So the beginning is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam means Kṛṣṇa. It cannot be otherwise. This is kṛṣṇa-kathā. The Bhagavad-gītā is also kṛṣṇa-kathā. Kathā means words. So Kṛṣṇa words spoken by Kṛṣṇa, that is Bhagavad-gītā. And words spoken about Kṛṣṇa, that is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Or about Kṛṣṇa's devotees, that is bhāgavata. So bhāgavata, there are two kinds of bhāgavata. One, this book Bhāgavata and another, the person bhāgavata, the devotee. He is also bhāgavata. Caitanya Mahāprabhu recommends that bhāgavata para giya bhāgavata sthāne(?): "You should go and read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from the bhāgavata, person bhāgavata." Otherwise you will misunderstand. Bhāgavata para giya bhāgavata sthāne. One big poet, he composed some songs when Caitanya Mahāprabhu was at Purī. And many people used to come and see Him. Because in those days there were many scholars and Caitanya Mahāprabhu was also a very great scholar, so they used to compose and come to see Him, and they would get some applause. But before seeing Him, the rule was that it must be passed through his secretary, Svarūpa Dāmodara. Svarūpa Dāmodara was Lord Caitanya's personal secretary, so unless something is passed through Svarūpa Dāmodara, nobody can directly approach Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Recommend (Lectures, SB cantos 2 - 5)
Lectures
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Now, this kṛṣṇa-sampraśnaḥ, the question and answer about Kṛṣṇa, if we simply hear, that is recommendation of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhir. You remain (in) your position, but you try to hear about Kṛṣṇa. That is recommended. Simply you come in this temple and try to hear about Kṛṣṇa, sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ. That will purify. Kṛṣṇa-kīrtana, Kṛṣṇa's name is so powerful, simply if you hear "Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa," you become purified. You become purified. Therefore it is said, varīyān eṣa te praśnaḥ kṛto loka-hitaṁ nṛpa, ātmavit-sammataḥ (SB 2.1.1). Ātmavit. It is not that I am only eulogizing. Ātmavit-sammataḥ. All great personalities who is self-realized, ātmavit.
Kṛṣṇa says, mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te: (BG 7.14) if one is strictly adhering to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, always... Therefore our, this program is twenty-four hours thinking of Kṛṣṇa. Satatam. Satataṁ cintayo kṛṣṇa. Kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ (CC Adi 17.31). These are the recommended. So if we simply think of Kṛṣṇa... If you cannot do anything, simply think of Him. That is the highest meditational perfection. So always chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, be in touch with Kṛṣṇa in so many ways, then you are secure. Māyā will not be able to touch you. And if we can somehow or other pass our days and at the time of death we remember Kṛṣṇa, then the whole life is successful.
Because Parīkṣit Mahārāja's question was that "Now I am going to die. What shall I hear about?" Because hearing is our main business. You are hearing. If you go out from this temple you will also hear. Or the sound is always going on. If we do not want to hear, the hearing is going on. So here it is recommended that "That Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the supreme controller, who is Hari, or who protects us from all difficulty, Hari, and sarvātmā—He is situated in everyone's heart—that Supreme Personality of Godhead, Supersoul, should be heard." Śrotavya, should be heard. We should be prepared to hear about Him. Śrotavyaḥ kīrtitavyaś ca. And we should discuss about Him, kīrtitavyaś ca. Smartavya. And if we hear and discuss, then, if we are really serious, then we shall remember also. Smartavya, and smartavyaś cecchatābhayam. Those who are actually desiring abhayam...
The animal, a small animal, ant, it has got also fear, and the biggest nation, Russia or America, they are also fearful because this is the qualification of conditioned life: āhāra, eating, nidrā, sleeping, and fearing, and mating. So if you want to get yourself free from fearfulness, then Śukadeva Gosvāmī recommends that you have to chant and you have to hear and you have to remember about the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the conclusion. Don't try to hear so many nonsense things. Vyavasāyātmikā buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana (BG 2.41). Just concentrate. If you want to hear about God, there are volumes of literature.
So Śukadeva Gosvāmī, after discussing that there are many subject matter for the materialistic persons who are unaware of self-realization... The very word used: apaśyatām ātma-tattvam (SB 2.1.2), those who are looking forward for self-realization. That is the only business for human life, but our education system is so defective that there is no program for self-realization. So Śukadeva Gosvāmī recommended that we should not be bewildered by the occupation of our materialistic life. He has very clearly discussed that all of these things, they cannot give us protection. There is nice example. Just like when a fly..., a bird flies in the sky, he has to depend on his own strength. In that flying method, neither his father, neither his mother nor his children can help. If he has got sufficient strength to fly, then he is fly very smoothly. Otherwise... Take the, for example, for an aeroplane also.
Otherwise, there is crash. Similarly each of us individually should be preparing for our next death. Not that we should not think that "My family, my community, my nation, my friends can help me." No. Everyone is responsible for his own activities.
So Śukadeva Gosvāmī recommended, tasmād bhārata. Parīkṣit, the King Parīkṣit, he's addressed as Bhārata. You know India is called Bhāratavarṣa. Why it is called Bhāratavarṣa? Because it is named after the King Bhārata. There was a big emperor of the world whose name was Bhārata. From that Bhārata, his descendants have come also Bhārata, and the country is also called Bhārata. So Parīkṣit Mahārāja happens to be a descendant in that family of Bhārata Mahārāja; therefore he's addressed as Bhārata. Sometimes you'll find in the Bhagavad-gītā Arjuna is also addressed as Bhārata, because Arjuna was also grandfather of this Parīkṣit Mahārāja. Similarly you'll find in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Vidura is also addressed as Bhārata. Sometimes Dhṛtarāṣṭra is addressed as Bhārata.
So if one is strong, powerful, if one is beautiful, if one is wise, reputed, these things are attraction. Therefore the very word is used "Bhagavān," because God is all-attractive, Kṛṣṇa is all attractive. So he recommends that Bhagavān, that beautiful Kṛṣṇa, all-attractive, all-powerful, He should always be remembered. Smartavyaḥ śrotavyaḥ. And He should always be heard about His activities.
Kṛṣṇa descends, and He leaves behind Him so many activities. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said: paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām. Sādhūnām. Paritrāṇāya means to give protection; sādhu, those who are devotees. To give protection to the devotees. And vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām: and to annihilate the demons. Paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya (BG 4.8). Yuge yuge sambhavām.
Not that because He says patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ, therefore we offer Him patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ. No. We offer Him to our best capacity—the best, the best foodstuff. That should be the motto.
So here it is recommended that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is beautiful, full of all opulences, and all-pervading, He should be śrotyavyaḥ. Śrotavyaḥ means He should always be heard. Therefore we are presenting so many books so that one may read. Just like I'm reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam; you are hearing. This is śrotavyaḥ. The beginning of devotional service is hearing. Śrotavyaḥ. Hearing means somebody must be chanting.
Even one method, if you perfectly do, you'll become perfect. You'll be transferred to the spiritual kingdom. So we do not say that "This religion is good," "This religion is bad." In every religion there is some form of worship out of these nine. Just like in Christian church there is offering of prayers. We also offer prayer, and that is also recommended in the list: vandanam. Vandanam means offering prayers. Muslim also, they offer prayers in the mosque.
The Nectar of Devotion and Kṛṣṇa. It is practically. If you go on reading, you'll find at times some philosophical topics, but the story is so attractive. Because God, Kṛṣṇa is so attractive, His activities are also attractive.
That is recommended here: śrotavyaḥ bhagavān hariḥ. Bhagavān hariḥ. Śrotavyaḥ and kīrtitavyaś ca. And He should be glorified, smartavyaś ca, and memorized. If you read, if you are serious, then... Actually, these are our... Of course, a Kṛṣṇa conscious person has no leisure. He's twenty-four hours engaged. So other people, they might have some leisure hours, but here, we are engaged, these devotees, in such a way that they want, instead of twenty-four hours, another three-four hours more. But that is not possible. Kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has recommended that this śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam is so nice that if you engage yourself twenty-four hours you'll find it nice. Kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ.
Not that because He says patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ, therefore we offer Him patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ. No. We offer Him to our best capacity—the best, the best foodstuff. That should be the motto.
So here it is recommended that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is beautiful, full of all opulences, and all-pervading, He should be śrotyavyaḥ. Śrotavyaḥ means He should always be heard. Therefore we are presenting so many books so that one may read. Just like I'm reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam; you are hearing. This is śrotavyaḥ. The beginning of devotional service is hearing. Śrotavyaḥ. Hearing means somebody must be chanting. Therefore it is called śrotavyaḥ kīrtitavyaś ca. Kīrtitavya means chanting or reciting. Just like Parīkṣit Mahārāja. Parīkṣit Mahārāja is simply hearing. And Śukadeva Gosvāmī is simply chanting.
Even one method, if you perfectly do, you'll become perfect. You'll be transferred to the spiritual kingdom. So we do not say that "This religion is good," "This religion is bad." In every religion there is some form of worship out of these nine. Just like in Christian church there is offering of prayers. We also offer prayer, and that is also recommended in the list: vandanam. Vandanam means offering prayers. Muslim also, they offer prayers in the mosque.
The Nectar of Devotion and Kṛṣṇa. It is practically. If you go on reading, you'll find at times some philosophical topics, but the story is so attractive. Because God, Kṛṣṇa is so attractive, His activities are also attractive.
That is recommended here: śrotavyaḥ bhagavān hariḥ. Bhagavān hariḥ. Śrotavyaḥ and kīrtitavyaś ca. And He should be glorified, smartavyaś ca, and memorized. If you read, if you are serious, then... Actually, these are our... Of course, a Kṛṣṇa conscious person has no leisure. He's twenty-four hours engaged. So other people, they might have some leisure hours, but here, we are engaged, these devotees, in such a way that they want, instead of twenty-four hours, another three-four hours more. But that is not possible. Kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has recommended that this śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam is so nice that if you engage yourself twenty-four hours you'll find it nice. Kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ.
It is recommended by Śukadeva Gosvāmī that those who are inclined to make progress in the matter of self-realization by philosophical speculation, for them... Philoso... Even for the scientist. Not only for the philosopher—even for the scientist. They are also called sāṅkhya-yogī. Scientists, they are also, in one way, they are yogis because they are concentrating their attention to certain type of scientific method. Therefore they are also called yogis. The karmīs, they are also called yogi. A karmī, a business man, is improving his business. Just like in your country there are..., there were many great business brain-Mr. Henry Ford, Rockefeller. So they concentrated their attention how to earn money. They are also called yogi in that way.
Everyone has got a particular type of engagement. Suppose you are lawyer. Your particular engagement is study of law or executing legal business. So that is sva-dharma. Similarly a businessman, an engineer, a medical man. So these are particular type of occupation of a particular type of man. So here it is recommended, sva-dharma-pariniṣṭhayā. One who is faithfully engaged in his own business, particular type of business, janma-lābhaḥ paraḥ pumān, his human birth, his human life is successful, janma-lābhaḥ paraḥ pumān, if he's successful man, then by successfully, properly executing his particular type of business, if he can, at the end of his life, remember Nārāyaṇa, the Supreme Lord, that is the success of life. It doesn't matter that you have got to chant or dance, but here it is recommended somehow or other, if you can manage to remember or memorize the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa, at the end of your life, that is your success. Etāvān sāṅkhya-yogābhyāṁ sva-dharma-pariniṣṭhayā.
So He showed him. So there is no doubt about, about Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
So here it is recommended, ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ (SB 2.1.6). Somehow or other, if you can remember the Supreme Personality of Godhead in any way, by His name, by His form, by His quality, by His activities, by His paraphernalia, anything, then your life is successful. Now Śukadeva Gosvāmī is speaking about his own self. Śukadeva Gosvāmī's supposed to be liberated from his birth.
This is the nature, material nature. Can anyone say that he is not fearful? Is it possible? Then what to speak of us. As we require to eat something... This is material existence, eating. Then after eating, rest, sleeping. Then after rest, sex indulgence. Similarly, fearfulness.
So here it is recommended, icchatām akuto 'bhayam: "One who desires to this fearfulness and they do not make any arrangement how to get out of this fearfulness, they are not human beings." Human being is always takes precaution how to save oneself. Although it is natural, everyone is fearful, but at the same time, it is the effort of the human being to see that he may be saved from the cause of fearfulness. Therefore it is said, icchatā abhayam. Abhayam means no fear.
