गुरुवार, 31 अक्टूबर 2024

Srimad-Bhagavatam: The Deliverance of King Nṛga

Srimad-Bhagavatam: The Deliverance of King Nṛga

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Srila Prabhupada speaks on: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.1.23

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.1.23

Honolulu, May 23, 1976
Hari-śauri: [Announces] Honolulu May the 23rd.
Prabhupāda: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Six, Chapter One, verse number 23. [leads devotees in chanting]
evaṁ nivasatas tasya
lālayānasya tat-sutān
kālo 'tyagān mahān rājann
aṣṭāśītyāyuṣaḥ samāḥ
[SB 6.1.23]
[02:19]
So in this way the Ajāmila, he practiced this unfair way of livelihood. Bandy-akṣaiḥ kaitavaiś cauryair garhitāṁ vṛttim āsthitaḥ [SB 6.1.22]. So vṛtti means livelihood. If one adopts abominable livelihood, there is no, I mean to say, hope of spiritual advancement. Finished, because... We have learned from Bhagavad-gītā. Arjuna says Kṛṣṇa, paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān [Bg. 10.12] = "Kṛṣṇa, You are the Supreme Brahman," param dhāma, "the supreme resort of everything, and" pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān, "and the supreme pure." So nobody can approach Kṛṣṇa if he's impure. That is not possible. In the Bhagavad-gītā still it is said, yeṣāṁ tu anta-gataṁ pāpam: "One who is free from all contamination of sinful activities," yeṣāṁ anta-gataṁ pāpam janānām puṇya-karmaṇām, "simply engaged in pious activities only," te, "such persons," dvanda-moha-nirmukta, "without any doubt and duality," bhajante māṁ dṛḍha-vratāḥ, "with fixed-up mind, he can become Kṛṣṇa conscious."
So this Ajāmila, he learned all this nonsense, abominable way of livelihood. And therefore his example is given, how he was downtrodden and fallen. Still, by the grace of Nārāyaṇa, how he was elevated, that is the itihāsa, history, which is..., Sūta Gosvāmī is citing, how Kṛṣṇa consciousness is powerful. That is the motive of narrating Ajāmila ūḍha, delivering Ajāmila. So here it is said, evaṁ nivasatas tasya lālayānasya tat-sutān. Everyone is tat-sutān, his children. Even one big economic, economist professor, Professor Marshall, he says... I was student of economics, the Marshall book. He says that economic development begins out of family affection. Family affection. That is the basis. That was his understanding, that nobody would work for livelihood unless he is attached in family. That is his proposition. So here he was attached to the family. Lālayānasya tat-sutān. Ataḥ gṛha-kṣetra sutāpta vittaiḥ [SB 5.5.8]. Material bondage is that family affection. It is not that one has to give up this procedure. No, that is not. The Vedic civilization is so nice that you accept the platform which is suitable for you = brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsa. The spiritual... These are called āśrama. Āśrama means where spiritual culture is practiced. That is called āśrama. Perhaps you know this āśrama word. Āśrama means... It is not a place for sense gratification; it is a place for advancing in Kṛṣṇa conscious. That is āśrama.
So there are four āśramas for your spiritual cultivation = brahmacārī, gṛhastha... Gṛhastha is also āśrama, family. That is also āśrama. If the gṛhastha life is meant for cultivating Kṛṣṇa consciousness, it is all right. This is āśrama. Gṛhastha āśrama, then retired life, vānaprastha. Although gṛhastha āśrama is allowed, but not for all the time, that up to the death. No. That is not allowed. After fiftieth year... Twenty-five years to fiftieth year the young man's spirit is there, the sex power is strong, so the gṛhastha-āśrama is a concession for satisfying sex, that's all. But not more than fifty years. Then you must give up. That is the Vedic civilization. You accept gṛhastha āśrama. Up to twenty-fifth year you remain a brahmacārī, learn from guru how to become brahmacārī, gurukula. Brahmacārī gurukule vasan dānta, how to practice self-control, sense control. A brahmacārī is forbidden to see even young girl. Even the spiritual master's wife is young... Sometimes spiritual master is considered as mother. Ādau mātā guru-patnī. There are seven mothers. So real mother, ādau mātā. Guru-patnī, the spiritual master's wife, she is also mother. Ādau mātā guru-patnī brāhmaṇī. The wife of a brāhmaṇa is mother. Actually every woman is mother. That is moral instruction. Mātṛvat para-dāreṣu. Anyone, any woman who is not your wife... Except your wife, every woman is to be considered as mother. This is education.
The nutshell of education is defined by Cāṇakya Paṇḍita, that "Who is paṇḍita, learned?" So he does not say that one who has passed M.A., Ph.D., D.A.C. No. He doesn't say that. He says, "Any person who has learned to see like this." What is that? Mātṛvat para-dāreṣu: "Everyone's wife should be considered..." Para-dāra. Para means others' wife. Mātṛvat, mother. Therefore the Vedic system is, when we address another woman, "Mother," no other address. "Mother, can I do this? Would you like this?" The address should be "Mother." Practice. This is practice, the brahmacārī's practice. He goes to every householder's wife = "Mother, give me some..." Just like this child. If he is taught from the very beginning of his life that "Address all women as mother...," that training. And intermingling with anyone, then it is a different training. That is brahmacārī. So brahmacārī is taught that how he should behave in society, what is the aim of life. That is brahmacārī. Mātṛvat para-dāreṣu.
Para-dravyeṣu loṣṭravat. And other's property? Just like garbage. Nobody goes, but I have seen. Nowadays garbage is also tackled. I have seen in Hong Kong, one woman is finding out something valuable from the garbage. This is Kali-yuga. It is untouchable, but still, people are trying to get something from the garbage, so downtrodden, this Kali-yuga. So mātṛvat para-dāreṣu para-dravyeṣu loṣṭravat, ātmavat sarva-bhūteṣu: "All other living entities think like yourself." That means your pains and pleasure, as you feel, you should take up others' pains and pleasure, not that you protect yourself from all danger and you cut the throat of the poor animals on the plea that it has no soul. This is not education. This is education, that whether the animal has soul or not soul, we shall consider later on. But when knife is on my throat I cry, and he also cries. Why shall I say that "It has no soul, and let me kill it"? So that means he does not know how to see other living entities like himself. Buddha philosophy is based on this, that "Whatever you feel, pain, you should not inflict to others." This is education. Mātṛvat para-dāreṣu para-dravyeṣu loṣṭravat ātmavat.
So this is moral education, and in the śāstra it is also said that there are seven mothers.
ādau mātā guru-patnī
brāhmaṇī rāja-patnikā
dhenur dhātrī tathā pṛthvī
sapteti mātarī smṛta
Real mother and guru-patnī, the wife of spiritual master or teacher... Ādau mātā guru-patnī, brāhmaṇī, the wife of a brāhmaṇa. And rāja-patnikā, the queen, she is also mother, rāja... Dhenu, cow. Dhenur dhātrī, nurse. Dhenur dhātrī tathā pṛthvī, as well as the earth. Earth is mother because they are giving us so many things---fruit, flowers, grains for our eating. Mother gives for eating. Cow gives us milk. This is sense.
But if one becomes addicted to prostitute-hunting then he will be fallen. That is the example. Then he'll become thief, rascal, cheater, drunkard and so on, so on, so on. Why? Now, only for maintaining the family. The family maintenance... The cats and dogs, they also do; the birds also do. But they do not do anything unnatural. A bird maintains his children, brings some fruit or something in the mouth and puts into the mouth of the small kiddies. So that is natural. But why one should take unfair means for maintaining family? This is culture. This is culture. So, but nowadays they have manufactured = "Necessity has no law. I require money, so somehow or other I must have it. Let me adopt this means, that means." No.
So evaṁ nivasatas tasya lālayānasya. The lālayānasya tat-sutān. So without understanding what is the duty of human being, because he is fallen, so we should not bother for maintaining our family and children till the time of death. No. Up to twenty-five years. A brahmacārī is trained to refrain from sex life. That is brahmacārī, celibacy. But if he is still not able, then he is allowed to accept gṛhastha life. There is no cheating, hypocrisy, that I proclaim myself as brahmacārī or sannyāsī, and I secretly do all nonsense. This is hypocrisy. The hypocrisy life will not make one advance in spiritual life. That is the example given by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. His personal associate you know, Choṭa Haridāsa, Junior Haridāsa. He was very nice singer, so he was singing in the assembly of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. And one day he went to beg some rice from Śikhi Mahiti's sister, and there was a young woman, and he lustfully saw there. That is sometimes natural. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu understand that. Just to teach us, while He was eating, He said, "Who brought this rice?" "Choṭa Haridāsa." "So ask him not to see Me anymore. Finish." Everyone was surprised = "What happened?" Then by inquiry it was found that he lustfully saw one young woman. So just... Caitanya Mahāprabhu is so strict that He rejected him from His associates. Then other big, big devotees requested him that "He has committed some mistake, and please excuse him. He is Your servant." So Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, "All right, then you bring him back. You live with him. I am leaving this place. I am leaving this place." They said, "No, sir, we shall not raise this question anymore."
So when this Choṭa Haridāsa found it impossible to again go into the assembly of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, he found it hopelessness. Then he went to Triveṇī and committed suicide. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu knows everything. Then, sometimes after, He inquired, "What about Choṭa Haridāsa?" Somebody said, "Sir, You rejected him. Out of disappointment, he has committed suicide in the..." "Oh, that's nice." Just see how strict. "That's nice." He never expect[?] any..., any sympathy = "Oh, I rejected this person and he has committed suicide? Oh." No. He said, "Oh, that's nice. That's all right." He said like that. This is one thing.
Another thing = Śivānanda, one of His very exalted devotee, he was taking care of all devotees who were coming to Caitanya Mahāprabhu to visit during Ratha-yātrā. So his wife came and offered Caitanya Mahāprabhu obeisances, and he saw that the wife is pregnant. So immediately asked, "Śivānanda, your wife is pregnant?" "Yes". "All right, when she gives birth to a child, you keep his name like that." Now see. One man, simply he saw with lusty desire to a young man [woman]; he was rejected. And one man has his wife pregnant; He adored him = "That's all right." So sex life is not forbidden in this movement, but hypocrisy is forbidden. If you become hypocrite, then there is nowhere to... That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's teaching. Choṭa Haridāsa, he presented himself as a brahmacārī and he was looking after a young woman. Then He understood, "He is a hypocrite. Reject him." And Śivānanda Sena, he was gṛhastha. Gṛhastha must have children. What is wrong there? He said, "Yes, my remnants of foodstuff should be given." This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's movement.
So our request is, don't be hypocrite. There are four āśramas = brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsa. Whichever āśrama is suitable for you, you accept. But sincere. Don't be hypocrite. If you think that you want sex, all right, you marry and remain like a gentleman. Don't be hypocrite. This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's movement. He did not like hypocrisy. Nobody likes. But for a person who is seriously engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, for him sex life and material opulence is not very good. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's opinion. Pāraṁ paraṁ jigamiṣor bhava..., niṣkiñcanasya bhajanonmukhasya, pāraṁ param... Therefore voluntarily Caitanya Mahāprabhu accepted sannyāsa. He was very nicely situated in His family life. When He was family man, He married twice. One wife died; He married again. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu taught us not to become... But when He took sannyāsa, He was very, very strict. No woman could come very near to Him. From distance. This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's teaching.
So you have to follow strictly the rules and regulation. If you are serious, then this is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's movement.
niṣkiñcanasya bhagavad-bhajanonmukhasya
pāraṁ paraṁ jigamiṣor bhava-sāgarasya
viṣayināṁ sandarśanam atha yoṣitāṁ ca
ha hanta hanta viṣa-bhakṣanato 'py asādhu
[Cc. Madhya 11.8]
Those who are determined that "In this life we shall finish this material way of life, or material..." That is real struggle for existence. Actually, everyone is trying. Material life means it is full of distress, duḥkhālayam. Kṛṣṇa says. So, so long you'll prolong this material way of life, that is called struggle for existence. The "struggle for existence" and "survival of the fittest," this word is very common, but nobody knows what is that struggle for existence and what is the platform of becoming fittest. Nobody knows. It is we are preaching that "If you remain in this material world, then struggle for existence will continue." And fittest means one who has come to the spiritual platform, he is fittest to survive. What is survival? Who is going to survive? Do you mean to say by cultivating health culture, very strong, you'll survive? Nobody will survive. So who will survive? Only Kṛṣṇa conscious. If he is strictly Kṛṣṇa conscious, then he will survive. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti [Bg. 4.9]. The Kṛṣṇa conscious person who has studied Kṛṣṇa only, nothing more, perfectly, then he is fit. This body also, this body is not permanent. That's a fact. But tyaktvā deham, after giving up this body, no more material body; spiritual body, sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ [Bs. 5.1].
So we should be very serious. We should not fall down from the standard of Vedic culture. If you are actually serious about stopping this... Manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati [Bg. 15.7]. This is struggle for existence. In this material world everyone is struggling to survive. But who is surviving? That way, materialistic way of life, will not help you to survive. That is... Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni [Bg. 3.27]. Nature is so strong that you must die. "I am very strong." You may be very strong, that's all right, but you must. There is a, I mean to say, joking story that one man thought, "How to avoid death?" Just like Hiraṇyakaśipu. So he thought that "Yamarāja is the superintendent of death. He comes to take, so I shall make such policy that he may not come to me." What is that policy? "So bring some stool. I shall smear over my body, and out of bad smell, he'll not come." [laughter] So he began to smear stool on his body at the time of death. So this is going on. They are making body very stout and strong so they'll survive. Nobody will survive, sir, unless he is Kṛṣṇa conscious.
Thank you very much.
Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. [end]
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बुधवार, 30 अक्टूबर 2024

