The Vedic literature means, as it is stated in this verse, tene brahma hṛdā. Brahma means Vedic literature, śabda-brahma. So He distributed the... Vāsudeva, original person, Absolute Truth, He, I mean to say, transferred this Vedic knowledge. Tene brahma hṛdā. Brahmā was alone. He could not see Kṛṣṇa eye to eye, but īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). Kṛṣṇa is everyone's heart, so He taught him from within. Kṛṣṇa's name is Caitya-guru, "guru, spiritual master from within." So Kṛṣṇa is trying to help us from within, and He manifests again externally also as spiritual master, directly teaching. So from within, from without, He is trying to help us. Kṛṣṇa is so kind. From within and without. Tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye (SB 1.1.1).
Vedic knowledge (Lectures, SB)
Lectures
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Pradyumna: Translation: "I offer my obeisances unto Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, son of Vasudeva, who is the supreme all-pervading Personality of Godhead. I meditate upon Him, the transcendent reality, who is the primeval cause of all causes, from whom all manifested universes arise, in whom they dwell, and by whom they are destroyed. I meditate upon that eternally effulgent Lord who is directly and indirectly conscious of all manifestations and yet is beyond them. It is He only who first imparted Vedic knowledge unto the heart of Brahmā, the first created being. Through Him this world, like a mirage, appears real even to great sages and demigods. Because of Him, the material universes, created by the three modes of nature, appear to be factual, although they are unreal. I meditate therefore upon Him, the Absolute Truth, who is eternally existent in His transcendental abode, and who is forever free of illusion." (SB 1.1.1)
Therefore somebody comes, "Yes, I am God." "Oh, sir, you are God? Yes. That's all right." Because he wanted to be cheated, so somebody comes and declares himself that "I am God," and he is cheated. We cannot accept such God. We shall say, "Oh, you are God? All right, you lift this hill first of all with your finger. Then I shall accept you God." We don't accept such so cheap God. The rascals may accept some cheap God. No, we don't accept. We accept Kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Brahmā said, "God is here, Kṛṣṇa." Brahmā is the original person who distributes knowledge, Vedic knowledge. So we accept Kṛṣṇa. The Brahmā has said. And we see, "Yes. He is God. He is lifting hill. He is killing Pūtanā at the age of three months old only.
God's creation is perfect. There cannot be any imperfectness. Even there is overpopulation, God will supply food. Don't bother. But because we have no faith in God, because we have forgotten God, we do not know what is God, therefore we have created the economic problem. Otherwise there is no problem. You can see how they are jolly, they are walking. So by nature's study we have to learn. If we don't go to the Vedic knowledge, we can see that "Where is the problem in the lower animals?" There is no problem. They are confident. The problems for lower animal is there when they are in the city, but if they live natural life, there is no problem.
Because Vāsudeva is already there; you simply realize Him. Vāsudeva... Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). Vāsudeva is already there within your heart, but you simply realize it by placing yourself in the pure consciousness, pure platform.
So this can be done simply by our discussion of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Therefore it is said here, nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalam idam (SB 1.1.3). It is the mature fruit of Vedic knowledge. And śuka-mukhād amṛta-drava-saṁyutam. This Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam was written by Vyāsadeva. And it was spoken for the first time by Śukadeva Gosvāmī, his son. He wrote this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam under the instruction of his spiritual master, Nārada, and he taught his son, beloved son, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, that "You preach. I am writing; you preach." That is the duty of the student. The spiritual master writes, and it is a duty of the disciple to preach. And if the student is also as pure as the spiritual master, then it becomes very nice. Śuka-mukhāt. Śuka-mukhād amṛta-drava-saṁyutam.
The... Another explanation of this verse is that any fruit ripened in the tree, it is already very nice, very sweet. If you take an unripe fruit from the tree and keep at your home, it also ripens, but it is not so tasteful. If it is ripened in the tree and you take it, then it is very tasteful. I think you have got this experience. Again if that fruit is cut by the lips or by the beaks of the parrot, which is called śuka, it becomes still more tasteful. Similarly, this fruit, the ripened fruit of Vedic knowledge, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, is already very tasteful because it is the ripened fruit, but it has been tasted by the lips of Śukadeva Gosvāmī; therefore it is still more tasteful. Drava-saṁyutam. Therefore it is recommended, pibata bhāgavatam, "Now, this ripened fruit, just taste it," pibata, "drink it." Pibata bhāgavataṁ rasam.
Pradyumna: Purport. "In the two previous ślokas it has been definitely proved that the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the sublime literature which surpasses all other Vedic scriptures due to its transcendental qualities. It is transcendental to all mundane activities and mundane knowledge. In this śloka it is stated that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is not only a superior literature but that it is the ripened fruit of all Vedic literatures. In other words, it is the cream of all Vedic knowledge. Considering all this, patient... (break) ...one should receive the message and lessons imparted by the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The Vedas are compared to the desire tree because they contain all things knowable by man. They deal with mundane necessities as well as spiritual realization."
Prabhupāda: Yes. In the Vedas you will find both the knowledge. Because the living entity, anyone who has come to this material world, the cause is that he wanted to enjoy, imitating Kṛṣṇa. Just like it is practical experience. If we are associated with some big man and he is very opulent, naturally a desires come: "If I could become an important man like him." So that is possible. So as soon as a living entity thinks like that, that he can also enjoy like Kṛṣṇa, then he falls down and he's given the chance of lording it over this material nature. But to help him, the Vedic knowledge is there. The Vedic knowledge gives him the chance of enjoying this material world under some principles so that some day he may again come back to home, back to Godhead. This is the Vedic literature. The chance is given because he wanted to enjoy.
Just like for example one wants to enjoy sex life. "Yes," Vedic knowledge, Vedic scripture, says, "Yes, just enjoy in married life, not like cats and dogs." This is the difference. So without Vedic injunction, if one wants to enjoy by his whims, then he'll be more and more entangled.
Pradyumna: "...can be experienced in the literature of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam due to its being the ripened fruit of all Vedic knowledge. By submissively hearing this transcendental literature, one can attain the full pleasure of the heart's desire. But one must be very careful to hear the message from the right source. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is exactly received from the right source. It was brought by Nārada Muni from the spiritual world and given to his disciple Śrī Vyāsadeva. The latter in turn delivered the message to his son, Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī, and Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī delivered the message to Mahārāja Parīkṣit..."
Therefore the next verse says, nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalam: (SB 1.1.3) "This real service is enunciated here as the essence of all Vedic knowledge." Nigama means the Vedas, and it is called kalpa-taru. Kalpa-taru means desire tree. Vedic knowledge is so perfect that you can receive from the Vedas all different types of knowledge. You can receive knowledge from the Vedas, all types of knowledge, means that social, political and scientific, and there are so many departments of knowledge, even engineering, medical science. The medical science is called Āyur-veda. Āyur-veda means the Vedic knowledge about the duration of life. Similarly, there is Dhanur-veda. Dhanur-veda, military science. There are so many departments.
The word Veda means knowledge. So Vedic literature means... You can take it. Any kind of knowledge, it can be called Vedas. Vetti veda vido jñāne vinte vid vicāraṇe(?). So in Sanskrit grammar the vid-dhātu. From vid-dhātu... Means knowing. And from vid-dhātu the word Veda has come. Now, the author says that "This Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the essence of Vedic knowledge." Vedic knowledge is compared with the tree, and the tree has got fruit. So this Bhāgavatam is the fruit of the Vedic tree. That means you keep a tree for some getting fruit. If there is no fruit, that is mean for fuel. It is useless tree. So here it is said, nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalam (SB 1.1.3), means "The Vedic literature is just like the desire tree, and the Bhāgavatam is the ripened fruit." And galitaṁ phalam means a fruit ripened in the tree. It is very, very delicious.
We are following Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and therefore His instruction should be followed. What is it? Na dhanam: "I don't want any wealth, material wealth," na dhanam. Na janam: "I don't want any so-called followers." Na sundarīṁ kavitām: "Neither I want a very beautiful wife." "Then what do You want? These are the material things everyone wants." No, mama janmani janmanīśvare bhavatād bhaktiḥ: (Cc. Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4) "Even I don't want liberation." Liberation means there is no more janma. But He said, janmani janmani: "Life after life, I want to be engaged in Your devotional service." This is real characteristic, and that should be followed. So this is the essence of Vedic knowledge. The essence of Vedic knowledge is Vedānta, Vedānta. There are four Vedas and many branches, eighteen Purāṇas and then 108 Upaniṣad. All combined together, the essence is taken as the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. First of all, Vyāsadeva... Vyāsadeva is the author of all these literatures. Not author, he has written. Formerly there was no need of writing because people were very intelligent. As soon as one hears from the spiritual master, he remembers.
Supplements. Because Vedic language is so difficult... It is sometimes very difficult to understand. So Purāṇa, another meaning of Purāṇa means supplement. So they are explanation of the Vedic knowledge in a supplementary way by taking references from the history, from the life of great saints and sages. So they are addition, addendum. Go on. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they say that the Purāṇas are not Veda. That is not the fact. Here in the Bhāgavata says the Purāṇa is part of the Vedas. As Upaniṣad is part of Vedas... It is written in simplified language so that those who are less educated, less having brain substance...
Pradyumna: Translation: "Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto him (Śuka), the spiritual master of all sages, the son of Vyāsadeva, who, out of his great compassion for those gross materialists who struggle to cross over the darkest regions of material existence, spoke this Purāṇa, supplement to the Vedas, the cream of Vedic knowledge, after having personally assimilated it by experience."
Prabhupāda: So these are the qualifications of the spiritual master. What is that? Svānubhāvam, "must assimilate personally." Svānubhāvam akhila-śruti-sāram. Śruti. The Vedas are called śruti, absolute knowledge. It has to be learned by hearing, not by speculation. Śruti. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet śrotriyam (MU 1.2.12). From śruti, the śrotriya comes. So he's offering respect to Śukadeva Gosvāmī because he has assimilated the whole Vedic knowledge. Śruti-sāra. What is that sāra? Sāra means essence. What is the ultimate goal of knowledge, essence of knowledge? This is also explained in Bhagavad-gītā: vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15). The real purpose of Vedic knowledge is to search out where is Kṛṣṇa.
So Śukadeva Gosvāmī assimilated the Vedic knowledge and he was after Kṛṣṇa. Although he was liberated soul, still, he was after Kṛṣṇa. To become liberated is not the final stage. Liberated means one who understands that he is not this material body—he is liberated. But that much knowledge is not sufficient. One must act according to that. Just like one is cured of the feverish condition. One was suffering some fever; now there is no fever. That's nice. But that is called convalescent stage. In the convalescent stage, if we do not take care nicely, again the fever may be relapse. That is marginal stage. We must come this side or that side. So even if we are liberated, if we are not engaged in the activities of liberation, then we are to be considered on the marginal stage.
So what Śukadeva Gosvāmī did, that after assimilating the whole Vedic literature, he distributed it. That is another instinct. If you really have learned the essence of Vedic knowledge, automatically you'll be inclined to preach it. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam. Śravaṇam means to hear, to receive the knowledge. And next, kīrtanam, means to distribute, to describe the knowledge. Yaḥ svānubhāvam akhila-śruti-sāram ekam adhyātma-dīpam (SB 1.2.3). Dīpam means lamp. So this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is just like the lamp in the darkness to see Kṛṣṇa, or God. Adhyātma-dīpam. And for whom is it meant? Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is not meant for the street boys, or who are accustomed to read so many nonsense literature. They want to waste their time. They have no engagement. They purchase some book, fictitious book, and read it. Not only they, even elderly men, they read it. But this book is different from those books. It is meant for persons, those who are desiring to get out of this world of ignorance. Tamo 'ndham.
Pradyumna: "In this prayer, Śrīla Sūta Gosvāmī practically summarizes the complete introduction of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the natural supplementary commentary on the Vedānta-sūtras. The Vedānta-sūtras or the Brahma-sūtras were compiled by Vyāsadeva with a view to presenting just the cream of Vedic knowledge."
Prabhupāda: Yes. First of all, there was only one Veda, Atharva-veda. Then he divided according to the subject matter into four Vedas: Sāma, Yajur, Atharva, Ṛg. Then he explained the Vedas by the Purāṇas, and he compiled Mahābhārata also for same purpose, how one can understand the Vedic literature. Strī-śūdra-dvija-bandhūnāṁ trayī na śruti-gocarā (SB 1.4.25). Those who are less intelligent, woman, śūdra, and dvija-bandhu... Dvija-bandhu means those who are born in brāhmaṇa family but are not just to the quality. They are called dvija-bandhu. For them this Mahābhārata. And at the end he compiled, he summarized the whole thing by writing Vedānta-sūtra. Still, he was not happy, and under the direction of his spiritual master Nārada he wrote himself the commentary of the Vedānta-sūtra, and that is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Translation: "Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto him, Śuka, the spiritual master of all sages, the son of Vyāsadeva, who, out of his causeless compassion for those gross materialists who struggle to cross over the darkest regions of material existence, spoke this most confidential supplement to the cream of Vedic knowledge, after having personally assimilated it by experience."
Prabhupāda:
- yaḥ svānubhāvam akhila-śruti-sāram ekam
- adhyātma-dīpam atititīrṣatāṁ tamo 'ndham
- saṁsāriṇāṁ karuṇayāha purāṇa-guhyaṁ
- taṁ vyāsa-sūnum upayāmi guruṁ munīnām
- (SB 1.2.3)
So Sūta Gosvāmī is offering respect to the spiritual master, Śukadeva Gosvāmī. When we offer respect to the spiritual master or anyone, we glorify his transcendental qualities. That is glorification. Just like we offer respect to Kṛṣṇa, glorify Him. So this is very important process, glorify the spiritual master by his activities, what he is actually doing. That is glorification.
So here it is śruti-sāram ekam. This Bhāgavata is the śruti-sāram, just like cream. You churn the milk, two mounds of milk, you get, say, five kilos, kg, of butter, the sāram, essence. If you simply try to see where is the essence... You have to churn it. Then in the milk there is. You may possess lots of milk, but from the milk you have to take the cream. That is intelligence. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the cream of Vedic knowledge. Therefore it is said that nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalam idam (SB 1.1.3). Nigama. Nigama means Vedas, and kalpa-taru... Vedas is just like desire tree. Desire tree means whatever you want, you can have it from Vedic knowledge. Just like in India, the Āyur-veda. Āyur-veda means this is material thing. But still it is in the Veda. Dhanur-veda, military science. There are so many Vedas. Vedas means knowledge. So the Vedic knowledge is so perfect, that anything you want, material or spiritual, you will get the knowledge perfect. That is Veda. Veda is not ordinary thing. And it is learned by hearing. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet, śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham (MU 1.2.12).
Vedic knowledge... Formerly, there was no need of books. Nowadays, at the present moment, our memory is not so sharp due to Kali-yuga. Therefore Vyāsadeva wrote in books, in words, because he foresaw that "The people in this age, they will be dull-headed rascals. Therefore, if they get this knowledge recorded in writing, they may be able to derive some benefit." Otherwise, formerly Vedic knowledge was never book reading. No. Śruti. Śruti means hearing. This disciple is so powerful that once he hears from the spiritual master, his memory is recorded immediately. Memory.
That is brāhmaṇa. Once heard from the spiritual master... The spiritual master means śrotriyam: he has also nicely heard from his spiritual master. Therefore Vedic knowledge, factually, it is received simply by hearing. There was no necessity of becoming literate. Illiterate, it doesn't matter. Because it is after all received through the aural reception. Therefore it is called śruti. And śruti-sāram ekam. And of all the Vedic literature, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the essence.
Out of compassion. Karuṇayāha purāṇa-guhyam. Purāṇa. There are eighteen types of Purāṇas. Out of that, Bhāgavata is also Purāṇa. This Purāṇa is very confidential. This is not ordinary. It is called spotless, "spotless Purāṇa." Because in this Purāṇa, in this history or in this supplementary of Vedic knowledge, there is only description of devotional service. Dharmaḥ projjhita. This dharma, this kind, religious, the Bhāgavata religion, is so perfect, that all kinds of cheating types of religion is kicked out from it. Dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavaḥ. They are not accepted, all cheating types of religion. There are so many religious..., not perfect knowledge even. Even they disobey... They cannot without disobeying. Because it cannot train people to the perfection, they remain defective always. Big, big priests, big, big cardinals. What they are doing? They are simply disobeying.
The whole Vedānta knowledge was codified, codes. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), athāto brahma jijñāsā. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). There are so many codes. So again these codes were explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. This is the business(?). "Vedānta-sūtra, or the Brahma-sūtra, were compiled by Vyāsadeva with the view to presenting just the cream of Vedic knowledge. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the natural commentary on the cream. Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī was a thoroughly realized master of Vedānta-sūtra, and consequently, he also personally realized the commentary, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And just to show his boundless mercy," karuṇayā, "boundless mercy upon bewildered materialistic man who want to cross completely over the nescience, he recited for the first time this confidential knowledge."
This is the paramparā system. As you get knowledge, step by step... Kṛṣṇa is the original spiritual master, and then from Kṛṣṇa, Lord Brahmā learned the Vedic knowledge. Tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye (SB 1.1.1). In the Bhāgavata it is said that "Wherefrom Brahmā got his knowledge?" Because whenever we want to get knowledge, we must approach a superior person to get knowledge. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). Guru means superior. So who was the superior person when Brahmā got knowledge? Because there was no other creature. He is the first creature. Therefore it is said, "The superior person was Kṛṣṇa, but He was not present." We see, Kṛṣṇa was present before Arjuna, but nobody was present before Brahmā. Therefore it is said, tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye, hṛdā: "through the heart." Because Kṛṣṇa is situated in everyone's heart. Actually, He is the spiritual master, caitya-guru. So in order to help us, He comes out as physical spiritual master. And therefore sākṣād-dharitvena sama... Spiritual master is representative of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa sends some sincere devotee to act on His behalf, and therefore he is spiritual master.
