I am living very nice, peaceful life," these are the products of jñāna. But if we remain compact within the boundary of such knowledge and do not make further progress, then that is also bondage. That is also bondage.

Therefore one must come to the sense where these waves of material nature cannot act. That is real knowledge. Therefore it is said, jñānaṁ yadā pratinivṛtta-guṇormi [SB 2.3.12]. Urmi, urmi means waves; cakram, in the whirlpool of the waves of the ocean of nescience. Just like they are taking pleasure in swimming with the waves. It is voluntarily taking, I mean, shelter of the ocean, and they like being tossed by the waves. And sometimes they are drowned also. That is our position. We have come to enjoy this ocean of material nescience, and there is tossing, and we are thinking we are enjoying. So when one comes to the knowledge that "This is not my platform of enjoyment. Let me go to the land," then he's safe. Then he's safe. Otherwise, he may think that he's enjoying, but he's actually being tossed by the waves of the ocean. And this is knowledge. Jñānaṁ yadā pratinivṛtta.

Ātma... Ātma-prasāda uta yatra guṇeṣv asaṅgaḥ [SB 2.3.12]. Ātma-prasāda. I am eternal part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. I may be very minute part, but because I am now attached with the complete machine, now I am safe. This example I have given so many times, a big machine and a small screw, part of it. When it is detached from the machine, it has no value. But when it is again attached to the machine, even it is very insignificant, small, it has got value. Similarly, ātma-prasāda uta yatra guṇeṣv asaṅgaḥ. Asaṅgaḥ, no more connection with this material nature. But I have my connection with Kṛṣṇa. It may be little, very. I may be very minute, but that, I mean to say, connection is very valuable.

I have given many times this example, that a car running at a speed of sixty miles, and a cycle is running at the rate of ten miles, but as soon as the cyclist catches the car, the cyclist also runs in the sixty miles. So similarly, instead of trying to satisfy our senses independently, if we join with Kṛṣṇa in His rāsa dance---as cowherd boys, gopīs, we join with Kṛṣṇa---then you get the same pleasure as Kṛṣṇa. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Don't try to enjoy independently. Just like here, in this temple, every one of us trying to enjoy life in connection with Kṛṣṇa.

As soon as we are disconnected with Kṛṣṇa consciousness, this kind of foodstuff or this kind of living, simple living, will not satisfy you. You'll be tossed by the waves of material nature, as others are being... They are also eating; we are also eating. But in our eating, we have got full satisfaction, and they have no satisfaction. They are eating sometimes here, sometimes there, this restaurant, that restaurant, this place... So many advertisement. So as soon as we dovetail our activities with Kṛṣṇa, or Kṛṣṇa's activities, that is perfection. Jñānaṁ yadā apratihatā, ahaituky apratihatā. That is real activity.

Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje [SB 1.2.6] = the activities which, yato bhaktir adhokṣaje, which is meant for rendering service to the Lord, apratihatā, without being checked. Here it is said, yadā apratihatā. Or apratihatā. Both ways you can take. That is kaivalyam. Kaivalya means oneness, when I forget myself. The same example = the screw is no longer a screw; it is the whole machine. It is the whole machine. So similarly, kaivalya means oneness. There is no other anything. Sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma: everything Brahman.

This stage can be achieved when one is engaged, dovetailed in the service of the Lord. Therefore the last line says, ko nirvṛto hari-kathāsu ratiṁ na kuryāt [SB 2.3.12]. This is the highest perfectional stage of life. So anyone, one who..., anyone who wants blissful life... What is the nirvṛti? Hmm? What is the meaning, nirvṛtah?

Śrutaśravā: "Absorbed in."

Prabhupāda: Absorbed in. So anyone who wants to be in transcendental pleasure, absorbed in transcendental pleasure, how he will decline to hear the hari-kathā, transcendental messages of the Supreme Personality of Godhead? Hari-kathā. Hari-kathāsu. This is hari-kathā. In our temple, whatever we discuss, that is hari-kathā or kṛṣṇa-kathā. Yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṇa-upadeśa [Cc. Madhya 7.128]. Hari-kathā. Now read... No. Time is up.