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Lord Kṛṣṇa Fights with Bāṇāsura

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Lord Kṛṣṇa Fights with Bāṇāsura

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Srila Prabhupada speaks on: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.1.23

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.1.23

Chicago, July 7, 1975
Nitāi: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [devotees repeat] Sixth Canto, First Chapter, verse number 23. [leads chanting of verse, etc.]
evaṁ nivasatas tasya
lālayānasya tat-sutān
kālo 'tyagān mahān rājann
aṣṭāśītyāyuṣaḥ samāḥ
[SB 6.1.23]
[02:33]
"My dear King, Ajāmila, while maintaining his large family of many sons by abominable activities, passed eighty-eight years of his life."
Prabhupāda:
evaṁ nivasatas tasya
lālayānasya tat-sutān
kālo 'tyagān mahān rājann
aṣṭāśītyāyuṣaḥ samāḥ
[SB 6.1.23]
So his living condition was cheating and stealing and forcing others to snatch away some money. This was his living condition. So he was thinking, "I am very happy. I am begetting children," lālayānasya tat-sutān. Every year, one children, and getting money by cheating others, and living very peacefully. But the time factor was waiting, according to one's duration of life. So when aṣṭāśīti, eighty-eight years reached, his death was imminent. Kāla. Kāla means death. So he did not know that time and tide waits for no man. When time will come, death, then all this my paraphernalia will be taken away. I am very proud of my wealth, prestigious position, family, society. Everything is all right. But what about your death? Do you think that any day death will come and it will take everything, what you possess?
In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that mṛtyuḥ aham sarva-haraś [Bg. 10.34]. We are accumulating so many things---big, big buildings, big, big estate, big, big bank balance, big, big family. That's all right, but what is the guarantee that we will be able to enjoy this? That they are not thinking. And it is a fact that death may come at any moment, especially nowadays. So you... There is no guarantee. Even in your ordinary life you are going by the car, there may be accident. "Maybe" not; they are taking place. So many people are dying. He does not expect that "I am going to office. I shall be killed." In aeroplane crash... So there is no guarantee. Any moment we can die. But we are not thinking, because they have made this theory, "There is no life after death. So enjoy. Enjoy life as far as possible." But that is not the fact. After death we will have to accept another body. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ [Bg. 2.13]. But they try to forget it. And the argument they put forward, that "Even I get one body next life, I shall forget this life. So what is the wrong? Let us enjoy." This is called life of ignorance, passion. But this is not the proper life.
So yesterday we discussed the different grades of life = first class, second class, third class, fourth class, fifth class, sixth class. So this kind of life, without any responsibility, and carried away by the waves of time, is the tenth-class life. This is tenth-class life, ignorance. So Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, he sings one song, miche māyār bośe, jāccho bhese', khāccho hābuḍubu bhāi: "By the waves of māyā you are being carried away, and hābuḍubu, sometimes being drowned within the, under the water, and sometimes rising, floating on the water." This is our life, material life. We are being carried away by the waves of nature. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ [Bg. 3.27]. And sometimes... Just like in the waves of water you will find many straws and vegetables and leaves, they gather together. You will find. And again, by another toss, they are separated. One straw goes this way, another straw, leaf, goes this way, no combination. Similarly we are gathering together = society, friendship, love, community, society, and so on, so on, nationality, family, sons, daughters, wife. The same thing = the waves of water gathering together the straws, leaves and other, and another wave, finished. All society, friendship, love, children, wife, everything, national---finished. This is going on. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate [Bg. 8.19].
In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, bhūtvā. Bhūtvā means taking shape in some particular type of body. The living soul is there within this body, but the outward dress... Just like we are sitting, so many persons---we have got different dresses---similarly, all these 8,400,000's different forms of life, they are coming into existence and again changing. This is called material world. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate [Bg. 8.19]. But we are hearing from authorities like Lord Kṛṣṇa. He says, na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit: "My dear Arjuna, a living entity does not take birth. There is no birth, death, old age, disease of the spirit soul." Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācin nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre [Bg. 2.20]. That is understanding, that we, ahaṁ brahmāsmi, we, all of us, we are particle of Brahman; therefore we are eternal. There is no birth, death, old age and disease. So actually, we do not like to die. Why? Because I am eternal, you are eternal, so I want to live forever. But we are put under certain condition of this material world that we have to die.
Die means in this body we are creating some situation for the next life, and in order to accept... Just like one person---especially this Ajāmila upākhyāna---his ways of life was not ordinary; most abominable. So abominable, good or bad, in this life we are creating some situation so that we will get next life another body. Therefore there is death. That is material world. And as soon as there is death, there is birth. Death means we enter into the womb of a mother for, say, ten months. That ten months is considered as death. Not ten months, because the child within the womb of the mother returns his consciousness when the child is seven months old. This is human body. At that time he feels inconvenience within the womb of mother. Before that, he is unconscious, sleeping. Now, when the body grows within the mother's womb and it is seven months, then he returns consciousness. He feels inconvenient. And he is very eager to come out. Those who are advanced, they pray to God, "My Lord, somehow or other get me release from this condition. This life I shall devote for rendering You service so that I may be free from this condition." So similarly, at ten months, ten days, he comes out and..., but forgets. Svajanera kole. Many relatives, mother, father, takes care, and he forgets that "I promised I shall become Kṛṣṇa conscious this time." But on account of illusory energy, he thought that "I am very comfortably situated. My father is taking care. My mother is taking care. My relatives are taking care. So very happy life." This is called forgetfulness.
So Śukadeva Gosvāmī, therefore, he remained within the womb of his mother for sixteen years. And as soon as he got out from the mother's womb, immediately he left home. You will read in Bhāgavatam. So father was going after. After all, father, that this boy, going out, "My dear son, come back. Where you are going? Where you are going?" He didn't care. He didn't care. He went away. There are persons like that. They don't want to be attached to this material affection. Māyāra vaibhava [Vidyāra Vilāse 3]. These are expansion of the illusory energy. That is sense. That is first-class understanding. Actually, there is no need of this material world. Just like somebody says that "If all the prisoners are become free, how the prison house will go on?" And is it a very good proposal? The prison house, as soon as it is stopped, as soon as it is closed, that is good for the society. Why there should be prison house at all? But they want to maintain the prison house, and very anxious, "If people all are set free, then who will fill up this prison house?" They question that, that "If all people go to back to home, back to Godhead, then how this world will go on?" [laughter] That is their anxiety. But we say the sooner you close this business and all of you go back to home, back to Godhead, then everything is very nice.
Devotees: Jaya! Jaya, Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: So kāla, as it is said. Kālaḥ atyagāt mahān. Mahān means very powerful, great. You may be very big scientist and very powerful politician, don't care for anything, but you cannot conquer over the mahān, the great, powerful time. Oh, that is not possible. You are independent. You don't care for God. But God will come. You will see. Kālo 'smi. When Kṛṣṇa showed the gigantic form, virāḍ-mūrti, so Arjuna enquired, "Who are You, Sir?" Because he was dealing with Kṛṣṇa as friend, but after seeing the virāḍ-rūpa, the gigantic universal form, so he enquired, "Who are You, Sir?" He replied, kālo 'smi: "I am kāla, kāla. I have appeared to take away all these sinful demons." So Kṛṣṇa appears still in form of war, big gigantic war, and takes away so many millions of people by one stroke. This is going on. So we should have sense that "We hear from the śāstras that we are eternal. Why we are subjugated to these laws of nature, kāla? I do not wish to die, I do not wish to suffer, I do not wish to be old man, I do not wish to be diseased, and these things are forced upon me. I have to accept, and still, I am so fool, I am thinking I am independent." Just see. This is called foolishness, rascaldom.
