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This is the process (Lectures, SB canto 1)

Expressions researched:
"that is the process" |"this is the process"

Lectures

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.1.1 -- New York, July 6, 1972:

This is the process. Śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa is within your heart. Kṛṣṇa is trying to help you from within and from without. From without, He is presenting His form in this temple. You can take the advantage of serving Him. He is sending His representative, spiritual master, to speak you directly about Kṛṣṇa, and He is ready to help you from within as Paramatma. Kṛṣṇa is so kind. He wants that you are all suffering in this material existence, Kṛṣṇa comes as He is, and He canvasses, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). So bhāgavata-sevayā, nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā (SB 1.2.18), cleansing the heart. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). This is the process. We are part and parcel of God, Kṛṣṇa, so we are pure, we have become impure on account of material contamination. So we have to purify ourselves and the process is to hear about Kṛṣṇa. That's all.

Lecture on SB 1.1.1 -- Caracas, February 20, 1975:

Hṛdayānanda: (translating question:) There are many religions that speak of the light. How can we know we are actually facing the real light?

Prabhupāda: Light is to be realized personally. Light... Just like this room is dark. When there is light, it doesn't require to be enquired, "Is it light?" You personally perceive it is light. Just like you are hungry and foodstuff is given to you and when your hunger is satisfied, appetite is appeased, then you naturally you feel, "Yes, I am satisfied." You don't require to enquire anyone. Therefore it is called self-realization. Automatically you realize. You don't require to enquire. This is the process. (break)

Hṛdayānanda: ...that in the spiritual path everyone has to be married.

Prabhupāda: No, not necessarily. If you can remain without marrying, it is better. But because you cannot, you become bachelor daddy, therefore you must marry. (laughter) Please don't become bachelor daddy. (laughter) This is most sinful life. (end)

Lecture on SB 1.1.2 -- London, August 16, 1971:

Praṇipāta means surrender. So nobody wants to surrender, especially in this material world. Everyone thinks, "Oh, I am the lord. I am the monarch of all I survey. Why shall I surrender?" Independent. Especially in the Western countries. They are refusing to surrender to the social laws, to the king's law, everything. But here is the process: surrender. Surrender means everyone is puffed up with some so-called knowledge, and he thinks that "I am perfectly all right. My knowledge is perfect. Why shall I surrender?" But if you want to receive knowledge actually from the person who has actually knowledge, then you must surrender there. This is the process. Just like Vyāsadeva first of all: paraṁ satyaṁ dhīmahi. This is surrender. Surrender. Without surrender, we cannot get knowledge. And in another... There are many places. Jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva. To understand God, Brahmā says, jñāne prayāsam udapāsya. Leaving, giving up this nonsense habit of speculation, "God is like this, God is like that," prayāsam, jñāne prayāsam... The jñānīs, they are discriminating, "No, this is not God." The scientists, they will say, "This is the fact." And then, one year after, "No, this is not fact. Now we have improved, another." And again, three years after, they will say another. There is no standard knowledge. What is the final knowledge, they do not know. Therefore these kind of speculative habits or scientific research is simply waste of time. They cannot understand what is the ultimate truth.

Lecture on SB 1.1.2 -- London, August 16, 1971:

Then Vedic injunction is: jñāne prayāsam udapāsya. "Give up this nonsense habit, speculation." Namanta eva: "Be submissive. Admit that you do not know anything. You have to learn from the person who knows." Jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām: "Then what shall I...? All right. I shall not speculate. I have become humble now. Now what to do?" San-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya...: "Just try to learn about God from the devotee, pure devotee." San-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām. So in this way we can understand God. That is the process. Arjuna, when he was hearing from Kṛṣṇa, he also surrendered, although he was His friend, very intimate friend, always sitting together, eating together, lying together, talking together. He also accepted Kṛṣṇa, śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam: (BG 2.7) "I am surrendered unto You, my dear Kṛṣṇa. I have become Your disciple. Please teach me."

So this is the Vedic process. This is the Vedic process. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Janmādy asya yataḥ satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi (SB 1.1.1). So the... If you, instead of making speculation, if you simply surrender to Vyāsadeva, his writings, śrīmad-bhāgavate mahā-muni-kṛte, then the result will be kiṁ vā paraiḥ: you do not require to study any other literature. The result will be, if you surrender to the study of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that Īśvara, the supreme controller, sadyo hṛdy avarudhyate... Īśvara is already there, but here it is used, the word avarudhyate, "He is locked up." He wants to be locked up. Kṛṣṇa, Paramātmā, He wants to be, but we don't care. But by reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, by discourses in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, īśvara sadyaḥ, immediately, hṛdy avarudhyate. But in whose heart He becomes locked up? Kṛtibhiḥ. Kṛtibhiḥ means those who are pious. Those who are sinful, they cannot. Kṛtibhiḥ śuśrūṣubhiḥ. Two things: he must be pious.

Lecture on SB 1.1.2 -- London, August 17, 1971:

"You must rise early in the morning, you offer maṅgala-ārati, you do this, you take your bath," these things, because we are not ripened, in the neophyte stage, these things appear to be botheration, not tasteful. But you have to do it under the order of the spiritual master and the order of the śāstras. Because unless you practice, how you can... But when it is ripened by practicing, practicing, when one is accustomed... Say by practicing he develops love for God. Then, when he's in love for God, he cannot do without it. Automatically he will rise early in the morning, automatically he'll do everything. It is simply the question of time to arrive to that ripened stage.

So this is the process. That we are serving here Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is also very kind. Because if Kṛṣṇa in His spiritual form, He is present... Of course, there is no difference. For Kṛṣṇa, there is no difference, material and spiritual, because everything is spiritual ultimately. But still, taking it accepted that we cannot see spiritual form at the present moment. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136). Because our senses are not blunt, we cannot see the spiritual form of Kṛṣṇa at the present moment. Therefore because we cannot see Kṛṣṇa with your present eyes, because we cannot serve Kṛṣṇa with our present hand, therefore Kṛṣṇa appears in a way so that we can see, we can touch. That is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa can appear in any way. He is all-powerful. So when He appears just like a stone statue, that does not mean Kṛṣṇa is stone or statue. Kṛṣṇa is the same Kṛṣṇa, but He appears before me just like stone statue because I cannot touch anything beyond this stone. I cannot see beyond this stone. So it is His mercy. Therefore it is called arcā-avatāra, incarnation of worshipable Deity. So we should never think that "Kṛṣṇa is not seeing. If I commit some offense, or..., Kṛṣṇa is in Vaikuṇṭha. Here I can do whatever I like." (laughter) Don't do that. That is a great offense. Therefore there are... We should always think, "Oh, Kṛṣṇa is here." We should be respectful just exactly as Kṛṣṇa is here. Don't make differentiation, that "This Kṛṣṇa is stone statue." Similarly...

Lecture on SB 1.1.2 -- Caracas, February 23, 1975:

That means cheating. One hasn't sufficient knowledge and "perhaps, maybe"—he is giving knowledge. And above all of them, we should know that our present material senses are imperfect. For example, just like we are very much proud of our eyes. We say, "Can you show me God?" But our eyes are so long perfect as long the light is. It is conditional. Therefore every sense now we are possessing, they are not perfect. So we acquire knowledge by using our different senses. Therefore, because they are imperfect, whatever knowledge we gather by speculation, that is imperfect. So if we take knowledge from such personalities who are liberated, then that knowledge is perfect. This is the process of acquiring knowledge in Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement—that we receive knowledge from the perfect person. Now, here it is said that because it is given by the perfect person Vyāsadeva, we should take knowledge from this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And the proof is that we have now become Godless, we have no information of God, but if you read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, then immediately you will realize God. Just like you can see in reality that these boys, these girls who have joined this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, because they are reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Bhagavad-gītā, they are now gradually realizing what is God and what is his relationship with God. So unless we realize God and our position, and we become lover of God, there is no question of peace in the mind. Therefore it is recommended here that if you want real peace in the mind, try to understand what is God, what is your relationship with God, and act accordingly. You will be immediately peaceful. As soon as you become peaceful, your life is successful. Thank you very much.

Lecture on SB 1.1.5-6 -- London, August 23, 1971:

So regularly this principle was being observed. And the speaker, Sūta Gosvāmī, was given his due respect, the vyāsāsana. Here it is said, sat-kṛtam. Sat-kṛtam means with due respects, the welcoming, receiving, sat-kṛtaṁ sūtam āsīnam. The speaker must sit very comfortably, sūtam āsīnam. Sukha means certainly he should not feel any inconvenience. Then the speaking will go on nicely. Sat-kṛtaṁ sūtam āsīnaṁ papracchuḥ. Then the questions. Idam ādarāt. The questions should be put not by challenging, by ādarāt, with great adoration. "I beg to submit, this is my question." "Can you tell me like this?" No, that is challenge. Very submissively. Tad viddhi praṇipātena (BG 4.34). The question should be put by surrender. If somebody challenges, he'll never be able to understand. The question has to be very submissive. Here it is also said, ādarāt. You'll find Arjuna was questioning Kṛṣṇa, and at the end, "I have heard like this; if You think that I am fit to understand it, You can please explain it." Similarly Parīkṣit Mahārāja also asking submissively, "If you think I can understand, then please explain." This is the process of question. Not that... Then, go on.

Lecture on SB 1.2.2 -- London, August 10, 1971:

And then, his guru, his guru, his guru, they're all Vaiṣṇavas. Vande 'haṁ śrī-guroḥ śrī-yuta-pada-kamalaṁ śrī-gurūn vaiṣṇavāṁś ca. Śrī-rūpam. Then we offer respect to Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī. Rūpa Gosvāmī. Vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau. All the Gosvāmīs, six Gosvāmins. Vande rūpa-sanātana... Sāgraja. Sa agraja. Agraja means elder brother. Sanātana Gosvāmī was the elder brother of Rūpa Gosvāmī, and Rūpa Gosvāmī accepted him as his spiritual master. Śrī-rūpaṁ sāgrajātaṁ saha-gaṇa-raghunāthānvitam. Associated by Raghunātha. There are two Raghunāthas: Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī and Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī. Sa-jīvam, with Jīva Gosvāmī. This is the process. Vande 'haṁ śrī-guroḥ śrī-yuta-pada-kamalaṁ śrī-gurūn vaiṣṇavāṁś ca śrī-rūpaṁ sāgrajātaṁ saha-gaṇa-raghunāthānvitaṁ taṁ sa-jīvam. Then we go to Caitanya Mahāprabhu's status: sādvaitaṁ sāvadhūtam. That is also... First of all, Advaita Gosāñi, then Nityānanda Mahāprabhu, Prabhu. Mahāprabhu is applicable only to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Others, all prabhus. Ekale īśvara kṛṣṇa āra saba bhṛtya (CC Adi 5.142). Kṛṣṇa, and He has got innumerable servants. Kṛṣṇa is Mahāprabhu, and all others, they are prabhus. And the spiritual master who has got many prabhus to abide by his order, he is addressed as Prabhupāda. This is the system. So sādvaitaṁ sāvadhūtaṁ parijana-sahitaṁ kṛṣṇa-caitanya-devam. After offering all these obeisances to Gosvāmīs, to guru, and Advaita, Nityānanda, then you come to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Then Śrī Rādhā. Not Kṛṣṇa directly. Śrī-rādhā-kṛṣṇa-pādān saha-gaṇa-lalitā-śrī-viśākhānvitāṁś ca. Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa means they are always associated by the gopīs, of whom Lalitā-Viśākhā are the chief out of the aṣṭa-sakhīs.

So this is the paramparā system. So here also, we see, mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186).

Lecture on SB 1.2.4 -- Rome, May 28, 1974:

So this is the paramparā system. As you receive knowledge step by step... Nārāyaṇa, Kṛṣṇa, instructed Vyāsadeva. Brahmā, Brahmā instructed Nārada. Nārada instructed Vyāsadeva. Vyāsadeva instructed his disciple Madhvācārya. In this way we have to go through also, in the same way. First of all, offer respect to the spiritual master, as he has done to Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Taṁ vyāsa-sūnum upayāmi guruṁ munīnām. So then his spiritual master, then his spiritual master, then his spiritual master. Just like you have got the pictures. First of all, your spiritual master, then his spiritual master, then his spiritual master, his spiritual master—ultimately Kṛṣṇa. This is the process. Don't try to approach Kṛṣṇa directly, jump over. That is useless. As you receive knowledge through the steps, paramparā system, similarly, we should approach Kṛṣṇa through these step.

nārāyaṇaṁ namaskṛtya
naraṁ caiva narottamam
devīṁ sarasvatīṁ vyāsaṁ
tato jayam udīrayet
(SB 1.2.4)
In this way you become glorified.

(reads from the purport) "All the Vedic literatures and the Purāṇas are meant for conquering the darkest region." Tamo 'ndham. We have already discussed. Atititīrṣatām. Saṁsāriṇāṁ karuṇayāha. Saṁsāriṇāṁ karuṇayāha purāṇa-guhyam. Adhyātma-dīpam atititīrṣatāṁ tamo 'ndham. Atititīrṣatām. That is human civilization, how to get out of this darkness of ignorance. Not the dogs and cats jumping in very jubilant, "I am a big dog. Let me jump over."

Lecture on SB 1.2.5 -- Melbourne, April 3, 1972, Lecture at Christian Monastery:

The Kṛṣṇa consciousness is there. In everyone's heart it is dormant. Simply by śravaṇādi, by pure hearing process... Just like a man is sleeping. The consciousness is there, but he appears to be unconscious. He is sleeping. But if somebody calls him, "Mr. such and such, wake up, wake up. Wake up." So after two, three callings, he wakes up. He remembers, "Oh, I have got to do so many things." Similarly, the Kṛṣṇa consciousness is dormant in everyone's heart. This Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is the process of awakening. That's all. This Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, if we chant repeatedly Hare Kṛṣṇa—Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare—then the sleeping man awakens to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is the process.

So I do not wish to take much of your time. I have simply given introduction to this movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. It is very simply thing. You do not lose anything. Suppose you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa at your home. Do you think you will be loser? No. Neither we want any money from you, that "Pay me so many dollars. I give you some particular mantra." No. It is not that. It is open. Everyone can chant. But if you chant, then you will be benefited. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). Your heart will be cleansed. Now we are in so many consciousness: "I am this, I am that, I am this, I am that, I am this, I am that." And therefore there is so much trouble all over the world, because we have misidentified with this body which is simply shirt and coat. Suppose we are sitting, so many ladies and gentlemen. If we simply fight on the basis of our dress, "Oh, you are not in such dress. I am in such dress. Therefore you are my enemy," this is not very good argument. Because I am in different dress, so I am not your enemy. And because you are in different dress, you are not enemy. But that is going on. That is going on. "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am Chinese," "I am Russian," "I am this," "I am that." And the fighting is going on on this point only.

Lecture on SB 1.2.5 -- Vrndavana, October 16, 1972:

So try to impress the whole Western world about kṛṣṇa-sampraśnaḥ. Then they'll be happy. That is our mission. Yat kṛtaḥ kṛṣṇa-sampraśno yenātmā suprasīdati. Munayaḥ sādhu pṛṣṭo 'ham (SB 1.2.5). And Sūta Gosvāmī welcomed the inquiry, "Oh, it is a nice inquiry, very nice inquiry. You are inquiring about Kṛṣṇa. Oh, I have got this opportunity to answer." Anyone, any devotee, any servant of Kṛṣṇa, as soon as he'll be questioned by somebody about Kṛṣṇa, he'll be very, very happy: "Oh, here is an opportunity to speak about Kṛṣṇa." Just like when Nāradajī inquired from Brahmā that "I know that you are everything, but at the same time, I see that you are meditating on somebody else. What is that?" So Nara... Brahmā welcomed this inquiry, "My dear Nārada, it is a very nice question. Now you have given me opportunity to speak about my master."

So great sages, they were congratulated by Sūta Gosvāmī. All the sages in the Naimiṣāraṇya. Just like you are sitting here. This is the process of understanding kṛṣṇa-praśna. Formerly there were no big halls. Just like in your country or all over the world, we are speaking in big, big halls. Formerly the method was... Just like here, in this very sacred place, (taps podium) all the Gosvāmīs used to study Bhāgavatam under the leadership of Rūpa Gosvāmī, Sanātana Gosvāmī. This is a very... This is the most important place in the world. So you have got this opportunity. So... (Hindi)

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Delhi, November 11, 1973:

This is the process, hearing. If you simply hear about God, then you will see God by hearing. That is... Because there is a cloud of dirtiness within our heart. Unless that dirtiness is cleansed, we cannot perceive God. Therefore this process of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is described by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam: (CC Antya 20.12) "cleansing the mirror of heart." Just like unless you cleanse the mirror which is full of dust, you cannot see your face very nicely; similarly, unless you cleanse your heart very nicely, or in other words, unless your heart is cleansed of all sinful reaction, you cannot understand what is God. That is not possible. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said,

yeṣāṁ tv anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ
janānāṁ puṇya-karmaṇām
te dvandva-moha-nirmuktā
bhajante māṁ dṛḍha-vratāḥ
(BG 7.28)

They can see God, one who is fully washed of all sinful reaction of life. That can be done very easily. That can be done very easily.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Calcutta, February 23, 1972:

This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We are making center Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa said, yat karoṣi yaj juhoṣi yad aśnāsi tapasyasi yat tat kuruṣva mad-arpaṇam (BG 9.27). "You work. Whatever you like, you work, but ultimately you give Me the result of it." That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We do not want to stop anything. People may not misunderstand that we want to stop business, we have to stop industries, our, our general modes of life. You be engaged in your occupational duties, but resultant action of that duty you offer to Kṛṣṇa. Don't take it. Karmaṇy evādhi-kāras te mā phaleṣu kadācana. Don't take the result. Then it will be (indistinct). The same example, just like this hand picks up a very nice rasagullā, but it does not take; it gives to the stomach. Then it enjoys. That is the process. This spirit of giving to Kṛṣṇa is now forgotten. Therefore people are suffering, because they are not trying to enjoy in the process, that this is the process. You take a rasagullā, give it to the stomach. This is the process. Similarly, whatever you possess, you give it to Kṛṣṇa and take prasādam. Then you will be happy. Otherwise it will not bring happiness, because that is not the process.

But people are following a wrong process, to enjoy directly. That is implication. In the Bhagavad-gītā also it is said, yajñate karma: you work, but yajñate. Yajña means Kṛṣṇa, Viṣṇu. You work for Kṛṣṇa, yajñate karma. Anyatra karma-bandhanaḥ. Otherwise you'll be entangled. Either the result will be good or bad, so you have to accept it. Generally we like that—there are good, bad. The sastric process is that whatever you're destined to get, you'll get it.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Vrndavana, October 17, 1972:

Prabhupāda: Because Kṛṣṇa will see that you are successful. Your business is to become a sincere devotee of Kṛṣṇa. And without any expecting, ahaitukī, any success or failure, you do your duty, and you will see, Kṛṣṇa will see that you are successful. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Ahaituky apratihatā. And you will feel satisfied. Yayātmā suprasīdati. As soon as you see, "Oh, I have done something for Kṛṣṇa." Devotee does not feel it, but when he sees that another man has become devotee, he becomes very satisfied. Yayātmā suprasīdati.

So this is the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. It is explained in two lines in the Bhagavad..., Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam:

sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo
yato bhaktir adhokṣaje
ahaituky apratihatā
yayātmā suprasīdati
(SB 1.2.6)
You can read this purport.

Pradyumna: "In this statement, Śrī Sūta Gosvāmī answers the first question of the sages of Naimiṣāraṇya. The sages asked him to summarize the whole range of revealed scriptures and present the most essential part so, that fallen people or the people in general might easily take it up. The Vedas prescribe two different types of occupation for the human beings. One is called the pravṛtti-mārga, or the path of sense enjoyment, and the other is called the nivṛtti-mārga."

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- London, July 23, 1973:

Similarly, those who have come to this material world, they are all supposed to be criminals, disobedient to the laws of God. Therefore there is dharma, to teach people that "You take to religious principle, gradually become purified, and come back again to the spiritual world. That is your real abode." Here it is foreign. Here it is foreign, and you are under so many tribulations. Just like if you are in the prison house, there you cannot expect any comfort of life. That is not possible. It is meant for inflicting miseries upon you so that you can understand that you are criminal, you should not do like this and come here again. That is the process going on. Similarly, here also in this material world, we are always under troublesome condition. Especially in this age, Kali-yuga. So that we may come to our sense, if there is any possibility of making a solution of this miserable condition of life... But we are so callous, just like animals. They do not know. The animals are kept in the room for being slaughtered. They do not know. They are eating grass and very happy. Not happy. Some of them know that "We are going to be killed." They cry. But there is no escape. What can be done? But human life is not like animals. They must know that "We are in threefold miserable condition of life, adhyātmika, adhibhautika, adhidaivika. And we do not want these all miserable condition. We want to be happy. We want to be peaceful. How to do it?"

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- London, July 23, 1973:

This is the beginning of spiritual understanding.

Therefore Sūta Gosvāmī says, "That type of religion which actually gives spiritual education, and by spiritual education one develops his forgotten love of Godhead." Love of Godhead is there in every one of us. It is now forgotten. We have to simply awaken it. Otherwise how these English boys, these American boys, the Canadian boys or gentlemen, they are taking to Kṛṣṇa consciousness so seriously? It is not something artificial. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness was there. It is being awakened under certain prescribed method. That's all. Śravaṇādi-śuddha-citte karaye udaya. This is the process. Nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-bhakti. Caitanya-caritāmṛta says that "This Kṛṣṇa consciousness is there, dormant, in everyone's heart. It is already there." Śravaṇādi-śuddha-citte: "If you kindly hear about Kṛṣṇa and your heart becomes purified, the original dormant Kṛṣṇa consciousness is immediately awakened."

So this is the process. Therefore Bhāgavata recommends, sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmaḥ: "That type of religion is first class who has accepted this process how to awaken Kṛṣṇa consciousness." Adhokṣaja. Yato bhaktir adhokṣaje. What kind of bhakti? Ahaitukī, without any motive, without any motive. Because generally we go to temple or perform religion with a motive, some material purpose. But bhakti should be without any motive, ahaitukī, no cause. Apratihatā, and it cannot be checked. It is not that because one is Christian or one is Muhammadan or one is outside the Vedic culture, he cannot become Kṛṣṇa conscious. No. Ahaituky apratihatā. Apratihatā means nothing can check. Anything material impediment, is not able to check Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Ahaituky apratihatā yayātmā suprasīdati. If you follow this method how to awaken your Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then automatically your ātmā will be satisfied, oh. Just like Mrs. Sharma was describing, "Now I am so happy." She is not an ordinary woman. She is very rich. She has got business. But she is finding happiness here. This is practical example. This is practical example. Yayātmā, yayātmā suprasīdati.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Delhi, November 12, 1973:

This is the process, to develop our love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

So we do not know. We have got the propensity to love. Love means somebody else. Love cannot be done or love cannot be executed only one, personally. There must be another one. I love somebody; somebody loves me. So as soon as there is question of love, there must be lover, there must be beloved, and the transaction, then love. Prema. Premā pum-artho mahān. So we have got this loving propensity, to love somebody, to love my family. First of all, love begins from family—father, mother, brother, sister. Then you extend your love to your society, to your community, then to your nation. Or you can extend to the international. You can expand. But what is the end? You can expand yourself, but unless you come to the point of loving the Supreme Person, you cannot have tranquillity or peace of mind. That is the secret. Just like watering the tree. You can water, pour water on the leaves, on the branches, on the twigs, on the flowers, each and every one very particularly. But if you forget to water on the root, then everything is spoiled. Time is spoiled.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Delhi, November 12, 1973:

Just like watering, pouring water on the root of the tree, automatically you please the branches, the twigs, the leaves, the flowers, the fruits and everything. Immediately the watering energy is transformed to every part of the tree. It is practical. There is no argument. And another example is given. Prāṇopahārāc ca yathendriyāṇām. You give food to the stomach, and the energy will be distributed to all the parts of your body. If you want to serve separately, two sweetmeats to the two eyes and two sweetmeats to ears, in this way, it will be simply useless waste of time. Simply one sweetmeat, if you put into the stomach, and immediately you will feel some energy which will be enjoyed by your eyes, by your ears, by your nose, your hands, your legs, your hair, everything. This is the process.