Pradyumna: Translation?

Prabhupāda: No, we shall read tomorrow. That's all. Now have kīrtana. [devotees offer obeisances] Begin. Chant.

[42:00]

[kīrtana] [Prabhupāda plays gong] [prema-dvani] Thank you very much.

Devotees: All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. [end]

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Srila Prabhupada speaks on: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.2.6

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.2.6

New York, March 6, 1975

Audio for this lecture: https://prabhupadavani.org/transcriptions/750306sbny/
Prabhupada Radio: https://prabhupadaradio.com

[kirtana]

Prabhupāda: [Prema-dhvani] Thank you very much.

[28:48] Hmm. [sings Jaya Rādhā-Mādhava] [Prema-dhvani] Thank you very much. [Devotees offer obeisances]

Nitāi: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat] Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2nd Canto, 2nd Chapter, verse number 6.

evaṁ sva-citte svata eva siddha
ātmā priyo 'rtho bhagavān anantaḥ
taṁ nirvṛto niyatārtho bhajeta
saṁsāra-hetūparamaś ca yatra
[SB 2.2.6]

[38:19]

"Thus being fixed, one must render service unto the Supersoul situated in everyone's own heart by His omnipotency. Because He is the Almighty Personality of Godhead, eternal and unlimited, He is the ultimate goal of life, and by worshiping Him one can end the cause of conditioned state of existence."

Prabhupāda:

evaṁ sva-citte svata eva siddha
ātmā priyo 'rtho bhagavān anantaḥ
taṁ nirvṛto niyatārtho bhajeta
saṁsāra-hetūparamaś ca yatra
[SB 2.2.6]

So last night we discussed that why one should bother about his maintenance and go to beg from a person who is very proud of his wealth. He can arrange his own living condition. The living condition is āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ [Hitopadeśa 25]. So far one is in the renounced order of life, so he should first of all renounce the sex life and the state of fearfulness. That is renounced. Just like here there are many brahmacārīs, sannyāsīs. They are supposed to be renounced order, especially the sannyāsī, and vānaprastha, brahmacārī. Renounced. First renunciation is to renounce sense gratification. Therefore the person in renounced order is called svāmī. Svāmī means master. Or gosvāmī. So go means "senses," and svāmī means "master." One who has become master of his senses, he is gosvāmī or svāmī. Otherwise, if one is servant of his senses, how he can be svāmī or gosvāmī? Every word has got meaning. So one has to renounce. This is material life. Material life means everyone is engaged for sense gratification, and that is taken as the advancement of civilization. The same sense gratification in different way, same intoxication, same meat-eating, same sex life; either go to club or naked club or this club. Therefore the practice is the same. Punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām [SB 7.5.30], repetition of chewing the chewed. This is material life.

So renounced order means to stop; not stop, at least control sense gratification. That is renounced order. And without being in renounced order you cannot go to the spiritual world. Just like if your..., your hand is there, you have got something which is not very good within your hand, and if you want to take something better, so you have to throw it away and take it, the better one. You cannot keep the both things. That is not possible. Therefore, what is the difference between material life and spiritual life? Material life means simply full of problems, every step. Padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadāṁ [SB 10.14.58]. Simply dangerous. We are riding very nicely, comfortably, in a Cadillac car or motorcar, but we are riding on danger, that's all. We are driving; any moment the car may be smashed, especially in your country. [laughter] Any moment. So shall I sit down at home? No. At home also there may be so many dangers. We are in dangers. Simply we are trying to counteract it. That is called advancement of civilization. The animals, they depend on nature's protection. But we are human being; we are utilizing our higher consciousness, higher intelligence---the same thing. The Russia is manufacturing an, what is called, weapon, an atom bomb. So...

