Prabhupāda: (lecture translated into Italian throughout) Ladies and gentlemen, I wish to thank you for your kindly participating in this festival. This Hare Kṛṣṇa movement is a spiritual movement. There is spirit soul within the body, and the material body is covering, just like shirt and coat, of the spirit soul. The spirit soul somehow or other is encaged within this material body. The problems of life there are many, but they are pertaining to the body. Real problem is how to get the spirit soul out of this material encagement. The body has got attachment for material enjoyment. Therefore in this verse it is said, vīta-rāga, how to become detached from this material attachment. Rāga means attachment; vīta-rāga, giving up this attachment. Vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhāḥ (BG 2.56). Bhaya means fearfulness, and krodha means anger. Because we are attached to the material enjoyment, we are also very much always fearful how our enjoyment may not be disturbed. And if our material enjoyment is not fulfilled, we become angry. This is our position on account of this material body. Therefore spiritual culture means how to get out of this attachment, fearfulness and the position of becoming angry.
These things can be attained by Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Man-mayā. Kṛṣṇa says, "When you are fully absorbed in My thought, you can get free from all these material disturbances." Kṛṣṇa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65). He says that, "Always think of Me, become a devotee of Me, worship Me, and offer your obeisances unto Me." So in order to attain this perfection of life, one has to make this progressive spiritual advancement. Vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhā man-mayā mām upāśritāḥ (BG 4.10). One has to take shelter of Kṛṣṇa or His representative. Therefore this movement is to give chance to the people how to think of Kṛṣṇa constantly. The human form of life is meant for attaining jñāna. Jñāna means knowledge that "I am not this body. I am spirit soul." This jñāna can be attained by tapasya. Tapasya means austerity. And if we attain knowledge and undergo austerities, then we become purified. Therefore,
- vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhā
- man-mayā mām upāśritāḥ
- bahavo jñāna-tapasā
- pūtā mad-bhāvam āgatāḥ
- (BG 4.10)
That the whole aim is how to get out of this material attachment, and in our spiritual body, we go back to home back to Godhead.
Actually, at the present moment, there is no education of the understanding of spiritual life. Everyone is interested with this material body only. Nobody is educated, neither interested in the spiritual life. But unless you take interest in spiritual life, our this material condition of miserable life will continue. The miserable conditions of material life have been pointed out by Śrī Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa says that the problem of life is janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9), meaning that birth, death, old age and disease, these are our problems. So long we are materially attached, we have to accept a type of body according to our resultant action of activities. There are 8,400,000 species of bodies. And after death, we have to accept one of the bodies. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). We have to accept another body. We do not know what kind of body we are going to accept again. But you can accept a..., one of the bodies as you select. That selection must be made in this life.
In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that if you like, you can go to the heavenly planets, higher planetary system. Yānti deva-vratā devān (BG 9.25). In the higher planetary systems, you get more, I mean to say, elevated standard of life. You can live there for millions of years, and there is better facilities for sense enjoyment. But anywhere you go within this material world, you cannot avoid the four principles, namely birth, death, old age and disease. The birth, death, old age and disease are the inconveniences of the body. The spirit soul has no birth, no death, no old age and no disease, neither the spirit soul is annihilated after the destruction of this body. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). This is the statement of the Bhagavad-gītā, that after the annihilation of this body, the spirit soul does not annihilate. So Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to stop this disease: birth, death, old age and disease. And this can be achieved very easily if you simply try to understand what is Kṛṣṇa. It is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā,
- janma karma me divyaṁ
- yo jānāti tattvataḥ
- tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma
- naiti mām eti kaunteya
- (BG 4.9)
Means that if you simply try to understand what is Kṛṣṇa, why does He appear in this material world, what are His actual activities—if these three things you can understand, then after giving up this body, you don't accept any more material body, but in your spiritual body go back to home, back to Godhead. Of course, it is very difficult task to understand Kṛṣṇa, but it is due to our misunderstanding or uncleanliness of the consciousness. If the consciousness is cleansed, then you can very easily understand what is Kṛṣṇa. This cleanliness of the consciousness can be effected by chanting the transcendental vibration, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. It is open to all. It is not a secret thing. We are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra very loudly. Everyone can hear it and chant it. If you regularly chant this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, then gradually your consciousness will be cleansed. The process of advancement in chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is said in the Vedic literature, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). The first installment of benefit by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is that your consciousness becomes cleansed. And as soon as your consciousness becomes cleansed, the tribulations or the miserable condition of material life becomes extinguished. The miserable condition of material life is compared to the blazing fire in the forest. As it is very difficult to extinguish the forest fire, similarly, the problems of material life cannot be extinguished simply by material benefits. As the blazing fire in the forest cannot be extinguished by the help of fire brigade or bucketful of water, similarly, by material adjustment, the problems of material miseries cannot be solved.