So we have manufactured so many types of love except God. This is our defect. As soon as there is the name of God, "Oh, you go to Calcutera.(?) Not here." This is the position. People are so much averse. And our śāstra says that when you forget God or when you are not religious... Religious means to become devotee of God. That is religion, very simple thing. Religion does not mean the ritualistic ceremonies, that "My religion, the ritualistic is this. In your religion the ritualistic is this." That may be different according to time, according to the men, according to the country, climate. That may be little different. Just like we are eating. Somebody is eating, somebody, somebody is eating something, somebody is eating. But the eating process and to derive the benefit by eating is the same everywhere. There is no difference. So you may profess any religion. That doesn't matter. You may become Christian, you may become Hindu, you may become Buddhist, you may become Sikh or anyone. There are hundreds and thousands of types of religion. It doesn't matter. But the test is whether you have learned to love God. That is all right. Then it is all right.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Delhi, November 12, 1973:

"It is the paramparā system has been lost because there have been so many interpretation, wrong interpretation. Therefore I am selecting you to make again paramparā." Bhakto 'si sakhā ceti. "Why You are entrusting me? I am not a Vedantist. I am not a sannyāsī. I am not very learned scholar. I am military man. So why You are trying to give the instruction of Bhagavad-gītā unto me?" This question may be raised. Because Arjuna was a family man. He was not a sannyāsī, neither he was a Vedantist. A military man is not expected to become a Vedantist. Kṣatriya, he knows how to fight. And Kṛṣṇa says that "I will speak to you." Why? Bhakto 'si priyo 'si me: (BG 4.3) "You are My dear friend. Therefore I shall tell you." So this is the process of understanding: you have to become dear friend of Kṛṣṇa. Then you will understand Bhagavad-gītā. Otherwise, for thousands of years you may go on reading Bhagavad-gītā; you will not learn even a word of it. That is the secret. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2).

So our business is... We are teaching Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as it is spoken by the authorities. We don't add anything or subtract anything. Kṛṣṇa says man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65). This is the process. Man-manāḥ: "You always think of Me." And we say, "Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa." Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma... If you chant somebody's name, your friend's name or your relative's, immediately you remember the person. It is not very difficult. If you hear in the telephone somebody speaking, as soon as you hear the voice, you can understand, the other side, the person is there. So the chanting process means to always think of Kṛṣṇa, twenty-four hours. Caitanya Mahāprabhu advises kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ (CC Adi 17.31). And what is the benefit?

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Hyderabad, April 18, 1974:

And as soon as your heart is cleansed, your these material tribulations, the threefold miserable condition of this material world... It is compared with the forest fire. So forest fire is not very easy to extinguish, but it can be... There is process. That is God's arrangement. When there is rain from the sky, the forest fire is extinguished. Similarly, when mercy from Kṛṣṇa comes, your blazing fire of material existence will be extinguished. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā... (CC Antya 20.12). Then real spiritual life begins. So long you are disturbed materially, there is no possibility. But these material disturbances cannot be subsided by your concocted method. It can be subsided by the mercy bestowed by Kṛṣṇa. That is the process. Saṁsāra-dāvānala-līḍha-loka **. So spiritual life is real life. Material life is not real. Material life is temporary. So everyone can be situated in the spiritual life, sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktiḥ (SB 1.2.6), simply by being situated in the devotional service of the Lord. Yato bhaktiḥ. Bhakti required.

So there are many instances in the śāstras. If you refer to the śāstras... Bhagavad-gītā is the essence of all Vedic literature. You read it carefully. And we are presenting Bhagavad-gītā as..., without any malinterpretation. We don't interpret. We present Bhagavad-gītā as it is, and it is working. So I am requesting also in India that you read Bhagavad-gītā as it is. You understand what is the science of God. Your life will be successful.

Lecture on SB 1.2.7 -- Delhi, November 13, 1973:

If you are working rajo-guṇa, then you are preparing a body for rajo-guṇa. Similarly, sattva-guṇa. Everything is described in the Bhagavad-gītā. What is the different result? Ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthāḥ. Those who are working in sattva-guṇa, they will go to the higher planetary systems. There are Janaloka, Maharloka, Tapoloka, Brahmaloka, Satyaloka, Siddhaloka. You'll go there. Ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthā madhye tiṣṭhanti rājasāḥ (BG 14.18). And if you want to remain in the middle planetary system, then that is rajo-guṇa. And jaghanya-guṇa-vṛtti-sthā adho gacchanti tāmasāḥ. And those who are working in tamo-guṇa, jaghanya, most abominable behavior, they will go to the animal kingdom or the lower planetary system. This is the process. As you are contaminating, kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu (BG 13.22). Sat and asat-janma. Why there are so many varieties of life? Cats, dogs, trees, aquatics, birds, beasts, human beings, demigods, civilized, uncivilized, so many. Why there are so many varieties? kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya. As he is associating with different types of qualities, he is getting a different types of body. This is going on.

Lecture on SB 1.2.7 -- Delhi, November 13, 1973:

That is the speed of mind. So it is said, panthās tu... And with that speed, if you go on, koṭi-śata-vatsara-sampragamyaḥ, for many millions of years to find out where is God, it is impossible. You cannot. You cannot. Panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara-sampragamyo vāyor athāpi manaso muni-puṅgavānām (Bs. 5.34). And by whom? Muni-puṅga, great, great saintly persons. So still, avicintya-tattve, still, it remains avicintya-tattva. You cannot understand. Nāyam ātmā pravacanena labhyaḥ. In the Vedas it is said, "Simply by argument, speculation, you cannot understand." You have to understand God from God or from His representative. Otherwise it is not possible. This is the process.

So therefore it is said that vāsudeve bhagavati. If you engage yourself in devotional service, vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogaḥ, not other yoga... Jñāna-yoga, karma-yoga, dhyāna-yoga, haṭha-yoga, they will not be appreciated. Because in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, Kṛṣṇa said, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti (BG 18.55). Kṛṣṇa never said, "By process of jñāna or karma or yoga..." No. You cannot. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti. Or He speaks to Arjuna Bhagavad-gītā, bhakto 'si priyo 'si me (BG 4.3). So without bhakti, without bhakti-yoga, there is no possibility of understanding what is God. Take it for certain. Therefore the Bhāgavata says, vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ (SB 1.2.7). If you apply bhakti-yoga in the Supreme Personality of Godhead, vāsudeve bhagavati, then what will be the result? The result is janayaty āśu vairāgyaṁ jñānaṁ ca yad ahaitukam. Two things required for perfection of life: jñāna and vairāgya. Jñāna means perfect knowledge. What is that perfect knowledge? Ahaṁ brahmāsmi: "I am not this, American, Indian, or this and that. I am brahma-vastu. I am part and parcel of God. God is Para-brahman, and I am also part and parcel. Therefore I am also Brahman." The part and parcel of gold is gold. One has to realize that "I am not this body, matter. I am spirit soul, part and parcel of the Supreme Soul." That is called jñāna, not that M.A., Ph.D., D.H.C. These are not jñāna. They are different expansion of ajñāna.

Lecture on SB 1.2.7 -- Hyderabad, April 21, 1974:

How it is possible. They say that "Have you seen God?" But why... You have seen also God, because Kṛṣṇa says, prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ: "I am the sunshine." So who has not seen sunshine? So you have to begin seeing like that. Then if you remember Kṛṣṇa, that is also seeing. Seeing, spiritual seeing, does not mean simply to see by the eyes. Spiritual seeing means by chanting you can see, by describing you can see. Because Kṛṣṇa is Absolute. Absolute. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam (SB 7.5.23). In either of these items, either you hear of Kṛṣṇa, then you are seeing Kṛṣṇa. When you chant about Kṛṣṇa, then you are seeing Kṛṣṇa. When you are thinking of Kṛṣṇa, you are seeing Kṛṣṇa. This is the process. This is called bhakti-yoga.

Therefore it is said vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ (SB 1.2.7). If you learn how to practice bhakti-yoga, and that is upon Vāsudeva, Kṛṣṇa... Vāsudeva... And bhakti-yoga therefore says, śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ. Not śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam of the politician. That will not help you. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ. If you hear about Kṛṣṇa, if you chant about Kṛṣṇa, if you think about Kṛṣṇa, if you offer worship to Kṛṣṇa, if you engage yourself with some service to Kṛṣṇa, if you offer everything for Kṛṣṇa, you'll see Kṛṣṇa always, twenty-four hours. This is the process. Vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ (SB 1.2.7). This is bhakti-yoga. Bhakti-yoga means always be engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ (BG 9.14). That is stated in the Bhagavad... Satataṁ kīrtayanto mām. These boys and girls who are in bhakti-yoga, they are satataṁ kīrtayanto kṛṣṇam. They are going... Sometimes we go to make membership with these books. So we have to speak about Kṛṣṇa. Satataṁ kīrtayantaḥ. They are cooking for Kṛṣṇa. They are dancing for Kṛṣṇa. They are singing for Kṛṣṇa. They are talking for Kṛṣṇa. They are going round the world for Kṛṣṇa. Everything for Kṛṣṇa. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness and bhakti-yoga. Everyone can adopt these principles. Where is the difficulty? Vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ (SB 1.2.7). In this way, if you practice bhakti-yoga, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then the result will be janayaty āśu, very soon...

Lecture on SB 1.2.8 -- Vrndavana, October 19, 1972:

You may be Indian, you may be American, you may be European, you may be a brāhmaṇa, you may be śūdra, you may be engineer, you may be doctor, you may be fool, you may be rascal. Whatever it may be, it doesn't matter. Sthāne sthitāḥ. Don't be disturbed. Don't try to change your position. But jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva. Don't try to speculate, "God is like this, God is like that." Speculator, mental speculator. Give up this habit. Just become humble, namra. Jñāne prayāsaṁ namanta. Namanta means namra. Namra, offering obeisances. Just like we offer daṇḍavats. So similarly, namanta, to surrender. In a surrendering spirit, in a humble spirit, try to hear about the Supreme from the realized souls. This is the process. San-mukharitām. Not professional. One who has actually realized, from him, if you hear, meek and humble, without speculating mentally, then by this process only, one can realize the Supreme Lord very easily. Supreme Lord is called Ajita; nobody can conquer Him. But if one adopts this process, hearing from the realized soul in an attitude of humbleness, then he can conquer the ajita. He can understand. And Caitanya Mahāprabhu immediately accepted this process, eho haya, āge kaha āra. Eho haya "This is nice."

Lecture on SB 1.2.8 -- Bombay, December 26, 1972:

Similarly, what we can offer to Kṛṣṇa? Everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa, and if in the store of Kṛṣṇa there are millions and millions of tons of fruits and flower, if you take one or two of them and offer to Kṛṣṇa, so what is Kṛṣṇa's loss? And if you offer one fruit to Kṛṣṇa, what is His gain? Kṛṣṇa is not concerned with your offering and not offering, but if you offer, it is for your interest. It is for your interest, so Kṛṣṇa will recognize, "Here is a devotee."

So this is the process. Therefore Sūta Gosvāmī said that dharmasya..., nārthasya dharmaikāntasya kāmo lābhāya hi smṛtaḥ, kāmasya na indriya prītiḥ. Kāmaḥ. We have to satisfy our tongue, our senses, but not for indriya prītiḥ. We should eat for living nicely, not for palatable dishes. So many animal killing, unnecessary. Why? Kṛṣṇa has given you so many nice thing—rice, wheat, sugar, milk, fruit, flower, vegetable, and with milk you can get ghee, and you can prepare hundreds and thousands of preparation and offer to Kṛṣṇa and take it. Why should you kill so many animals and maintain slaughterhouse for the satisfaction of the tongue? Therefore here it is said, kāmasya, we have some demand for maintaining the body, but not for sense gratification. Kāmasya nendriya prītiḥ. Na indriya prītiḥ. Indriya prītiḥ, if you cannot satisfy your tongue by so many preparation... Hundreds and thousands of preparation can be made from these ingredients-grains, vegetables, fruits, flowers and milk and sugar. Actually we still, in Hindu family, they are preparing so many nice foodstuff. Why should we go for indriya prītiḥ? For satisfaction of the tongue we shall kill so many chickens and cows and goats, why? What is the use. There is no use. It is simply sense gratification. Therefore Sūta Goswāmī recommends that you have got some demand for keeping the health properly, not..., but not, don't try to do it for indriya prītiḥ, indriya prītiḥ.

Lecture on SB 1.2.8 -- Hyderabad, April 22, 1974:

And when you attain to the stage of bhakti, then your life is successful. This is the process.

Therefore it is said that you may go on with your so-called occupational duties, but if you do not come to the platform of spiritual understanding, then it is śrama eve hi kevalam—it is simply waste of time. Simply waste of time. Because you do not catch up the ideal of your mission. Simply work like the animals and die. The bodily concept of li... Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13). Simply thinking that "I am this body, and my only business is to satisfy the senses of the body. Not only my body, but my son's body, my grandson's body, my relative's body." This is going on under different names, Socialism, this "ism," that "ism"—expanded bodily concept of life. This is animal civilization. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13). Because the animal is also doing that. A cat is thinking that "I am this body. I must secure my food anyway. A mouse, anywhere." A dog is also thinking like that. If human being also thinks like that, then what is the difference between cats and dogs? He may be very much proud that "I am discharging my duties very faithfully," but here Bhāgavata says, dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ viṣvaksena kathāsu yaḥ, notpādayet: "If you do not develop your Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you are simply wasting your time." This is the verdict.

Lecture on SB 1.2.9-10 -- Delhi, November 14, 1973:

Ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgaḥ. Therefore our this movement is called International Society for Kṛṣṇa Consciousness.

So actually, one by one, as people are coming to the association of the society, automatically he is becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious. That is practical. Ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgaḥ. This is sādhu-saṅga. Sādhu-saṅga does not mean to associate with some saffron-colored men. Sādhu-saṅga means to associate with Kṛṣṇa conscious person. This is śāstra. Ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu... This is Rūpa Gosvāmī's direction, that if you want to develop your love for Kṛṣṇa, this is the process. Because real purpose of life is not dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa (SB 4.8.41, Cc. Ādi 1.90). And that will be explained here. Jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā. What is the Absolute Truth? What is the aim of life? Then this is the process. Ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgo 'tha bhajana-kriyā. Practically we have seen. These boys and girls, Europe and America, they first of all came to me, and they associated, abided by my orders. Then automatically they wanted to be initiated. We are doing that. Every day we are initiating some new devotees. So this is called bhajana-kriyā. You'll be automatically anxious. If one associates with sādhu, then he will be automatically anxious to accept bhajana-kriyā, initiation. Then you have to rise early in the morning, you have to offer maṅgala-ārati, you have to do this, you have to do that. Twenty-four-hours program is there. That is called bhajana-kriyā. Ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgo 'tha bhajana-kriyā tato 'nartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt (Cc. Madhya 23.14-15). Anartha means useless habits. Just like one smokes. It is useless habit. By bad association one becomes a smoker, one becomes a drunkard, one becomes a meat-eater, one becomes a gambler. These are anarthas. So everyone in this age, everyone is associated with these anarthas. But if he takes to kṛṣṇa-bhajana, bhajana-kriyā, then anartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt. Practically you can see. These boys and girls, they are no more meat-eaters, they are no more taking any intoxicants, they are no more gambler. No more illicit sex hunters. No. Everything stopped. This is our prin...

Lecture on SB 1.2.9-10 -- Delhi, November 14, 1973:

That is the advice of the Vedas. Vedaiś ca sarvaiḥ... (break) So Arjuna is inquiring from Kṛṣṇa, and He says, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate (BG 10.8). So Bhagavad-gītā is real Vedānta. And if one understands Bhagavad-gītā as it is, he is really Vedantist. Veda means knowledge, and anta means the last word. So last word of knowledge is Kṛṣṇa. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). If one does not understand Kṛṣṇa and does not surrender to Kṛṣṇa, he is simply uselessly wasting his time. That is the verdict of all Vedic literature. Therefore in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavata it is said, kāmasya nendriya-prītiḥ. Kāmasya nendriya-prītir lābho jīveta yāvatā (SB 1.2.10). Simply take so much as you will need, not for sense gratification. That is the process. Don't take more, don't take less. Yuktāhāra-vihārasya. Śāstra does not advise you that you starve, unnecessarily you starve. No. Kṛṣṇa has condemned one who unnecessarily starves. You take foodstuffs. But don't take anything which is forbidden. Take kṛṣṇa-prasādam. Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam (BG 9.26). Don't try to satisfy your senses. The senses will be satisfied. There are so many varieties of food, kṛṣṇa-prasādam. That you will... These Europeans and Americans, they used to take meat. Now if you give them, bribe that "You take again meat..." Because they have learned to cook so many nice foodstuffs. Ask any one of them. Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā. Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā. When you get better thing, nivartate, then you give up which is not very good.

Lecture on SB 1.2.10 -- Vrndavana, October 21, 1972:

Our love for Kṛṣṇa is there already. But it is covered. It is covered. By the influence of the modes of material nature, it is covered. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is nothing but discovering Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is already there. But we are giving chance to the people for hearing about Kṛṣṇa. That's all. All these European, American boys and girls who have joined, they have simply been given the chance of hearing. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). Actually, if the people are given chance to hear this Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam, then gradually the dirty things within his heart becomes cleared, and he can understand what is Kṛṣṇa. This is the process. We do not ask anybody that "You become Hindu or you become so and so." We simply ask, "Please come and chant with us." This is our program. I began my chanting in New York in a park, Tompkinson Square. Those who are old students... Here is Acyutānanda. He's one of the old students. He first of all came and danced. He and Brahmānanda. So that is the beginning. He knows what was the beginning. I was sitting underneath a tree like this, and no khol. It was some dundubhi. And I was playing on it from two to five, three hours, chanting. And these young boys and girls with their dogs, with their children, they began to dance. Yes. That was the beginning. Gradually, they became student. Here is... Where is our Hayagrīva Prabhu?

Lecture on SB 1.2.10 -- Bombay, December 28, 1972:

Kali-yuga, there is special concession that is given by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. You haven't got to go to the forest of Himalaya for attaining jñāna and vairāgya. You can stay in your place. You can remain in Bombay, you can remain in London, you can remain in New York, big, big cities, and you can perform your prescribed duties. You can be very businessman. You can remain in (indistinct), or anything. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says. He said also from the Vedic, sthāne sthitaḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ manobhir, jñāne prāyasam udapāsya namanta eva, san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām. This was spoken by Rāmānanda Rāya, and Caitanya Mahāprabhu accepted. Originally this verse was spoken by Lord Brahmā. Rāmānanda Rāya quoted from the words of Lord Brahmā, and Caitanya Mahāprabhu accepted: "Yes, this is the process." What is that process? Jñāne prāyasam udapāsya. If we don't be independent, unnecessarily mental exercise to understand what is God, what is Absolute Truth. Don't bother about these things. Then, what to do? Namanta eva: just become submissive, then san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya, just try to hear from a realized soul. This process. Don't try to speculate yourselves as great philosophers and waste your time and become puffed-up, that "I am now realized, I am God." These puffed-up positions must be given up. You must be submissive.

Lecture on SB 1.2.10 -- Bombay, December 28, 1972:

If simply speculation goes on, that will not help us, and if simply ringing the bell goes on, and then that will not... That is not. There are temples, many hundreds and thousands, but nobody goes, because there is no śruti, śruta-gṛhitaya. People say, "What is there? They're simply ringing the bell, that's all." So two things must go on: bhaktyā, śruta-gṛhitaya. There must be devotional service, discharge of devotional service as they are prescribed in the śāstra, as they are guided or ordered by the spiritual master—that will go on—at the same time we have to hear, namanta eva, śruti vak-manobhiḥ. In this way, if we live our life, athāto brahma jijñāsā, jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā, if you try to understand the Absolute Truth, this is the process. If we follow, then our life is a success.

Lecture on SB 1.2.11 -- Tirupati, April 26, 1974:

Not whimsically, not by sentiment. One has to develop his dormant bhakti consciousness or Kṛṣṇa consciousness by thorough study of the Vedic literature. Then he can understand what is Brahman, what is Paramātmā and what is Bhagavān. Otherwise it is not possible.

Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā also, it is said, "The basic principle is bhakti." Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (BG 18.55). One has to learn the Absolute Truth through bhakti. Bhakti is the principle. If you have got bhakti, then jñāna-vairāgya will automatically come. But if you remain only on the platform of jñāna-vairāgya, you may not develop bhakti. This is the process. That is also mentioned in the beginning of this chapter.

vāsudeve bhagavati
bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ
janayaty āśu vairāgyaṁ
jñānaṁ ca yad ahaitukam
(SB 1.2.7)

This is the... You must have complete knowledge, jñānam and vairāgya, detachment. Jñāna means detachment. If one is attached to the material activities, he is not a jñānī, because he is in the bodily concept of life. Therefore he is not jñānī. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13), sa eva go-kharaḥ: "If one is in the bodily concept of life, he is no better than the cows and asses." This is the verdict of the śāstra. So you cannot understand the Absolute Truth on the platform of bodily concept of life. You must get yourself on the transcendental platform, and bhakti is the transcendental platform for the activities of the spirit soul.

Lecture on SB 1.2.12 -- Vrndavana, October 23, 1972:

Now this verse is describing how one can become interested in the values of life. The values of life is to inquire the Absolute Truth, how this inclination can be developed or how Kṛṣṇa consciousness can be developed. Tattva-jijñāsā means Brahman, Paramātmā, and Bhagavān, Kṛṣṇa. Now how this inclination... There is inclination in everyone, but by artificial means, they have been checked. Otherwise, normally, this inclination is there in everyone's heart. Nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-bhakti sādhya kabhu naya. It is not an artificial imposition. Naturally there is tendency to know, if he's a sane man, "What I am? What is God? What is my relationship with Him? Why I am suffering?" There are so many questions. So here it is suggested that if you are actually serious about tattva-jijñāsā, to understand the Absolute Truth, this is the process. What is that? Tat śraddadhānāḥ. Śraddhā. Śraddhā means that at least to understand that "These people are doing some nice things." Just like in Europe and America, the papers are now discussing about our Movement. They say, "They are nice people, and we want more of them." At least, they are saying like that. Yes. "These Hare Krishna people, they are very nice, and we want more of them." And in Berkeley, when our procession was taken, the neighboring shopkeepers, they remarked that "These people are not window-breaking crowd." Because as soon as there is some crowd, or procession, immediately they begin to break the windows and throw stones. That is, that has become a custom. So when they see that these people are very peaceful... Even the police, they also give certificate that "We don't have to take much worries to control this crowd," when our Ratha-yātrā festival go.

Lecture on SB 1.2.12 -- Vrndavana, October 23, 1972:

If you want actually peace and tranquillity, ātmā, of your self, of your mind, of your body, everything fully, then this is the process. This is the aim, how to love God.

So that stage, that supreme stage can be attained as it is described here, tac chraddadhānāḥ. Śraddhā. Rūpa Gosvāmī therefore says, ādau śraddhā. In the beginning, one must have a conviction that "I must love Kṛṣṇa, or God." This is the first... Caitanya-caritāmṛta kaṛacā explains this śraddhā:

'śraddhā'-śabde viśvāsa kahe sudṛḍha niścaya
kṛṣṇe bhakti kaile sarva-karma kṛta haya
(Cc. Madhya 22.62)

This is called śraddhā, beginning, one... Bhagavān, Śrī Kṛṣṇa is teaching in the Bhagavad-gītā,

sarva-dharmān parityajya
mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo
mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ
(BG 18.66)

This is the beginning. If I am firmly convinced that simply by surrendering unto the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa I'll be saved by Him... Because He assures, "I..." Ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi. People suffer on account of sinful activities. The resultant actions are reserved there. What we are suffering now, it is the resultant action of our past sinful activities. And we are preparing another body in this life by committing sinful activities. The more we... Everyone within this material world who has got this material body, it is to be understood it is due to our past sinful activities. It doesn't matter what kind of body you have got. Therefore Bhāgavata says that we should not, I mean to say, commit any more sinful activities. Na sādhu manye yata ātmano 'yam asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ (SB 5.5.4).