Devotee: Nuclear weapons.

Prabhupāda: Nuclear, yes. And America is also trying to. And the cat and dog, they are trying to protect by their nails and teeth. So the real question is defense. So the defense is... It is not that because we have got better life than the cats and dogs we haven't got to defend. We have to defend. This is..., but in a better way. Not better way---after all, we have to die. So anyway, we think that is a better way of defense.

So material life means only busy in four things = how to eat, how to sleep, and how to have nice sex and how to defend = āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca sāmānyam etat paśubhir narāṇām [Hitopadeśa]. But these things are not solving our problems. That we do not understand. The problems are there. Not that we Indians who have come to America to see that very rich nation, whether they have solved their problems. No. There are problems---more problems than India. India may have only one problem, that there is... Actually there is no, but we are advertised that Indians are starving. But I have not seen anyone starving. Anyway, so the problem is there. The material life means problem, and if you want to solve the problems, then here is the prescription given = taṁ nirvṛto niyatārtho bhajeta. Taṁ means the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Then the question may be, "Now you have asked me to give up all endeavor for maintaining yourself, Śukadeva Gosvāmī. You have prescribed that for your food you just wait under the tree, and he will give you some fruits; you can eat. For water you go to the river and drink as much water as you like." Then, before this verse, he said, "For sleeping, there is very nice mattress in the grass. I won't require any pillow. Now you have got natural pillow this; you have got your hand. Lie down." So, āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca. But if you want to advance in spiritual life, simply you have to give up this sense gratification. And the essence of sense gratification is sex life. Otherwise, there is full arrangement for your eating, sleeping, compartment, apartment. Everything is there. Temple also there you have got. "Where is the temple? I want to worship God. Where is church? Where is temple? If I live on the cave, then I will have to find out another means to go to the temple." Therefore Śukadeva Gosvāmī advises, "No." Evaṁ sva-citte svata eva siddha. "Your, within the core of your heart, the Lord is there. You sit down anywhere---in the cave, in the jungle or anywhere. If you like, you can find out the Lord is there within your heart," īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati [Bg. 18.61].

Kṛṣṇa says that the Supreme Lord---that means He---He is situated in everyone's heart. If we are sincere... "We" means these living entities. We are also living within this body. Asmin dehe, dehino 'smi..., dehino 'smin dehe [Bg. 2.13]. We are not this body. I am, you are, we are also situated within this body, and Kṛṣṇa is also situated within this body. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe [Bg. 18.61]. It is not that He is situated in the heart of the Hindus and not of the others. No. Everyone. Sarva-bhūtānāṁ. He is situated even within the heart of cats and dogs and tigers and others. Everyone. That is īśvaraḥ. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe. This verse we have repeatedly discussed---it is very, very important---that this body is just like a motorcar, yantra. Māyayā... Bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni yantrā rūḍhāni māyayā [Bg. 18.61]. Māyayā. Through the agency of māyā, material energy, this vehicle, machine, has been given to me. Why? Because I wanted to wander throughout the universe, just like they are going to the moon planet. So everyone has got this. This is called philosophical ideas. Everyone, every human being, if he is at all human being, he considers. That is philosophical mind. He considers, "Oh, there are so many stars. Whether..., what they are doing? How many men are there? Whether there is motorcar? Whether there is hill, ocean?" These questions automatically come to an intelligent man. That is the beginning of philosophy. Natural.

