Srila Prabhupada speaks on: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.25.7

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.25.7

Bombay, Nov. 7, 1974

Audio for this lecture: https://prabhupadavani.org/transcriptions/741107sbbom/
Prabhupada Radio: https://prabhupadaradio.com

Nitāi: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [devotees repeat] [break] [Prabhupāda and devotees chant verse] [break]

nirviṇṇā nitarāṁ bhūmann
asad-indriya-tarṣaṇāt
yena sambhāvyamānena
prapannāndhaṁ tamaḥ prabho
[SB 3.25.7]

[00:58]

"Devahūti said = I am very sick of the disturbance of my material senses, for because of this sense disturbance, my Lord, I have fallen into the abyss of ignorance."

Prabhupāda:

nirviṇṇā nitarāṁ bhūmann
asad-indriya-tarṣaṇāt
yena sambhāvyamānena
prapannāndhaṁ tamaḥ prabho
[SB 3.25.7]

So this material world is described in the Vedic literature as darkness. And actually it is darkness. Therefore we require the sunlight, the moonlight, the electric light. If it had not been darkness, then why so many light arrangement? Actually, it is darkness. Artificially, we made it light. Therefore Vedic injunction is that "Don't keep yourself in the darkness." Tamasi mā jyotir gama. "Go to the light." That light is the spiritual world. That is directly the effulgence, or bodily rays, of Kṛṣṇa.

yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi-
koṭiṣv aśeṣa-vasudhādi-vibhūti-bhinnam
tad brahma niṣkalam anantam aśeṣa-bhūtaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
[Bs. 5.40]

So real business of..., especially of human being... The animals, they do not know. They have no capacity to know that we are in the darkness---darkness of knowledge and actually darkness. So one has to be..., become nirviṇṇā, disgusted. One, intelligent man, should be disgusted. One must be intelligent to know that "I am eternal." Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre. It is the preliminary study of Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa is instructing about the constitutional position of the soul = na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre, na jāyate na mriyate kadācit [Bg. 2.20]. Kadācit, at any time, the soul does not take birth, does not die. And more explicitly it is said, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre. The covering..., the body is the covering. So after destruction of this body, the soul is not destroyed. Just like if I change my shirt and coat or somehow or other the shirt and coat is destroyed, I, the person who put on this dress, I am not destroyed. This simple knowledge is instructed in the beginning of the Bhagavad-gītā. There are so many big, big scholars, big, big leaders, and still, they cannot understand that "I am not this body." This is the result, because they do not study Bhagavad-gītā in the proper way. We have got so many leaders, big, big leaders, they are teaching Bhagavad-gītā. But nobody is fully aware or convinced that "I am not this body." This is called darkness. This is called darkness. And when one becomes disgusted with this darkness, or this position in the darkness, that is human life. Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam [SB 11.3.21]. Such person who has become disgusted with this material existence, he requires the instruction of a guru.

So here Devahūti, because she is the wife of a great yogī, she understands what is the constitutional position of herself, and she has got her son, the incarnation of God. So she is putting her, I mean, problem to the teacher. It doesn't matter... Because Kapiladeva is the son of Devahūti, Devahūti does not deny to take instruction from Him. She does not say, "Oh, He is my son. What He can instruct me? I am His mother. I shall instruct." No. Instruction has to be taken from the person who is in knowledge. It doesn't matter what is his position. It doesn't matter, whether he's son or a boy or a śūdra or a brāhmaṇa or a sannyāsī or a gṛhastha. It doesn't matter. You should take instruction from a person who knows, who is in the knowledge.

That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission. He said, when He was talking with Rāmānanda Rāya... Rāmānanda Rāya was a śūdra by caste. We have got the four division = brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra. So he was, Rāmānanda Rāya, was by caste a śūdra, and Caitanya Mahāprabhu was a high-class brāhmaṇa. Not only brāhmaṇa, He was a sannyāsī, the most exalted post. First of all He's brāhmaṇa. Of course, unless one is brāhmaṇa, he cannot take sannyāsa. That's a fact. So He was, from social point of view, He was son of Jagannātha Miśra, grandson of Nīlāmbara Cakravartī. Personally, He was learned scholar, born in a very high-class brāhmaṇa, very beautiful body, young man---all qualified. And He was taking instruction from Rāmānanda Rāya, who was a śūdra. The Caitanya-caritāmṛta, you'll find. So Rāmānanda Rāya, he was not only śūdra, he was gṛhastha. And he was a politician, governor of Madras. Governor of Madras. But he was very exalted in spiritual knowledge. So after converting Sarvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, when Caitanya Mahāprabhu decided to go to the southern part of India, South India, at that time... Sarvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, he was a very learned scholar, logician, nyāyī. So he wanted to teach Caitanya Mahāprabhu, because He was a young man. But later on he accepted Caitanya Mahāprabhu as his guru. He was impersonalist, Māyāvādī. And Caitanya Mahāprabhu explained to him the Vedānta-sūtra, that Vedānta-sūtra is personal philosophy. So he was convinced, and he became His disciple.

So when Caitanya Mahāprabhu was going to South India for His touring, he specially requested Him that "I neglected this person, Rāmānanda Rāya. He was talking with me about spiritual subject matter, very highly elevated, and that I thought that he was a sentimentalist, so I neglected him. But I can understand now that he is a very exalted personality. When You are going to South India, please meet him. Please try to meet him. You'll be very much pleased." So Caitanya Mahāprabhu, at Kabur, He met Rāmānanda Rāya, and He was talking about spiritual subject matter, very highly elevated, simply. So because he was born in a śūdra family and a gṛhastha and a politician, so he was hesitating, that "Caitanya Mahāprabhu is a brāhmaṇa and sannyāsī. Such exalt..." Hesitating. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that,

kibā vipra kibā śūdra nyāsī kene naya
yei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā sei guru haya
[Cc. Madhya 8.128]

"Don't hesitate. Why you are hesitating because you are a gṛhastha or you are in politics or you are a..., born a śūdra family? Why you are...? I am learning from you." This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's preaching. He did not think anyone negligible. Anyone who is qualified with Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he can become guru. It doesn't matter where he is born, what is his family and identification. It doesn't matter. He must know the science. It is very practical. Just like when you go to consult an engineer or a medical man or some lawyer, you do not ask him whether he's a brāhmaṇa or a śūdra. If he's qualified, if he can help you in the particular subject matter, you consult with him, you take his help. That is practical. So similarly, in the spiritual matter it doesn't matter what he is. If he knows Kṛṣṇa, then he can become guru. It doesn't matter.

So here also, Devahūti, she was taking lesson from her son because the son knew the science of Kṛṣṇa. It doesn't matter whether one is son or one is something else, or born in śūdra family or brāhmaṇa family or a sannyāsī. We are concerned with the science of Kṛṣṇa. That is required. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita also. He was a politician. You know Cāṇakya Paṇḍita. Under his name there is, New Delhi, quarter = Canakya Puri. He was a great politician, prime minister of Ma..., Samrat[?], Emperor Candragupta. He also advises. He has got a moral instruction, Cāṇakya-śloka. He says that viṣād apy amṛtaṁ grāhyam: "In the poison pot, if there is nectarine, you should accept it." Don't neglect it because it is on the poison pot. You are concerned with the nectarine. Take it. Viṣād apy amṛtaṁ grāhyam amedhyād api kāñcanam. In a filthy place... Suppose in your lavatory, in a very filthy place, there is gold. So it doesn't matter. You should take it, gold. It is not that the gold is in the filthy place, therefore you should not touch it. Other metal you cannot touch. That is the Vedic injunction. But gold you can take. Amedhyād api kāñcanam. Viṣād apy amṛtaṁ grāhyam amedhyād api kāñcanam, nīcād api..., duṣkulād api. You can take some teachings, even one is born in lower-grade family. And the wife you can accept even she is, if she is qualified, and... Strī-ratnaṁ duṣkulād api. Strī-ratnam. Ratna means jewel. If one girl is very qualified or beautiful, even she is born of lower family, you must accept. You can marry. This is Cāṇakya Paṇḍita. Strī-ratnaṁ duṣkulād api. Viṣād amṛtaṁ grāhyam amedhyād api kāñcanam, nīcād apy vidyā. If a man born in nīca, in lower-grade family, but if he's qualified, it doesn't matter. That is practically being done.