So Śukadeva Gosvāmī, he gives us some definition how you can be completely independent to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Now our problem is eating-sleeping. Eating-sleeping. After sleeping, there is mating or fearing. These are the problems of bodily demands. So Śukadeva Gosvāmī recommends for a serious devotee, he says, cīrāṇi kiṁ pathi na santi. Cīrāṇi means worn-out, rejected garments. In your country it is very usual to find in the dustbin so many things are thrown away. So sometimes nice dress is also thrown away. So Śukadeva Gosvāmī says that if you have problem of dressing yourself, just pick up some old garments from the street. Cīrāṇi kiṁ pathi na santi. "All right. I get my garment. What about my food?" He said, cīrāṇi kiṁ pathi na santi diśanti bhikṣāṁ naivāṅghripāḥ para-bhṛtaḥ. Aṅghripāḥ means the living entity who eats by its leg. Just like we eat by our hand.
Here in this material world there is duality, but in the spiritual world, there is no such duality. Brahma-varcasa-kāmas tu yajeta brahmaṇaḥ patim, indram, indram indriya-kāmaḥ. Indriya means senses. Those who are too much lusty satisfy simply... The most important indriya is the genital, sex. So for them, it is recommended that "You worship Indra." Indra, the demigod, he is number one sexually inclined demigod. He has got eyes, eyes over all his body. Śata-cakṣuṁṣi. These eyes were originally vagina. He was cursed by Gautama Muni that "You are so fond of vagina that I curse you that you get all over your body vagina only." Then, when he surrendered, he began to cry that "It will be very much, I mean to say, abominable for me."
So these are the different departments if you want to take facility of quickly getting some benefit... Yajanta iha devatāḥ. Kāṅkṣantaḥ karmaṇāṁ siddhiṁ yajanta iha devatāḥ. For particular type of fulfillment of your desire, you can worship the particular type of demigods.
This is recommended in the śāstra for the less intelligent class of men. Still, it may be questioned that "Why Vedas have—if the ultimate goal is to reach the Supreme Personality of Godhead—why the Vedas have prescribed different demigod worship?" Yes, that is replied in the Bhagavad-gītā, tad bhavaty alpa-medhasām. Those who are less intelligent, for them, not for the first-class intelligent.
That is the conclusion. Here Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is recommending different demigods for different purposes because there are all classes of men. So to take immediate effect, they worship demigods. Kṣipram, very soon. Generally, people do not go to worship Kṛṣṇa and Viṣṇu, because you cannot ask from Kṛṣṇa anything which is not good for you. Suppose you pray to Kṛṣṇa on the seaside, "Kṛṣṇa, give me a good fish. I want to catch." Kṛṣṇa will never fulfill your desire. That is Kṛṣṇa's mercy. Because Kṛṣṇa will not give you facility for possessing anything which will ultimately cause your falldown. Kṛṣṇa knows that "If he catches a fish, then he will have to become a fish again to be caught by the same fish.
So therefore our policy is not to ask anything from Kṛṣṇa. He knows what is good for me; simply I have to surrender unto Him. That's all. Why shall I bother Him, "Give me this, give me that, give me that"? Na dhanaṁ na janam.
Here, strī-kāma, beautiful wife, kāma, one who wants, devīm, he should worship Goddess Durgā. This is recommended here. But it is kāma. But those who are devotees, they have no kāma. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11). Anya. Anya means other than Kṛṣṇa's service. They have made all, everything zero. We don't want all these things. We simply want to serve Kṛṣṇa. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (CC Madhya 19.167). Jñāna means knowledge.
Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu showed, as soon as He entered the Deity room, fainted, "Here is My Lord." That is first-class position of devotee... Without any other consideration. Enhance your love for Kṛṣṇa without any condition. That is required. So these worship of different demigods are recommended in the scripture, not to mislead him, but to lead him gradually to the higher stage, to lead him to the higher stage. Because the demigods are considered different limbs of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
You have to touch according to the regulative principles. Similarly, those who are nonsense: "All right, you touch the hair of your spiritual master. If you cannot touch the lotus feet, then you touch..." Giving a chance to come in touch. So this demigod worship, it is an example given.
Demigod worship is recommended in the Vedas. At least, they should gradually understand "Who is this demigod? Why we are worshiping him? Wherefrom he has got this power?" Then, when one can understand that this Indra, Candra, and Sūrya, and Diti, Aditi, and fire, Lord Śiva, they are all different departmental heads of Kṛṣṇa's government... The real king is Kṛṣṇa. To understand that. Not that... Then one could derive all the benefits from one department. No.
The different departments are recommended: "If you want this, you have to... If you want this, you have to..." In the conclusion it will be said that "Whatever you want, you go to Kṛṣṇa." Your all desires will be fulfilled. Yasmin vijñāte sarvam idaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavati. Akāmaḥ sarva-kāmo vā mokṣa-kāma udāra-dhīḥ (SB 2.3.10). (pause) What is the time now?
Therefore it is said, akāmaḥ puruṣaṁ param. Give up your kāma, lusty desires, or any material desires, and surrender to Kṛṣṇa. Then that is life successful. Otherwise, bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). Take once birth... These are all desires. And the so big list. "If you want this, then you can worship this." Why it is recommended that you worship these demigods? Because if one goes for fulfilling the desire to a demigod, there is connection of Viṣṇu. Because any yajña you perform, demigod, there must be Viṣṇu first. The mantra says that "With the sanction of Viṣṇu's order, you get this facility." So by worshiping the demigod, if he's sensible man, one day he will come to know that "Above the demigods there is Viṣṇu. So why I am worshiping this demigods? Why not Viṣṇu?" Suppose if I get some facility from somebody, and if I see that this man is taking sanction from another superior man.
So my intelligence should be, "Why not go direct to the superior man? Why I am flattering this man?" That is sense. So therefore demigod worship is recommended in Vedas, that one day he may come to his intelligence that "Why demigod? Why not God, personally, directly?" Therefore, it is not that it is encouragement, it is encouragement(?). Just like, you know amongst the Hindus, the flesh-eaters, they're recommended that "If you want to eat meat, then you sacrifice one goat before the goddess Kālī." And Goddess Kālī is worshiped once in a month, on the dark moon day, at night. And there are mantras. The mantras say that... Within the ear of the animal it is said that, "You are sacrificing your life before the deity; so next life, immediately, you get a human form of life.
He'll still stick to these politics. Unless he was killed. He was killed, you know. So this is the propensity, sarva-kāmaḥ. There is no end of their desire, no end. They are called sarva-kāmaḥ. So here it is recommended: akāmaḥ... Just the opposite. Akāmaḥ, niṣkiñcana. They have finished all these nonsense, material desires. Vaiṣṇava. Just like you have taken sannyāsa. It is supposed that you have finished all your material desires. This is called akāmaḥ, just the opposite. And the other side: sarva-kāmaḥ. There is no end of desire, material desire. So Vyāsadeva recommends, "All right, you may be sakāmaḥ..." Sakāmaḥ means without end of any desires. Full of desires... (break in tape)... and between this there is another... (break in tape)... mokṣa-kāmaḥ. So sakāmaḥ, sarva-kāmaḥ-karmīs, those who are working very hard, just like animals.
That's all. This is akāmaḥ. So akāmaḥ, they have no other business, simply to serve Kṛṣṇa. Mama janmani janmanīśvare bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi (Cc. Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4). "My dear Lord, I don't want anything. But give me this facility, that I may be engaged in Your service." That's all. (pause) So Bhāgavata recommends that "Even though you are a fool number one, you are demanding from Kṛṣṇa, sarva-kāmaḥ, or mokṣa-kāmaḥ, still, you worship Kṛṣṇa. Don't go to other demigods." Because... we have seen the list of demigods. If you want... The prescription is there, "If you want this, you worship this deity. If you want this, you worship this deity." But they are all kāma. In the Bhagavad-gītā these kāmīs, these lusty persons, have been condemned. Kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ (BG 7.20). Hṛta-jñānāḥ, lost of all intelligence. That means rascal. In good language it is hṛta-jñānaḥ, one who has lost his intelligence.
So why no intelligence? Now, that is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā: antavat tu phalaṁ teṣām (BG 7.23). The benediction they get from the demigods... Just like it is recommended, we have read it, that if you want beautiful wife, you worship Umā. If you want very strong sexual powers, then you worship Indra. So the prescription is there. But they are foolish. Why foolish? Suppose you get very beautiful wife and very strong sex power, then how long you will enjoy it? Antavat tu phalaṁ teṣām. It will end. Five years, ten years. Even in living condition, if you have become old, seventy years, eighty years old, then what you will do with beautiful wife? There will be no more sex power. Vṛddhasya taruṇī-bhāryā. Vṛddhasya ... These are useless. When one has become old, to have a young wife is troublesome for him. So therefore we should not desire anything material.
Therefore Caitanya-caritāmṛta, the same Caitanya... Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja says, kṛṣṇa yei bhaje sei baḍa catura. Anyone who takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, takes the shelter of Kṛṣṇa, he is the perfect intelligent man. He is the perf... So here it is recommended that "You fools, you rascals..." Akāmaḥ sarva-kāmaḥ, eh, sarva, not akāmaḥ. Sarva-kāmaḥ, mokṣa-kāmaḥ. "You are all rascals." Therefore Vyāsadeva is advising "All right, even though you are rascal, you are full of desires, you are full of becoming one with the Supreme, still, you worship," yajeta puruṣaṁ param, "the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Still, you do that." That is the recommendation. Don't go to others. Now, the question is that bhakti means anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11). One must be free from all kinds of desires. That is pure bhakti. Now, it is recommended here that sarva-kāmaḥ, mokṣa-kāmaḥ, "Those who are desiring for all material opulences, those who are desiring for becoming liberated..."
"Those who are desiring for all material opulences, those who are desiring for becoming liberated..."
So they are not anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (CC Madhya 19.167). They have desires. So how they can be bhakta? How they can be devotee? Because devotee is pure, he has no... Akāmaḥ. Why it is recommended? The recommendation is there also for demigods. That is freedom. The śāstra is giving you all freedom. "If you like, you do this." But ultimately gives this instruction... Just like Kṛṣṇa. He has spoken so many things, jñāna-yoga, dhyāna-yoga, karma-yoga. But at the end He says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śara... (BG 18.66). "You give up all this nonsense, simply surrender unto Me." That is the ultimate instruction. So that means śāstra gives you freedom, at the same time gives you chance. Śāstra is not... Just like we are free, and the state laws are there, and we are free to violate it or to abide by it.
All paramam, Supreme. Puruṣam, "You are the Supreme Person." The same thing. Puruṣaṁ param. The Brahma-saṁhitā: īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). This param, supreme, superlative, is Kṛṣṇa, in every respect. He's the supreme power, puruṣottamam. Uttamam. Nobody greater than Kṛṣṇa. So here it is recommended that "Even if you have got desire..." All kinds of desire. There are varieties of desire. Even you want jñāna-siddhi, yoga-siddhi, karma-siddhi, or dhyāna-siddhi, simply go to Kṛṣṇa. That's all. Yat karoṣi, yaj juhoṣi.
Kṛṣṇa also says. Yat karoṣi. You want to do something. This is all activities. Either you are karmī, jñānī, or yogi, there are activities. The meditation, so-called meditation, that is also another activity, mental activity. So why it is recommended like that, that how...? They are not devotees. They are sarva-kāmaḥ.
Not only everything, more than everything. I have seen You. So I don't want anything."
You see? This chance is there. Even with your kāma, desires, you execute devotional service, make connection with the Supreme Lord. A time will come, you'll become akāmaḥ, no more... A time will come. Therefore it is recommended. Not that sarva-kāmaḥ goes to Kṛṣṇa and simply bothers Him, "Give me this, give me this." No. Let him talk like that, "Give me this, give me that." Kṛṣṇa will see to that. But devotional service, if he comes in contact with Kṛṣṇa seriously, then time will come, he will become akāmaḥ. Therefore it is recommended. Not that it is advised that you go to Kṛṣṇa and ask all nonsense from Him. That is not pure devotion.
Na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ kavitāṁ vā jaga... (Cc. Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4). So it is recommended here only that a devotee, even he's foolish in the beginning, to ask from Kṛṣṇa all material facilities. Still, when he's engaged in devotional... when he comes to the perfectional stage, or when he comes in contact with a pure devotee, he gives up all this nonsense, and as a pure devotee, he simply engages himself without any return, without any profit, in the service of the Lord.
