Srila Prabhupada speaks on: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.25.36

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.25.36

Bombay, Dec. 5, 1974

Audio for this lecture: https://prabhupadavani.org/transcriptions/741205sbbom/
Prabhupada Radio: https://prabhupadaradio.com

Nitāi: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [devotees repeat] [leads chanting of verse, etc.]

tair darśanīyāvayavair udāra-
vilāsa-hāsekṣita-vāma-sūktaiḥ
hṛtātmano hṛta-prāṇāṁś ca bhaktir
anicchato me gatim aṇvīṁ prayuṅkte
[SB 3.25.36]

[break] [01:38]

"Upon seeing the charming forms of the Lord, smiling and attractive, and hearing His very pleasing words, the pure devotee almost loses all other consciousness. His senses are freed from all other engagements, and he becomes absorbed in devotional service. Thus in spite of his unwillingness, he gets liberation without separate endeavor."

Prabhupāda:

tair darśanīyāvayavair udāra-
vilāsa-hāsekṣita-vāma-sūktaiḥ
hṛtātmano hṛta-prāṇāṁś ca bhaktir
anicchato me gatim aṇvīṁ prayuṅkte
[SB 3.25.36]

So, śrī-vigraha-darśanam. This temple is situated to give people the facility as it is described here. Tair darśanīya avayavaiḥ udāra. We have to see the Deity beginning from the lotus feet, not jumping over the smiling face. That is the way. First of all you try to see. And when you are practiced... Try to see the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, and when you are practiced to this habit, even after visiting the temple if you go home, if you are practice to see the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, that is meditation. So darśanīya avayavaiḥ: "Different limbs." First of all feet, then the thighs, then the belt, then the chest, then you reach the smiling face. Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's form... If you meditate on Kṛṣṇa's form, that is Kṛṣṇa. So we associate with Kṛṣṇa, His smiling face, His flute, His hand, His dress, His consort, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī or any other, gopīs, surrounded by. In this way, practice this habit of observing the Supreme Lord. Therefore He has appeared arcā-vigraha, so that we can see Him.

In our present eyes even Kṛṣṇa comes, but we have no eyes to see. Therefore for the kaniṣṭha-adhikārī... There are three kinds of devotees = kaniṣṭha-adhikārī, madhyama-adhikārī and uttama-adhikārī. Uttama-adhikārī means first class, most advanced; and madhyama-adhikārī means in the middle stage, not very advanced, not very lower; and kaniṣṭha-adhikārī, just the neophyte, beginning. So for the beginners it is recommended that you see the Deity daily or always. Beginning from the lotus feet, as you are practiced, then go up to the smiling face. And hear also Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Simply if you try to see and if you don't hear, then it will not stay very much. Therefore we see practically in many temples, because there is no discussion about Kṛṣṇa, simply a Deity is there, people go for some time, then gradually, especially those who are educated, so-called educated, they do not feel very much interested. And it has actually happened so. Many temples, they are not visited even by the devotees, because there must be also hearing about. Two things must go on = the Deity must be worshiped---this is called pāñcarātriki-vidhi---and to hear about the Supreme from Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Vedic literature---that is called bhāgavata-vidhi.

So the pāñcarātriki-vidhi and bhāgavata-vidhi must go parallel. Then one, even one is a neophyte, gradually he will come to the intermediate stage between the neophyte stage and to the advanced stage. And of course, it is very difficult to find out one in very advanced stage. But there are. There are many advanced stage. At least, the spiritual master is supposed to be in the advanced stage, but for preaching purpose he come down in that intermediate stage, for preaching work. Because the advanced stage, there is no discrimination that "Here is a devotee, and here is a nondevotee." Because advanced devotee sees that everyone is devotee except himself. The advanced devotee sees that he is not a devotee, but all others are devotees. This is advancement. But in the kaniṣṭha-adhikārī, in the neophyte stage, they simply concentrate on the Deity. Arcāyām eva haraye yaḥ pūjāṁ śraddhayā īhate. That is required in the beginning. According to the prescribed duties as they are mentioned in the scriptures, one must take care of the Deity. But that, unless a little farther advanced, he does not know who is a devotee and what is his function with others.

In the madhyama-adhikāra, when one still farther advances, he has got four kind of visions:

īśvare tad-adhīneṣu
bāliśeṣu dviṣatsu ca
prema-maitrī-kṛpopekṣā
yaḥ karoti sa madhyamaḥ
[SB 11.2.46]

Madhyama-adhikārī is not only interested in Deity worship, but he knows who is a devotee and who is innocent and who is Bhagavān. Īśvara tad-adhīneṣu bāliśeṣu. Bāliśa means innocent. There are many innocent men, they... Actually, they do not know what is to be done, who is God. They are innocent. They are not offender. But there are other others who are offenders, dviṣat. Dviṣat means envious. They are immediately envious as soon as they hear of a devotee of God. They are called envious, dviṣat. So madhyama-adhikārī, he knows God, Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam [SB 1.3.28]. So he wants to develop his love for Kṛṣṇa. Avyartha-kālaṁ vasati, nāma-gāne sadā ruciḥ. The madhyama-adhikārī, he wants to see that not a moment is wasted without Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is madhyama-adhikārī. Avyartha-kālatvam [Cc. Madhya 23.18-19]. He's always careful that "Whether I am spoiling the valuable time of my life." That is the first qualification of madhyama-adhikārī. Avyartha-kālatvam. Because we have got very short period, living period. We do not know when we shall die. There is no certainty. Foolish people may think that "I shall live forever," but that is foolishness. Life is very transient. At any moment we can die. Therefore those who are advanced devotee, they want to see that "I have got very short period of life at my disposal..." Therefore, he is very anxious to utilize every moment for advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is madhyama-adhikārī. Avyartha-kālatvam.

And nāma-gāne sadā ruciḥ: "And he has got special taste for chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra." Nāma-gāne sadā ruciḥ. Vasati tad..., prītis tad-vasati sthale [Cc. Madhya 23.18-19] = "And he is very much anxious to live in such places like Vṛndāvana, Dvārakā, Mathurā, where Kṛṣṇa lived." Tad-vasati sthale. Vasati means residential. When Kṛṣṇa appears on this planet, He lives in Mathurā, Vṛndāvana, Dvārakā dhāma. So a devotee also, advanced devotee, they want to live in the residential places of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa, God, has got His residential places everywhere. That's a fact. Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham [Bs. 5.35]. He is residing even within the atom. But still, He has got special residential places like Vṛndāvana, Dvārakā, Mathurā. So a devotee is anxious to live in those places.

Prītis tad-vasati sthale, nāma-gāne sadā ruciḥ, avyartha-kālatvam. Their business is to increase love of God. To increase love of God means there is also process, how to increase. The process is given by Rūpa Gosvāmī:

ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgo 'tha bhajana-kriyā
tato 'nartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt tato niṣṭhā tataḥ rucis
athāsaktis tato bhāvas...
sādhakānām ayaṁ premṇaḥ prādurbhāve bhavet kramaḥ
[Cc. Madhya 23.14-15]

These are the gradual steps. Śraddhā. Śraddhā means faith. Faith is the beginning. Without faith, you cannot make..., there is no question of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Faith means that faith is created after reading Bhagavad-gītā. If you read Bhagavad-gītā carefully and if you actually understand Bhagavad-gītā as it is, then the faith will be created. Without reading Bhagavad-gītā, there is no question of faith in Kṛṣṇa. So what is that faith? That Kṛṣṇa says that sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja [Bg. 18.66], so, "You give up all other engagements. You just surrender to Me, and I shall give you protection." So if we have got faith, if we believe in the words of Kṛṣṇa, that is called faith. If we don't believe in the words of Kṛṣṇa, if we study as a literary thesis and then throw it away, that is not faith.

The faith is explained by Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī. He says, 'śraddhā'-śabde---viśvāsa sudṛḍha niścaya [Cc. Madhya 22.62]. Faith means one who has got firm faith in the words of Kṛṣṇa. That is called faith. "I am reading Bhagavad-gītā, but I do not accept Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead or He is a person, as He says in the Bhagavad-gītā..." He says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya [Bg. 7.7]. Mattaḥ, when He says He's a person... So Kṛṣṇa says that "There is no more better personality or better superior existence than Myself." Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru [Bg. 18.65]. He says "Me." Mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te [Bg. 7.14]. Ahaṁ sarvasya... Aham, "Me," "I." He says everywhere. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa is person. Kṛṣṇa is not imperson. Kleśaḥ adhikataras teṣām avyaktāsakta-cetasām [Bg. 12.5]. It is said that "One who is impersonalist, he takes more trouble to come to Me. He will come later on, but it will take some time."

The impersonal feature of understanding of the Supreme Absolute Truth, it is partial understanding. Just like we have explained several times that we have got experience of the sunshine, because sunshine is very easily approached. But that understanding of the sunshine is not real understanding of the sun globe or sun planet or the sun-god. That is not perfect understanding. It is partial understanding that you can understand the sun globe is full of heat and light. That's all. But how much heat, what is the temperature of heat, how much light is there and where is the source of heat and light, that is not possible to understand. Everyone will admit this, that simply by seeing, because the sunshine is entering your room from the window, that does not mean you know everything of the sun. Similarly, this impersonal understanding of the Absolute Truth is like that. Just like sunshine is impersonal, but the sun-god is person. If sun-god is not person, how Kṛṣṇa says, imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam [Bg. 4.1]? "This Bhagavad-gītā..." He says to Arjuna that "This Bhagavad-gītā, science of Bhagavad-gītā, or this yoga system, bhakti-yoga system, I spoke to sun-god. Exactly like that, I am speaking to you." So Arjuna is person, and Kṛṣṇa is person. Therefore the..., in the sun planet the predominating deity is a person. He is not imperson.