So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is trying to remove this rascaldom, foolishness. That is the purpose of this movement, that "Sir, you are not independent. You are completely under the grip of material nature, and after death, your all independence finished. You are under the control of material nature, and you have to accept, a type of body will be forced upon you." Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur deha upapattaye [SB 3.31.1]. So how the next body is formed? Karmaṇā, by your activities. You are forming your next body. You are responsible for your next body. Therefore you should not become a tenth-class man like Ajāmila.
Of course, Ajāmila is better than anyone. That will come. But we are creating this tenth class... No. Everyone has the chance to become first-class man and come to the understanding, the value of life, and mold our life so that we can, next life, we can get better chance. The so-called Darwin's evolutionary theory... Some way or other, he brings to the human body, but he has not discussed what is after human body. He has avoided. But after this, that depends on your work. Because your consciousness is developed than the animal, than the cats and dogs, and the śāstra is giving you information how you can get the other body, next body. In the Bhagavad-gītā you will find,
yānti deva-vratā devān
pitṝn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ
bhūtejyā yānti bhūtāni
mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām
[Bg. 9.25]
Now make your choice. There are different planets. These rascals say that only living entities are in this planet, and all planets are vacant. Just see their scientific knowledge. What the other planets have done? It is made of the same ingredient, five elements, earth, water, air, fire, and we find innumerable living entities within this planet, and why other planets made of the same ingredient and there is vacant? Why? This is not scientific knowledge. The other planets are also filled up with living entities, even in the sun planet. We cannot think, "The sun planet is made of fire. How living entities can live there?" Yes. Why not? You have to little consider about your rascal senses.
What is the fault in the sun planet that there shall be no life? The five elements means earth, water, fire, air, ether. So fire is as good as the earth, one of the elements. Earth, water, fire, air, ether or sky. So we are experiencing that on earth, on the land, there are so many lives. And in the water there are so many lives. In the air there are so many lives. And why not in the fire? What is the reason? You have got some concocted ideas that in fire, nobody can live there. But Bhagavad-gītā says, "No, you can live there." There is a verse---I now forget---that "Fire cannot burn it." Can anyone recite that verse?
Nitāi: Adāhyo 'yam?
Prabhupāda: Adāhyo 'yam. Adāhyo 'yam. This is the nature of the soul, adāhya. Aśoṣyo 'yam, aśoṣyo 'yam. The..., that is the distinction between the soul and the matter. Matter, any matter you take, earth, earthly matter, even the hardest matter, namely the iron, it can be melted, it can be burned. But the soul is distinct from this matter. Therefore it is described, adāhyo 'yam. Any material thing can be dried up by the air. But soul, aśoṣyo 'yam: "It is not dried up." Any material thing can be moistened. So the soul cannot be. In this way every particular there is. So in the fire the soul cannot be adāhyo 'yam, it cannot be burned. And we get information, as there are worms in everything---earth, water, fire... In the fire there are worms. They are called agni-po[?]. Where is the scientist? But we get this information from the śāstra = agni-po, worms within the fire. And Kṛṣṇa says, above all---this is also Kṛṣṇa's statement---imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam [Bg. 4.1]. There is kingdom. There is city. There is, I mean, population. Otherwise, how Kṛṣṇa went there long, long ago, forty millions of years, and He instructed this Bhagavad-gītā to the sun-god, Vivasvān? His name is also there. Not fictitious. This is the paramparā system. Imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam.
So we have got picture in our Bhagavad-gītā: the sun-god is listening. The sun-god, there is sun-god. Just like here we have got a god, Ford or Nixon, similarly, in every planet there is a god. Therefore it is described, yānti deva-vratā devān [Bg. 9.25]. All these gods, they are demigods. They are not God. God is one. So deva. That... If you try to go to the sun planet, moon planet or any other planet, millions and trillions of planet, you can go. Higher planetary system, lower planetary system, that you can go. That is... The description is there in the śāstras. They are going to the moon. Of course, I have several times... They have never gone, but anyway... You can go to the moon planet. How you can go, the description is there. So moon planet is not vacant. That is counted amongst the heavenly planets. If anyone can go there, he can live there for ten thousands of years. Ten thousand of years means according to the demigods' years. Their duration and our duration is = our one day..., our six months, their one day. That is admitted by scientists that you go higher, the relative time is different. Just like when the Russians first of all sent that Sputnik, in one hour, twenty-five minutes, they surrounded all over the world. Now it is relative. You have got a speedy vehicle. So generally, the 25,000 miles, this earth, it takes long, long time, even you go by aeroplane But you have got..., when you have got a better machine, it is finished within one hour, twenty-five minutes. So as you go higher, higher, the time duration becomes different. This is called relativity. We hear from the Bhagavad-gītā the duration of life of Brahmā, sahasra-yuga-paryantam ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ [Bg. 8.17]. Our some millions of years is equal to twelve hours of Brahmā.
So in this way, if you like to go to the other, higher planetary system, there is system how to go there. As we have got system here in this world... If anyone wants to come to America, he has to arrange for visa and passport and so many things. Without going through the system, you cannot enter by force. So these foolish people are thinking that "There is no living entity. It is lying vacant, and by force we can go there." And after spending millions of dollars, we come back with some dust, that's all. [laughter] And become proud that we have gone to moon planet. So the Vedic śāstra does not say so. But you can go there. You can live there, a higher standard of comfortable life, higher duration of life. Yānti deva-vratā devān [Bg. 9.25]. You can go there. But anywhere you go within this material world, either the moon planet or sun planet or Brahmaloka, Kṛṣṇa says, ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna [Bg. 8.16]. Even if you go to the Brahmaloka, that is also not permanent settlement. After many, many years, you have to come... Kṣīṇe puṇye punaḥ martya-lokaṁ viśanti [Bg. 9.21]. When your resultant action of pious life will be finished, you will come back again.
So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is that why we shall accept this material body, which is limited, maybe one hundred years or one thousand years or one hundred second or millions of...? The our advice is that take, revive your original, permanent life, eternal life, and go back to home, back to Godhead. That is our program. Don't die like Ajāmila and others. This is our program. Those who are intelligent, they will take advantage of this movement, and... Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya [Bg. 4.9]. So take advantage of this movement intelligently. And there is no difficulty. You can see practically. We are not in any kind of difficulty. Very easily... Susukhaṁ kartum avyayam [Bg. 9.2]. Those who are devotees executing Kṛṣṇa consciousness, susukham, they are happy. Susukhaṁ kartum... To execute this Kṛṣṇa conscious atmosphere, susukham, what is that? Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and dance and take prasādam. That's all. Where is the difficulty?
So our request is take advantage of this movement and push it on. Those who are in ignorance, they do not know what is the value of life, what is next life. Just enlighten them. That is a good business. Kṛṣṇa will recognize. Anyone who is pushing on this movement, he is immediately recognized. Because Kṛṣṇa wants... We are all sons of Kṛṣṇa. He wants us back to home, live with Him comfortably, without any disadvantage of conditional life. Freedom. Kṛṣṇa wants. Therefore He comes = yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata, tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham [Bg. 4.7]. That dharmasya glāniḥ means... Dharma means religious. Glāni means pollution. What is that? We are manufacturing so many rascal type of religion. This is dharmasya glāniḥ. But real religion is as Kṛṣṇa says. What is that? Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja [Bg. 18.66]. This is religion. Religion means the order of Kṛṣṇa. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam [SB 6.3.19]. You cannot manufacture religion. Religion means you carry out the order of God. That is religion. That is religion. So you do not know what is God, what is the order of God, or even if you know, you do not carry out---then what is the meaning of your religion? It has no meaning. Therefore Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam directly takes it, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavaḥ atra paramaḥ nirmatsarāṇāṁ, vāstavaṁ vastu vedyam atra.
So this Bhāgavata religion is not a cheating religion. This is real religion. Don't be carried away by cheating type of religion. You do not understand what is the value of life, what is the goal of life, how we can revive our eternal life. These things are to be known, and then your life, human life, is successful. And that chance is present before you in this form of Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Take advantage of it and be happy.
Thank you very much.
Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda. [end]
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मंगलवार, 29 अक्टूबर 2024