So kuṇape tri-dhātuke, these things are manufactured by three dhātus, elements, kapha, pitta, vāyu. Kapha mucus, pitta bile, and air. These things manufacturing. These things are going on. After eating, these three things are being manufactured, and if they are in adjustment, parallel, then body is healthy, and if there is more or less, then there is disease. Well, according to the Āyur-vedic—that is also Veda-āyur means span of life, and Veda means knowledge. That is called Āyur-veda. So this Vedic knowledge of the span of life is very simple. They don't require pathological laboratory, clinic, no. They require simply to study these three elements, kapha, pitta, vāyu. And they, their science is to feel the pulse. You know, every one of you, that the pulse is moving tick, tick, tick, tick, like this. So they know the science: by feeling the beating of the pulse, they can understand what is the position of these three elements, kapha, pitta, vāyu. And by that position, constellation, they... In the Āyur-veda, śāstra veda, there are, the symptoms, with the... These veins are moving like this, heart is moving like this, beating like this, then the position is this. As soon as they understand the position is this, they verify the symptoms. They enquire from the patient, "Do you feel like this? Do you feel like this?" If he says, "Yes," then it is confirmed. The inner things, how the pulse is beating, and the symptoms are confirmed, then the medicine is ready. Immediately take the medicine. Where is (indistinct).
Ātma means soul. Suprasīdati. Prasīdati means becomes happy. And su means very, very much happy. How? Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje (SB 1.2.6). Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the mature instruction of Vyāsadeva on Vedic wisdom. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Migama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalaṁ idam. Nigama means Vedas. It is like kalpa-taru, desire tree. Whichever thing you desire you can get from Vedic knowledge. Nigama-kalpa-taru. Kalpa-taru means desire tree. We have got experience of this tree-mango tree, orange tree, or so many trees. So you can get a particular type of fruit from a particular type of tree. But in the spiritual world all the trees are desire trees. Whatever you want you can get.
So you will find in this instruction, in this chapter, these sages decided at the end of the meeting, that ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhāḥ. The resolution was passed like this, because there were all brāhmaṇas. Therefore the president, Sūta Gosvāmī, he said all the brāhmaṇas, dvija-śreṣṭhāḥ. He addressed. Dvija means twice-born: one birth by the father and mother, and next birth by the spiritual father and the Vedic knowledge. This is second birth, initiation. The spiritual father, or spiritual master, he gives the second birth through the mother, Vedas. Therefore they are called dvija, twice-born. Twice-born. Unless one has accepted bona fide spiritual master, he is once born, śūdra. Śūdra has no such thing as twice-born. Only the brāhmaṇa, kṣatriyas and vaiśyas. Because śūdras were less intelligent, they were not initiated. They were not initiated. Only the brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas and vaiśyas, dvija.
So among the three kinds of dvija, twice-born, the brāhmaṇas were the first class, dvija. Therefore, at the end of the meeting, the... Because they were all brāhmaṇas. There were no kṣatriyas. Only brāhmaṇas were discussing. Naimiṣāraṇya. Ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhāḥ. Dvija-śreṣṭhāḥ, best of the brāhmaṇa. They were not ordinary brāhmaṇa. With full Vedic knowledge, they gathered. Varṇāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ. The varṇāśrama must be there in the human society. So varṇāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ. Vibhāga means division. Ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhā varṇāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ, svanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya. Everyone has got his dharma. That is dharma, the brāhmaṇa. Dharma means his occupational duty. Dharma means his occupational duty. That is dharma. A brāhmaṇa is..., he has got his duties, to practice how to become truthful, satya; śama, how to control the senses; and dama, how to control the mind. Satyaṁ śamo damas titikṣā, how to learn toleration, forbearance. Satyaṁ śamo damas titikṣā, ārjavam, how to become simple, not crooked. Jñānam, full knowledge in everything. Vijñānam, practical application. Satyaṁ śamo damas titikṣā ārjavaṁ jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyam (BG 18.42), full faith in the Vedic literature. That is called āstikyam. That is called theism, to believe in the śāstras without any deviation. That is called theism. Atheism means not to believe in the śāstra or not to accept them as it is, to comment according to one's own whim. That is called atheism. Theism means to have faith, full faith in the Vedic knowledge. That is called theism.
That I have given you several times the example. Just like the cow dung is the stool of an animal, but the Vedic literature confirms that cow dung is pure. Now, you cannot argue, "It is stool of an animal. In one place you have condemned that if you touch the stool of an animal, you have to take bath thrice, and now you say cow dung, which is also stool of an animal, it is pure. Where is your argument?" You have to accept. That is called theism. Because the Vedas says, without any argument, you accept it. That is called theism. You cannot change. You cannot comment. That is called theism. Āstikyam. Brahma-karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.42). And unless you have got such faith in the Vedic knowledge, you cannot make any progress. That is not possible. If you, with your poor fund of knowledge, you want to interpret, from the very beginning there is no question of progress.
Guru, accept guru means you must surrender there. Samit-pāṇiḥ śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet, śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham (MU 1.2.12). Tad viddhi praṇipātena (BG 4.34). Bhagavad-gītā says that "You learn from guru by praṇipāta, surrendering." The whole system is surrender. So vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogaḥ (SB 1.2.7). Bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ means in order to enter into bhakti-yoga one has to first of all surrender to a bona fide spiritual master. Ādau gurvāśrayam. This is the beginning of bhakti-yoga. And what kind of guru? An... That is also explained in the śāstras: śābde pare ca niṣṇātaṁ brahmaṇy upaśamāśrayam. Guru must be śābde pare ca niṣṇātam (SB 11.3.21). Śābde means śabda-brahman, Vedic knowledge. He must be dipped into the Vedic knowledge, śābde pare ca, and in devotional service, śābde pare ca niṣṇātam, brahmaṇy upaśamāśrayam. And accepting the Supreme Brahman, Paraṁ Brahman, as the ultimate goal of life. Not he has got any other goal of life. These are the signs of guru.
So everything is there. If we actually want to make our life perfect, the directions are already there in our... We have got the Vedic knowledge, treasurehouse of spiritual knowledge, and the Bhagavad-gītā is the gist, is the summary. Gītopaniṣad. It is called Upaniṣad. If you simply study Bhagavad-gītā as it is, without foolishly interpreting it... That will spoil. Don't interpret. Just like you are given paramānna, or kṣīra. Everyone knows what is kṣīra, milk and rice cooked together with sugar, very nice foodstuff. But if you add with it several grains of sand, it becomes useless. You can add it, simply a few grains of sand—we spoil Bhagavad-gītā. Therefore Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī has advised how to save yourself from this rascaldom. He says, avaiṣṇava-mukhodgīrṇaṁ pūtaṁ hari-kathāmṛtam, śravaṇaṁ naiva kartavyam. Pūtaṁ hari-kathāmṛtam. Hari-kathā. Kṛṣṇa is speaking Bhagavad-gītā; therefore it is called hari-kathā, kṛṣṇa-kathā. So Sanātana Gosvāmī says, "If it is uttered by avaiṣṇava, who is not a devotee, he is a professional man, so-called scholar and politician, don't hear it. Don't hear it." Avaiṣṇava: "Because he is not a Vaiṣṇava."
Therefore Bhāgavata says, Sūta Goswami says, that this life, human life, or the purpose of the Vedic civilization, they are not meant for kāmasya nendriya-prītir (SB 1.2.10). Kāma, that should be utilized for better purpose, not for sense gratification. The real business is jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā. Life should be engaged simply for tattva-jijñāsā, to understand the Absolute Truth. The whole Vedic literature, Vedic knowledge is meant for understanding the Absolute Truth. Kṛṣṇa says, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyam (BG 15.15). The purpose of studying Veda means to understand Kṛṣṇa. And vedānta-vit. Because people are very much proud, especially Māyāvādī philosophers, they're very much proud of becoming vedāntī. So the Vaiṣṇava philosophers... (aside:) Stop that. ...Everyone is vedāntī. Śrī Rāmānujācārya, he is also vedāntī. Madhvācārya, he is also vedāntī.
And in the Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa also says, "Not by yoga system or by jñāna system or by karma system, but bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (BG 18.55)." This tattvataḥ means the tattva-jñāna. Bhaktyā. And what kind of bhakti? Not that simply I sit I sit down and cry a little, I practice how to cry, sentiment. No. Śruta-gṛhītayā: understanding about the Absolute Truth from Vedic knowledge. That is bhakti.
This is against our Vedic knowledge. Vedic knowledge says, as it is said in the Brahma-sūtra, Vedānta-sūtra, that the original cause of the Absolute Truth is a living entity. It is not matter. Just like Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate (BG 10.8). That aham, Kṛṣṇa, is not a dead matter. He is the living entity, supreme living entity. And we also understand from Upaniṣad, nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). The Absolute Truth is person, a living entity. He is the supreme living entity. Similarly, the original Absolute Truth is Kṛṣṇa.
So I do not wish to take much of your time, and the children are disturbing. It is a very great subject matter. So our this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is this expanding this bhakti cult on the basis of Vedic knowledge. It is not a sentimental thing. These European, American boys and girls who have joined us, they are not going on sentiments. They are being taught actual knowledge, śruti. Bhaktyā śruta-gṛhītayā. And therefore they are being fixed up. So our request is that this temple, Bālajī's temple, is the greatest temple in the world, and Kṛṣṇa's temple. For spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over the world, the temple authorities should fully cooperate in spreading Kṛṣṇa knowledge.
Then the process is called bhakti. Here it is also said, bhaktyā. What kind of bhakti? Bhaktyā śruta-gṛhītayā. Śruta, by hearing śruti, or Vedas. Completely on the basis of Vedic knowledge, that bhakti, not sentimental. Sentimental bhakti is also there, because the acceptance of Kṛṣṇa is there. Therefore there is some value. But real bhakti, Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī has commented that bhakti based on understanding of Vedānta-sūtra is perfect, on the basis of jñāna, knowledge, and vairāgya. That is... And Kṛṣṇa has also said, brahma-sūtra-padaiś caiva hetumadbhir viniścitaiḥ (BG 13.5). Brahma-sūtra means Vedānta-sūtra.
One who does not understand the bhakti philosophy through śruti, through Veda, smṛti... Just like Bhagavad-gītā is smṛti. Śruti-smṛti-purāṇādi (Brs. 1.2.101), and Nārada-pañcarātra. Without reference to these books of knowledge, if one becomes a so-called devotee, that is not accepted by Rūpa Gosvāmī. Here also it is said, bhaktyā śruta-gṛhītayā. Śruta-gṛhītayā, knowledge, full knowledge, through Vedas, bhaktyā, with devotion. Dry Vedic knowledge makes you impersonalist, only a partial realization. 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).
Dvija-śreṣṭhāḥ. In that meeting of Naimiṣāraṇya, there were all best brāhmaṇas, the kṣatriya and the vaiśyas. They are supposed to be twice-born. One birth by the father and mother, and the other birth is by the guru and Vedic knowledge. The guru is the father and Vedic knowledge is the mother. This is in Aryan civilization, this varṇāśrama, varṇa: brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra. Śūdras are once-born. They have no ceremony for twice-born. Or one who is not twice-born, he's a śūdra. If the twice-born ceremony is not observed, is not observed, then it is śūdra. Or act..., practically at the present moment, even in India, these ceremonies are not accepted or they do not care for it. And what to speak of other countries. Therefore the conclusion of the śāstra is kalau śūdra-sambhavaḥ. In this age of Kali, there are only śūdras. Practically there is no brāhmaṇa, no kṣatriya, no vaiśyas. Maybe some vaiśyas. But this is the position.
Therefore Vedic knowledge is called śruti. It has to be acquired by hearing. Śruti. Not by seeing, not by experimental knowledge. That is not possible. Because it is beyond, beyond our sense perception. Acintyāḥ khalu ye bhāvā na tāṁs tarkeṇa yojayet. Don't try to understand by false argument, dry argument, which is beyond your conception, beyond your reach. Simply waste of time. Then how to know? Now, śrotavya. You have to hear. That is the only means. The example I have given several times. Just like if you want to know who is your father, it is to be this śrotavya. From where?
But these foolish people, they do not know. Here is the remedy. They won't consult the perfect knowledge, Vedic knowledge. They won't consult. They will manufacture their own ways. That, this is the... Lokasya ajānataḥ. Because these fools, they do not know, how to get out of the clutches of unwanted things. Therefore vidvān, one who knows, vidvān... Vit means knowledge, and vān means one who possesses. Vidvān. So Vyāsadeva, vidvān, the perfect vidvān, lokasya ajānato vidvāṁś cakre sātvata-saṁhitām (SB 1.7.6). Vidvān, Vyāsadeva, has made this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Take shelter of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and you know perfectly how you can diminish your unwanted things.
Avaiṣṇava. Those who are not following the principles of Vaiṣṇava behavior, professional. There are some professional reciters. That is forbidden. Don't hear from them. Now here it is said, nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā (SB 1.2.18). It is not said saptāhaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā. Nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā. Where this saptāha comes, I do not know. Is Bhāgavata such a thing that by hearing one saptāha he'll understand everything? He cannot understand one word by reading Bhāgavata-saptāha, what to speak of eighteen thousand verses. The whole Vedic knowledge is there. Nigma-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalam idam. What you'll understand? This is profession.
When the personal realization is there, he's called Vaiṣṇava, brāhmaṇa-vaiṣṇava. The brāhmaṇa has got two titles: brāhmaṇa-paṇḍita. Still, in India, a brāhmaṇa is addressed as paṇḍita, however rascal he may be. Because it is expected, when one is born in the brāhmaṇa family, he must be well-learned. These are the six occupational duties of brāhmaṇa: paṭhana-pāṭhana yajana-yājana dāna-pratigraha. A brāhmaṇa must be very learned scholar, studying. All Vedic knowledge is meant for the brāhmaṇas. Satyam, tapasya, satyam, śaucam, tapas, ārjavam, titikṣā, jñānam, vijñānam, āstikyam, brahma-karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.42). These qualifications must be there to become a brāhmaṇa.
Now if we take instruction of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, as it is indicated, every one of us should take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is clearly said, śreyāṁsi tatra khalu sattva-tanoḥ, sattva-tanor nṛṇāṁ syuḥ. Lord Viṣṇu. And Viṣṇu, the original Viṣṇu, is Lord Kṛṣṇa. So if we take to Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa's shelter... Kṛṣṇa also says: sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). So if we take shelter of Kṛṣṇa, according to the injunction of the śāstras and Vedas... Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15). That is stated in Bhagavad-gītā. The purpose of all Vedic Knowledge is to understand Kṛṣṇa, and as soon as we understand Kṛṣṇa, what He is, then tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9), then hariṁ vinā na mṛtiṁ taranti. If we want to stop this repetition of birth, death, old age and disease, then we must take shelter of Lord Viṣṇu. And Kṛṣṇa is the origin of all viṣṇu-tattva. That means we must become Kṛṣṇa conscious. That is our highest benefit of life.
In this way, gradually, evolution, we come to the platform of human life. And the Vedic knowledge is meant for the human beings, not for these other animals. Therefore it is said, dhūmas tasmād agnis trayīmayaḥ. By Vedic injunction, the human society, civilized human society, they require to perform sacrifices, fire sacrifices. Just like we do in all auspicious ceremonies... It is said that through the fire, God eats. We give to the fire the grains and the fruits and other thing. That is, means, God is eating, through fire. So sacrifice means you sacrifice for God, and God is accepting.
In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam the same thing is confirmed, that the brāhmaṇas are the face of the Supreme Lord. Therefore, according to our Vedic civilization, whenever, whenever there is any ceremony, the brāhmaṇas are..., are sumptuously fed. Because brāhmaṇas are considered to be the mouth of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The mouth, the business of mouth is to speak and to eat. So brāhmaṇa's business is to speak Vedic knowledge, distribute Vedic knowledge. Veda-vādī. That is their speaking.
Then he'll be accepted as brāhmaṇa. Otherwise he'll be called brahma-bandhu, dvija-bandhu. Strī-śūdra-dvija-bandhu. Strī, woman, śūdra and dvija-bandhu. Dvija-bandhu means born of a brāhmaṇa father but his actions are like something else. He's called dvija-bandhu. Or born of a kṣatriya father. Dvija means brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, and vaiśya also—those who are born for the second time by initiation. First birth is by the father and the mother, and the second birth is by the spiritual master and Vedic knowledge. Vedic knowledge is the mother, and spiritual master is the father. So when one approaches a bona fide spiritual master, his second birth is there by advancement of spiritual knowledge, and that sacred thread is offered to him. Upanayana. Upa means "near," and nayana means "bringing."
So this sacred thread is the symbol that one has accepted a spiritual master and he knows Vedic knowledge. That is the symbol of sacred thread. Ācāryavān puruṣo veda. One who has accepted a ācārya, it is to be understood that he knows things as they are. That is the symbol of sacred thread. So those who are not mumukṣavaḥ, they are to considered under the influence of ignorance and passion. They are called rajas-tamaḥ-prakṛtayaḥ.
Then by reformatory process... Just like we send our children to school, college, to teachers for reforming, that is reformation. The animals, they are unable to accept this reformatory process. You cannot send a cat or a dog to the school and become educated. That is not possible. All human beings, although they are born śūdra, he can be made a brāhmaṇa by the process. Saṁskāra means by reformatory process, bhaved dvijaḥ. Dvija means second birth. Second birth means by reformatory process, when he is eligible, then he is initiated by the spiritual master. That is second birth. Then initiation means he is allowed to study Vedic literature to achieve real knowledge. Because real knowledge means Vedic knowledge, and any knowledge which is not corroborated with the Vedic version, that is not knowledge; that is imperfect knowledge.
Vedic knowledge is therefore not seen; it is heard. Therefore it is called śruti. Just like actually we do not understand what is the position of different planets by seeing. But when you hear from authorities, from astrologists, from astronomers, then you can understand, "The sun is so great, bigger." That means hearing is perfect knowledge, not seeing. Therefore Vedic knowledge is received through the ear. To hear from the authorized persons, that is knowledge.