Because we are, by constitutional position, we are spirit soul, any material comforts will not give us actually a favorable condition of life. Just like a fish taken out of the water cannot be comforted by material comfort, er, comfort on the land. Unless the fish is again thrown into the water, any kind of comforts on the land will not make him happy. Therefore as spirit soul, we must take to the spiritual life, and then we shall be happy. The spiritual life begins by the process mentioned in the Vedic literature,
- śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ
- smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam
- arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ
- sakhyam ātma-nivedanam
- (SB 7.5.23)
Means that you must hear about God, you must chant about God. Then the spiritual life begins. We request you, therefore, to chant the transcendental vibration, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. This is chanting. And for hearing about Kṛṣṇa, you can read our books. We have got about twenty books like this, as you are seeing in my front. So if you want to understand Kṛṣṇa through philosophy and knowledge, there are immense provisions for this philosophy and knowledge in these books. So if you are unable to read or if you have no knowledge, if you have no education, you can simply chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. This is open to all. There is no secrecy.
So our request to all, we are requesting all over the world the same thing, "Please chant this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and be cleansed of your consciousness and understand your spiritual identity." We are preaching this chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra all over the world, and people are accepting it. Even the child is accepting and chanting this mahā-mantra. Your culture, the Roman culture, is well-known all over the world, and you are the pioneer of civilization in Europe. So if you accept this chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, whole Europeans will follow you. If you chant this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, you haven't got to pay any fee, neither you will lose anything. There is no loss, but the gain is very much.
So this is the formula given in the Bhagavad-gītā. The Bhagavad-gītā is the science of God. We are presenting this book as it is, without any malinterpretation. It has been translated in many European languages, in German language, in French language, English. So I think most of you may know English. You can try to read this book. They are available in our center. And try to understand what is the science of God. This human form of life is achieved after a evolutionary process, going through different species of life. This is the opportunity to understand your spiritual identity and your relationship with God. If you lose this opportunity and die without understanding God, that is not very good business. We must utilize this human form of life for the highest achievement of life. After all, we are under the stringent laws of nature. It is very difficult to surpass the stringent laws of nature, especially birth, death, old age and disease. There has been much advancement in scientific knowledge in the modern age, but they have not been able to make any solution of the problems, namely birth, death, old age and disease. If you really, therefore, want to get out of the clutches of material energy, namely birth, death, and old age and disease, you must take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And it is not at all difficult. By the grace of Kṛṣṇa, simply by chanting His holy name, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, you can achieve the best attainment, which can be attainable in this life. This valuable life, human form of life, should not be wasted or misused simply by animal propensities. The animal propensities means the necessity of the body—eating, sleeping, sex life and defense. The animals also know their business, how to eat, how to sleep, how to utilize sex life and how to defend himself. So the human life is not meant for simply animal necessities of life, but there is another necessity, to understand spiritual life and to achieve the highest perfection of life.
So about the subject matter, there are many things to be learned. They are all described in the Bhagavad-gītā. People are interested only for material success, but they do not know what is spiritual success, and this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is meant for giving persons the spiritual success of life. There are different divisions of life, or activity. They are called karma, jñāna, yoga and bhakti. Jñāna means knowledge. By karma, you can become materially successful. By jñāna, you can understand your identity. By yoga, you can understand how to connect yourself with God, and bhakti means direct service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. By karma, you can elevate your material position. By jñāna, you can understand what you are. By yoga, you can try to connect yourself with the Supreme. And by bhakti, you become completely freed from material entanglement. So we are teaching people to take the bhakti-yoga process directly, so that very quickly you contact with your spiritual life. It is said in the Bhagavad-gītā, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (BG 18.55). If you want to understand what is God, factually, scientifically, then you can understand Him through the bhakti-yoga.
So I'll request you all who are present here to take this bhakti-yoga process, and the beginning is chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. Thank you very much.
Dhanañjaya: Should they ask for questions? Ask for questions.
Prabhupāda: Let him come here. Come here. Come here.
Question (translated): Why we are using things like microphones, helicopter and things like that? (indistinct)
Prabhupāda: Why we are using microphone? (laughter)
Dhanañjaya: We are talking against material life, and why we are using microphones, tape recorders, airplanes?
Prabhupāda: We do not think microphone is material. The microphone is made of matter, namely earth, water, fire, air and ether. So all these material energies are coming from Kṛṣṇa. It is described in the Bhagavad-gītā,
- bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ
- khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca
- ahaṅkāra itīyaṁ me
- bhinnā prakṛtir aṣṭadhā
- (BG 7.4)
God says that "This earth, water, fire, air and ether, the mind, intelligence and ego, they are My eight different, separated energies from Me." The energy cannot be separated from the energetic. Just like the sunshine and the sun. The sunshine, although it appears to be separated from the sun, it is not separated from the sun. As the heat and light from heat from fire, although heat appears to be separated from fire, suppose there is fire in the corner of this room, and we are feeling the heat. It is apparently separated from the fire, but it is not separated from the fire. So when the energy is not utilized for the energetic, it is separated. Otherwise it is always not separated. So when you utilize this microphone for the service of Kṛṣṇa, it is no more material. It is spiritual.