Lecture on SB 1.2.12 -- Delhi, November 18, 1973:

Therefore bhakti must be there. Bhakti means without any result or karma and jñāna. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (Brs. 1.1.11). People are interested with dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa (SB 4.8.41, Cc. Ādi 1.90). But Bhāgavata says that above that, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra (SB 1.1.2). Here in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam... Dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa, they are cheating, because they are not giving directly the devotional service to the Lord. Dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa. Therefore Vyāsadeva says, dharmārtha-kāma-mokṣa, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ vāstavaṁ vastu vedyam atra (SB 1.1.2).

So if we want to understand the real reality, vāstava-vastu, that is Kṛṣṇa, then this is the process. What is that?

tac chraddadhānā munayo
jñāna-vairāgya-yuktayā
paśyanty ātmani cātmānaṁ
bhaktyā śruta-gṛhītayā
(SB 1.2.12)

You have to receive through the channel of paramparā system, bhakti. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). Paramparā. Ādau gurvāśrayam. Therefore we have to accept a guru who is coming in the paramparā. Just like Arjuna. Arjuna is paramparā. Because the paramparā was lost, Kṛṣṇa again said Bhagavad-gītā to Arjuna. So as Arjuna understood, if you understand Bhagavad-gītā as Arjuna understood, if you understand Kṛṣṇa, then your understanding of Kṛṣṇa is perfect. And if you invent some imaginary meaning, then you are śrama eva hi kevalam, waste of time. So don't do that. Try to understand Kṛṣṇa as He is, as He speaks Himself about Himself, that "I am like this."

Lecture on SB 1.2.14 -- Los Angeles, August 17, 1972:

Constantly. Kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ (CC Adi 17.31). That is required. Life should be molded in such a way that not for a single moment you are without Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is real life. That is perfection. Because you have to make your life perfect by satisfying Kṛṣṇa, satisfying God. Saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam (SB 1.2.13). If you want perfection, But if you want again to become cats and dogs, which you have already passed through and now you have come to this human form of body, then you do whatever you like. But if you want to make this life perfect, stop this business of becoming repeatedly cats and dogs and trees and this and that, then this is the process: tasmād bhārata. Ekena manasā. Concentrating fully. Ekena. With one attention. No diversion. Ekena manasā, bhagavān sātvatāṁ patiḥ. Don't be afraid that "If I simply concentrate my mind in Kṛṣṇa, then how other things will go on?" No. Bhagavān sātvatāṁ patiḥ. He is very careful about His devotee. Kṛṣṇa, God, is giving everyone's food, but that is according to karma, according to his quality and position. He's getting food. Just like hog is getting food, but he cannot get more than stool. He cannot claim, "Give me halavā." No, that's not possible. You must eat stool. Because you are, by your karma, you have got this body, hog, you must eat stool.

So those who are under the karma, under the principles of nature's law—that is karma, nature's law—they are different. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ, ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā (BG 3.27). Those who are ordinary living entities, they are being carried away by pull, they are being pulled by the ear by nature's law. But those who are devotees, their position is different. They are under the special attention of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He therefore declares: kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati (BG 9.31). "My dear Arjuna, you can declare to the world that anyone who is My pure devotee, he'll never be vanquished. I shall take care." Why He is asking Arjuna to declare? Because a devotee's attempt is never baffled. That is Kṛṣṇa's desire. Even His own declaration may be sometimes false, but if a devotee declares, Kṛṣṇa will see, it must be done. It must be done.

Lecture on SB 1.2.15 -- Vrndavana, October 26, 1972:

You have to accept the statement of your mother. That's all. Finished. Similarly, Vedas—our mother of knowledge. Purāṇas-our sisters of knowledge. So we have to consult from the Vedas and from the right person. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet (MU 1.2.12), from the guru. Not that you purchase one book, Vedas, from the market, and you become a Vedantist. No. That is not possible. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet. Must go to understand. Tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā (BG 4.34).

These are the injunctions. Śrotavya. This is the process of śrotavya. Tad viddhi praṇipātena. You have to hear by surrendering. First of all you have to find out where you can surrender. Because everyone is big man. Why he shall surrender? So unless he finds out somebody who he can surrender to, then that is the beginning of transcendental knowledge. Śrotavya. So who can be a bigger personality than Kṛṣṇa? So hear from Kṛṣṇa, hear from Vyāsadeva, hear from Nārada, hear from their representative, Nārada's representative, Vyāsadeva; Vyāsadeva's representative, Madhva Muni. Similarly, in that paramparā system... Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayaḥ (BG 4.2). So we have to catch up the paramparā, disciplic chain, bona fide spiritual master, and from him we have to hear. Śrotavya.

Now, in the next verse it is said that yad-anudhyāsinā. Dhyeya. Simply by thinking of Kṛṣṇa, hearing about Kṛṣṇa, speaking about Kṛṣṇa, meditating upon Kṛṣṇa, worshiping Kṛṣṇa, you become perfect. That is assured in the Bhagavad-gītā: man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65). So the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is very simple. We are teaching people that "Here is God, Kṛṣṇa. We can give you the name, address, form, and everything." Yes. Kṛṣṇa says, tad dhāma paramaṁ mama. He is giving His address. Yad gatvā na nivartante (BG 15.6). "Where you go, you don't require to come back." Tad dhāma paramaṁ mama. So Kṛṣṇa is giving information about His abode. So simply you have to qualify yourself to go there. That's all. That qualification is simply man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65). "Simply think of Me." And if you simply think of Kṛṣṇa, you become the greatest yogi.

Lecture on SB 1.2.15 -- Vrndavana, October 26, 1972:

So here it is the same thing. Yad-anudhyāsinā yuktāḥ karma-granthi-nibandhanam. Nibandhanam. It is tightly interknotted, our karma-granthi. We had some types of activities in our past lives, and we have got this body. Everyone. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur deha upapattaye (SB 3.31.1). The different types of body, 8,400,000 species of life, different types of body. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi, 900,000 species in the water. In this way, planets, creepers, serpents, insects, birds, beasts, then human form. This is the process of evolution. So each body is a concession by Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is sitting in everyone's heart. You want to do something. Just like for doing something you must have particular type of instrument, similarly, the body means particular type of instrument. So you desire to do something, Kṛṣṇa gives you a particular type with the senses, and you act. This is the change of body. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa. Daiva-netreṇa, by superior examination it is settled up that "This man or this beast is dying..." Of course, for lower than animals, they have got natural process of evolution. But when you come to the human form of body, you have got responsibility. Now you can make your next life better than this or lower than this.

Just like one man is given the chance of become some minister or magistrate. If he does very nice, he is promoted; otherwise degraded. Similarly, this human form of life is meant for understanding God. That is the only business. If we don't understand what is God, what is Kṛṣṇa and our relationship with Him, then we are missing the point. Then we become entangled, entangled. This entanglement is karma-granthi-nibandhanam, by our karma. By different kind of karma, we are becoming entangled. So to unknot this, I mean to say, binding of entanglement, (it) is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, yajñārthe karma, "You work simply for Yajña, for satisfaction of Yajña." Yajña-pati, Viṣṇu, or God, or Kṛṣṇa. Yajñārthe karma, anyatra karma-bandhanaḥ. "If you do not act for Kṛṣṇa, do not act for Viṣṇu, for Yajña, then karma-bandhana." Yajñārthe karmaṇaḥ anyatra karma-bandhanaḥ.

Lecture on SB 1.2.15 -- Vrndavana, October 26, 1972:

Therefore they are kept in ignorance, and the world is suffering therefore. They do not know what is the goal of life. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ (SB 7.5.31). They are trying to adjust things by illusory energy. That's all. Therefore, andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānāḥ. It is exactly like the, a blind man is trying to lead other blind men. This is going on.

Therefore this is the process, yad-anudhyāsinā, you have to take one knife. This is knife. What is that? Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ (SB 7.5.23). This is knife. If you want to get rid of this entanglement of material existence, one body after another, then this is the only instrument by which you can unknot the knot and come out of the entanglement. Chindanti. This very word is used, chindanti: "It cuts." Chindanti kovidās tasya. Kovida means very intelligent person. Unless one is very intelligent, he cannot take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is not our manufactured words. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ (BG 7.15). So our test is if anyone is not Kṛṣṇa conscious, he is either of these: duṣkṛtinaḥ, mūḍhāḥ, narādhamāḥ, māyayā apahṛta-jñānāḥ. This is our conclusion. You may say it is very sectarian, but Kṛṣṇa says. What can I do? (laughter) Kṛṣṇa says.

So therefore, as soon as we find out a person, he has no knowledge of Kṛṣṇa, we put him either of these categories: mūḍhāḥ, duṣkṛtinaḥ, narādhamāḥ, māyayā apahṛta-jñānāḥ. These are their qualifications. Therefore it is said here, chindanti kovidāḥ, he is neither of these rascals: miscreants, mūḍhāḥ, narādhamāḥ, and māyayā apahṛta-jñānāḥ. Kovida, very intelligent. Kovidās tasya ko na kuryāt kathā-ratim. Anyone who has understand that simply by hearing about Kṛṣṇa, talking about Kṛṣṇa, working for Kṛṣṇa, one can become released from this entanglement, who will not accept it? For example, just see in the Western countries; all the younger generation, they are so much addicted to intoxication.

Lecture on SB 1.2.15 -- Vrndavana, October 26, 1972:

This is the result of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ (SB 5.18.12). Simply by becoming a devotee of Kṛṣṇa, all the good qualities of the demigods... Demigods... Just like Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva, Nārada. There are many, many demigods. They are good qualified. Otherwise, how they are posted in such exalted position? They are very qualified. So simply by becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious, all the good qualities of the demigods, or all godly qualities, will manifest. There is no doubt about it. Bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra... (SB 11.2.42). They will be reluctant. Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate (BG 2.59). They will find something so nice that they will give up all this nonsense. This is the process. Unless you give something better, how one can give up his bad habits?

Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He delivered Jagāi-Mādhāi. They were all this: addicted to illicit sex, meat-eating, drinking and intoxication, gambling. That was their business. So Nityānanda Prabhu went to deliver them, that "First of all, these rascals should be delivered." Therefore He went there. They were very angry. They hurt Him by throwing one stone on His forehead, and blood came out. Still, Nityānanda Prabhu said, "All right, I don't mind. Please chant Hare Kṛṣṇa." This is preaching, Nityānanda. But when Lord Caitanya heard it, He became very angry. He wanted to kill them immediately. So Nityānanda Prabhu requested that "In this incarnation You have promised not to accept any weapons. Please become," I mean to say, "kind upon them." This is the person... This is the business of guru. Guru introduces with God and prays to God, "Please excuse him." This is guru's business. And by the request of guru, God agrees to excuse him. This is the process.

So Caitanya Mahāprabhu simply asked them that "I can accept you simply if you agree not to commit any more sinful activities." This is the condition. Not that you go on with your sinful activities and go on chanting also. This is called nāmno balād yasya hi pāpa-buddhiḥ. There are many persons, they think, "Oh, we are expert in chanting. So in the morning let us commit all kinds of sinful activities, and in the evening I shall chant.

Lecture on SB 1.2.17 -- San Francisco, March 25, 1967:

We have already discussed on this point that the spirit is eternal. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre: (BG 2.20) "Even after the destruction of this body, the consciousness is not destroyed." That continues. Rather, consciousness transferred to another type of body makes me again alive to the material conception of life. And that is also described in the Bhagavad-gītā. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajaty ante kalevaram (BG 8.6). At the time of death, if our consciousness is pure, then it is sure that next life is not material. Next life's pure spiritual life. But if our consciousness is not pure at the point of the verge of death, just leaving this body, then we have to take again this material body. That is the process going on by nature's law. We have got our finer body. This is gross body. The body which you are seeing, which I am seeing, this is gross body. Just like shirt and coat. Within your coat, there is shirt, and within your shirt, there is a body. Similarly, the pure soul is covered by shirt and coat. The shirt is mind, intelligence and false ego. Mind, intelligence and false ego. False ego means that the wrong conception that "I am matter. I am something, product of this material world." This wrong conception makes me localized. Just like because I have taken my birth in America, therefore I think myself American. Because I have taken my birth in India, therefore I think myself as Indian. But as pure soul, I am neither Indian nor American. I am pure soul. Because this is designation. This American, or Indian, or German, or Englishman, or cats and dogs and this and that, black and white, all these are designations. Spiritual consciousness means to become free from all these designations.

Lecture on SB 1.2.17 -- San Francisco, March 25, 1967:

And eighty, eighty million, eight million, there are other species of life. But Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord, claims that all of them, never mind, either he is bird or beast or man or a snake or whatever he may..., god, or semi-god, demigod, anything, whatever... "There are different forms, but apart from the forms, real identity is that all of them, they are My sons. I am actually bīja-pradaḥ pitā, seed-giving father." Just like the father gives the seed, and the mother receives the seed, and the body is formed according to the mother's body. And when the body is completely formed, it comes out, either from cats, either from dog, either from man, or anything. That is the process of generation. The father gives the seed, and it takes, emulsified, two kinds of secretion within the womb of the mother, and in the first night the body is formed like a pea. Then gradually it develops. There are certain holes, the nine holes. They first of all come out, nine holes. We have got nine holes, two eyes, one mouth, two ears, and penis, and so many things. So when they are fully developed, they come out. And according to their last karma, or action, they get this body and enjoy, or suffer. That is the process of birth and death which is going on. And after finishing this life, again dies, again enters into the moth..., womb of the mother, again gets another type of body, again comes out. This is going on. This is going on.

Lecture on SB 1.2.17 -- Vrndavana, October 28, 1972:

That is the accepted process, śravaṇam, śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu also accepted this process. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ. He refused so many other processes of self-realization, beginning from varṇāśrama-dharma, jñāna-miśra-bhakti, karma-miśra-bhakti, karma-tyāga. He, not rejected; he said, "It is external. If you know something more, speak," when He was talking with Rāmānanda Rāya. So when Rāmānanda Rāya quoted a passage from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam which was spoken by Lord Brahmā:

jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva
jīvanti san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām
sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhir
ye prāyaśo 'jita jito 'py asi tais tri-lokyām

So Caitanya Mahāprabhu accepted that people should be given chance, some way or other, to hear about Kṛṣṇa. That's all. These meetings are arranged, these saṅkīrtana parties are arranged... We are sending our men throughout the whole world simply to give them some chance to hear about Kṛṣṇa. This is the process. And it is actually happening very effective. Simply.

Lecture on SB 1.2.17 -- Vrndavana, October 28, 1972:

We give very much importance to the senses. The bodily concept of life means to give importance to sense enjoyment. That's all. This is bodily concept of life. So indriyāṇi parāṇy āhuḥ. They are very important. Those who are bodily, in bodily concept of life, they are addicted to sense gratification. Indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ (BG 3.42). And those who are little advanced more, they are addicted to the mental speculation. The so-called jñānīs, mental speculation. Manasas tu parā buddhiḥ. Then again you come to the platform of intelligence. Intelligence, and when the intelligence is purified, hṛdy antaḥ-stho hy abhadrāṇi, purified, simply by hearing about Kṛṣṇa, then immediately you are raised to the platform of spiritual life. This is the process.

So,

śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ
hṛdy antaḥ-stho hy abhadrāṇi
vidhunoti suhṛt satām
(SB 1.2.17)

He is very intimate friend of the sādhus, of the devotees. He is everyone's friend. Suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām (BG 5.29). He's everyone's friend. God, Kṛṣṇa, He's everyone's friend, but He's a special friend for the devotees. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā.

Lecture on SB 1.2.18 -- Vrndavana, October 29, 1972:

uch rascals have spoiled the whole country, you see. Everyone is so... Politicians, and this, that, all, they are... "Oh, we are student of Bhagavad-gītā." And what do you know about Kṛṣṇa? "Kṛṣṇa is zero." That's all. This is going on. So therefore Kṛṣṇa says, na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ (BG 7.15). So we have to hear. If we actually want to diminish our anarthas, then we must hear Kṛṣṇa as He's speaking, without any interpretation.

So this is the process of diminishing all dirty things within the heart. Śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ, hṛdy antaḥ-sthaḥ (SB 1.2.17). Kṛṣṇa is hṛdy antaḥ-sthaḥ, within your heart. Vidhunoti. He washes all dirty things. Kṛṣṇa is taking charge of washing your dirty things. Simply by hearing about, you... Why don't you take this opportunity? What is this nonsense? Kṛṣṇa simply says that "You hear about, from Me." Satataṁ kīrtayanto mām (BG 9.14). "Always chanting about Me, and hearing about Me." Simple process. But the rascals will not take. They will make humbugs, jugglery of words: "This is meaning, this is meaning, this is meaning." Therefore they do not advance. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānāḥ (SB 7.5.31). The story of anchor. The anchor was not taken, and the whole night they rowed on the boat, and it was where it was there.

Now, the next verse is that if you hear about Kṛṣṇa from Kṛṣṇa or Kṛṣṇa's representative, not from bogus men... According to this Vedic philosophy, if somebody speaks about Bhagavad-gītā, but he's not a Vaiṣṇava... Sanātana Gosvāmī has forbidden that "Don't hear from him." Because he will create rascal. And Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said, māyāvādi-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa (CC Madhya 6.169). If you hear about Kṛṣṇa from an impersonalist, so-called Māyāvādī, then your future is doomed, finished.

Lecture on SB 1.2.18 -- Vrndavana, October 29, 1972:

This is the process. So nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā, naṣṭa-prāyeṣu abhadreṣu (SB 1.2.18). Not even completely. Because you cannot approach Kṛṣṇa in sinful life. Those who are thinking that "We are living in Vṛndāvana, and I can do all sinful activities because I am living in Vṛndāvana. Vṛndāvana-rāja will cure me, will purify me." That's a fact. Yes. But if you go on indulging in such sinful activities, then you'll have to live in Vṛndāvana in like the hogs and monkeys. At least one life you have to spend like that. Then you'll be purified. So why should you waste you're time in that way? Dhāmāparādha. If one is committing sinful activities in the dhāma, Vṛndāvana-dhāma, that is a great offense. Nāmno balād yasya hi pāpa-buddhiḥ. These are the injunction of the śāstras.

So we should be very careful. We should finish our business very quickly. Tūrṇaṁ yateta. Why should we take another risk of become hog and live in Vṛndāvana? Don't take that risk. Naṣṭa-prāyeṣu abhadreṣu. Finish all contamination, dirty things, and become completely pure. Because Kṛṣṇa is paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12). He's complete pure. Apāpa-viddham. In the Īśopaniṣad: Kṛṣṇa is uncontaminated, complete. Any contaminated thing goes to Kṛṣṇa, He makes purified. Just like the gopīs. Actually they approached Kṛṣṇa in a lusty attitude, but because He was Kṛṣṇa, He, they become purified. So it is not that we shall purposefully remain impure and approach Kṛṣṇa, but the process is that if you regularly hear about Kṛṣṇa and serve Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, or a devotee, then gradually your contaminated things being washed off, bhagavaty uttama-śloke bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī (SB 1.2.18). The result will be bhagavati, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is glorified by uttama-śloka, by transcendental prayers...

Lecture on SB 1.2.19 -- Los Angeles, August 22, 1972:

He should be satisfied with one wife or one husband. Why hankering after others? That is lusty. That means it is not on the stage of Kṛṣṇa consciousness; it is in the material platform. These are the test. Therefore we advise our students, "Voluntarily, you try or you become free from these things: illicit sex, intoxication, meat-eating, and gambling." Because indulging in these four things, you'll remain in darkness.

So voluntarily you have to try to give up these bad habits, and at the same time, to maintain yourself on the platform, you have to chant sixteen rounds: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. This is the process. Tadā rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ kāma-lobhādayaś ca ye (SB 1.2.19). Then the result will be this: ceta etair anāviddham. Because they are, māyā is attacking you with these... Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). Guṇamayī. Guṇa means these qualities, the three modes of nature. The material nature is guṇamayī. Guṇamayī means involved or full of these three modes of material nature, guṇamayī. Maya means... Just like golden. It is smeared with gold or it is gold, you can..., you can say golden. Golden means it is made of gold or it is covered with gold glittering. Similarly, this māyā, this material nature, is made of these three modes of nature, sattva, rajas, tamas. Therefore it is called guṇamayī.

Guṇamayī... Another meaning of guṇa is rope. Just like you have seen rope. There are three layers, they are twisted very strong, and such rope becomes strong. So similarly, these three guṇas, these three modes of nature, are twisted like rope, and we are bound up. You cannot get out. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). If your hands and legs are tied with such rope, then it is very difficult. Similarly, we are all bound up. We are declaring freedom, and so many things, nonsense, we are speaking, but we have forgotten that we are under the grip of this māyā. Immediately, you can be overcome by māyā. Māyā is so strong.

Lecture on SB 1.2.19 -- Los Angeles, August 22, 1972:

This is the process. Nityam, daily. Or twenty-four hours. By studying Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or associating with devotees, bhāgavata-sevayā... Bhakti, bhagavaty uttama-śloke bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī. Then the Supreme Personality of Godhead, bhagavaty uttama-śloke, bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī, devotional service becomes strong and fixed up. Simply by this process, hearing. There is no necessity of education or Ph.D. degree. Simply God has given you these ears and you hear, śṛṇvatām. Hear about Kṛṣṇa from realized soul. This process will make you to be situated on the platform of goodness, and as soon as you are promoted to the platform of goodness, that means you have already surpassed the other two platforms—means ignorance—and the symptom will be... That is clear here. The symptom is that the two things, lust and greediness, will not disturb you. You haven't got to take certificate from anyone, "Just give me certificate that I have become a Kṛṣṇa conscious." You take your certificate yourself, see yourself, whether you are free from lust and greediness. That's the certificate. If you are confident that "I am free from lust and greediness," then I am making progress. Otherwise, (chuckles) I am again in the same, no progress. This is test.

Lecture on SB 1.2.19 -- Los Angeles, August 22, 1972:

"Here is a spirit soul, part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa." That is universal brotherhood. Not by passing resolution with the United Nations and fighting. That is not possible. You have to come to the stage of spiritual platform; then there is question of love, brotherhood, equality, fraternity, otherwise, all bogus propaganda. It's not possible. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām (BG 18.54). Then real, pure devotional service begins. Then we become completely fit to serve Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa accepts your service at that time.

This is the process, but if we follow the rules and regulations given by spiritual master, śāstra, then gradually, gradually... Therefore we should be very careful. We should be very cautious that māyā may not attack us. Because she is always ready to attack. Rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ (SB 1.2.19). Even in goodness also, māyā, there is māyā. Therefore in the material platform, even goodness is not pure. Therefore there is another stage, which is called śuddha-sattva. Goodness is sattva, sattva-guṇa. There is another stage, transcendental stage, which is called śuddha-sattva. Sattvaṁ viśuddhaṁ vāsudeva-śabditam. That is called vāsudeva stage, and in the vāsudeva stage, Vāsudeva, Kṛṣṇa, appears. You can see Kṛṣṇa. Not that a rascal inviting everyone, "Come on. I shall show you God, I shall show you God," and some rascals are going there to see God. God is not so cheap. One has to qualify himself to see God. These are the processes.

Lecture on SB 1.2.19 -- Vrndavana, October 30, 1972:

Tapasā, brahmacaryeṇa, tyāgena, śamena, damena (SB 6.1.13). These are the processes. One must undergo austerity, penance, tapasā; brahmacarya, one must be brahmacārī, not unnecessarily using sex life. So tapasā brahmacaryeṇa śamena damena vā, tyāgena (SB 6.1.13). Tyāga, renunciation, is required. So this is one process. Another process that if you fully surrender unto the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa sincerely, then all things are done automatically, immediately. Only by kṛṣṇa-bhakti, one becomes purified, immediately. So that kṛṣṇa-bhakti begins, as we have studied, the previous verses, śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (SB 1.2.17). We have to hear patiently, by aural reception. Caitanya Mahāprabhu also accepted this process. This is the process, Vedic process—to hear about Kṛṣṇa.