So Nārada Muni compiled these śāstras, tantra. Tantra means expansion. Just like there is notebook. Just like Vedānta-sūtra, the lessons are given in codes. Just like the businessmen, they send code. One word composed of four letters, it has got so many meanings. So those who are using those codes, they can understand, "By this code, this sentence or this paragraph is meant." Similarly, the Vedānta-sūtra is giving Vedic knowledge in codes-athāto brahma jijñāsā, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12)—in this way. This janmādy asya yataḥ code is explained by the whole Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, eighteen thousand verses to explain this one code. Similarly, the Vedic knowledge is expanded, or also contracted. So tantra is expansion, because ordinary men cannot understand Vedic knowledge. Just like Mahābhārata, it is in the form of history, but in it is Vedic instruction. Similarly, in this Nārada-pañcarātra made by Devarṣi Nārada, it is also Vedic.
Just like we are writing these books, English translations, giving purports. This is also Vedic, because our basis is on the Vedic knowledge. We don't take so-called scientists' knowledge or philosophers' knowledge. We derive it from the Vedas. Therefore tantra means which expands the Vedic knowledge.
- ṣaṭ-karma-nipuṇo vipro
- mantra-tantra-viśāradaḥ
- avaiṣṇavo gurur na syād
- vaiṣṇavaḥ śva-paco guruḥ
It is said in the Nārada-pañcarātra that a person who is not a Vaiṣṇava, he cannot become a guru. "A person born or qualified brāhmaṇa and knows all the mantras and tantras, but if he is an impersonalist, then he cannot become guru," avaiṣṇavo gurur na syāt, "whereas a person born in a low family, but he is a great devotee, he shall be accepted as a devotee, he shall be accepted as a guru." Tantra means Vedic knowledge expanded.
So sāṅkhya philosophy is always there. Kāla-viplutam. In due course of time, everything becomes invisible or unknown. Just like Bhagavad-gītā. Bhagavad-gītā was spoken long, long ago, before speaking to Arjuna. Imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam (BG 4.1). Therefore, all Vedic knowledge, they are not research knowledge. They are existing always, since the time of creation. These so-called scientists, they are simply wasting their time by so-called research work. There is nothing to be researched. Everything is there. Every knowledge is there. How to make your life perfect, that is also there, but they will not consult this knowledge. They will try to make a research and waste time and waste money, public money, and pass on as great scientist, philosopher, leaders, politician, and mislead people, without any factual knowledge. Now they are thinking, at the present moment, the scientists, that things are diminishing. Actually, they'll diminish. It is already stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. It will so diminish that there will be no more wheat, no more rice, no more food grains, no more fruits, and no more milk, no more sugar. It will be finished. Simply you have to eat stones and seeds and flesh. You'll have to. And the politicians will go on exploiting.
So we are not so fool that... Why we shall make research? Everything is there. So we are confident. We know what is going to happen. It is not astrology. It is... Everything is there in the Vedic knowledge. Veda means knowledge, full knowledge. You take advantage of it and become learned.
Now we have to accept knowledge from Vedas, Vedic knowledge, not this rascal's knowledge. Rascal knowledge is that "Yes," as soon as he comes to the imperfect point, "yes, we are trying." You are trying. What is this trying? Trying means that your knowledge is imperfect. And another rascal will come, he will say, "Now here is the perfect." And ten years after, another rascal will come," No, this is not perfect. This is perfect." This is going on. This is called scientific advancement. This is... Advancement means... But we don't change our Vedic knowledge. We do not say, "Now, Kṛṣṇa, five thousand years ago, said like this. Now we are advanced. We change this line." Of course, others are doing. In the scriptures... Just like the Christians, they are changing the words. But you cannot do that. Then where is the authority? If you change the word of the scripture, then where is the authority of the scripture? Just like in lawbooks, there is some law made already. Whimsically you cannot, I mean to say, erase the words and put something that "It should be changed like this." That will not be accepted. Law, if there is change... Actually, there is no change. There cannot be change. Real law means there is no change. Just like day and night, it is coming. The fortnight, the dark period and the light period, it is coming for millions and millions and time immemorial. The same law is going, going on. You cannot change. So as soon as you change, that means it is imperfect. You change.
So that means... That is the shastric injunction, that anyone who is not a Viṣṇu devotee, or Vaiṣṇava, he cannot become guru. That is the injunction of the śāstra. Ṣaṭ-karma-nipuṇo vipro mantra-tantra-viśāradaḥ. A brāhmaṇa, very learned, he knows his duties, brahminical duties very well... Just like Śukrācārya. Ṣaṭ-karma-nipuṇaḥ. Ṣaṭ-karma-nipuṇaḥ. Brāhmaṇa have got six kinds of occupation: paṭhana-pāṭhana yajana-yājana dāna-pratigraha. Brāhmaṇa should be very learned, he should teach others also Vedic knowledge, paṭhana-pāṭhana. Yajana-yājana. He must be devotee or great worshiper, and he should teach others also how to worship. Yajana-yājana. Dāna-pratigraha. He will accept charity from others, and he will give in charity again to others. These are the six occupation of a brāhmaṇa. So śāstra says, ṣaṭ-karma-nipuṇo vipraḥ, "A brāhmaṇa, well conversed with these duties of brahminical duties," and mantra-tantra-viśāradaḥ, "and expert in studying the mantras, Vedic mantras, and tantra, other Vedic literature," avaiṣṇavo gurur na sa syāt, "but if he is avaiṣṇava," means he does not worship Lord Viṣṇu but other demigods, "then he cannot become guru." That is not allowed. You cannot become guru. Ṣaṭ-karma-nipuṇo vipro mantra...
So Satyavatī happened to be a daughter of a fisherwoman, and, but she was very qualified, beautiful. So before her marriage, Vyāsadeva was born out of her womb. It is not that..., that before marriage girls were not giving birth to child. It was there, the society. But the society was so elevated that this was not done commonly. In extraordinary cases. So Satyavatī gave birth to Vyāsadeva, such a son, Vyāsadeva, incarnation of God. Vyāsadeva is not ordinary being. An incarnation of Nārāyaṇa. And he was meant for expanding Vedic knowledge. Then again, Vyāsadeva was born, but nobody could understand. She remained a virgin girl by the blessings of Parāśara Muni. Then she was again attractive to Mahārāja Śantanu.
So this was the society principle, how to keep principle. Brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya. A very exalted status of society. So this Satyavatī is a famous woman in the history. Satyavatī. The whole Pāṇḍu-vaṁśa from Satyavatī. So now, here it is said that tataḥ saptadaśe jātaḥ satyavatyāṁ parāśarāt. Parāśarāt, semina given by Parāśara Muni in the womb of Satyavatī, satyavatyām. And cakre veda-taroḥ śākhāḥ. Veda, the knowledge, he divided. Vyāsadeva divided into many branches. Therefore Vyāsadeva is known as Veda-vyāsa. He expanded the Vedic knowledge. Formerly there was only one Veda, Atharva-veda. And this Atharva-veda was learned by tradition, by hearing from the spiritual master. There was no book. Therefore Veda is known as śruti.
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?
But he was not satisfied even after his presentation of the Vedānta-sūtra. He summarized all the Vedic knowledge in sūtra—Sūtra means codes—so people may take advantage. Just like there are business codes, Bentley's codes, Henry's codes. So one or two words will give impression of volumes of knowledge. Businessmen, they need it to save the expenditure on wiring, on telegraphing. Just like CIF. "Accept your offering. CIF." CIF means "cost including freight." That means goods will be delivered at your door. So similarly, there are many codes in business matter. In military arts there are so many codes. So Vedānta-sūtra means codes of all Vedic knowledge. Sūtra. Sūtra means codes.
So sage Nārada is trying to enliven Vyāsadeva. Vyāsadeva was learned. Not ordinarily learned. He is the incarnation of God, Nārāyaṇa. He appeared for spreading Vedic knowledge. Therefore Nāradajī, it is stated here, smayann iva. Smayann iva means, smayan means smiling, that "Such a great personality also becomes morose." After giving so many contribution, literary contribution, still he was not happy. So it is wonderful... So therefore he was smiling. Smayann iva. Devarṣiḥ prāha viprarṣiṁ vīṇā-pāṇiḥ smayann iva.
Similarly, dvija means first birth is from the father-mother, and the next birth is accepting a spiritual master. The next birth is... Father is the spiritual master, and the Vedas are the mother. So those who accept the spiritual master as father and the Vedic knowledge as mother, they are called dvija, twice-born. Twice-born. That means cultured. Cultured family. So those who are born in cultured family, but... A son is born in a cultured family, but his cultural knowledge is very poor, he is called dvija-bandhu. So woman class, laborer class, and those who are born in higher family, but intelligence is very poor, they are called dvija-bandhu. And for these classes of men the Mahābhārata was compiled. That means Vedic knowledge explained in simple historical facts.
So here Nārada Muni advises that "You have explained..." Dharmādayaś ca artha. "In different literature you have divided the whole Vedas in understandable language, Purāṇas." Purāṇas means supplementary to the Vedas, to explain the Vedic knowledge according to the quality. Every human being is under some quality of the material nature. Some of them are in darkness, or ignorance. Some of them are in passion. And some of them are mixed ignorance and passion. And some of them are in light, or goodness. Not all in the same level. There are different classes of men. Just like in our Hayagrīva's library we find so many philosophical books. But if you go to ordinary man you'll find some nonsensical literature, fiction, and sex psychology, this, that.
So ordinary literature, they're full with all this, I mean to say, grāmya-kathā. The man and woman's behavior, that is good literature. There is a hero; there is a heroine. So those who are saintly persons, they do not take interest. So Nārada was advising Vyāsadeva that "You have written this Mahābhārata. That's all right. It is a great epic, history. But the, mostly... History means the ordinary dealings of the worldly men. So what benefit there is? That is nothing. No saintly person will take interest." Actually, this Mahābhārata was written by this, by Vyāsadeva for giving instruction, Vedic instruction to the less intelligent class of men. He has given introduction, strī-śūdra-dvija-bandhūnāṁ trayī na śruti-gocarā: (SB 1.4.25) "The Vedic knowledge is difficult to be understood by these classes of men and women: strī-śūdra-śūdra class, woman class, strī, śūdra—and dvija-bandhu." And dvija-bandhu means born in high family, brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, but their behavior is different, like śūdras. They cannot understand Vedas. Therefore there is restriction, that "The śūdras cannot read Vedas." They are restricted.
So Nārada says that "Even great philosophers who are trying to elevate themselves in the self-realization platform, if that sort of philosophy is acyuta-bhāva-varjitam, without Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that does not look well. That is not first-class philosophy." Philosophy should be to search out Kṛṣṇa. That is philosophy. As it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15). What is the Vedic knowledge searching after? Kṛṣṇa says, "Searching Me." Aham. Aham eva vedyaḥ: "I am the ultimate goal to understand." In another place Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate: (BG 7.19) "Those who are actually philosophers, actually wise and attained wisdom, and after many, many births: research work..." Research work is very good. But the end of research work is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore after many, many births, if one is actually wise and attained wisdom, then he finds Kṛṣṇa. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti: (BG 7.19) "He finds that Vāsudeva, Kṛṣṇa, is everything."
So Vyāsadeva is liberated person. Amogha-dṛk. He's amogha-dṛk. Bhavān amogha-dṛk śuci-śravāḥ: "And your behavior is pure." Śuci-śravāḥ: "You have heard the Vedic knowledge from right sources, from pure sources." Śuci-śravāḥ satya-rataḥ. Satya-rataḥ means "You are dedicated to the Absolute Truth." These are the qualification. One must be liberated, one must be pure, one must be dedicated to the service of the Lord, and dhṛta-vrataḥ, and one must be determined. Then he can do something to the human society. Not a conditioned soul, by whims he can manufacture something, that "I can do something to the human..." It is not possible.
But this process, if you take anu... Anuvarṇaye. If you take the process of... Just like the same example, as I told you, that there are 900,000's species of life in the water. Now, if you make research, it is impossible for you, whether actually... If you want to, want to know by experimental knowledge, "Let me see how far this Vedic instruction is right, that there are 900,000 thousand species of...," you, you...whatever experience you have got, it is not even one thousand species of life you have seen. But there are 900,000 species of life. But if you accept this Vedic knowledge, then your knowledge is there immediately.
So we are discussing Nārada Muni's instruction to Vyāsadeva to make him correct. Vyāsadeva, such a scholar, Vedavyāsa... He is known as the topmost scholar in Vedic knowledge. Not only that, he has compiled so many books, literary achievement. There is no comparison in the world. But still, he is not satisfied, and Nārada Muni is instructing him that "You should write exclusively on the activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, hearing which, there will be actual peace and prosperity all over the world." This is the secret. Without God consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there cannot be any peace in the world.
But we do not depend on the theories. We depend on the Vedic conclusion. We do not require to make any research. Just like ordinarily we say there are 900,000 forms of body in the water. We get it from Vedic knowledge. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi. Now, the biologists, let them confirm it. Or deny it. Because... They cannot confirm it because their knowledge is experimental. Unless they find it actually, by actual experience, that there are so many living forms within the water, they cannot say yes. Neither they are able to find it out. Is it not the position? First of all, if we say to the biologists that "There are 900,000 different forms of life or species within the water," they will say, "How it is you are affirming in, so positively, without experiment, without research?" They'll say. Then we'll ask, "Then you say." That they cannot say. This is their position. They'll say, "In future..." Future, there is no question. You do not know now. Admit this. So this is their position. Therefore this experimental knowledge is always imperfect. Always imperfect. It cannot be perfect. Because our experience, our power of perception, advancement of knowledge, they are imperfect. They are deficiency.
Five years. After five years hard work and placing the theses among the learned scholars, they admitted, "Yes, it is very nice research work." Now they have offered him a Ph.D. So it is tapasya. Tapasya. Without tapasya, you cannot get any credit. That is not possible. If one wants to get credit immediately, without tapasya, that is bogus. Therefore it is said, tapasaḥ, and śrutasya. Śrutasya means hearing from the authorities. By attending lectures of the professors, of the scientific scholars, hearing. Or Vedic knowledge.
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.
One who is under the material energy, they are entangled with these three guṇas: sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. The lowest is the tamo-guṇa, and via media is the rajo-guṇa, and the topmost, goodness, is sattva-guṇa. So even in sattva-guṇa, that is also entanglement. Rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa is certainly entanglement, but even rajo-guṇa, even one is situated in the sattva-guṇa... Sattva-guṇa means perfect brāhmaṇa. Satyaṁ śamo damas titikṣā ārjavam, jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ brahma-karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.42). Even if you become a perfect brāhmaṇa, brāhmaṇa, with qualities, still, it is bondage. In bondage because, in this way, that even if you become a brāhmaṇa you'll think yourself, "Now I have got so much knowledge, Vedic knowledge. I speak truth, satya. I can control my senses. Satyaṁ śamo damaḥ. I can control my mind. I have got knowledge. I can tolerate." So all these qualities, one becomes bound up. But Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu teaches, nāhaṁ vipro na ca nara-patiḥ, that "Even... I am not even a brāhmaṇa. I am not a kṣatriya. I am not a vaiśya. I am not a śūdra." He says. This is called sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam (CC Madhya 19.170). Even if you become a brāhmaṇa, still, that is upādhi, designation.
He does not know. Ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā. Those who are carried by the material egotism, they cannot understand. They are thinking that by material adjustment everything will be done nicely. No. That is not possible. Therefore lokasya ajānata. These foolish persons, they do not know it. Therefore vidvān. Vidvān. Vyāsadeva is the most vidvān. He is giving vid. Vetti veda vida jñāne. Vid means knowledge. Vān means one possessing. Vidvān. That is Vyāsadeva. He knows actual knowledge. So lokasyājānato vidvāṁś cakre sātvata-saṁhitām (SB 1.7.6). Saṁhitām means Vedic knowledge, and sātvata means eternal or for the devotees.
This Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is sātvata-saṁhitām, spiritual knowledge. It has nothing to do with anything material. Simply spiritual knowledge. So vidvān. Vidvān means the most learned, Vyāsadeva, not ordinary. Śrīmad-bhāgavate mahā-muni-kṛte. He is mahā-muni. Muni means thoughtful philosopher, and he is mahā-muni. He is greater than any thoughtful philosopher, Vyāsadeva, Veda-vyāsa. His name is Veda-vyāsa. Veda-vyāsa means he compiled all this Vedic literature. And, at last, he summarized the whole Vedic knowledge into Vedānta-sūtra, Vedānta-sūtra, a small aphorism: janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), athāto brahma jijñāsā, ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt... (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). In short aphorism. And it has got very deep meaning. That is Vedānta-sūtra.
One has to become perfect before he writes some books. Just like nowadays especially in the western countries they write any rascal ideas under the name of philosophy or science, "Perhaps," "It may be." That is not the system in the Vedic civilization. Vedic civilization, people, those who are advanced in Vedic knowledge, they'll write. Vedic knowledge is called śruti, and if you write following the principles of śruti, then it is smṛti.
So here also, Vyāsadeva, bhakti-yogena manasi samyak praṇihite amale (SB 1.7.4), when the mind was completely cleansed, then he saw. What he saw? Apaśyat. Apaśyat means "he visioned, he saw," puruṣaṁ pūrṇam, "the complete Supreme Personality of Godhead." And māyā. He saw also māyā, māyāṁ ca tad-apāśrayam, māyā on the back side, back side. So in this way he made his life first of all perfect, then he wrote this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam after becoming perfect. Therefore you will find in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, each word is transcendental. Each word is full of meaning and transcendental knowledge because the writer, the composer of this transcendental book, is Vyāsadeva. He is perfect, Vedavyāsa, perfect in Vedic knowledge.
So there are māyās of different kind. Kṛṣṇa's māyā... Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva... Māyā means potency. So from the Vedic knowledge we can understand that Kṛṣṇa has many types of potencies, parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate svābhāv... (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). because He has to execute so many affairs, this material world, spiritual world, and just imagine so big universe. There are innumerable universes, and each and every universe there are so many planets, so many different kinds of living entities, and He has to manage everything. Therefore He is called Parameśvara.