Srimad-Bhagavatam: The Meeting of Ūṣā and Aniruddha

Srimad-Bhagavatam: The Meeting of Ūṣā and Aniruddha

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Srila Prabhupada speaks on: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.1.22–25

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.1.22–25

Indore, Dec. 13, 1970
Haṁsadūta: [introducing recording] The following lecture was recorded the morning of the 13th December, 1970.
Prabhupāda: So Gītā Bhavan is also imitating?
Haṁsadūta: They're also getting up earlier.
Prabhupāda: Earlier?
Haṁsadūta: I don't know. [laughs]
Prabhupāda: So this is very important point, Śukadeva Gosvāmī says. This is authority, that naṣṭa-sadācāro dāsyāḥ saṁsarga-dūṣitaḥ [SB 6.1.21]. As soon as there will be contamination of illicit sex life, he will be bereft of all good character. This basic principle. And the whole world is now encouraged in that way. So how we can expect good character from the modern man? There is no possibility, if we accept this statement of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam given by Śukadeva Gosvāmī, naṣṭa-sadācāro dāsyāḥ saṁsarga-dūṣitaḥ.
So Ajāmila, being contaminated by that illicit sex life with a prostitute, he lost all his brahminical qualifications, and gradually he was in need of money. Just like the other day I gave you the instance of a big high-court judge, because he was also of that type. I know his private character. He was most debauched, and therefore he wanted money, ten thousand rupees per month. And in spite of his position as a high-court judge and getting four thousand, five thousand salary, he could not check from his falldown.
So this is natural. If you indulge in illicit sex life and naturally other things, intoxication, gambling, then there will be no limit of expenditure. And to meet all those expenditure one has to adopt cheating or stealing. These processes has to be.
Woman: [Hindi]
Prabhupāda: But... [Hindi conversation] So by any means money wanted. So he adopted all disrespectful professions—cheating, gambling and stealing, any way to live.
bandy-akṣaiḥ kaitavaiś cauryair
garhitāṁ vṛttim āsthitaḥ
bibhrat kuṭumbam aśucir
yātayām āsa dehinaḥ