The brahma-jyotir is not separate from the Lord, as the glowing sun ray is not independent of the sun disc. Therefore one who desires to merge into the supreme impersonal brahma-jyotir must also worship the Lord by bhakti-yoga, as recommended here in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Bhakti-yoga is especially stressed here as the means of all perfection. In the previous chapters it has been stated that bhakti-yoga is the ultimate goal of both karma-yoga and jñāna-yoga, and in the same way in this chapter it is emphatically declared that bhakti-yoga is the ultimate goal of the different varieties of worship of the different demigods. Bhakti-yoga, thus being the supreme means of self-realization, is recommended here. Everyone must therefore seriously take up the methods of bhakti-yoga, even though one aspires for material enjoyment or liberation from material bondage.
Actually human life is meant for making a solution to the problems of life. One can never solve such problems by satisfying the different demigods, by different modes of worship, or by so-called scientific advancement in knowledge without the help of God or the demigods. Apart from the gross materialists, who care very little either for God or for the demigods, the Vedas recommend worship of different demigods for different benefits, and so the demigods are neither false nor imaginary. The demigods are as factual as we are, but they are much more powerful due to their being engaged in the direct service of the Lord in managing different departments in the universal government.
It doesn't require any education.
The natural instinct is already there. When the boy and the girl are grown up, naturally the attraction is there, spontaneous. Similarly, he has to be, they have to be brought up in the proper situation. In India, therefore, early marriage is recommended, according to śāstra. According to Vedic civilization, a girl, before attaining puberty, must be married. There are so many injunctions about that. And the responsibility is of the father, or, in the absence of father, the elderly members or brothers. It is called kanyā-dāya. Kanyā-dāya means it is the obligation. You cannot avoid it. You can avoid the marriage of your son, but you cannot avoid the marriage of your daughter. That is Vedic injunction. Of course, when the marriage of daughter is there, there must be one boy. That is understood.
They can actually chant. That means mukta-puruṣa, liberated soul. It is ... The chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is the business of liberated soul, not for the conditioned soul. But even in our conditioned life, we chant, we become gradually purified.
Therefore it is recommended that everyone should chant. Never mind. Nama oṁ apavitraḥ pavitro vā yaḥ smaret puṇḍarīkākṣam. Anyone who remembers the Puṇḍarīkākṣa. By chanting, you'll remember. So nivṛtta-tarṣair upagīyamānād bhavauṣadhāt (SB 10.1.4). It is the medicine for our, this bhava-roga, repeated birth and ... Such a nice thing. Nivṛtta-tarṣair upagīyamānād bhavauṣadhāc chrotra-mano-'bhirāmāt. Not only it is medicine ... Medicine is always bitter.
Death is a symptom of the material infection of the eternal living being, and due to material infection only, the eternal living being is subjected to the law of birth, death, old age, and disease. The materialistic way of pious activities like charity, etc., is recommended in the smṛti-śāstras as quoted by Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura. Money given in charity to a suitable person is guaranteed bank balance in the next life. Such charity is recommended to be given to a brāhmaṇa. If the money is given in charity to a non-brāhmaṇa without brahminical qualification, the money is returned in the next life in the same proportion. If it is given in charity to a half-educated brāhmaṇa, even then the money is returned double.
And the authorities of the temple should be so careful that it does not turn into something else besides temple. Then you are safe. The māyā cannot touch you. What is this? Hm. Then? Read.
Pradyumna: "Especially for the householder-devotees, the path of Deity worship is strongly recommended. As far as possible, every householder, by the direction of the spiritual master, must install the Deity of Viṣṇu, forms like Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa, or Sītā-Rāma especially, or any other form of the Lord, like Nṛsiṁha, Varāha, Gaura-Nitāi, Matsya, Kūrma, śālagrāma-śilā and many other forms of Viṣṇu, like Trivikrama, Keśava, Acyuta, Vāsudeva, Nārāyaṇa, Dāmodara, etc., as they are recommended in the Vaiṣṇava tantras or purāṇas, and one's family should worship strictly, following the directions and regulation of arcanā-vidhi."
Kṛṣṇa consciousness cannot be developed unless one takes the dust of the lotus feet of a pure devotee. This is these words, Prahlāda Mahārāja's remark. In other words, unless one comes in contact with a pure devotee, Kṛṣṇa consciousness cannot be developed. It is not possible. Therefore here it is recommended by Sūta Gosvāmī that jīvañ chavo bhāgavatāṅghri-reṇuṁ na jātu martyo 'bhilabheta yas tu. Reṇu, reṇu means dust. If one does not try to secure the dust of the lotus feet of bhāgavata... Bhāgavata means pure devotee of the Lord.
And how he can become a devotee? That is stated here: bhāgavatāṅghri-reṇum. One has to surrender himself to His representative, bhāgavata. Bhāgavata means... God is called Bhagavān. Bhagavat, the original word is bhagavat, and one who has got intimate relation with Bhagavān, he is called bhāgavata. So here it is recommended, bhāgavatāṅghri-reṇuṁ na jātu martyaḥ. Martya means one who will die. Every one of us will die. But abhilabheta yas tu. But we can achieve a great success. Although this body's mortal, we can get, we can achieve a great success. And what is that? To take the dust of the lotus feet of a bhāgavata. Simple thing. Therefore it is said, jīvañ chavaḥ.
Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is a tenderhearted feminine counterpart of the supreme whole, resembling the perfectional stage of the worldly feminine nature. Therefore, the mercy of Rādhārāṇī is available very readily to the sincere devotees, and once She recommends such a devotee to Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Lord at once accepts the devotee's admittance into His association. The conclusion is, therefore, that one should be more serious about seeking the mercy of the devotee than that of the Lord directly, and by one's doing so (by the good will of the devotee) the natural attraction for the service of the Lord will be revived."
In the First Chapter the first step in devotional service for God consciousness by the process of hearing and chanting has been stressed, and a gross conception of the Personality of Godhead in His universal form for the beginners is recommended. By such a gross conception of God through the material manifestations of His energy, one is enabled to spiritualize the mind and the senses and gradually concentrate the mind upon Lord Viṣṇu, the Supreme, who is present as the Supersoul in every heart and everywhere, in every atom of the material universe. The system of pañca-upāsanā, recommending five mental attitudes for the common man, is also enacted for this purpose, namely gradual development, worship of the superior that may be in the form of fire, electricity, the sun, the mass of living beings, Lord Śiva and, at last, the impersonal Supersoul, the partial representation of Lord Viṣṇu.
So why shall I ask for such benedictions? If You want to give me some benediction, please engage me in some service of Your servant. That is real benediction." Caitanya Mahāprabhu also recommended: gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ (CC Madhya 13.80). To become a servant of servant of servant of servant of Kṛṣṇa. This is paramparā system. In that way one can give up the deep attachment for all these, our creation, our developing attachments, gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittaiḥ. At any moment, all these production of attachments can be dismantled, and it is being done so. But they have no knowledge. They have no knowledge. They are thinking that they will be able to enjoy this expansion of attachment, ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). No. You cannot enjoy. Even if you enjoy, it is for a few years only.
Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu recommended to study Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from bhāgavatam. Bhāgavata para giyā bhāgavata sthāne. Bhāgavata means the grantha-bhāgavata, book bhāgavata... Bhāgavata means about Kṛṣṇa. Bhagavān is Kṛṣṇa. And anything in relationship with Kṛṣṇa is called Bhāgavata. So the devotee is also in relationship with Kṛṣṇa. He is also called bhāgavata. Mahā-bhāgavata. Those who are highly advanced, or first-class devotees, they are called mahā-bhāgavata. So this Bhāgavatam, it is the essence of the Vedic knowledge and when it is received through the paramparā system of pure devotee, then it becomes still more sweet than before. That is the purport.
Therefore, according to Vedic rules, the boy is selected by the father, the girl is selected by the father. They are given in marriage so that that natural attraction can be utilized for generating good population, not prostitution. You see? Therefore early marriage, selection by the parents, these are recommended. That is called marriage. Now the boys and girls are loitering in the street, and they are mixing freely and having all business. And then one day say, "All right, I agree. You are my wife. You are my husband." Svīkāra eva ca udvāhe. These are the signs of Kali-yuga. It is simply deteriorating. The human civilization is deteriorating. In the name of advancement of civilization, they are becoming animals simply. And the more the age of Kali-yuga will increase, these things will also increase more and more, more and more. Later on, you won't get foodstuff.
What is this opulence? See? I heard they are very rich. They have got the tendency, but they do not get it. Those who are very rich, they are getting ornaments. These are the psychological. Every woman, every girl, has the aspiration for nice ornament, nice dress. But they don't get it. Therefore dissatisfied. In the Manu-saṁhitā it is recommended that if you want to keep your wife satisfied, you must give sufficient ornament. These are the psychological things. So the Kali-yuga, therefore, dākṣyaṁ kuṭumba-bharaṇam. People will be so much wretched that they'll be unable to maintain his wife and children. Therefore in this age, if a man can maintain his family, that will be dākṣyam: "Oh, very fortunate."
This body is machine. The, those who are very much attached to this machine, for them, the yoga system is recommended because... One who is very much in the conception of the body, so they have been taught just to concentrate the mind on some practice, some gymnastic, so that mind may be concentrated and he can focus the mind towards Viṣṇu, Lord Viṣṇu. Real purpose is to understand Viṣṇu, the Supreme. So the yoga system is therefore a mechanical arrangement. But the bhakti system is above the machine, above this mechanical arrangement. That is... Therefore it is called tad-vijñāna. The mechanical understanding is material, and above that, tad-vijñāna.
Therefore this word is... He was talking. He was preaching. He was giving instruction to Vidura, being pleased, prīti. Maitreya Ṛṣi was very much pleased. That is also recommended in the Śrīmad-Bhagavad-gītā: tad viddhi praṇipātena. Tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā (BG 4.34). Simply going and asking the spiritual master or guru, and not to accept his instructions, then don't waste your time. Don't waste your time. In a challenging spirit, if you go to a spiritual master, without any service, sevayā, and praṇipātena... Praṇipātena... Prakṛṣṭa-rūpeṇa nipāta. Nipāta means fall down, and pra means prakṛṣṭa-rūpa, sufficiently. No reservation. This knowledge, the transcendental knowledge, is based on this praṇipāta. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja: (BG 18.66) "You just surrender unto Me." And similarly we have to surrender to Kṛṣṇa or His representative.
In the Manu-saṁhitā it is said that woman should not be given freedom. Na strī svātantryam arhati. They cannot properly utilize freedom. It is better to remain dependent. That is very good. Independent woman cannot be happy. That's a fact. We have seen in the Western countries, on, in the name of independence, so many women are unhappy. So that is not recommended in the Vedic civilization and on the varṇāśrama-dharma. So therefore the mother, Devahūti, was given under the charge of his (her) grown-up son, Kapiladeva. And Kapiladeva was fully cognizant that He has to take care of His mother. Therefore mātuḥ priya-cikīrṣayā. It is the duty of the father to protect the girl very nicely.
And... Yes. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). When we purify our senses... Senses you cannot destroy. That is not possible. Just like some, somebody said that "You become desireless." Desireless... Desire is the mental activities. So we cannot be desireless. That is not possible. We have to purify the desire. That is required. That is recommended.
We are spiritual. We have got spiritual body. That body is now covered with this material garment; therefore it is covered. The senses are covered. With covered senses, you cannot enjoy actually. The senses must be open. That means you can enjoy life when your senses are open, not covered by this material body. That is recommended. One who is interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness... It is said, sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). Nirmalam means purified. You have to become purified. And sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam. Now we are in, covered, by this material body, means I am covered by so many designations: "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim." These are all coverings, material.
So anyone who does not take advantage of the instruction of abhijñaḥ, they are simply cats and dogs. They are not human beings.
Here we have got, in India especially, so nice literature. Vedic literature. Essence of Vedic literature-Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalam (SB 1.1.3). It is recommended that nigama means Vedas. Nigama is compared with a tree. Nigama-kalpa-taru. Kalpa-taru means desire tree. From the Vedas you can take all kinds of education, knowledge. Therefore it is called kalpa-taru. So as of the tree there are fruits and ripened fruit... Just like mango tree. There are fruits, green mango and ripened mango. The ripened mango is very interesting.