So actually that is the fact. We are traveling all over the universe. Not only that we have come to this planet. We have traveled many other planets. Otherwise, how Kṛṣṇa says bhrāmayan, wandering; sarva-bhūtāni, all living entities---either in the higher planetary system or this lower planetary system? And how he is traveling? Yantrārūḍhāni. This yantra, this body. He is given body. Now if I want to go to the moon planet and other higher planet, yes, you will get. But not this yantra, your so-called teeny sputnik. No. You have to take the yantra, the car, the vehicle, from Kṛṣṇa. He will give you if you want, if you are serious, that if you want to go to the moon planet, then you pray to Kṛṣṇa that "Give me a yantra, or a machine, I can go to the moon planet." Then you can go. Otherwise you will unnecessarily spend money and try to go somewhere and bring some dust, and you will say, "Now I..., we are triumphant." That's all. But if you want to go there seriously, then you have to prepare yourself in this life. Pray to the Supreme Lord, who has created all this moon and sun and other and this planet, and He will make you befitting, qualified to go there. You cannot go to the sun planet. It is very, very hot, high temperature. Similarly, it is very, very cold in the moon planet. So how you can go with this body? This body means this machine.

Then you have to accept another machine. That is the process. That is the process. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā:

yānti deva-vratā devān
pitṝn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ
bhūtejyā yānti bhūtāni
mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām
[Bg. 9.25]

Everything is clearly stated there, that if you want to go to the heavenly planets or higher planetary system, they are in the..., in front of you. You can see them, that the sun planet is there; but you are so unqualified you cannot go there. But the thing is there. It is not fictitious. The temperature is there, śāstra description, yac-cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṇāṁ [Bs. 5.52]. Savitā means the sun. He is the eye of all the planets, because without sunshine you cannot see. You are very much proud of your eyes, but as soon as there is no sun, then you are blind. Therefore, yac-cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṇāṁ. All, all the planets, unless there is sunlight you cannot see. And the sun planet is there in front of you. Every morning you are getting the sunshine. Why don't you go there? Huh? Go. You have got nice 747. [laughter] That you cannot. Then you have to pray. Īśvara, Kṛṣṇa, is within your heart, and if you fervently pray, He is very kind. Therefore He gives you different types of vehicle. Bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni māyayā [Bg. 18.61]. Bhrāmayan means making him wandering in every planet, in every species of life. Sarva-bhūtāni: all species of life. There are different types of birds, different types of beasts, different types of human being. This is called vicitra, varieties. God's creation is varieties.

So if you want to go somewhere within this material world or beyond this material world, beyond this material world = paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nyo 'vyakto 'vyaktāt sanātanaḥ [Bg. 8.20]. Kṛṣṇa giving you the information that there is another material nature. That is spiritual nature. Just like we have got this experience, although we could not go anywhere, but we see, by studying geography, that there are many, many hundred, thousands and millions of planets. Similarly, there is another nature. There also, similarly. The same---not only same; it is three times more than in this material world. This is only God's one part of creation. Ekāṁśena sthito jagat.

atha vā bahunaitena
kiṁ jñātena tavārjuna
viṣṭabhyāham idaṁ kṛtsnam
ekāṁśena sthito jagat
[Bg. 10.42]

When Kṛṣṇa wanted to know..., Arjuna wanted to know from Kṛṣṇa, "How much Your potency is extended? How You are working? I want to know." Because he is inquisitive, brahma-jijñāsā. He is trying to understand what is God. And God is personally replying. So He has stated in that chapter that "I am this amongst these; I am this amongst these; I am this." Then, then He summarizes that "How much I shall say? Just try to understand Me, My potency, that the..., this material world there are innumerable universes, and in each universe there are innumerable planets. So I want in every one of them," viṣṭabhyāham idaṁ kṛtsnam, "all of them, and I maintain them." Just like Kṛṣṇa is situated in everyone's heart, then the..., similarly, Kṛṣṇa is situated in everything, even within the atom. That is Kṛṣṇa. We want to imitate Kṛṣṇa, but if I..., if we are asked that "You enter into the atom," "That I cannot do." No.