So this is Vedic system. Not that one is lower in the estimation of the society by birth or so on. But he must be qualified. So here also it doesn't matter. This is going on. That is Vedic system. Devahūti does not deny to take instruction from her son. It is the system. [indistinct] It doesn't matter whether he's inferior. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's... Yei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā sei guru haya [Cc. Madhya 8.128] = "You will accept anyone as guru if he knows the science of Kṛṣṇa." That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's... And Caitanya Mahāprabhu instructed everyone to become a guru. The world is suffering for want of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That was His mission. He wanted that from India everyone should become a guru and preach outside, because there is no Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra' sarva-deśa [Cc. Madhya 7.128]. Or tāra' ei deśa. "You become a guru on My order, and you deliver your country or other countries." "So I have no so qualification, I have no education. How I can become guru?" Now, Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, āmāra ājñāya: "By My order." "Then what is Your order, Sir?" "Now, My order is yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṇa-upadeśa [Cc. Madhya 7.128]. This is My order. You simply explain what Kṛṣṇa has said or what has been said about Kṛṣṇa." That is kṛṣṇa-upadeśa. Kṛṣṇa-upadeśa means what Kṛṣṇa is instructing.

The Bhagavad-gītā, the Supreme Personality, Kṛṣṇa, He is instructing. That is kṛṣṇa-upadeśa. And Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is speaking about Kṛṣṇa. That is also kṛṣṇa-upadeśa. Kṛṣṇasya upadeśa iti kṛṣṇa-upadeśa, and Kṛṣṇa, subject matter Kṛṣṇa and upadeśa, that is also kṛṣṇa-upadeśa. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that "You simply preach kṛṣṇa-upadeśa. Then you become guru."

yāre dekha tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa'-upadeśa
āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra' ei deśa
[Cc. Madhya 7.128]

Not only that. He has empowered all Indians.

bhārata-bhūmite haila manuṣya-janma yāra
janma sārthaka kari' kara para-upakāra
[Cc. Ādi 9.41]

This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, to spread this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is the best welfare activity in the human society. The best. There is no more better welfare... There are so many welfare activities in the human society, but this kṛṣṇa-upadeśa, to instruct people about the primary principles of Bhagavad-gītā in the human society, that is the best para-upakāra. People do not know how to become happy. They are... Manaḥ ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati [Bg. 15.7]. They are simply making struggle for existence by mental concoction. Manaḥ ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati [Bg. 15.7]. In this material world, they are simply struggling. There is no solution. Therefore the every Indian should study Bhagavad-gītā and, if possible Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and assimilate it and preach all over the world. This is the duty of India. India has no other duty. Para-upakāra.

So with our one man's endeavor, teeny effort, you..., we can see that so many outsiders, they're attracted to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Unless there is something substance... They are not illiterate. They are not fools. They are not poor. Why they are attracted? There is something to be learned from Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So if this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is spread all over the world regularly, then the face of the world will change. That's a fact. Sarve sukhino bhavantu. This is the Vedic mission = "Let everyone become happy." And how he'll be happy? He cannot become happy by mental concoction. That is not possible. Manorathenāsati dhāvato bahiḥ [SB 5.18.12]. If one is situated on the mental platform, speculating, he will simply go to the asat. Asat means this material world. Asato mā sad gama. Vedic says, "Don't remain in this asat. Come to the sat. Oṁ tat sat."

So if one is on the mental speculation, manufacturing something for the welfare of the human society, that is not possible. Human society cannot be happy without Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That's a fact. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā,

bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ
sarva-loka-maheśvaram
suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati
[Bg. 5.29]

If you want śānti, individually or collectively, nationally or internationally, then you must become Kṛṣṇa conscious. What is that Kṛṣṇa consciousness? The summary is that Kṛṣṇa is the supreme enjoyer = bhoktā. We are not bhoktā. We are simply servant. Just like anywhere, there is a master and the servant. The master is the enjoyer, and the server, servant, is helping the master enjoyment. This is the process. So we living entities, we are eternal servant of God, or Kṛṣṇa. When we speak of Kṛṣṇa, it means God. So we are eternal servant of God. So our duty is to help the master to enjoy. Just like here is Kṛṣṇa. The Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, She is the topmost servitor of Kṛṣṇa. So Her business is to keep pleased always Kṛṣṇa. That is... That is the symbolic representation. Rādhā. Rādhā means anaya[?] ārādhyate. She is serving, the best service. Anaya[?] ārādhyate. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is very much fond of Rādhārāṇī, because She gives the best service to Kṛṣṇa in so many ways. She has got sixty-four qualification. That is mentioned. Therefore She is so, I mean to say, pleasing to Kṛṣṇa. Anaya[?] ārādhyate iti rādhā.

So our business is also like that. We are eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa, and we should give, render, we should render service to the best of capacity. That is our real, constitutional position. But here Devahūti says that bhūmann asad-indriya-tarṣaṇāt. Asad-indriya-tarṣaṇāt. At the present moment in this material world, we are busy to enjoy these material senses. This is our position. Everyone is satisfying. Indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ, manasas tu parā buddhiḥ... [Bg. 3.42]. In this way, you go, and when you go beyond the range of buddhi, that is soul. That is spiritual platform.

In the ordinarily we are, in the material platform, we are interested in gratifying senses = "I like it. I must have it." But that sense gratification means we are becoming implicated, implicated in the laws of nature. That is also stated in the śāstra.

nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma
yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti
na sādhu manye yata ātmano 'yam
asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ
[SB 5.5.4]

This is the instruction in the Vedic literature, that the people in this material world, they are very, very busy. Not only men---even the animals, even the birds, beasts, insect. We see on the beach, there are so many dogs, and they are assembled there for sex. So this is the material world, indriya-prīti. Therefore śāstra says that human life should be considered. They should think, "Whether we shall spoil our life simply by sense gratification, or there is some other business?" Yes, there is some other business. That is tapasya. That is tapasya means we should restrict sense gratification. Sense gratification, either regulated or nonregulated, is meant for animal life. Sense control is the human life. Therefore you'll find in Vedic culture big, big learned scholars, big, big kings, they dedicated their life for tapasya. Tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyet sattvam [SB 5.5.1]. If you want to purify your existence, then you must take to the process of tapasya. Tapo divyam.

And what is that tapasya? Tapasya for realization of God. And then we shall be purified. What is meaning of purify, purification? Purification means we are eternal, and if we become purified from this material contamination, then we get back our eternal life, back to home, back to Godhead. That is required. That is... For that we have to accept little tapasya. Not to become sense gratifier like the dogs and hogs. That is not civilization. Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye [SB 5.5.1]. This human life should be regulated in such a way that he hasn't got to satisfy the senses after taking so much hard labor. The modern civilization is like that. Everyone is engaged in hard labor simply for satisfaction of the senses. So they have become mad. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vi... And they are acting without any consideration of the effect. They do not consider whether it is sinful or not. They do not believe in the next life. They do not discriminate what is sinful, what is pious---nothing. Exactly like animals.

So śāstra says, "This is not good." Here also, Devahūti says that bhūmann asad-indriya-tarṣaṇāt. Asad-indriya-tarṣ... Actually, these senses are not real senses. It is covered, just like my this body, covered with this shirt or this cloth. It is not my real body. Although you see the shirt has got a hand, that hand is not real hand. The real hand is within the shirt. Similarly, our real body is within this body. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe [Bg. 2.13]. Dehe. Dehinaḥ. Dehinaḥ means the real body, or the spiritual body of the soul, is within this body. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe. And the body is changing. Kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā. It is sometimes child, sometimes youth, sometimes a young man, sometimes old man. And then vanishes. It is... There are six changes. So this is not real body. But... And we are engaged in this unreal body, sense gratification. We have got senses. So therefore Bhagavad-gītā says, sukham ātyantikaṁ yat tad atīndriya-grāhyam [Bg. 6.21]. Atīndriya-grāhyam. Beyond the senses.

Therefore these senses are to be purified. That is called tapasya. Tapo divyam [SB 5.5.1]. And... Yes. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam. When we purify our senses... Senses you cannot destroy. That is not possible. Just like some..., somebody said that "You become desireless." Desireless... Desire is the mental activities. So we cannot be desireless. That is not possible. We have to purify the desire. That is required. That is recommended,

sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ
tat-paratvena nirmalam
hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-
sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate
[Cc. Madhya 19.170]

Bhakti means that. Bhakti means that you are not required to destroy your senses, but you have to purify your senses. And when you purify your senses, then you can serve Kṛṣṇa. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam..., nirmalam, senses; hṛṣīkeṇa, by the senses; hṛṣīkeśa-sevanam, serve Hṛṣīkeśa, the master of the senses. Kṛṣṇa's senses. We are just like part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Just like this hand or this finger are part and parcel of my body, similarly we are also senses, part and parcel of the spiritual body of Kṛṣṇa. So when we purify ourself, then we act in our original, constitutional position. Just like the finger is meant for serving my body, similarly, when, as soon as we are in the position of our original constitution, then we serve Kṛṣṇa.