So in order to educate people to this understanding... That is the basic principle of all Vedic knowledge, that "I am not this body. I am spirit soul, and I must find out the ultimate goal of the spiritual body or the spirit soul." So some of the transcendentalists, they think that if the spirit soul is merged into the Supreme Soul—that is called brahma-lina(?), to become one with Brahman—that is the solution of this anartha. Anartha means this body. And some of them, they think that with our spiritual body, spiritual vision, if we can observe continuously the Supreme Spirit, Paramātmā, then that is the solution of anartha. That is the yogi. Jñānī, yogi. And the karmīs, those who have no knowledge, ajānataḥ, fools, rascals... Ajānataḥ means one who does not know. That is the karmīs. Karmīs, they think that "If I can satisfy the senses of this body, that is perfection of life." So there are three kinds of philosophers to make the solution of this unwanted material body, anartha. But actual solution is to remain in your spiritual body and meet the Supreme Personality of Godhead face to face and live with Him in eternal, blissful life of knowledge. That is Vaiṣṇava philosophy.
So that intelligence is there. Here it is said, lokasya ajānataḥ. The rascals, the fools, ajānataḥ, foolish... Ajānataḥ is another meaning of foolish. Ajānataḥ, ajñāna, without any knowledge how we can stop this perpetual... Not perpetual, but at least for the time being, why we are subjected to these anartha? This is the enquiry. This is called brahma-jijñāsā. But they do not know it. Ask anybody of this material world that "What is the cause of your suffering?" They cannot explain; they do not know it. Therefore it is particularly mentioned, ajānataḥ: "They do not know how to mitigate this suffering." Therefore vidvān. Vidvān, one who has got full knowledge, Vyāsadeva, he has made this sātvata-saṁhitām. Saṁhitā means Vedic knowledge, and sātvata means pure, completely pure, or for the Vaiṣṇavas or the perfect spiritualists. Lokasya ajānataḥ vidvāṁś cakre sātvata-saṁhitām (SB 1.7.6).
Keśava dhṛta-buddha-śarīra. Keśava, Kṛṣṇa has come, taking the form of Lord Buddha. We Vaiṣṇava, we worship Lord Buddha as the incarnation of Keśava, Kṛṣṇa, but we don't accept his philosophy. So there is a great history. We have mentioned many times. So these Buddhists, they say that "We do not recognize your Vedas." So veda nā māniyā bauddha haya ta' nāstika. Therefore we call them agnostic. They do not... Because why we do not accept them authority? Because if you do not accept the authority of the Vedas, then you become godless immediately. Because Kṛṣṇa said vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15). If you do not understand Vedic knowledge, if you do not understand Vedānta, if you do not understand Upaniṣad—without understanding this Vedic knowledge, understanding of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is vague.
Yasyāṁ vai śrūyamāṇāyām. The Sātvata-saṁhitā, we have already discussed yesterday morning. Vidvāṁś cakre sātvata-saṁhitām (SB 1.7.6). This is Vaiṣṇava. Vidvān. Vaiṣṇava is always vidvān. Vid means knowledge and vān means one who has knowledge. That is called vidvān. Vidvān. So Vyāsadeva, he's known as Veda-vyāsa. He's the giver of Vedic knowledge. Vedic knowledge is not given by him. The Vedic knowledge is given by Kṛṣṇa Himself. Tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye (SB 1.1.1). Kṛṣṇa, Vāsudeva, oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, He gave the knowledge to Lord Brahmā. Tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye. Ādi-kavi, the original learned person. Just like this modern nonsense theory that there was in the beginning no life. But that is nonsense. In the beginning there was Brahmā, the most learned person.
So this theory, modern scientists, that there was no human being or there was no man, they are all rascal speculation. It has no value. Here we get the knowledge, that originally the Vedic knowledge was given to Lord Brahmā, and from Lord Brahmā, Nārada received the knowledge, and from Nārada Vyāsadeva received the knowledge. And from Vyāsadeva, by paramparā disciplic succession, we have received this knowledge. The knowledge is the same. There is no alteration. Because it is coming through the paramparā system there is no breakage. Just like from a very top height, if you give something, but if it is given hand to hand it does not break. But if you drop anything from very high place it will be spoiled. Therefore it comes through the paramparā. Take for example one fruit, ripened fruit. This Bhāgavatam is accepted as the ripened fruit of the Vedic desire tree. Nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalam idam (SB 1.1.3). It is the ripened fruit of all Vedic knowledge. Because Vedic knowledge means to understand God. That is Vedic knowledge. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15). That is Vedic knowledge. To understand the Supreme Lord, the original person. That is the end of Vedic knowledge. So that Vedic knowledge is presented in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and therefore in the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Vyāsadeva offers his respectful obeisances, oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Vāsudeva is the origin. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ (BG 7.19).
So Vyāsadeva, he is giving us this knowledge. Vidvān lokasyājānataḥ. The whole population, the total number of the living entities—either he is Brahmā or a small—proportionately, they are all in ignorance. Otherwise why Brahmā required Vedic knowledge? It is said, tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye (SB 1.1.1). Ādi-kavaye, Brahmā, he is svayambhū. He's so great that he's directly born from Nārāyaṇa, svayambhū, not through any material mother. Just imagine how he is great. And Brahmā is great, everyone knows. So he had to take knowledge also. Otherwise, why it is said tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye? Even though he's the most learned, ādi-kavaye, he had to take knowledge. So you can say "He is the first creature, there was nobody there. How he took knowledge? Who gave him knowledge?" The answer is there in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that Vāsudeva gave him. "Where is Vāsudeva? There was nothing." No. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). Vāsudeva means who stays everywhere. Vasati sarvatra. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ (BG 7.19). So Vāsudeva is there. So Brahmā was, although there was nobody else except Brahmā, he was in the darkness. Still, Vāsudeva was there. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna (BG 18.61). So He gave the knowledge. Tene brahma. Brahma means Vedic knowledge.
"Where is Vāsudeva? There was nothing." No. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). Vāsudeva means who stays everywhere. Vasati sarvatra. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ (BG 7.19). So Vāsudeva is there. So Brahmā was, although there was nobody else except Brahmā, he was in the darkness. Still, Vāsudeva was there. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna (BG 18.61). So He gave the knowledge. Tene brahma. Brahma means Vedic knowledge.
Therefore here it is said, yasyāṁ vai śrūyamāṇāyām. Yasyāṁ vai śrūyamāṇāyāṁ kṛṣṇe parama-pūruṣe (SB 1.7.7). The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, sātvata-saṁhitām, given by Vyāsadeva... Not given by Vyāsadeva. Vyāsadeva is simply delivering what he has received from his guru, caitya-guru. He is delivering that knowledge. Vedic knowledge he is delivering, and he has written this book. Lokasyājānataḥ. People are all rascals.
Similarly kṛṣṇa-bhakti is there. If we carefully study, yasyāṁ vai śrūyamāṇāyām... Study means you can say that it requires education. No. It doesn't matter. śrūyamāṇāyām. Kṛṣṇa has given you the ears. Therefore Vedic knowledge is called śruti. You go to a proper person, guru, and hear from him. Therefore this word is used: śrūyamāṇāyām. If you hear from the right person, then kṛṣṇe parama-pūruṣe bhaktir utpadyate. Then you develop your Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And if you say, "What is the use of bhakti? Let me enjoy." No. It is required, if you are serious. What is that required?
Enemy who sets fire to the house, administers poison, attacks all of a sudden with deadly weapon, plunders wealth, or usurps agricultural field, or entices one's wife is called an aggressor. Everything... This is Vedic knowledge. Everything has got definition.
That is also stated. Jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam, śābde pare ca niṣṇātam. One who is fully aware of the transcendental science or words, śabda, śabda-brahma. Śabda-brahma means Vedic literature. One is completely in awareness of Vedic knowledge. Śābde pare ca niṣṇātam. Niṣṇātam means one has taken a dip in the ocean of this Vedic literature. Niṣṇātam. And what is the result? Śābde pare ca niṣṇātaṁ brahmaṇy upaśamāśrayam. The Supreme Brahman... Brahman, Paramātmā, Bhagavān. Brahmaṇi, either of them. But Bhagavān is the best. Or, if you cannot approach Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Brahman is also. Because if one is in Brahman, he has a chance to make further progress.
So counteraction. This is military science. Sāma Veda, Yajur Veda, Atharva Veda. And military science also, one of the part of the Vedas, Dhanur Veda. It is called Dhanur Veda—how to utilize dhanuḥ. Dhanuḥ means bow and arrows. Similarly Āyur Veda. Āyur Veda means medical science, how to protect the āyuḥ. Because the body is perishable, so in the Vedic knowledge, everything is there to guide the human society. It is stated in the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalam idam (SB 1.1.3). Nigama means Veda, and that is kalpa-taru. Nigama kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalam idam. It is compared with the tree. What kind of tree? Desire tree. Nigama-kalpa-taroḥ. Kalpa-taru. The kalpa-taru can be found in the spiritual world, not in this material world.
But these things are there in the Vedas. If you are a serious student of Veda you can also learn, you can also fight like Arjuna. There is no difficulty. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says astra-jñaḥ. Unnaddham astra-jñaḥ. You can also become learned in the higher science of military art. You can also utilize. But that requires brain, good brain. That is not possible now, because the culture is lost. Now everyone is śūdra. Nobody is kṣatriya, nobody is brāhmaṇa. By the time... Kalau śūdra sambhava. The śūdras cannot learn all these veda. Because śūdras have no right to understand Vedic knowledge.
So, so long we possess all these things... That is explained here, janma, aiśvarya, śruta, śrī. These are good material possessions: to born in high family, aristocratic family, or brāhmaṇa family, kṣatriya family. These were considered high parentage, heritage. Nowadays, everyone is śūdra. That is another thing. Nobody can be proud of his birth. So janma and aiśvarya. If we possess land, home and children, wife, bank balance, that is called aiśvarya. Janmaiśvarya-śruta. And education. "I am philosopher. I am scientist. I am this, poet." So education. That is called śruta. Śruta. Especially Vedic knowledge, śruti. So janmaiśvarya-śruta-śrībhiḥ. And śrī, beauty. So unless one is very happy or born in good family, unless one..., he cannot have bodily beauty. Janmaiśvarya-śruta-śrībhir edhamāna, edhamāna-madaḥ (SB 1.8.26). The more we possess these things, then we become intoxicated. It is already illusion. Gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittaiḥ (SB 5.5.8). So that illusion becomes more and more stronger. And that is called madaḥ.
So Brahmā is the original creature. Therefore he has got contact with the original source. He has got the original source. How he receives knowledge? Because we have got understanding that we get knowledge from another person when we are face to face. But Brahmā was alone. How he got the knowledge? That is explained in the Bhāgavatam: tene brahma hṛdā. Hṛdā means through the heart. Because the Supreme Person, Paramātmā, is also within the heart. So although Brahmā was alone, he was getting the knowledge, dictation from the Supreme. Tene brahma. Brahma means knowledge. Brahma means Veda. The Vedic knowledge was given to him first. Tene brahma hṛdā.
So Brahmā is getting knowledge from Kṛṣṇa and Brahmā is distributing Vedic knowledge. Therefore he's authority. We, we belong to the Brahma-sampradāya. Our, this Caitanya Mahāprabhu's sampradāya... There are four sampradāyas. One from Brahmā, one from Śrī, Lakṣmī, one from Śambhu, Lord Śiva, and one from Kumāra. Kumāraḥ kapilo manuḥ. So there are four Vaiṣṇava sampradāyas. So we have to approach the authoritative representative of Brahmā, Kṛṣṇa. Then we can get the real knowledge.
So this is the Supreme Personality's omnipotency. He does not require the help of another woman to beget child. Even Brahmā, he has given birth to so many children not through woman but from his different parts of the body. So this we cannot conceive, because we are materially impeded. We cannot understand this is possible. So possibility and impossibility does not depend on our understanding. We have to take knowledge from the authority. Here, in the Vedic literature, we understand that Brahmā was born directly from the father. So we have to accept it. That is called Vedic knowledge. You cannot argue. That is possible. That is omnipotency. All potencies are there.
Here in this material world everyone is in ignorance—everyone, even Brahmā. Brahmā, he was ignorant, but he was given knowledge by Kṛṣṇa. Tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye (SB 1.1.1). Ādi-kavi means Brahmā. So the Vedic knowledge, tene brahma... Brahma means this Vedic knowledge, śabda-brahman. So there was one creature, Brahmā only, but he was educated. How he was educated? Hṛdā. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). Because, at that time, there was no other way but to transfer the knowledge from within. Buddhi-yogaṁ dadāmi taṁ yena mām upayānti te. That is caitya-guru, Kṛṣṇa, Paramātmā. So Brahmā was also educated. That means beginning from Brahmā down to the small insect, they are all in ignorance, all fools and rascals. That is the constitutional position. Nobody should be proud of his knowledge. Everyone is a rascal, everyone. Here it is said, kliśyamānānām avidyā-kāma-karmabhiḥ. So Brahmā is desiring that "If I can get the opportunity, the post of Brahmā, and I can create a big universe..." He was also thinking like that. And the small insects, it is also thinking like that—"If I can create a small hole within the room, then I can live very peacefully and eat." The same propensity. As Brahmā is thinking to create an universe, you are thinking to create an skyscraper building, the ant is thinking to create a hole within the room—the quality of the work is the same.
He was not such a fool because that is the only business. That is the only business, how one should develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the verdict of all Vedic śāstras. What is the meaning of Vedic..., studying Vedas? Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15). That is the only necessity. To become educated, learned scholar and learned in Vedas, catur-vedi, tri-vedi, dvi-vedi, four-vedi... The brāhmaṇas were divided according to education. Ordinarily they must study, vedi, Vedas. Veda-pāṭhād bhaved vipraḥ. Without Vedic knowledge, nobody can become a brāhmaṇa. Veda-pāṭhād bhaved vipro brahma jānātīti brāhmaṇaḥ. And by Vedic knowledge, when one understands Brahman, the Absolute Truth, he becomes brāhmaṇa.
So the next question will be, "Then whom shall I select, guru?" Now, śābde pare ca niṣṇātam. A guru means one who is fully conversant in Vedic knowledge. Śābde pare. Śabda-brahman. Veda is known as śabda-brahman. In the material world all these books are material sound vibration, but Vedic knowledge is transcendental sound vibration. Hare Kṛṣṇa is transcendental sound vibration. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, golokera prema-dhana, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana. This hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana is not a cinema song. No. It is golokera prema-dhana. This sound is coming... Just like we catch sound in the radios and television, similarly, you can catch sound also which is transmitted from Goloka Vṛndāvana. But you must have the particular machine to catch it. Then you can get message from Goloka Vṛndāvana.
Therefore, yesterday we were explaining the ten kinds of offenses. Out of ten kinds of offenses, the serious offense is guror avajñā, disobedience of the order of guru. This is the verdict of the śāstra. Kṛṣṇa is helping us in so many ways. He comes personally to help us, to deliver us from these clutches of māyā, and He advises, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). And when He's not physically present, He keeps Bhagavad-gītā left by Him so that others may read and take advantage of this sublime instruction of Kṛṣṇa. So He is helping us from within—buddhi-yogaṁ dadāmi tam—from within. Tene brahma hṛdā. These statements are there in the śāstras. "He expounded the Vedic knowledge," hṛdā, "from the heart,"—brahma means Vedic knowledge, śabda-brahman—"to Brahmā." Because at that time there was nobody to instruct him. So how he got the instruction of Vedas? Because Kṛṣṇa instructed. Kṛṣṇa hoite catur-mukha, hoy kṛṣṇa-sevonmukha. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has sung. Catur-mukha means Brahmā. So being instructed by Kṛṣṇa, Brahmā became inclined to serve Kṛṣṇa. Therefore he has written Brahma-saṁhitā. Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi **. He understands, "Here is ādi-puruṣa. I am the only creature now within the universe, so I am getting instruction from Kṛṣṇa, hṛdā, from my heart."
So it is kalpa-taru, nigama-kalpa-taru; the Vedic knowledge is just like kalpa-taru. Kalpa-taru means desire tree. Anything you want from that tree... Just like here in this material world we can get mangoes from the mango tree, pineapple from the pineapple tree. If we ask the pineapple tree, "Give me mango," that is not possible. But in the spiritual world there are trees. That is described in the Brahma-saṁhitā. Cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam (Bs. 5.29). That is kalpa-vṛkṣa. You can get from any tree whatever you like. That is spiritual. So nigama-kalpa-taru. The kalpa-taru, the Vedas. The very word, referred, kalpa-taru, means it is not material. It is coming from the spiritual world, Veda. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo vedānta-kṛd vedānta-vid ca aham.
So Veda is coming from the spiritual world. Therefore you cannot find any history of the beginning of Vedas, because it is beyond the story of creation. Therefore Vedic knowledge is perfect. Any knowledge within this material world, that is defective, with four kinds of defects: mistake, illusion, imperfectness and cheating. But Vedic knowledge is not like that. Vedic knowledge is perfect. Therefore, amongst the learned society, if you give evidence from the Vedas, it is accepted. Immediately accepted. Just like in the law court, if you give reference from the lawbooks section, it is accepted. Similarly, Vedic knowledge is so perfect that if you refer to some verse in the Vedas, in the Upaniṣads... Just like raso vai saḥ. "Saḥ, that Kṛṣṇa, is reservoir of all pleasure." Raso vai saḥ. So yato vā imāni bhūtāni jāyante. These things are... There are so many statements.
So he eradicated his ideas. He was thinking that he was wrong. So when everything was clearly explained by Bhīṣmadeva, vijñāna-vidhūta-vibhramaḥ, scientifically. Sentiment... In the śāstras there is no question of sentiment. In the Vedic knowledge, everything is vijñāna-vidhūta-vibhramaḥ. Education means to purify the knowledge, because we are all born animals. Abodha-jāta. Abodha. Abodha means one who has no knowledge. The animals, children, they have no knowledge. Just like we see the behavior of small children and household cats and dogs, their behavior is almost the same, no distinction. Because in that stage everyone is abodha-jāta, born fools and rascals. But the animals, there is no chance of educating them. Whereas human children, there is chance of educating them. Therefore, in the human society, there are educational institution. Children are sent there for education, and they become learned scholars later on. And if they are fortunate, by good education, they become vijñāna-vidhūta-vibhramaḥ. Vijñāna-vidhūta-vibhramaḥ. By instruction of high personalities, mahājana... Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186). Bhīṣma is also one of the mahājanas, a great authority.