 [SB 6.1.22]
The only attraction is family, kuṭumba. So for the sake of maintaining family, he was committing all kinds of sinful activity.
So there was one Ajāmila at that time, but you will find many Ajāmilas like that at the present moment, because it is the age of Kali. There was one Rāvaṇa. In the dress of a sannyāsī he kidnapped Lord Rāmacandra's wife. And nowadays you will find many Rāvaṇas like that. You see? The so-called sannyāsīs, their business is to... This tendency is always there, but according to the age, sometimes it is very prominent and sometimes not so prominent.
But this material world is so contaminated. In the days of Rāmacandra... People are hankering after the kingdom of Rāma, even there was Rāvaṇa in the days of Rāmacandra. And what to speak of all these nonsense debauchees? Rāmacandra was so strict, and God Himself was ruling, and still, there was Rāvaṇa.
But because Rāmacandra was there, he was also killed. Paritrāṇāya sādhūnām [Bg. 4.8]. God's business is to protect the faithful and kill the demons. That is always. Therefore we find Lord Viṣṇu, the four symbolic representation: for killing, the club and the cakra; and for protecting, the lotus flower and conchshell.
evaṁ nivasatas tasya
lālayānasya tat-sutān
kālo 'tyāgan mahān rājann
aṣṭāśītyāyuṣaḥ samāḥ

[SB 6.1.23]
In this way he was living with his prostitute wife, and many children he got, because he was attracted to the prostitute, say, at the age of twenty, very young man. And as such... [aside:] Aiye. He begot many children. He begot many children. Evaṁ nivasatas tasya lālayānasya tat-sutān. Tat-sutān. Here it is not stated that it is Ajāmila's son. The tat-sutān means the children were of the prostitute. Because she was not married, therefore that woman did not belong to him.
Just like a land you possess, the production goes to the possessor of the land, not to others. Therefore, because the prostitute was not married to Ajāmila, her sons were not Ajāmila's sons. They were all sons of the prostitute. Therefore, at least still in India, a prostitute's son has no position in the society.
evaṁ nivasatas tasya
lālayānasya tat-sutān
kālo 'tyāgan mahān rājann
aṣṭāśītyāyuṣaḥ samāḥ

[SB 6.1.23]
In this way, when he was about eighty years old, at that time, time came when he was to die.
tasya pravayasaḥ putrā
daśa teṣāṁ tu yo avamaḥ
bālo nārāyaṇo nāmnā
pitroś ca dayito bhṛśam

[SB 6.1.24]
Out of his many children, elderly children... He was eighty years old. They were all elderly children, grown-up children, and there were ten, ten elderly children. Out of them, tesam tu yo avamaḥ, the youngest child, youngest child was named as Nārāyaṇa.
Tasya pravayasaḥ putrā daśa teṣāṁ tu yo avamaḥ, bālo, "a boy," nārāyaṇo nāmnā, "his name was Nārāyaṇa." Pitroś ca dayito bhṛśam. Naturally the youngest child becomes very favorite to the parents. So this Ajāmila was very much attached to the youngest child.
Sa baddha-hṛdayas tasminn arbhake kala-bhāṣiṇi. The youngest child, naturally... This is the attraction of family life. When a small baby smiles, immediately the father, mother and relatives become attracted. When the child begins to talk broken language, they enjoy.
Unless this attraction is there, it is not possible to raise the child with affection. That is natural. That affection is even in the animals. You'll find a dog, even a tiger, everyone. That affection is there in the every... Monkey. I have seen it practically. In Kanpur I was staying in a room, and one monkey came with a child, and the child somehow or other entered into the window through the bars, and the mother became mad.
She thought, "My child is gone." She became mad. So somehow or other, again I pushed that monkey out of the bars, and immediately she embraced the child and took away. Just see. The affection is there.
Guest (1): Can I ask you one thing?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Guest (1): I am informed rather that female monkey has got the highest affection for the baby, and when, after the death of the baby, she attaches the baby to her chest, to her...
Prabhupāda: Yes. It dries up. When the dead body dries up.
Guest (1): ...to her, and continues to carry on the dead body until the dead body falls away, [indistinct] to that she goes on carrying the dead body on her bosom. This is so sad about the female monkey. [indistinct]
Prabhupāda: So therefore in the society the parental affection is taken as very good qualification. But such qualification is visible even in the animals. So that is not a very good qualification. That is nature's law. Unless the mother and the child are not so affectionately connected, it is not possible for the child to grow up. That is nature's law. But that is not a qualification.
Child simplicity... These things are very much eulogized in the society, child's simplicity, mother's affection. They are necessary. But they are not qualification to raise one to the spiritual platform. Just like this debauch, Ajāmila. His character is abominable, but he's still very much affectionate to the youngest child. That is stated here.
In one place his character is described, that he used to live by cheating, by stealing, by gambling. This was his life's profession. But still, he was very much affectionate to the child, the youngest child.
sa baddha-hṛdayas tasminn
arbhake kala-bhāṣiṇi
nirīkṣamāṇas tal-līlāṁ
mumude jaraṭho bhṛśam