So naṣṭa-prāyeṣu abhadreṣu nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā (SB 1.2.18). Nityam. This point we have discussed. The Bhāgavata has to be studied from a person bhāgavata. Bhāgavata-sevayā. Tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā (BG 4.34). One has to learn Bhāgavatam from a person you can surrender. Praṇipātena. Paripraśnena sevayā. Two things. There must be service and surrender. And between the two things, surrender and service, there is paripraśna. You cannot ask about spiritual knowledge from a person by challenging. No. That will not help you. Just like Kṛṣṇa (Arjuna). When he was talking with Kṛṣṇa like friend, the problem was not solved. Then Arjuna surrendered unto Kṛṣṇa. Śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam (BG 2.7). He understood that "Simply by friendly talkings and argument, there cannot be any conclusion of spiritual life." One must surrender. He knew it. Gurum eva abhigacchet. Must. Abhigacchet is vidhilin form of verb. Means "he must." There is no other alternative. So therefore Arjuna submitted. And he was also enlightened. So simply by hearing from the authoritative sources, nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā, as it is described. But we don't find anywhere: saptāhaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā. No. Nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā.

Lecture on SB 1.2.19 -- Calcutta, September 27, 1974:

Then everything will be cleared, gradually. This is our purpose. This center is giving chance that you come here and hear about... We, we don't make any flattery to satisfy the whims of the ordinary... We speak from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, we speak from Bhagavad-gītā, and present them as it is, without any adulteration. This is our position. If you like, then you make progress. If you don't like, that is your option. But we cannot make any compromise. We must present the śāstra as it is.

And where is the difficulty? Everything is explained here. Nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā (SB 1.2.18). You have to attend Bhāgavata class and serve the bhāgavata person nityam, daily. If you cannot, that is a different thing. But this is the process. Nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā. Naṣṭa-prāyeṣu abhadreṣu. This conclusion comes when one is partially advanced. Naṣṭa-prāyeṣu. Not fully. Then it will come. He'll be ready to serve Bhāgavatam-Bhāgavata, he person bhāgavata and the book Bhāgavata. Nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā, bhagavaty uttama-śloke bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī. Niṣṭhā, I have explained already yesterday. Tadā, at that time, when you are fixed up, "Now I shall devote my life in Kṛṣṇa consciousness," when you come to this conclusion... Nityam. That will come. Nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā, bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī (SB 1.2.18). Not deviated. But... Not this worship, that worship, this worship, this worship... No. Kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānā yajante anya-devatāḥ (BG 7.20). Those who are worshiping other demigods... That is recommended for the less intelligent class men. Tad bhavaty alpa-medhasām. These things are recommended for the persons who are less intelligent, whose brain is packed up with cow dung, not intelligent persons. Intelligent persons-sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). That is intelligence.

Lecture on SB 1.2.20 -- Los Angeles, August 23, 1972:

"Those who have endeavored for perfection of life, out of many such persons, one can hardly understand Kṛṣṇa." It is not so easy. But it is by Kṛṣṇa's grace. Kṛṣṇa being very compassionate with these fallen souls of this age, He appeared as Lord Caitanya and distributed Kṛṣṇa. That is His prerogative. That is His right. If Kṛṣṇa wants to distribute Himself freely, that is a different thing. Otherwise, it is not so easy to understand Kṛṣṇa. Just like to earn one million dollar is not so easy. But if you are fortunate, you meet somebody who can distribute million dollars at a time, that is a different thing. Therefore Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu was recognized by Rūpa Gosvāmī, namo mahā-vadānyāya kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te: (CC Madhya 19.53) "My dear Lord, You are the most munificent of all incarnations. The other incarnations, people could not understand, but You are freely distributing Yourself." Kṛṣṇa-caitanya-nāmne. Kṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇa-caitanya-nāmne gaura-tviṣe namaḥ. Therefore we have to follow the footsteps of Rūpa Gosvāmī, rūpānuga. Then we can understand Lord Caitanya. And if we get favor of Lord Caitanya, we can very easily understand Kṛṣṇa. This is the process. Go on.

Lecture on SB 1.2.24 -- Vrndavana, November 4, 1972:

Theist, he'll believe all the words of Bhagavad-gītā as it is, as Arjuna believed: sarvam etad ṛtaṁ manye yad vadasi keśava (BG 10.14). "My dear Kṛṣṇa, whatever You are speaking, without any malinterpretation, without any change of words, I believe in it." This is theist understanding. Not like the so-called rascal scholars: "It is not like this. It is not like that. I think it is like this." These are all rascaldom.

So this is the process of civilization. Kṛṣṇa consciousness means perfect civilization, perfect advancement of civilization, according to the direction of the Vedas. We do not concoct anything, any meaning. Just like why you are reading this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam? This is the beginning of understanding Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The professional readers, they immediately jump to the rāsa-līlā of Kṛṣṇa. They think that Bhāgavatam means that rāsa-līlā of Kṛṣṇa. Because it appears like ordinary boys and girls, so they like it. No. This is the foundation of Bhāgavata. The nine cantos must be thoroughly read, then one can understand what is rāsa-līlā and what is Kṛṣṇa. If one jumps at once to the platform of understanding Kṛṣṇa's rāsa-līlā or vṛndāvana-līlā, he'll be misled. He'll be misled. Just like so many rascals are interpreting Kṛṣṇa in so many different ways. They are thinking Kṛṣṇa as ordinary human being. So when He acts like ordinary human being, they take Him as ordinary human being—avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11).

Lecture on SB 1.2.31 -- Vrndavana, November 10, 1972:

Then gradually the dirty things within our heart will be cleansed, and there will be clear direction what to do in which circumstances and how to do it. Everything will come.

Because vijñānena vijṛmbhitaḥ. Kṛṣṇa is there. He's full of knowledge, scientific knowledge. Vijñānena. This very word is used, vijñānena. Not only jñāna, but vijñānena. Tactfully, everything perfectly will come. Simply we have to link our lost relationship. We are always in Kṛṣṇa touch, but at the present moment, due to the illusory energy of māyā, we have forgotten that we are always connected with Kṛṣṇa. This has to be, this illusion, this dirty things has to be moved; then our original relationship will be established, and our life will be perfect. That is the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Lecture on SB 1.2.32 -- Vrndavana, November 11, 1972:

This is understanding of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa consciousness means you have to study everything, how things are going on. And this is stated. You have to simply think, "Yes." You have to confirm by your brain. If you have got dull brain, then how you can study? Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram. The prakṛti, the material nature, is working under His direction. And you can verify it, how nature is working correctly, exactly. Unless there is some systematic order, how everything is working systematically. As soon as there is spring, immediately thousands and millions of trees, immediately the foliage comes out. Immediately. And as soon as there is fall, September, last, all the leaves fall down, immediately. So this is the process of creation. Just like in Bible it is said, "Let there be creation," and there was creation. So it is fact, actually. But we cannot understand how much powerful is Kṛṣṇa, or God. Simply by His will, simply by His will, everything takes place. Millions and millions of things come out immediately, and millions and millions of things immediately annihilated. That is Kṛṣṇa. That is God. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10).

Lecture on SB 1.3.24 -- Los Angeles, September 29, 1972:

There are so many things, we say, "I don't like." So as soon as we don't like Kṛṣṇa, God, and want to enjoy this material world, then we fall down, immediately. Icchā-dveṣa samutthena sarge yānti parantapa. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Sarge means... This is the cause of our creation of this material body. Just like when you enter into the water, just like so many swimmers now entering within the..., you have to take a particular type of dress. As you are going to the moon planet, you have to fortify yourself with a particular type of dress. It costs about forty millions dollars? Something like that. You see? Similarly, the spirit soul... We are all spirit soul. When we want to enter this material world, we get this material body. This is the process. Now... Just like they take pleasure diving within the water, swimming like the fish. That natural tendency is there. You cannot say, "Why I have come to this material world?" Why you are swimming within the water? Why? Who has induced you? There is no such question. But the fact is as soon as you want to enter this material world, you have to accept this dress. Otherwise you cannot work here. This is the fact.

Lecture on SB 1.3.27 -- Los Angeles, October 2, 1972:

Our process is, therefore, whenever we speak something, we have to quote some Vedic version. Then it is corroborated. It is fact. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Vedas, Vedānta says, The Absolute Truth is that which is the origin, source of everything. There must be something, original source. Otherwise how things are coming? This conviction means faith. Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja. So those who will argue, "Why shall I surrender to Kṛṣṇa?" But one who will accept, he becomes benefited.

So Vedic knowledge should be accepted as it is. Don't try to comment. If you go on commenting with your teeny brain, then you will never be able to achieve the success. That is the process. Vedavān. I have given you several times this example, that in the Vedas it is said that cow dung is pure, although it is the stool of an animal. We accept: "Yes, it is pure." And actually you find, yes, it is pure. If you analyze, you'll find all antiseptic properties. Now how in stool? Stool is septic. Septic tank, where has stool. But this stool is anti... It is practical. You can see. But wherefrom we get this information? From the Vedas. The knowledge received from the Vedas, there is no mistake. There is no illusion. It is perfect. Just like here, we have read the passage that four lakhs of years, 400,000's of years after from this time, there will be incarnation of Kalki. His father's name should be Viṣṇu Yaśā. The place where He will appear, it is Sambhal. Everything is stated there. Now 400,000's of years it will... Lord Buddha appeared 2,500 years after the Bhagavat was written. That's came a fact.

Lecture on SB 1.3.28 -- Los Angeles, October 3, 1972:

Nāma-kṛṣṇa. Nāma cintāmaṇiḥ kṛṣṇaḥ, pūrṇaḥ śuddho nitya-mukto 'bhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ. Don't think this Kṛṣṇa's name is less efficient than Kṛṣṇa. No. Pūrṇa. As Kṛṣṇa is perfect, similarly, this name is also perfect. Pūrṇaḥ śuddhaḥ. As Kṛṣṇa is pure, without any material contamination, apāpa-viddham, no, nothing sin, sinful can affect him... You have read it in the Īśopaniṣad. Just like sunshine. Infection cannot infect sunshine. Some disease can infect you, me, because we are less potential. But it cannot infect the sun. Rather, the sunshine will sterilize the infection. So anything infectious, anything sinful, cannot infect Kṛṣṇa. Rather sinful activities in touch with Kṛṣṇa will become purified. This is the process.

There are many instances. Just like Prahlāda Mahārāja, you can see. Prahlāda Mahārāja is standing, and his father is being killed before him. This is sinful. Can you tolerate? Suppose if somebody comes to kill me, and you will see and laugh? You'll do, will you do that? Why? That is sinful. So here Prahlāda Mahārāja is seeing. It is not protesting. Prahlāda Mahārāja is not protesting, "Why you are killing my father?" No. He's seeing. So why Prahlāda Mahārāja is worshiped? Why he has become a mahājana, authority? You can say, "Oh, he's a most sinful. He has seen in his presence, his father is being killed, and he did not protest." You can say so. But because it is in connection with Kṛṣṇa, Prahlāda Mahārāja is the most exalted devotee. He's not sinful. The gopīs. The gopīs, they were wives, householder's wife, sister, daughter. So they went at dead of night to dance with Kṛṣṇa. This is sinful according to Vedic injunction. No young girl can go to any young boy without being married. That is Vedic injunction. So practically it was sinful. And... But because it was with Kṛṣṇa, in connection with Kṛṣṇa, they went to dance with Kṛṣṇa, the gopīs are worshiped more than any devotee in the world. Caitanya Mahāprabhu... Gopīs, exalted. Ramyā kacid upāsanā vraja-vadhū-vargeṇā yā kalpitā. So actually, they did sinful acts, action, by leaving their father, brother or husband and went to Kṛṣṇa at dead of night. They were all young girls. That is, according to Vedic injunction that is sinful. But they are worshiped.

Lecture on SB 1.3.29 -- Los Angeles, October 4, 1972:

Neither jñāna-yoga, nor karma-yoga, nor haṭha-yoga. You cannot see. You can see. Kleśo 'dhikataras teṣām avyaktāsakta-cetasām (BG 12.5). Those who are impersonalists... All of them are impersonalists. For them, it is very difficult, troublesome, to see God. They may try their process, but it will take long, long time to see God. But if one takes to bhakti-yoga, immediately... Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (BG 18.55).

So one may argue that "These bhaktas are not always very learned scholars. Mostly, they are mediocre. And there are so many big, big scholars. They cannot see God easily and only the bhaktas can do?" Yes. That is the process. Kṛṣṇa says, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ. In bhakti, one can immediately... Because real process is to surrender to God. That is the real process. But these jñānīs, yogis, and karmīs, they are not prepared to surrender to God. The karmīs will say, "Let us act nicely," I mean to say, "virtuously. We are karmīs. So God must give us the result." This is called karma-mimāṁsā. They say that... Just like the so-called scientists say that "God has created this universe. The laws are there. So we have to study the laws. What we shall do with the God?" Is it not? "God has created these... The physical laws are there. So let us study these physical laws. What is the use of studying God?" That is their view. The karma-mimāṁsā also, that, they say that "After all, if we act virtuously, then we shall get good result. So what is the use of worshiping God? Let us work virtuously." This is their view. Karmī. And jñānī. Jñānī also, they say. Jñānī, the scientists, they are jñānī, that "What is the use of worshiping God? Let us study the laws of God." So jñānī, karmī... And yogi, they are also of the same view.

Lecture on SB 1.5.22 -- Vrndavana, August 3, 1974:

"Yes, I have got my father." "Now, who is your father?" "I do not know." That's not a very good credit. Because without father, mother, there is no existence. So everyone knows I have got a father. But who is my father, that I do not know. At least, in India, one who cannot say his father's name, immediately he becomes degraded. Just like the Jābāla Satyakāma. Jābāla Satyakāma, he, he was... He went to Gautama Muni, "Please initiate me." And according to Vedic conclu..., initiation is meant for the brāhmaṇa. Brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya and vaiśya. Not for the śūdras. Śūdras are not initiated. And in the Kali-yuga, because everyone is a śūdra, therefore he's first of all given training to become a brāhmaṇa. Then the sacred thread is offered. This is the process. Because actually, initiation cannot be given to anyone except a brāhmaṇa. So kalau śūdra-sambhavaḥ: "In the Kali-yuga, everyone is śūdra." That is to be accepted without any disagreement. Kalau śūdra-sambhavaḥ. Because they have no saṁskāra. Asaṁskṛtāḥ kriyā-hīnā mlecchāḥ. One who is not undergone the reformatory processes, garbhādhāna-saṁskāra, upanayana-saṁskāra... There are ten kinds of saṁskāras, reformatory. One who has not gone, or one who is not permitted to undergo the saṁskāra, he's śūdra. Saṁskārād bhaved dvijaḥ. Everyone is born śūdra. By reformatory method, he becomes twice-born—by the spiritual master and Vedic knowledge. Vedic knowledge is the mother, and spiritual master is the father.

Lecture on SB 1.5.23 -- Vrndavana, August 4, 1974:

If you are actually in spiritual position, then by giving others little opportunity to serve you, he'll be delivered. No question of understanding the philosophy. A devotee must be so perfect. The system is, therefore, as soon as one sees a devotee, he falls down and takes the..., touches the feet. This is the system. Because by touching the feet... Mahat-pāda-rajo-'bhiṣekam. If one is actually elevated to the spiritual life and he is, mean, takes, the people takes the opportunity of touching his lotus feet, then he becomes devotee. This is the process.

So here, how he became Nārada Muni will be described. But here it is said... One thing is that when you are liberated... Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9). You become an associate of Nārāyaṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Viṣṇu. Then you can remember your past lives. Remember your past lives. Just like you can remember your dreams, "I was dreaming like that." So this is all dream. Our, this life, at the present moment, because this body is false, so whatever we are acting, it is just like dream. Just like in dream at night we also work. So this is gross dream and that is subtle dream. But real life is spiritual life. But we foolish people, we are taking this life as permanent life, permanent settlement. It is not permanent settlement. Here is..., Nārada Muni's saying, ahaṁ purā atīta-bhave abhavam. Atīta-bhave. This nature... Just like everything material... Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). It appears for some time like bubbles in the ocean, few seconds. Again finished. The whole cosmic manifestation in which we are millions and millions of years, it is just like a bubble in the ocean. It is just like a bubble. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). It is said in the Bhagavad-gītā.

So Nārada Muni confirms that "Formerly, in the millennium..." That is Brahmā's night. When Brahmā's night comes, everything becomes devastated in water. Sahasra-yuga-paryantam ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ (BG 8.17). First of all sahasra-yuga. One yuga means forty-three hundred thousands of years. Multiply it by one thousand. That is the period of manifestation. Now, what is the period? Forty-three lakhs of years, and multiply it by a thousand. How many years?

Lecture on SB 1.5.25 -- Vrndavana, August 6, 1974:

So many. There are different terms. So this is the process. We are eternally related with Kṛṣṇa, nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-bhakti, and we're eternally very affectionate and obedient servant of Kṛṣṇa. That is our position. Somehow or other, it is covered. So that garbage that's covering has to be moved. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). This is the process of cleansing the mirror of the heart. Mirror, when it is covered by dust you cannot see your face nicely. But as soon as it is nicely brushed and cleansed, you see exactly what you are. Similarly, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means cleansing the heart of all the dirty things that is accumulated life after life. It is not an artificial thing, we are learning to become devotee of Kṛṣṇa. We are already devotee of Kṛṣṇa, but we have forgotten, or the consciousness is covered. Now, by this process, devotional process, especially by kīrtana, by chanting, glorifying the holy name of the Lord, the cleansing process is accelerated. Very soon it takes place.

Kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet (SB 12.3.51). This is the facility of this age, Kali-yuga. This is the only facility. In Kali-yuga you cannot perform meditation or perform big, big sacrifices, as they are mentioned in the Vedas. Or you cannot perform even Deity worship very nicely. There are so many flaws. Everything is very difficult. And charity... And there are so many. Śamena damena dānena tyāgena. So where is the money I shall...? There is no money even to feed me. I am eating... This morning I do not know what shall I eat in the evening.

Lecture on SB 1.5.25 -- Vrndavana, August 6, 1974:

So here Nārada Muni is doing that. Mahīyasāṁ pāda-rajo-'bhiṣekam. Therefore by eating the remnants of foodstuff left by them, by washing their dishes, by washing their feet... Everyone can do. Therefore this association is required. If one associates with devotee, pure devotee, and somehow or other gives service, one another, to the spiritual master, to the Vaiṣṇava, automatically he becomes purified. Automatically. Without any study of Vedānta, without any... Simply by sincere service to the devotee. Evaṁ pravṛttasya. If one is engaged in this way, viśuddha-cetasaḥ, he becomes gradually cleansed of the dirty things accumulated in the heart. And tad-dharma evātma-ruciḥ. And the saintly person and devotees, what is their business? The business is ātma-ruciḥ, taste for Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Prajāyate. Automatically he will develop.

Therefore every one of us, the members of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, should remain purified always by the regulative principles given and chanting so that everyone is Vaiṣṇava and everyone is serving everyone. In this way the association will purify the whole stock of their (indistinct). This is the process.

Lecture on SB 1.5.28 -- Vrndavana, August 9, 1974:

So by bhakti-yoga, you'll be happy, and as soon as you become happy, then your Kṛṣṇa consciousness is very easily advanced. Evaṁ prasanna-manaso bhagavad-bhakti-yogataḥ (SB 1.2.20). Evaṁ prasanna-manaso bhagavat, mukta-saṅgasya jāyate. Bhagavat-tattva-vijñānaṁ mukta-saṅgasya jāyate. In this way we shall understand bhagavat-tattva-vijñānam, and that is the perfection of life.

So Nārada Muni admits that "Simply by hearing from the realized souls, munibhir mahātmabhiḥ, for four months during their stay in the cāturmāsya period, gradually I developed my Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and then I began devotional service." This is the process.

Lecture on SB 1.5.31 -- Vrndavana, August 12, 1974:

Simply they're searching after. They never say he rādhe vraja-devike ca lalite he nanda-sūno kutaḥ. "Oh, where is Rādhārāṇī? Where You are? Where are Your friends, Lalitā and Viśākhā? Where is Nanda, son of Mahārāja Nanda, Kṛṣṇa?" Śrī-govardhana-kalpa-pādapa-tale kālindī-vane kutaḥ. "Where are You? Are You near the Govardhana Hill or in the forest on the bank of the Yamunā?" Ghoṣantāv iti khedair mahā-vihvalau. They are crying, "Where is Kṛṣṇa? Where is Kṛṣṇa? Where is Rādhārāṇī? Where is...?" They're crying ghoṣantāv iti sarvato vraja-pure khedair mahā-vihvalau. Mad... Mad after... Vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau. This is the process of kṛṣṇa-bhajana. Not that "I've seen just last night Kṛṣṇa dancing with the gopīs." It is not so easy.

Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved... (Brs. 1.2.234). So long we are materialistic, it is impossible to see what is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore we have to follow the path chalked out by Caitanya Mahāprabhu and His immediate disciples, the six Gosvāmīs. Caitanya Mahāprabhu was mad. In Jagannātha Purī at night He become mad, "Where is Kṛṣṇa? Where is Kṛṣṇa?" He'd go on the seaside and drown Himself in the sea. And Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī could not see where is Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Sometimes He was stopped by the fisherman and He became exhaus..., all night chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa. Simply by touching Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is very scientific, based on the philosophy given by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and expanded by the Sanātana Gosvāmī, Rūpa Gosvāmī and other assistants.

Lecture on SB 1.5.31 -- Vrndavana, August 12, 1974:

It is not that... Sometimes they say that we do not accept the Gosvām... (indistinct) We accept actually the Gosvāmīs. But following the footprints of Śrī Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, what kind of... Ei chay gosāi jāṅr mui tāṅr dās. One who is accepting the path of the six Gosvāmīs, we are servant of the servant of such persons (CC Madhya 13.80). Ei chay gosāi jāṅr mui tāṅr dās. Rūpa-raghunātha-pade hoibe ākuti kabe hāma bujhabo se jugala-pīriti. Jugala-pirīti, the love affairs of Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī. This is not ordinary thing. It is completely spiritual. Rādhā kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir hlādinī śaktir asmād ekātmānāv api bhuvi purā deha-bhedaṁ gatau tau, caitanyākhyaṁ prakaṭam adhunā tad-dvayaṁ caikyam āptam (CC Adi 1.5). Vande... That verse I am forgetting. This is the process. Rādhā kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtiḥ, it is not the affair of one young boy and young man. It is not that. It is the exhibition of the pleasure potency of Kṛṣṇa. Hlādinī śaktir asmāt, so it is completely spiritual. Do not try to understand Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa playing immediately. "Oh, because I have come to Vṛndāvana, let me understand immediately Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa's rāsa-līlā." It is not so easy. You have to undergo severe penances. Not severe. It is very easy. But we do not like to take.

Lecture on SB 1.5.35 -- Vrndavana, August 16, 1974:

There is no difficulty. Yasyāprasādān na gatiḥ kuto 'pi. You cannot satisfy Kṛṣṇa by dissatisfying your spiritual master. That is not possible. That is not possible. You must satisfy. Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ **. You do not take the excuse that "I do not know God, I do not meet Him. How I shall know that I have satisfied Him or dissatisfied Him?" No, śāstra says, "Yes..." It doesn't matter. Therefore it is called paramparā. Paramparā. As you receive the knowledge from Kṛṣṇa, from Arjuna, and from Nārada, from Brahmā, like that, come down to your spiritual master, similarly, as you receive the knowledge step by step, one after another, similarly, you satisfy also the Supreme Personality of Godhead from this step, this step, this step, this step. This is the process. Just like you come down step by step by step by step, similarly you go up step by step by step by step.

So this is the process, bhagavat-toṣaṇam or hari-toṣaṇam. Also this way. And to receive the knowledge from Bhagavān, that is also paramparā system. The paramparā system must be maintained, and if it is done nicely, then as it is stated here, yad atra kriyate, whatever you do, that is for your perfection. If you keep this paramparā system and if you try to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then whatever you do, that is perfection. It doesn't matter. The test is whether Kṛṣṇa is satisfied, whether your spiritual master is satisfied. Then you are perfect.