Just try to understand the ideal government during Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira's time. Not only Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, all the kings. Rājarṣayaḥ. Imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ. They were all great ṛṣis, although they were kṣatriyas. Brāhmaṇa and kṣatriya, they used to guide the general people. The high caste means who would guide the people nicely. The brāhmaṇa by their Vedic knowledge, perfect knowledge, paṭhana-pāṭhana yajana-yājana dāna-pratigraha. By high learning, they would... They were not interested for capturing the government. No. They had no time. But there was consulting body. Even Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja's time, there was consulting body, all the kings. The brāhmaṇas and the ṛṣis, they would form a consulting body and give advice to the king: "My dear king, do like this.' And they will abide. Just like head. Head. Head gives the instruction to the arms.
So there are so many things in the Mahābhārata, in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. You can learn social, political, economical, philosophical, religious, anything. Veda, veda means knowledge. So these are Vedic literatures. Pañcama-veda. Mahābhārata is pañcama-veda. And Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the essence of Vedic knowledge. Nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalam idam (SB 1.1.3). Nigama. Nigama means Vedic literature. And it is kalpa-taru. Kalpa-taru means desire tree. Whatever knowledge you want, you will get it. Veda means knowledge. Vetti veda vida jñāna(?). So Veda means jñāna, knowledge. Any type of knowledge you want, there is in the Vedic literature. So it is meant, Veda, jñāne, knowledge is meant for the human society. It is not meant for the animals. Animals cannot study Veda. And what is the purpose of Veda? The purpose of Veda is to understand Kṛṣṇa. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15). This is Veda. If you try to understand, or if you understand very little... You cannot understand Kṛṣṇa fully. Kṛṣṇa Himself cannot understand Himself. So it is not possible. But whatever Kṛṣṇa is speaking about Himself in the Bhagavad-gītā, if one hundredth part, one percent you can understand, then your life is successful. Vedic knowledge. That is Vedic knowledge. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15).
So here in this material world, every one of us, we come here ignorant, like animals, no knowledge. There are so many varieties of living entities. Gradually, by evolution, we come to the human form of life, when our consciousness is developed. We can understand higher knowledge. And that is called Veda. So Veda does not mean it is meant for the cats and dogs. Vedas means knowledge, this knowledge, is meant for the human beings. Vedic... Therefore Indian civilization, based on Vedic knowledge, is estimated so high, perfect. Perfect scheme system for human society, based on Vedic civilization. Everything is correctly visioned, and the ideas are given by persons who are above material contamination. Mukta-puruṣa. Mukta-puruṣa means one who is not affected by the material incompetency. There are material incompetencies. We commit mistakes. We are illusioned. Our senses are imperfect. And sometimes... Sometimes not. Always. We want to cheat. These are the defects of material knowledge. And one who is above these material incompetencies, he's called mukta-puruṣa. So one has to become mukta-puruṣa. That is called Vedic knowledge. That is called Vedānta. Vedānta-sūtra. Athāto brahma jijñāsā.
So Vedānta means the, the ultimate platform of acquiring knowledge, up to this. So that "up to this" is Kṛṣṇa. That if you talk of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then you talk of all the Vedas. Sarva-śruti-mano-haraḥ. You talk of Vedic knowledge, but if you simply talk of Vedic knowledge, it becomes dry, speculative. But if you talk of Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's līlā, Kṛṣṇa's pastimes, then it becomes simultaneously discussion of Vedic knowledge, at the same time, very beautiful. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is described here: uttama-śloka. Kṛṣṇa is never described by ordinary verses. Uttama-śloka. Uttama-śloka means... Uttama means also liberated. Ut. Ut means transcendental, one who has crossed, ud gata. Ut. Ut means one who has gone to the other side.
Just like Rāvaṇa. Rāvaṇa, Hiraṇyakaśipu, they were demons, godless demons. Rāvaṇa was very learned scholar in Vedic knowledge and very powerful materially. He converted his capital with gold, all the buildings and everything. It is supposed that Rāvaṇa's brother was a king of..., on the other side of the globe. So it is my suggestion... I do not say it is very scientific proof. So other side of the globe... Rāvaṇa was in Ceylon, and the other side of the globe, if you go by subway, it comes to Brazil. And Brazil is supposed to have gold mines. And it is said in the Rāmāyaṇa that Rāvaṇa's brother was living on the other side of the globe, and Rāmacandra was taken through the subway. So taking this into consideration, we can suppose that Rāvaṇa imported large quantity of gold from Brazil, and he converted them into big, big houses. So Rāvaṇa was so powerful that he made his capital Svarṇa-laṅkā, "capital made of gold." Just like if a man comes from undeveloped country to your country, New York or any city, when they see the big, big skyscraper, they become astonished. Although skyscraper buildings are everywhere nowadays, formerly it was very wonderful.
So we can create everything very wonderful, but we can take the example of Rāvaṇa. Rāvaṇa was very advanced materially, and he had Vedic knowledge sufficiently. He was son of a brāhmaṇa. Everything was there. But the only fault was that he did not care for Rāma. That is the only fault. "Oh, what is Rāma? I don't care for Him. There is no need of performing yajñas and ritualistic ceremony to be promoted to the heavenly kingdom." Rāvaṇa said, "I shall construct a staircase to go to the moon planet. Why you are trying in this way or that way? I will do that." Svargesari.(?) So these people are trying like Rāvaṇa, but they should take lesson from Rāvaṇa that his godlessness made him doomed. Everything he lost.
This is the first understanding of spiritual knowledge. You must know. This is the beginning of Bhagavad-gītā. When Bhagavad-gītā was taught to Arjuna, Arjuna was lamenting for this body. So Kṛṣṇa, when He was accepted Arjuna's spiritual master, śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam (BG 2.7), then He advised him that "You are talking like a very learned scholar." Aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase (BG 2.11). "You are talking just like you know..." Just like our so-called scientists, they speak as if they know everything, but real thing they do not know. That is zero. What is spirit, they do not know. They are thinking this body. And according to Vedic knowledge, if one is misguided on the bodily identification of ourself, he is animal. He is animal. He may be Ph.D., D.H.C. or something, but he is animal. Sa eva go-kharaḥ (SB 10.84.13). Because he does not know how the body is moving. And neither they can discover anything. When the body is dead... It is dead from the very beginning, but it was moving. Just like so long petrol is there, the motorcar moves. But as soon as there is... Now there is crisis. So how their motorcars will move? They are concerned. So why their crisis? Because the petrol is the life of the movement of the motorcar. Similarly, that spiritual spark, or spirit soul, is the petrol of this body.
Bhaktyā. Simply by devotional service one can understand. Bhakti means serving, service. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ (Brs. 1.2.234). When you become in service attitude, just to serve Kṛṣṇa with humble attitude, with devotion, then Kṛṣṇa will reveal. Otherwise you cannot understand Kṛṣṇa. It is not possible. If you think that "I am very rich man, I can offer Kṛṣṇa so many things, nice dress, nice foodstuff. Kṛṣṇa now is within my grip." No. Kṛṣṇa is not so cheap. There also it is said that vedeṣu durlabham adurlabham ātma-bhaktau (Bs. 5.33). You cannot understand Kṛṣṇa because you are very learned scholar in Vedic knowledge. No. Vedeṣu durlabham, it is very difficult. But adurlabham, He is very cheap unto His devotees. He is very cheap. Like Vidura. Vidura invited Him, and Kṛṣṇa did not to go Arjuna's house..., I mean to say, Duryodhana's house, very palatial building. Vidura, a cottage, so He went there. And Vidura being in ecstasy was offering Him some banana. So he was so overpowered by ecstasy that instead of giving the fruit banana, he was giving the skin, and Kṛṣṇa was eating. So when he came to his senses he saw that "I have given only the skin, and Kṛṣṇa is eating." So this is bhakti. This is bhakti. Kṛṣṇa wants that. Kṛṣṇa can eat anything, either you give the pulp or skin, He can eat anything because He is all powerful and everything is equal to Him.
That is the red sign, now used with vermillion. Not by killing. Yes, it has become... It is made easier. (laughter) Formerly the red sign was not so easy. There must be blood. That is kṣatriya. Kṣatriya means the fighting race, fighting caste, king, royal. They must be very chivalrous fighting, not timid. A kṣatriya cannot be timid. Brāhmaṇas kṣatriyas, vaiśyas, śūdra, they are trained differently. Brāhmaṇa—for understanding Vedic knowledge and guide the other three subdivisions, namely kṣatriyas, vaiśyas, not śūdras. Śūdras were not supposed to understand Vedic knowledge. Especially brāhmaṇas and kṣatriyas.
But here is described, here is perfection. What is that perfection? Yaḥ śraddhayā etad bhagavat-priyāṇāṁ pāṇḍoḥ sutānām iti samprayāṇaṁ śṛṇoti. Śṛṇoti. You simply hear about the Pāṇḍavas. Practically the whole Vedic literature, the Purāṇas, the Mahābhārata especially, those were narrations... The Vedic knowledge... Vedic knowledge, directly, it is very difficult to understand. Just like in the Vedānta-sūtra. The sūtra, the code words are there. Athāto brahma jijñāsā: "Now it is the time for inquiring about the Absolute Truth." This is sūtra, code word. But that is described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: in narration. This is brahma-jijñāsā. The whole Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is brahma-jijñāsā. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. Only this code is being... Therefore Bhāgavata begins, janmādy asya yataḥ anvayād itarataś cārtheṣv abhijñaḥ sva-rāṭ (SB 1.1.1). Because Vedānta-sūtra says, "The Absolute Truth is that supreme source of everything." So Bhāgavata begins from that word, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), explaining, explaining.
So Purāṇa means supplementary to the Vedas, to explain the knowledge. That is Purāṇa. Mahābhārata. Mahābhārata is also explanation of the Vedic knowledge, but through history. Because Vyāsadeva found it that directly to understand Vedic knowledge will be difficult for three classes of men. Trayī na śruti-gocarā. Strī-śūdra-dvija-bandhūnāṁ trayī na śruti-gocarā (SB 1.4.25). Trayī. Trayī means Vedas, dealing with the three guṇas. Traiguṇya-viṣayā vedāḥ. In the Bhagavad-gītā, traiguṇya-viṣayā vedāḥ. Trayī. There are three subject matters in the Vedas. The first subject matter is to know God and what is my relationship with God. This is the first subject matter. Then second subject matter is that what is the ultimate goal of life, and the third subject matter is how to attain it. To know God, my relationship with God, and what is my ultimate goal of life, and how to attain it—these three subject matters are Vedic knowledge. That is everywhere. Another subject matter is... Trayī, means Veda is dealing with this material world. There is spiritual knowledge in glance.
Everything is there. We know that this body is asat, antavanta. Antavanta means "which has got an end." Antavanta ime dehāḥ. This body has got an end at a certain date. Everyone knows. But the, the other is... Nityasyoktāḥ śarīriṇaḥ. But within the body, which is the living force of this body, which is moving this body, that is nitya. Two things are there: my body and the force within the body. Everyone knows as soon as the force is withdrawn or gone away that this body has no more movement, it has no value. That everyone knows. But they will explain in different way. But according to our Vedic knowledge, that which is moving this body, that is eternal. That is not finished. "After the end of this body, the body is burnt into ashes or into, buried into the earth, and still?" Yes. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20).
There is way. Here is the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, whereby you can stop your process of birth and death. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). He comes back. These things are there, information is there, the process is there. Everything is there in Vedic knowledge, Vedic cultivation. Simply people have to take it. Then they will be happy. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.
So Vedic knowledge is so perfect that this Bhārata-varṣa, seven islands. Now the seven islands still there. You cannot make eight or nine, or six. The seven islands are still there. So seven islands means, within seven islands, the two Americas, North and South America, are there. So why it is called Columbus, Columbus discovered? No. It was already in the Vedic literature. You will find in Śaṅkarācārya's... When Columbus discovered America, how many years ago? Two hundred years?
But we accept this Vedic knowledge, the first premises, accept, accepted. Just like we accept that God is the source of everything. God says, Kṛṣṇa says, that,
- ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo
- mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate
- iti matvā bhajante māṁ
- budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ
- (BG 10.8)
Kṛṣṇa says, "I am the origin of everything. Everything emanates from Me." Mattaḥ sarvaṁ prava... Sarvam means everything. There are two things: animate and..., what is opposite? Inanimate. There are two things. So Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ: "I am the source of both animate and inanimate." So Kṛṣṇa. What is Kṛṣṇa?
So there are so many debts. First to the demigods, then to the ṛṣis, saintly persons. Because we get knowledge, Vedic knowledge from the ṛṣi, we must be debtor. Guru-ṛṇa. Debtor to the spiritual master, to the sages, to the saintly persons, because we are getting knowledge from them. Therefore the Vyāsa-pūjā is there. Once in a year the disciples are worshiping the spiritual master and trying to repay what he has received from the spiritual master.
So in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam you will find everything, whatever is necessity, for the advancement of human civilization, everything is there described. And knowledge also, all departmental knowledge. Even astronomy, astrology, politics, sociology, atomic theory, everything is there. Vidyā-bhāgavatāvadhi. Therefore if we study Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam very carefully, then you get all knowledge completely. Because Bhāgavata begins from the point of creation. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Vedānta. It is the explanation of Vedānta-sūtra. Vedānta means the essence of cream of Vedic knowledge. That is Vedānta. That cream of Vedānta knowledge is further explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So we are publishing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Our students specifically, they should take care of reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. We have therefore prescribed in our school, Dallas, that let them simply learn Sanskrit and English, because English translation they will be able to read, and the Sanskrit verses are there. And from the very beginning, if they begin education with Bhagavad-gītā and then comes to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and reads the whole literature, then they will be more than M.A., Ph.D. More than. The knowledge will be so advanced.
The soul was there, and now it has gone." So how guru says? Not guru is manufacturing. Guru says on the strength of śāstra. Therefore sādhu-guru-śāstra, three things must be there. Guru must be speaking on the strength of Vedic knowledge, not manufacturing. He's a rascal. Guru cannot become by manufacturing nonsense ideas. He's not guru. He's a rascal. Whatever guru will speak must be evidenced by the śāstra. That is guru. So you go to guru.
So which is beyond the sense perception you have to hear. Therefore Vedic knowledge is called śruti. You have to hear. Not by seeing. Simply by hearing. Śravaṇam.
- śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ
- smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam
- arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ
- sakhyam ātma-nivedanam
- (SB 7.5.23)
If you want to know the Supreme, then you have to hear from Him. Just like about Kṛṣṇa, we have to hear from Him. Kṛṣṇa is speaking Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa is speaking everything. All Vedic knowledge is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is speaking. How Kṛṣṇa is speaking? That is mentioned in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye (SB 1.1.1).
If you want to know the Supreme, then you have to hear from Him. Just like about Kṛṣṇa, we have to hear from Him. Kṛṣṇa is speaking Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa is speaking everything. All Vedic knowledge is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is speaking. How Kṛṣṇa is speaking? That is mentioned in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye (SB 1.1.1). Kṛṣṇa spoke to Brahmā. Ādi-kavi means Brahmā. He spoke to him. But if somebody says, "Brahmā..., when Brahmā was born from the lotus flower, there was nobody there. So how he could hear from anybody?" Therefore Bhāgavata says, tene brahma hṛdā. Hṛdā means "through the heart." Through the heart he was educated. Therefore Kṛṣṇa's another name is caitya-guru. Caitya-guru means "the guru who is sitting within your heart."
So "I am not this body," that is the whole scheme of Vedic knowledge. Apaśya... This is the important point. Apaśyatām ātma-tattvam (SB 2.1.2). Because they do not know what is the necessity of life, therefore they have created so many news. Just like big, big newspaper, bunch of papers, full of rubbish news only, advertisement, cinema. But you won't find anything talking about the necessity of the... (break) So to become a gṛhastha is not bad. But to become unaware of the necessity of the soul, oh, that is bad. The Māyāvādī sannyāsīs, they are sannyāsīs. They have also renounced gṛhastha life.
This outward dress is different. Somebody has become ant and somebody has become elephant or bigger than that, whole fish. Another fish there is timiṅgila. That perhaps we have not seen. Whale fish, some of them have seen. It is just like as big as a big house. And still, whale fish, just like you swallow up some small nut, they are called timiṅgila. So there are so many varieties of life. We do not know. But we know from the śāstras. In the śāstra we can know. Therefore we should consult Vedic literature to have full knowledge. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi: "In the water there are 900,000 species of life." Now, who can deny it? If you deny, then I shall tell you that "Go and count." (laughs) But we can get the full knowledge from the śāstra. This is called Vedic knowledge. Everything is complete.
Therefore this birth is meant for achieving guru and Kṛṣṇa. Father, mother you will get, anyone. Even you become a serpent there is father and mother. That is the way of birth. Therefore janmanā jāyate śūdraḥ. Even in human society, every man is born a śūdra. Saṁskārād bhaved dvijaḥ. He requires a second birth, by saṁskāra, reforming. Just like we give second birth, initiation. The second birth, the father is the spiritual master and the mother is the Vedas. As the first birth is taken by the material father and mother, similarly, second birth, dvija is possible by the spiritual master, the father and Vedic knowledge, mother. This father, mother. So that is required. That is possible in the human form of life. A cat is born by father and mother; you are also born by father... But the cat is not, dog is not eligible to take the second father and mother. That is not possible.
In this way, all the living entities, beginning from Brahmā down to the microscopic germ, everyone is rotating in different species of life, in different planets, in different position. Innumerable. As the living entities are innumerable, so varieties of bodies are also innumerable. Not innumerable, they are counted, 8,400,000 species of life. This is Vedic knowledge. Exactly giving the number. Exactly. 8,400,000. It doesn't say 9,000,000, or 500,000. No. Exact.
Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi. In the aquatics, there are 900,000 species of life. Now, if you have got your science, now go and see. This is Vedic knowledge. Perfect, without any doubt. Sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. And the plants and trees, they are 2,000,000 species of life. So, ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite (CC Madhya 19.151). We are transmigrating from one species of life, one species of life, another, another, another, another... They cannot explain why there are so many varieties of life. The varieties of life is there because we have desire, kāma. "I want this." "All right, take this." Kṛṣṇa is immediately prepared. Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante (BG 4.11). "If you want, you can take it." But Kṛṣṇa says, ultimately, that "You'll never be happy in this way. Therefore you give up this business. Simply surrender unto Me." Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇam (BG 18.66). So that is called akāma. So here it is said that akāmaḥ yajet puruṣaṁ param. If you want to be akāma, devoid of all material desires, then surrender to Kṛṣṇa.
The ultimate end of Vedic knowledge is to realize the Personality of Godhead Lord Kṛṣṇa, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15). There is guarantee of money being returned if given in charity regardless of the proportion. Similarly, a moment passed in the association of a pure devotee by hearing and chanting the transcendental messages of the Lord is a perfect guarantee for eternal life for returning home back, to Godhead. Mad-dhāma gatvā punar janma na vidyate. In other words, a devotee of the Lord is guaranteed eternal life. A devotee's old age or disease in the present life is but an impetus to such guaranteed eternal life."
Now, if you, if you are a good logician, you can argue that "Stool of animal is impure. That is already said. Why you make 'The stool of cow is pure'?" Oh, but that's a fact. You analyze the stool of cow. You'll find it is full of antiseptic properties. That is Vedic knowledge. It gives you right knowledge. You cannot conclude that "Stool of animal is impure, so why this animal's stool can be pure?" No. Vedic knowledge is so perfect that you can accept it as it is and you'll be profited. You'll profit. In the Vedic knowledge, the viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padam. The supreme goal is Viṣṇu. Oṁ tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padaṁ sadā paśyanti sūrayaḥ. This Ṛg Veda mantra. The, some rascals, scholars, so-called, they say, "These Vedas, these mantras, are some primitive.
Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu recommended to study Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from bhāgavatam. Bhāgavata para giyā bhāgavata sthāne. Bhāgavata means the grantha-bhāgavata, book bhāgavata... Bhāgavata means about Kṛṣṇa. Bhagavān is Kṛṣṇa. And anything in relationship with Kṛṣṇa is called Bhāgavata. So the devotee is also in relationship with Kṛṣṇa. He is also called bhāgavata. Mahā-bhāgavata. Those who are highly advanced, or first-class devotees, they are called mahā-bhāgavata. So this Bhāgavatam, it is the essence of the Vedic knowledge and when it is received through the paramparā system of pure devotee, then it becomes still more sweet than before. That is the purport.
Śruti-pramāṇam. That is evidence, śruti-pramāṇam. Śruti means Veda. In the Vedas it is stated... Just like Brahmā. He is receiving Vedic knowledge from, directly from God, Kṛṣṇa. Brahmaṇe darśayan rūpam. This is the process of understanding. Brahmā, how Brahmā is receiving knowledge? Directly he sees there is nobody there, but he is receiving knowledge. Directly he could not see. Upāśṛṇot, upāśṛṇot. Upāśṛṇot: "He simply heard." Upāśṛṇot. Ear, not the eyes. So therefore knowledge has to be gathered by aural reception, not by the eyes. My Guru Mahārāja used to say that, "Do not try to see a saintly person. You try to hear a saintly person." If you see a long beard and very strong man, he is a great sādhu. Oh. That's it." No. You have to hear. What does he speak?
So how this nonsense theory can be accepted? According to our Vedic information, from the very beginning the one person, one living creature, was Brahmā, the most intelligent person. Not that he developed from monkey. This nonsense theory killed the human civilization. The intelligence is coming from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And the most intelligent person is receiving that, Brahmā. And then he is distributing this knowledge. So knowledge has not developed with the development of the brain of the living entities. That is a wrong theory. Knowledge is already there. And the most intelligent person received it, and it is being distributed still. Therefore Vedic knowledge is considered to be the perfect. And if we take knowledge from the Vedas, then our knowledge is perfect. Now here is the knowledge. What is the purport?
He has to be educated. Saṁskārād bhaved dvijaḥ. Dvija means twice-born. One birth is by the father and mother, and the next birth is by the spiritual master and Vedic knowledge. So Vedic knowledge is the mother, and spiritual master is the father. Then one becomes dvija. Therefore the sacred thread is offered, that "He is now divja. He has accepted the spiritual master to learn what is spiritual life." That is the significance. Then he is allowed to read this Vedic literature, the essence of Vedic literature. Nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalam idam (SB 1.1.3), this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. This is the essence. Nigama means Vedic. Nigama-kalpa-taru. Kalpa-taru means desire tree. A tree, desire tree, means whatever you like, you can take from it. Similarly, Vedic knowledge is so perfect, any knowledge, perfectly if you want to know, then you must... Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet śrotriyam (MU 1.2.12). Therefore Vedic knowledge is called śruti. Śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham.
Not, I mean to say, upstart knowledge. Standard knowledge. Standard knowledge is received from the paramparā system, disciplic succession. Therefore it is said, śrotriyam. Śrotriyam means "who has heard from the paramparā system." Śrotriyam... And the result is brahma-niṣṭham: "He is firmly fixed up in the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead." Brahma-niṣṭham. He has no other business. This is two qualifications. He must have heard the Vedic knowledge through the disciplic succession. It does not require that he is very learned scholar. No. Simply he must hear from the authority. Śrotriyam. You have... Kṛṣṇa has given you, God has given you the ear. This is our system. Simply they hear and they become big, big preacher. It doesn't require that he has to pass M.A., C.B.A.C., or Ph.D. examinations. Hearing is sufficient. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ. You remain in your position, in your place. You do not require to change it. Sthāne sthitāḥ.
So I am proprietor. Not proprietor, I am occupier. Just like in a house, the tenant and the landlord. The landlord is the occupier, tenant, and the landlord is the proprietor. Similarly, we ātmās, we are simply occupier of this body. We are not proprietor. The proprietor is Paramātmā. Sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata. So if the proprietor says that "Get out of this house," or some, by law... Similarly, when the Paramātmā says, "Now you have to leave this body," you have to leave this body. So this is Vedic knowledge.
The life comes from life. Because in the Bhagava..., Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is explained that janmādy asya yataḥ anvayād itarataś ca artheṣu abhijñaḥ (SB 1.1.1). The identity from whom everything emanates, He's abhijñaḥ, cognizant. He can understand. So cognizant means life. Not only that. Tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye. He instructed knowledge to Lord Brahma, about Vedic knowledge. So unless one is living entity, how he can impart knowledge?
A woman is considered in the level of śūdra. Although a woman is married with a brāhmaṇa, the woman is not offered the sacred thread. And in the Bhagavad-gītā it is also accepted like that by the Supreme Personality... Striyo vaiśyās tathā śūdrāḥ. And another place it is said that Mahābhārata was compiled by Vyāsadeva because the direct Vedic knowledge is not understandable... Strī-śūdra-dvija-bandhūnāṁ trayī na śruti-gocarā (SB 1.4.25). Trayī means Vedic literature. They cannot understand. Strī-śūdra-dvija-bandhūnām: women, and the śūdras, and dvija-bandhu. Dvija-bandhu means born in a brāhmaṇa family, but not qualified as brāhmaṇa. They are called not brāhmaṇa. They are called dvija-bandhu.
So this Mahābhārata was made by Vyāsadeva for these strī-śūdra-divja-bandhūnām. Therefore Mahābhārata is called "Fifth Vedas." There are four Vedas, Sāma, Yajuḥ, Ṛk, Atharva, and Mahābhārata is the fifth Veda. And the essence of Vedic knowledge is given within the Mahābhārata, this Bhagavad-gītā. So although woman is inferior than the man, still, the Vedic civilization is so perfect that the man, as father, as husband, or as son, takes care, full care of the woman. This is Vedic civilization. Therefore it is said that mātuḥ priya-cikīrṣayā. The son was ready always to see that "Mother is not unhappy. My father has gone away. So she may not feel the absence of my father." This very word is very significant, mātuḥ priya-cikīrṣayā. He was always ready to take care of the mother. And the best care is to give her knowledge. Because women are supposed to be less intelligent; therefore they should be given knowledge. And they should also follow. They should follow the father's instruction, they should follow the husband's instruction, they should follow grown-up, learned, scholar like Kapiladeva. Then their life is perfect. Dependent, remain dependent.
Suppose you are a very big engineer, and another man is ordinary electric mistri. The qualification is the same: earning livelihood by some art. If there is some wrong in the electric line, I cannot repair it. I call one mistri. He knows the art. He immediately revives the electric current. So this sort of knowledge is called śilpa, śilpa-jñāna, "artistic knowledge." That is not knowledge. Real knowledge is Vedic knowledge, Vedānta knowledge, to know oneself, "What I am, what is God, Bhagavān, what is my relation with Him, and what is my duty, and what is the ultimate goal of life." This is knowledge. Etaj jñānaṁ tad ajñānam anyathā. Kṛṣṇa says, "This is jñānam." Kṣetra-kṣetra-jña-jñānam. If one can understand oneself and the Supreme Self and what is this material world, why we have come here, what is my relation with God, what is my relation with this world, this is knowledge. They are called jñānavān. Jñānavān, they are searching after knowledge. Ke āmi kene āmāya jāre tāpa-traya.
There was no... Now you cannot get this guinea gold. So that is all finished. So Sanātana Gosvāmī was very rich man. Still, he's asking Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu that grāmya-vyavahāre paṇḍita tāi satya māni: "These foolish villagers, or my neighbor men, they call me 'Paṇḍitajī.' " He was brāhmaṇa. Actually he was paṇḍitajī. You know, in India, the brāhmaṇa is addressed as "paṇḍita." Because a brāhmaṇa is expected to become very learned. A foolish man cannot be a brāhmaṇa. Learned means Vedic knowledge. Veda-pāṭhād bhaved vipraḥ. How one becomes brāhmaṇa? By studying thoroughly the Vedic literature, when one can understand Brahman, he realizes himself, hṛdayānanda, then he becomes brāhmaṇa. Therefore a brāhmaṇa means naturally paṇḍita.
Not that "At home, by speculation, I can understand what is God." That is not produce.(?) Vedas says... Just like if you want to be educated, you must accept some school. It doesn't matter whether the school is perfect or not perfect, but you cannot avoid school going. That is not possible. If you think that "Without going to school, I shall learn everything," that is not possible. Vedas says that if you want knowledge actually... Tad-vijñānārtham. Tad-vijñāna means transcendental knowledge. Because Vedic knowledge... There is material knowledge also. Just like Āyur Veda, Dhanur Veda, and Jyotir Veda. Veda, veda means knowledge. There are all different types of knowledge. But real knowledge is brahma-vidyā, to understand the Absolute Truth. That is real knowledge. Other knowledge, they are temporary. We require medicine; therefore there is Āyur Veda. We require sometimes to fight; there is Dhanur Veda. And... So that is also required. Because the body is there. But real requirement is to know the Absolute Truth, Absolute Person.
There are fruits, green mango and ripened mango. The ripened mango is very interesting. So Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the ripened mango of the desire tree of Vedic knowledge. Nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalaṁ śuka-mukhāt (SB 1.1.3). And everyone knows that the, if the ripe fruit in the tree is tasted by the parrot, it becomes twice tasteful. So Śukadeva Gosvāmī, śuka-pakṣī. Śuka means parrot. He's speaking. Śuka-mukhād amṛta-drava-saṁyutam, pibata bhuvi bhāvukāḥ rasam ālayam. These are the recommendations. So people are not interested. It is a great regret, matter of regret, that in India, where these literatures are available, where the sages and saintly persons left for us such nice literature, vidyā-bhāgavatāvadhi, the limit of all education, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, they are not interested. They are interested in some other, Marx literatures, Karl Marx literature, not Bhāgavatam. This is the India's misfortune.
You cannot understand which is beyond your sense perception by experiment. Just like you cannot understand who is your father by experimental knowledge: "Let me make experiment and find out who is my father." That is not possible. Because it is beyond your experience. Your father was existing when you were not existing. Then how you can understand by experimental knowledge? The authority is mother. Therefore Vedic knowledge is the mother; the Purāṇas are the sisters. They are explained like that. You should understand from the Vedas what is the ultimate knowledge.
The whole world is struggling, some temporary. The real business is ātyantika-duḥkha-nivṛtti, everyone is trying to minimize the miserable condition, but they are busy for temporary miserable condition. But the Vedic knowledge is how to mitigate the topmost miserable condition. That topmost miserable condition is the repetition of birth, death, and old age. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam, anu-darśanam (BG 13.9). We should not be very much afflicted with these temporary things. We must have the sense how to solve the ultimate miserable condition of life.
So that Bhagavān is speaking. Kapiladeva is that Bhagavān. Therefore He says that atha te sampravakṣyāmi. Sam means samyak. Samyak means complete. Unless one has got complete knowledge, how he can say things complete? It is not the so-called scientist: "Perhaps," "It may be." No, not that kind of knowledge, simply theorizing, "It may be like that." No. There is no question of "maybe." Exact knowledge. Exact knowledge. That is called Vedic knowledge. Just like in the Padma Purāṇa we can understand the calculation of the species of life. It is said, jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. There are aquatic living entities nine lakhs of. How many you have seen? Neither it is possible for you to go within the water and see how many different forms of fishes and aquatics are there. But in the śāstra it is said, jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi. It doesn't says "about nava-lakṣāṇi," "about nine lakhs," more or less. No. Exactly. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Sthāvarāḥ means those plants and trees which cannot move, two millions, lakṣa-viṁśati, or twenty lakhs.
So that is Vedic knowledge. You get the exact knowledge. Therefore Vedic knowledge is called apauruṣeya. It is not spoken by ordinary human being by speculation: "It may be," "Perhaps." No. It is not like that. That is Bhagavān. Whatever He'll say exact, that is Vedic knowledge. Therefore it is safer to take knowledge from Bhagavān, especially the knowledge of Bhagavān. Bhagavān is not so cheap thing. If you want to know Bhagavān... If you do not be so fool to accept another fool as Bhagavān, then you have to hear about Bhagavān about Bhagavān. That is the process. Therefore the Vedic instruction is, to get perfect knowledge, you have to approach a person who is guru. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). And who's guru? Guru means representative of Bhagavān. Sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstrair uktas tathā bhāvyata eva sadbhiḥ **.
This is highest perfection, Kṛṣṇa says. All śāstra, it says like that, and the whole Vedic literature is meant for achieving the highest perfection of life. Vedic literature, you will get all kinds of knowledge. Veda means knowledge, and the Vedic literature is full of knowledge. Nigama-kalpa-taru. Nigama means Vedic knowledge and kalpa-taru means the tree from where you can get anything you desire. Whatever you desire. Generally we have got experience that a mango tree, if you desire mango, you can get from the mango tree. If you desire coconut, then you can get from the coconut tree. But you cannot get coconut from the mango tree, and mango from the coconut tree. But there are trees where you go, you can get both mango, and banana, and coconut, and everything you like. That is called kalpa-vṛkṣa. We have no experience in this material world, but there is a tree.
So ātmā... Ātmā means Bhagavān; ātmā means this individual ātmā. So both of them are anādi. But we have got experience ādi, birth and death. So that is not ātma-darśanam. You have to understand that there is no ādi, there is no beginning. Anādir ātmā puruṣaḥ. Puruṣa, that, either the soul or the Supersoul, both of them are puruṣa. Puruṣa means having form and having the desire to enjoy, enjoy blissful life. That is called puruṣa. Puruṣa is always desiring to enjoy. And prakṛti is enjoyable. That is the distinction between puruṣa and prakṛti. But ātmā-Paramātmā is puruṣa, and the jīvātmā is prakṛti. Then nirguṇaḥ, nirguṇaḥ. Therefore Arjuna was advised by Kṛṣṇa, traiguṇya-viṣayā vedā nistraiguṇyo bhavārjuna: "My dear Arjuna, you try to be nirguṇa." This all Vedic knowledge or any knowledge—Veda means knowledge—that is traiguṇya, of this material world, having...
Brāhmaṇa, he is supposed to know six kind of activities, ṣaṭ-karma. Ṣaṭ means six. What is that six kinds of? Paṭhana pāṭhana. Brāhmaṇa must be very learned, very expert, expertly learned in Vedic knowledge. That is called paṭhana. And pāṭhana: and he must teach others. He must be teacher, not that "I know and keep all the knowledge in my belly." No. Therefore formerly all the brāhmaṇas they had catuṣpāṭhī. The brāhmaṇa will sit down anywhere and begin teaching others. The student will come. That is brāhmaṇa's business. Paṭhana... But unless he is himself learned, how he can teach? So therefore, first of all he must be learned, paṭhana, and then pāṭhana, then he can teach others. Paṭhana pāṭhana yajana yājana. He must worship the Supreme Lord, and he must teach others how to worship the Supreme.
Vyāsadeva, after writing all the Vedic literature, he was not satisfied. He wrote the four Vedas, then the Purāṇas—Purāṇas means supplementary to the Vedas—and then Vedānta-sūtra, the last word of the Vedic knowledge, Vedānta-sūtra. But he was not satisfied. So Nārada Muni, his spiritual master, he inquired that "Why you are feeling dissatisfaction after writing so many books, giving knowledge to the human society?" He said, "Sir, yes, I know that I have written... But I am not getting satisfaction. I do not know what is the reason." Then Nārada Muni said, "The dissatisfaction is due to your not describing the activities of the Supreme Lord. Therefore you are not satisfied. You have simply discussed the external elements, but the internal elements, you have not discussed.
So this is going on under the influence of kāla. So people should be enlightened that "Don't remain asleep." Uttiṣṭhata jāgrata prāpya varān nibodhata. "Now you are civilized human being. You can read and write. You can understand." So jāgrata: "Now get up, be awakened. Study this Vedic literature, especially the essence of Vedic literature, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam." Nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalam (SB 1.1.3). Nigama means Vedic literature, Vedic knowledge. And it is its ripened fruit, nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalam idam, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, and be successful in your life.