Actually, our material conditioned life means the mind is covered with dirt, all unclean, dirty things. That is the disease. When we are in the lower stage of tamo-guṇa and rajo-guṇa, these dirty things are very much prominent. Therefore one has to raise himself from the position of tamo-guṇa and rajo-guṇa to sattva-guṇa. The process is recommended, how to cleanse the mind: śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ (SB 1.2.17). One has to hear the kṛṣṇa-kathā. Kṛṣṇa is within everyone's heart, and when He sees that a conditioned soul... Because the individual soul is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa wants that "This individual soul, rascal, he is so much attached for material enjoyment, which is the cause of his bondage, birth and death, old age and disease, and he's so fool that he does not take into consideration that 'Why I should be subjected to repetition of birth, death, old age and disease?'
So it is not completely cleansed, but even it is fifty percent or sixty percent cleansed, naṣṭa-prāyeṣu abhadreṣu... How? Nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā. Regularly hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. These two processes recommended by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Chant your rounds regularly. Make a fixed-up... We have fixed up only minimum. Haridāsa Ṭhākura was chanting 300,000 times, and we have made sixteen times. And still, etādṛśī tava kṛpā bhagavan mamāpi durdaivam īdṛśam ihājani nā... "I could not perform even sixteen rounds. Such unfortunate I am." You see? Etādṛśī tava kṛpā... We have mini..., minimized, the lowest number, the easiest process... Caitanya Mahāprabhu says read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Don't talk nonsense; don't waste your time.
When the mind is cleansed. This can be done, nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā (SB 1.2.18). Nityam. Not Bhāgavata-saptāha. The Bhāgavata-saptāha, that is a business. Real business is nityam. We don't find in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by so many big, big commentators, Śrīdhara Svāmī, Jīva Gosvāmī, and Vīrarāghava Ācārya, many, many... They never recommend Bhāgavata-saptāha. I do not know wherefrom it has come. Bhāgavata says, nityaṁ bhāgavata... Why week? Every day. If it is possible, twenty-four hours. Therefore one has to retire from these family, social, political responsibilities, and whole time devote for chanting and Bhāgavata reading. That is required. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. At least, as much as possible. Don't waste time. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita has says that āyuṣaḥ kṣaṇa eko 'pi na labhyaḥ svarṇa-koṭibhiḥ. Āyuḥ, the duration of life... Suppose I shall live for hundred years.
Just like the gopīs. The gopīs went to Kṛṣṇa at mid..., midnight, by simply hearing the flute of Kṛṣṇa. So young girl, going to Kṛṣṇa at midnight, this is impious activities. According to śāstra, according to moral, it is impious activities. But because it was done for Kṛṣṇa, it is understood as the most pious. Recommends. Who recommends? Caitanya Mahāprabhu, that ramyā kācid upāsanā vraja-vadhū-vargeṇa yā kalpitā. Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He was sannyāsī. He was very, very strict. And no woman could come near Him to offer respects. He was very strict about woman. And now, He's saying, ramyā kācid upāsanā vraja-vadhū-vargeṇa yā kalpitā: "What can be more wonderful process of worship than as it was conceived by the gopīs?"
So, so although it looks apparently that gopīs went to Kṛṣṇa to dance with Him, that is not very moral, but Caitanya Mahāprabhu recommends that is the highest method of worshiping Kṛṣṇa.
So this requires jñānam. Therefore this is called transcendental knowledge, how serving Kṛṣṇa, one becomes transcendental to all these pious and impious activities. That requires knowledge.
Teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam, dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ tam. The buddhi-yogam. He directs, "Do like this, do like that." Then... What for buddhi? Yena mām upayānti te. Then, gradually, you come to Kṛṣṇa, back to home, back to Godhead. Therefore it is recommended here, na yujyamānayā bhaktyā bhagavaty akhilātmani, sadṛśo 'sti śivaḥ panthā. Śiva means auspicious. Śiva means auspiciousness. So if you actually interested for self-realization, if you want to become perfect in this life, śivaḥ panthā, the most auspicious, most perfect panthā is... What is that? Now, bhaktyā bhagavati. You just become a devotee and engage yourself in devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Not the so-called rascal Bhagavān, but bhagavaty akhilātman. One, the..., that Bhagavān who is present everywhere.
Here it is also recommended: sa eva sādhuṣu kṛtaḥ. Association, prasaṅga... Saṅgāt sañjāyate kāmaḥ. In the... (pause, sound of baby continuing) No... Saṅgāt sañjāyate kāmaḥ. As you associate with... Man is social animal, it is said. So according to your association, you can mold your character. If you associate with businessmen, then... They actually form so many associations to develop their business capacity. Practical. There is stock exchange association, this market association, that market association. There is club, association of the drunkards. So there are many association, and this association, different types of association, is the cause of bondage in that particular thing.
There must be a class of men in the society, first-class sādhu. Then the society will improve. If everyone is debauch and śūdra, then how the society will be peaceful? There is... Therefore, to organize the society, Kṛṣṇa recommends, cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). There must be ideal brāhmaṇa. There must be ideal kṣatriya, ideal vaiśya. And balance, all śūdras. But nobody's caring that.
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
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. Nine lakhs forms of life in the water. 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.
You have got some intelligence. Everyone is intelligent how to make his sense gratification very nice. Even an ant knows how to gratify his senses. So you have to sacrifice that. Don't gratify your senses, but try to gratify Kṛṣṇa's senses. Then you are perfect. Then you are perfect.
That you have to learn from the sādhu. Because it is recommended in the..., that sa eva sādhuṣu kṛtaḥ. As much we are trying to gratify our senses and we have become attached to this material world—prasaṅgam ajaraṁ pāśam. We are becoming more and more entangled. The same thing, if we do for a sādh u or Kṛṣṇa... Sādhu-guru-kṛṣṇa. Sādhu-śāstra-guru. So sādhu is representative of Kṛṣṇa. Or Kṛṣṇa directly... Sādhu will never say that "You serve me."
It is punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām (SB 7.5.30). The same thing are being repeated in different way. So what is the use of talking such thing? Better, if you want to talk, talk on Kṛṣṇa, talk on Bhagavad-gītā, talk on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and enjoy life. That is required.
That is recommended here: mad-āśrayāḥ kathā mṛṣṭāḥ śṛṇvanti kathayanti ca. If you simply talk about Kṛṣṇa and hear about Kṛṣṇa, then that stage will come when there will be no more suffering always. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). This is called ānandamaya in the Vedānta-sūtra. A living entity or Kṛṣṇa, they are ānandamaya. Prācurye maya-pratyaya. Simply ānanda.
There are many yogis, but that yogi who is thinking of Kṛṣṇa always, man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ, mad-gatenāntar-ātmanā, sa me yuktatamaḥ: "In My opinion that is... He is the first-class yogi." Not to show any magic. Magic, that is magic, that if he does not suffer from any suffering, that is the greatest magic. But that will be done by a devotee. And Kṛṣṇa also recommends.
So our life should be... This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is being spread only for this purpose. What is this? Śṛṇvanti kathayanti ca. Mad-āśrayāḥ kathā mṛṣṭāḥ. When we shall feel pleasure by hearing about Kṛṣṇa or talking about Kṛṣṇa, we must know that we are making progress on the path of perfection. And at that time any kind of this material suffering will not be felt. This is the practical effect of executing devotional service.
So here it is recommended, satāṁ prasaṅgāt, talks between devotees. Satām means devotee, not ordinary person; those who are devotees, sat. Sat and asat. There are two things. Sat means which exists, and asat mean which does not exist—temporary. That is called asat. This material world is asat. Therefore Vedic injunction is asato mā sad gama: "Don't keep yourself within this material world." (aside:) That child... Asato mā.
Just like if we are diseased, there is infectious disease, epidemic, so we should be careful not to be infected by the infectious disease. Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī said in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa... He has written one book, "The Behavior of the Vaiṣṇava," Hari-bhakti-vilāsa. So in that book he has recommended, avaiṣṇava-mukhodgīrṇaṁ pūtaṁ hari-kathāmṛtam, śravaṇaṁ naiva kartavyam. He has said that "One who is not Vaiṣṇava by his behavior, by his action, by his mode of life, if he speaks something from śāstra, especially hari-kathā..." Hari-kathā means Bhagavad-gītā, the Purāṇas, out of which the Bhāgavata, Mahāpurāṇa. So we should not hear from a professional reader, or avaiṣṇava, or Māyāvādī. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has warned, māyāvādi-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa (CC Madhya 6.169). If we hear Bhagavad-gītā—that is kṛṣṇa-kathā, hari-kathā—we should not hear from the Māyāvādīs or avaiṣṇava. Then it will not be effective.
"This kṛṣṇa-kathā, this chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa, is creating nuisance." Just see how much we have advanced after getting independence. They are complaining that we are creating nuisance. Satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ (BG 9.14). Kīrtana is recommended in the Bhagavad-gītā satatam, always, twenty-four hours. Satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ (BG 9.14). And worshiping the Deity with attention, with care. These things are going on here, and people are complaining we are creating nuisance. Just see. Asat is so dangerous. Therefore we have to create a society of sat. Then the world will be saved. Otherwise they are going to the hellish condition of life.
Guru, although worshiped as Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa... Sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstraiḥ. Not in one śāstra, but all the Vedic śāstra, they describe guru, guru-brahma. They describe on the equal footing. Guru, being representative of Kṛṣṇa, he is worshiped as Kṛṣṇa. Sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstraiḥ. All śāstra recommends that. Tathā bhāvyata eva sadbhiḥ. And those who are pure devotees, they accept. But that does not mean that guru declares himself that "I am Kṛṣṇa. I am God." No. Kintu prabhor yaḥ priya eva tasya. He is the most confidential servant of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore he is very dear. And as he is very dear to Kṛṣṇa, if he recommends somebody, "Kṛṣṇa, accept him," He will accept him. Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ **. That is the system.
So in order to get the mercy of guru, so yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ **, we must search out a bona fide spiritual master, representative of Kṛṣṇa or Kapiladeva, and then we shall submit and offer service. In this way we shall please the guru, and if he is satisfied, then our business is complete. Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādo yasyāprasādān na gatiḥ kuto 'pi **. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu recommended this process, this process, jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva. The process of understanding or approaching the Supreme Personality of Godhead is this.
They never said, "We have seen Kṛṣṇa." And Caitanya Mahāprabhu also, He said, "I was dreaming of Kṛṣṇa, and why you wake Me? I have lost the chance." In this way they were making bhajana. This is called viraha-bhajana, viraha-bhajana, separation. That is very recommended process. So we should be awakened, awaken our consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, in such a way that being separated from Kṛṣṇa, we shall become mad after Him. This is called kṛṣṇa-prema. That prema was being distributed by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. And He is still distributing.
So we should be awakened, awaken our consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, in such a way that being separated from Kṛṣṇa, we shall become mad after Him. This is called kṛṣṇa-prema. That prema was being distributed by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. And He is still distributing.
So how this prema can be awakened easily, that has been recommended by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, quoting from Lord Brahmā's prayer to Kṛṣṇa, jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva. Don't try to understand Kṛṣṇa by your tiny knowledge. We are imperfect. How we can speculate on Kṛṣṇa? That is not... Because there are certain persons, jñānīs, they want to know. Just like theosophists. They want to know the Absolute Truth by speculation. But that is not possible.
Ciram, for many, many years, if you speculate, you cannot understand Kṛṣṇa. You have to receive the mercy of Kṛṣṇa through the spiritual master. Then it is possible. That is recommended by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhir ye prāyaśo 'jita. Kṛṣṇa's another name is Ajita; you cannot conquer Him. When Kṛṣṇa was present, He had to fight with so many demons, but nobody could conquer Him. That is the history. He conquered everyone, but nobody could conquer Him. He is conquered by His devotee only. That's all. Therefore His name is Ajita. Ajita. If you want to conquer over Ajita, then you simply... Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that "Don't speculate." Sthāne sthitāḥ... Jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva. Be submissive: "Kṛṣṇa, I am very poor.
So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is meant for giving education to the people of this sāṅkhya-yoga system or bhakti-yoga system, because it is the recommended process by authorities. And all the āmnāya, origin of the āmnāya, just like Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva, then Kapiladeva—here is Kapiladeva—they are mahājana. Mahājana means great authorities. Dharmasya tattvaṁ nihitaṁ guhāyāṁ mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186). It is very difficult to understand the path of perfection. Therefore the śāstra recommended that "You follow the mahājana." This is called āmnāya. "You follow the mahājana." And who are mahājana? They are also described in the śāstras: svayambhūr nāradaḥ śambhuḥ (SB 6.3.20). Svayambhū means Lord Brahmā. Lord Brahmā is... Another name is Svayambhū. He was found in the lotus flower emanating from the navel of Viṣṇu.