So you cannot understand that person simply by seeing the sunshine. That requires better qualification, how to enter the sun planet, how to see the predominating deity. The impersonalists, they simply conclude that, the same way as we foolish persons conclude, that the sun planet is simply a fiery substance, and there is nothing, no... If there is nothing, if there is no sun-god, predominating deity or the president of the sun globe, then how Kṛṣṇa could speak with him? In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, ahaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān. Just like we talk. We are talking with you. We are not talking in the sky, vacant. We are talking with persons. These are intelligent. These require intelligence. So now we can imagine that "How the sun-god can be person? It is a fiery, big fire substance, and how one can live?" This is also foolishness. "Because I cannot live in the fire, therefore nobody can live in the fire," that is my foolishness. My body is not so made. Just like you cannot live in the water. It does not mean that there is no living entity in the water. It requires intelligence. Similarly, if you cannot live in the fire, it does not mean that nobody lives there. Yes. There are living entities whose body is so made. Just like the fish and other aquatics, they live. Their body is so made. This is intelligent study. Otherwise, if you simply compare with my intelligence, my position, my circumstances, and we'll conclude all others like that, that is blindness. That is not... Blindness.

So similarly, impersonal realization of God, that is imperfect, exactly like the understanding of the sunshine is not understanding of the sun globe and the sun-god. Everyone can understand. It is not very difficult. If you think that "Because I have seen sunshine, then I have seen everything; I have known everything of the sun..." No. You do not know even how big the sun globe is. And when you read books, when you read scientific books, you can understand it is fourteen hundred times bigger than this planet. So ultimately God is person. He is not imperson. Impersonal understanding is imperfect, partial understanding, that if God, Kṛṣṇa, is sac-cid-ānanda vigraha... Sat, cit, ānanda [Bs. 5.1]. So impersonal understanding of Kṛṣṇa means you understand only the sat portion. The two other portion, cit and ānanda, you do not know. You do not know.

So if you understand Kṛṣṇa, then you understand the impersonal Brahman realization and localized Paramātmā realization. That is stated in the Vedas. Yasmin vijñāte sarvam evaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavati [Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.3]. If you simply understand Kṛṣṇa, then you understand the other two features, because Kṛṣṇa is ānanda. You see Kṛṣṇa's feature. He is not thinking, taxing His brain, "How to do this? How to do that?" No. He is ānandamaya. Ānandamaya: He's playing on His flute, and Rādhārāṇī is there. He is in ecstatic ānanda, hlādinī-śakti. Rādhā kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir hlādinī-śaktiḥ. It is the transaction of bliss, transcendental bliss, hlādinī-śakti. Kṛṣṇa has got many potencies. Out of that, one potency is hlādinī-śakti, pleasure-giving. He is ātmārāma. He is full in Himself. When He wants to enjoy, He expands Himself, His pleasure potency. So Rādhārāṇī is His pleasure potency, and the gopīs are expansion of Rādhārāṇī. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ. Nija-rūpa. The forms are Kṛṣṇa's, but ānanda-cinmaya-rasa, just to taste the mellow of transcendental bliss.

ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis
tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ
goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūto
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
[Bs. 5.37]

This is a verse from the Brahma-saṁhitā.

So Kṛṣṇa is... We are seeing the form of Kṛṣṇa. That is the ultimate understanding of the Absolute Truth. Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate.

vadanti tat tattva-vidas
tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam
brahmeti paramātmeti
bhagavān iti śabdyate
[SB 1.2.11]

So sac-cid-ānanda. The Brahman realization is sat realization, Paramātmā realization is cit realization and Bhagavān realization means ānanda realization. Sat, cit, ānanda. And in the Vedānta-sūtra it is said that the Absolute Truth is ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt [Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12]. Ānandamaya. He's always ānandamaya. You read Kṛṣṇa's līlā---He's always full of transcendental bliss, especially in Vṛndāvana. Vṛndāvana, that is His original residence. There, simply ānanda. Kṛṣṇa is playing with His cowherds boys friends. Kṛṣṇa is dancing with the gopīs. Kṛṣṇa is stealing Mother Yaśodā's butter. Kṛṣṇa is doing... All ānanda, transcendental bliss.

So here it is stated that if you begin your devotional service as it is prescribed here, simply see the Deity, then gradually realize how Kṛṣṇa is smiling, how Kṛṣṇa is playing on His flute, how Kṛṣṇa is enjoying the company of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī... We have to see simply. Simply by seeing. And if you hear about Kṛṣṇa, just you are hearing now, these two processes will increase in such a way that one time, anicchato me gatim aṇvīṁ prayuṅkte: you'll automatically become a great devotee, simply if you come to this temple, or any temple where Deity is very nicely worshiped. These are all scientific. It is not imagination. Just like people think that "They are worshiping idol and imagining something." No, they are stated in this all śāstra. It is the prescribed method for developing your God consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is a science, vijñāna-samanvitam.

jñānaṁ parama-guhyaṁ me
yad vijñāna-samanvitam
sa-rahasyaṁ tad-aṅgaṁ ca
gṛhāṇa gaditaṁ mayā
[SB 2.9.31]

When Kṛṣṇa advised Brahmā after creation, then He said, jñānaṁ me... This is called catuḥ-śloki-bhāgavata [SB 2.9.33-36], the four ślokas which is the basic principle of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Jñānaṁ parama-guhyaṁ. The knowledge of Kṛṣṇa is very confidential, guhyam. Guhyād guhyatamam. In the Bhagavad-gītā is said, "My dear Arjuna, I have spoken to you so many things, but now, because you are My very dear friend and devotee, therefore I am disclosing the most confidential knowledge." What is that? Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam [Bg. 18.66] = "Just surrender to Me. That's all. This is the confidential knowledge. Don't try to understand many things, or if you have heard, if you could not understand Me here, then I tell you. This is the most confidential part of knowledge, that sarva-dharmān parityajya." Before this verse, guhyād guhyatamam. Guhyād guhyatamam. Guhya means very confidential. So this guhya, this Brahman realization, is also very confidential. But Paramātmā realization is guhyatara, still more confidential. And to understand Kṛṣṇa is guhyatama, superlative degree. Guhyād guhyatamam.

So to understand Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa has explained in so many ways. Simply to understand Kṛṣṇa makes you liberated. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya [Bg. 4.9]. So therefore this is the process of understanding Kṛṣṇa. These Kṛṣṇa consciousness centers are being opened all over the world just to give the people the chance how to become liberated simply by seeing the Deity and chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. This is the opportunity. But fools and rascals, they think that "It is nuisance." But actually it's not. This is a science. So by following this process, then what will be the...? Hṛtātmano hṛta-prāṇāṁś ca: "Then gradually, your mind will be fully absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, mind and senses." Hṛtātmanaḥ and hṛta-prāṇa. Prāṇa, we..., our prāṇa, life, is at the senses. So if your mind and senses are fully absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is called bhakti. That is called bhakti. It is not sentiment; it is a practical science when your mind and senses are fully absorbed in Kṛṣṇa. The senses are engaged in serving Kṛṣṇa and mind is always thinking of Kṛṣṇa.

Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane [SB 9.4.18]. Just like Mahārāja Ambarīṣa, he was a great devotee, and his business was, although he was a king, very responsible king and ruling over the world, but his mind was always absorbed in Kṛṣṇa. This is possible. This is possible. That example is given, that a woman or a lady is always busy in his [her] household affairs, but she also takes care of her bunch of hair, how to set it up and very nicely comb it. She does not forget. In spite of her being engaged in so many household affairs, she does not forget to take care of the bunch of hair. Similarly, one who is actually devotee, he may be engaged in so many things, but he does not forget Kṛṣṇa. That is the example, very good example.

So hṛtātmano hṛta-prāṇāṁś ca bhaktiḥ. This is the perfection. This means that the gross body and the subtle body becomes digested, no more existence of this gross body. Gross body means sense gratification, and subtle body means speculation = "God is like that, God is like that," speculation, subtle body. Mana-buddhy-ahaṅkāra. And gross body means the senses. So when the senses and the mind, everything, is engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that means you are already liberated. Already liberated. Therefore it is said, anicchato me gatim aṇvīṁ prayuṅkte. The liberated means that you have no more the activities of gross body and subtle body, but there are activities of the soul. This is wanted. The bhakti means the activities of the soul, not of the body, not of the mind.

The Brahman realization means stopping the activities of the body. But the activities of the mind is going on, or they do not know; it is not perfect knowledge. Therefore I have said several times that the Brahman realization, those who are Brahman realized souls, they are not in perfect knowledge. Aviśuddha-buddhi. They have been described as aviśuddha. Viśuddha means very purified, and a means "not." Aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ [SB 10.2.32]. Their intelligence is not yet perfectly purified. Aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa. They are thinking that "Now we have become liberated." No. That is not liberation. Here is liberation. Why? Hṛtātmano hṛta-prāṇāṁś ca bhaktiḥ. When the mind and the senses are all absorbed in Kṛṣṇa, that is the bhakti state. Mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām [Bg. 18.54]. The people think that bhakti is a sentiment thing. No. It is above liberation. Above liberation. Unless one is not liberated, he cannot stand on the platform of bhakti. That is bhakti. That is called parā-bhakti. Aparā-bhakti and parā-bhakti.

So any devotee who is serious about this Deity worship, hearing about Kṛṣṇa, chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, following the Vedic principle, or rejecting the sinful activities of life... In this way we can come to the platform of spiritual life, and if we act accordingly, that is called bhakti-yoga, or the liberated stage.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. [end]

Unsubscribe from lecture delivery

Srila Prabhupada speaks on: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.25.28

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.25.28

Bombay, Nov. 28, 1974

Audio for this lecture: https://prabhupadavani.org/transcriptions/741128sbbom/
Prabhupada Radio: https://prabhupadaradio.com

Nitāi: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [devotees repeat] [leads chanting of verse, etc.]

devahūtir uvāca
kācit tvayy ucitā bhaktiḥ
kīdṛśī mama gocarā
yayā padaṁ te nirvāṇam
añjasānvāśnavā aham
[SB 3.25.28]

[break] [02:42]

"On hearing the statement of the Lord, Devahūti inquired = What kind of devotional service is worth developing and practicing to help me easily and immediately attain to the service of Your lotus feet?"