So here Devahūti says that bhūmann asad-indriya-tarṣaṇāt: "I am in this material world." In simple words there is a Bengali poem:

kṛṣṇa bhuliya jīva bhoga vāñchā kare
pāśate māyā tāre jāpaṭiyā dhare
[Prema-vivarta]

We are purely part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. We are actually the senses of Kṛṣṇa. And when we forget this position and we want to satisfy ourself, that is our material condition.

kṛṣṇa bhuliya jīva bhoga vāñchā kare
pāśate māyā tāre jāpaṭiyā dhare
[Prema-vivarta]

Then that is māyā. When we are in ignorance that we are the part and parcel of the Supreme Being and our duty is to satisfy Him... Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanam [Cc. Madhya 19.170]. This is called bhakti. When we forget it, then we are fallen in this material world, and we are busy in our personal sense gratification and implication. Implication means so long we'll have..., we'll continue to have this desire to satisfy our senses, we have to accept another body, according to our desire. Kṛṣṇa is so kind. If we want to become a tiger, Kṛṣṇa will give you next life a tiger's body. And if you want to be a devotee, He will give you the same body. If you want to eat stool, then He'll give you the body of a pig. And if you want to... That requires our own qualification. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa [SB 3.31.1]. Yānti deva-vratā devān pitṝn yānti pitṛ-vra... [Bg. 9.25]. It is a preparation for the next life, as you want to enjoy your senses. So why not prepare yourself to go back to home, back to Godhead, and prepare your senses like that? That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.

Thank you very much.

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

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Srila Prabhupada speaks on: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.22.21

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.22.21

Tehran, Aug. 10, 1976

Audio for this lecture: https://prabhupadavani.org/transcriptions/760810sbteh/
Prabhupada Radio: https://prabhupadaradio.com

Prabhupāda: Spectacles. Spectacles.

Pradyumna: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto 3, Chapter 22 text 21.

Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [devotees repeat] [leads chanting, etc.]

maitreya uvāca
sa ugra-dhanvann iyad evābabhāṣe
āsīc ca tūṣṇīm aravinda-nābham
dhiyopagṛhṇan smita-śobhitena
mukhena ceto lulubhe devahūtyāḥ
[SB 3.22.21]

[04:00]

Translation = "Śrī Maitreya said = O great warrior Vidura, the sage Kardama said this much only and then became silent, thinking of his worshipable Lord Viṣṇu, who has a lotus on His navel. As he silently smiled, his face captured the mind of Devahūti, who began to meditate upon the great sage."

Prabhupāda: Purport?

Pradyumna: "It appears that Kardama Muni was fully absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness because as soon as he became silent, he at once began to think of Lord Viṣṇu. That is the way of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Pure devotees are so absorbed in thought of Kṛṣṇa that they have no other engagement; although they may seem to think or act otherwise, they are always thinking of Kṛṣṇa. The smile of such a Kṛṣṇa conscious person is so attractive that simply by smiling he wins so many admirers, disciples and followers." [break]

Prabhupāda: Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane [SB 9.4.18]. There is one instance of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, how the devotee does not lose a single moment without thinking of Kṛṣṇa. Satataṁ kīrtayanto mām [Bg. 9.14]. Kīrtaniyaḥ sadā hariḥ [Cc. Ādi 17.31]. This instruction we get. So, sadā tad bhāva-bhāvitaḥ [Bg. 8.6]. If you practice like that, then there is chance of being transferred to Kṛṣṇa just after leaving this body. So somehow or other you should be absorbed in the thought of Kṛṣṇa. We get all these examples from authorities. Just like Ambarīṣa Mahārāja, he was emperor, very responsible man. But sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor: he kept his mind always on the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor [SB 9.4.18]. So although great emperor, so responsibility, still it was possible for him to keep his mind on the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. In South India there is a class of professional dancer. They take a big jug on the head and without any..., what is called? Bira?

Dayanānda: Cloth, cap, ring.

Prabhupāda: Yes, ring. It is kept as it is. The head is shaved, but they are so practiced to keep the balance that the pot does not fall down. It remains exactly. This is an art---they will dance, and the pot on the head will never fall down, keeping the balance. So by practice it is possible. There are many professional vendors, they keep their basket on the head, and taking a child, going and canvassing, "We have got this fruit." It never falls down. They are keeping the balance. So this is a crude example that everything can be done by practice. One may be very responsible officer, like Ambarīṣa Mahārāja, the emperor. It is not joke. But still, his mind is absorbed in the thought of Kṛṣṇa. Sai vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor. There is another example Rūpa Gosvāmī gives, that a woman who has got an extra lover besides the husband, so she's always thinking of that lover although she's busy with household affairs. Para vyasaninanina[?]. That means if you want somebody very seriously, you can think of him always, twenty-four hours, in spite of your being engaged in so many duties. It is possible.

So we have to practice this Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Here, in this material world, we have to work. Without work, you cannot maintain even your family, your body. That is not possible. Śarīra-yātrāpi te na prasiddhyed akarmaṇaḥ [Bg. 3.8]. Kṛṣṇa says, Arjuna, that without karma you cannot maintain even your body. So you have to work. Śarīra-yātrāpi te na prasiddhyed akarmaṇaḥ. And this material world means you have to maintain by working. And spiritual world means na tasya kāryam kāranam ca vidyate [Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8]. There is nothing to work, as Kṛṣṇa has nothing to work. He is simply enjoying. What is called? The children have got... What is called?

Devotee: Swing?

Prabhupāda: Ah, swing, swing. So Kṛṣṇa is enjoying, and Kṛṣṇa's associates are enjoying. They have nothing to work. That is spiritual world. Cintāmaṇi prakara sadmasu kalpa vṛkṣa [Bs. 5.29] = that is a different world. There is no material body; therefore there is no need of the material body. That is a different world. But in this material world we have to work. Tṛtīyā-karma-samjñaṇya avidyā-karma-samjñānya tṛtīyā śaktir iṣyate [Cc. Madhya 6.154]. This material world means you have to work and adjust things for your maintenance. That you cannot escape. But still, we have to become Kṛṣṇa conscious.

So things are to be adjusted as it is prescribed by great authorities. In Bhakti-rasāmṛta you'll find the regulative principles. That is called Vaiṣṇava-smṛti. So here we cannot live without working, and still we have to become always Kṛṣṇa conscious. This art, to understand and to practice, is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Then in spite of my being engaged in so many so-called material things... Because a devotee has nothing to do with material things. Even if he works for maintenance of the body, that is not material. Just like Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, who was magistrate. But it is not for a magistrate to write so many books---siddhānta-pūrṇam. So he was in a different, transcendental platform. So that is possible, the mind being absorbed in Kṛṣṇa's thought, satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ [Bg. 9.14], tuṣyanti ca ramanti ca [Bg. 10.9]. That is possible by practice. Here Kardama Muni is a living example. And there are many other examples, that we can remain fully Kṛṣṇa conscious in spite of being engaged in so-called material activities. That is possible.

Thank you very much.

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

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Srila Prabhupada speaks on: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.9.13

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.9.13

Tokyo, May 3, 1972

Audio for this lecture: https://prabhupadavani.org/transcriptions/720503sbtok/
Prabhupada Radio: https://prabhupadaradio.com

Pradyumna: [leads chanting of verse, etc.] [Prabhupāda and devotees respond]

bhrājiṣṇubhir yaḥ parito virājate
lasad-vimānāvalibhir mahātmanām
vidyotamānaḥ pramadottamādyubhiḥ
savidyud abhrāvalibhir yathā nabhaḥ
[SB 2.9.13]

[break]

Prabhupāda: Next. [devotees take turns chanting verse, with Prabhupāda correcting pronunciation]

[break] "...bhir, by the glowing."

[03:03]

Pradyumna: yaḥ---the Vaikuṇṭhalokas. [break]

"The Vaikuṇṭha planets are also surrounded by various airplanes, all glowing and brilliantly situated, belonging to the great mahātmās, or devotees of the Lord. The ladies also are as beautiful as lightning because of their celestial complexions. And all these combined together appear just like the sky decorated with both clouds and lightning."

Prabhupāda: Hmm. So there is no scarcity of aeroplanes in Vaikuṇṭhaloka. It is not nirviśeṣa, zero. The rascals, they do not know [break] what is actually Vaikuṇṭha is, or the kingdom of God. And they dismiss everything by declaring, "Zero, without any varieties." Nirviśeṣa śūnyavādi. They have no information; therefore "zero." But actually that is not. Exactly like this sky, the Vaikuṇṭha sky is there. Like the planets here, there are also planets. As in the sky, outer space, here in this material world big, big aer... [break] So there also, there are many big, big aeroplanes running on.

Now, how this information received? When Bhāgavata was compiled five thousand years ago, there was no existence of aeroplane. But how in the Bhāgavata the information of aeroplane is there? If men were less intelligent five thousand years ago, and now they have advanced, then how persons five thousand years ago... Not five thousand years; many, many millions of years ago the information was there. But from historical point of view, at least five thousand years ago. So how they give this information of airplane? Hmm? So how you can say that some forty thousand years ago... What is the Darwin's theory? There was no brain?

Śyāmasundara: Apelike creatures.