[SB 6.1.25]
Jaraṭhaḥ vṛddhaḥ. So although he was very old, still he was enjoying the child's play, pastimes, the same thing. Just like Mahārāja Nanda and Yaśodā was enjoying the childish pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the same thing is pervertedly reflected in this material world: father's affection, child's activities.
Because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, the same thing you'll find in the transcendental world. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they cannot adjust. They think that if the same things are there in the spiritual world, then what is the difference between the spiritual and the material? That is the defect of Māyāvāda philosophy.
But if they are seriously students of Vedānta-sūtra... It is stated clearly in the very beginning, janmādy asya yataḥ [SB 1.1.1]: the Supreme Absolute Truth is that from which everything emanates. So this affection between the child and the father or mother, if it is not there in the original Absolute Truth, wherefrom it comes? Do you follow?
If the Absolute Truth is the source of everything, then whatever you will see here in this material world, they are simply reflection of the original. How you can defy? How the Absolute Truth can be nirākāra, nirviśeṣa, without any variety, if the Absolute Truth is the source of everything? So these varieties of this material world, wherefrom it came? What is the answer?
Guest (2): From God.
Prabhupāda: Then how God can be nirākāra or impersonal?
Guest (2): Nirākāra means all-pervading.
Prabhupāda: That is another thing. All-pervading we also accept. He is brahma-jyotir. He is spread all over the creation. That is His nirākāra. Another meaning of nirākāra, that He hasn't got His form like us—sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha [Bs. 5.1]—you may say that. Or nirākāra means where the varieties are not manifested. Just like you go to the sunshine.
You don't find any rest. Your plane must fly on, fly on, fly on, unless you get a support in some planet. Either you go to the moon planet or remain in this planet, you must have a support. Otherwise the effulgence, the sun effulgence, the sunlight is not your place. Similarly, brahma-jyotir is like that, just like sunshine; but you cannot rest there. If you want rest, then you have to take shelter under the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa.
That is stated in the Bhāgavatam. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas [SB 10.2.32]: Those who are in the impersonal situation, they think themselves that they have become liberated. Exactly the same example: Suppose you are very high in the sunshine. Do you think, "Now I am liberated from worldly connection. I am far, far away, or high"?
But unless you get shelter, you have to fly. This is crude example. Similarly, these impersonalist, they are in the liberated atmosphere. That's a fact. Brahman. He has realized that "I am not this matter. I am Brahman." And because he has no information in the brahma-jyotir there are innumerable planets, he thinks that "This is all in all, this jyoti, brahma-jyotir." That is his imperfect knowledge.
Guest (2): That is not ultimate end.
Prabhupāda: No.
Guest (2): He was just in the...
Prabhupāda: Ultimate end means you can remain. Go on flying, flying, flying, just like. But that will exhaust your energy, and you'll like to take shelter in any planet. And because they have no information of the Vaikuṇṭha planets, they again come to these material planet. That is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Because they have no rest, they become perturbed.
Therefore this śloka says, ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ [SB 10.2.32]: "Because these impersonalists, although they are almost liberated, still, on account of their negligence to the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord, without having shelter, their intelligence is not purified still." They are simply accepting something opposite to these imperfect varieties of this material world. They want to make the spiritual world without varieties, because they have got a very bad experience of this material varieties.
So their conception is just the opposite. Just the opposite. There must not be any varieties. Just like there are... They say Kṛṣṇa... Because they are convinced that the Supreme Brahman is impersonal, brahma-jyotir, so when brahma-jyotir appears, He must take a form of this material world. Just like we are spiritual sparks, but we have taken this material form in this material world, so they take it also that God, when He comes, appears, He also accepts a material body. That is called Māyāvādī.
But Kṛṣṇa says that janma karma me divyam [Bg. 4.9]: "When I come, I do not accept a material body." Divyam, janma divyam. It is completely spiritual. And yo jānāti tattvataḥ: "Anyone who knows it, he becomes liberated." But these Māyāvādī philosophers, they do not know Him; therefore they are not liberated. Do you follow? Yes. They are not liberated.
Kṛṣṇa says, "One who knows perfectly well about Me, he becomes liberated." But they do not know. They accept Kṛṣṇa as ordinary man. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhāḥ [Bg. 9.11]. Because they are rascals, they accept Kṛṣṇa as ordinary human being. God can display Himself, manifest Himself, just exactly like ordinary human. Just like when He was displaying Himself as a child, a perfect child, to Mother Yaśodā, He would break everything if Mother Yaśodā would not supply mākhana, you see, as if He is in need of mākhana.
But these Māyāvādīs, they said, "Oh, here is... How He can be God?" Brahmā became bewildered: "How this boy can be the Supreme Lord? Let me test." So... Indra became bewildered. Muhyanti yat sūrayaḥ [SB 1.1.1], the Bhāgavatam says. Even big, big demigods, they become bewildered to understand. So when Kṛṣṇa was present, Indra, he wanted to test Him, and Brahmā wanted to test Him, whether He is actually God.
So that is intelligence. If anyone declares... People are... Sometimes a so-called incarnations are..., they are declaring, "I am God." Then one should test whether actually God. That is intelligence. Simply by declaring, if somebody declares falsely that "I am God..." Just like this Ramakrishna. He declared that "I am the same Kṛṣṇa and Rāma." Is it not? You do not know?
Guest (2): I haven't got a basic idea, but he was taken in the world...
Prabhupāda: That is the... How he was taken? How he was taken? There is no, in the śāstras, any confirmation. He was accepted by Vivekananda. He said that "I am the same Rāma and Kṛṣṇa," and Vivekananda accepted. So anyone can say like that; anyone can accept. But what is the test? What is the proof? You can say that "I am the same Rāma and Kṛṣṇa," but because you say, I'll have to accept? So that is nonintelligent.
So the Brahmā and Indra, they are not fools. When they saw that "A boy is in Vṛndāvana, and He is accepted as the Supreme Lord, and He is doing something like God. Let us test," so Brahmā took away all His cows and calves and playmates. And so... And after a second, when he came, he saw the same cows, same calves, same boys were there. Kṛṣṇa has expanded.
Although His cows were taken away, He immediately expanded Himself in so many cows and calves and boys. And when they returned home, their mother could not recognize that they were the same or Kṛṣṇa has expanded. But their affection became very much acute for their children. These stories are mentioned in Kṛṣṇa. You have read it? Yes.
Haṁsadūta: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa expanded. So Brahmā understood that "It was my fault that I wanted to test my Lord." Then he came and surrendered, and there is a very nice stotra of Brahmā.
Guest (3): Stotra says Brahmā didn't know something about...
Prabhupāda: Yes, even if he knew, but sometimes he become bewildered. Therefore it is..., Bhāgavata says that even the big, big demigods, they become bewildered.
Janmādy asya yataḥ anvayād itarataś ca artheṣu abhijñaḥ svarāt
tene brahma hṛdā muhyanti yatra sūrayaḥ

[SB 1.1.1].
That māyā is so strong that they can bewilder a personality like Brahmā and Indra, and what to speak of us? Māyā is so strong.
Similarly, Indra was also bewildered when He stopped Indra-yajña. Kṛṣṇa, when He asked His father, "There is no need of Indra-yajña..." He is under the order of the Supreme Lord. He did not say..., Kṛṣṇa said, to Nanda Mahārāja that "I am the Supreme Lord," but He said, "He is working under the Supreme Lord. He has to supply water. There is no need of yajña."
In other words, Kṛṣṇa is not in favor of any type of demigod worship. No. In the Govardhana chapter He stressed: simply the Supreme Personality of Godhead should be satisfied. That is stated everywhere, in Bhagavad-gītā also, kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ [Bg. 7.20].
So Indra, when his yajña was stopped, so he tried to punish the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana by torrents of..., incessant torrents of rain for seven days—havoc. The whole Vṛndāvana was to be drowned under water, and Kṛṣṇa immediately lifted the whole Govardhana Hill. And He stood seven days without taking any food, and protected all the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana.
Now God is displaying as God. When these things are there, the rascals will say, "Oh, these are all legends." When God displays Himself as God, the rascals take it as legend. Just see. They do not believe in the śāstras. They interpret in a different way. Is it not? Yes. And this is going on. And they are supposed to be...
What is their interpretation about this Govardhana Hill? Do you know? Kṛṣṇa's lifting the Govardhana Hill, what..., how they interpret it? I know, the Māyāvādīs, they do not accept. Or "Kṛṣṇa is ordinary human being." The Ārya-samājīs and others, they take it as legend. But the ācāryas, they do not take it as legend. Therefore we have to follow the ācāryas.
Woman devotee: Is it true when you said that the hill, there is cracks?
Prabhupāda: Why not true?
Woman devotee: You said it cracked in the hill.
Indian guest: [indistinct]
Prabhupāda: So therefore Arjuna said, sarvam etam ṛtaṁ manye yad vadasi mām [Bg. 10.14]. This is devotee, that "I accept everything, whatever You say." This is devotee, not that "I make some amendment and then I accept." And this is nonsense. You cannot... This is called ardha-kukkuṭī-nyāya. [Cc. Ādi-līlā 5.176]
Ardha-kukkuṭī-nyāya means one man was keeping a hen, and it was delivering every day a golden egg. So the man thought, "It is very profitable, but it is expensive to feed this hen. Better cut the head so I shall save the expenditure of feeing her, and I'll get the eggs without any charge."
So these rascals, they take..., accept śāstras like that: "Oh, this is not... This is very expensive. Cut this portion." And when Kṛṣṇa says that "Anyone who sees Me in everyone," "Oh, that is very palatable. That is very palatable." And when Kṛṣṇa says, "You give up everything. You surrender...," "Oh, that is not palatable."
And this is ardha-kukkuṭī-nyāya: I accept things which are very favorable to my understanding, and other things I reject. This is called ardha-kukkuṭī-nyāya. So people accept śāstras in that way, the Māyāvādīs.
Guest (3): But one who is self-realized, he interprets them out, the ślokas or...
Prabhupāda: There is no interpretation. Kṛṣṇa says. In the Bhāgavata it is said that He lifted the mountain just like a child snatch one flower or the..., what is called?
Devotee: Mushroom.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Mushroom. Yes. So easily. They do not believe.
Guest (3): [indistinct] No, but in the language of Bhāgavata there are many ślokas interpreted by many teachers and..., those who believe in Bhāgavata...
Prabhupāda: Those who believe in Bhāgavata, they do not interpret. Those who do not believe in Bhāgavata, they interpret.
Guest (3): But its meaning has to be understood.
Prabhupāda: Meaning is clear. There is nothing to be understood. But the rascals, they draw their own meaning. Just like Bhagavad-gītā. What is the difficulty to understand this:
dharma-kṣetre kuru-kṣetre
samavetā yuyutsava
māmakāḥ pāṇḍavāś caiva
kim akurvata sañjaya

