So Arjuna was not a coward. He was a competent warrior. But still, dehātma-buddhi, the bodily concept of life is so strong... That Arjuna admits, dṛṣṭvā tu svajanaṁ kṛṣṇa: (BG 1.28) "My dear Kṛṣṇa, I have to kill my own men." What is that "own men"? "Own men" means this bodily relationship. Why others are not own men? Everyone is own men. Because everyone is Kṛṣṇa's son. So when one becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious, he can see everyone own men. And when he is not Kṛṣṇa conscious, he simply sees own men where there is bodily relationship. This is the defect. They are advertising, humanitarian work, philanthropic work, communism, this "ism," but when there is question of bodily relationship, immediately everything is changed. You know, the Communist country, the Khruschev was driven out because he was patronizing his own men. That was the defect. So you can advertise that "I am for everyone," but there is affection for own men. Nepotism. Nepotism. It's called nepotism. So many big, big leaders. Our Jawaharhal Nehru, he was sending his own men as ambassador. Vijaya Lakshmi, a woman, she was being sent as ambassador. She was high commissioner here. So this "own men" question is very prominent everywhere.
That is the defect (Lectures, BG)
Expressions researched:
"That is another defect"
|"That is one defect"
|"That is the basic defect"
|"That is the modern civilization defect"
|"This is the greatest defect"
|"This is the whole defect"
|"that is a defect"
|"that is defect"
|"that is our defect"
|"that is the defect"
|"this is defect"
|"this is our defect"
|"this is the defect"
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Devotee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Prabhupāda: You know that? Yes. So I explained there that "Here is a nice technological institute, but where is your, this technological department, to understand?" So the students very much appreciated it. Factually, this is the defect. We know... This will be the beginning of Bhagavad-gītā, that there is something which minus, this body is useless.
Human being must be interested to know the Absolute Truth. That is perfection of human life. Because in the cats' and dogs' life... Unfortunately, at the present moment, people do not know what is the distinction between cats and dogs and a human being. That is another defect of the modern education.
Unfortunately, we rascals, we do not take Bhagavad-gītā as it is. We want to change it according to our whims. This rascal havoc has ruined the whole world. Otherwise, if they would have preached Bhagavad-gītā as it is, the world situation would have been different. Everything would have been in order, tranquility, peace, and everybody would have been prosperous. But the rascals will not do that. That is the defect. Therefore our tiny effort is how to present Bhagavad-gītā as it is.
he word used, bhagavān uvāca, means this instruction is neither mistaken nor illusion nor cheating nor imperfect. Whatever we teach, we speak, we conditioned soul... As I said, that we are very much proud of our eyes, but we cannot see without sunrise... We cannot see without electricity. But that is our defect. We are possessing everything defective, still we are proud: "We are perfect." That is cheating. We are not perfect. But Kṛṣṇa, Bhagavān, is not like that.
Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11). Because He appeared just like a human being, so mūḍhas... Mūḍhas means less intelligent, or, in plain word, asses. Mūḍha means ass. So this class of men could not understand Kṛṣṇa, that He's the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the defect of the mūḍhas. They may be very great scholars, academic scholar, but in the matter of understanding God, they're mūḍhas, asses.
Haṁsadūta: "What profiteth a man who gains the whole world but he loses his eternal soul?"
Prabhupāda: That's it. That should be the aim. That we are eternal soul. We must be again replaced in our eternal life. But if you forget this mission of life and simply become engaged how to become happy in this material world, how to avoid distress and how to get happiness... People are engaged in that way. Simply trying to get happiness and avoid distress, and forgetting that he has got a mission of life, to realize his self and go back to home, back to Godhead. This is the defect of the modern civilization.
Without loving God, if I want to love my wife, that love is not perfect. Therefore so-called love is disrupted by divorce and so many things because that is not perfect love. We do not know what is perfect love and how to conduct it. That is the defect of our civilization. Which we are accepting as love, that is simply a desire for sense gratification. That is not love. Love is different thing. So because... Why the love is defective in the material world? Because it is not properly discharged. We have to understand that thing.
e should not make any interpretation. That is a wrong thing. And if there was some necessity of interpretation, we should not think that Kṛṣṇa left the matter for being interpreted by in later age by some scholar. Oh, He could have disclosed it Himself. He was quite competent. No. There is no question of interpretation. We have to understand Bhagavad-gītā as it is. If we cannot understand, that is a defect in me, not in the Bhagavad-gītā.
We can become minutely perfect, seventy-eight percent. These are all analyzed by the Gosvāmīs. So in the present stage, our conditioned stage, there is no comparison with Kṛṣṇa, what to speak of becoming Kṛṣṇa. The rascal foolish persons, they claim that they have become Kṛṣṇa. It is not possible. This is the defect, that we forget. They ask so many the incarnation of God, about his past life. They cannot speak.
If you do not receive instruction of Kṛṣṇa from the sampradāya, then niṣphalā matāḥ, then whatever you have learned, it is useless. It is useless. That is the defect. So many people are studying Bhagavad-gītā, but they do not understand what is Kṛṣṇa. Because they do not receive through the evaṁ paramparā-prāptam (BG 4.2). The paramparā, unless you go to the paramparā... The same example. If you do not take electricity from the plug which is connected with the powerhouse, what is the use of your bulb and wire? It has no use.
But instead of following the leadership of Kṛṣṇa, we accept leadership which is also indirectly the leadership of Kṛṣṇa, but it is misrepresented because on account of contamination of this material nature. Material nature is inferior or lower nature. Constitutionally, we are following the leadership, but we want immediate, temporary relief for our miseries. We do not want permanent solution of all miseries. That is the defect of our life. But here is a chance. If we follow the leadership of Kṛṣṇa, then we make a solution of the whole miseries.