Prabhupāda:

kācit tvayy ucitā bhaktiḥ
kīdṛśī mama gocarā
yayā padaṁ te nirvāṇam
añjasānvāśnavā aham
[SB 3.25.28]

So it is the duty of the disciple---disciple means everyone, human, human body, one who has got human body---athāto brahma jijñāsā. This is the Vedānta-sūtra advice. Atha, ataḥ, brahma-jijñāsa. This life, human life, is meant for enquiry. What is that enquiry? Brahman enquiry, about the Absolute Truth. So the Vedic injunction is that if you are inquisitive about self-realization, Brahman realization, then you should approach a guru. Therefore here Devahūti is accepting his [her] son, exalted son, incarnation of God, Kapiladeva, enquiring from Him. That is the Vaiṣṇava process.

Vaiṣṇava process is not to speculate oneself. If one is actually inquisitive to know about the Absolute Truth, he must approach a bona fide spiritual master. Ādau gurv-āśrayam. First business is to find out guru. Guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja [Cc. Madhya 19.151], Caitanya Mahāprabhu says. At the present moment this is a mentality. Of course they have got some bad experience, but the process is that you must go to a guru. That is Vedic injunction. Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta [SB 11.3.21]. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet [MU 1.2.12]. Abhigacchet means "must"; there is no other alternative. In the Bhagavad-gītā also it is said,

tad viddhi praṇipātena
paripraśnena sevayā
upadekṣyanti tad jñānaṁ
jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ
[Bg. 4.34]

If we actually are very serious to get out of the clutches of māyā, this repetition of birth, old age and disease, and get back our original, spiritual life, eternal life, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre [Bg. 2.20], there is..., that is our real identification. We do not die after the annihilation of this body. But we are so dull by the influence of māyā, we think that death is inevitable. No. Why death is inevitable? Death can be avoided, birth can be avoided, disease can be avoided, but you do not know, you have become so dull.

We do not know how to overcome. We are busy temporary inconveniences. The whole world is struggling some temporary. The real business is ātyantika-duḥkha-nivṛtti. Everyone is trying to minimize the miserable condition, but they are busy for temporary miserable condition. But the Vedic knowledge is how to mitigate the topmost miserable condition. That topmost miserable condition is the repetition of birth, death and old age. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam [Bg. 13.9]. Anu-darśanam. We should not be very much afflicted with these temporary things. We must have the sense how to solve the ultimate miserable condition of life. That, tad-vijñānārtham, in order to know that science, sa gurum evābhigacchet.

If one is interested to know that science, then it is necessary to approach. Just like Arjuna was busy, perturbed, that he has to fight with his relative, the other side, and they will be killed. And he was presenting so many problems that "If I kill my brothers, my sister-in-laws will become widow and they will be polluted, and there will be varṇa-saṅkara generation, then the whole world will be hell." In this way he was thinking, the immediate material problems. But when, after arguing with Kṛṣṇa, he could not find out any solution, then Arjuna submitted to Kṛṣṇa, śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam [Bg. 2.7]. "My dear Kṛṣṇa, now I don't want to talk with You as friend, because friendly talk, the talking will be very much, but there will be no benefit." Generally we do so. We talk with some person, some friend, without any utility, just to waste time. That is not the way. If you go and talk with some person, then you must derive some benefit. The aim should be there; otherwise simply waste of time. And it is the injunction of the śāstra that, unless one is submissive, the superior man should not talk. Tad viddhi praṇipātena [Bg. 4.34]. Unless one is submissive he will not be able to accept the sublime instruction.

So one has to become submissive. That submissiveness Kṛṣṇa..., Arjuna is teaching us, śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam. "I am now submitting myself to You, not that equal position with You, friend and friend equal position. That I am giving up. I am becoming Your disciple, submissive," śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam [Bg. 2.7]. Prapannam means submissive. And that is the way. You cannot speculate. Your speculation has no value. Athāpi te deva ciraṁ vicinvan [SB 10.14.29]. Ciraṁ vicinvan, you can go on speculating for many births, many years, still you will not be able to understand the ultimate goal of your life. It is not possible. Therefore all the śāstras, they advise that you go to a guru. Guru means weighty, one who has got more weight, one who can teach you. Because everyone thinks that "I am learned. I am all-learned. Who can teach me?" No. Nobody is like that. Everyone requires instruction; therefore the Vedic system is adau gurvasrayam: to make one's life fruitful, one must approach guru.

Therefore our system is, Vedic system is, from the very beginning a child, a boy, is sent to gurukula to learn. Not that automatically one learns. One must go to gurukula, brahmacārī. Brahmacārī goes to guru, and he works like a menial servant. He may be a son of a big brāhmaṇa or big king; it doesn't matter. The one who goes to gurukula, he immediately becomes the menial servant of guru. This is the system. That means guru can order him to act any, I mean to say, low-class service, still he is prepared to do it. This is the business of brahmacārī. And he takes all trouble, and childhood, he doesn't mind. Even Kṛṣṇa, He went to gurukula, to teach us. Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, what is the use of His going to gurukula? No, He is teaching, āpani ācari' prabhu jīveri śikhāya. Caitanya Mahāprabhu also accepted guru, teacher, guru more mūrkha dekhi' karila śāsana [Cc. Ādi 7.71].

When Caitanya Mahāprabhu was talking with Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī, Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī was very learned scholar and he knew that Caitanya Mahāprabhu was also very great scholar. So he was criticizing Him that "This sannyāsī from Bengal who has come to Benares, He is simply chanting and dancing and does not give attention in the reading of Vedānta, so He is not a bona fide sannyāsī. He is sentimental." He was thinking like that, but one brāhmaṇa, Maharashtria brāhmaṇa, he arranged a meeting with Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī and Lord Caitanya. There was discussion. So Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī inquired from Him that "You are a sannyāsī. Instead of giving Your attention in the matter of reading Vedānta-sūtra, Sāṅkhya philosophy, what is this that You are chanting and dancing?" So Caitanya Mahāprabhu replied that "My guru found Me I am a fool number one, guru more mūrkha dekhi, I am not very much learned. So he said, My guru said, that 'You cannot read Vedānta-sūtra.' " Actually Vedānta-sūtra, Vedānta philosophy, is not meant for ordinary learned person. It requires great knowledge in Sanskrit language and philosophy. So He, Caitanya Mahāprabhu, took the part of ordinary person at the present moment that guru more mūrkha dekhi' karila śāsana. Generally, people are not so learned that they can understand Vedānta-sūtra. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu, taking the part of the mūrkha society, the illiterate, ignorant society, He said that "I cannot read Vedānta-sūtra. It is not possible. He advised Me to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, and I am doing that. And I am getting the result."

So at the present moment, especially in Kali-yuga, they are not very much educated. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhā... [SB 1.1.10]. They are simply busy how to earn some money and fill up the belly, that's all. They are not no more interested in Vedānta-sutra. Mandāḥ. Mandāḥ means very slow, or very bad. They are so badly infected with the influence of māyā, they do not care to understand that there is life after death, and that life may be anything of these 8,400,000 forms of life. And if I become one of them---if I become tree, if I become cat, if I become dog or insect or even human being---then, if I am in a very inconvenient condition, that they do not care to know. Sometimes they say, "Never mind if I become a dog. What is the wrong there? I will forget everything." People say, in Western countries, even the university student, they say they don't... So ignorance. Therefore they have been described as mandāḥ.

Formerly, especially in India, the cātur-varṇyaṁ, the brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, so at least the most intelligent class of men, the brāhmaṇas, they were interested to understand brahma-jijñāsa. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. But at the present moment they are all śūdras. They are not interested about brahma-jijñāsā. They are interested how to get more money, where is the cinema, where..., what picture is going... They are interested in that, not about brahma-jijñāsā. But the human life is meant for that purpose only. Therefore we learn from Bhagavad-gītā. Arjuna is personally teaching us. He is accepting Kṛṣṇa as guru, śiṣyas te 'ham [Bg. 2.7], "Kṛṣṇa, now I become Your disciple, not that I remain as Your friend. Friend-to-friend talk is not very serious. Now I want to talk with serious. You become my spiritual master, You teach me, and I will take Your lesson." This should be the... It is not meant for only Arjuna. It is meant for everyone, that if you..., you must find out a guru. The first guru is Kṛṣṇa, and anyone who is Kṛṣṇa's representative, he is guru. Guru is Kṛṣṇa, the original guru, and if Kṛṣṇa representative is found, is available, then he is also guru.

Just like you are a businessman, and anybody goes to canvass for business, to get some order for your business, he is your representative. It is not very difficult to understand. If he is your representative and talks something nonsense, then he is not your representative; he is cheating you. He is taking your money and doing something else. No. Real representative is he who canvassing for Kṛṣṇa; he is not canvassing for himself, that "I have become Kṛṣṇa." No, he is not guru; he is cheater. The representative is he who canvasses business for Kṛṣṇa. That is guru. Kṛṣṇa wants this business. What is that? "You rascal, give up everything and surrender unto Me," sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja [Bg. 18.66]. Kṛṣṇa wants this business. And Kṛṣṇa's representative also says that you give up everything, simply surrender to Kṛṣṇa. This is Kṛṣṇa's representative. Sometimes we are very much eulogized, "I have done a wonderful thing," but I have done as representative of Kṛṣṇa. Same thing. I have told all these boys and girls nothing magic. I never showed any gold-making magic. I simply said to them that "Here is Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. You surrender unto Him." That's all. Ask anything. I never said anything. So that is actually representative.