"You are so much fond of prostitute. If this attraction would have been to Kṛṣṇa, how much successful you would have..." So it acted, and he left to Vṛndāvana and lived for seven hundred years. So he has a book, Kṛṣṇa-karṇāmṛta, Bilvamaṅgala Ṭhākura. That is recommended by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu for reading, Kṛṣṇa-karnāmṛta. So in that book he writes, bhaktis tvayi sthiratarā bhagavan yadi syāt: "If we have got fixed-up devotion unto You, my Lord, Bhagavān," then daivena naḥ phalati divya-kiśora-mūrtiḥ, "then very easily we can see Your form," divya-kiśora-mūrtiḥ, "Your divine form," kiśora-mūrtiḥ, "very young boy." Kṛṣṇa is always kiśora. Kṛṣṇa's another name is Kiśora. Kiśora-mūrtiḥ. Kiśora means kaiśora, before marriage, before..., eleventh to sixteenth year. This is called kiśora age. So kiśora-mūrtiḥ.
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.
Parakīyā-rasa means love without marriage. That is called parakīyā-rasa. Therefore you will find the parakīyā-rasa... Kṛṣṇa's loving affairs with the gopīs without marriage, that is called parakīyā-rasa. Parakīyā-rasa is the highest, topmost relishable spiritual bliss. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu recommended ramyā kācid upāsanā vraja-vadhū-vargeṇa yā kalpitā. Kṛṣṇa displayed everything so to attract us, that "You are captivated by this material jaḍa-rasa, material rasa." There is rasa; otherwise why a man is working so hard to maintain the family? Unless there is some ānanda, why he is taking? Nobody is taking so much hard responsibility for others. But children, wife, family, they take. There is... Unless there is some ānanda, how he can take? So the relationship has got ānanda. But this ānanda is flickering, illusion. Ato gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittair janasya moho 'yam (SB 5.5.8). This is moha. It will not stay; it is temporary, illusion.
Then everything will be performed. Yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi sumedhasaḥ (SB 11.5.32). Those who are intelligent person, they can perform yajña, saṅkīrtana-yajña.
This is recommended in this age. Other yajñas is not possible. Kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇuṁ tretāyāṁ yajato makhaiḥ (SB 12.3.52). Tretāyām. Yajña performance was very prominent in the Tretā-yuga, at that time. But at present moment it is not possible. Dhyāna-yajña, dravya-yajña, jñāna-yajña, and saṅkīrtana-yajña. So in this age, saṅkīrtana-yajña is recommended. Yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi sumedhasaḥ (SB 11.5.32). Sumedhasaḥ means those who have got good brain. And it is so easy, anywhere you can perform. Any part of the world, you assemble together.
Any part of the world, you assemble together. Saṅkīrtana means bahubhir militvā, by intermingling various persons. Just like we are doing here saṅkīrtana-kīrtana and saṅkīrtana. Kīrtana means alone, and saṅkīrtana means in the assembly of many others. That is called saṅkīrtana. So that is recommended, that many persons, you sit together. There is no need of even instrument, but because Lord Caitanya introduced this khol, karatāla. Otherwise this clapping is sufficient. So it is very easy, saṅkīrtana-yajña. You sit down familywise, all the family members. If you perform saṅkīrtana, Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, with the clapping of hands, that is saṅkīrtana-yajña, very easy to perform. But people will not do that. Instead of performing saṅkīrtana-yajña in the evening to become free from all fears of life, they will go to the restaurant, to the cinema and other places, talking unnecessarily in clubs, societies, waste their time.
Yogis means bhakti-yogī, not these gymnastic yogi. Therefore the yogis... Of course, to concentrate the mind under some mechanical process... Therefore, those who are under too much under the concept of bodily concept of life, for them, this haṭha-yoga is recommended, because they know simply this body. "So all right, you make exercise in this way. You practice this āsana. You sit down like this. You see like this. You think like this." In this way there is a mechanical process to control the mind and senses. That is gymnastic part of the yoga system. But real process is to concentrate the mind upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ (SB 12.13.1). The yogi's business is, by controlling the mind, focus it toward Kṛṣṇa or Lord Viṣṇu. That is real yoga system.
At the present moment in this Kali-yuga, if you simply hear about Kṛṣṇa, śravaṇam, you don't require any education. You don't require to be a Ph.D. and M.S.C. God has given you the ear. You go to a person, realized soul, and hear from him. Simply hear from him. That is recommended in this age, because people are very, very fallen. They have no education. They have no inclination how to make perfect life. They do not know what is perfection of life. They think, "If I can eat sumptuously, that is perfection of life." Udaraṁ bharita. Svārtham udaraṁ bharita. In this age, if one man can eat very voraciously, he thinks, "My all interest are finished." He thinks. Because people are so, I mean, hungry, that they think, "If I can get a sumptuous food, that is perfection of life." This is Kali-yuga.
"My all interest is now fulfilled because I am voraciously eating."
So we are hearing. This is wanted. Caitanya Mahāprabhu recommended this process, that whatever condition you are, it does not matter. You simply search out a devotee and hear from him. That is recommended. Ihā haya. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ. Sthāne sthitāḥ. You, whatever you are, there is no need of change, because it is very difficult to change position. Better remain your position, but you hear about Kṛṣṇa. That is our movement. Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to give chance people to hear about Kṛṣṇa. So many ways. Then, even Kṛṣṇa is Ajita—nobody can conquer Him—simply by hearing, you will conquer Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa will be very, very intimate friend of you, simply by hearing. That is said also in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavata: śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
The energy is the same, but it is the manipulation of the engineer which can turn heat into cold and cold into heat. So therefore, for Kṛṣṇa there is no material nature. Everything is spiritual nature. Even Kṛṣṇa appears as material form, as stone, as matter, still, one who knows Kṛṣṇa, he can derive Kṛṣṇa's favor from any form. Otherwise the devotees are recommended to worship the Deity in the temple.
So do you think that the ācāryas and the śāstra have advised them to waste their time by worshiping a stone? It is all recommended by the ācāryas, big, big ācāryas. Just like Rāmānujācārya. He established hundreds of temples all over India, Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa temple especially, the Rāmānuja-sampradāya. Similarly, Caitanya Mahāprabhu's sampradāya established hundreds of temples of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. Big, big ācārya. Do you mean to say they did mistake? As some people of our India, they say, "There is no need of worshiping in the temple." No. Why not need? Ācāryopāsanam, that is recommended, jñāna. Ācārya... Ācāryas, they have established temples, many hundreds of thousands of temples, of Viṣṇu mandira.
Arcye viṣṇau śilā-dhīr guruṣu nara-matir vaiṣṇave jāti-buddhiḥ. These things are forbidden. You cannot... Arcye viṣṇau śilā-dhīḥ. Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu, the same thing—if you think that this mūrti is made of stone, śilā-dhīḥ, or Śālagrāma-śilā, if you think it is śilā or stone, this is nārakī-buddhiḥ. This is not recommended. It is... Don't think. Arcye viṣṇau śilā-dhīr guruṣu nara-matiḥ. And those who are guru, spiritual master, Vaiṣṇava, if you think of them that he is ordinary human being, that is forbidden. Gāṅga-jala or caraṇāmṛta, if you think ordinary water, that is forbidden. Vaiṣṇave jāti-buddhiḥ. Vaiṣṇava, who has become devotee of Kṛṣṇa, if you think that he belongs to this caste, he belongs to that caste, that is also forbidden.
So in this way going on. Yayā sammohito jīvaḥ.
Vyāsadeva said, yayā sammohito jīva ātmānaṁ tri-guṇātmakam, manute anartham. So anartham, some useless purpose of life, anartham.
So the Vyāsadeva recommended, or Sūta Gosvāmī said, anartha upaśamaṁ sākṣād bhakti-yogam adhokṣaje. If you want to get out of this anartham, unwanted and purposeless life of material existence... That one should first of all understand, that this material existence is anartham. Anartham means purposeless life. There is no purpose. Real purpose should be how to get out of the spell of material nature. That is real purpose. They do not know. They do not know. They are taking very seriously some temporary purpose of life, which will be changed with the change of body. Now, as human being, I am manufacturing so many purposes of life, but as soon as the body is changed and I get the body of a cat or dog or tree, the whole purpose is changed. Therefore it is purposeless life, anartham.
That's all. So Ṛṣabhadeva said, "My dear sons, this kind of standard of life is available in the life of pigs." Kaṣṭān kāmān arhate ye viḍ-bhujām. Viḍ-bhujām means stool-eaters.
Then what is human life? If this is not life, then what is real life? That, He recommends, tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyet sattvam (SB 5.5.1). Sattva, your sattva, your existence, is now impure. It is covered by this material nature; therefore it is impure. So you have to purify. That is real life. And to purify means tapasya. Tapo divyam (SB 5.5.1). Tapasā brahmacaryeṇa (SB 6.1.13). That is the way. That is Vedic civilization. That is Vedic civilization, or you may call Indian civilization or Hindu civilization. Actually, it is Vedic civilization. Therefore you will find in India, in the history of India, Mahābhārata, greater India, that many people, they are engaged in tapasya. A part of life must be engaged for tapasya.
Everyone is not getting. Who is destined to get, he will get it, not that everyone, because he, one is trying very hard, it is guaranteed that he will get one millions dollars. That is not possible. That one who is to get by destiny... This is the śāstra. Actually, this is the fact.
Therefore Vedic civilization does not recommend that you waste your valuable life simply for so-called happiness or economic..., improvement of economic condition. Because it is not possible that everyone trying for improving economic condition and everyone is becoming millionaire. No. That is not possible. You cannot get more or less what you are destined to get. Otherwise everyone would have been millionaires—everyone. In Bombay there are so many. People are trying, working very hard day and night. Still, somebody is living in a very nice, palatial building and somebody is living in the Jappara, or what is that? Most abominable condition. In Bombay city. Why? Because one is destined.
Who? Now, budha, one who has understood very perfectly well through the śāstra, through sādhu. Sādhu, śāstra, guru. The source of information is sādhu, śāstra, guru.
That is also recommended in the Bhagavad-gītā:
- tad viddhi praṇipātena
- paripraśnena sevayā
- upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ
- jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ
- (BG 4.34)
So we have to approach to a guru, tattva-darśī. Tattva-darśī. Tattva-darśī means... What is tattva? Tattva means truth. One who has seen the truth.
He never says. Or yogena. No. These are not the process to understand the Absolute Truth. You can make little advance, but it is... Avan manasa-gocaraḥ. What advance you can make with your limited senses? That is not possible. He is beyond the scope of my mental activities. So you cannot reach that. Therefore Kṛṣṇa has recommended that "If you want to know Me, then you have to adopt this process, bhakti-yoga." And Kṛṣṇa accepts everything through bhakti. Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26). Not these karmīs, jñānīs. He doesn't accept anything from the hands of karmīs and jñānīs. Karmīs and jñānīs cannot approach Him, what to speak of accepting their offering. That is not possible. They cannot approach Him.
And when it is high fever and quite manifest, the delusion and so many other things, that is called prārabdha.
So we are all undergoing prārabdha-phalam, manifest phala, for our past deeds. So they are very deep-rooted. It is very difficult to uproot them. But there is one process. That is recommended: bhaja vāsudevam. Bhaja... The others... There are many yogis, jñānīs, they are trying to get out of the situation, kūṭa-stha, phalonmukha, prārabdha situation of our life. But Śrīmad-Bhāgavata says that the devotees, they can very easily uproot the causes of our material miserable condition of life. Yat-pāda-paṅkaja-palāśa-vilāsa-bhaktyā. Vilāsa. Vilāsa means enjoying, and bhaktyā means devotees. They are always attached to the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ (SB 9.4.18).
So if you can control the senses by the yogic, mystic yogic process, this mechanical endeavor, how to control the mind, then you can again be placed in the original spiritual status. That is the yoga system. The yoga system is recommended to persons whose mind is very restless. Everyone's mind is restless—not a particular man mind is restless. Everyone's. But it is very difficult, also, to bring the mind into peaceful status. So long the desires are there, it is not possible to bring the mind in complete peace and tranquillity. It is not possible because the saṅkalpa-vikalpa... Vartate-kāma-sambhavaḥ. So long there is desire, so it is not possible to bring the mind under control. Therefore Caitanya-caritāmṛta says, Kavirāja Gosvāmī, that even the pious actors, those who are acting very piously...