So Vedic culture or the representative of Vedic culture, Mahārāja King Ṛṣabhadeva, He advised His sons, "My dear sons, this human life, human form of life, is not meant for working hard like the animals. This is not." Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye (SB 5.5.1). Kaṣṭān kāmān. Kāmān means we require some necessities of life, but civilization should not be made in such a way that one has to live at the cost of sacrificing everything. This is not human civilization. Kaṣṭān kāmān. Everyone wants something. That is required. So long the body is there, we must have to eat, we must have to sleep, we require sense gratification and protection or security. This is required. But the Vedic civilization was very simplified, simplified. A class of ideal men, the brāhmaṇa, they are ideal. They are simply assimilating the Vedic knowledge and guiding others—kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra—how to live peacefully. The kṣatriya, they are meant for giving protection to the people, security. And the vaiśya is meant for producing food. And śūdra, because they cannot do anything independently, they must serve these three masters: brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya. So this is very scientific.
This is called śruti, Veda-jñāna. Śruti, Veda, perfect knowledge is called śruti. Śrutibhiḥ pratipanna, pratipanna. What is established by the śruti, by the Vedic knowledge, that we have to accept. Otherwise there is no other way. So this is even in the material field of activities, and what to speak of the spiritual. Therefore we have to hear from the authorities of śruti. Authorities of śruti... Kṛṣṇa is the original speaker of śruti, or Veda knowledge. Therefore Vedic knowledge is called apauruṣeya. It is not manufactured or concocted by some mental speculator. It is coming from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and it was imparted first of all to Lord Brahmā, not by personal presentation, but through the heart. Brahmā is the original person to understand Vedic knowledge. So after his birth he meditated for hundreds of years, and by meditation, through his heart the knowledge of Vedas, śruti, became revealed. Tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye. Ādi-kavi means Brahmā. And Brahman means Vedic knowledge.
We do not know. Therefore Vedas says, tamasi mā: "Don't stay in this tamasi." Jyotir gama. Jyoti is Brahman. "Try to come out there." And the whole Vedic knowledge is based on this principle, how to again give up this association of tāmasika-guṇa and come to the sattva-guṇa, and then surpass sattva-guṇa, come to the transcendental position of brahma-bhūta (SB 4.30.20). This is the position.
Therefore this consciousness can be awakened in this human form of life. We can take education. We can understand from Vedic knowledge what is our position, what is our relationship with God, how we shall act in that relationship. These are the opportunities in this human form of life—not in the form of cats and dogs. So in spite of getting this opportunity, if we do not understand God, if we do not understand what is our relationship with God, then according to śāstra it is called ātma-han. Ātma-han means suicide. If you cut your throat yourself, who can save you? So we should not become ātma-han and spoil this life. Durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma tad apy adhruvam arthadam. This human form life, durlabham. After many, many millions of evolution, we have got it. So it is very durlabha. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. We have got this opportunity by the grace of God, or the material nature has given us this opportunity. Now we should utilize it properly. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Don't spoil it.
We have not gone within the water; neither as biologist we have studied. We have taken the perfect information from the perfect source. We say 900,000. This is called Vedic knowledge. This is perfect. Jalajā nava-lakṣāni sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. This evolution theory is already mentioned. Darwin has taken this from this Vedic knowledge, and he has placed the whole thing in his imaginative way. Otherwise the evolutionary process is mentioned in the Vedic scripture. First of all aquatics, then plants and trees, then insect, then birds, then beasts, then human being. Now, in the human being form, because by gradual process of evolution we have got advance consciousness, the, I mean to say, subject matter is given to us.
So this planet—we are talking of this planet—this planet is called Bhāratavarṣa. And Mahārāja Ṛṣabhadeva was the emperor of this planet. Before retirement, He instructed his children, His one hundred sons, "My dear boys, this human form of life," na ayaṁ deha, "this body..." Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke. Deha-bhājām means there are other living entities also. There are 8,400,000 different forms of living entities. Out of them, only 400,000 forms of bodies are human beings. Out of the 400,000 species of human beings, mostly they are uncivilized. And out of them, a very few men are civilized. And out of many civilized persons, a very few know what is Vedic knowledge. And out of many persons who know Vedic knowledge, they do not act according to the Vedic instructions. And out of many such persons, there are very few persons who act accordingly to the Vedic instruction. And those who act, they are attached to karma-kāṇḍīya-vicāra, fruitive activities. Just like perform yajñas and be elevated to the heavenly planets. These are called karma-kāṇḍīya-vicāra. Out of many thousands of these persons who are attached to karma-kāṇḍīya chapter of Vedas, one, somebody may be jñānī. Jñānī means "one who knows, one who is in perfect knowledge." Not perfect knowledge, but searching after knowledge, jñānī. And out of many thousands of jñānīs, one is mukta. Mukta means liberated, liberated from material body. And out of many thousands of muktas, there is very difficult to find out a devotee of Kṛṣṇa.
That is Vedic civilization. These books written by Vyāsadeva, he was writing these books, such exalted knowledge, in Hardwar, in a secluded place, very peacefully situated. And that knowledge was taken by the kṣatriyas, and they were distributing. As it is said in the Bhagavad-gītā, imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). Vedic knowledge was first of all taken up by the kṣatriyas. Brāhmaṇas, they used to cultivate knowledge and they used to advise the kṣatriyas, rulers, and they took it and they distributed to the general mass of people for the elevation of the spiritual platform. This is civilization. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). This is creation of God, cātur-varṇyaṁ: brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra. This is called varṇa, and as spiritual cultivation, brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, and sannyāsa.
So śāstra-cakṣuṣāt: our knowledge should be through the śāstra. That is practical. And our process of knowledge is this: we get knowledge from śāstra, like Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Vedic knowledge. We do not claim to be very big scientists. That is not possible. But we get knowledge from the best scientific man or person, the Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, Vyāsadeva, Nārada, Asita, Devala, later on the ācāryas, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Śaṅkarācārya, Caitanya. Our process of knowledge is not any speculation: "It may be," "Perhaps." No. We don't accept this knowledge.
That is called spiritual consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So this chance is given to the living entities who are aspirant for material enjoyment. You should always remember that all living entities, 8,400,000 species of life, every one of them after material enjoyment. So they are given a chance. Vedic knowledge.
In the Vedic literature the father, the teacher, the king, they are advised to look upon them as God. This is for the common person. But when he is advanced, then he goes above, that there is God above father, above king, above teacher. So according to the stages, there are different literatures in the Vedic knowledge. Sometimes demigods are also accepted. So they have also got power, but... Controller, they are also controller, but the ultimate controller is fixed up—īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). "The supreme controller is Kṛṣṇa." That is the verdict of the Vedas.
You do not approach Kṛṣṇa or His representative to order him or to make him your servant: "Sir, give me this, give me that." "Yes, you can take it, you can..." Flattering. So that is not the position. Mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur. If you want to know First of all, you know what you are. Then the question is vimukti. The same thing, same proposal. In the Vedic instruction there is no difference. Everywhere we'll find the same thing. That is standard knowledge. Not that I am saying something, you are saying something. That is not Vedic knowledge. That is speculation. Vedic knowledge means wherever you take, it is the same thing. There is no difference. Either you read Bhagavad-gītā or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or the Cātur-Veda or Upaniṣad or Vedānta, you'll find the same conclusion. That is Vedic knowledge. They are instructed, they are arranged in such a way that according to the position of the person one can understand. This is the Vedic scheme. The Purāṇas and the Mahābhārata, they are meant for the less intelligent class of men who cannot understand directly the Vedic instruction. But gradually by reading historical fact and instances, they can understand. Trayī na śruti-gocarā. Strī-śūdra-dvija-bandhūnāṁ trayī na śruti-gocarā (SB 1.4.25). Vyāsadeva worked very hard to awaken the human society to the Vedic knowledge. And what is that Vedic knowledge? To understand Kṛṣṇa. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyam (BG 15.15). That is Vedic knowledge. Otherwise you are a big Vedānti, big student of Upaniṣad, and so on, so on, but you do not know Kṛṣṇa, what He is—it is useless. Śrama eva hi kevalam (SB 1.2.8). That is simply wasting time.
So we have to approach. So mahat-sevā. This is sevā. Do not approach the mahātmā for challenging. That is not... Then you will be cheated. If you want to be... Just like one great, learned scholar, so-called scholar, he came to Vṛndāvana and he saw Rūpa Gosvāmī. So Rūpa Gosvāmī, he said, "Sir, I have come to you." "Now, what is the purpose?" "Now, I have traveled all over India, and I had a śāstra caca (?) and I have become victorious. They have accepted me. So I have come to you to discuss on Vedic knowledge." So then Rūpa Gosvāmī inquired from him, "Actually what do you want?" "I want also that you acknowledge me that I'm a great scholar. That I want." "All right. I acknowledge you are a great scholar." "No, then you give me in writing." So Rūpa Gosvāmī gave him in writing, "I met this man; he's a great scholar and I am defeated." He gave in writing. Of course Jīva Gosvāmī took that paper very tactfully and defeated him. So this is not the method of meeting Rūpa Gosvāmī. One should go very humbly, mahat-sevām. Rūpa Gosvāmī is mahat. You should not go there to challenge. Then you'll be cheated. You must go to Rūpa Gosvāmī and his representative with a humble... Tad viddhi praṇipātena (BG 4.34). When you want to learn, you must approach that person praṇipātena. Prakṛṣṭa rūpena seva. Tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā.
Guru means whatever instruction he'll give, we have to accept without any argument. Vedic knowledge is like that. You cannot interpret. As it is, you have to accept. Similarly guru's word also you have to accept. No argument. That is Vedic knowledge. That is the Vedic system. This example we have given many times. Just like this cow dung. Cow dung is the stool of an animal. So the stool of an animal is most impure thing. As soon as you touch. Even your own stool. You may be very learned scholar or devotee, but that does not meant you can touch your own stool and remain purified.
Therefore we are protesting to all these rascals who are making interpretation of Bhagavad-gītā, "You rascals, you cannot do anything. You have to accept Kṛṣṇa's word. That is Vedic knowledge. And if, you rascal, if you interpret, then you are lost and everything is lost." Yogo naṣṭaḥ parantapa.
If he goes to the temple and if he understands from his parents that "Here is the Deity, Kṛṣṇa," it impresses. He understands, "Here is Kṛṣṇa." Because he is simple. So he can also think of Kṛṣṇa: "I went to the temple, I saw Kṛṣṇa very nicely dressed, very nicely decorated. Very nice foodstuff was offered, and I got the prasādam." Where is the difficulty? Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto. If you go regularly to see Kṛṣṇa in the temple and to remember Him, then you become a bhakta. It doesn't require that you have to pass M.A. examination to become a knowledge... Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyam (BG 15.15). If you simply understand Kṛṣṇa, your all Vedic knowledge is perfect. Ārādhito yadi haris tapasā tataḥ kim (Nārada-pañcarātra). If you have understood Hari, Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, tapasā tataḥ kim, then where is the necessity of tapasya? You have achieved the result of tapasya.
So we should know, puṁsaḥ striyā mithunī-bhāvam etam (SB 5.5.8), this material world is nothing but a false attraction between man and woman. Not only in human society—in birds, beast, animal, aquatics, trees, plants, everywhere. You will find these pigeons, as soon as one female pigeon is there, and the male pigeon immediately wants to canvass, "Please come, let us unite." You have seen this is nature's way, sparrow. The same things: puṁsaḥ striyā mithunī. So, therefore in the human society, by Vedic knowledge, by education, you have to understand that we are bound up within this material world. What is the cause? The cause is that attraction between man and woman. This is the cause. Puṁsaḥ. Puṁsaḥ means the bhokta, the enjoyer. Here the male and female, both of them are puṁsaḥ, puruṣaḥ, because everyone has got that feeling that "I shall enjoy." Nobody is feeling that "I shall be enjoyed." Everyone is thinking, "I shall enjoy." Nobody wants to be predominated; everyone wants to be predominator. This is the illusion.
So this is the Vedic injunction. If we want to understand this science... It is science, it is not sentiment. Bhakti-yoga is not sentiment, it is a science. Therefore we have to take it from authorized Vedic instruction. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has advised that science means you have to take it from the Vedic knowledge. Vedic knowledge means there is no mistake, there is no cheating, there is no imperfect senses. Everything is perfect. So science means, which is perfect knowledge. Not perhaps, it may be, that is not science, theory. Theory is not science. Science, the most important items of science is observation and experiment. First of all to study the situation by observation, and then practically, when you are able to make an experiment, then it is science. Otherwise, theoretical knowledge has no meaning.
Yogaḥ proktaḥ purātanaḥ. Purātanaḥ, not something new. This is nonsense. There cannot be something new. Everything established. Science means, scientific knowledge means, it is not something new. Just like the sun rises from the eastern horizon. So millions of years ago, the sun used to rise from the eastern horizon, and still it is going on. Not that because time has changed, the sun is rising from the western side or northern side, no. Knowledge means... That is Vedic knowledge. Established knowledge. It cannot be changed in any circumstance. That is Vedic knowledge. What was millions of years ago fact, it is fact now. So, tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). So in order to know that factual knowledge, one has to approach the bona fide spiritual master.
So there are two different, I mean to say, controller. One is guru and the other is the king or the government. When the... Now it is government. Government or the king, the same thing. Whatever government orders, you have to accept. There is no question of disobedience. So the aim... What is the... Why he should order and why one should accept the order? What is the purpose? The purpose is mal-loka-kāmo mad-anugrahārthaḥ. This is the ideal life. One should seek the benediction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. This is the aim of life. Mad-anugrahārthaḥ. And what is the benefit of pleasing Kṛṣṇa? Now, mal-loka-kāmo. He comes back. He is suffering in this material world. The same thing is there in every book of Vedic knowledge. In the Bhagavad-gītā also, the same thing stated, aprāpya māṁ nivartante mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani (BG 9.3). Two things are there: either you get the mercy of Kṛṣṇa or go to hell. Nivartante mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani. Two things are there. Aśraddhadhānāḥ puruṣā dharmasyāsya parantapa. Kṛṣṇa comes. Here is also Kṛṣṇa's incarnation, Ṛṣabhadeva. He is instructing. So Kṛṣṇa comes to instruct us. He becomes guru.
So therefore it is our little attempt that to train some boys to become first-class character. Śamo damo titikṣa. That is required in the society. Simply all fourth-class, fifth-class men, how the society will improve? That is not possible. And therefore, kas taṁ svayaṁ tad-abhijño vipaścid avidyāyām antare vartamānam. And one who is actually educated in the Vedic knowledge, how he can say that "You are all right"? He cannot say. He gives chance for being trained to be free from the avidyā. Avidyāyām antare. Śarīra avidyā-jāl. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has sung, śarīra avidyā-jāl. This material body is a network of avidyā, ignorance. Śarīra avidyā-jāl, jaḍendriya tāhe kāl. On account of this body of avidyā, ignorance, the blunt senses are simply... They have been described sometimes as kāla-sarpa.
Therefore we have to hear from the authorities, from Kṛṣṇa, that there is soul; there is ātmā; there is transmigration. And everything, what is spoken in the śāstra, they are fact, but we do not consult śāstra. We become scientists. We become philosophers. With gross understanding, dull understanding, poor understanding, how you can understand yourself and God? So there is no question of self-realization by your gross understanding. You have to understand by hearing. Therefore to get real knowledge is not by the eyes and senses but by the ear. Therefore Vedic knowledge is called śruti. You have to receive knowledge—śruti. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). Why? The guru means who is fully aware of the śruti, śrotriyam, one who has perfectly listened to his guru. Śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham. And by hearing only, he has become brahma-niṣṭham, without any doubt: "Yes, there is God. Yes." We have to approach such person who has perfectly listened to his... Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). So by śruti, by hearing oral reception. Just like there is practical example. Suppose you are sleeping, and somebody is coming to do you some harm, to kill you. But another person is warning you, "Please get up! Get up! Somebody is coming to kill you." But it will act, because while other senses are practically dead, the ear is working. By hearing, you can get up. This is practical.
So the meaning is clearly described in the translation. So the brāhmaṇas, why they are accepted as the supreme in the human society? On account of these qualities. We have discussed this point, that either brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, especially dvijottama... The brāhmaṇas are called dvijottama. Dvija-śreṣṭhā. Ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhā. Dvija means twice-born, one birth by the father and mother and the other birth by Vedic knowledge and spiritual master.
So Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means to bring him to the right position of consciousness. Consciousness we have got. The more it is covered, dull, it cannot respond. But it can be brought into the proper existence, and the process is hearing, hearing. Go on hearing, hearing. Kṛṣṇa has given us one chance, this ear. If we properly use it... Therefore Vedic knowledge is to be heard, hearing. Listen. It is therefore called śruti. The Vedic instruction has to be gotten from the right person through aural reception.
So this is the process, that we should engage our ear to receive the knowledge, Vedic knowledge, very attentively. And therefore we have to approach to the proper person and inquire and hear. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam. Tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā (BG 4.34). Not to hear like animal, but paripraśnena sevaya. Then our knowledge will be developed. This is the process.
So one may be very educated, very good scholar in Vedic knowledge, but if he does not accept Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, or Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead... Viṣṇu and Kṛṣṇa the same. Viṣṇu-tattva. Viṣṇu-tattva means the category of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ. Out of false hopes, they are trying to become successful. That is not possible. Durāśayā. Such kind of hope is useless hope.
So what is that thing? It is definition by negation. We cannot understand in our present state what is that spirit soul. Although we can perceive that there is something—in the absence of that something, this body is nothing but a lump of matter. That we get experience every day. But we cannot see what is that. Therefore atheist class or the persons with poor fund of knowledge, they deny the existence. They cannot see. But they cannot answer that why the body is no more working, what is that thing which is absent? They have tried to explain in so many ways how that something... But they could not practically explain. We have to understand it by the śruti process, Vedic knowledge. That is real understanding. And understanding from the right person, Kṛṣṇa or His representative. And it has to be understood simply by hearing. There is no other process. You cannot see; it is so small particle. Keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadhā kalpitasya ca (CC Madhya 19.140). So in these material eyes we cannot see even the spiritual spark within the body. How you can see the Supreme Spirit? It is not possible. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136). These blunt senses cannot see. But we can perceive. This much concession is there, and one can become completely free from bodily conception of life.