Anyone can become Kṛṣṇa's representative, everyone, especially Indians. They should become Kṛṣṇa's representative. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission.

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

Para-upakāra means the whole world does not know about the message of Kṛṣṇa, therefore it is the greatest welfare activities to carry this message and inform them. This is the work of Kṛṣṇa's representative, and any Indian can do it. But they'll not do it. They will take Bhagavad-gītā and speak their hodgepodge, that's all. That is not Kṛṣṇa's representative. Therefore it has not been successful. For the last two hundred years so many svāmīs and yogīs went to foreign countries, but nobody spoke about Kṛṣṇa. Simply hodgepodge. Therefore there was not a single person accepted this cult, Vedic culture. That is practical.

So as Arjuna... We are reading Bhagavad-gītā; you can understand that Arjuna is a friend. Why he's accepting Kṛṣṇa as guru? Why? He's a friend. He's talking equally, sitting equally, friend and friend, sometimes talking nonsense. Kṛṣṇa... In the Eleventh Chapter he was begging Kṛṣṇa, "Forgive me. As a friend I have misbehaved with You." Friend has got right that. Kṛṣṇa did not mind for that. But he knew that "Kṛṣṇa, although He is my friend, He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore, He is the proper person to become my guru." And he says also that "The perplexity which I have been put into now in this battlefield, this cannot be solved by anyone else except Yourself." That he said also.

So this is instruction we get from Bhagavad-gītā---everyone reads Bhagavad-gītā---that we have to accept Kṛṣṇa as the guru, or Kṛṣṇa's representative as guru. Tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā [Bg. 4.34]. And we have to give service to such guru and we have to surrender ourself. Not that I accept you guru just to know how much you are learned, how much you can talk with me. Not with that spirit. Surrender, that "I surrender to you, sir." Śiṣyas te 'ham, "I have become śiṣya." Śiṣya means voluntarily accepting his ruling. Whatever guru will say, he will accept. That is called śiṣya. Śiṣya means ruling, who accept disciple, means disciplinary measure. Whatever guru says, one who accepts, he becomes disciple. He... "I don't care for my guru's order, and still I am disciple," that is not accepting guru. Of course, it has become a fashion like that, to have a guru but don't care for guru. That is not..., that will not help. Śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam [Bg. 2.7].

And immediately Kṛṣṇa, as we..., as soon as He accepted to become guru of Arjuna, He immediately chastised him,

aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ
prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase
gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca
nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ
[Bg. 2.11]

"My dear Arjuna, you are not talking like a learned man. You are thinking that you are very learned man, that you are talking with Me, that 'What will happen to this, to that, if I fight?' You have wasted so much time. But actually I find that you are a fool number one. You do not know anything," aśocyān anvaśocas tvam, "because you are lamenting for things for which one should not lament. What is that? This body. You are thinking of this body of your relative, and because they will be in the war, they will be killed. You are thinking like that. But actually this is not the subject matter of pondering. The real subject matter is how to save the soul." Therefore He began instructing that "We are not this body; we are soul." Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā, tathā dehāntara-prāpti [Bg. 2.13]. In this way He gave first instruction that we are not this body.

So here also, Devahūti is woman. Everyone is less intelligent before his guru, especially woman. Striyo śūdra tathā vaiśya te 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim. But God, or Kṛṣṇa, is open for everyone. It is not that Kṛṣṇa is open for the brāhmaṇas, the learned scholars or the Hindus or the Muslim or Christian. No, Kṛṣṇa is open for everyone. Striyo śūdra tathā vaiśyās te 'pi yānti param, māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ [Bg. 9.32], even pāpa-yonayaḥ. Pāpa-yoni means low class. Just like in our country we have got low-class people, the cobbler, muci, the caṇḍālas, the dog-eaters. They are considered as low class. So Kṛṣṇa is open even for the low class.

This is universal movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, because it is concerned with the soul, consciousness. Therefore you have named the word "consciousness." Consciousness belongs to the soul. That is the symptom of presence of soul. At the present moment, because the soul is in the body, if I pinch your body then you feel---consciousness---feel pains or pleasure. But as soon as the soul is gone out of the body, if I chop off your body with a dagger, you will not protest. The consciousness is gone. Yena sarvam idaṁ tatam. Avināśi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idaṁ tatam [Bg. 2.17], Kṛṣṇa says. Sarvam idam, this body. This body, wherever you pinch, you feel pain. Why? Because the consciousness is there. So Kṛṣṇa advises that consciousness is eternal, not this body. Avināśi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idaṁ tatam. So the consciousness eternal. Therefore we have to purify our consciousness, then our life is successful.

Consciousness will go with us. At the time of death, the consciousness carries me to another body. Sūkṣma, the fine, or the subtle body, the mind, intelligence and ego. But we do not see that mind, intelligence, ego and the soul, it is still finer. Mind is... We know you have got mind, you know I have got mind, but you do not see. I know you have got intelligence, you know I have got intelligence, but you can not see. But how the mind, intelligence carry the soul to another body, how you can see? We see that this gross body is stopped, we say it is everything finished, because we have got gross intelligence, we have no sūkṣma in... Therefore we have to approach guru, just like Arjuna approached guru. And Arjuna, Kṛṣṇa teaching that "You are thinking of this body like a rascal." Nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ. He said in a very gentlemanly language, "No learned man thinks like that." That means "You are a fool." Nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ, that "You are not a paṇḍita, you are a fool." Just try to understand that real life is for the soul; therefore you should take care of the soul. The whole Vedic language, Vedic education, means to take care of the soul. The soul is entangled, embodied, engaged in this material affair, and he is suffering, and to rescue him, to get him out of this material clutches, that is called education. That is called education, and for that education one has to approach a proper guru like Kapiladeva. Kapiladeva is incarnation of Kṛṣṇa.

So guru is there, Kṛṣṇa, and His instruction is there in the Bhagavad-gītā. Why you are not taking advantage? You have become so foolish. The instruction is there. Guru is there. Somebody says that "Arjuna had the opportunity, good opportunity, to talk with Kṛṣṇa face to face, but we haven't got that." But what is that talk? The talk is already there. You hear it from His representative, the same instruction. Where is the difficulty? But they will not do that. They will take Bhagavad-gītā and misinterpret in a foolish way, in rascaldom, and spoil his career and others' career. That's all. Otherwise everything is there. Where is the difficulty? Kṛṣṇa says that there is the owner of the body within the body, and He has explained in so many ways---acchedyo 'yam adāhyo 'yam [Bg. 2.24], distinguishing the quality that the soul is never to be cut into pieces, acchedyo 'yam. It cannot be burned into the fire. It cannot be moistened by water. That means everything matter, there is interruption. Any matter will be interrupted by another matter, but the soul is not anything of this material world. In the material world, any hard thing---the iron, the stone---can be cut into pieces if you have got the instrument. But Kṛṣṇa says the soul is acchedyo 'yam, it cannot be cut into pieces. So it is above all material action and reaction. Adāhyo 'yam. In material, even the iron can be melted, even a stone can be melted nowadays. But adāhyo 'yam, aśoṣyaḥ 'yam, in so many ways. That means it is different from this material thing, the soul. Therefore, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre.

This instruction, the common sense is that if my position is like that, acchedyo 'yam adāhyo 'yam, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre [Bg. 2.20], then what is that life? How I can attain that life? That is brahma-jijñāsā. One should be inquisitive. If we remain fools and rascals like cats and dogs to maintain this body only, then what is the benefit of this human life? Human life is meant for understanding this science that "I am not this body, but I am busy with this bodily comfort. I am soul within the body. What I am doing for that which is Brahman?" This is required. Therefore tad vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet [MU 1.2.12]. If you want to learn about that, then you must find out a guru. What kind of guru? Just like Kapiladeva, Kṛṣṇa, or His representative. Not a bogus guru. Then you will be cheated. Andhā yathāndair upanīyamānāḥ [SB 7.5.31]. The so-called rascal guru, he does not know also what is the aim of life, and if he makes some disciples, then śāstra says, andhā yathāndair upanīyamānāḥ: one blind man is trying to guide many other blind men. So what is the benefit? There is no benefit.

So if you want to be guided by somebody, he must have opened eyes. Tattva-darśinaḥ. Upadekṣyanti tad jñānaṁ tad jñānīnas tattva-darśinaḥ [Bg. 4.34]. Darśi. Darśi means who has got eyes to see what is the Absolute Truth. Don't go to a blind man, who has no knowledge about the Absolute Truth. The Absolute Truth is there, Kṛṣṇa. The sun is there, everyone can see. Sun is not hiding, but I am hiding. I am closing my door---how can I see sun? Come to the field, open to the sun, and you will see sun. There is sun, there is light. Similarly, God is there = Kṛṣṇa. You come to Kṛṣṇa, take His lesson from Bhagavad-gītā, you will learn what is God.

But the rascals will not do that. They will manufacture some meaning. This meaning this, this meaning that, this meaning that. They will not accept Kṛṣṇa. That is the difficulty. Otherwise, there is no difficulty. Even there is difficulty, one can say that "Yes, it is all right. Kṛṣṇa's instruction is there, Kṛṣṇa's Deity is there, but still, how can I see? How can I understand?" This is obstinacy. That Kṛṣṇa is so kind, "All right, you see Me in the water. Come on. Raso 'ham apsu kaunteya prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ [Bg. 7.8]. Why don't you see Me? You are seeing water, and why you take water? For satisfying your thirst. And that quality of satisfying your thirst, I am," Kṛṣṇa says. So if you think of Kṛṣṇa when you become satisfied by drinking water, if you think of Kṛṣṇa, you will become one step advanced, immediately. Is that very difficult? Nothing difficult, but we are obstinate; we will not do that. We will not try to understand Kṛṣṇa, we'll not take Kṛṣṇa's instruction.