 [Bg. 1.1]
What is the difficulty to understand Kurukṣetra is a religious place, acknowledged by the Vedas, and it is going on still? Why do they interpret, "Kurukṣetra means this body"? Is he not a rascal? Why there is interpretation when you understand a thing very clearly? Eh?
Guest (3): Because Kurukṣetra is to be taken as a particular place.
Prabhupāda: Not taken; it is still there. Why do you interpret that it is body? Is it not rascaldom? No devotee, no ācārya has done this, but these modern so-called scholars and leaders, they have done it. Are they not rascals? What do you think? Eh?
Guest (3): No, rascals... My representative[?] orders that "The people listen to me..."
Prabhupāda: So, why they should say? Now, you are a lawyer.
Guest (3): We do not know our [indistinct].
Prabhupāda: And why do they...? What is the difficulty? Dharma-kṣetra kuru-kṣetra, is that is a very difficult Sanskrit?
Guest (3): [indistinct]
Prabhupāda: Now, there is no question. Even in... If you do not understand Sanskrit, what is the difficulty to understand dharma-kṣetra? Is it not a Hindi word? Kurukṣetra is a name of place. So what is the difficulty? Why do you interpret that Kurukṣetra means this body? This rascaldom has killed the whole spiritual atmosphere of India. They are responsible, these rascal politicians, the rascal scholars, so-called. Actually if we want good of the people, these rascals should be disclosed and people should come back. We should...
Therefore we are presenting Bhagavad-gītā as it is. Why we should interpret? You know, you, as a lawyer, when there is legal point, if it is not clear, one lawyer is trying to extract some meaning and the other lawyer is extract... It is... After all, the judges give the judgment. So this interpretation between the two lawyers are there when the subject matter is not very clear. Is it not?
Guest (3): [indistinct] amongst the judges now they have passed a...
Prabhupāda: But judges are not perfect, and the law is also not perfect. But I am simply speaking of the procedure. The law is not perfect because it is man-made, and judges, because he is human, he is also not perfect. So that imperfectness you must find. But I am speaking of the procedure. You have to speak on the law books. You cannot... In the law court you cannot speak beyond the law books. And the law books... Suppose one section is not very clear. You fight: "This should be interpreted like this. This should be interpreted..." I am taking that procedure. But when it is clear, do you interpret?
Guest (3): It is not possible.
Prabhupāda: That's not possible. Similarly, Bhagavad-gītā, it is clear: dharma-kṣetra kuru-kṣetra. Why these rascals say that Kurukṣetra means body?
Guest (3): Even according to the rules of interpretation, in the books it is stated, "When the words are clear, you should..."
Prabhupāda: That is eternally fact.
Guest (3): [indistinct]
Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes.
Guest (3): If the language is absolutely clear, the language should be interpreted [indistinct].
Prabhupāda: Aiye. Yes. So when the language is clear, it is... Just like anything you take, all these Vedic literatures, simply by interpretation they have played havoc. Now, this Vedānta-sūtra, Vedānta, is accepted as the supreme authority of all Vedic literature. Janmādy asya yataḥ [SB 1.1.1], the sutra, that janmādy asya yataḥ: "The Absolute Truth must be the original source of everything." There is no question of interpretation.
This is the clear meaning. Janmādi. Janma means birth, and... Janma, sthiti and loya. There are three words in this material world. The things come out, just like this body has come out from the womb of my mother. It stays for some time, it grows, it gives some by-products, then it becomes old and again vanishes. So therefore janmādy asya: "Beginning from birth up to the annihilation, everything is emanation from the Absolute Truth."
So is not that very clear? Absolute Truth must be that which is the source of everything and reservoir of everything, and who is maintaining everything. That is the meaning of... Now, Bhāgavata, because it is interpretation of the Vedānta-sūtra, it begins from that sutra, janmādy asya yataḥ. Now, how that janmādy asya yataḥ? It is explained: janmādy asya yataḥ anvayād itarataś ca artheṣu abhijñaḥ.
If the original source... How the characteristics of the original source should be? The original source must be cognizant indirectly and directly of everything. The original Absolute Truth should be cognizant, abhijñaḥ. If He is the source of everything, then He must be cognizant of everything, either directly or indirectly.
Just like for example this body is my product. I am spiritual spark. This spiritual spark, as soon as takes shelter into the womb of a woman, it develops this body. The spiritual spark has that power, develops body. So I am a spirit soul, I have developed this body. That means I am a spiritual spark, which is source of this body, all mechanisms. And similarly, the whole creation, it is..., there is supreme spirit. The whole creation, janmādy asya yataḥ.
So He knows everything because He is perfect. But I do not know. Although it is by my energy this body is produced, I do not know how these veins are created, how these bones are created. I do not know. Therefore I am not God. I do not know... I say "my body," but actually this body has developed—me, as spirit soul—but I do not know how many hairs are there on my head and how it is growing. But He knows. That is a characteristic of the Absolute Truth. He must be knowing everything, and that is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā. Vedahaṁ samatītāni [Bg. 7.26]: "I know everything in the past. I know what will happen in the future. I know everything." That is God.
When Arjuna was asked to Kṛṣṇa that "How can I accept that You taught this philosophy to sun-god? Because You are my contemporary. We are born practically on the same date." So He replied, "Yes. Both you and Me, we took many, many births. But you have forgotten. I know everything." And that is God. That is God. Abhijñaḥ. God must be cognizant of everything. And I do not know everything, and still, I claim I am God, and people accept. How rascals.
The Bhāgavata explains that the Absolute Truth is cognizant of everything, abhijñaḥ. "So how His knowledge is so perfect?"—the next question. Because we become cognizant by taking knowledge or accepting knowledge from spiritual master. But how He has become so cognizant? The answer is svarāṭ: fully independent. He hasn't got to learn anything from anyone. I am... I am real..., realize myself as God by taking knowledge from another Māyāvādī sannyāsī.
But He is God without taking knowledge from anybody. That is real God. Svarāṭ. In this way Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam has explained the Vedānta-sūtras, that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the right explanation of Vedānta-sūtra. Bhāṣyāyāṁ brahma-sūtrānām. The Brahma-sūtra means Vedānta-sūtra. And the real commentary and explanation is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, of Vedānta.
But these Vedāntists, so-called Vedāntists, they do not read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Even read, they make a different interpretation. Because to make them popular, they have to go through Bhāgavata sometimes. I see Akhandānanda also tries to explain. But they explain in their own way. Just like "This Kurukṣetra, this body, and this means..." I, in a... Long ago in Bombay this Akhandānanda explaining one śloka—I just forget—but I remember his interpretation, that "When I am satisfied, God is satisfied."
He explained like that. And he is passing on as a great scholar and great sannyāsa. He said like that: "When I am satisfied, God is satisfied—because I am God." We say, "When God is satisfied, then I am satisfied." If you say that "When the finger is satisfied, the whole body is satisfied," it is possible?
Guest (4): No.
Prabhupāda: So in this way, misinterpretation, malinterpretation, and people are gliding down to abominable condition of this material life. So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is a protest against all this nonsense. And therefore we..., sometimes we are unpopular. But we don't care for that. Popular or unpopular, we must go on with our business. What do you think?
Śyāmasundara: Yes.
Guest (5): Do you mean one has to...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Guest (5): Unpopularity also means you are creating something.
Prabhupāda: Yes. [laughs] That is the reaction.
Guest (5): Here because [indistinct].
Prabhupāda: So therefore so quickly we have become popular in the foreign countries. Yes. Even the priestly class, the Christian priestly class, they have recognized that "We are preaching about God, Bible; we could not create such nice boys and girls. And all these young boys, they were Christians and they are attracted, attached to Swami, and they are so nice." They can appreciate that their character and their behavior, everything is so godly. They are astonished.
Guest (5): [indistinct]
Prabhupāda: So therefore the Christian priests, they do not go against us. They appreciate. One Christian priest was talking on plane when I was going to Hawaii. He was so much appreciating my students. So at heart, they are appreciating. The government is appreciating, the public is appreciating. Many fathers come and say, "Oh, Swāmījī, we are so fortunate that you have come. You have saved our sons and daughters."
And they fall flat to offer me obeisances, although he is not my disciple. And those are directly father and mothers, oh, they come to congratulate me in any way, because they understand that "Here Swāmījī is giving our sons and daughters spiritual life." They hope. They were hopeless. They were confused.
So that is not my credit. I am simply presenting the right thing without..., Bhagavad-gītā as it is, without malinterpretation, spoiling time and energy. Everywhere I say like that, that "I have no credit, but..." Because the only credit is that I do not adulterate.
Now here, you see, the Bhāgavata says that naṣṭa-sadācāro dāsyāḥ saṁsarga-dūṣitaḥ [SB 6.1.21]. Because this man, this brāhmaṇa boy, Ajāmila, in his boyhood... He became attached to the prostitute when he was about twenty years old, young man, and he lost his brahminical qualification. Naṣṭa-sadācāro. But the Bhāgavata says... Now, at the present moment, there are so many so-called brāhmaṇas. They have no sadācāra. Still they are passing as brāhmaṇa. Illicit sex, intoxication, meat-eating—everything is there, but he is a brāhmaṇa. Is it not?
Guest (5): Eighty percent. Accepted by birth.
Prabhupāda: But here Bhāgavata says, naṣṭa-sadācāra. As soon as... How? Dāsyāḥ saṁsarga-dūṣitaḥ: "Because he is attached with a prostitute, he has lost all his qualifications." At the present moment, to become attached to a prostitute is no fault. The society accepts: "Oh, that's all... Young man goes to that." Does not mind. But he does not know that this association will make him fall down to the lowest stage of human life. And that is stated next, that he used to live on these principles—beg, borrow, steal and gambling—he was degraded. And how he was degraded? That will be explained.
So people do not take care of their śāstras. They make their own interpretation, and therefore India's position is so fallen. They are guided. The great ṛṣis and great sages, they have given them guidance. Vyāsadeva has given guidance. Lokasyājānato vidvāṁś cakre sātvata-saṁhitā, it is stated. "People are rascals, fools. In order to teach them nicely, this highest learned personality, Vyāsadeva, created the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam." Lokasya ajānataḥ. Ajānataḥ means rascals who has no knowledge.
anarthopaśamaṁ sākṣād
bhakti-yogam adhokṣaje
lokasyājānato vidvāṁś
cakre sātvata-saṁhitā