Prabhupāda: So how this nonsense theory can be accepted? Huh? According to our Vedic information, from the very beginning the one person, one living creature, was Brahmā, the most intelligent person. Not that he developed from monkey. This nonsense theory killed the human civilization. The intelligence is coming from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the most intelligent person is receiving that---Brahmā. And then he is distributing this knowledge.

So knowledge has not developed with the development of the brain of the living entities. That is a wrong theory. Knowledge is already there. And the most intelligent person received it, and it is being distributed still. Therefore Vedic knowledge is considered to be the perfect. And if we take knowledge from the Vedas, then our knowledge is perfect. Now here is the knowledge.

What is the purport?

Pradyumna: Purport = "It appears that in the Vaikuṇṭha planets there are airplanes also, brilliantly glowing, and they are occupied by the great devotees of the Lord, with ladies of celestial beauty as brilliant as lightning. As there are airplanes, so there must be different types of carriages also, like the airplanes, and they may not be driven machines as we have experience in this world. Because everything is of the same nature of eternity, bliss and knowledge, the airplanes and carriages are of the same quality as Brahman. As there is nothing except Brahman, so it should not be misconceived that there is only void and no variegatedness. To think like that is due to a poor fund of knowledge. Otherwise, no one would have such a misconception of voidness in the Brahman.

"As there are airplanes, ladies and gentlemen, so there must be cities and houses and everything else just suitable to the particular planets. One should not carry the ideas of imperfection from this world to the transcendental world without taking into consideration the nature of the atmosphere as completely free from the influence of time, etc., as described previously."

Prabhupāda: Hmm. So in all other planets, not only within this material world, but also in the spiritual world... There are also varieties of planets. The difference is = here the varieties are made of matter, and there the varieties are made of spirit. That's all. There are two things = material energy and spiritual energy. That is described in the Bhagavad-gītā. The material energy is also one, mahat-tattva. But bahudhā iva bhāti, ivābhāti. The one thing is matter. But bahudhā ivābhāti. What is that?

Pradyumna: Bahu-rūpa ivābhāti māyayā bahu-rūpayā [SB 2.9.2].

Prabhupāda: Where is that verse?

Pradyumna: It's the second verse.

Prabhupāda: Bahu-rūpa ivābhāti māyayā bahu-rūpayā. Actually this is māyā, but bahu-rūpayā, by the interaction of the three modes of material nature, there are varieties. Similarly, in the spiritual world, although the spirit is one, there are also varieties, saṁvit... There are... These three qualities, there it is known... What is that called? Now, just now I forget. Saṁvit sandinī. Sandinī saṁvit. That is described in Caitanya-caritāmṛta, there also, varieties.

So the Māyāvādī philosopher, they have no information of the spiritual world; therefore they are thinking that spirit means something void of all these varieties. They cannot conceive that in the variety there can be enjoyment. Here they have got very bad experience of varieties. Therefore they want to make... Buddha theory is like that, varieties, varieties---the earth, water, air, fire. So if this body is made of all these varieties, so you make it nirvāṇa; you kill it or dismantle it to the varieties.

Just like when anything in this material world, when it is annihilated, it goes. This, our body... Just like when we leave this body, the matter remains there, lump of matter. Gradually it becomes decomposed, and some water comes out. The water goes to the water, the earthly part goes to the earth, the fiery part goes to the fiery. In this way, this combination of matter becomes dismantled. That is called nirvāṇa: finished.

That is Buddha theory, that "By chance, a combination of material elements has formed this body, and by chance, a living force has come out, manifested, and on account of the living consciousness, we are feeling pains and pleasure. So in order to stop the so-called pains and pleasure, you dismantle this machine. Then there is no more... You become zero. Then there is no more pains and pleasure." This is Buddha's theory. The same principle, that you have got some pain on your head, so the theory is that break your head. Sometime I suggested to our Sarasvatī that "You break your head and there will be no pain." So this theory is like that. Instead of mending...

This is the lack of knowledge. Mūḍha. Mūḍha. The pains and pleasure... One man in the prison life, he is simply suffering, I mean, so many pains and pleasure. There is no pleasure; simply pain. So he is trying to commit suicide. So sometimes people do that, suicide. They think that "If I kill, if I commit suicide, then all these pains and pleasures will be finished," because he has no information that a body is an instrumental to feel pains and pleasure. Actually, I, as the spirit soul, I am unattached to it. Ātma-māyām ṛte rājan [SB 2.9.1]. Ātma-māyā. It is a creation of, temporary creation. So if I get out of this temporary creation and be situated in my own position, then there is no more pains and pleasure. It is simply pleasure.

Therefore Kṛṣṇa consciousness means to change the consciousness. Now I am conscious of this material combination, this body, mind; therefore I am feeling pains and pleasure. And as soon as I am situated in my original consciousness, that "I am Kṛṣṇa's. Kṛṣṇa's eternal servant I am. So let me engage in Kṛṣṇa's service," and then there is no more material pains and pleasure. It is not that... A neophyte, when he is engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service, he is feeling the same pains and pleasure, but that is due to our past habit, consciousness.

Just like aeroplane. You come down on the land, sometimes there is dizziness. You think that "I am still flying." But there is no more flying. That is stopped. Similarly, one who is engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, his material pains and pleasure has been stopped. But due to our past experience, sometimes we think, "I am still in pains and pleasure." This is due to our past experience. The same example again = just like the fan is running. You put off the switch; still, the fan is running. But actually it is not running. The running capacity has been stopped. But due to the..., what is called?

Śyāmasundara: Momentum.

Prabhupāda: Momentum. It appears as if running. So a devotee, although sometimes it appears that he is in pains and pleasure, committing something nonsense, that is momentum.

In the next verse in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said,

kṣipram bhavati dharmātmā
śāṣvac chāntiṁ nigacchati
kaunteya pratijānīhi
na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati
[Bg. 9.31]

Although we find in the neophyte devotee some bad behavior due to his past experience, so we should not take him as nondevotee. Sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ [Bg. 9.30]. He is sādhu---if he sticks to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And the bad habits which are visible now, it will disappear. It will disappear.

So we have to give chance. Because we see some bad habits of a devotee, we should not reject. We should give another chance. We should give another chance, because he has taken the right things, but to past behavior he appears to be again going to the māyā's clutches. So we should not reject, but we should give chance. One may take little more time to come to the standard, but we should give him chance. If he sticks to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, very soon all these defects will be disappearing. Kṣipraṁ bhavati dharmātmā. He will be completely a dharmātmā, a mahātmā.

Why? Kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati [Bg. 9.31] = "Anyone who has taken seriously My lotus feet, seriously surrendered to Me, he will never be vanquished. He will never be vanquished, although sometimes it appears that he is coming down." So this should be our principle. We stick to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then everything will be all right in due course of time.

So the varieties of life there is. That variety is actual variety. Here it is only perverted reflection. Here the beauty... Just like the beauty is described there, bhrājiṣṇu. Bhrājiṣṇu, all-glowing. Lasad-vimāna. Lasat, "brilliant." There is also aeroplane, but not this tin aeroplane. You see? There the aeroplanes are made of jewels and gold, brilliant. And their beauty... There also men, women there are, not that simply men devotees, no.

The men and women, they are creation. The both sexes are there, Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. So nothing is different from here, but they are permanent, real. Here everything are temporary and false. This is the difference. Everything, there is also tree, there is also flower, there are also palaces, there are aeroplanes, there are chariots, there is men, women, but they are real, and here it is unreal.

The same example = the mirage. It appears exactly like water, but it is not water. It is false. But there is real water. We should not think that because it is false water, therefore there is no water; water is illu... That is Māyāvādī theory. Because here... Brahmā satyaṁ jagan mithyā: Śaṅkarācārya, that "Only Brahman, impersonal Brahman, is fact, and everything, all varieties, they are mithyā." No. They have no full information of Brahman. When we get full information of Brahman, the Supreme Brahman, Kṛṣṇa, He is ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhiḥ [Bs. 5.37] = He is always engaged in celestial... Not celestial; spiritual bliss, ānanda-cinmaya-rasa. His līlā, His rasa-līlā, He is playing with the cowherds boy, but there is no defects or the, what is called, in...

Śyāmasundara: Inebrieties.

Prabhupāda: Inebrieties. There is no such thing. Everything is fact, and everything is real. Therefore ānandamāyā. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa. There is rasa. Here is also rasa. Here rasa is not ānanda-cinmaya. This is material. There everything is real.

So bhrājiṣṇubhir yaḥ parito virājate lasad-vimānāvalibhir mahātmanām. Those vimānas, aeroplanes, belong to the mahātmanām, great, liberated devotees. So devotees are not going to be zero. They will have also aeroplane there, but not this third-class aeroplane---as soon as the machine goes wrong, it immediately crashes. There is no crashing; neither there is any necessity of machine, because there are spiritual. Just like motorcar, a machine, it requires oil, it requires petrol to run on.