That is the mind. It requires little training.
For training the mind, this yoga system is. Those who are too much engrossed in the bodily concept of life, for them, this yoga system, aṣṭāṅga-yoga system, is recommended by practicing a certain type of āsana and making a type of exercise of the breathing, in this way, prāṇāyāma, dhyāna, dhāraṇā, āsana, prāṇāyāma. But there is another simple method that is recommended in the śāstra. You can train up your mind if you simply keep your mind on the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is here, and you see Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet, and if you practice to meditate upon Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet, Kṛṣṇa's bodily feature, then immediately your mind becomes controlled. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ (SB 9.4.18). Ambarīṣa Mahārāja, he was the emperor of the world. He had to manage many political affairs.
That is real yoga. Dhyānāvasthita. Dhyāna. Dhyāna means meditation. So they sit down in dhyāna. What is the subject matter of dhyāna? The subject matter of dhyāna is the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu. That is dhyāna, dhyāna-yoga. That is... Then you get yogic perfection. And Kṛṣṇa recommends in the Bhagavad-gītā how first-class yoga is thinking of Kṛṣṇa:
This Hare Kṛṣṇa movement is not a manufactured way. This is actually following the Vedic principle. This is Agni-Purāṇa, Brahmāṇḍa-Purāṇa, Brahma-vaivarta-Purāṇa, and Kali-santaraṇa-Upaniṣad. There are many Vedic literatures, they are recommended, this Hare Kṛṣṇa. Sometime it is said, "Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare"; sometime it is "Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare." So people become puzzled, which one should be first vibrated. So any one you can vibrate. Either you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa or Hare Rāma in the beginning, it doesn't matter. There is no difference between the holy name of Kṛṣṇa and Rāma. But still, there is some distinction. In the śāstra it is said that "If you chant one thousand times Lord Viṣṇu's name, that is equal to chanting one name of Lord Rāma." Sahasra, sahasra, Viṣṇu-sahasra-nāma. And if you chant three times Lord Rāma's name, it is equal to one time chanting Kṛṣṇa's name.
This is called para-duḥkha-duḥkhī. He knows that all these conditioned souls, they are, I mean to say, rotting in this material world and suffering. And the only remedy is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That's a fact. Only remedy is. Bhavauṣadhāc chrotra mano-'bhirāmāt.
This was recommended by Śrīla Parīkṣit Mahārāja, the king. He said that this Kṛṣṇa consciousness is bhavauṣadhi. Bhavauṣadhi means bhava. Bhava means this repeated birth and death. Bhava means you be and again you not be, not be for few months. Our death means a sleeping for seven months. That is the description we get from the śāstras. Just like you go on sleep every night, so death means to sleep for seven months, unconsciousness, very deep sleep, in the womb of the mother.
And those who are foolish, mūḍha, they are interested in this temporary life, and they do not know what is there after death, neither they have got any knowledge what is spirit, what is matter. Ignorance. In darkness.
Therefore one is recommended to associate with sat. Satāṁ prasaṅgān mama vīrya-saṁvido bhavanti hṛt-karṇa-rasāyanāḥ kathāḥ (SB 3.25.25). Satāṁ prasaṅgān. In the association of devotees the discussion on the matter of the Absolute Truth becomes very palatable. We have to hear about the Absolute Truth through the association of persons who are endeavoring to make progress towards eternal life, sat-patham. Yogasya lakṣaṇam. What are the symptoms of yoga?
Either you chant, sit down in the Deity room in front of the Deity, see how āratrika is going on, how Deity is nicely dressed with flower, ornaments, so if you constantly be engaged in thinking of the Deity, that is first-class meditation, not artificially going to That is not possible at the present moment, that, as it is recommended in the Bhagavad-gītā, you have to select a very solitary place and you have to sit down under certain posture, looking half-opened eyes on the tip of the nose so that you may not sleep in the name of meditation. There are so many. And you have to follow brahmacārya. All these rules and regulations are there: dhyāna, dhāraṅā, āsana, prāṇāyāma. Prāṇāyāma. Then?
Then there is samādhi. So this yoga system is recommended, but that it is very, very difficult. Five thousand years ago, when Kṛṣṇa explained this haṭha-yoga system in the Sixth Chapter to Arjuna Arjuna was honest man. He flatly denied, "Kṛṣṇa, these things cannot be done by me." Because in those days, especially a person like Arjuna, why he should speak lies? This meditation is not possible. It was only possible in the Satya-yuga when people were very peaceful, long duration of life, there was no artificial necessities of life. Kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇum. At that time, to meditate upon Viṣṇu and for years Just like Vālmīki Muni. He practiced meditation for sixty thousands of years. Then he got perfection. At that time people used to live for 100,000.
Therefore he has got this qualification of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. Tepus tapas te jihuvuḥ sasnur āryā (SB 3.33.7). They are really Āryā, Āryan, who is chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa.
So we should practice ourself to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa always. Kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ, Caitanya Mahāprabhu recommended.
Unfortunate. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ. And always disturbed. This is the description of the men in this Kali-yuga. And beyond that, they are short-living. The duration of life is very short. Under the circumstances, the general process is impossible. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu recommended,
- harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam
- kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā
- (CC Adi 17.21)
- So this should be taken.
So, "Hearing includes applying the mind. In this age of Kali-yuga, Lord Caitanya has recommended that one should always engage in chanting and hearing Bhagavad-gītā." Yāre dekha, tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa-upadeśa (CC Madhya 7.128).' Kṛṣṇa also said... Somebody questioned me, that "Where is chanting is recommended in the Bhagavad-gītā?" That is there: satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ (BG 9.14). And they say, "Where is chanting in the word?" Here is chanting. Mām. Satataṁ kīrtayanto mām (BG 9.14). Mām-Kṛṣṇa-kīrtana, not this kīrtana, that kīrtana. They have imitated. No. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ (SB 7.5.23). Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam means of the, by the name of Viṣṇu. The Māyāvādīs, they have invented.
And this is the plenary portion of God, Govinda—not full, but plenary, one part only. And do you think God is so cheap, anyone can become God? You don't take so cheaply that "Here is a God, incarnation. Here is a God." All bogus. Immediately reject them. Sādhu śāstra guru vākya.
So this arca-vigraha which you are worshiping, it is recommended by sādhu, by ācārya, by śāstra. It is not poetic imagination. Don't think that Kṛṣṇa's form has been carved by the sculptor by some poetic imagination. No. Sādhu śāstra guru vākya. It is confirmed by the sādhu, by śāstra, by ācārya. So why? To give us facility. Give us facility. We cannot see God by this blunt, materialistic eyes. Materialistic eyes means everything we think in the, with reference to our sense gratification. That is materialistic eyes.
The real father is Kṛṣṇa. Sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayoyaḥ (BG 14.4).
So this is understanding. So we have to return to that understanding. Therefore it is advised how to make our relationship stronger with Kṛṣṇa. That is recommended here. Tasmiḻ labdha-padaṁ cittaṁ sarvāvayava-saṁsthitam. Don't think that Kṛṣṇa or God has no head, no tail. No. Sarvāvayava saṁsthitam. Virāṭa-mūrti. They are repeatedly said in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. But His avayava, different parts of the body, they are different from our, this material, at the present moment the material conception. That is different.
When Kṛṣṇa is described as "He has no hand," that means He has no that limited hand as we have got. He has got... He appears before us just like a stone idol or statue, but He has got all the capacity of the limbs of the body, sarvāvayava. He has kindly appeared before us so that we can see. Here it is recommended that saṁyujyād aṅge. You have to see each and every part of the body, limb of Kṛṣṇa. That is meditation.
Prabhupāda: That will be recommended to you by your spiritual master according to your position. There is no stereotyped idea. That you have to take, instruction from your spiritual master, or you have to do according to the instruction of spiritual master. That will be nice.
Girl devotee (2): Śrīla Prabhupāda, when we chant japa in front of arca-mūrti, do we then therefore, by this verse, meditate on Kṛṣṇa limb by limb?
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Brahmānanda: When we chant japa in front of the Deity, does that correspond to this verse of meditating on the Lord limb by limb?
Prabhupāda: Yes. You can see. The Lord is everywhere. You can... Anyone can think. All right. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.
There must be sufficient milk in the human society. If you drink more milk and milk products, then your brain will be very sharp. You will understand things very nicely, corectly. Therefore milk is very important. In the Vedic śāstra cow protection is recommended. Why? Because milk is very, very important thing. Milk is... What about the meat-eaters? If there are meat-eaters, they can eat other animals, but especially they should not eat the cow. They should give them protection. So because the vaiśyas, the first class, second class, third class, they are meant for producing food for the society... So milk is very important.
Therefore it is recommended, kṛṣi-gorakṣya-vāṇijyam. And if there is excess, they can trade. And this is the first class, second class, third class. And those who cannot act as first-class men or as second-class men or third-class men—that means fourth-class men—they are called laborer or worker class of men.
So it is not that because one person is belonging to the worker class and another person is becoming the first class, there is differentiation. No. Everyone is important. Just like in this body the head is very important. That is a fact.
Caitanya Mahāprabhu has recommended, paraṁ vijāyate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam. Simply by... Caitanya Mahāprabhu has recommended not whimsically. This is the prescription of this age: kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet (SB 12.3.51). If you perfectly chant this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya—not any other name but Kṛṣṇa-mukta-saṅgaḥ: you can become free from this material association, or the contamination due to material contact. That is the special advantage of this age. This age, Kali-yuga, is full of faulty things. Kaler doṣa-nidhe. It is an ocean of faulty things. It is very, very difficult. Sarvānge gha upaidha (?) mala. A man is suffering from itches or what is called..., sores, all over the body.
We have constructed big, big nice building. But because the building is there, you simply come here as free guest and make life very easy for eating and sleeping, that is not tapasya. That is not tapasya. You must be very careful how to keep the temple very cleansed, yourself clean, worshiping the Deity. That is recommended. Śrī-vigrahārādhana-nitya-nānā-śṛṅgāra-tan mandira-mārjanādau **. This is also tapasya. If you cannot read, if you cannot do any other thing, so try to keep the temple... Every corner of this temple is Kṛṣṇa. Don't think that only Kṛṣṇa is here in the temple room. No. Kṛṣṇa is everywhere, especially this temple where Kṛṣṇa lives. Every part of this temple, every part of is Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise why it is recommended, tan-mandira-mārjanādiṣu? This is tapasya.
Actual activities begins when there is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. These activities, they're my activities temporarily. They will not give us real happiness. Real happiness means when we come to the platform to be engaged in Kṛṣṇa's activities. Tapo divyam putrakā yena (SB 5.5.1). Then we will get eternal happiness. That is recommended here. Brahma-sukha does not mean that, as ordinarily they think, that to become brahma-lin or merge into the existence of Brahman, no. That will be explained in the next verse: mahat-sevāṁ dvāram ahur vimukteḥ (SB 5.5.2). It will be explained. We shall take up this subject tomorrow.
There are two, just like we are in the crossroad, which way we shall go? That can be understood in this human form of life. This human form of life, we have come to this point by evolution. Now we are on the, just on the crossroad, whether we shall go this way or that way. If we want to be free from the entanglement of material misery, then here it is recommended, mahat-sevām. We must render service to the holy, saintly person and if you want to go deeper and deeper in the darkest region of existence, then we should turn our face for sense gratification.
Those who are performing big, big yajñas, charity, they can expect to be transferred to the heavenly planet. But those who are not doing anything, living like cats and dogs, oh, their life is very risky. Very risky. But they do not know. There is no such education. But here it is recommended, that, mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur. If you associate with saintly persons then there is possibility of your door being opened for liberation. Dvāram āhur vimuktes.
This body is finished, everything is finished. Most irresponsible life. This is not to be carried on. Ṛṣabhadeva says that "My dear sons, don't live this irresponsible life like animals, hogs and dogs, but take the responsibility of human life. Undergo austerities, penances, as they ae recommended in the śāstras and make your life..." It is individual. If this movement cannot be taken massively, every individual can practice it. That is Indian culture. Every Indian was educated how to become a brāhmaṇa, for coming to this platform of austerity. And following the examples of brāhmaṇa, the kṣatriya and the vaiśyas and the śūdras, they also benefited.