[SB 1.7.6]
Whatever abominable characteristics we have developed, if we want to counteract it, we have to take to bhakti-yoga only. Anartha. Anartha. We have developed so many anartha. We don't require it, but we have developed all these symptoms. So anartha upaśamam. So if you want to cut down these anarthas, then bhakti-yogam adhokṣaje—you have to accept this bhakti-yoga principle to the adhoksaja.
Lokasya ajānato: "These rascal men, they do not know it." Therefore vidvāṁś cakre sātvata-saṁhitā: "The most learned Vyāsadeva compiled this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam." And they do not take care of Bhāgavata. They do not take care of Bhagavad-gītā. They take care of a book written by some rascal leaders. That's all. The aim of that book is to kill Kṛṣṇa. That's all.
So how you can improve? It is not possible. If they actually want improvement, not only this country or that country, whole world to world, one has to take this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement; otherwise it is doomed. So we are giving the best service to the human society—Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
[aside:] You came yesterday? No. This gentleman? Yes? No, you are coming first?
Indian man: [indistinct]
Prabhupāda: So that boy, he was to immediately offer his service to join us. [laughs] "We can join you if you flatter me. Whatever I know, if you accept, that's all. Then I can. And if you say something against my conviction, oh, then I am not going to join." But here the process is, first is, you first surrender. Whatever you know, nonsense, you give it up. First of all become blank slate.
So I was told by some authority, a very responsible man, that in Germany there are musical institution, so when a student who goes there who knows something about musical art, he is charged more. Is it a fact?
Guest: I don't know.
Prabhupāda: He is charged more. He is charged more because extra endeavor has to be done to make him forget what nonsense he has learned. [laughter] Because his learning is all nonsense, so one has to take... Just like so many people come. I have to talk so many hours to forget, to make him forget what nonsense he has learned. So he should be charged more, this student.
And one who comes as blank slate... They have accepted Kṛṣṇa consciousness because they are blank slates. And in India, they think that they have learned so many things. Yes. They have learned from Radhakrishnan, they have learned from Aurobindo, they have learned from Vivekananda, the Ramakrishna, this, that, so many nonsense—except Kṛṣṇa. They have learned everything from so many nonsense except Kṛṣṇa. Now here there is so much advertisement of Ramakrishna... Just see these American boys, they do not know even the name of Ramakrishna in America.
Guest (5): But there are [indistinct].
Prabhupāda: Huh? But ask them. They do not know even. He might have gone to Chicago. That's all right. But what is his influence there? But here it is advertised, "Oh, Ramakrishna went to America. Vivekananda went to..."
Devotee: There was no temple like that in Chicago, Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Devotee: There was no temple like that in Chicago.
Prabhupāda: No.
Devotee: [indistinct]
Prabhupāda: They never heard of the Ramakrishna. And here... Just like homeopathics. They advertise, "American homeopathics." But there is not a single shop of homeopathic medicine in America. Not a single shop. And this is going on. All these bogus homeopathic practitioners, they write, "American homeopathic medicine," and so on, so on.
They do not allow this homeopathic medicine as bona fide practice. They are not so foolish that you will give water and it will be accepted as medicine. There you cannot ask even any medicine directly from the drug shop without doctor's prescription. If you go, offering to a medical drug shop, and "Give me this medicine," no, he'll not do that. "Bring doctor's prescription." That is law.
Guest (5): He can't do that.
Prabhupāda: Eh? No, you cannot directly take supply of the medicine without doctor's prescription. So, so many things are going on, bogus.
Yamunā: You'll find Americans [indistinct].
Prabhupāda: Yes. Even in my absence many centers are developing. When I came back to India this time, there were thirty-five or thirty-two centers. Now it is forty-two.
Haṁsadūta: [indistinct] on Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: Yes. They are increasing.
Devotees: [indistinct]
Prabhupāda: Here, India difficulty—we have to make them forget all nonsense he has learned. That is the difficulty. And here, there in America I got all nice blank slates, and whatever I say they accepted, and improvement is immediately there. And here the people are coming to test me, to talk with me nonsense and waste my time.
Guest (6): The ones who have come here, they are not aware of this morning [indistinct].
Prabhupāda: But they are not genuine. That is the difficulty. They want... They come, and as soon as they say, "Oh, Swāmījī is speaking something against our conviction," they reject that.
Guest (6): But are they aware that...?
Prabhupāda: No, even they are aware, so many came, and they are not coming. Because the nonsense was stopped, they are, that "Oh, Swāmījī is..." They have not come. They want that whatever nonsense they have learned, I have to confirm: "Yes, it is right." Just like the Ramakrishna Mission says, "Whatever you do, it is all right," I have to say that. Then I am good. And as soon as I say, "You are wrong, nonsense, rascal. You do not know anything..." [laughter] Satyaṁ bruyāt priyaṁ bruyāt mā bruyāt satyam apriyam. You tell truth, but it must be very palatable. If you say truth unpalatable, then you will create enemies. But how can I do so in the spiritual knowledge?
Guest (7): In the Bhāgavata [indistinct]. I get up at four o'clock in the morning [indistinct].
Prabhupāda: There is a proverb that "If you go to a prostitute, go in the morning. [laughter] Not at night." [laughs] In the morning you will see her real beauty.
[aside:] Give some prasādam to the...
Devotee: [indistinct]
Prabhupāda: All right. I am not... [break] Prasādam should be taken in any condition. This dhoop is very nice, though.
Guest (8): Yes. [indistinct]
Prabhupāda: Where is...? What is the brand of this dhoop? It is locally manufactured? No.
Guest (8): No, no. [indistinct]
Prabhupāda: Where is?
Guest (8): [indistinct conversation with Yamunā]
Prabhupāda: Yes, it is very good. No, it is very good. So that discussion we shall have private? All right. So let us go to the other room. [end]
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