The vaiśyas must be engaged in producing foodgrains, but they are not interested. They are interested for opening factories for bolts and nuts and tires, Goodwheel tires, Goodyear tires. Now you eat tire and bolt nut. No, you cannot eat. You have to eat rice, and rice is ten rupees per kilo. That's all. Because no vaiśya is producing food grains. This is the defect.
These are very psychological. A married man becomes responsible. Because there is affection, family affection. And one who is not married, he's irresponsible. Because there is no family affection. That is the basic defect of the present society. There is no family affection. They are all irresponsible.
ole America is owned by the state. Similarly when there is question of greatness, that is possible, that expansion. And because I cannot expand, frog philosophy, therefore Kṛṣṇa cannot expand, that is nonsense. We are thinking always in terms of my position. How it is possible for Kṛṣṇa to expand because I cannot expand . What you are? What is your position? Why do you compare Kṛṣṇa with you? Yes, Kṛṣṇa can expand. So many examples are given. Don't think because you cannot expand, therefore Kṛṣṇa cannot expand. that is the defect of nonsensical philosophy.
So people do not know that real siddhi is to approach to go back to home, back to Godhead. And either you go to Vaikuṇṭha or to Goloka Vṛndāvana planet after giving up this body, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9), that is real siddhi, not this yoga-siddhi, jñāna-siddhi, karma-siddhi. That is not siddhi. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati (BG 7.3). They do not know what is siddhi. That is the defect.
Everyone is trying to satisfy the senses. Either of own self... He's giving false promise. Actually, he wants to satisfy his own senses. As soon as he becomes minister, he'll satisfy his own senses. But he's getting elected by promising satisfying..., to satisfy your senses. But the sense gratification is going on. But there is chaos because the point is missing. There is no activity for satisfying senses of Kṛṣṇa. That is the defect of the modern civilization.
I have got information from one of my Godbrothers. He is German. He told me that during wartime many Germans, they went to war, and their wives, sister, all woman class, they went to church and prayed for the return of their husband, brother or son. But they did not return, and all of them became atheists: "Oh, there is no God. There is no God." Sometimes it happens like that, that "We want God as my order-supplier. If He does not supply the order, then He becomes no God. There is no God." That is the defect of this kind of prayer. But if they continue...
Everyone is unhappy in this material world. That's a fact. And because... Why we are unhappy? Because we have accepted, misaccepted, wrongly accepted, this body, "myself." This is the defect of modern civilization. So long you do not understand that you are not this body, you are different from this body, you are Brahman, you are part and parcel of God, then your activities become different.
ou cannot imagine. You are tiny. You cannot become Dr. Frog within the well and try to understand Atlantic Ocean. That is not possible. Here the defect is, one is a small frog in the well and he is trying to understand the Atlantic Ocean. Three feet water. His jurisdiction is three feet water, and he is trying to understand Atlantic Ocean. That is the defect. For Atlantic Ocean you have to understand one has seen the Atlantic Ocean. Then you can understand.
Unfortunately, in this age, which is called Kali-yuga, the people are so low-grade that they do not like to hear all these instructions of great sages, saintly persons or even of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the defect of this age. Therefore in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said mandaḥ. Mandaḥ means slow, at the same time, very bad.
The modern civilization is suffering from this defect, that they are not inquisitive about the Brahman. They are simply... Just like cats and dogs, they are interested with this body and the bodily necessities of life. They do not know beyond that. That is the defect. The other day in Caracas some psychiatrists came. Their question was that "The problems of the world are increasing, so what is your prescription to solve these problems?" So the problem is very easy to be solved. I gave the example that this body is there. And there is something which is moving the body, living force. So that living force is the driver of the body, and the body is also described in the Bhagavad-gītā as a machine.
The other day I was speaking that a man's father has died and he is crying, "My father has gone away. So my father..." Your father is lying on the bed. The father which you have seen so long, life long, the body, that is on the bed. Why you are crying your father is gone? That means he has never seen his father, neither the father has seen the son. Everyone sees this body, but not the owner of the body. That is the defect of modern education, that everyone by contemplation can understand that "This finger is my finger, not 'I' finger." Still, he cannot understand that he is different from this body. That is to be understood. That is real knowledge.
Everywhere we see defective government. Therefore there is agitation against government. There are parties. One party is agitating to take the seat of the government. When he goes, then another party agitates. Because everyone is imperfect. Therefore they cannot give the real law so that the citizens may be happy and peaceful. That is the defect. But when we receive from the perfect the laws, then we become peaceful and perfect. Yayātmā suprasīdati. That is real law.
Kṛṣṇa personally explaining tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ. Antavanta ime dehā nityasyoktāḥ śarīriṇaḥ (BG 2.18). This body is perishable, but the śarīriṇaḥ, one who possesses this body, he is nitya, śāśvata. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). This knowledge is missing. That is the defect of modern civilization. Atheistic civilization. Eat, drink, be merry and enjoy. This is not very good position.
These are the first qualification of the demons, that they do not know which way one has to make progress. That they do not know. This is the defect of the modern civilization. They have universities, educational institution and advancement of knowledge, so on, so on. But ask them what is the aim of life, why education is being imparted, what is the purpose.
sire" does not mean no desire for serving Kṛṣṇa. That is real desire. Other desires are artificial. That is material. But the desire to... That is called Kṛṣṇa consciousness. When all our desires are for serving Kṛṣṇa... Desires you cannot give up. That is not possible. Desires will remain there, but at the present moment, in the conditional stage, the desires are being misused. That is the defect.
| Page Title: | That is the defect (Lectures, BG) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, ChandrasekharaAcarya |
| Created: | 15 of Dec, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=29, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 29 |