Lecture on SB 1.5.36 -- Vrndavana, August 17, 1974:

So many ways we can remember Kṛṣṇa always. That... (break) ...somebody is chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, that is all right, but why the necessity of initiation? Initiation means the disciples agree to accept the instruction of the spiritual master and Kṛṣṇa accepts the disciple immediately to give him a spiritual body. This is the process. Otherwise, there is no need of initiation. One is chanting, one can chant... (break) ...it is the factual connection. And this connection means he gets immediately a spiritual body. In this body, his spiritual... His material body is transformed into... (break) But if there is any reservation... (break) ...it will take time. (break) ...our spiritual body. (break) ...means existence.

So the process is how to purify this existence. (break) ...defect of this existence... (faulty recording) ...bhagavat-śikṣayā... (break) ...or asakṛt. (break) ...means constantly, and sakṛt means once. (break) By once chanting "Kṛṣṇa" without any offense, one can get freed from many, many thousand times of sinful activities. So much so that he is unable... Pāpī haya tata pāpa kare nāhi(?). Although he's a sinful, he cannot execute so much sinful activities. (break)

Lecture on SB 1.7.2-4 -- Durban, October 14, 1975:

Now Nārada Muni instructed him... Nārada Muni is Vyāsadeva's guru. So Vyāsadeva presented before Nārada Muni that "I have written so many books, Mahābhārata, Purāṇas, Vedānta-sūtra, and Upaniṣads, and so many things, but I am not feeling very much happy." So Nārada Muni instructed him that "You have done so many things—that is all right—but you have not described very elaborately about the activities of the Supreme Lord. Therefore you are unhappy. So I advise you that you take up this business in writing. Then you will feel happy." So under his instruction he sat for meditation. He says—it is there—āsīnaḥ apaḥ upaspṛśya. Before meditation, this is the process, you take water, ācamana,

oṁ apavitraḥ pavitro vā
sarvāvasthāṁ gato 'pi vā
yaḥ smaret puṇḍarīkākṣaṁ
sa bāhyābhyantara-śuciḥ
śrī viṣṇu śrī viṣṇu śrī viṣṇu

Three times you have to take water and taste it. That is called upaspṛśya. So he did it. Āsīnaḥ apaḥ upaspṛśya praṇidadhyau manaḥ: then he began to concentrate his mind, meditation.

Lecture on SB 1.7.2-4 -- Durban, October 14, 1975:

So our, this is the process, we have got this bead bag, and within this bag there is bead, and we chant each... We capture each bead and chant,

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare

One bead equals sixteen times, so the whole bead chain there is hundred and eight. So one round means about seventeen hundred. In this way, our disciples are advised to chant at least sixteen rounds. This is our daily duty. It takes about two hours, and after that we are engaging so many other businesses. Somebody is typing or printing books, somebody is going to sell books, somebody is collecting subscription, somebody is cooking for the temple Deity, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. So in this way, our inmates or our members are always engaged. Kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ (CC Adi 17.31), this is recommendation of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Somehow or other, be engaged twenty-four hours in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then your life will be successful.

So Kṛṣṇa advised, yoginām api sarveṣāṁ mad-gatenāntar-ātmanā (BG 6.47). So here Vyāsadeva sat in his āśrama, and began to meditate means he was thinking of Kṛṣṇa. Here it is said, bhakti-yogena.

Lecture on SB 1.7.6 -- Vrndavana, September 5, 1976:

This is the statement, that remain in your place, but hear from the authorities about Kṛṣṇa, then everything will be clear. Śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ (SB 1.2.17). Even if you do not understand a word, but if you hear from the realized soul about Kṛṣṇa, then, hṛdy antaḥ-stho hy abhadrāṇi vidhunoti suhṛt satām. Kṛṣṇa is situated in everyone's heart, īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). If we become sincere to hear about Kṛṣṇa, then Kṛṣṇa will help us. Teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam, dadāmi buddhi-yogam (BG 10.10). He'll give intelligence. This is the process. Teṣām evānukampārtham aham ajñāna-jaṁ tamaḥ nāśayāmi (BG 10.11). These things are there.

Therefore if we want to abolish all unwanted things of life, simply we come to the spiritual platform. Because that is our aim. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. This human life is meant for spiritual understanding, not for any other purpose. Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovidaḥ, śāstra recommends. Only for spiritual understanding engage your activities. And what will be other things, about my family life, worldly life? That is said that tal labhyate duḥkhavad anyataḥ sukham. Just like you don't aspire or don't wish for distressed condition. It comes upon you. Similarly, whatever happy condition in your life is expected, that will also come. You don't require... There are many places. So our endeavor, the human energy should be fully engaged in understanding Kṛṣṇa. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Nothing else. Other things we should minimize. Yāvad artha-prayojanam. Just to maintain the body and soul together you should live very nicely. You should not become weak by health; otherwise, we cannot execute. But don't eat more, don't eat unnecessary things. Atyāhāraḥ prayāsaś ca prajalpo niyamāgrahaḥ. Atyāhāra, to eat more or to collect more than is required, that is forbidden by Rūpa Gosvāmī.

Lecture on SB 1.7.20-21 -- Vrndavana, September 17, 1976:

You see he manufactured this deadly weapon. It is material. Still, it is so deadly weapon, brahmāstra. He was not working in a laboratory, finding out so many chemicals to make an atomic nuclear weapon. Simply water. You see. Here it is said, atha upaspṛśya salilam. Just like we do, oṁ apavitraḥ pavitro vā sarvāvasthāṁ gato 'pi. Then if we do it properly, then it has got immense potency. Immense potency. Don't think it is childish, it is formality. No. Just see here. Atha upaspṛśya salilaṁ sandadhe tat samāhitaḥ. This is wanted. Samāhita, completely in trance. This is the process. So these things are required, how to become samāhita, samādhi-stha, in trance. If we take it as childish play, formality, then it will act, but it will take long time. But if you do it properly, you'll be quickly successful. In one life you'll be successful. You don't require to wait. My Guru Mahārāja used to say that although this process is guaranteed, but don't wait for another life. Finish this business in this life. It is said in the Bhagavad-gītā even though one falls immaturely, then yoga-bhraṣṭo..., śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe yoga-bhraṣṭo 'bhijāyate (BG 6.41). One who has not been successful, one is fallen from this bhakti-yoga, for him also there is guarantee nice. That guarantee, Kṛṣṇa says that śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe yoga-bhraṣṭo 'bhijāyate. Śucīnām. Then he's given the chance of taking birth in a very pious brāhmaṇa's family. Not ordinary: śucīnām. Śuci means brāhmaṇa, and śrīmatā, śrī means fortune, and mat means one possesses fortune—that means very rich man. Śrīmatāṁ gehe yoga-bhraṣṭo 'bhijāyate.

Lecture on SB 1.7.23 -- Vrndavana, September 20, 1976:

If you simply speak what Kṛṣṇa says, then you become His representative. Don't manufacture. Don't be over good at (indistinct) manufacturing. Simply to follow Kṛṣṇa and His representatives, then you become mahājana. Otherwise you are a nonsense. Mūḍha. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ (BG 7.15). That is the test. One should be very very careful to follow Caitanya Mahāprabhu's instruction. Caitanya Mahāprabhu never said that "I am directly servant of Kṛṣṇa." No. Gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsa-dāsa-dasānudāsaḥ: "Servant of the servant of the servant of the..." The more you become servant of the servant, you are perfect (CC Madhya 13.80). And as soon as you declare independence, you are rascal. This is the process. We should always remain most obedient servant of my master.

yasya deve parā bhaktir
yathā deve tathā gurau
tasyaite kathitā hy arthāḥ
prakāśante mahātmanaḥ
(ŚU 6.23)

Then it will reveal. The whole thing is revelation. It is not by experience, by scholarship. No: revelation. Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante. One who has surrendered proportionately, God reveals. Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham (BG 4.11).

Lecture on SB 1.7.30-31 -- Vrndavana, September 26, 1976:

Similarly, the fire will take place, and everything will be burned into ashes. Then there will be rain. After heat... You have got experience when the atmosphere is too hot, then the rain falls. Same process. When everything will be burned into ashes there will be rain, torrents of rain, and it is said just like the trunk of the elephant, the rainfall will be like that. So everything will be covered with water. That is annihilation. Pralaya-payodhi-jale dhṛtavān asi vedam **. Then there will be pralaya, and by the grace of the Lord the Vedas will be saved. Keśava dhṛta-mīna-śarīra jaya jagadīśa hare.

This is the process, going on. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). This material world, in this way, sometimes it is manifested and sometimes it is not manifested. The energy is there, but the material world means the energy sometimes manifested, sometimes not manifested. So we are in this material world. Not only. We are changing our body, one after another after some years... That is also according to our different forms of life. In one small insect, it may live for few minutes; some of them for few hours, some of them for few days, and some of them for few months, some of them for few years. And this yearly, we live, we human being, we live for a hundred years, and the demigods, they live for ten thousands of years. But wherever you live, either as insect or as demigod, there is no rescue from the process of janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9). That you cannot escape. Either you become a small insect or you become as powerful as Lord Brahmā, you have to die. There is no escape. Brahmā, he has the greatest amount of years to live. His life is... We have calculation in the Bhagavad-gītā, that sahasra-yuga-paryantam ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ (BG 8.17).

Lecture on SB 1.7.45-46 -- Vrndavana, October 5, 1976:

Without father, there is no possibility, son or daughter. Therefore prajāyate. One who gives birth. And the prajā... Prajā is the product of the body of the father. A son or daughter, they may be different persons, but they belong to the body of the father. Yathā yoni yathā bījam. Father is the bījam. Just like bījam, the seed. The seed is the tree later on. Similarly, the bījam, the seed, is put by the father in the womb of the mother, and as the seed implanted in the earth and taken care of with watering, sprinkling, it grows to a big tree, similarly, the seed is sown in the womb of the mother, and the mother takes care of the seed, and it comes to a big body later on and comes out. This is the process of birth. So in one sense, between the seed and the tree there is no difference. Similarly, the seed of the father and the father, there is no difference. Here it is, prajā-rūpeṇa vartate.

So according to Vedic culture, if one woman has got son, she is not considered to be widow. Widow means one who hasn't got husband or husband is dead. So if the husband's representative is there, so, strictly speaking, she is not widow. So prajā-rūpeṇa vartate. Again the wife is considered ardhāṅginī. I think in English also it is said, "better half." Wife is considered half the body. The left hand side half... Perhaps you have seen the picture that Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī, one body. The left-hand side is Rādhārāṇī, right-hand side is Kṛṣṇa. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī has explained this, rādhā kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir hlādinī-śaktir asmād ekātmānāv api (CC Adi 1.5). Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, They are one, but for pastimes they have become two. Ekātmānāv api bhuvi purā deha-bhedaṁ gatau tau. Again Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa united, caitanyākhyaṁ prakaṭam adhunā tad-dvayaṁ caikyam āptam. So these things are there. So wife is considered better half. Ardhāṅginī. So the ardhāṅginī is there, and the son is there. In so many ways they are convincing that "Do not think that Droṇācārya is dead and gone." He's (She's) convincing this point. "Droṇācārya is still existing. So killing the son of Droṇācārya means killing Droṇācārya. So do not do this." He's (She's) putting so many arguments.

Lecture on SB 1.7.45-46 -- Vrndavana, October 5, 1976:

Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura also said, sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstrair uktas tathā bhāvyata eva sadbhiḥ **. Ācārya, guru, is as good as God. Sākṣād-dharitvena. Ācārya should be respected as Kṛṣṇa. Therefore ācāryaṁ māṁ vijānīyān nāvamanyeta karhicit (SB 11.17.27). If somebody foolishly thinks that "They are worshiping a man. He's like me, and he has taken the seat, and he's taking worship, respect, from disciples." Sometimes they question like that. But they do not know that how ācārya should be respected. Ācārya should be respected sākṣād-dharitvena, just like God. It is not exaggeration. It is according to the śāstra. And ācārya also accepts all these respectful obeisances to carry to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is the process. As we receive knowledge from the ācārya, similarly, our activities, the result of activities, is carried by the ācārya to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Ācārya does not accept anything on his own account. Ācārya accepts everything on Kṛṣṇa's account. That is the principle. And because he is representative of Kṛṣṇa, he is dealing on behalf of Kṛṣṇa.

We have got in practical experience. Formerly, in British government, there was viceroy. Vice means in place of and roy means royal king. Viceroy. So this viceroy was respected as the king, as the emperor. That is the process. When he's no longer a viceroy, then he's not respected. But so long he is acting as viceroy... And the rule was that whatever presentation was given to the viceroy he did not accept it personally. It was kept in the state. So these are the process. So guru, ācārya, being representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he should be worshiped. Nāvamanyeta... Na martya-buddhyāsūyeta. Never think of envying. As soon as we become envious of the ācārya, there is falldown, immediately. Yasyāprasādān na gatiḥ kuto 'pi. Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ **. This is the teaching of Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura. He's also ācārya. Ācārya-paramparā.

Lecture on SB 1.8.19 -- Mayapura, September 29, 1974:

That is not possible. Therefore it is said, na lakṣyase mūḍha-dṛśā: (SB 1.8.19) "If we keep our eyes still mūḍha, illusioned, then we cannot see You." How? Naṭo nāṭyadharo yathā. Exactly... Kṛṣṇa... Just like one of my relatives, he is playing before me, but because I am mūḍha-dṛśā, my eyesight or my intelligence is not correct, I am seeing that somebody else... I see that my relative, my brother or father or friend, is dancing on the stage, but he is dressed in such a way that in spite of being present in my front, I cannot recognize. So if we remain mūḍha-dṛśā, then we cannot see Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise Kṛṣṇa is everywhere. Akhilātma-bhūtaḥ. In the Brahma-saṁhitā it said, goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ (Bs. 5.37). Although He's living in Goloka Vṛndāvana, He's everywhere. Then how can I see? Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti (Bs. 5.38). Those who have developed love for Kṛṣṇa, they can see always, twenty-four hours, Kṛṣṇa and nothing but Kṛṣṇa. This is the process.

So we have to increase our attachment, our love for Kṛṣṇa. Mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ. The... This is also explained. Everything is there. Mayy āsakta. We have to increase our attachment for Kṛṣṇa, our love of Kṛṣṇa. Then we shall see Kṛṣṇa always.

Lecture on SB 1.8.22 -- Los Angeles, April 14, 1973:

They cannot get anything substantial. Therefore after meditation: "Come on, give me cigarette. Come on. My throat is now dried up. Give me cigarette." That is not meditation. Meditation means, this is: namaḥ paṅkaja-netrāya.

So if you think of Kṛṣṇa always, satataṁ cintayanto mām (BG 9.14), "always thinking of Me," yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ, and endeavoring to advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness with vow, then we have to remain purified. Because Kṛṣṇa is purified. Paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12). You cannot approach Kṛṣṇa impurified. But if you think of Kṛṣṇa always, in this way, meditate upon Kṛṣṇa, then you'll be purified. Puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ (SB 1.2.17). That meditation can be possible by hearing and chanting. Then thinking will automatically come. That is the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇam (SB 7.5.23). Smaraṇa means remember. If you chant and hear, then remembrance will automatically come. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam. Then you will be engaged in worshiping His lotus feet. Arcanam. Then you'll be engaged in arcanam, the temple worship; vandanam, offering prayers; dāsyam, you'll engage yourself as servant; sakhyam, you'll become friend of Kṛṣṇa; ātma-nivedanam, and surrender everything to Kṛṣṇa. This is the process.

So each and every verse you should chant very perfectly, nicely, meditate upon it. That is the process of progress, advancement in spiritual life. We should get all these verses by heart, and chant, and offer prayer to the Lord, vandanam. Vandanam. These are meant for such purpose.

Lecture on SB 1.8.23 -- Los Angeles, April 15, 1973:

Then everything is complete. Because He's Hṛṣīkeśa. And so much... If Kṛṣṇa desires, there may be ample supplies. Just like in your country, there is ample supplies. In other country... I went to Switzerland: everything is imported. No supply. The supply is only, only snow. Take as much snow as you like. You see. Similarly everything is under the control of Kṛṣṇa. If you become devotee, then there is no snow supply—simply food supply. And if you don't become devotee, be covered with snow. That's all. Covered with cloud. Everything is under Kṛṣṇa's control.

So actually there is no scarcity. The scarcity is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So if you become Kṛṣṇa conscious then everything is ample. There is no scarcity. This is the process. Tvayā hṛṣīkeśa... And here it is said: tvayā hṛṣī... Yathā hṛṣīkeśa khalena devakī. The world is full of dangers. But Devakī, Kuntīdevī says, "But because Devakī is Your devotee, You saved her from the distresses offered by her envious brother." As soon as the brother heard that "My sister's son, eighth son of my sister will kill me," oh, he was ready immediately to kill Devakī. So he was pacified by Devakī's husband. It is the duty of the husband to give protection. "So my dear brother-in-law, why you are envious to your sister? After all, your sister will not kill you. Her son will kill you. That is the problem. So I shall deliver all the sons to you, then you can do whatever you like. Why you are killing this innocent girl, newly married? She is your younger sister, just like your daughter. You should give her protection. What you are doing this?"

Lecture on SB 1.8.23 -- Mayapura, October 3, 1974:

When we become purified, again we revive our spiritual quality, then mad-bhāvam āgatāḥ: "Then he comes back to My nature." That is back to home. This is the process. It is not very difficult because Kṛṣṇa says, bahavaḥ: "many." "Many" means it is not difficult. Not that... Because we, by nature, we are spiritual, simply extinguished... Just like a lamp is extinguished. You can burn it immediately with a real matches, not false. You can burn it. The capacity is there. Similarly, our spiritual qualities are there already. It is permanent. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. That Brahman quality is already there. It is not to be attained. Simply this non-Brahman covering has to be removed.

That is sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam (CC Madhya 19.170). That covering is designation. We are thinking, "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am brāhmaṇa," "I am śūdra," "I am this," "I am that." These are coverings. Actually I am ahaṁ brahmāsmi. Kṛṣṇa is also Para-brahman. Brahman... By quality, He is Brahman; we are also Brahman. But He is Para-brahman. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). He's singular number; we are plural number. That is the Vedic instruction. He is the singular number eternal, and we are plural number eternal. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām. He is singular number living entity, and we are plural number living entity. Therefore in the dictionary you'll find, this Oxford Dictionary, "the Supreme Being." God means "the Supreme Being." He's a being. He's not a stone. He's a living being. Even the dictionary accepts. He's not a stone, dead stone. That is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavata, janmādy asya yataḥ: (SB 1.1.1)

Lecture on SB 1.8.28 -- Mayapura, October 8, 1974:

This is the process.

So Kṛṣṇa, manye tvāṁ kālam īśānam. Eternal time. We are calculating past, present and future, but actually in the spiritual world, there is no such thing as past, present and future. We therefore sometimes question that "Wherefrom God came?" So many odd questions they say. But God is eternally existing. That is the fact. We cannot understand that. Because we are in the material world, we have no experience of the eternity, what is eternity. We have no experience. We see everything as generated, and then it stays for some time, then it is finished. That is our experience. Janma, mṛtyu, vṛddhi. They have... They have made past, present and future, but it is divided into six development. One takes birth, then it develops, then it stays for some time, then it produces some by-product, then diminishes, and then, I mean to say, finished. Ṣaḍ-vikāra. Ṣaḍ-vikāra. This body, ṣaḍ-vikāra. So eternity, eternity means there is no ṣaḍ-vikāra, the six kinds of changes. There is no birth. There is no death. There is no diminishing. There is no by-product. Everything eternal, eternally existing.

So that kālam, that eternal time, is Kṛṣṇa. Tvām. Manye: "I think that eternal time, You are, Kṛṣṇa." That's the fact. And īśānam. Īśānam means the Supreme Controller. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1).

Lecture on SB 1.8.33 -- Mayapura, October 13, 1974:

That means next life they are preparing for becoming tree: "Thousand years, stand up here, naked. Nobody will object." Yes, this is the law of nature. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). These rascals... Because the rascals, they do not know. And even the information is there, still, they'll not accept. This is their position.

So don't remain mūḍhāḥ. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to educate people not to remain mūḍhāḥ. Be intelligent. It is a very nice cultural movement that it is trying to awaken people to their God consciousness. "Here is God." This is the sum and substance of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And the process is also bona fide because Kṛṣṇa Himself is teaching the process. Kṛṣṇa, first of all, generally He told, sarva-dharmān parityajya (BG 18.66), because this is the process. But because they are mūḍhas, rascals and sinful, they could not understand. They could not understand. Therefore Kṛṣṇa came personally to teach people how to surrender. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Āpani ācari prabhu jīvere śikhāya.

Lecture on SB 1.8.34 -- Los Angeles, April 26, 1973:

He appears. This is the process. So somebody says Kṛṣṇa appeared on the request of Brahmā when he prayed for His appearance on account of overburden, weight of the world.

So Kṛṣṇa came. And you have seen our Kṛṣṇa Book, how much He's engaged in killing the demons. In killing the demons. So Kṛṣṇa says that: "I come down, paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya (BG 4.8), to kill the demons." So killing business is there. Kṛṣṇa. Although His killing and protecting the same thing. Because He's absolute. But the killing business is there. Therefore Kṛṣṇa has, the Nārāyaṇa has got two hands, club and disc. That is for killing the demons. And two hands, conchshell and lotus flower. That is for the devotees. The devotees are protected. Kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati (BG 9.31). Kṛṣṇa is bugling with His conchshell that: "My devotees will not be vanquished." And the lotus flower is the symbol of blessing. It is in the hands of Lakṣmījī also sometimes, blessing.

So somebody says that Kṛṣṇa appeared for this purpose, somebody says Kṛṣṇa appeared for this purpose, but the real conclusion is that Kṛṣṇa appeared for His own pleasure. Not, not being bound by any cause. Kṛṣṇa is fully independent. Just like we take our birth being bound by the cause of our karma. Kṛṣṇa does not come being bound up by somebody's request or by His karma. He comes out of His free will. Ātma-māyayā. It is said ātma-māyayā. He's not compelled by another's māyā. Just like we are compelled by the energy of Kṛṣṇa, external energy, this material energy. We are compelled to take birth. Kṛṣṇa does not take birth in such condition. Ātma-māyayā. Not by the... Because māyā is under the control of Kṛṣṇa. So how māyā can control Kṛṣṇa? One who thinks that Kṛṣṇa is also like us, controlled by māyā, they are called mūḍhas. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11). Read the purport little.

Lecture on SB 1.8.35 -- Mayapura, October 15, 1974:

Simply if you sit down in front of the Deity and go on seeing, bas, do nothing, simply see: "How nicely dressed is Kṛṣṇa. How nicely dressed is Rādhārāṇī," simply if you see, it is said, yad-īkṣaṇam, yad-īkṣaṇam. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam (SB 7.5.23). If you have no capacity to chant or if you have no such fixed-up mind—your mind is so disturbing that you cannot fix up your mind in Kṛṣṇa—then the chance is given: "Here is Deity. You simply see. Simply see." And if you are engaged in the service, there is good chance of seeing always, twenty-four hours. While you are cleansing the floor of the temple or the room, you are seeing. You are dressing—you are seeing. You are bathing—you are seeing. You are offering food—you are seeing. This is the process.