Why it is so? Māyā. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā [Bg. 7.14]. That is very, very strong. As soon as I'll try to accept Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Lord, māyā will whisper in my ear, "No, no, no. There are many Gods. Why you are accepting Kṛṣṇa?" Immediately. "There are many Gods. Why you are accepting Kṛṣṇa?" But śāstra says, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam [SB 1.3.28], īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ [Bs. 5.1]. That we will not hear. I'll not take lesson from the śāstra, from the ācāryas. At least in India we have got big, big ācāryas---Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Viṣṇu Svāmī, even Śaṅkarācārya, even Guru Nanak---they have accepted, all, Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Why should we not? Why I shall bring another competitor to Kṛṣṇa? This is our misfortune. Therefore Bhagavān says, na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ [Bg. 7.15]. Because we are sinful, because we are rascals, we do not accept Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. You are searching after Kṛṣṇa, making speculation, philosophical. Don't do that. Accept Kṛṣṇa and be in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and be happy.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Haribol... [end]

Unsubscribe from lecture delivery

Srila Prabhupada speaks on: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.25.21

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.25.21

Bombay, Nov. 21, 1974

Audio for this lecture: https://prabhupadavani.org/transcriptions/741121sbbom/
Prabhupada Radio: https://prabhupadaradio.com

Nitāi: "[The symptoms] ...of a sādhu are that he is tolerant, merciful and friendly to all living entities. He has no enemies, he is peaceful, he abides by the scriptures, and all his characteristics are sublime."

Prabhupāda:

titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ
suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām
ajāta-śatravaḥ śāntāḥ
sādhavaḥ sādhu-bhūṣaṇāḥ
[SB 3.25.21]

In the previous verse Kapiladeva has recommended that sa eva sādhuṣu kṛtaḥ. What is that?

prasaṅgam ajaraṁ pāśam
ātmanaḥ kavayo viduḥ
sa eva sādhuṣu kṛto
mokṣa-dvāram apāvṛtam
[SB 3.25.20]

There are two things = conditioned life and liberated life. Eight million, four hundred thousand forms of life there are. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati [Padma Purāṇa]. Nine lakhs forms of life in the water. [child talking] Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi. [aside:] The child may be... Sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. The trees and plants, they are two million. Sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati, kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ. And the germs and insects, reptiles, they are eleven hundred thousand, eleven lakhs. Pakṣiṇāṁ daśa-lakṣaṇam. Then birds, they are ten lakhs of forms. Then beasts, animals, so they are three millions forms. And then human being, they are 400,000. Very small quantity. Of all the living entities, the human forms, they are very small number, 400,000. Aśītiṁ caturaś caiva. Aśītim means eighty, and catura means four. So 8,400,000 species of forms.

So prasaṅgam ajaraṁ pāśam ātmanaḥ. Ātmā is the same, spirit soul. He has got the same form. But they are different dresses. They are having different dresses. Just like we are sitting so many. As human being, we are the same, but we have got different dresses. Similarly, ātmā, the soul, the spirit soul, is the same. There is no difference. Therefore paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ. One who knows what is the form of ātmā, he sees... Vidyā-vinaya brāhmaṇe gavi hastini..., sama-darśinaḥ [Bg. 5.18]. He sees the animal, the cats and dogs, and a learned brāhmaṇa---sama-darśinaḥ. Samatā means not that brāhmaṇa is equal to the dog. No, not that. But he sees that brāhmaṇa is also a spirit soul, and the dog is also a spirit soul.

So this conditioned life... Dog has got a conditioned life, I have got a conditioned life, you have got a conditioned life. We are all conditioned, under different... And according to the condition, we have got different bodies. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa [SB 3.31.1]. This conditioned life, different forms of life, we have got daiva-netreṇa, by superior..., superior administration. Netreṇa means netṛtva, leadership. So superior leadership. Just like Yamarāja. Karmaṇā, according to my karma, he offers me some body. Daiva-netreṇa. Jantur deha upapatti. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu [Bg. 13.22]. Karma... Guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ [Bg. 4.13]. Guṇa and karma... Just like here, in the practical world, you can work as an engineer, karma, if you have got the qualification. If you have got the qualification of a shopkeeper, you cannot act as engineer. That is not possible. If you have got the qualification of a teacher, educationist, then you can become a teacher.

So the whole world is going like that, guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ. So guṇa means we are, according to our position or according to our mentality, we are infecting some guṇa, sattva-rajas-tamo-guṇa. So guṇa-karma, guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ. Very scientific this is. You can become... If you acquire the qualities of a brāhmaṇa, then, and if you work as a brāhmaṇa, then guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ, you become a brāhmaṇa. If you have the qualities of a kṣatriya and if you work as a kṣatriya, then you are kṣatriya. If you have the qualification of a mercantile man, businessman, and if you work as a businessman or cultivator, then you become vaiśya. This is very scientific. Not that one is classified according to the birth. No. According to qualification. Just like there is medical association. Medical association does not mean all the medical men in the association, they are born of the same family. No. They are born in different family. But because they have got qualification and working as medical man, they are admitted as the member of medical association or member of bar association. This is practically. Similarly, if you acquire the qualification of a brāhmaṇa and if you work as a brāhmaṇa, then you are accepted as a brāhmaṇa. Similarly kṣatriya, similarly vaiśya.

This is... It is, it is the authoritative statement of Nārada. Yasya hi yad lakṣaṇaṁ proktaṁ varṇābhivyañjakam [SB 7.11.35]. In the Bhagavad-gītā, varṇābhivyañjakam, how to decide to which class or which caste a certain man belongs to, so there are symptoms. Satyaṁ śaucaṁ śamo damaḥ kṣāntir ārjavam, jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ brahma-karma svabhāva-jam [Bg. 18.42]. So Nārada Muni says, yasya hi yad lakṣaṇaṁ proktam. These are the symptoms. So if such symptoms are visible in another place, then tat tenaiva vinirdiśet [SB 7.11.35]. And Śrīdhara Svāmī has given his note that birth is not everything. One has to acquire the quality. Then he'll be classified.

So prasaṅgam ajaram. We are attached to some quality and some work. In this way we are getting different bodies, one after another. This body finished, we create another body. This life is creating another body. This is called prasaṅgam ajaram. Attachment to the material qualities, we are conditioned. And suppose we have got now human form of body or in a very rich family, that is all right, but it will not continue. You have to give it up. And any moment, by the superior authority, when it is ordered, "Immediately please leave this position," you have to do it. This is called conditioned life. You cannot stay in any status of life for all the days. If you think that "I am American. I am very happy," that... That's all right. You're American, you're happy, or Indian, you are very happy. You have chalked out your plan how to continue happiness. But nature will not allow you to stay. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā [Bg. 7.14]. As soon as nature will call back, "Please give up this post. Now take the post of a dog..." Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa [SB 3.31.1]. "You have acted... You were given the most, I mean to say, exalted form of life, human being; you did not act as human being, you acted as a dog. Now you take the body of a dog." This is karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa.

Therefore we must be very careful in this human form of life. Our aim should be how to become a devotee. So to become a devotee, Kṛṣṇa conscious, because that is the path of liberation...

janma karma me divyaṁ
yo jānāti tattvataḥ
tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma
naiti mām eti...
[Bg. 4.9]

If you want to stop punar janma... Great, great personalities in India, they used to go to the forest to stop this repetition of punar janma. Just like Viśvāmitra Muni. Viśvāmitra Muni, when he approached Mahārāja Daśaratha to take with him Rāmacandra and Lakṣmaṇa---They were boys---to kill the Tāḍakā Rākṣasī... There was some disturbance. So although Viśvāmitra Muni could kill, but no, that was not the brāhmaṇa's business. It was the, to kill, it was the, to punish, it was king's business. So therefore they approached. So at that time Mahārāja Daśaratha greeted Viśvāmitra Muni = aihiṣṭaṁ yat tat punar-janma-jayāya [Rāmayana]. Just like when we meet a friend, if he's a businessman... Suppose he comes to see me. I am a sannyāsī, and he's a businessman. I ask him, "How your business is going on?" Because he's engaged in that way. And the gentleman who comes to see me, he will ask me, "Swāmījī, how your preaching is going on?" He'll not ask me, "How your business is going on?"

So the punar-janma-jayāya aihiṣṭam. The brāhmaṇas, the learned ṛṣis, sages, they're especially engaged for punar-janma-jayāya, to conquer over the process of repetition of birth and death. That is the highest occupational... So every man is meant for that, punar-janma-jayāya. Unless we conquer this process of punar janma, bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate [Bg. 8.19], and if we simply waste our time like animals---eating, sleeping, sex intercourse and defense---then it is animal life. So especially in this age they cannot distinguish that what is the animal life and what is human life. They think, "The dog, animal, he is sleeping on the street, and I am sleeping on the twentieth floor of a nice apartment. Therefore I am civilized." The śāstra says no. Either you sleep on the street or on the twenty-fourth story of apartment, you are sleeping. You are not doing any other thing. Simply the dog is eating without any plate, and suppose if you are eating in a golden plate. That does not mean the taste of the foodstuff has changed. No. The foodstuff given to the dog on the street, without any plate, and the foodstuff given to me in a golden plate, the taste is the same. And the value, food value, is the same. So we have to see in that way that to improve the quality of eating, sleeping, mating... The dog is having sexual intercourse in the open street, and if we have sexual intercourse in a very secluded place and very nice bedstead, that does not change the quality. Therefore we should know it that simply by eating, sleeping, defending and sex life, that is animal life. Human life is meant for how to become free from this process of repetition of birth and death. That is liberation.

So here we have discussed last night that prasaṅgam ajaraṁ pāśam ātmanaḥ. The bondage, conditioned life, more and more tightened. Yajñārthe karmaṇo 'nyatra loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ [Bg. 3.9]. If you do not engage your life in activities of Kṛṣṇa consciousness... That is called yajña. Yajña-puruṣa. Yajña means to sacrifice for the satisfaction of the Supreme Person. That is called yajña.