So simply by becoming bhakta... Kevalayā... Kecid kevalayā bhaktyā vāsudeva-parayaṇaḥ. Kevalayā bhakta. Simply if you take to the process of bhakti... That is recommended in the Bhagavad-gītā also. Bhaktyā mām abhijānanti. If you want to know God, if you want to know the relationship with God, if you know what is your business after understanding God, then bhakti. Kṛṣṇa says. Kṛṣṇa, no... Although there are different ways of self-realization—karma, jñāna, yoga, bhakti, these are the principles. But Kṛṣṇa recommends that "If you want to know Me actually, then bhaktyā." Kṛṣṇa teaches Arjuna Bhagavad-gītā because Arjuna was a devotee. Bhakto 'si me priyo 'si: (BG 4.3) "Because you are My dear friend and bhakta, therefore I am teaching you."
Another liberation is to achieve the status quo of life as good as God. Sārūpya, sāyujya, sālokya, sāmīpya. You can associate yourself with God. That is another liberation. In this way, there are five kinds of liberation. Generally the Māyāvādī philosophers, they want to merge into the existence of God. That also, one of the recommended process of liberation. But so far we are concerned, we don't want even to merge into the existence of God, but we want to become associated with God in friendship, in love, in servitude, in so many ways. We want to keep our existence, individual existence, and associate with God. That is the Vaiṣṇava philosophy.
That concession is always there. But the main principle is there. Just like we are getting our boys and girls married. So according to Vedic rites, marriage is a very big program. But we are finishing, according to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, simply by acceptance. Svīkāra eva ca udvāhe. In this age it is recommended that if a girl accepts somebody as husband or if a man accepts somebody as wife, that is final. That's all. They may not change it. There is no need of making a very gorgeous ceremony of marriage. There is no need of making... That is, of course, social function. Actually, thing is that one boy should accept one girl as his permanent friend in life. And one girl should accept one boy as her permanent friend in her life. The girl should be agreed to serve the boy for her comforts, and the boy should agree to accept the girl to maintain her throughout life. That's all.
That's all. Finished. Simply we must have that good will. Then this process of opening the path of liberation will be very, I mean to say, favorable. You can open your path of liberation even without marriage, remaining brahmacārī, but for girls brahmacārī system is not recommended. Therefore girls are advised to get a husband. Or the parents take the responsibility, according to Vedic rites and according... Still, in India, the father, not the, I mean to say, modernized, educated Indians. In villages they are not very much educated. Oh, they must get their girl, I mean to say, daughter, married before fifteen years. Otherwise, it will be a social scandal. The father is responsible for that. So, of course, we cannot introduce that system in your country.
That is our misfortune. (applause) That is our misfortune.
So don't be misfortunate. Be fortunate. Everything is there. Try to understand Bhagavad-gītā. And here, in the Fifth Chapter, Fifth Canto, of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the same thing is recommended by Ṛṣabhadeva to his sons. The first paragraph we have discussed last night. The second paragraph, the Ṛṣabhadeva says, mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimukteḥ (SB 5.5.2). If you want to be liberated from this entanglement of bodily concept of life and mental concept of life and become more and more entangled in the process of transmigration of the soul from one body to another... That is entanglement. And to come out of this entanglement is called mukti.
That is mukti: no more material body, no more material mind—everything is spiritual. That is called mukti. So Ṛṣabhadeva recommends that if you want mukti, if you want to come out of the entanglement of bodily concept of life and mental concept of life, then mahat-sevā: associate with mahātmās. Mahat. Mahat means who are not crippled, who are broad-minded. Mahat-sevā. You have to serve him. In the... One Vaiṣṇava ācārya, he says, chāḍiyā vaiṣṇava-sevā nistāra pāyeche kebā. If you do not agree to serve mahat... That is the Vedic injunction. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam (SB 11.3.21). This is the injunction. So mahat-sevā, the same thing. Mahat-sevāṁ dvāram.
Prabhupāda: That is not recommended in the Vedic śāstra (laughter). Especially Śaṅkarācārya, he would not accept anyone unless he accepts sannyāsa. He never accepts anybody.
Acyutānanda: "There are many religious movements, how does Kṛṣṇa consciousness take priority?"
Prabhupāda: Because it is Kṛṣṇa's movement. He is the topmost. Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya (BG 7.7). Kṛṣṇa says, "There is no more superior truth than Me." Therefore Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the supreme truth. There is no more superior truth than Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
The children should go... Even Kṛṣṇa, although He's God, He was also sent to gurukula, and He was collecting dry wood from the forest for guru, learning how to serve guru. The guru must be also bona fide. Therefore it is recommended, mahat-sevā. mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimukteḥ (SB 5.5.2). That is the Vedic civilization. One must approach a mahānta. Mahānta. This whole world is illusion and one who is above this illusion is called mahānta, one who has ended the illusion. Samit-pāniḥ śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham (MU 1.2.12), one should approach a guru who is brahma-niṣṭham. Brahma-niṣṭham means fully fixed up in Brahman understanding because life is meant for brahma-jijñāsā. Athāto brahma jijñāsā.
Where is that go-rakṣa? Very precarious condition. Therefore we should accept the standard of civilization. This is recommended here, mahat-sevāṁ dvāram ahur vimukteḥ (SB 5.5.2). If you want to become disentangled or free from this entanglement, conditioned soul one after another... We are forced. Our (indistinct) was saying about the change of body. The change of body is forced. You are young man. You cannot say, "I'll not accept old man's body." "No, sir. You'll have to accept." Forced. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). You cannot say "I will not accept this." Kṛṣṇa says, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13).
Everything is perfect. But if we become godless, the supply will be crippled. That is the secret we do not know. These things we have to learn from śāstra. As soon as people will become demonic, nature will restrict supply. "Now you become demonic. That's all right."
So this is going on. Therefore it is recommended mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimuktes, if you want to become free from all anxieties. First of all this material world means anxiety. We are put... We are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Why we are sent to this material world? Icchā-dveṣa sammutthena, sarge yānti parantapa, because we wanted to enjoy life independent of God, or Kṛṣṇa. This is the disease.
Kṛṣṇa says praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu, "I am the oṁkāra in all Vedic mantras." Oṁ tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padaṁ sadā paśyanti. Oṁkāra is as good. That is also Kṛṣṇa. So either you chant oṁkāra or "Kṛṣṇa," there is no difference. But in the śāstras it is recommended that you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, not oṁkāra. So you have to accept śāstra. And Caitanya Mahāprabhu practically demonstrated. He was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa-varṇam, kṛṣṇaṁ varṇayati, Hare Kṛṣṇa. So we have to follow the śāstra and the great saintly person. Otherwise there is no difference between oṁkāra and Kṛṣṇa. But because śāstra recommends harer nāma harer nāma (CC Adi 17.21), we have to accept it.
Yena brahma-saukhyam anantam. We are seeking after eternal life, we are seeking after happiness and we are seeking after full knowledge. That will be attained. So tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyet sattvaṁ yasmād brahma-saukhyam anantam... (SB 5.5.1). That is success of life.
Now, in the next verse, how we can practice tapasya, that is recommended here. Mahat-sevām. Mahat sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimukteḥ (SB 5.5.2). Mahat, great soul. Mahat means great soul. Who is great soul? Mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ (BG 9.13). Great soul means who has taken shelter of the spiritual nature. He is great soul. There are two natures: spiritual nature and the material nature. We can understand material nature, this body, and the spiritual nature, the soul.
There are four grades of life: brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, and sannyāsa. The description already given, it is meant for mendicant who have nothing to do with material affairs or household life, renounced order, sannyāsī. It, that is applicable to them. But another mahātmā also is recommended here:
- ye vā mayīśe kṛta-sauhṛdārthā
- janeṣu dehambhara-vārtikeṣu
- gṛheṣu jāyātmaja-rātimatsu
- na prīti-yuktā yāvad-arthāś ca loke
Another, that gṛhastha, householder... It is not that simply sannyāsī, renounced order, those who have renounced this material connection, they can become great soul. Not necessarily.
Not only ordinary friend; very dear friend. So if you become dear friend like Arjuna of Kṛṣṇa, or God, then in whatever position you remain, you are mahātmā, great soul. That is required. It is not that... In the Kali-yuga, in this age, it is very difficult to accept renounced order of life. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu recommended that "You remain in your position—it doesn't matter—but become a mahātmā, great soul." That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's recommendation. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ manobhir prāyaśo jito ajita. The process is how to become mahātmā.
That process is recommended by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Not it is His manufactured process, but it is recommended in the Vedic śāstra. What is that? Jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva. The process is: don't try to speculate on God. Give up this process, this bad habit. You cannot speculate. No. Jñāne prayāsa. This is called jñāna. Jñāna means knowledge, acquired knowledge. Everyone is trying to... Nobody is interested now to understand what is God, but there are some. But they are trying to understand God by mental speculation. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, "This practice should be given up, speculation." Jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva. Just become submissive, namanta.
That is the aim of life. That is the real purpose of human life. Premā pum-artho mahān. Caitanya Mahāprabhu recommended that what is the actual benefit of this human form of life? To develop our dormant love for God. That is wanted, not to accumulate money. Nothing will go with us. Everything will remain. The bank balance will remain in the bank, and we have to go, and there will be fight amongst the claimants. So that will be created. But nothing will go with you. Simply your consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, will help you. At the time of death, if you remember Kṛṣṇa... Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran loke tyajaty ante kalevaram (BG 8.6). Some way or other, if you remember at the time of death Kṛṣṇa, then your life is successful.
So in the previous verse it was recommended, tapo: "Don't live the life of cats and dogs." This is the advice. But be tapasvi. Tapasya. Human life is meant for tapasya, and tapasya means beginning tapasā brahmacaryeṇa (SB 6.1.13). This is tapasya. Tapasya begins with brahmacarya, celibacy. No sex life. That is tapasya.
So as with the association of Kṛṣṇa, by instruction of Kṛṣṇa, I can understand my position... As Sanātana Goswāmī, by the association of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, he could understand his position, similarly, we should approach such person wherefrom we can understand our position. Therefore it is recommended, mahat-sevām. You do not approach Kṛṣṇa or His representative to order him or to make him your servant: "Sir, give me this, give me that." "Yes, you can take it, you can..." Flattering. So that is not the position. Mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur. If you want to know First of all, you know what you are. Then the question is vimukti. The same thing, same proposal. In the Vedic instruction there is no difference. Everywhere we'll find the same thing. That is standard knowledge. Not that I am saying something, you are saying something.
Then you'll be cheated. You must go to Rūpa Gosvāmī and his representative with a humble... Tad viddhi praṇipātena (BG 4.34). When you want to learn, you must approach that person praṇipātena. Prakṛṣṭa rūpena seva. Tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā.
That is also stated in... The same thing is recommended here, that mahat-sevām. If you want the purpose of life and if you want to execute tapasya, if you want all these things, then you should approach a mahātmā, not durātmā. Mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ (BG 9.13). That is mahātmā. Mahātmā is not made by stamping that "You are a mahātmā," "You are a harijana." It is not like that. Mahātmā is different person. Mahātmā means whose ātmā is very broad—broader ātmā, not crippled. All are durātmā. Everyone is thinking, "I am this Indian," "I am American," "I am this," "I am that." But what mahātmā thinking?
Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācin na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). So the immortality of the soul, transmigration of the soul, everything is described there. So there are books of authority. If we learn, if we'll be trained, then our spiritual liberation is open. Therefore it is recommended here that one should associate with great souls. Without associating with great souls we don't get all this information.
That you can voluntarily do. That is brahmacārī. That is restraint. That is mahātmā. That is recommended in Vedic life, that you can have sex life only for children. That's all. Therefore sex life without any desire of children is not good. Yes.
So why should we kill? Especially if we are human being, the cow is supplying us milk, the most important foodstuff. So instead of giving protection to the cow, if we kill, do you think that is very..., if you kill me, is that very good gratitude? So at least in the human life, these senses should be there. Cow protection is recommended in the Vedic literature because it is giving the most valuable foodstuff, milk. Apart from other sentiments, it is supplying, and in exchange of nothing. She simply eats some grasses from the ground. That's all. You don't have to provide cows with foodstuff. The things which you refuse, you take the grain and you supply the skin. You take the fruit pulp, you supply the skin. You take the, I mean to say, from paddy. You take the rice. You supply the straw and she delivers you a very nice foodstuff. And I have discussed all these points in my Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that human economic problem can be solved simply by having some land and some cows. That's all.