Kṛṣṇa, God, means He is..., can, He can be, become that the greater than the greatest. We can conceive of the greatest, the universe. So, not only this universe, but many millions of universes, they are being created from the holes of..., of His bodily hair. Yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-vila-jā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ [Bs 5.48]. That is God. Probably we have got many millions of holes on our body. So God has got, Mahā-Viṣṇu, and from that hole universes are coming out, continually, breathing. Yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam. So you must have what is the conception of God = greater than the greatest, and smaller than the smallest. That is God. He can produce these big, big universes simply by breathing, and again---we do not know how many atoms are there in each universe---He can enter in each atom. Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-sthaṁ.

eko 'py asau racayituṁ jagad-aṇḍa-koṭiṁ
yac-chaktir asti jagad-aṇḍa-cayā yad-antaḥ
aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-sthaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
[Bs. 5.35]

This is the conception of God.

So here the proposal is that we are suffering in this material world, that we are simply thinking that "In future we shall be happy if I do like this." But before that future comes, we become finished. This is our position. Not only once, but many times. Still I, you, have opinion. Just like the so-called scientist = millions of years' gap, and then this will be happening, this will be happening. No. These are all nonsense. Then how---your age is fifty or sixty years---how you are considering millions of years? Your fifty, sixty years of age will be millions' time finished before you realize the truth. But the so-called scientists, they are thinking, "No. This fifty, sixty years is large extent of..., span of life." In that way cannot understand. That is not possible. Ciraṁ vicinvan. If you stipulate in this foolish way for ciraṁ, eternally, still you cannot understand. Ciraṁ vicinvan.

athāpi te deva padāmbuja-dvaya-
prasāda-leśānugṛhīta eva hi
jānāti tattvaṁ bhagavan-mahimno
na cānya eko 'pi ciraṁ vicinvan
[SB 10.14.29]

Ciraṁ means "eternally." If you speculate to understand God by your teeny brain and limited sense perception, it will be none. To take the prescription of the śāstra, if you want, the first is that you must give up material attachment. Nivṛtta... [aside:] Take this. Material attachment, so long I will be attracted by material things, Kṛṣṇa will give me a relative body. Tathā dehāntara-prāptir [Bg. 2.13]. If we want this temporary material enjoyment, then according to the body there is enjoyment. In the ant's life there is also the same thing = eating, sleeping, sex and defense. And in the Lord Indra's, or the King Indra, the heavenly king, he has all the same propensity---eating, sleeping, mating and defense. So if you go to the moon planet or sun planet or the topmost planets, wherever you go, the four things will follow = eating, sleeping, mating, defense; and birth, death, old age and disease.

So, so long I shall remain in this material world, I may be Lord Indra, Lord Brahmā, or President of America, or this or that---you cannot avoid these four things. That is material existence. That is the fact. But if you want to solve the problem, then this is the process giving = the nivṛtta. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ. Don't aspire for material enjoyment. Enjoyment is there. Don't think that "If I stop my material enjoyment, then my life of enjoyment is finished." No. It is not finished. Just like a diseased man = he is also eating, he is also sleeping, he is also having other duties; but that he is eating, sleeping, and the healthy man's eating, sleeping is not the same thing. Similarly, our material enjoyment---the eating, sleeping, mating and defense---that is with..., full of dangers. We cannot enjoy without any hindrance. There are so many hindrances.

So if we want that uninterrupted happiness... Happiness is there. Just like a diseased man, he is also eating, and the healthy man is eating. But he is having bitter taste. A man with jaundice, if you give him sugar candy, he will taste as bitter. That's a fact. But the same person who is cured from the jaundice disease, he will taste it very sweet. Similarly, in the material condition of life there are so many inebrieties, we cannot enjoy life fully. If you want full enjoyment of life, then you must come to the spiritual platform. Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam [Bg. 8.15]. This material world has been described in the Bhagavad-gītā that this is duḥkhālayam. It is the place of miseries. Then if you say, "No, I have made arrangement. I have got now good, nice bank balance. My wife is very nice, my children are also very nice, so I don't mind. I shall remain in the material world," Kṛṣṇa says aśāśvatam: "No, sir. You cannot live here. You will be kicked out." Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam. If you agree to stay here, in this miserable condition of life, that is also not allowed. No permanent settlement. Tathā dehāntara-prāptir.