But as we are spirit, we don't require anything. We can run without any arrangement of mechanical. We can experience that. A man is running, not that you have to put some petrol. Of course, we are putting petrol, this foodstuff. That is meant for the body. But if the whole thing is spiritual, there is no more necessity of these things, material ingredient. There is no necessity. That they cannot.

There the aeroplane is also spirit. It is living. It has taken the shape of aeroplane, but it is living. It is not false. Therefore there is no necessity of this petrol; simply beautiful aeroplane, and wherever you like, you can go. They are moving in the sky. And the beautiful women... They are women just like lightning. Their beauty is so brilliant, glowing, that the women, they are, themselves, are lightning. As we find lightning in the cloud, very beautiful, similarly, when these aeroplanes fly in the outer space or Vaikuṇṭha sky, it looks like lightning in the cloud.

Pramada uttamādyubhiḥ. Uttamādyubhiḥ. Here the beauty is also false because it is material. A woman is very beautiful, but as soon as the spirit soul is gone, if somebody says that "You can take this woman at your house," nobody will like. Nobody will like, because the real thing is gone. It is false beauty. The same woman, beautiful, everyone is after this = "Oh, very nice woman." But as soon as the spirit soul is... Just like dolls.

There are very, very beautiful women dolls in the tailor's showroom, and nobody cares for it. Well, everyone knows this is false. Therefore Śaṅkarācārya said that "Why you are being attracted by this woman? It is simply lump of matter. It is a simply lump of matter." Everyone, it is in our experience that a lump of matter is standing, sometimes photograph of a nice woman or the doll of a nice woman. Everyone knows that this is false. Nobody is attracted.

So therefore there, there is nothing material. Everything is spiritual. The body is also spiritual. He is and everything... There is no distinction between body and soul. Everything is one. That we cannot experience now, but we have to get information from these authorized book. Therefore they are far, far better. There is no question of comparison.

Pramada uttamādyubhiḥ. Pramada. Woman's name is pramada, pramada, because as soon as one woman comes before a man, he becomes agitated. Therefore woman's name is pramada. Pramada. Pramada means agitates. Kāminī. Agitates. So there the pramada uttamādyubiḥ. Uttama. Udgata-tama. Tama, this darkness, is not there. Savidyut. Savidyud abhrāvalibhir yathā nabhaḥ [SB 2.9.13]. When they fly in the sky it appears just like lightning in the clouds. These are the description of Vaikuṇṭha planet.

So, what is your question? Any question?

Devotee (1): I have a question, Your Divine Grace. You say in Vaikuṇṭha everything is the same as here in the material world. So there are families. The children... Do the children grow to...?

Prabhupāda: There is no children. There is no children, because there is no birth, there is no death. So there is no question of children. You don't find any description of children.

Devotee (2): In the material world, variety is created by the attraction of three modes of nature.

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Devotee (2): The three modes of material nature cause the variety in this material world. In the spiritual world, what are the factors which cause variety?

Prabhupāda: That saṁvit, sandinī, varieties of Kṛṣṇa's spiritual energy.

Trivikrama: In Kṛṣṇaloka there are children---Kṛṣṇa, the cowherd boys.

Prabhupāda: That is also eternal. That is another planet. Eternally Kṛṣṇa is playing with the cowherds boy. Not that these children are being born. They are like... Just like in this world also we see Kumāras, that eternally child, Kumāras, the four Kumāras. They are born along with the Brahmā, but they're just like a small, four-years-old boy, kumāra, catuḥsana-kumāra. So we get some information only, but you will see them practically when you go. [laughter] You take information only. But it is not variety-less, not the nonsense theory, zero. That is the first thing. It is not zero.

So any other question? Nirviśeṣa-saviśeṣa. There Kṛṣṇa is dancing always with the gopīs. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ [Bs. 5.37]. There everything is expansion of Kṛṣṇa's own form. Here is also. This is also expansion of Kṛṣṇa's energy, material energy. And that is... Just try to understand like this. Here everything is by the expansion of Kṛṣṇa's material energy. And there, everything is there by His spiritual energy. That's all.

Something made of sugar and something made of dirt. The sugar is always sweet, and dirt is always detestful. That's all. Two dolls = one is made of clay, another is made of sugar. Which one you will like? Children? Two dolls. One is made of sugar and another is made of this clay. Which one would you like?

Devotees: Sugar.

Prabhupāda: Because that doll, wherever you lick up, is sweet, and this doll made of clay, you cannot lick. So that is the only explanation. This... Kṛṣṇa says that bhūmir āpo... Apareyam. Aparā. "These are My inferior energies." Itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parā: "Beyond this, there is another prakṛti, another nature. That is parā, superior." The superior? How I can understand this inferior and superior? Now the sup... Jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho [Bg. 7.5], that "Superior energies are jīva, living entity."

Just like here the matter is there, and the living entity is there, but the living entity is controlling the matter. Controlling the matter. Not the matter is independent. The matter independently cannot become this your tape recorder. When the superior energy, living entity, collects them, applies his intelligence and converts into a tape recorder, it works. It is nothing but a lump of matter, only tin and some metal and some paper and something like that.

So this superior energy, when it acts on it, then it can work. Therefore, similarly, here this whole material world is made of the inferior energy. Both the energies are of Kṛṣṇa. They are emanating from Kṛṣṇa. But one is inferior energy; the other is superior energy. That's all. This is the difference between material world and the spiritual world.

So in the spiritual world there is no need of making mechanical arrangement, because everything is spirit. There is no need of mechanical arrangement. That we cannot accommodate with our poor brain at the present moment. But simply try to understand that as we find here superior energy and inferior energy, without the superior energy the inferior energy has no value. This tape recorder, so long the superior energy is handling, it is giving the desired result.

But if you don't handle, if some superior energy, some human being, does not tackle it, it has no value; it is matter only. It is matter. Out of its own accord it cannot act. But if it was made of spirit, then out of his own accord it can play. There is no need of handling. Just like if I ask you, "Bring me a glass of water," so immediately the glass of water is here. But if I ask this, "Give me a glass of water," it cannot. That is difference between matter and spirit.

So in the spiritual world there is no need of artificial, mechanical arrangement. Everything is living force. That is the difference. And the Māyāvādī philosophers... Therefore they are called Māyāvādī. They are so fool that even in Kṛṣṇa they find difference, that Kṛṣṇa has also got a soul. Just like Dr. Radhakrishnan states[?], "It is not to Kṛṣṇa the person, but within." He is such a fool that he does not know that there is no within and without Kṛṣṇa. And he is trying to comment on Bhagavad-gītā. He does not know what is Kṛṣṇa. He's distinction, making distinction.

Just like we have got distinction---I am a spirit soul; I am covered by this matter---Kṛṣṇa is not like that. If He is covered by matter, then how He can remember some forty millions of years ago He spoke Bhagavad-gītā to the sun-god? How He can remember? He does not die. He has no material body. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā: "Those who are rascals, they deride upon Me as a ordinary human being." Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam paraṁ bhāvam avajānanto [Bg. 9.11] = "They do not know what is the essence of My position. Therefore they conclude like that."

They have got experience that there is superior soul and inferior matter. "So Kṛṣṇa has also got the superior soul and inferior matter, material body." No. Kṛṣṇa has no material body. Otherwise, how He can remember what He spoke forty millions of... Arjuna cannot. Vedāhaṁ samatītāni: He knows past, present and future. Svabhijñāh svarat. These things are there.

So as soon as you also get rid of this material body, you also become like that, like Kṛṣṇa, sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ [Bs. 5.1]. So in order to get... That is our original body. So in order to get that original body, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is there.

Devotee: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: So, anything more?

Devotee: All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. [break]

Prabhupāda: ...enjoy as much as possible. "Let me come fifty miles and take this wild bird, toasted. Very tasteful." Because their life will be finished, "So whatever taste and enjoyment I can enjoy, let me finish it, because after this body is finished, everything will be finished." But our is not...

The body may finish, but our spiritual enjoyment is there if we get our spiritual consciousness. This is our proposition. We will get varieties of enjoyment. Chale-bale lāḍḍhu kha śrī-madhumaṅgala [Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura]. There is only store in lāḍḍu and kachorī in Vṛndāvana. Rābṛi. Makhana. Kṛṣṇa is makhanacora. Makhana, thief is His...

All right.