So people are so rascal, they do not come even to see. They are so fallen down. They do not come. "Oh, what is this, Deity worship? Idol worship. Idol worship." They will worship Gandhi's statue and this statue, that statue, but when they are asked that "Come here and see the Deity worship nicely," "No, this is idol worship." We... I have seen in Calcutta that Sir Asutosh Mukherjee's statue there is in the Chowrangi square. So in the morning, these ordinary sweepers, they'll cleanse the statue with their brush, because the whole year, the crows have passed stool on the face. So it has become a very solid stool, fixed up. So... I have seen it, brushing like this. This is their arcanam. This is allowed. And if you worship the Deity, bathe the Deity, this is idol worship. And that municipal brush, sweeping brush, and on the face of Sir Asutosh Mukharjee, brushing, that is very good. Just see how much rascal they are! In the morning this business is done. And in the evening all big, big men will come and flower him, garland him, full of garlands. And after evening, they'll go away, and again, next morning, the crows will pass stool. That kind of worship is accepted. And if we install Deity of Kṛṣṇa and worship Him nicely—"These are for the fools and rascals, less intelligent." And he's very intelligent. This is going on all over the world. They are worshiping Napoleon. They are worshiping... I have seen in Paris, Napoleon's statue. "France and Napoleon, one." I asked them, "Where is your Napoleon? France is there, but where is your Napoleon?"

Lecture on SB 1.8.36 -- Los Angeles, April 28, 1973:

They do not know. "Religion means faith." Faith, you may have faith something. I may have faith something. I may believe you or you may not believe me. That is not religion. Religion "I do not believe in God." Just like this big mission, they say; "You can manufacture your own way." Yata mata tata patha. "Whatever you think right, that is right." This is their philosophy. But that is not science. I am a madman. Whatever I am thinking, that is all right? How it is? Two plus two equal to four, it is science. If I believe, no, two plus two equal to five, or two plus two equal to three No. So dharmasya glānir bhavati means there is codes, laws of God. When you violate that laws of God, that is called dharmasya glānir, dharmasya glānir. Glānir means deviation, discrepancy. So we are suffering by violating the laws of God. Just like we suffer by violating the laws of the state, similarly as soon as we violate the laws of God, we're subjected to so many tribulations. Now how to get out of it? That is bhakti-yogam. So Kṛṣṇa comes to take you out from this position, dharmasya glānir, and that is ... The process is, Kṛṣṇa recommends that: "You do this," and if you take it, then you'll be delivered, you'll get relief. And that is śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ, bhakti-yoga.

Lecture on SB 1.8.36 -- Los Angeles, April 28, 1973:

"Oh, it is a new dress. Very nice." So that is my enjoyment. Similarly if you satisfy Kṛṣṇa daily a very gorgeous dress. Just like today I see it is very nice. This kind of dress should be supplied to Kṛṣṇa. First-class clothing, first-class. Everything first-class. No third-class thing for Kṛṣṇa. All first-class. The gopīs must be first class, the dress must be first-class, the eating foodstuff must be first-class, the sitting place must be first-class, more than first-class. That is called: śrī-vigrahārādhana-nitya-nānā-śṛṅgāra-tan-mandira-mārjanādau **. Cleansing the temple as clean as glass, always. Everyone remarks this that our temples are very clean. Yes. Temple means must be very clean. The more you cleanse the temple, the more your heart becomes cleansed. This is the process. The more you dress Kṛṣṇa, you become satisfied. At the present moment, we are accustomed to see my dress. "How costly dress I have got, I become satisfied..." No. When by dressing Kṛṣṇa you'll feel satisfied, that is spiritual satisfaction. That is spiritual satisfaction.

Śrī-vigrahārādhana-nitya-nānā-śṛṅgāra-tan-mandira-mārjanādau, yuktasya bhaktāṁś ca niyuñjato 'pi **. So this is the business of the spiritual master, yuktasya, to engage them always. Vande guroḥ śrī-caraṇāravindam. Such guru, spiritual master, I am offering. This is Gurv-aṣṭaka. So here it is said: śṛṇvanti. Kuntī-devī ... The first business is śṛṇvanti. One must be eager to hear. Lesson, everything is hearing. You go to school, college. What purpose you pay the school fee, college fee? For hearing. You hear from the learned professor, teacher, you sit down and you get knowledge. The first thing is śṛṇvanti. Therefore a devotee is always engaged in hearing about Kṛṣṇa, śṛṇvanti. That is devotee's business. Tavehitam. Those who are cultivating Kṛṣṇa consciousness, their first business is hearing. So śṛṇvanti gāyanti. And if you actually, you have heard about Kṛṣṇa, then next business will be to chant, gāyanti.

Lecture on SB 1.8.36 -- Mayapura, October 16, 1974:

"Everyone become happy." Otherwise, what is the use of collecting so much money and constructing such big building and inviting them, "Please come here. We have got nice room, and you shall get food without any hard work"? Why we are...? Still, they will not come. Still, they will not come. Now, in this village, we have got such a nice building. We invite, "You come here and..." But still, how many are coming? So therefore it has been used: kliśyamānānām. These rascals and fools must suffer, must suffer. There is no other way. Kliśyamānānām.

The next step, it is said that, that bhava-pravāha uparamam, in the next verse. What is that? Śṛṇvanti gāyanti. This is the process. Śṛṇvanti. Simply sit down. You haven't got to work very hard. Śṛṇvanti. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ: "You, you don't require to change your position. You simply hear." Therefore this very word is used in the beginning. What is that? Śṛṇvanti. Śṛṇvanti means "hears." Simply hear. And gāyanti. So... Just like we say "Hare Kṛṣṇa," and all repeat, "Hare Kṛṣṇa." Gāyanti. Śṛṇvanti. First of all hear: Hare Kṛṣṇa. The leading, I mean to, singer, he says, "Hare Kṛṣṇa," and we repeat, "Hare Kṛṣṇa." So śṛṇvanti gāyanti. Very simple method. Śṛṇvanti gāyanti gṛṇanti. And takes it very seriously, accept: "Yes, this principle will alleviate all my sufferings." Seriously. Śṛṇvanti gāyanti gṛṇanty abhīkṣṇaśaḥ. Abhīkṣṇaśaḥ means continuously, not that "For some days I do, and then again I go to my own habits." No. Abhīkṣṇaśaḥ, continually. And smaranti. And if you take it, then naturally you will think of Kṛṣṇa. Smaranti nandanti. And then gradually you'll be pleased. You'll feel pleasure. Otherwise, hackneyed, how you can continue?

Lecture on SB 1.8.36 -- Mayapura, October 16, 1974:

Their reading of Bhāgavata means rāsa-līlā. Rāsa-līlā is the smiling of Kṛṣṇa, where Kṛṣṇa is personally enjoying very sweet smiling. So you don't try to see the smiling of Kṛṣṇa immediately. First of all see, try to see, the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, padāmbujam. Then gradually rise. When you are accustomed to see, as soon as you close your eyes, immediately see Kṛṣṇa's..., then you go further. Go further. Go further. Go further. And that is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, First Canto, Second Canto, Third Canto, Fourth Canto. In this way, you have to go to the Tenth Canto. Then Tenth Canto means the head. And then, in the Tenth Canto, the chapters, Twenty-nine through Thirty-five chapter, that is smiling. Don't try to see Kṛṣṇa smiling immediately. Then you will be baffled. It requires qualification, and it requires time, but if Kṛṣṇa is pleased, He can show His plea..., I mean, smiling immediately. That is a special favor. But the general way is to see, first of all, the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa and make your endeavor perfectly done by this śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ, śṛṇvanti gāyanti (SB 7.5.23). This is the process.

Lecture on SB 1.8.37 -- Los Angeles, April 29, 1973:

"Oh, why you are loving your own children more than others?" No, that is natural. This is not partiality. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa loves everyone because everyone is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. But He takes special care of the devotee. Therefore He says, kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati (BG 9.31). His bhakta, His devotee, will never be... He's always allowed to see the comforts of the devotees. And the devotees are always busy to see how Kṛṣṇa is satisfied. By dressing Him, by supplying Him food, by serving Him—always engaged. Similarly Kṛṣṇa is also always engaged to see "How My devotees will be happy?" This is the process going on.

So this is intimate relationship with Kṛṣṇa. The ordinary living entity, they have got relationship; but when one becomes devotee, it is intimate relation, intimate friend. Therefore Kuntī is requesting Kṛṣṇa that "How You can leave us? We are Your intimate friends." And anujīvinaḥ. Anujīvinaḥ means, "We are simply living by Your care, by Your mercy. So don't think that we are safe and You are leaving us. We have no other shelter than Your lotus feet. Kindly don't leave us." This is the Kuntī's prayer. Similarly Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, hā hā prabhu nanda-suta vṛṣabhānu-sutā-juta koruṇā karoho ei-bāro: "Now I am fully surrendered. You can show Your mercy." Because without Kṛṣṇa consciousness, when one thinks that "I shall protect myself, my society will protect me, my community will protect me, my state will give me protection. What do I care for God...?" This is the general tendency. So, "I have got so many protections. Why shall I go to Kṛṣṇa? These rascals, those who have no protection, they can go to Kṛṣṇa." That is their view. But that is not the fact. Unless Kṛṣṇa gives you protection, there is no protection.

Lecture on SB 1.8.39 -- Los Angeles, May 1, 1973:

That is the gopīs. Therefore gopīs are so exalted. Not for a single moment they could forget Kṛṣṇa. Not for a single moment. Kṛṣṇa was going in the forest with His cows and calves, and gopīs at home, they were disturbed in the mind, "Oh, Kṛṣṇa is walking bare-footed. There are so many stones and nails. There is pricking Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet, which is so soft that we think our breast as hard when Kṛṣṇa puts His lotus feet. Still He's walking." They are absorbed in this thought. And they are crying. So they are so anxious to see Kṛṣṇa back home in the evening that they are standing on the way, on the roof, "Now Kṛṣṇa is coming back with His..." This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is... Kṛṣṇa cannot be absent from a devotee when he's too much absorbed in Kṛṣṇa thought. This is the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

So here Kuntīdevī is very much anxious that Kṛṣṇa will be absent. But the effect will be, when Kṛṣṇa will be absent physically, He will be more, I mean to say, accurately present within the mind of the devotee. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu's teaching is that vipralambha-sevā. By His practical life. He's finding out Kṛṣṇa. Govinda-viraheṇa me. Śūnyāyitaṁ jagat sarvaṁ govinda-viraheṇa me. What is that verse? Cakṣuṣā prāvṛṣāyitam, cakṣuṣā prāvṛṣāyitam, śūnyāyitaṁ jagat sarvaṁ govinda-viraheṇa me. He's crying like torrents of rain coming out of the eyes, and He's feeling everything vacant for want of Kṛṣṇa, separation. Vipralambha. So sambhoga and vipralambha. There are two stages of meeting Kṛṣṇa. Sambhoga means when He's personally present. That is called sambhoga. Personally talking, personally meeting, personally embracing, that is called sambhoga. And there is another, vipralambha. The two ways a devotee can be benefited.

Lecture on SB 1.8.41 -- Mayapura, October 21, 1974:

And then, when he's still more practiced, he becomes a preacher, parivrājakācārya, goes from country to country, state to state, for preaching. And after preaching, when the preaching is advanced to some extent, then he sits down in a place as paramahaṁsa. That is called paramahaṁsa. Different stages. Not that all of a sudden one becomes paramahaṁsa and biḍi also, not like that. Paramahaṁsa stage is not to be imitation. So to stop this imitation, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura introduced this system, sannyāsa. He personally became sannyāsa, and to many of his disciples, he gave sannyāsa.

So the whole process is how to get out of the affection of this family, community, nationalism. This is the process. This is illusion. But at the present moment, this illusion is being increased. They criticize the..., that "What is this nonsense? So many people, they have been entrapped by this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, and they are nothing, they are doing nothing for the society, nothing for the nation, nothing for the family. So they are useless parasite." They are thinking like that. Even Subhash Chandra Bose, he was a politician. He came to my Guru Mahārāja that "So many people, you have captured them. They are doing nothing for nationalism." So Guru Mahārāja said, "Well, for your national propaganda you require very strong men, but these people are very weak. You can see. They are very skinny. So don't put your glance upon them. Let them eat something and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa." He avoided like that.

And then there were many others. That was a philanthropy, to give food to the daridra-nārāyaṇa. These things are going on. Nobody is interested that..., or they know it, that human life is only meant for God realization; there is no other business. Otherwise Caitanya Mahāprabhu is not so fool that at the age of twenty-four years He took sannyāsa and preached this cult:

Lecture on SB 1.8.42 -- Los Angeles, May 4, 1973:

That is not possible. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva (Bs. 5.38). You have to smear your eyes with the ointment of love. Then Kṛṣṇa will reveal. Kṛṣṇa will come in front of you. Just like Dhruva Mahārāja. Dhruva Mahārāja was undergoing tapasya and he was meditating upon Viṣṇumūrti within his heart. All of a sudden the Viṣṇumūrti disappeared. So his meditation broke, and immediately opened his eyes. He saw the Viṣṇumūrti in his front. He's there. So similarly, you think of Kṛṣṇa always, always think of, when you will be perfect, you'll see Kṛṣṇa in your front, talking with you. This is the process. You'll see one day. But you should not be very much hasty. Oh..., of course, that is good: "Why I am not seeing Kṛṣṇa? Why I am not Kṛṣṇa, seeing, seeing...?"

So we should not be very much hasty. We must wait for the mature time. The example is given that generally a woman wants a child. Now she's married, and if she thinks, "Let me have immediately a child," that is not possible. You wait. Now you are married, you have got husband, you must get a child. That's a fact. Similarly, because you have engaged yourself in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, avyarthe kalatvaṁ nāma-gāne sadā ruciḥ. This is called firm faith, that "Now, because I am engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness business, so I must be able to face Kṛṣṇa, face to face, see Kṛṣṇa, face to face." That I must have. So don't be disappointed. Go on with your Kṛṣṇa consciousness activities. Time will come when you'll see Kṛṣṇa, just like Kuntī is seeing, face to face. There is no doubt about it.

So here it is said, tvayi me ananya-viṣayā matir madhu-pate. Kṛṣṇa's another name is Madhu-pati. He has got thousands name. Madhu-pati means He killed the demon Madhu. From that, Madhu-pate. What is it there here? Madhu-pate?

Lecture on SB 1.8.42 -- Mayapura, October 22, 1974:

So this is the process. The more you become attached to Kṛṣṇa... That is very psychological. If you become attached to something, you become detached to something else. Attachment, detachment cannot be. So more you become attached to Kṛṣṇa, then more you become detached to this material world. Just like... You, you, you cannot by artificial means, all of a sudden, brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā: "I take sannyāsa." No, that will not be. First of all, you have to increase your attachment for Kṛṣṇa. Then the sannyāsa order will be durable. Otherwise you'll fall down. Again you'll be attached. Punar mūṣiko bhava. There are so many instances.

So both things should be performed simultaneously, parallel line that you should take up the process how to increase your attachment for Kṛṣṇa, and then automatically detachment will be there. The same example, as given by Rūpa Gosvāmī, that you are hungry. When you take food, that, gradually you become satisfied and your hunger is also satisfied. So when you are fully satisfied... Just like Dhruva Mahārāja said, svāmin kṛtārtho 'smi varaṁ na yāce: (CC Madhya 22.42) "My dear Lord, my dear Sir, I am not hankering after any benediction. I am completely benedicted. No more benediction. I have got everything. I have got You, Kṛṣṇa. So what do I want more?" Yaṁ labdhvā cāparaṁ lābhaṁ manyate nādhikaṁ tataḥ. If one gets Kṛṣṇa's favor, if one gets Kṛṣṇa, what does he want more? He has got everything, because Kṛṣṇa is everything.

So try to possess Kṛṣṇa like Kuntīdevī's... Tvayi me ananya-viṣayā matir madhu-pate asakṛt. Asakṛt means... Sakṛt means once, and asakṛt means continuously. Not that perform Kṛṣṇa consciousness fifteen minutes' meditation, and then do all nonsense things, twenty-four hours. No, no, no, no. Not that kind of... Twenty-four hours engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is wanted. That is called asakṛt. Twenty-four.

Lecture on SB 1.8.44 -- Mayapura, October 24, 1974:

So asad-vastu, in any way you want to enjoy, it will give you always anxiety. And if you go to the sad-vastu... Asato mā sad gama. If you go to sat, then that is Vaikuṇṭha. That is called Vaikuṇṭha, no more anxiety. This is... Therefore this very word is used, Vaikuṇṭha. Mandaṁ jahāsa vaikuṇṭho mohayann iva māyayā. This māyā is not illusion; this māyā is affection. When a mother laughs, smiles, the child feels very pleasure, very much. The mother... The child on the lap of the mother... Mother is seeing the face of the child, and child is seeing the face of the mother. Both of them are very pleased. They smile. So māyā, that māyā, means affection. When Kṛṣṇa smiles, He smiles with affection, and the devotee becomes enamored, becomes captivated simply by seeing Kṛṣṇa smiling. This is the process, the express, exchange of devotional service.

So Vaikuṇṭha, Kṛṣṇa's name, and Kṛṣṇa's place... Therefore, as Kṛṣṇa is Vaikuṇṭha, without any anxiety—Kṛṣṇa has no anxiety—similarly, Kṛṣṇa's place is also without any anxiety. Kṛṣṇa's activities, hearing Kṛṣṇa, that is also without anxiety. If we want to be anxietyless, then we should hear about Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on SB 1.8.44 -- Mayapura, October 24, 1974:

The sugar candy, to the person suffering from jaundice, tastes bitter: "Oh, it is bitter." But actually sugar candy is not bitter. Similarly, to the sinful man the kṛṣṇa-kathā, discussion about Kṛṣṇa, does not appear to be very palatable. They do not like to hear. They think it is waste of time. But that, as the sugar candy is the only medicine for jaundice disease, similarly, the hari-kathā, or kṛṣṇa-kathā, is the only medicine for our material disease. If we take it... Just like the jaundiced patient. If he takes sugar candy, then gradually he becomes free from the diseased condition, and at that time, the same sugar candy which he tasted in the beginning as bitter, it appears to be very, very sweet. Then he cannot live without. This is the process.

So we are in material disease at the present moment. We have forgotten Kṛṣṇa, and struggling for existence, we are trying to be happy by manufacturing so many plans. But this will not help us. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu approved this process. What is that?

Lecture on SB 1.8.52 -- Los Angeles, May 14, 1973:

Therefore in this human life, if we do not purify our existence, then we go on with this impure existence. Impure existence means transmigration of the soul from one body to another, and become subjected to birth, death, old age and disease. This is impurification. So they do not know that "Death is not my obligation. Because I am impure, therefore I am dying. Birth is not my obligation. Because I am impure, therefore I am taking birth." Janma-mṛtyu... Four things: janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9). Janma, birth, is due to my impure consciousness. Therefore if we purify our consciousness by advancing, by developing Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then we become pure. This is the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12), Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, cleansing the heart. And all these purificatory methods, they are based on cleansing the heart. If I think myself that "I am something of this material product..." The scientists, they say that "I am these material things." They do not understand what is spiritual identity. And I do, I act, according to that material conception, that is impurity of my consciousness. First thing is to understand that "I am not this material body."

Therefore, spiritual education begins from this body. As Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). Asmin dehe, in this body there is the spiritual spark who is the proprietor of the body. This is the beginning of spiritual education. What is, the scientists cannot imagine, or they have no idea, from there we begin our education in spiritual life, beyond their jurisdiction, beyond the jurisdiction of the scientists. And how they can understand this movement? It is beyond their jurisdiction. When they will receive one hundred or one thousands of Nobel Prize, at that time they may be able to understand that where Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement begins. They do not know even where the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement begins. Therefore, generally people cannot understand what is this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. They think it is some religious sentiment. Like so many other religions, it is like that. No.

Lecture on SB 1.9.1 -- Los Angeles, May 15, 1973:

"Within seven days he will have to die," so he had to die. Just a small brāhmaṇa boy, how he was powerful. And it could not be changed. Although Parīkṣit Mahārāja was competent to change it, but he did not change. He showed honor to the brahminical curse. That is discussed by his father. So those who were powerful, actually they could benedict. Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ **. As we read in the Gurvaṣṭaka, "By the benediction of the spiritual master, one becomes benedicted by the Supreme Lord."

So this Bhīṣmadeva... When he became puzzled, he went to Bhīṣmadeva, Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja, went to Bhīṣmadeva. So this is the process. One must approach a superior person who is called guru. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). We, in this material world, we are confused, step by step. This is our position. Step by step. Every step. Padaṁ padaṁ vipadām. Padaṁ padam means every step; vipadām, danger. It is such a nice place, this material world, that every step there is danger. And as soon as there is danger, we are confused. So... And as soon as we are confused: "How to solve?" Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet. Therefore the Vedic instruction is "Because you are confused, because you do not know which path to follow, therefore you must approach a guru." Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). This word abhigacchet is used when there is compulsory, "You must." You cannot say that "Without going to guru, I shall chalk out my own path." No, that is not possible. Therefore this very word is used, gacchet. In Sanskrit all words are meaningful. Gacchet means it is a question of must, not that "I may and may not." Nowadays it is going on, and there is many rascals who come here in your country to preach that "There is no need of guru. You can become your own guru yourself." That is not Vedic injunction. Vedic injunction is you must go to a guru, tad-vijñānārtham, in order to understand the transcendental science. And that is natural.

Lecture on SB 1.10.5 -- London, August 28, 1973:

If you imitate Kṛṣṇa of His rāsa-līlā, then you have to imitate to lifting the mountain. You have to kill demons like Kaṁsa. But you'll find the so-called artists, they will paint pictures of Kṛṣṇa only with gopīs dancing and the... Not other things, how He's killing Kaṁsa, how He's killing Aghāsura, Bakāsura. That they'll not paint. That side is completely blind. But in our Kṛṣṇa book you'll find both the pictures.

So here you have to understand that the rivers, the ocean, the mountains, and the trees, and the creepers, they will all serve you very, I mean to say, regularly, provided you are obedient to Kṛṣṇa. This is the process. Phalanty oṣadhayaḥ. Nowadays we do not know. As soon as we become sick we go to the doctor or to the drug shop. But in the forest all the medicines are there. All the medicines are there. Simply you have to know which plant is the medicine for what kind of disease. Phalanty oṣadhayaḥ sarvāḥ, and kāmam anvṛtu tasya vai. And according to seasonal changes you'll get fruits, flowers and drugs and everything. During Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira's time all these things were being supplied by nature because Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira was Kṛṣṇa conscious, and he maintained his kingdom, all the citizens, Kṛṣṇa conscious. Even at the time of Mahārāja Parīkṣit, grandson of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, so he condemned Kali. He was going to kill Kali because he was trying to kill a cow in the kingdom of Mahārāja Parīkṣit. So he surrendered, "Sir, I am also your subject. This is my business, to act sinfully. So you give me protection. Because you are king, you have to give protection to everyone." So, of course king has to give. So King Parīkṣit Mahārāja said that "You have to go out." But he said that "Where is your kingdom? Where is that place where there is no kingdom, where is no supremacy of your majesty? Where shall I go?" So he gave him these four places: illicit sex and intoxication and meat-eating and gambling. "Where these four things are going on, you go there." That is the place of Kali.

Lecture on SB 1.10.11-12 -- Mayapura, June 25, 1973:

Similarly, those who are vīryamāna, really devotee, by hearing him, one becomes pregnant. Pregnant means he becomes interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is called satāṁ prasaṅgān mama vīrya-saṁvido bhavanti hṛt-karṇa-rasāyanāḥ kathāḥ (SB 3.25.25). Hṛt. We like from the heart. We like from the ear. Very nice to hear. Hṛt-karṇa-rasāyanāḥ. Rasāyana means pleasing. As soon as one will hear from satām, then his ear and heart will be pleased: "Oh, it is very nice." Hṛt-karṇa-rasāyanāḥ kathāḥ. Taj-joṣaṇāt. And if he again cultivates, if he thinks over, taj-joṣaṇāt, āśu... Āśu means immediately. Apavarga-vartmani, on the path of liberation. Śraddhā bhaktir ratir anukramiṣyati. This is the process. Therefore, sat-saṅga is required.