So these problems, where is the scientists they are discussing about these problem? But the problems are there. Who wants to give up whatever family he has got? Everyone has got family, but nobody wants to give up his family. But by force he is taken away. The man is crying, "Oh, I am now going. I am now dying. What will happen to my wife, my children?" He is forced. He must get out. So this is the problem. So where is the solution of the problem? There is no solution of the problem. If you want solution of the problem, then Kṛṣṇa says,

mām upetya kaunteya
duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam
nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ
saṁsiddhiṁ paramāṁ gatāḥ
[Bg. 8.15]

"If one comes to Me," mām upetya, "then he hasn't got to come to, again, in this material world full of miseries."

So here Śukadeva Gosvāmī is suggesting that you become devotee. Your all problems will be solved. He is describing here, evaṁ sva-citte svata eva siddha [SB 2.2.6]. You don't have to find out where is God, God is there within your heart, svata eva. How he has come? Svata eva. He is so kind that he is by his own nature, by his habit, he is accompanying you, as friend, just to save you. Just to save you. You are rotting in this material world and Kṛṣṇa, God is within your heart, just to, looking forward, when you will say, "Kṛṣṇa, now I have finished my business, please save me". He is simply waiting, and he says, "sarva-dharmān parityajya [Bg. 18.66], you rascal, you are simply suffering, you give up all this nonsense engagement, you surrender unto Me, I shall give you protection." Kṛṣṇa is opportunities, he is looking after the opportunities when after being thoroughly being experienced, that your so-called material life hasn't given you any comfort at any moment, now you surrender unto the Supreme Lord. That opportunity he is saying, therefore He comes, just to offer, paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya. Those who are a little advanced, Kṛṣṇa gives His instruction, "Oh, you are very nice, all right, satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ [Bg. 9.14]. You, 24 hours chant about Me, satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ, satataṁ. Satataṁ means knowledge. Caitanya Mahāprabhu also says, kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ [Cc. Ādi 17.31]. So this is the opportunity to make solution of all the problems, bhajeta taṁ, bhajeta, bhaja, this is Sanskrit word, the root meaning is to serve, bhajeta. How bhajeta? Taṁ nirvṛto niyatārtho bhajeta [SB 2.2.6]. You become relieved from all these so-called material duties.

Nirvṛta. Nirvṛto niyatārthaḥ. Niyata artha means that is your permanent duty. Artha. Artha means the aim of life or the achievement. Niyata. That is your real purpose of life. "Real purpose of" means that you are part and parcel of God, and He is waiting when you give up service, your manufactured service, and come to this service of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, devotional service. Then what will be the result? Saṁsāra-hetūparamaś ca. Your this material life begun because you did not like to serve Kṛṣṇa. Saṁsāra. Saṁsāra means this material life. Saṁsāra-dāvānala-līḍha-loka-trāṇāya kāruṇya-ghanāghanatvam. So it is the spiritual master's duty is, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, that inform this, that "You are suffering in this material world. So because you wanted to be relieved from the suffering, so here is the message. Here is the message." Satataṁ kīrtayanto mām [Bg. 9.14]. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that, enechi auṣadhi māyā nāśibāro lāgi'. "This māyā, this illusion, you want to get relief from this illusion. So I have brought medicine for you." Enechi auṣadhi. Auṣadhi means medicine. Enechi, "I have brought," enechi auṣadhi māyā nāśibāro, "to..., just to drive away this māyā." What is that? Hari-nāma mahā-mantra lao tumi māgi'. Māgi, "you voluntarily take it." He doesn't force. That is not good. It is not force.

So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means on behalf of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, we are canvassing from door to door; "My dear sir, you are very intelligent, but you are suffering always. Take this medicine. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa."

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya! Haribol! [applause] [end]

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