Devotees: Jaya. [kīrtana] [end]

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Srila Prabhupada speaks on: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.9.1–8

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.9.1–8

Tokyo, April 25, 1972

Audio for this lecture: https://prabhupadavani.org/transcriptions/720425sbtok/
Prabhupada Radio: https://prabhupadaradio.com

Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [leads chanting of verses]

śrī-śuka uvāca
ātma-māyām ṛte rājan
parasyānubhavātmanaḥ
na ghaṭetārtha-sambandhaḥ
svapna-draṣṭur ivāñjasā
[SB 2.9.1]

bahu-rūpa ivābhāti
māyayā bahu-rūpayā
ramamāṇo guṇeṣv asyā
mamāham iti manyate
[SB 2.9.2]

yarhi vāva mahimni sve
parasmin kāla-māyayoḥ
rameta gata-sammohas
tyaktvodāste tadobhayam
[SB 2.9.3]

ātma-tattva-viśuddhy-arthaṁ
yad āha bhagavān ṛtam
brahmaṇe darśayan rūpam
avyalīka-vratādṛtaḥ
[SB 2.9.4]

[01:52]

Prabhupāda: Brahmaṇe darśayan rūpam darśayan rūpam avyalīka-vratādṛtaḥ [SB 2.9.4]. He manifested His form to Brahmā. That means God is not formless. If He is formless, then how He could show His form? Brahmaṇe darśayan rūpam avyalīka. Without... Avyalīka means without any cheating? Where is avyalīkam? "Without any deceptive motive." So those who realize impersonal form---not form; impersonal feature---they are cheated. They do not know actually what is God, what is the Absolute Truth. It is... Avyalīka-vrata. And why Brahmā was favored to see the form of the Lord? Because he underwent severe tapasya, vow, worship.

So God, or the Absolute Truth, is not formless. He has His form, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha [Bs. 5.1]. But that can be seen only by persons who underwent severe austerities, penances, or engaged in devotion. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti [Bg. 18.55]. Otherwise, they will remain impersonal. The conclusion is, those who are impersonalists, their knowledge is imperfect. They have still to go forward.

Therefore Bhagavad-gītā says, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante [Bg. 7.19] = after many, many births of continued impersonal views, when he actually comes to the right platform of knowledge, he surrenders to Vāsudeva. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ [Bg. 7.19] = "That mahātmā, that saintly person, is very rare." All the so-called svāmīs or yogīs, they are all impersonalists. Therefore our svāmīs, they are very rare. They are not ordinary, these so-called svāmīs and yogīs, because they know the personal feature of God.

Go on.

Pradyumna: [leads chanting of SB verses 5-8]

sa ādi-devo jagatāṁ paro guruḥ
svadhiṣṇyam āsthāya sisṛkṣayaikṣata
tāṁ nādhyagacchad dṛśam atra sammatāṁ
prapañca-nirmāṇa-vidhir yayā bhavet
[SB 2.9.5]

sa cintayan dvy-akṣaram ekadāmbhasy
upāśṛṇod dvir-gaditaṁ vaco vibhuḥ
sparśeṣu yat ṣoḍaśam ekaviṁśaṁ
niṣkiñcanānāṁ nṛpa yad dhanaṁ viduḥ
[SB 2.9.6]

niśamya tad-vaktṛ-didṛkṣayā diśo
vilokya tatrānyad apaśyamānaḥ
svadhiṣṇyam āsthāya vimṛśya tad-dhitaṁ
tapasy upādiṣṭa ivādadhe manaḥ
[SB 2.9.7]

divyaṁ sahasrābdam amogha-darśano...

Prabhupāda: Word by word first.

Pradyumna: [chants each word individually first, Prabhupāda correcting some pronunciation, then line by line]

divyaṁ sahasrābdam amogha-darśano
jitānilātmā vijitobhayendriyaḥ
atapyata smākhila-loka-tāpanaṁ
tapas tapīyāṁs tapatāṁ samāhitaḥ
[SB 2.9.8]

[break]

[10:59]

Prabhupāda: ...memory was so sharp that, once heard, it is practiced immediately. In the Kali-yuga this memory is declining, and they are proud, "We are advanced." There is no question of advancement. It is simply degraded. But this is māyā. Falsely they are thinking, "We are advanced." In this age, memory will be reduced, duration of life will be reduced, people's merciful tendency will be reduced, strength of the body will be reduced. In this way everything will be reduced. Now we do not find very strong men, very strong memory, living for long time, bodily strength. No. These are reducing. Now people are not merciful. One man is being killed before you in the street; nobody takes care. This is the sign of Kali-yuga. Everything will be reduced. Memory also being reduced.

There are eight kinds of things reducing. One of them, these four, five, I have already mentioned. Important things. The duration of life is reducing. No sympathy. No sympathy. One is suffering from some disease; nobody is taking care. This is the sign of Kali-yuga. "Oh, let him die. Let me live." These are the signs of Kali-yuga = no memory, no sympathy, no long duration of life, no bodily strength, no education. This is the symptoms of Kali-yuga. Therefore the only means is harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma [Cc. Ādi 17.21]. They cannot..., in the ordinary way it is impossible to make advancement.

The so-called yogīs, karmīs, they are all cheaters. They show some bodily gymnastic and talks all nonsense, becomes God within a week or six months. These things are going on. Very precarious condition. Therefore it is, kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva: "Kalau, in this age, Kali-yuga, there is no other alternative." And I see practically our Society, our students, they are simply, practically chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. So compare any so-called yogī and jñānī and sannyāsī. They cannot stand before them in their... Even though they are not perfectly advanced, still, they cannot stand. People are appreciating. So stick to your principles.

This morning I was reading Kṛṣṇa's activities. Regularly He was rising three hours before sunrise. Regularly. His wives were disgusted. As soon as there will be cock crowing, "kakaa-ko!" Kṛṣṇa immediately... [laughter] That is warning. That is warning, nature's warning. There is no need of alarm bell. And the alarm bell going on, but he is sleeping sound. [laughter] No.

And if he by chance rises, immediately stops so that it may disturb..., it may not disturb. But there is nature's alarming bell, that cock crowing at three o'clock. According to the... And Kṛṣṇa will immediately rise. Although He was sleeping with His beautiful queens... The queens were disgusted. They were cursing this cock crowing, "Now Kṛṣṇa will go away. Kṛṣṇa will go away." But Kṛṣṇa, He used to rise early. You read Kṛṣṇa's activities in our Kṛṣṇa book.

So if you are Kṛṣṇa conscious, then... We cannot imitate Kṛṣṇa, but we can follow Kṛṣṇa. We can follow His footsteps, how He was living. He was a gṛhastha. He was not a sannyāsī. So our sannyāsī is not very great credit. To remain gṛhastha... Because we are going to back to Godhead, back to home, the home, our master, is gṛhastha. Not only gṛhastha; He has got so many wives. So to become sannyāsī is not very great credit, according to our Vaiṣṇava philosophy. To become perfect householder, that is credit. Perfect householder, like Kṛṣṇa.

Read Kṛṣṇa book regularly. Why these books are written? Only for selling? Taking statistics, "How many books you have sold?" You learn, read. Always read, twenty-four hours. As soon as you get time, read. I do that. I do that. Reading, writing or chanting. But when there is no other way, you sleep little. Not to enjoy sleep, but because it is not possible to continue, all right, sleep one hour, two hour, three hour, four hour, five hour. Not more than that.

Not that I am sleeping, enjoying life, up to eight o'clock, twelve o'clock. In Western countries they sleep twelve o'clock. As soon as there was kīrtana, half-naked he used to come in New York. He used to complain, Mr. Chutey, "Oh, it is..." "Mr. Chutey, sir, I cannot do anything. You request them." That was being done in our 26 Avenue. Always police complaint, police used to come. But we did not stop.

So things should be learned. We have got so many books, everything is there. Now here is tapasya. Akhila-loka-tāpanam. Akhila-loka. The whole universe became perturbed by the tapasya of Brahmā.

Now go on. You finished all reading? Yes. [more devotees lead chanting of verse 8, Prabhupāda correcting pronunciation]

This is called anuprāsa. It is literary beauty. Everything "ta." Tapas tapīyāṁs tapatāṁ samāhitaḥ [SB 2.9.8]. Anuprāsa. So many t's in one line. Tapas tapīyān. So in Bhāgavata, it is not that whimsically written. There is literary beauty---metaphor, simile, and what is called, symmetry, reason[?]. Everything is complete. Not that whimsically a line, three lines, one line and two lines, and it becomes a poetry. In Sanskrit, poetry writing is not so easy. You have to follow so many rules and regulation---how many words in the beginning, first line, how many words in the second line.

Sāhitya-darpaṇa. There is a book, Sāhitya-darpaṇa. Therefore it is called Sanskrit. Sanskrit, everything is reformed. It is not like that "B-U-T, but; P-U-T, put." If you say "u," "a," then you must say "B-U-T, but" and "P-U-T, put." But not that sometimes "put," sometimes "but." No. That will not be allowed in Sanskrit. The pronunciation must be regular. You cannot change. Saṁskṛta. Saṁskṛta means reformed, Sanskrit language. Devanāgarī.

This language is spoken in the higher planetary system, even in Vaikuṇṭha. This language is spoken. Devanāgarī. Deva-nagara. Just like Tokyo is Japan-nagara, similarly... Nagara means city. And the citizens are called nāgarī. One who lives in the city, they are called nāgarī. So devanāgarī. These alphabets, letters, are called devanāgarī. But in the cities of the demigods, this language is spoken. Devanāgarī.