[aside:] Go on.

ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhā
varṇāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ...
saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam
[SB 1.2.13]

If you want perfection of your activities... Different men have got different activities. That's all right. But try to make it perfect, saṁsiddha. Siddhaye, brahma-siddhaye. We have discussed all these things. And how it can be done? Saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam. If you satisfy Kṛṣṇa, Hari, by your talent, by your activities, then you are successful. That should be the aim of human life. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam [Bg. 18.66]. You don't try to engage yourself, entangle yourself for repetition of birth and death.

So how this can be achieved? That is suggested in the last [indistinct] = sa eva sādhuṣu kṛtaḥ [SB 3.25.20]. The same attachment as you are attached to these material activities, if you transfer that attachment to a sādhu, then your life is successful. We have got attachment for money, we have got attachment for woman, we have got attachment for nice house, we have attachment for our country, for our society, for our families and so on, so on, so on. That attachment is called ajaraṁ pāśam. Pāśam means rope. If you are tied up with a rope, hands and legs, then you are helpless. So we are actually tied up. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī [Bg. 7.14]. Therefore it is called guṇa. Guṇa means rope. We are tied up. We are not free. Just like we are trying to go to the moon planet so many years, but because we are not free, still we have not been successful to go there. So there are so many planets within this material world, we can go. We have got now machine, very speedy machine, but why cannot go? Because you are conditioned. You cannot go by your whims. You must be qualified to go to certain planets. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā:

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

So if you want to go, you must qualify yourself. Otherwise it is not so easy. Just like if you want to go to America, you must have qualification. You must have your visa, you must have your passport, you must have the... So many things---if you want to be immigration or if you want to go as a visitor. Similarly, the other coun... If there are so many processes you have to undergo from this country to that country, is it possible that you want to go to another planet without such qualification? This is futile attempt. It is not possible. Therefore you are conditioned. It is called conditioned. We cannot go, we cannot move freely, without being sanctioned by the superior authority. So we generally say, "Not a blade of grass moves without the sanction of God." Similarly, we cannot do anything. Daivī hy eṣā. God does not take as the supervision personally. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate [Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8, Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport]. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate---in the Vedas, Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad. He hasn't got to do personally, but He has got so many agents to do. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate. He has got so ma... They will do. You are not free even to twinkle with your eyelids. That is also being controlled. That information... You are moving this hand very freely. It can be immediately paralyzed. I am claiming that "I... It is my hand." What is your hand? It can be stopped immediately. Your eyes, it can be stopped.

So we must know that we are conditioned. So this is conditioned life. How you can improve conditioned life? Therefore our business is how to become liberated from all this condition. And that can be done only by sa eva sādhuṣu kṛto mokṣa-dvāram apāvṛtam. If you... You have got so many attachment for so many things. If you turn all this attachment to a sādhu... Sādhu-saṅga sādhu-saṅga sarva-śāstre kaya. Caitanya Mahāprabhu advised, sādhu-saṅga sādhu-saṅga sarva-śāstre kaya [Cc. Madhya 22.54]. In all the śāstras they advise that to associate with the sādhu. Tasmad [indistinct] utsṛjya bhaja sādhu-samāgamam. Even Cāṇakya Paṇḍita, a great politician... Bhaja sādhu-samāgamam. Asat-saṅga-tyāga ei vaiṣṇava-ācāra [Cc. Madhya 22.87]. One gṛhastha Vaiṣṇava, householder Vaiṣṇava, he asked Caitanya Mahāprabhu that "What is the duty of a gṛhastha, householder Vaiṣṇava?" So Caitanya Mahāprabhu said in two lines = asat-saṅga-tyāga ei vaiṣṇava-ācāra. "Don't associate with nonsense asādhus." Asat-saṅga-tyāga ei vaiṣṇava-ācāra. One line. A Vaiṣṇava's behavior is to give up the association of demons, nondevotee. Because sādhu means devotee. Sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ [Bg. 9.30].

So it is very, I mean to say, sincere to avoid the company of asādhu. But at the present moment it is very difficult to find out the association of sādhu. Therefore our teeny effort is, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, to create an association of the sādhus so people may take advantage of this association, and then his life becomes liberated. And that is the aim and object of this association. It has no other object. People may say so many nonsense things, but our only object is that, as... Therefore we have given the name "Association of Kṛṣṇa conscious person." Kṛṣṇa conscious means sādhu. Because Kṛṣṇa says,

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

"He is first-class yogī." Who is that? "Who is always thinking of Me." And Kṛṣṇa is advising, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru [Bg. 18.65]. Four things only. It is not very difficult thing. Always think of Kṛṣṇa, man-manāḥ. And without becoming devotee, how you can think of Kṛṣṇa? You can think of your business, you can think of your dog, or you can think of your family, or you can think of your lovable object, woman or man and so many. But Kṛṣṇa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ: "You think of Me."

Because we have to think something. Without thinking we cannot remain. This is the simple process. Instead of thinking so many things, you simply think of Kṛṣṇa. The sādhu will teach that. Sādhu's business... Why sādhu, to associate with sādhu, sādhu-saṅga [Cc. Madhya 22.83]? Now, sādhu will not teach anything else. Ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgaḥ [Cc. Madhya 23.14-15]. This is the process of making spiritual advancement. If you have got any faith for making spiritual advancement, then you must associate with sādhus. Ādau śraddhā. Just like here people come. Here there is no other thing because here all the boys and girls and devotees, they are concerned with Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. That's all. The whole business, whole day's business, whole night's business, is Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. From early morning at three o'clock to night, ten o'clock, they have only business of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. That's all. Therefore they are sādhu. Therefore they are sādhu. This is the symptom of sādhu. And so many people are criticizing. So many enemies we have got. We are not getting the sanction because there are so many enemies. We are creating "nuisance." We are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra---that is nuisance. This complaint is going to the police.

So that is very difficult. Therefore a sādhu is advised, titikṣavaḥ, tolerate. Tolerate all this nonsense. What can be done? We have no other alternative to tolerate. Nobody's coming to help us, our business is so thankless task. Because we are trying to create one temple, so many enemies, they are giving hindrance = "You cannot do it." Therefore titikṣava. You have to remain sādhu. You cannot become asādhu. You have to tolerate. What can be done? Titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ [SB 3.25.21]. At the same time, you have to become merciful. You know what has happened in this place, Hare Krishna Land. So much attack by the police, by the Municipality, "Break this temple." So we could have gone, that "What is the use of taking so much botheration? We have got hundreds of temples outside India. If Bombay people are not liking, let us go away." No. Kāruṇikāḥ. We have come to distribute Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We must tolerate and give this message to the people. Kāruṇikāḥ. Very merciful, in spite of all trouble. What is the use of...? These boys, these American boys, they have come to help me---not that they are hungry, they have come here. No. My mission is that "You American, your..., you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa so that India, people of India will see, 'Oh, Americans, they are also chanting. Why not ourselves? It is our property.' " But unfortunately, so much dull brain. But that is not coming. But still, we have to do it. We have to tolerate and we have to become kāruṇikāḥ.

Therefore it is said that para-duḥkha-duḥkhī. Kāruṇikāḥ. Why kāruṇikāḥ? Why you should, one, you want to be merciful? Now, para-duḥkha-duḥkhī. Kṛpāmbudhir yas tam ahaṁ prapadye [Cc. Madhya 6.254]. A Vaiṣṇava's business is para-duḥkha-duḥkhī. A Vaiṣṇava understands that "These people, they are engaged like cats and dogs in sense gratification. They are misguided, and they'll be, next life they'll be punished for this misguidance. Let us do something for them." This is kāruṇikāḥ. Karuṇā. Karuṇā... Out of mercy. There is no question of getting something, money. No. Money we have got sufficient. Just to become merciful upon these fallen, conditioned souls, who are suffering on account of becoming animalistic, without any Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore the preacher, the sādhu... These are the sādhu. Titikṣavaḥ, tolerant. "Never mind. Whatever hindrances and tribulations they are offering to us, never mind. Tolerate." Titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ suhṛdaḥ [SB 3.25.21]. Suhṛdaḥ means the heart is so nice. Su means nice, and hṛda means heart. They have no other desire. Suhṛdaḥ. Suhṛdaḥ means... Just like there are different words = mitra, suhṛdaḥ, bandhu... And Sanskrit is very perfect language. Suhṛdaḥ. Suhṛdaḥ means a person who is always thinking of welfare for others. He's called suhṛdaḥ. Otherwise kuhṛdaḥ. The ordinary person, they are thinking how to make him subdued, how to make him defeated in competition. That is the polluted heart. And the Vaiṣṇava, he's always thinking how a man can be saved from the clutches of māyā. He's called suhṛdaḥ. He has no other desire. Suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām. Not "For my brother or family," but sarva-dehinām, for all dehīs. All dehīs.

It is not that, that these human... Just like here---nationalism. What is this nationalism? Nationalism means to take care of the human being and send the cows and goats to the slaughterhouse. This is going on, "nationalism." What do you mean by national? Nation... The definition is any living being born in that land, he is a national. So the cow is not born? The tree is not born in this land? But because they are not Kṛṣṇa conscious, they cannot be kind to all the dehīs. Sarva-dehinām. Dehī means anyone who has got this body. So somebody has got body human being, somebody has got the cow's body, somebody has a dog's body, somebody has tree's body. So the Vaiṣṇava is so kind that suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām. He is kind not only to the human being = to the cats, dogs, to the trees, to the plants, to the insect. A Vaiṣṇava will hesitate to kill even one mosquito. Sarva-dehinām. Not that "I shall take care of my brother. I am good, and my brother is good." No. Suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām. These are the Vaiṣṇava qualification.

Titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām, ajāta-śatravaḥ [SB 3.25.21]. Because he is living in that way, why others will be enemy? Or, he does not create enemy. They become enemy out of their own character. We do not create enemy, but due to the demonic qualification... How we can create enemy? Kṛṣṇa says that sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja [Bg. 18.66]. We are simply teaching, "My dear human being, my dear friend, you become a surrendered soul to Kṛṣṇa." So what is our fault? So we don't create enemy, but they become enemy. We don't create enemy. Why shall I create enemy? Suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām. Why shall I create enemy? But they become, out of their own nature... Just like serpent. Nobody creates a serpent enemy, but he's already enemy. Sarpaḥ krūraḥ khalaḥ krūraḥ sarpāt krūrataraḥ khalaḥ. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says, "There are two crooked animals, or envious animals." What is that? One man, envious. Without any reason, he becomes envious. And there is one serpent, envious. Without any fault, it will bite, and your death. Sarpaḥ krūraḥ khalaḥ krūraḥ. Similarly, there are men---without any offense, they'll become enemy. Unnecessarily. So Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says, sarpaḥ krūraḥ khalaḥ krūraḥ. There are two envious entities. Sarpāt krūrataraḥ khalaḥ. The crooked man is more dangerous than the serpent. Why? Mantrauṣadhi sa-rupa[?] śaḥ sarpaḥ = sarpa, the serpent, can be subdued by mantra, by chanting, snake-chanting mantra, or by some herbs. Khalaḥ kena nivāryate: The man envious, it cannot be subdued. Therefore he's more dangerous than the serpent.

So we are in this society, human society. Because we are spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the krūraḥ, which is more dangerous than a snake, they are putting, putting so many impediments. But we have to tolerate. We have no other alternative. You see? Ajāta-śatravaḥ śāntāḥ. Be peaceful. What can be done? Depend on Kṛṣṇa. Sādhavaḥ. They are sādhu. They are sādhu. Sādhu-bhūṣaṇāḥ. These are the ornament of sādhu. What is that? Titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām [SB 3.25.21]. Sādhuṣu kṛtaḥ. But you must know what is sādhu. First, sādhu is that he must be devotee. And if he's devotee, then all the symptoms are there. All the symptoms are there. These are the symptoms. Now, don't go to a sādhu... Śāstra says that this is the sādhu. Now, you find out a sādhu and associate with him. Then your path of liberation will be open.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Haribol. [end]

Unsubscribe from lecture delivery

Srila Prabhupada speaks on: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.25.14

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.25.14

Bombay, Nov. 14, 1974

Audio for this lecture: https://prabhupadavani.org/transcriptions/741114sbbom/
Prabhupada Radio: https://prabhupadaradio.com

[loud sound of fireworks, firecrackers, etc., going on in background]

Nitāi: "O most pious mother, I shall now explain unto you the ancient yoga system which I explained formerly unto the great sages. It is serviceable and practical in every way."

Prabhupāda:

tam imaṁ te pravakṣyāmi
yam avocaṁ purānaghe
ṛṣīṇāṁ śrotu-kāmānāṁ
yogaṁ sarvāṅga-naipuṇam
[SB 3.25.14]

So Kapiladeva, previous verse He said that yoga ādhyātmikaḥ puṁsāṁ mato niḥśreyasāya me [SB 3.25.13]. The supreme yoga system is ādhyātmikaḥ, or pertaining to the soul. Just like in your country a...

[loud fireworks]

Nowadays the haṭha-yoga is very popular. Sometimes the fat ladies go there to reduce their fat, and... [laughter] Some bodily... Here also they practice yoga to keep the digestive system regular. So people like this kind of yoga, gymnastics. But real yoga is ādhyātmika. Ādhyātmika means to awaken the soul to his proper position. That is real yoga. So that is not a manufactured, novel concoction. That is purāṇa. As the soul is purāṇa, śāśvataḥ purāṇaḥ, similarly his business is also śāśvataḥ purāṇaḥ. That business is to reconnect his lost relationship with Kṛṣṇa.

So Kapiladeva says that "The same yoga system which I previously spoke to the great ṛṣis, who were very eager to hear..." Ṛṣīṇāṁ śrotu-kāmānām. This is one of the qualification for spiritual advancement = one must be eager to hear. Because the spiritual life begins by hearing.

ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi
na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ
sevonmukhe hi jihvādau
svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ
[Cc. Madhya 17.136]

This is the statement of śāstra, that with our these blunt material senses it is not possible to appreciate or to understand śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi---Kṛṣṇa, His name, His form, His quality, His pastimes, His paraphernalia, His abode, so many things. Kṛṣṇa is not alone, but Kṛṣṇa begins from the name. Then there is form. Generally, for the beginners, neophytes, these two things are essential = to hear the name, to hear the qualities, and see the form of the Lord, to offer worship. That is the instruction of Kṛṣṇa personally. Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru [Bg. 18.65].

So here Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa is present. Even a child comes and offers his respect, it is taken into account, that "Here is a devotee." He does not know anything. Simply by seeing the chanting and dancing---you'll see practically---even a small child, he dances, he claps, he enjoys. He takes part. So the temple means to give chance to everyone, even to the child, to advance one step to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. One step. Svalpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt [Bg. 2.40]. Even little is accepted and is done, it becomes into account. Just like if you deposit even two annas in the bank, it is kept on your account. It will increase with interest. Similarly, devotional service even done very little, it is not lost. It is not lost. In the śāstra it is said that even it is lost... Not lost. Suppose some reason a man comes and joins this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, and in the middle he falls down; he does not make further progress because he falls down. But whatever he has done, that is permanent credit. That will never be lost. Even he stops, then from that point, again he will begin as soon as there will be chance. But whatever he has done, that is a permanent credit. That is the instruction of śāstra.

Therefore it is said in the Bhagavad-gītā, śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe yoga-bhraṣṭo sañjayate [Bg. 6.41]. Yoga-bhraṣṭaḥ. Bhraṣṭa means he was executing devotional service, but some way or other, being allured by māyā or some..., some other causes, even if he falls down, so that credit is there. Therefore he has to begin next life... He is given chance next life. What is that? Śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe. He takes birth in two families. What is that? Śucīnām. Śucīnām means brāhmaṇa, śuci. Śuci means brāhmaṇa: always clean and pure. Therefore they are called śuci. And muci. Muci means cobbler, just the end. That is the lowest, and this is the highest, śuci and muci. There is a Bengali poetry = śuci haya muci haya yadi kṛṣṇa tyaje, muci haya śuci haya yadi kṛṣṇa bhaje. If somebody takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, even born in the family of cobbler, muci, he becomes śuci. He becomes more than a brāhmaṇa. And muci haya śuci haya. If one is born in the family of a brāhmaṇa, but he... [loud sounds of fireworks] ...but if he gives up Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then he becomes a muci.

So a devotee, whoever he may be, everyone, for everyone, the path of devotion is open. Māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ [Bg. 9.32]. Kṛṣṇa says personally. It doesn't matter, pāpa-yoni, low-grade family, pāpa-yonayaḥ, if he takes shelter of Kṛṣṇa... Striyo vaiśyās tathā śūdrās te 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim. And Śukadeva Gosvāmī says, kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā ābhīra-śumbhā yavanāḥ khasādayaḥ ye 'nye ca pāpā, ye anye ca pāpā yad-apāśrayāśrayāḥ śudhyanti [SB 2.4.18]. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is so nice. It is all-embracing. There are many... Tyaktvā sva-dharmaṁ caraṇāmbujaṁ hareḥ [SB 1.5.17], patet tato yadi, bhajann apakvo 'tha. Tyaktvā sva-dharmam. Sva-dharmam means everyone has got his occupational duty, sva-dharma. Generally, we consider brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra. They have got their sva-dharma. Brāhmaṇa has got his duties, kṣatriya has got his duty. Cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā-sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ [Bg. 4.13]. So sva-dharma means... Suppose one gives up his occupational duty and takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, tyaktvā sva-dharmaṁ caraṇāmbujaṁ hareḥ, and takes to the shelter of Kṛṣṇa, but bhajann apakvaḥ, could not mature his devotional service, bhajann apakvo 'tha patet tato yadi, and he falls down... This is Nārada's statement. So he says, "What is the loss even if he falls down? By sentiment he comes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and even if he falls down, still, where is the loss? And contrary to this, a man who is performing very perfectly his sva-dharma but has no Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then what is the gain?" There is no gain.

So that yoga system, ādhyātmika, is being explained by Kapiladeva, that you'll never fall down. Permanent, fixed-up position. Once begun, it will continue. Even if you fall down, then you are given chance again. What is that? Śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe yoga-bhraṣṭo sañjayate [Bg. 6.41]. Very nice family, brāhmaṇa family. Brāhmaṇa family means Vaiṣṇava family. Brāhmaṇa-vaiṣṇava, brāhmaṇa-paṇḍita. Brāhmaṇa means he must be learned and he must be a Vaiṣṇava. Oṁ tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padaṁ sadā paśyanti sūrayaḥ [Ṛg Veda 1.22.20]. Viṣṇu. Therefore in every brāhmaṇa house there is viṣṇu-pūjā, Viṣṇu-śālagrāma. Still. From descent, I mean to say, generation, it is coming down. Brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, they are supposed to worship Lord Viṣṇu. Not only brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra... Śūdra also. Varṇāśramācāravatā puruṣeṇa paraḥ pumān viṣṇur ārādhyate [Cc. Madhya 8.58]. This is statement of Viṣṇu Purāṇa. Varṇāśrama, the execution of duty in the institution of varṇa and āśrama, four varṇas and four āśramas, what is the meaning? The meaning is viṣṇur ārādhyate: Viṣṇu becomes very pleased. That is varṇāśrama-dharma.