Now we have opened such a big hall, inviting people to come to take part in the sat-saṅga, but nobody's interested. So therefore if anyone becomes interested, he's very intelligent. He's intelligent because he wants to stop this repetition of birth and death. This is the problem. This problem, the so-called scientists, philosophers, educationists, politician, they have set aside this question. The real problem is to solve the question of birth and death. They do not touch it. They are making plan for economic development and other things. Economic development... Suppose you become rich man for twenty years or fifty years, utmost, at the present moment. Then you become a cat and dog in next life. Then what is your economic development? But they do not know that there is life after death. We have to prepare for the next life. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1). Then according to my karma, by superior inspection, I'll get next birth. And in the Bhagavad-gītā it is plainly spoken: janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9). Kṛṣṇa says, "Simply try to understand My janma. I take birth." Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā. He's aja. Every one of us aja. Na jāyate na mriyate. We don't take birth, don't die, because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa must be aja.

Lecture on SB 1.10.13 -- Mayapura, June 26, 1973:

Here the māṁsa, the meat is not..., it is sanctified. Hindu-brāhmaṇa-kati(?). So these things are going on. Actually, it is restriction. And even when there is bali, the sacrifice is given, the mantra means, the mantra says that "This man is killing you. You'll get next life a human being. But you have the opportunity, option, to kill him." This is the mantra. Now, if somebody's responsible, he'll certainly think that "I am going to be killed by this goat again?" Māṁsa khadati. Mām: "He will eat me." That is māṁsa. So no responsible man will take that responsibility, that "I will kill this animal. Again he'll become a man and he'll kill me. No, no. Stop this business."

So this is the process of restriction. Similarly those who are drunkards, for them is recommended by offering liquor to Caṇḍī, they can drink. Similarly, marriage is also like that. It is restriction. It is not prostitution. It is restriction. Pravṛttir eṣā bhūtānāṁ nivṛttis tu mahā-phalā. This is natural tendency. If you want, if one can stop it, that is called tapasya. And human life becomes perfect by tapasya.

Lecture on SB 1.10.14 -- Mayapura, June 27, 1973:

Not that "Oh, I have seen yesterday. Last night, I have seen Kṛṣṇa. He was snatching my cloth." These are sahajiyās. Actually, our worship should be in separation. The Gosvāmīs also taught us like that. He rādhe vraja-devike ca lalite he nanda-sūno kutaḥ. They in the Vṛndāvana remained authorized persons. They were also searching after Kṛṣṇa. They never said that "We have got Kṛṣṇa," never said. He rādhe vraja-devike ca lalite he nanda-sūno kutaḥ śrī-govardhana-kalpa-pādapa-tale kālindī-vane kutaḥ, ghoṣantāv iti sarvato vraja-pure khedair mahā-vihvalau. Simply khedair mahā-vihvalau. They were lamenting in separation. Vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau.

So this is the process of Caitanya Mahāprabhu's worship. Caitanya Mahāprabhu was falling down on the water, "Oh, I could not see Kṛṣṇa." When He was gṛhastha, He was simply consulting with mother, "Mother, I could not realize Kṛṣṇa. What shall I do? Where shall I go?" Mother said, "My dear son, why You are impatient? Everything will be all right in due course." Caitanya Mahāprabhu was giving indication that "I must leave home." Mother was also understanding that "This boy wants to leave us." That was another perplexed position. So that is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's teaching:

Lecture on SB 1.13.15 -- Geneva, June 4, 1974:

So Vidura is Yamarāja, the superintendent of death. After our death, we are brought before the justice Yamarāja, what kind of next birth I may have. So Yamarāja is not śūdra. He is devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa, although he has the duty to punish the criminals. Just like a magistrate is always punishing the criminals. That is his business, but he is not criminal. He is giving judgment to the criminals. Similarly, Yamarāja is the appointed magistrate, superintendent. After death, one has to go before him and take the judgment of his next life. This is the process.

So Vidura was cursed by Maṇḍūka Muni, Maṇḍūka Muni. He was a great sage, but sometimes in his āśrama, some thieves were caught, so police arrested both the Maṇḍūka Muni and the thieves, and later on Maṇḍūka Muni was chastised to be punished by śūla. There was a system of punishment. I do not whether (it is) still existing. The śūla means one lance, lancer. Lancer, it is called?

Lecture on SB 1.15.20 -- Los Angeles, November 30, 1973:

So this is going on. You see? This is going on, and therefore in the name of devotion, in the name of love, in the name of faith, they are trying to satisfy their own senses. This is called illusion. And he will never be happy so long he will try to satisfy his senses. And that is the truth. They will never be happy. Because... I have given this example. The parts and parcel of your body. If separately the part and parcel of the body wants to satisfy itself, it will never be satisfied. The only means of satisfaction is that the part and parcel conjointly work and satisfy the stomach, and then it will be satisfied. Similarly, we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. If we want to satisfy ourself, our senses, independently, we shall never be satisfied. This is the fact. You have to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. Then you will be satisfied. This is the process. Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate (CC Madhya 19.170).

Because actually the owner is Kṛṣṇa. I am claiming, "This is my hand." It is not my hand. It is Kṛṣṇa's hand. He has given us to use it. So if I don't use it for Kṛṣṇa, then it will be criminal. It will be criminal. Yajñārthe karmaṇo 'nyatra loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ (BG 3.9). Simply for Kṛṣṇa you have to work. And if you work for your sense gratification, then you will be entangled. This is called karma-bandhana. You will be entangled more and more. Yāvan mano vai karmaṇe saktaṁ tāvat na muñcante deha-bandhāt(?). So long we will be, I mean to say, sense-gratifying minded... Because everyone's mind is absorbed in the thought of gratifying his own senses. So so long we shall be absorbed in this type of thoughts, then we have to accept a body, either human body or other body. There are 8,400,000 different types of forms and body. So we have got different types of desires also, because we are prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). We are under the modes of material nature, and the material nature has got the modes, different modes: goodness, passion and ignorance. You mix up these three; three into three, it becomes nine. Nine into nine, it becomes eighty-one. Eighty-one into eight..., it increases. It increases. Therefore we see so many varieties of life, according to the mentality.

So if we work on our, according to the dictation of the mind, then we become entangled. And if we work under the dictation of Kṛṣṇa, then we become free. This is the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Lecture on SB 1.15.22-23 -- Los Angeles, December 2, 1973:

That is not possible." Then Arjuna understood that "It is the determination of Kṛṣṇa that they must be killed. Then why shall I disobey His order? It is my business to serve Him. Yes, then I shall kill, if You have so decided."

So this is the fact, that Kṛṣṇa will never tolerate insult on a devotee. He will never tolerate. The devotee may excuse, tṛṇād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā. He may suffer. Just like Prahlāda Mahārāja, he was suffering. His father was torturing him. He was suffering, "All right." But Kṛṣṇa never tolerated. "Oh, you have done so much. Now it is the time to kill him." This is the process. Kṛṣṇa will tolerate. Even you insult Kṛṣṇa, He will tolerate. But if you insult His devotee, He will never tolerate. Then you are finished. Then you are finished. Just like a big man. If you insult him, he may think "All right, let him." But if you insult or do something harm to his child, he will never tolerate. He will never tolerate. Similarly, a devotee who is dependent on Kṛṣṇa in everything, and if somebody does harm to him, insults him, Kṛṣṇa will never tolerate. That is explained in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, vaiṣṇava-aparādha. Tāra madhye vaiṣṇava-aparādha hāti matta. So we should be very careful not to offend Vaiṣṇava devotees. Not to offend. This is greatest offense. Therefore it is said vipra-śāpa-vimūḍhānām. Vimūḍhānām. Those who are rascal, fools, they will want to try to insult real brāhmaṇa, Vaiṣṇava. Then they are finished. Of course, a Vaiṣṇava never curses. Tolerates. Tṛṇād api sunīcena taror... Vaiṣṇava tolerates, but Viṣṇu never tolerates.

So vipra-śāpa-vimūḍhānāṁ nighnatāṁ muṣṭibhir mithaḥ. Being intoxicated. Another point is intoxication. We are already intoxicated. Being under the influence of māyā, the material energy, we are already forgotten of ourself. Everybody. Nobody knows that he's not this body. This is another intoxication. He is not this body, this is a fact, but go to the outside of this temple, ask anybody, "What you are?" "Yes, I am this body." They are already intoxicated. So again if you drink, then how much intoxicated you become, just try to understand. Vāruṇīṁ madirāṁ pītvā madonmathita-cetasām.

Lecture on SB 1.15.28 -- Los Angeles, December 6, 1973:

This is our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, that if constantly our mind is engaged in thinking of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa... Thinking begins from the lotus feet, not all of a sudden... (child makes sounds) (aside:) Stop this child. You cannot think of Kṛṣṇa all of a sudden on the top. This is the process. In the Second Canto you'll find we have to think of Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, First Canto and Second Canto are the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. Then you gradually rise. When you are accustomed to think of Kṛṣṇa, that is called transcendental meditation. At any time, at any moment, if you immediately meditate, you'll see the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. That is transcendental meditation. Then gradually rise to think of this portion, this portion, this portion and, at last, the smiling face. That smiling face is compared with the Tenth Canto, Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. This is explained.

So Arjuna was disturbed in so many ways, but as soon as he began to think of Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet, (Sanskrit), immediately everything became pacified. This is the process. This transcendental consciousness or transcendental meditation, immediately, without any delay, for a moment you'll feel completely pacified. Therefore Kṛṣṇa advises (Sanskrit). "Always..." Man-manāḥ, "Always engage your mind upon Me." This Deity worship means to train the neophytes devotees how to concentrate upon the form of Kṛṣṇa, especially His lotus feet. That will make our life pacified always, śānta, śānta, pacified, peaceful. Another point is, sauhārdenātigāḍhena, very deep intimacy. We have got already our relationship with Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati (BG 5.29).

Lecture on SB 1.15.28 -- Los Angeles, December 6, 1973:

The bulb is there; the wiring is there; the switch is there. Everything is there. That's how Arjuna is feeling, that "I am the same Arjuna. I am the same Arjuna who fought in the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra. I was known as so great a warrior, and my bow is the same bow and my arrow is the same arrow. But now it is useless. I could not defend myself because disconnected with Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is no longer." Therefore he began to remember the words of Kṛṣṇa which was taught to him in the Battle of Kurukṣetra.

Kṛṣṇa is not different from His words. That is absolute. What Kṛṣṇa said five thousand years ago, if you catch up those words again you're immediately connected with Kṛṣṇa, immediately. This is the process. Just see Arjuna. He says, evaṁ cintayato jiṣṇoḥ kṛṣṇa-pāda-saroruham. When he began to think of Kṛṣṇa and His instruction as..., in the battlefield, immediately he become śānta, peaceful. Immediately pacified. This is the process. We have got intimate relationship with Kṛṣṇa, eternally. It is not artificial. Therefore if you keep ourself always connected with Kṛṣṇa, there will be no more disturbance. Peaceful. Yaṁ labdhvā cāparaṁ lābhaṁ manyate nādhikaṁ tataḥ. If you get that position, then that is the highest benefit, highest gain, yaṁ labdhvā ca, then you will not desire for any other gain. You'll perceive that I have got the highest gain. Yaṁ labdhvā cāparaṁ lābhaṁ manyate nādhikaṁ tataḥ, yasmin sthitaḥ... And if you keep yourself fixed up in that position, then guruṇāpi duḥkhena na (Bg. 6.20-23), even the heaviest type of calamities, you'll not be disturbed. That is peace. That is peace. Not that little pinching, you're disturbed. If you're actually fixed up in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you'll not be disturbed in the greatest form of dangerous condition. That is the perfection of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Lecture on SB 1.15.30 -- Los Angeles, December 8, 1973:

Just like our, this Gau..., Caitanya Mahāprabhu's cult; we cannot understand Caitanya Mahāprabhu directly. It is not possible. We have to understand through the Gosvāmīs. Therefore you'll find in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta and at the end of every chapter, the writer says,

śrī-rūpa-ragunātha-pade yāra āśa
caitanya-caritāmṛta kahe kṛṣṇa-dāsa

This is the process. He does not say that "I've understood Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu directly." No. That is not understanding. That is foolishness. You cannot understand what is Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Therefore repeatedly he says, rūpa-ragunātha-pade... "I am that Kṛṣṇa dāsa, Kavirāja, who is always under the subordination of the Gosvāmīs." This is paramparā system. Similarly, Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura also says, ei chay gosāi jār mui tār dās, "I am servant of that person who has accepted this six Gosvāmīs as his master. I am not going to be servant of any other person who does not accept the way and means of..." Therefore we say or we offer our prayer to our spiritual master, rūpānuga-varāya te, rūpānuga-varāya te, because he follows Rūpa Gosvāmī, therefore we accept, spiritual master. Not that one has become more than Rūpa Gosvāmī or more than... No. Tāṅdera caraṇa-sebi-bhakta-sane vās. This is the paramparā system.

Lecture on SB 1.15.30 -- Los Angeles, December 8, 1973:

You may come, but when you actually believe that "Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and if I engage myself in Kṛṣṇa's service, I am perfect"—two things—that is śraddhā. And the more you increase this śraddhā you become advanced. The beginning is this śraddhā. Ādau śraddhā.

So how this śraddhā, this faith can be increased? Sādhu-saṅga (CC Madhya 22.83). If you keep yourself associated with the devotees, then this śraddhā can be increased. If you simply believe, "Yes, Kṛṣṇa is Supreme Personality," but you do not live with the sādhus or devotee, then it will drop. It will finish. So just to keep the standard, the temperature right, you must keep always yourself warm. If you go away, then your (indistinct) is gone. Again you become cold. You see. This is the process. Ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgaḥ (Cc. Madhya 23.14-15). Everything is perfect. The first thing is that you must believe that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Yes. And to keep this faith strong and going on, you must keep association with devotees. Otherwise whatever little faith you got, it will be lost. It become again under the clutches of māyā. Ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgaḥ (Cc. Madhya 23.14-15). And if you actually associate with sādhu, then the next stage is bhajana-kriyā, initiation, how to worship Kṛṣṇa. Then anartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt. If you are actually engaged in devotional service, anartha, which are not required, things will vanish. Just like we ask our students, "No illicit sex, no intoxication, no gambling, no meat-eating." Simply by hearing it you cannot follow it. It is not possible. If you make bhajana-kriyā, if you're actually following—chanting sixteen rounds—then you can follow the others. Otherwise, if you are spiritually weak, you cannot. The government is spending so much money to stop this intoxication, LSD, in your country. They're all failure. But here, with our pure association, a person can give up immediately. Just see how much the association is strong. Ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu..., bhajana-kriyā (Cc. Madhya 23.14-15). Anartha.

Lecture on SB 1.15.30 -- Los Angeles, December 8, 1973:

They'll go again animal kingdom. Rajo-guṇa may have their human birth again, but that is also very difficult. But if you stay in the sattva-guṇa, then your life is successful even if you do not get Kṛṣṇa in this life; you'll get next life if you keep yourself sattva-guṇa. Ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthāḥ (BG 14.18), they will gradually be promoted to the higher planetary system or in the spiritual world.

Therefore we are trying to keep ourselves, our students always in the sattva-guṇa. Cleanliness, sattva..., to remain a brāhmaṇa. If you remain a brāhmaṇa then you'll not fall down. You'll not fall down. Otherwise, if you remain in tamo-guṇa, then you are going to be next animal. This is the process of nature. You cannot check. You may be very great scientist, but you cannot check the process of nature. That is not... Daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). That is not possible. That is natural. I've given the instance that if you contaminate some poisonous disease you must suffer. That is natural way. Not that why you shall suffer. No, you must suffer because you are already contaminated. Therefore the contamination of the material world is going on, sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. If you contaminate with the tamo-guṇa, then you must suffer. If you contaminate rajo-guṇa, you must get disease. That is not in your hand. You cannot say. But people are so foolish they do not know how nature is working. They're puffed up with little knowledge and thinking they're master of the thing. That is not possible.

Lecture on SB 1.15.33 -- Los Angeles, December 11, 1973:

Caitanya Mahāprabhu also taught us like that. He was searching, "Where is Kṛṣṇa? Where is Kṛṣṇa?" and feeling separation. Just like you feel sometimes with your lover separation and you search, this is our process. Always feel separation from Kṛṣṇa and try to search out. This is ekānta. This is explained here, ekānta-bhaktyā bhagavaty adhokṣaje. Adhokṣaje, "He is beyond my perception. Still, my devotion is unalloyed." Not that "I cannot see where is God. Oh, what is devotion?" Just try to understand. It appears to be contradictory. Because foolish people say that "If you cannot see God, where is the question of devotion? You want to serve God, but if you cannot see God, then how you can serve?" Therefore, particularly this word is used, ekānta-bhaktyā bhagavaty adhokṣaje niveśitātmopararāma saṁsṛteḥ. That is the process.

So even though we cannot see God with our present eyes, but God is so merciful that He becomes present before us in a manner by which we can see Him. That is this vigraha, arcā-vigraha. God is beyond our sensual perception, adhokṣaja. But those who are neophyte, they may become atheist that "We cannot see God, that... How can I serve Him?" But those who are advanced, they can see God every moment, although physically others cannot see. The example is that Hiraṇyakaśipu and Prahlāda. Prahlāda is seeing God, but his father, he is asking, "Where is your God? Where is your God?" He was saying to the column, pillar: "Is your God there?" But he is seeing God there; he says, "Yes." So he became angry. He broke the column, and actually God came out.

Lecture on SB 1.15.33 -- Los Angeles, December 11, 1973:

So Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to understand that Adhokṣaja, and that is the bhāgavata-dharma. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje (SB 1.2.6). Not to become a rascal, that "Here is the avatāra of Kṛṣṇa. Let us go and see." One who can see Kṛṣṇa, he can see Kṛṣṇa everywhere, he can see Kṛṣṇa here. Why one should go to a rascal, another rascal? No, that is not. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is Adhokṣaja. There are so many things to be learned. Everything is there in the authoritative scripture. If we take advantage of these books—we are taking so much labor to present—you can understand this science of Kṛṣṇa very perfectly, and your life becomes successful. It is not the question of seeing Kṛṣṇa personally or not. Kṛṣṇa is personally present everywhere. Simply you have to purify your eyes to see Kṛṣṇa. That is wanted. That is the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). This is the process. You have to be above the designation. Sarva upādhi-vinirmuktam. In this way you have to become purified, nirmalam. Malam means dirt, and nir means no dirt.

Lecture on SB 1.15.33 -- Los Angeles, December 11, 1973:

So that we have to learn by the process ekānta-bhaktyā bhagavaty adhokṣaje. Then what is the benefit? Niveśita-ātmā-upararāma saṁsṛteḥ. If you can utilize your senses for the service of Adhokṣaja, beyond your sense perception, if you adopt that method, then the benefit will be niveśita-ātmā, fully absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness always. That is very easy. But those who are not doing, for them it is very difficult. Kṛṣṇa says... He gives the prescription that satataṁ cintayanto mām: (BG 9.14) "Always thinking of Me." Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65). Here is the chance. You come to the temple, engage in the temple service. Naturally your mind will be absorbed in Kṛṣṇa. This temple is open not for making a force; just to make this process, niveśita-ātmā, always absorbed in Kṛṣṇa though. That is the process. Always, twenty-four hours. Kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ (CC Adi 17.31). This is the process. Twenty-four hours we shall be engaged. Not that five minutes' meditation and then twenty-three hours, forty minutes engaged in other business. No. Twenty-four hours engaged in Kṛṣṇa's business. That is called niveśita-ātmā.

Then what will be the result? Now, upararāma saṁsṛteḥ. Upararāma means then you become, you cease from this repetition of birth and death. This will be the result. This is the actual aim of human life. Animal life and human life, this is the difference, we repeatedly say. The animal cannot understand, neither they can perform how to check birth, death, old age. That is not possible for the animals. But human being can do that. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). What is that process? Niveśitātmā: always be absorbed in Kṛṣṇa thought and you are saved from the repetition of birth, death and old age.

Lecture on SB 1.15.34 -- Los Angeles, December 12, 1973:

That is his position. He can never become master. Just like there are four classes: the śūdra class... Paricaryātmakaṁ kāryaṁ śūdra-karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.44). By nature, one who is śūdra, he cannot work very freely. That is not... Better..., his better life is to remain subordinate. Just like women, children. It is better for them to remain subordinate, to remain subordinate. It is practical. I have seen in our country and the Western countries, the woman are given freedom. By such freedom they are not happy. It is a fact. It is a fact. Therefore Vedic system is that it is the father's duty when a girl is mature, before attaining puberty, she is handed over to a suitable boy, "Please take charge of her. This girl..." Our marriage system is that "So long she was under my charge. Now I..." This is the process.

So women, by nature they should remain subordinate. It does not mean, "Because somebody is my subordinate, therefore I shall cut his throat or her throat." No. Just like sometimes the Christian philosophers say, "The animals are given under the control of man. Therefore they should be slaughtered." This is their philosophy. Control of man does not mean they should be slau... They should be taken care of. That is the law. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: kṛṣi-go-rakṣya-vāṇijyaṁ vaiśya-karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.44). The productive class, they should give protection to the cows. The cows are given under their protection, not that "Because the cows are given under my protection, therefore I must open a slaughterhouse and kill them." Similarly... So children under the protection of father and mother... Just like this child is sitting on the lap of... He is comfortable. But if the father thinks, "He is under my protection; therefore I shall cut throat..." Now it is going on. The abortion means that. The child is taken shelter of the mother's womb for protection, but now she is being killed. The time is so bad. You see?

Lecture on SB 1.15.35 -- Los Angeles, December 13, 1973:

That Kṛṣṇa, He is staying in everyone's heart. This is also another incarnation, antaryāmī, Supersoul incarnation. Just imagine how many. Anantyāya kalpate, these living entities are unlimited, so this incarnation, īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānām (BG 18.61), the Lord in everyone's heart is staying. So how many you cannot count, there is no question. Not only that; it is said that aṇḍāntara-stham, He is staying as Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu within this universe.

We should always remember that without spirit soul there cannot be any material development. That is practical. Just like the seed, the living soul, for changing his body, he is put into the semina of a male. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1). This is the process of changing body. Daiva-netreṇa. This is being how you have to change your body. That is not under your control. After your death you are unconscious. Just like when you are on a surgical operational table you are completely under the surgeon. He puts you on the table, you unconscious, and he is operating as he likes. You don't protest. Similarly, we have got three condition. This is awakened stage we are talking, but at night we dream. That is called svapna stage, dreaming stage. And there is another stage, when you don't dream, you are simply unconsciousness. If somebody has gone surgical operation he might have experienced that completely unconscious. So then dream comes. When you come to consciousness from unconsciousness, you come to dreaming condition. From dreaming condition you come to this awakened stage. Similarly, you go from this awakened stage to dreaming condition and from dreaming condition to unconsciousness.

Lecture on SB 1.15.35 -- Los Angeles, December 13, 1973:

So a religious person, it does not mean whether he is Hindu or Muslim or Christian or Buddhist. He must accept God and surrender unto Him. This is religion. This is religion. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati (BG 4.7), that means when religion becomes polluted, at that time Kṛṣṇa comes as bhū-bhāraḥ. Because as soon as... Religion means to abide by the laws of, to abide by the laws of God. So dharmasya glānir bhavati means when people do not abide by the laws of God. That is dharmasya glāniḥ, discrepancy in the matter of discharging religion. Just like when you begin to break laws, everyone, then government becomes very furious, arrest, punish, hang—these things are going on. But if you are abiding by the laws of government, there is no such question to harass you. There is no... You live peacefully. This is the process going on. And bhū-bhāraḥ, when people become irreligious, not abiding by the laws of God, then it becomes burdensome. How one can say that "To cut throat is my religion"? Nobody can say like that. That is not religion. That means he has no sense of God consciousness. He's a rascal.

God consciousness person, God conscious person, what is the symptom of God conscious person? That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. What is that?

Lecture on SB 1.15.44 -- Los Angeles, December 22, 1973:

It is not exactly extinguished: almost extinguished. We have forgotten. But it can be again brought into the original position by fanning. Just like there is small fire in the charcoal. You fan it, and it will gradually become a big fire. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is fanning that spiritual spark to come into full consciousness. Go on fanning like that. That is the rules and regulation, attending this class, hearing this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Bhagavad-gītā. Twenty-four hours be engaged. That is real business. Dhyāyan, always, constantly, hṛdi brahma paraṁ dhyāyan. Dhyāyan means medi... This is meditation. And who is Para-brahman? Kṛṣṇa. Paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12).