They do not know whether there are cities. They simply go to other planet and say there is no men, no living entities. Why God created such planet where there is no living entity? How it is possible? In everywhere we see living entity, and why one planet is there where there is no life? This is most obnoxious. I cannot believe that.

How it is possible? We see while walking on the street, even within the earth... In jungle, neighbor, nobody goes. Full many, full many of flower [indistinct]. And there are trees. And see. Nobody sees where there are flowers. Why Candraloka is so condemned that there is no living entities, no trees, no plants, and only some dust? And these people go and bring some dust, take all credit. It cannot be.

According to our Vedic instruction, living entity is called sarva-ga. Sarva-ga: the living entity can go anywhere. Anywhere. So why not in Candraloka? You are going. And why previous to you nobody was going? So it is very doubtful. What do you think? From reasoning point of view... And we get information from the śāstra that it is one of the heavenly planet. People live there for ten thousands of years. They drink soma-rasa.

These are statement in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. It is not yet published. We have explained this. It is cold. And that is also admitted by scientists here. It is 2000..., 200 degrees below zero. Therefore they require some heating beverage. That is called soma-rasa. The Bhagavad-gītā also it is stated. And how we can believe that there is no living entity. One side is dark, and one side is full of dust. These are our doubts.

What is your version? You think it is all right?

Sudāmā: No.

Bhūrijana: It's silly to have a prison house if there are no prisoners.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Bhūrijana: Why build a prison house if there are no prisoners in it?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Sarva-ga. We practically see everywhere living entities. Why this planet is made solitary---there is no living entity? How we can conclude like that? Even in the desert here there are living entities. This is... What is called this? Cactus?

Sudāmā: Cactus. Yes.

Prabhupāda: They grow in desert. Sometimes watermelon. Watermelon. Watermelon is grown in desert very nice. So how you can conclude that there is no life? Cactus is also life.

Sudāmā: Śrīla Prabhupāda? If they are really going there in the moon planet, then the bodies of the living entities are different than our bodies, because the...

Prabhupāda: No, you cannot go and live there.

Sudāmā: Right. So perhaps if they are really going there, then if they cannot..., and the living entities are living there, as it is stated in the scripture, then perhaps they are doing very much damage or intruding, going against the laws of nature.

Prabhupāda: First of all let us admit that they are going. That is my first objection, whether they are actually going or giving bluff.

Pradyumna: And you suggested before that if on the moon planet there was such intelligent beings, that if someone was aiming to go to the moon, they could just by mystic powers...

Prabhupāda: Yes. Divert them.

Pradyumna: Divert them.

Prabhupāda: To some hellish place. [laughter] Nowadays they are going airplane, sometimes diverted. Yes. So if they are demigods, they have got better brain and... There are so many questionable things, contradictions of the... We cannot take, accept it, that the statement in the Vedic literature, they are not right, but they are right. No, we cannot. Next.

Devotees: [continue reciting verse SB 2.9.8]

divyaṁ sahasrābdam amogha-darśano
jitānilātmā vijitobhayendriyaḥ
tapyata smākhila-loka-tāpanaṁ
tapas tapīyāṁs tapatāṁ samāhitaḥ

Prabhupāda: Just like when the first sputnik traveled round the world. In one hour, twenty-five minutes, this whole world was circumbulated. So actually it takes so many hours if you circumbulate the whole world, 25,000 miles. Even by plane it will take day and night. What is the speed of aeroplane?

Devotee: Five hundred miles an hour.

Prabhupāda: So one thousand miles, two hours. So 25,000 miles it will take fifty hours. But by other arrangement, it was circumbulated one hour, twenty-five minutes. So, similarly, by other arrangement it can be done in one minute, in one second. It is a question of arranging. It is, therefore, all relative. Everything is relative. You cannot walk... The ant cannot walk. Therefore "It should be like this, it should be like that, according to my convenience." No. Relative. You have got greater power, greater speed than... My speed, your speed, may [be] different. Therefore what is one hundred years for me, it may be one second for you. It is relative, all relative truth. In your calculation it is one hundred years. In my calculation it is one second.

Therefore Brahmā's duration of life is described in the Bhagavad-gītā, sahasra-yuga-paryantam ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ [Bg. 8.17]. Brahmaṇe. Here also divyam sahasrābdam. Now divyaṁ sahasrābdam. Brahmā's one day, one twelve hours, daytime, we cannot calculate. Our, according to our calculation, it is... Sahasra-yuga. Sahasra-yuga. Yuga. Yugas means these Satya, Tretā, Dvāpara, Kali. That means forty-three hundred thousands of years. And thousand times, forty-three hundred thousands of years, that makes Brahmā's one day of twelve hours.

So rascals will say these are all imagination. Not imagination. Because relative truth. Your speed, your power... Just like an ant. An ant lives, say, for few hours. That is also his hundred years. A germ lives for few seconds. That is also his hundred years. So this hundred years, they are relative. One hundred years calculation your, one hundred years of the demigods or one hundred years calculation of the ant, they are not the same.

According to the body, according to the power, the calculation is there. Time is unlimited. Time is unlimited, but according to my body, a certain duration of period, I say it is hundred years when we make our history. So therefore it is said, divyaṁ sahasra. One may not miscalculate that sahasra, one hundred. No, śata is hundred. Śata is hundred. It is sahasra, means thousand. Divyaṁ sahasrābdam.

Go on.

Pradyumna: [devotees repeating] sahasra---a thousand; abdam---years; amogha---spotless, without a tinge of impurity; darśanaḥ---one who has such a vision of life; jita---controlled; anila---life; ātmā---mind; vijita...

Prabhupāda: That anila, life, the soul is being carried by that anila, air. The yoga system is controlling the air, apāna, prāṇa, apāna. There are different kinds of air passing. And the ātmā is within that air. The yoga system is to take the ātmā, sata-cakra[?], from down to up. That is yoga practice. So anila means life air, and the ātmā, the soul, is within the air. So by perfect yogic practice, with this air the yogī can transfer himself to any planet. That is yoga, not that showing some gymnastic without any rules and regulation, without following any principles. These are all bogus.

Actual yoga practice is to control the air within this body. Then, by mechanical means, he can control, and at the perfection, the yogī can leave this body according to his will. That means unless he thinks that "I am now perfect; I can transfer to any planet," he does not leave his body. Therefore yogīs... Still there are yogīs who are seven hundred years old, three hundred years old, four hundred years. You see just like young man. Still in India you'll find such yogīs. They can give complete history which happened two hundred years here. [indistinct], history they can give. "This happened. This Englishman was here. He did..." like that.

So actually I am not this body. So if by some method I can see it, that is samādhi. We have got a limited number of breathing power. This is going on, breathing. So everyone has got... Just like you have got bank balance---one has got one thousand or hundred years, er, one hundred dollars or one thousand dollars---similarly, every living entity has got a number of breathings. That is...

[break] But if you spend, if you spend, then one day it becomes one dollar. So that yoga practice is not to waste this breathing. The breathing is wasted when you eat voraciously, when you have sex life, when you are... These breathings are lost, wasted.

So one has to control these things. Then breathing will be reserved. And plus, by samādhi, no breathing. That is the process of increasing life. Increasing life means you have got a certain amount of breathing facility. If you can save it without spending... Therefore you have to control your senses, the mind, your activities, your eating, your sleeping. Because these are breathing, when sleeping, [makes snoring sound] breathing, lost breathing. Sex, lost breathing. Eating voraciously, lost breathing. Therefore they have to control all these things. Then you can increase your duration of life. That is called prāṇāyāma. This is called prāṇāyāma. Prāṇa means life, this life, prāṇa. What is that?

Devotee: Your Divine Grace, is this also true that every species of life... For instance, plants and trees don't appear to be breathing as we do, but they breathe through their...

Prabhupāda: Don't appear to you. What do you know about plant life? Something does not appear to you, that does not mean there is nothing such thing. You don't be so courageous that you know everything. You have to know from the śāstra. They have got breathing. They have got feeling also. That is already proved by modern scientist, Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose, that when you cut a plant, it feels the pain and it is recorded in the machine, the feeling. So everything is there. As soon as you find some living entity... A small full stop–like. Sometimes you find in the book; it is lesser than the full stop. It is moving, [makes sound] "but, but, but, but." It has got heart; it has got legs; it has got everything within it. Otherwise, how it is working?

Everything is there. This is rascaldom, that "This has got soul; this has got no soul." This is rascal's theory. Living entity so small, one ten-thousandth part of the top tip of the hair we are. Very... You cannot imagine. So any life he takes, any form, it has got all the, I mean to say, functional thing. Everything is there. That is God's creation. Aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān [Kaṭha Upaniṣad 1.2.20]. The biggest of the biggest, he has got the same, what is called, physiological construction. And the small ant, it has got the same physiological construction. You cannot see. What is your strength? That we are studying with our tiny brain, "Oh, it has got no breathing. It has no soul. It has..." That is our tiny brain.