If you execute as a pakkā brāhmaṇa, that means Viṣṇu will be pleased. If you execute your duties as a perfect kṣatriya, then Viṣṇu will be pleased. If you execute your duty as a perfect vaiśya, then Viṣṇu will be pleased. And if you execute your duties as a perfect śūdra, Viṣṇu will be pleased. The purpose is to please Viṣṇu. Therefore, na te viduḥ... The purpose they do not know. They have forgotten. Not now. This is the nature of this material world = na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi..., to please Viṣṇu. Viṣṇu means Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa means Viṣṇu. Viṣṇu is expansion of Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa has millions of forms---as Viṣṇu, Nārāyaṇa and other also. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam [Bs. 5.33]. Ananta-rūpam. Ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca. So viṣṇur ārādhyate puṁsāṁ nānyat tat-toṣa-kāraṇam. There is no other alternative to please Him. Therefore varṇāśrama-dharma is very important. That is the beginning of perfect human civilization.

But we have lost everything. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu... He's also Viṣṇu, Kṛṣṇa Himself. Just to give relief to these rotten or forgotten conditioned souls of this age, Kali-yuga, He has given this one mantra, which is called mahā-mantra. What is that?

harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā
[Cc. Ādi 17.21]

It is no longer possible to revive the perfect system, varṇāśrama. Although we are trying to revive, it is not possible. It is very difficult. People are so fallen. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ [SB 1.1.10]. They are so disturbed, manda-bhāgyāḥ, unfortunate, and upadrutāḥ, always disturbed. Especially anāvṛṣṭi, durbhikṣa and kara-pīḍita. The people of Kali-yuga will be very much, I mean to say, harassed by these three things. There will be no rainfall, and... There will be no rainfall, and there, food scarcity and taxation by government, income tax. Income tax is to plunder. If you have got some money, this is the means. So this is all stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. People will be so much harassed that ācchinna-dāra-draviṇā gacchanti giri-kānanam [SB 12.2.8]. They'll be disgusted so much, they will give up their family all of a sudden. Dāra-draviṇāḥ. Dāra means wife, children and bank balance, everything, "Let them go to..." Recently we have seen one big industrialist, he has committed suicide. So people will do that, they'll be so much harassed. This is Kali-yuga.

So in this position of harassment, how the peaceful varṇāśrama can be revived? It is very difficult. It is almost impossible. Therefore this system should be taken. What is this system? Saṅkīrtanair yajñair yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ. Those who have got brain, they will worship Viṣṇu. Yajña means to satisfy Viṣṇu. Yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyaiḥ. Viṣṇur ārādhyate puṁsāṁ nānyat tat-toṣa... The whole aim is to satisfy Viṣṇu. Therefore Viṣṇu comes Himself = Kṛṣṇa. Viṣṇu comes Himself as Caitanya Mahāprabhu and teaches. There is no difference between Viṣṇu's teachings... Other, bogus teacher, they can teach something else, but Viṣṇu's teachings... Just like Kṛṣṇa. Whatever Kṛṣṇa... Of course, Kṛṣṇa incarnation was after Kapila's incarnation. Before that, there were other Viṣṇu incarnation. So here it is said, tam imaṁ te pravakṣyāmi yam avocaṁ purā anaghe. Purā, "Formerly. I am not manufacturing." Nowadays it has become a fashion to manufacture a new system of religion. It is not that. It is not new. Old, purā. Kṛṣṇa also says that,

imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ
proktavān aham avyayam
vivasvān manave prāha
manur ikṣvākave 'bravīt
[Bg. 4.1]

evaṁ paramparā-prāptam
imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ
[Bg. 4.2]

"And I am speaking that very yoga system again to you."

So this is real incarnation. They'll not say anything which is..., which was not spoken before. The same thing = yogo naṣṭaḥ parantapa. "That yoga has been lost. Therefore, My dear Arjuna, I am repeating the same yoga system unto you." "Why to me? Why not to others?" Bhakto 'si: "Because you are My dear friend." Priyo 'si [Bg. 4.3] = "You are My dear friend." Because, without being bhakta, nobody will understand Bhagavad-gītā. It is not possible. Bhagavad-gītā means to understand Kṛṣṇa. So although everything is explained there, but it is on the bhakti line, not in any other line. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says at the end, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti [Bg. 18.55]. If anyone wants to understand Kṛṣṇa and wants relationship with Kṛṣṇa, then one must take to this process of bhakti-yoga. That is sāṅkhya-yoga. That will be explained by Kapiladeva. Bhakti-yoga means sāṅkhya-yoga.

So here it is said, tam imaṁ te pravakṣyāmi yam avocaṁ purā anaghe. And He is addressing mother, anaghe. Anagha means "one who has no sinful reaction in life." That is called anagha. Agha means pāpa, sin; and ana, ana means without. Therefore nobody can understand Kṛṣṇa consciousness unless he is free from all sinful life.

yeṣāṁ tv anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ
janānāṁ puṇya-karmaṇām
te dvandva-moha-nirmuktā
bhajante māṁ dṛḍha-vratāḥ
[Bg. 7.28]

One can stick to Kṛṣṇa consciousness when one is completely free from all sinful reaction of life. So you may say that "It will take some time. If I have to get free from sinful reaction, then I'll have to take some time." Kṛṣṇa says, "No, no time. Immediately."

sarva-dharmān parityajya
mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo
mokṣayiṣyāmi...
[Bg. 18.66]

"I will immediately do that. You just do this business. Surrender unto Me, and I take guarantee." Then your life begins.

Sarva-pāpa-vinirmuktam..., sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam [Cc. Madhya 19.170]. Upādhi means pāpa. Upādhi... If we get different bodies, that is due to our sinful actions. If I am given the chance to execute as a human being, this human form of body... Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante [Bg. 7.19]. We have got this body after many, many evolutionary process. So this is a chance given to we. Hari hari biphale. Therefore Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura is singing, hari hari biphale janama goṅāinu: "My dear Lord, Kṛṣṇa, I have wasted my time for nothing, uselessly." Why? Manuṣya-janama pāiyā, rādhā-kṛṣṇa nā bhajiyā, jāniyā śuniyā viṣa khāinu: "Because I got this opportunity, the human form of life... It was meant for understanding Kṛṣṇa." Or add Kṛṣṇa with Rādhārāṇī. That is perfect Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa alone is Vāsudeva, and Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa is perfect, with all potencies. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate [Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8, Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport]. The Absolute Truth with potencies. Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is the source of all potencies. Rādhā kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir hlādinī śaktiḥ [Cc. Ādi 1.5]. The Rādhārāṇī is the manifestation of Kṛṣṇa's pleasure potency. Kṛṣṇa, when He wants to enjoy, He does not enjoy anything material. He expands His energy, potency. That is Rādhārāṇī. Hlādinī śaktir asmād ekātmānāv api bhuvi purā deha-bhedaṁ gatau tau [Cc. Ādi 1.5]. So these are the... So if we want... That is the... Human life is meant for that. As Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, manuṣya-janama pāiyā rādhā-kṛṣṇa nā bhajiyā jāniyā śuniyā viṣa khāinu: "My dear Lord, I have simply wasted my time, although I got the opportunity of this human form of life." Why you have wasted? "Now, I have done everything without worshiping Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa." That's all.

So what is this...? Now... Jāniyā śuniyā viṣa khāinu. It is just like taking poison knowingly. Somebody takes poison unknowingly and somebody takes poison to commit suicide, knowingly. So it is something like that. If we do not understand Kṛṣṇa in this life, then we are taking poison knowingly. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, yadā yadā hi... Because they are taking poison. They got the chance of eternal life, but they are taking poison. Viṣaya-viṣānale, dibā-niśi hiyā jvale. This material life is just like blazing fire of poison. Viṣaya-viṣānale. Viṣaya means material. Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithuna. Eating, sleeping and sex life and defense---these are the material activities. So we are engaged with these things. So viṣaya-viṣānale, dibā-niśi hiyā jvale. And if we become engaged with these four things, viṣaya, it is like poison. Then our heart will be always burning. Gastric ulcer.

So it has to be cured. How it can be cured? Now, golokera prema-dhana, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, rati nā janmilo kene tāy: "My dear Lord, You have given the medicine, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, but I have no attraction for this." So this is the realization of the Vaiṣṇava. Brajendra-nandana jei, śaci-suta hailo sei: "Vrajendra-nandana, Kṛṣṇa, He has now come as Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Śacī-suta, the son of mother Śacī." Balarāma hailo nitāi: "And Balarāma has become Nitāi." So what is their business now? Now, pāpī tāpī jata chilo, hari-nāme uddhārilo: "All kinds of varieties of sinful men, simply by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, they are delivered." Tāra sākṣī jagāi and mādhāi. What is the evidence? Evidence is Jagāi-Mādhāi. So at the present moment, not only one Jagāi-Mādhāi, but thousands of Jagāi-Mādhāi, by the grace of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, are being delivered. It is so active medicine, this Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra.

Therefore the perfect yoga system... Svalpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt [Bg. 2.40]. So He'll speak that. Tam imaṁ te pravakṣyāmi. So it is not newly manufactured. We don't concoct anything. That is not our business. Our business is very simple. Our business is very simple because we take the words of Kṛṣṇa as it is. That's all. Kṛṣṇa says, satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ [Bg. 9.14]. So we are simply... We don't want to be very learned. We simply want blessings of you all, that let us become so much learned that we can follow the instruction of Kṛṣṇa. That's all. We don't want anything more. We don't want. Therefore we're sticking to Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement on the basis of Bhagavad-gītā. And a little farther advanced, by reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. These are kṛṣṇa-kathā. And as I have told you, the Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that "Every one of you, especially Indians..." Indians? They are imitating this material civilization. Horrible. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu has given us open way:

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

This is Indians' business, para-upakāra. The whole world is in darkness without Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Every Indian should first of all make his life successful by understanding Kṛṣṇa consciousness, Bhagavad-gītā, and preach it all over the world. That is the Indian business.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda. [end]

Unsubscribe from lecture delivery