So this is the process. You simply think of Kṛṣṇa twenty-four hours, dhyāyan. That is the process. We are engaged in the Deity worship of Kṛṣṇa. We are engaged in chanting Kṛṣṇa's name. We are engaged in Kṛṣṇa's business or Kṛṣṇa's propaganda. In this way, if you simply think of Kṛṣṇa twenty-four..., if you, I mean to say, make your life with that spirit, Kṛṣṇa... This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, twenty-four hours. Satataṁ smartavyo viṣṇuḥ. The process if only thinking of Kṛṣṇa in different engagements. The process, real process, is to think of Kṛṣṇa. Then hṛdi, "within the heart," hṛdi brahma paraṁ dhyāyan nāvarteta yato gataḥ, then you will be transferred to the Kṛṣṇa-loka. Because you are thinking of Kṛṣṇa always. So tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). After giving up this body, you will not have any more material body. Yad gatvā na nivartante (BG 15.6). You will reach immediately. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punaḥ, mām eti, immediately. As there are different forces, material forces, then subtler than the matter, mind, mind's force, similarly, there is spiritual force. Mind force, you know. You are sitting here. Immediately, within a second, you can go thousands of miles away, immediately. That is mind's force. And the spiritual force is still more greater than the mind's force. So tyaktvā deham, as soon as you give up this body, immediately, within a second, you reach Kṛṣṇa-loka. That is perfection. That perfection is suggested here. Paraṁ brahma dhyāyan, paraṁ brahma dhyāyan nāvarteta. The real... You don't come back again to accept material body. You are spiritual spark. Again you are with the supreme spirit, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha.

Lecture on SB 1.15.50 -- Los Angeles, December 27, 1973:

He was friendly to Duryodhana and brothers. "Now this lady is lost. Now we can deal with her as we like. She is our property." So she was lost. "So I want to see her naked in this assembly." So vastra-haraṇa. You know. But Kṛṣṇa saved her. So Draupadī knows very well Kṛṣṇa. Therefore it is said tadājñāya draupadī ca.

And another side is that when... At the time of retirement, there is no more responsibility. Here is it said, patīnām anapekṣatām. They are retiring from home without any consideration, "What will happen to our wife Draupadī?" No. "Now everyone should take care of himself. We are also going alone." This is retirement. Anapekṣatām, without waiting for anyone, alone, simply depending on Kṛṣṇa. This is called renounced order of life. So this is the process of retirement, not that to make arrangement in the family that "I am now retiring. You send me some money, and I shall maintain myself." No. No dependence. Simply dependent on Kṛṣṇa. Therefore it is said, ekānta-matir āpa. Ekānta. Actually, Kṛṣṇa saves us. Why we should depend on others? Kṛṣṇa saves. Kṛṣṇa says that "Anyone who is completely dependent upon Me," yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham (BG 9.22), "I personally bring whatever his necessity is." That is the promise of Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā. So renounced order means no more dependence on father, mother, husband, daughter. No. Completely dependent on Kṛṣṇa. Ekānta. That is perfection. One who is fully convinced that "Kṛṣṇa is with me..." Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61)—"I will not have to search out Kṛṣṇa anywhere. He is within me, within my heart." There are so many instances.

Lecture on SB 1.15.51 -- Los Angeles, December 28, 1973:

Yaḥ śraddhayaitad bhagavat-priyāṇām. Bhagavat-priyāṇām. There is a common word in English, "If you love me, love my dog." That is very important. So bhagavat-priyāṇām, one who is very dear to Kṛṣṇa, if you love such person, then Kṛṣṇa is more pleased. Kṛṣṇa is more pleased. Bhagavat-priyāṇām.

There is a version in the Purāṇas, Devī Purāṇa. Pārvatī was asking questions to Lord Śiva, and Lord Śiva was replying. This is the process at home. The wife is supposed to inquire from the husband about spiritual advancement of life, and the husband must be competent to reply all the questions of wife. That will keep relation very nice. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam (SB 7.5.23). That is bhakti. So Pārvatī was asking... Because according to Vedas, there are so many demigods. Viṣṇu is sometimes taken, but Viṣṇu is not... Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśvara. They are the principal deities. So the inquiry was "Which worship is the best? Viṣṇu, or Lord Śiva, or Brahmā or Candra?" There are so many demigods. Sometimes they are misunderstood that all of them are Gods. No. They are called demigods. God is one. That is... Originally, God is Kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1).

Lecture on SB 1.16.2 -- Los Angeles, December 30, 1973:

Oh, what you have done, wrong thing? You have cursed Mahārāja Parīkṣit? Oh. The greatest blame will be on the brāhmaṇa society. The Kali-yuga will begin, begins deterioration of the brāhmaṇa community. You are the first." So one thing is that even a child born of a brāhmaṇa was so powerful that because he cursed Mahārāja Parīkṣit to die out of snake bite, it could not be withdrawn. He died. Just see how much brahminical power was that time. Even a child. What to speak of grown-up.

So in those days, as in the first verse we learn, dvija-varya-śikṣayā. The... Actually, the brāhmaṇas, they were controlling the state, but not directly, not sitting on the throne, but giving the kings good advice according to śāstra, that "You rule over like this. This is the process." And the kings would abide by... Although the monarchy was there, but they were not irresponsible. First of all, the king was trained and educated perfectly. Therefore it is called dvija-varya-śikṣayā. Yesterday I explained, dvija, the twice-born brāhmaṇa. And again it is added with another word, varya. Varya means the first class, not third class. First-class man, dvija-varya-śikṣayā, they used to teach. They used to advise. And if the king was worthless, sometimes they would kill the king. And next son, his son would take possession.

That was done in the case of Mahārāja Veṇa. Mahārāja Veṇa, he was upstart. He was born of a low-class mother, so he become so upstart that in his boyhood he was playing with friends, and if there was some quarrel, he would kill such friend. So his father became so disgusted, tried to reform him in so many ways, but he could not be reformed. The father, Mahārāja Aṅga, he left the kingdom all of a sudden, being disgusted. Then the brāhmaṇas asked the king that "You are not ruling very nicely. You have stopped all religious functions. This is not good for the people, neither for you." They first of all tried to pacify him by nice instruction. But the king said, "You brāhmaṇas, you do not know me very well. I am God" and this and that. Then he was killed by the brāhmaṇas. You know that Jāmadagnya, Paraśurāma, when he saw that the kings were not responsible, he killed the whole kṣatriya family for twenty-one times. So that was the government. If the brāhmaṇas would see that the kṣatriyas, the kings were not ruling properly according to the Vedic principle, sometimes they would kill the king.

Lecture on SB 1.16.3 -- Los Angeles, December 31, 1973:

Just like Arjuna went to the heavenly planet, similarly, in such sacrifices, if it was arranged by great kings like Mahārāja Parīkṣit and others, Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, then the demigods, invited, they would come. Not only they would come, but all common men could see. Therefore it is said here, yatrākṣi-gocarāḥ, devā yatrākṣi-gocarāḥ. We are much proud of seeing everything, but we should wait for being qualified to see. Not that whimsically I want to see, "O God, please come before me. I want to see." God... God is there just suitable for your seeing power. God is very kind. Here He is present in the temple. And you go on seeing. Then you will realize that He is God.

So God or demigod, everyone can be akṣi-gocarāḥ, within the purview of your vision, provided you are qualified. This is the process. These rascals say, "Can you show me God?" But what power you have got to see? First of all gain that qualification. Then you will see. God is everywhere. Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayān... Even He is within the atom. Therefore one who is not competent to see God, he is advised to see God in different way in the Bhagavad-gītā. Just like Kṛṣṇa says, raso 'ham apsu kaunteya prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ: (BG 7.8) "My dear Kaunteya, Arjuna, I am the taste of the water." So you try to see God there in the taste of water. At the present moment, we have got many senses. You want to see God with the eyes. So begin with your tongue. This is also another sense. Just like if there is nice foodstuff, if I say, "Let me see how it is," "Let me see" means... You are already seeing. What do you want? "No, I want to touch in the tongue." That is "Let me see." Not by the eyes. If there is good sweetmeat, halavā, then "Let me see" means "Let me taste." So first of all taste God. It is within your reach of the sensual perception, but try to practice. Then sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ (Brs. 1.2.234). Then you will realize. God will reveal to..., Himself. When you become submitted, devoted to God, by tasting the prasādam, you will see God personally. He will talk with you. That is possible.

Lecture on SB 1.16.3 -- Los Angeles, December 31, 1973:

So if you think of Kṛṣṇa, then gradually you become Kṛṣṇized. Just like you put the iron rod in the fire. Gradually it becomes fire. Warm, warmer, warmer, then red-hot. When it is red-hot it is fire. Whenever you touch, it will burn immediately. Similarly, if you think of Kṛṣṇa, the same example... Touching fire. So Kṛṣṇa will purify you. Śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ (SB 1.2.17). Just like you are being purified by hearing about Kṛṣṇa daily. Otherwise why you are coming here? We have no money to bribe you to come here. You are feeling, becoming Kṛṣṇized; therefore you are coming.

So this is the process, simple process. You simply be engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then you become Kṛṣṇized, purified. And as soon as you become purified, you understand Kṛṣṇa. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam (Brs. 1.2.234). "You understand Kṛṣṇa" means Kṛṣṇa becomes revealed. Just like something is covered, you try to move the covering. You see the goal. Similarly, by your constant endeavor to become Kṛṣṇa conscious, Kṛṣṇa will reveal to you, "Yes. You are so anxious to see Me? Here I am. Here I am. Yes." You will see Kṛṣṇa. So how this is possible? Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti (Bs. 5.38). By thinking of Kṛṣṇa, naturally you become attached. Just like materialists. They are always thinking of woman and money. So they become attached to woman and money, the materialists. So similarly, if you think of Kṛṣṇa, you become attached to Kṛṣṇa. It is not a difficult job.

Lecture on SB 1.16.3 -- Los Angeles, December 31, 1973:

This is the process of yajña in this age. What is that? Now, kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣā akṛṣṇam. The God's incarnation, that is incarnation, not a manufactured incarnation. There must be reference to the śāstra. So what is the incarnation? Pracchanna-avatāra. In this Kali-yuga the incarnation is Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. It is stated in the śāstra, kṛṣṇa-varṇam, kṛṣṇa

varṇayati: "He is simply chanting 'Kṛṣṇa,' although He is Kṛṣṇa Himself." Kṛṣṇam-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇam. Therefore He has hidden Himself. His bodily color is more Kṛṣṇa, but golden. That is also stated. Kṛṣṇa has got four colors. Śuklo raktas tathā pīta idānīṁ kṛṣṇatāṁ gataḥ. When Gargamuni made the horoscope of Kṛṣṇa, that "This child has three other colors, śuklo raktas tathā pītaḥ. He had His color. Red color and white color and now..., and yellow color. Now He has assumed black color." Śuklo raktas tathā pīta idānīṁ kṛṣṇatāṁ gataḥ. So therefore His name was Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa has another color. Pīta. Pīta-varṇa-gauraḥ. That is Lord Caitanya. Therefore tviṣā akṛṣṇa: "Bodily complexion, not kṛṣṇa." Such Kṛṣṇa, chanting Kṛṣṇa... Kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam (SB 11.5.32). Followed by many devotees, Caitanya Mahāprabhu. At least followed by Nityānanda Prabhu, Advaita Prabhu, Gadādhara Prabhu, like that. So this is the description of the incarnation of God in Kali-yuga. Pracchanna-avatāra. There is another avatāra, Kalki.

So kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam. To such God the method is to sacrifice. The sacrificing method is yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ. Su-medhasaḥ. Medhā means brain substance. Those who have got good brain substance, such persons worship this Lord by the yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtanaiḥ. So that we are doing here. Here is kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇam (SB 11.5.32), Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Nityānanda Prabhu. Therefore our first obeisance is to Him, then Kṛṣṇa. This is the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Lecture on SB 1.16.4 -- Los Angeles, January 1, 1974:

You do... Don't disturb. So this is the process, that the four castes—brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya... They were caste system when they actually things were going on. Just like a carpenter. His son naturally becomes a carpenter by seeing the father's work. So he can be very easily classified as a carpenter. Similarly, formerly, the brāhmaṇa family, kṣatriya family, vaiśya family, they were following the rules and regulations in such a way that naturally a brāhmaṇa's son became a brāhmaṇa. Because he has learned already the brāhmaṇa principle from the parent. So naturally little touch will make him... That is initiation. Even though one is born in a brāhmaṇa family, why does he required initiation and sacred thread ceremony? Because simply by taking birth in a brāhmaṇa family one does not become a brāhmaṇa. He has to be raised to the brāhmaṇa standard. Otherwise, there was no initiation, there was no necessity of initiation or offering the sacred thread. That is called saṁskāra. Otherwise, by birth everyone is śūdra. Janmanā jāyate śūdraḥ saṁskārād bhaved dvijaḥ. So it is very good that one has taken his birth in a brāhmaṇa family, but provided he has learned the brāhmaṇa's activities nicely from the parent, he is brāhmaṇa. Kiṁ punar brāhmaṇaḥ puṇyaḥ(?).

Lecture on SB 1.16.4 -- Los Angeles, January 1, 1974:

That means begetting the child, there is a ceremony which is called garbhādhāna-saṁskāra. So in the Kali-yuga practically no saṁskāra is performed. Therefore in the śāstra it is said kalau śūdra-sambhavaḥ. So Vedic process, Vedic principles of accepting. It is not possible in this Kali-yuga. Because the garbhādhāna-saṁskāra is not there. In nobody's family there the garbhādhāna-saṁskāra is taken. Sex life is also regulated by garbhādhāna-saṁskāra. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, dharmāviruddhaḥ kāmo 'smi. Aviruddha, "Sex life which is not against the religious principles, that I am. That sex life I am," Kṛṣṇa says. "I am that sex life." That is godly. But sex life for sense gratification or for prostitution, that is not Kṛṣṇa. That is Kali. So this is the process.

So it was the duty of the king to see that if a man is professing himself as a brāhmaṇa, he must act as a brāhmaṇa. That was the duty. Otherwise, he should be punished. Just like here. This śūdra, he was presenting himself as a kṣatriya, nṛpa-liṅga-dharam. Therefore he was punished. Not that the king is callous: "Let him do whatever he likes." Just like now our, everywhere, the government, it doesn't care whether you are acting as a brāhmaṇa, śūdra, or whatever nonsense you are doing. Doesn't care. "You pay me tax, that's all." Bring your tax, income tax, and everything, then you are free, whatever you are doing. That was not the duty of the king. The king's duty is to see that actually one who is presenting himself as brāhmaṇa, he's acting as a brāhmaṇa, he has acquired the qualities of a brāhmaṇa. Guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). He has got the quality and acting. Similarly, a kṣatriya also, he must act as a kṣatriya. Similarly, vaiśyas. These are all, statements are there in the Bhagavad-gītā, you know. Kṛṣi-gorakṣya-vāṇijyaṁ vaiśya-karma svabhāva-jam (Bg 18.44). Śauryaṁ tejo yuddhe cāpy apalāyanam īśvara-bhāvaś ca kṣātraṁ karma svabhāva-jam. Everything is given. Paricaryātmakaṁ karma śūdrasyāpi svabhāva-jam. Everything is given there. So it is the duty of the government, that this man is professing as a brāhmaṇa, as a kṣatriya or a vaiśya, whether he is acting, or whether he's cheating others. No cheating will be allowed. That is government's duty.

Lecture on SB 1.16.8 -- Los Angeles, January 5, 1974:

They are not ordinary children. The parent must take care, very good care, that they may not fall down. They have got the chance. Now train them to complete this Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the duty of father and mother. "Now this child has come under my care." If both the father and mother think like that... Not contraceptive. Oh, rascaldom. "Oh, here is a child who has taken shelter of me as mother, who has taken shelter of me as father. Oh, it is my duty to train him in such a way that no more birth, no more death." Therefore Bhāgavata says, pitā na sa syāt...na mocayed yaḥ samupeta-mṛtyum: "One should not become mother, one should not become father, if he cannot release his children from the clutches of death." And how one can be saved from the clutches of death? This is the process, hari-līlāmṛtaṁ vacaḥ. If he is trained up... Therefore we have got this school from the Dallas. From the beginning, hari-līlāmṛtaṁ vacaḥ. They are being trained up in hari-līlāmṛtaṁ vacaḥ.

So once one becomes situated in hari-līlāmṛtaṁ vacaḥ, that means he has stopped his process of death. So this dying again of this body... Of course, this body is material. It must make a show that this material body... But he is a spiritual body. He is going back to home, back to Godhead. There is no doubt about it. Therefore Yamarāja's duty... Yamarāja is Vaiṣṇava. He wants to see that you do not die again. He wants to see that you continue your deathlessness. Now you are engaged in kṛṣṇa-kathāmṛtaṁ vacaḥ. So that is the point of... Just like a diseased man. A diseased man, as soon as goes to the physician and he gives the right medicine, and he takes it, that means his diseaselessness condition has already begun. It will take little time. So in the meantime, in that treatment time, diseaselessness condition, if you make another infection, that is your fault. Otherwise, deathlessness begins from the day of initiation. Ādau gurvāśrayam. As soon as you take shelter of a bona fide spiritual master, your point of deathlessness begins immediately. Immediately. And if you continue the advice and instruction of the spiritual master, or the śāstra, then you become deathless.

Lecture on SB 1.16.11 -- Los Angeles, January 8, 1974:

I do not wish to fight with my cousin-brothers. I cannot tolerate their death, my grandfather. So better I will not fight. Let them enjoy the kingdom." So Kṛṣṇa said, "No, that cannot be. It is My plan that they should be killed. So you must fight." So therefore a devotee's duty is to carry out the order of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore he fought. Personally he did not want to fight. But he cannot disobey the order of Kṛṣṇa. That is not possible. Kariṣye vacanaṁ tava (BG 18.73). When Kṛṣṇa inquired, "What is your decision?" he said, "Yes, even though I do not like to fight, still, because it is Your order, I must fight." Kariṣye vacanaṁ tava (BG 18.73).

So devotee hasn't got any personal decision. That is the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). We should decide by the order of Kṛṣṇa through the disciplic succession, via media, the spiritual master. That is required. A devotee cannot decide personally. If Kṛṣṇa desires... If somebody says that "We cannot see Kṛṣṇa personally," then you have to decide by Kṛṣṇa's representative. If your spiritual master, guru, says that "You do this," that is Kṛṣṇa's order. That is Kṛṣṇa's order. Therefore it is said, yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ **. By satisfying the spiritual master, you satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is very natural. Just like when you go to your work, the immediate person who is in charge of your work, he must be satisfied. You don't jump up to the proprietor. The proprietor will be automatically satisfied. If something is done and the proprietor sees that the immediate office superintendent is satisfied, then he accepts, "Yes, that's all right." He hasn't got to inspect personally. If the superintendent of the office says that "Yes, this clerk or this man works nice," then proprietor accepts. Similarly, yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ **. We have to satisfy our spiritual master, sevayā.

Lecture on SB 1.16.16 -- Los Angeles, January 11, 1974:

You cannot enter into an atmosphere without being fit for living in that atmosphere. Is it very difficult to understand? Because they are going to the moon planet, why they are coming back? Because they have no arrangement to make the body fit to live there.

So God's creation is like that. You cannot by force enter into any atmosphere unless you become fit to live there. That is God's creation. By force you cannot live within water. By force the fish cannot live on the land. You'll die. Similarly, by force you cannot enter into the moon planet. Therefore they are frustrated. It is not possible. Similarly, without being Kṛṣṇized, you cannot understand what is Kṛṣṇa, you cannot associate with Him. That is the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, to become perfectly Kṛṣṇa-ite, as good as Kṛṣṇa. That is purification process. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). Nirmalam. Nirmalam means purification. Now we are sa-malam. We have got so many dirty things with us. So one has to become nirmalam. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam. First business is to become free from the designation. If you think yourself that "I am American," "I am Christian," "I am Hindu," "I am Indian," "I am black," "I am white," these are all designation. So sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam, when you become transcendental to all designation, when you come to the platform to understand that "I am not this body; I am spirit soul," brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54), then you become happy.

So long we are with designations, we are not happy. To become designationless means feeling complete happiness. That is the test. If you simply artificially say that "I am not identifying with this body," that is fact. But real identification with..., identification with the body will be realized when you don't feel pains and pleasure. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam, hṛṣīkeṇa. When your senses will be purified in that way, without any designation, then you can begin devotional service.

Lecture on SB 1.16.19 -- Hawaii, January 15, 1974:

Because without becoming very intelligent man, one cannot understand Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is stated in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, kṛṣṇa yei bhaje sei baḍa catura: "One who takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness seriously and perfectly, he must be very, very intelligent." Dull brain cannot accept it. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). So we have to make our brain very clean. And for that purpose you require to drink not very much, at least, one pound or half-pound milk daily. That is essential. But no meat-eating. This is intelligence. The milk is also conversion of the blood, everyone knows. Just like we drink the milk of our mother. The color of the milk is white, but everyone knows that milk is produced from the red blood, red corpuscle. So this is the process, that people are very much anxious to drink the blood of cows from the slaughterhouse. They sometimes drink fresh blood, is it not?

Lecture on SB 1.16.25 -- Hawaii, January 21, 1974:

"And take prasādam and go home." That's all. Philosophy later on. Philosophy later on. Because, unless one has got clear brain, unless has actually the senses, purified, one cannot take the lesson of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Just like this is philosophy. One cannot understand the lessons which are given in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Bhagavad-gītā... Therefore in the beginning we do not ask anybody, outsider, that "Read Bhagavad-gītā or..." No. "Please come, chant with us Hare Kṛṣṇa." That is required. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and you will feel. You'll feel. Because this method will cleanse your heart. The more you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, the more you become fit to understand the philosophy of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the process. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau (Brs. 1.2.234).

So anyone who will stop chanting, he will be a victim of māyā. Always remember it. Therefore we insist, "Please do not forget to chant at least sixteen rounds." That is minimum. The maximum is 300,000. (laughter) As Haridāsa Ṭhākura used to do, three hundred..., not impractical. But you, we cannot do that. Even we cannot complete sixteen rounds. We are so unfortunate. But that does not mean because we are unfortunate, we shall give it up. Try, try, try your best. Then life will become perfect.

Lecture on SB 1.16.36 -- Tokyo, January 30, 1974:

By satisfying the spiritual master, one can satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Yasya prasādāt, "by the satisfaction of the spiritual master." Saṁsāra-dāvānala-līḍha-loka-trāṇāya kāruṇya-ghanāghanatvam **. One of the symptom is this, that spiritual master is so bona fide. Before accepting somebody as spiritual master you must know about his bona fides. That time is allowed. It is said in the śāstra that if you like to accept somebody as spiritual master, you should associate with him at least for one year, see how things are going. If you follow of course others, that is also good. But personally, it is advised that you just remain with the proposed spiritual master for at least one year, so that the spiritual master is also given chance to study you, whether you are acceptable. This is the process.

But when one leaves a spiritual master, the spiritual master, there may be some reason. That reason is also given in the śāstra, gurur api avaliptasya kāryākāryam ajānataḥ(?). Kārya akārya. If the spiritual master does not know what is actually to be done, what is actually not to be done, and he acts against the rules and regulations of the śāstra, then such spiritual master may be given up. But so long you do not find the spiritual master is doing against the principles of śāstra or guru, then if you give up the company of spiritual master, that is not good for you. That is your downfall. First of all, you must take sufficient time to study the movements of a spiritual master. Spiritual master is one—the spiritual master. Because there may be many spiritual master, but if their business is one—to satisfy Kṛṣṇa—although they're many, they're one. Although they're many, they are still one. The principle is one: to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. Such is the position of spiritual master, that yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ: ** if you try to please your spiritual master, then God, Kṛṣṇa, becomes pleased. That is natural.

Page Title:This is the process (Lectures, SB canto 1)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:15 of Nov, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=130, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:130