Thank you very much. You should sit like this, you should eat like this, you should sleep like this. There are so many... They, they gave up... There were many yogis in the history. Just like Viśvāmitra. He was a great king. He gave up everything for practicing yoga. Why? He was king. He could practice yoga. Now, the yoga practice was recommended to Arjuna. He said, "Oh, it is not possible for me." So it is not possible... Even five thousand years ago a person like Arjuna, he refused: "Oh, it is not possible for me." How ordinary man who has not practiced even controlling the senses and other things? No. It is not possible. The yoga practice is accepted as a standard way of self-realization. That is all right, provided it is cent percent properly executed. That is... Cent percent properly executed. Yes. But that is not possible in this age. Nobody can do that.
Prabhupāda: So,
- ye vā mayīśe kṛta-sauhṛdārthā
- janeṣu dehambhara-vārtikeṣu
- gṛheṣu jāyātmaja-rātimatsu
- na prīti-yuktā yāvad-arthāś ca loke
- (SB 5.5.3)
So it has been recommended... (aside:) It is not working?
Haṁsadūta: It's not working?
Prabhupāda: What is the use of keeping big, big paraphernalia? Bahvārambhe laghu kriyā. Ārambha, arrangement is very big, but work is no, no work. What is the use of keeping useless machine? So that is going on. In the material world, everything is bahvārambhe laghu kriyā. That has been spoken by Cāṇakya Paṇḍita. Ajā yuddhe muni śrāddhe. Ajā yuddhe. Ajāḥ means goats. You have seen goat fighting? As if, though, two big, big heroes are fighting. But as soon as somebody comes: "Hut!" they'll go away. Have you seen, experienced?
He takes care of his children, of his wife, everything, but without any attachment. That is recommended by the Gosvāmīs. That, anāsaktasya viṣayān yathārham upayuñjataḥ. You give education to your children, that is required. You maintain your wife, that is also required, no negligence, but no attachment at the same time. No attachment, that I shall sacrifice everything for my wife, and children, and home. That is not a mahātmā's business, because he knows that he cannot improve the destiny. Everybody has got his body with certain destiny already settled up. That you cannot change. Otherwise everyone is trying to become very rich, very important, there is no scarcity of endeavor, but not that everyone is becoming like that. That is called destiny.
Never mind war is going on; you don't care. You get sufficient food. What you will do with the paper money? So this paper currency is useless. If the things are going on nicely it has value, but in times of crisis it has no value.
So here it is description is given that we are recommended to make association with mahat-sevā just to get liberation. Mahat-sevā. And who is mahātmā? That is being described. In the first... Mahāntas te. They are mahātmā. What is the symptom? In the śāstra we'll find not by one symptom, that one has got saffron cloth or big beard, then he is mahātmā. No. There are other symptoms. Just like brāhmaṇa. In the Kali-yuga brāhmaṇa means one two-paisa thread, that's all. But that is not brāhmaṇa. Brāhmaṇa means śamo damo titikṣva.
So it is recommended that mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimuktes (SB 5.5.2). Mahat-sevā, we have described the symptoms of mahātmā. The sum and substance of mahātmā is mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ (BG 9.13). That is mahātmā. Otherwise durātmā. Simply putting on a saffron dress and having a big beard, he's not mahātmā. Mahātmā is he who is cent percent engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service. Mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim (BG 9.13). He's not in the control of this material nature. He's completely under the direction of spiritual nature. Daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ. And what is the sign? What is the difference between a person under material nature and spiritual nature?
What is the use for... Technical nonsense, they have invented technical... Does it require any education? No. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet: (MU 1.2.12) education required if you require to understand the value of life, tattva-jijñāsaḥ. Tattva-jijñāsu śreya uttamam. Jijñāsu tattva-jijñāsaḥ. Jīvasya tattva-jijñāsaḥ. This is recommended in the... Jīvasya tattva-jijñāsaḥ na yaś ceha karmabhīḥ. Tattva-jijñāsa. Brahma-jijñāsa. This is life. Otherwise abodha-jātaḥ. Abodha-jātaḥ.
So this is called regulative principle. In the previous verse, it was recommended that karmānubaddho dṛḍha āślatheta. This attachment, karmānubaddha, for this material world, everyone is busy—we have discussed many times—from morning till late at night, and night also, they are busy. Big, big factories, they are working day and night, one shift, other shift. That has become the criterion of civilization. Formerly it was less, because this ugra-karma... These factories means ugra-karma, unnecessarily severe, hard work. Unnecessarily. We have seen in Detroit, they are manufacturing one Ford, manufacturing Ford, simply wheels of the motorcar.
And to counteract this process, in the previous three verses it has been explained how one can gradually become relieved. The first process is recommended, haṁse gurau mayi bhaktyānuvṛtyā.
So this is the Vedic injunction. If we want to understand this science... It is science, it is not sentiment. Bhakti-yoga is not sentiment, it is a science. Therefore we have to take it from authorized Vedic instruction. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has advised that science means you have to take it from the Vedic knowledge. Vedic knowledge means there is no mistake, there is no cheating, there is no imperfect senses. Everything is perfect. So science means, which is perfect knowledge.
Does it mean that he is high-court judge? No. He requires education, he requires training. But he has a good chance to become a high-court judge. Because his father is high-court judge, he knows how to train his sons, how to educate him how to become a lawyer, and he has got influence in government society. He can recommend him. He has got the chance to become a high-court judge. But not that because he is born of a father who is high-court judge, therefore he is high-court judge. That is going on.
On account of this body of avidyā, ignorance, the blunt senses are simply... They have been described sometimes as kāla-sarpa. Kāla-sarpa indriya-paṭalī durdānta-indriya-kāla-sarpa paṭalī. So therefore yoga system is recommended to control this kāla-sarpa, the indriyas. Yoga indriya-saṁyamaḥ. Real yoga, ordinary yoga Nobody is getting that yoga-siddhi, aṣṭa-siddhi. Generally the so-called yogis, they show some āsana, dhyāna, dhāraṇā, praṇāyāma, but that is meant for controlling the senses. Yoga indriya-saṁyamaḥ. Without sense control nobody can make any progress in human life. Tapasya. That is called tapasya. The yoga is also another tapasya. Tapo. Tapasā brahmacaryeṇa (SB 6.1.13).
So any path you take, the brahmacarya first thing. Without brahmacarya there is no question of tapasya.
These things are to be studied very minutely. Yeṣāṁ anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ janānāṁ puṇya-karmaṇām te dvandva-moha... Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). So one who has become Vaiṣṇava, does it mean he is fool still? No. Training. Training is there. Otherwise how Kṛṣṇa recommends, ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ te 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim? To become high-court judge, does it mean it is ordinary qualification? If you say that "That man has become high-court judge and the other man who has seen him before, that he is not born 'No, no. How you can become high-court judge? No, he is born of a very low-class family. No.' " "No, no, he has become a high-court..."
This is possible. It is not that because one is born in low-class family he cannot become high-court judge or he cannot become a Vaiṣṇava. Oh. He can be.
So Sanātana Gosvāmī recommends, tathā dīkṣā-vidhānena dvijatvaṁ jāyate nṛṇām. Tathā dīkṣā-vidhānena. If dīkṣā-vidhāna, initiation process, is done nicely from the right person There are so many śāstric ref... Śuddhyanti yad-apāśrayāśrayāḥ, kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā ābhīra-śumbhā yavanāḥ khasādayaḥ, ye 'nye ca pāpā yad-apāśrayāśrayāḥ śuddhyanti (SB 2.4.18). These things are there. So by the disciplic succession, by the instruction of the Gosvāmīs, everyone can be purified because they will properly train up. Avidyāyām antare vartamānam. They will not misguide.
Always think of Kṛṣṇa. Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī mām. Anyone can do it. Everyone can offer Kṛṣṇa patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ (BG 9.26). Everyone can hear from Kṛṣṇa what is Kṛṣṇa. Where is the difficulty? The difficulty is that we want enjoyment in this material world. That is the difficulty. Therefore it is recommended that akiñcanānāṁ mayi bhakti-bhājām. For a devotee there is no problem. He is not attracted by liberation or by Svargaloka, by yogic perfection. He is not at all interested.
Satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ (BG 9.14). Simply you should remain Kṛṣṇa conscious twenty-four hours, even in sleeping. That is the perfect stage. But we have to practice. It is not simply words. But it can be practiced; it is not impossible. The practice Kṛṣṇa is recommending, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru: (BG 18.65) "Always think of Me." Our, this temple worship... Mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru. And "Always think of Me." This class, this kīrtana, this prasāda distribution and offering obeisances, worshiping, so many—śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam (SB 7.5.23)—take any one of them or all of them. Be perfect in that particular process.
Simply try to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra very sincerely, without any offense. Then... It is not possible to imitate or even follow Ṛṣabhadeva's process of self-realization. In the Kali-yuga it is not possible. But as it is recommended in the śāstra, as Ṛṣabhadeva in his another incarnation, Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He is teaching, kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā. Harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam (CC Adi 17.21). Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and you will get perfection.
Not all of a sudden you can understand. But if you stick to devotional service, sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ (Brs. 1.2.234), then He reveals. When you engage your tongue... It is also wonderful. To understand Kṛṣṇa, you require your tongue. Generally we understand by seeing or by hearing. Hearing is there, but here it is recommended tongue, especially. Why tongue is used? Because if you simply chant Hare Kṛṣṇa by your tongue and taste Kṛṣṇa prasādam, you will understand Kṛṣṇa. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ. If you make it a promise that "I shall not talk anything except Kṛṣṇa's message," and if you promise that "I shall not take anything which is not offered to Kṛṣṇa," these two things, this prasādam and chanting, will make you perfect to understand Kṛṣṇa. In another place Kṛṣṇa says, mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ.
So whether you will go this way or that way, there is misery. Therefore this world is called duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). You subdue something and another problem is there. And you solve that problem—another problem... Problematic. Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam. Kṛṣṇa is recommending that this is duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam. How we'll subside this duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam? And we are... Our struggle is... Kṛṣṇa said, "This is duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam. This place is for miseries," and these rascals are trying to adjust things. Bahir-artha-māninaḥ. These rascals, they are trying to bring peace by material arrangement, mūḍha. Therefore they are mūḍha. It is not possible.
"A personality like me become victimized by this māyā's influence. What you are?" Why you should trust and make friendship with your mind, that "I am now complete," artificially? Don't do that. Therefore it is warned, na kuryāt. Na kuryāt karhicit. Never trust your mind, always try to control. And the easiest method recomended in the śāstra and confirmed by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu—harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma iva kevalam, kalau nāsty eva nāsty... (CC Adi 17.21).
In many papers I was very much criticized. But actually it is the fact, because they are innocent, not so intelligent and... These are all practical. We may avoid discussing, but Bhāgavata is very open for discussing all subject matter. That is fact. We should not hide anything artificially. We must discuss the fact. Not only here, the mention it is, the Manu-saṁhitā. Manu-saṁhitā recommends, "A woman should not be given independence." For their interest they must be protected by father, husband, and sons, because if they are polluted, they become very dangerous. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita said that duṣṭā bhāryā.
So therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu has recommended, kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā. By His practical life, when Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī criticized Him that "You are a sannyāsī, and You do not read Vedānta and You simply chant and dance..." This was the question. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu replied that "My Guru Mahārāja found Me a great fool. Therefore he advised Me that 'You have no jurisdiction in studying Vedas because you are not a scholar. You are not a very highly learned. You are a mūrkha.' " Guru more mūrkha dekhi karilā śāsana (CC Adi 7.71).
And why mad? Because the karma means you are creating another body. And as soon as there is another body, dehāntara-prāptir, so long you have got this material body, you'll suffer. That is the law of nature. Karmānu bandhaḥ. Yāvan prīti mayi deve... tavat karmānu bandhanaḥ. The karmānu-bandha will continue. Therefore in the śāstra it is recommended, yajñārthe karma anyatra karma-bandhanaḥ. Don't act anything except for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. If you do anything for your sense gratification, that means you are being bound up by the laws of karma. Laws of karma, it is very strict according to the modes of activities. Puruṣaḥ prakṛti-stho hi bhuṅkte karma-jān guṇān (BG 13.22).
| Page Title: | Recommend (Lectures, SB cantos 2 - 5) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 02 of Dec, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=160, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 160 |