But we have to know actually from authentic śāstra what is the actual thing. Śāstra-cakṣusā. You don't see with your these blunt eyes, rascal eyes. We see through the śāstra. That should be. That is real knowledge. What is our capacity of these eyes, these senses? They are all imperfect. So whatever knowledge you gather, the so-called scientists, they are all imperfect. Real perfect knowledge is here, Veda. Vedaiś ca sarvaiḥ. Therefore you should see through the Vedic version what is actually the fact.

So living entity, sarva-ga. Sarva-ga means a living entity can enter anywhere, and the material function is there. Just like we say, "The point has no length, no breadth." Why? I can see point. Why length and...? "I have no instrument to measure it." That you say. You cannot say there is no length and breadth. You have no instrument to measure what is the length and breadth of the point. You say... Similarly, you cannot understand what is the form of God. You say, "Oh, God is false."

But from the śāstra we can understand. Here it is said that rūpaṁ sa ādi-devo jagatāṁ paro guruḥ. Brahmaṇe darśayan rūpam. So if God has no form, how He showed His form to Brahmā? He has form. Brahmā has attained the perfection to see the form of God, and the rascals who have no such perfection, they say, "No form." That is the position. They, with their imperfect senses, all rascal theories, they are thinking that they have become perfect. But they are not perfect. First thing is that the senses with which you are studying, they are imperfect. What is the value of our eyes? Unless there is sunlight, you cannot see. So how can you say that "Our seeing is absolute"? It is relative.

So whatever knowledge we are getting, they're all relative knowledge. Relative means according to my power I am studying, "This is this. This is this." But they are all wrong. You do not know what is actually the position. Therefore the conclusion is that we have to take knowledge from the perfect. Śāstra-cakṣusā. Your eyes should be... Actually we are doing that. Now, directly we are seeing the sun, we see just like the disk. But when you go through scientific books, geographic and other authorit..., astronomy, they, "No, the sun is fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than this planet." So actually we are understanding about the sun not by our direct eyes but through the authoritative knowledge, through the śāstra, through the books. Śruti-pramāṇam. That is evidence, śruti-pramāṇam. Śruti means Veda.

In the Vedas it is stated... Just like Brahmā. He is receiving Vedic knowledge from..., directly from God, Kṛṣṇa. Brahmaṇe darśayan rūpam. This is the process of understanding. Brahmā, how Brahmā is receiving knowledge? Directly he is not..., he sees there is nobody there, but he is receiving knowledge. Directly he could not see. Upāśṛṇot. Upāśṛṇot. Upāśṛṇot: "He simply heard." Upāśṛṇot. Ear, not the eyes. So therefore knowledge has to be gathered by aural reception, not by the eyes. My Guru Mahārāja used to say that "Do not try to see a saintly person. You try to hear a saintly person." If you see a long beard and very strong man, "He is a great sādhu. Oh. That's it." No. You have to hear = What does he speak? Then you understand. Upāśṛṇot. Divyaṁ sahasrābdam.

Then? Go on.

Pradyumna: Vijita---controlled over; ubhaya---both; indriyaḥ---one who has such senses; atapyata---executed penance; sma---in the past; akhila---all; loka---planet; tāpanam---enlightening; tapaḥ---penance; tapīyān---extremely hard penance; tapatām---of all the executors of penances; samāhitaḥ---thus situated.

Prabhupāda: Then?

Pradyumna: Translation = "Lord Brahmā underwent penances for one thousand years by the calculations of the demigods. He heard this transcendental vibration from the sky and he accepted it as divine. Thus he controlled his mind and senses, and the penances which he executed were a great lesson for the living entities. Thus he is known as the greatest of all ascetics."

Prabhupāda: So one has to become ascetic and therefore penance. Then these things will be learned. Not with imperfect senses, imperfect conclusion we can understand. No. Then?

Pradyumna: Purport = "Lord Brahmā heard the occult sound tapa, but he did not see the person who vibrated the sound. And still he accepted the instruction as beneficial for him, and therefore he engaged himself in meditation for one thousand celestial years. One celestial year is equal to 6 x 30 x 12 x 1000 of our years. His acceptance of the sound was due to his pure vision of the absolute nature of the Lord. And due to his correct vision he made no distinction between the Lord and the Lord's instruction. There is no difference between the Lord and the sound vibration coming from Him, even though He is not personally present. The best way of understanding is to accept such a divine instruction, and Brahmā, the prime spiritual master of everyone, is the living example of this process of receiving transcendental knowledge. The potency of transcendental sound is never minimized because the vibrator is apparently absent. Therefore Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or the Bhagavad-gītā or any revealed scripture in the world is never to be accepted as an ordinary, mundane sound without transcendental potency.

"One has to receive the transcendental sound from the right source and accept it as a reality and prosecute the direction without any hesitation, and the secret of success is to receive the sound from the right source of a bona fide spiritual master. Mundane manufactured sound has no potency, and as such, seemingly transcendental sound received from an unauthorized person also has no potency. One should be qualified enough to discern such transcendental potency, and either by discriminating or by fortunate chance, if one is able to receive the transcendental sound from a bona fide spiritual master, his path of liberation is guaranteed. The disciple, however, must be ready to execute the order of the bona fide spiritual master, as Lord Brahmā executed the instruction of his spiritual master, the Lord Himself. Following the order of the bona fide spiritual master is the only duty of the disciple, and this completely faithful execution of the order of the bona fide spiritual master is the secret of success.

"Lord Brahmā controlled his two grades of senses by means of sense perception and sense organs, because he had to engage such senses in the execution of the order of the Lord. Therefore controlling the senses means to engage them in the transcendental service of the Lord. The Lord's order descends in disciplic succession..."

Prabhupāda: If you simply engage your senses to execute the order of the Lord, then it is controlled. Otherwise, you cannot control. It is impossible, because we have got our senses---they are very strong. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ [SB 9.4.18]. The mind is the master of the senses. The central sense, the chief sense, the prime minister sense is the mind. Therefore Mahārāja Ambarīṣa first of all engaged his mind in Kṛṣṇa. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ. If you engage your mind always to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, then the sense deviation, sense going other, otherwise---immediately controlled. Immediately controlled.

The senses are very strong. They are compared with serpents. Durdāntendriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī [Caitanya-candrāmṛta 5]. Kāla-sarpa. Just like cobra. Some way or other, it touches you---immediately death. So our senses are so strong that it is simply dragging us towards hell. Adānta-gobhir viśatāṁ tamisram [SB 7.5.30]. Mind is dragging somewhere, eyes is dragging somewhere, ear is dragging somewhere and touch sensation is dragging somewhere. In this way we are perplexed.

Therefore the process is sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane [SB 9.4.18]. You have to engage your mind unto the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, and your tongue, always chanting and taking little prasādam. Then all senses will be controlled. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane. And see. Eyes should be engaged to see the Deity, very gorgeously, nicely dressed. Then our eyes will not ask, "Oh, let me see this beautiful woman." No.

You will see the most beautiful woman, Rādhārāṇī, and you will become... Similarly, ear should be engaged always hearing about Kṛṣṇa. Eyes, ear... Nose should be engaged for smelling the flower which is offered to Kṛṣṇa. Legs should be engaged for preaching work going or going to the temple. Hands should be engaged for cleansing the temple. In this way, if you are engaged always your senses, you are perfect. You are the greatest yogī.

Yogī means yoga indriya-saṁyamaḥ. Yoga practice means to control the senses. But this bhakti process is so nice, automatically senses are controlled.

yoginām api sarveṣāṁ
mad-gatenāntar-ātmanā
śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṁ
sa me yuktatamo mataḥ
[Bg. 6.47]

He is the highest yogī. Those whose senses are always engaged in serving or satisfying Kṛṣṇa, he is the greatest yogī.

Finished? "Therefore controlling the senses means to engage them in the transcendental service of the Lord."

Pradyumna: "The Lord's order descends in disciplic succession through the bona fide spiritual master, and thus execution of the order of the bona fide spiritual master is factual control of the senses. Such execution of penance in full faith and sincerity made Brahmājī so powerful that he became the creator of the universe. And because he was able to attain such power, he is called the best amongst all the tapasvīs."

Prabhupāda: Nārādhito yadi haris tapasā tataḥ kim: "If you cannot approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then what is the value of your tapasya?" Ārādhito yadi haris tapasā tataḥ kim: "And if somehow or other, if you approach Kṛṣṇa, there is no more necessity of tapasya." You have already got all the results of tapasya.

ārādhito yadi haris tapasā tataḥ kim
nārādhito yadi haris tapasā tataḥ kim
[Nārada Pañcarātra]

That's all.

Devotees: All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. [end]

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