So we cannot understand what is a spiritual body at the present moment. We have to hear from the right source, Vedic knowledge. That is Vedic knowledge. Everything described about God, Kṛṣṇa, at the present moment is inconceivable. We cannot imagine. Long, long ago I was talking with one Ārya-samajī friend. So he did not believe that a lotus stem can grow on the navel of Viṣṇu and there is Brahmā born. Everyone says like that, "mythology." It is not mythology; it is fact. So I asked him that "Here we see one coconut tree, and about sixty feet above, there is coconut and there is water, there is pulp, and it is being carried from the ground. Where is the pipe? Where is the pump? How the water is there within the coconut? Can you explain?"
So unfortunately we are forgetting our culture; otherwise we have got a great mission, Indians, for the others, para-upakāra. They require the information of this Vedic knowledge, and they are now getting. They are appreciating. Therefore there is movement against it, but it is actual civilization. The Vedic culture is actual civilization, varṇāśrama-dharma. That is the beginning of civilization. Without Vedic culture and varṇāśrama-dharma it is animal civilization. When Rāmānanda Rāya and Caitanya Mahāprabhu was talking, Caitanya Mahāprabhu inquired from Rāmānanda Rāya, "What is the beginning of life?" Sādhya-sādhana."What is the object, objective of the ultimate goal of life, and how that objective of life is attained?"
Deity means Kṛṣṇa's Deity. Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's Deity is not different. The whole idea, spiritual knowledge, means to understand God. So vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyam (BG 15.15). That is the purpose of Vedic knowledge. So just to favor you... You cannot see now God. So Kṛṣṇa has come in Deity form to accept your service. And we have to render service. Not that it is a doll or stone, no. He is Kṛṣṇa. Because you cannot see at the present moment except stone and wood, He has accepted this form like stone and wood so that you can see and render service. This is the purpose of Deity worship.
Tad viddhi. First of all you try to learn. Tad viddhi. How to learn? Where to learn? Praṇipātena, fully surrendered. If you find somebody that he is somebody important where you can surrender fully, from him... Tad viddhi praṇipāta... This is. Our process of Vedic knowledge is how to surrender, not that I hear and I reject it. That is not the way. That is another rascaldom. First of all find out the person where you can surrender.
So where is education? There is no education. Real education is different, that one must know his own position and act accordingly. That you can get from Vedic knowledge.
- tad vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet
- samit-pāniḥ śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham
- (MU 1.2.12)
Brahma-niṣṭham. If one has no sense to understand Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or God consciousness, he is no better than the dog and cat. No credit. According to Vedic civilization anyone who is thinking, "I am this body," and doing accordingly—for the bodily pleasure he is working so hard—so that is not knowledge.
Suppose if you have got indigestion. You cannot digest food very nicely. So you have to eat such things which are easily digestible, or which may not cause acidity, flatulence, air. The doctor prescribes. So if you neglect those principles, then how you can be cured? Similarly, if you want to eradicate your ignorance, how miserable conditions are arising, problems are arising, and you do not try to subside them with real knowledge, how there can be solution of the problems? Try to understand. Just like if you do not follow the program given by the physician for curing your disease, you cannot be cured. If you violate the rules given by the doctor, then how you can expect cure of your disease? Similarly, if you do not think wisely, like wise man, as they're prescribed in the Vedic knowledge, how you can stop the problems of life? That is not possible. Simply by atonement there may be temporary suppression of something, but it will arise again. The same example can be given. The whole world is trying to stop war. But by some means like League of Nation, United Nation, but it is stopped for the time being, but again, after some years, there is huge war.
Twice-born. Once born by the father and mother, and the next birth is given by the spiritual master and Vedic literature. Vedic literature is the mother and the spiritual master is the father. As in every birth the necessity of father and mother is there, similarly, in this birth also, spiritual rebirth, there is necessity of mother and father. The mother is this Vedic knowledge, and the father is the spiritual master.
Everything. So this is..., these are the qualification of not dvija... Dvija is primary qualification of becoming a brāhmaṇa. Saṁskārād bhaved dvijaḥ. By saṁskāra, by the reformatory process, one is initiated—that is called dvija, dvitīya-janma. The spiritual master is the father, and the Vedic knowledge is the mother. This is called dvija, dvitīya-janma, second birth. So after being dvija, when the spiritual master sees that he is acquired sadācāra... Sadācāra means these four things: no illicit sex, no intoxication, no meat-eating, no gambling; taking bath thrice, rising early in the... These are called sadācāra. These are brahminical qualification.
So yesterday Śukadeva Gosvāmī said, "In this connection I shall cite the example, historical example, of Ajāmila." So historical reference. It is not fiction because Kānyakubja is still there. The city of Kānyakubja is still existing there, and the Bhāgavata was written five thousand years ago. So that means the city existed before five thousand... Kānyakubje. Kānyakubje dvijaḥ. Dvija means twice-born. First-born by the father and mother, and the next birth is dvijaḥ, means by the father, spiritual master, and the mother, Vedic knowledge. This is called second birth. Saṁskārād bhaved dvijaḥ. Saṁkāra means purificatory process. So that is human life, not that to beget a child. That begetting is going on by the cats and dogs.
So when he's trained up nicely, humble, self-controlled, educated, then his second birth, second birth by Vedic knowledge. Janmanā jāyate śūdraḥ saṁskārād bhaved dvijaḥ. Saṁskāra, reformatory. He has become humble, meek, well-versed in śāstra. When these all qualifications are there, then guru says, "Now I recognize you." Upanayana. Upa means near, and nayana means bringing. So gradually the spiritual master brings him nearer. Then, when he's actually trained up, then it is called... The sacred ceremony, upanayana, means he has now come nearer to understand Vedic knowledge.
So this kind of guru is going on. But you should know, guru means who carries the order of the Supreme Lord. That is guru. Any rascal who manufactures some idea is not guru. Immediately kick him out, immediately, that "This is a rascal. This is not a guru." Guru is here, as Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, āmāra ājñāya guru hañā (CC Madhya 7.128). Guru means the faithful servant of God. That is guru. So you have to first of all test that "Are you faithful servant of God?" If he says, "No, I am God," oh, kick him on his face immediately. (laughter) Kick him immediately, that "You are rascal. You have come to cheat us." Because test is there that guru means faithful servant of God, simple. You don't require large definition, what is guru. So Vedic knowledge gives you indication that tad-vijñānārtham. If you want to know the science of spiritual life, tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet (MU 1.2.12), you must approach guru. And who is guru? Guru means who is the faithful servant of God. Very simple.
Otherwise you remain impure. So another stool, cow stool, you say pure? This is contradiction. You say that the bone is impure, and you are keeping the bone in the Deity's room?" The conchshell is bone. You know this conchshell is a bone of an animal. So it is being used in the Deity room, and the cow dung is also used in the Deity room. Even Kṛṣṇa is smearing His whole body with cow dung. You know Kṛṣṇa's līlā. So if you say, argue, with your poor knowledge, then it becomes contradiction. One stool is good; another stool is bad. But because it is said by the Vedas, you have to accept it. This is Vedic knowledge. You cannot argue. There is no scope of argument. Whatever is said, you have to accept. Otherwise how Vedas become authority? You can change in your own way.
In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also it is said that tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam: (SB 11.3.21) "One who has actually become serious inquiring about supreme subject, uttamam..." Udgata tamaṁ yasmāt. In the material world, all knowledge is covered with illusion, and material world is known as tama. Tamasi mā jyotir gamaḥ. This is darkness. So real knowledge means which has surpassed this province of darkness, uttamam. Jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam: "Anyone who has become very much inquisitive to learn about the transcendental subject matter, he has to accept a guru." Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta (SB 11.3.21). Guru means you have to find out some personality who is well versed in the Vedic knowledge.
One who has very nicely heard, one who has acquired Vedic knowledge by the hearing process, śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham, and the result is that he is fully, firmly fixed up in Brahman. Bhagavad-gītā also says that tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā (BG 4.34). Tat. If you want to understand the spiritual knowledge, then you have to learn it by surrender, praṇipāta. Praṇipātena, paripraśnena and sevayā—these three things. You have to surrender. You have to inquire or make questions with service, not by challenging way. Upadekṣyanti tad-jñānaṁ jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ. Then you will be able to understand real spiritual knowledge.
So veda-praṇihitaḥ, this very word, is implicated with so many ideas of Vedic knowledge, but they have summarized that "Dharma means the injunctions of the Vedas." Dharmo... Veda-praṇihito dharmo hy adharmas tad viparyayaḥ, vedo nārāyaṇaḥ sākṣāt. Why Vedas should be taken so seriously? People question that "Vedas are written by some man."
So smṛti is not without Veda. Or Purāṇa... Sometimes people do not accept the Purāṇas as Vedic. No. Here it is said by Rūpa Gosvāmī, śruti-smṛti-purāṇādi (Brs. 1.2.101). They are all Vedas. Purāṇa means supplementary. Just like the Vedic knowledge is described in the Mahābhārata. It is in the form of history. But actually the Vedic knowledge is there. That is also stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, strī-śūdra-dvija-bandhūnāṁ trayī na śruti-gocaraḥ (SB 1.4.25). Strī, woman, śūdra, and dvija-bandhu... Dvija-bandhu means a person who is born in brāhmaṇa family but he is not advanced in spiritual knowledge. He is called dvija-bandhu. He is not called a brāhmaṇa. Strī, śūdra. And they are classified along with strī and śūdra. Strī-śūdra-dvija-bandhūnāṁ trayī na śruti-gocaraḥ. For these persons it is very difficult to understand the Vedic injunctions. Therefore the Vedic injunctions are sometimes made into historical stories. The stories, they are not fiction; they are fact. But some of the... Just like the Battle of Kurukṣetra between the Pāṇḍavas and the Kauravas, this is a fact. But the incidences are so nice that you can derive Vedic knowledge from them. And Bhagavad-gītā is within Mahābhārata.
To receive Vedic knowledge... Vedic knowledge means spiritual knowledge. Material knowledge also, the same process, any knowledge, especially spiritual knowledge. Because material things sometimes we can perceive directly because our body is material. But spiritual knowledge, unless you hear from the authority, there is no source of knowledge. You cannot understand. Because we do not see what is spirit. I am spirit, you are spirit, but I do not see your spirit soul, you do not see my spirit soul, because we have got material eyes. When somebody dies, one cries, "Oh, my father is gone. My father is gone." Where is your father gone? Your father is lying on the bed. Why do you say father gone? That means with these material eyes we cannot see spirit.
So the Absolute Truth is Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa is God, accepted in the Vedas. That is... Kṛṣṇa also says in the Bhagavad-gītā, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ (BG 10.8). From Vedic knowledge, you get all knowledge. So if you don't accept Kṛṣṇa as God, that is also your mistake. You do not know God, but here Kṛṣṇa presents Himself as God, and He is accepted by authorities. So you have to accept. If you say that "I don't accept Kṛṣṇa," then you have to present somebody else if you know God. And if you say that "I do not know what is God," then you have to accept Kṛṣṇa. Because you do not know. Here the authority says, "Kṛṣṇa is God." So you have to accept that. You cannot deny it. So Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and Kṛṣṇa means Nārāyaṇa. Therefore it is said, vedo nārāyaṇaḥ sākṣāt. Therefore knowledge or religion means what is ordained, what is described by the words of Kṛṣṇa, Nārāyaṇa.
So Vedas means coming from directly Nārāyaṇa, not that Brahmā has created. Brahmā has Vedas in his hand, but he has received it from Nārāyaṇa. That is the information we get. And... So Brahmā instructed his sons. Then they got the knowledge. The sons instructed to the grandsons. In this way, Vedic knowledge is coming. Therefore it is called paramparā, disciplic succession. We don't manufacture. We receive the knowledge, the perfect knowledge by disciplic succession, beginning from Nārāyaṇa.
You have all come here early in the morning, and... So does it mean that you are all fools? You have come to see a brass idol is being worshiped here? So anyone who considers the Deity as arcye śilā-dhīḥ, made of stone, made of brass, made of wood, that is nārakī-buddhiḥ. Arcye śilā-dhīḥ. Śilā. Śilā means stone. So those who are unaware of the Vedic knowledge, they consider that this is idol worship. It is not idol worship. It is directly worshiping the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord has, by His mercy, descended to accept your service.
A brāhmaṇa may be qualified in so many ways, but if he is not a Vaiṣṇava, then he cannot be a spiritual master. That is also stated in the śāstra: ṣaṭ-karma-nipuṇo vipraḥ. A brāhmaṇa is very qualified, ṣaṭ-karma. Ṣaṭ-karma, six kinds of activities. The six kinds of activities are paṭhana-pāṭhana yajana-yājana dāna-pratigraha. Paṭhana means he must be very much serious in understanding the Vedic literatures. That is brāhmaṇa's qualification, very much studious, high-class scholar in Vedic literature, paṭhana. And pāṭhana, he must teach the Vedic knowledge.
The Lord, in order to maintain this material world, how He has expanded, it is described in the śāstra. Eko 'py asau racayituṁ jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi. Jagad-aṇḍa means this universe. Aṇḍa: it is egglike. Aṇḍa means egglike, jagat-aṇḍa, the universe. So that universe is not one. We are seeing only one universe with our, these naked eyes, but when we see through the eyes of śāstra, authority... Śāstra-cakṣuṣāt. This is Vedic knowledge, that "Don't be simply after your, these defective eyes." What is the value of these eyes? There are so many things. Just like this morning we were discussing: you take photograph from the sea. What you will see? But there are many millions of fishes within the sea. What you will take, photograph?
The mother says, "My dear child, here is your father," and you see through the eyes: "Here is my father." So therefore real eyes—the ear, not these eyes. Real eyes. That is real seeing. Therefore śāstra says, Vedic knowledge, that śāstra-cakṣuṣāt, paśyati jñāna-cakṣuṣāt: "One can see by the eyes of knowledge," not by these blunt eyes. This is useless. They cannot see. And how you can see through the śabda? Śāstra means śabda.
So in order to convince Parīkṣit Mahārāja how chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is powerful, he is giving a lesson from the history, how Ajāmila was delivered simply by chanting "Nārāyaṇa." This is the incidence from the history. And it is history. The story begins, kānyakubje. Kānyakubja is still there in India. Perhaps you have heard the name of Kanpur. So that is within the Kānyakubja area. Kānyakubje dvijaḥ: "There was a brāhmaṇa in Kānyakubja." Historical name is all... So it is history. It is not story, mythology. No story. It is historical fact. Anything which is described in the śāstra... The Bhāgavata is Maha-Purāṇa. Don't be misled, "These are mythology." No, these are historical facts. And we have to learn the Vedic knowledge by the description selected from the history so that we can easily understand. This is the purpose.
So Vedānta, what is that Vedānta? That is explained by Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyam: (BG 15.15) "Vedas means to understand Me." That is Veda. If one does not understand Kṛṣṇa, his so-called Vedic knowledge or Vedānta knowledge is useless, śrama eva hi kevalam, simply labor.
Therefore a human being should be very, very cautious and conscious. They should not do anything irresponsibly. And how to work with responsibility and how to work irresponsibly? Therefore śāstra required. Śāstra, these books, Vedic knowledge, books, why they are? So that a human being may take advantage of it and he act responsibly or irresponsibly. If he works irresponsibly, then his punishment is awaiting, lower grade of life.
Now, these Yamadūtas explained about the past life of Ajāmila. His past life is described in this way, ayaṁ hi śruta-sampannaḥ: "This man, Ajāmila, was formerly, was a very learned scholar, brāhmaṇa." Śruta. Śruta means Vedic knowledge, and sampannaḥ means accomplished. So ayaṁ hi śruta-sampannaḥ śīla-vṛtta-guṇālayaḥ. "And very well behaved, properly situated in his position," dhṛta-vrata, "and avowedly following the regulative principles." So he was learned, he was well-behaved, and he was avowedly, strictly following the regulative principles. Mṛduḥ. Mṛdu means very gentle. Dāntaḥ: he had control over his senses. Satya-vāṅ: he was very truthful. Mantra vit śuciḥ: and he knew all the Vedic mantras and he was very clean.
So the Ajāmila later on became a great sinful person. Therefore he was to be taken to Yamarāja. But because he chanted at the end of his life "Nārāyaṇa," he became purified from all sinful activities. So the order-carriers of Nārāyaṇa came to deliver him, save him from the hands of the Yamadūta. So the Yamadūta is describing the history of Ajāmila in the past, how he was in the beginning. Because he was the son of a brāhmaṇa, his father trained up the brāhmaṇa boy like a brāhmaṇa. So as such, he got this training. What is that? Ayaṁ hi śruta-sampannaḥ: "This boy got training to become expert in Vedic knowledge." Śruta-sampannam. Śruta means Vedic knowledge, and sampannaḥ means finished. Within twelve years a brāhmaṇa's son is supposed to finished all the studies of Vedas, vyakāraṇa, grammar. That was education. From five years he is trained up. He goes to... Nowadays also, the children are sent to school at five years age, but the mode of education, different. Formerly, within twenty years a student, a brahmacārī, was trained up with all these qualifications, as it is described. What is that? The first is śruta-sampannaḥ, "expertly aware of Vedic knowledge." Ayaṁ hi śruta-sampannaḥ, śīla, śīla-vṛtta-guṇālayaḥ. Śīla means śuddhacara, cleansing. Because brāhmaṇa's qualification is śamo damo satam.
Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission is pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi-grāma. Caitanya Mahāprabhu never instructed that "You should limit your preaching within your society or within your country." He is asking, pṛthīvite āche yata nagarādi-grāma: "As many villages and towns are there on the surface..." (aside:) That's all right. Don't be disturbed. Sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma. This is the mission. This is Vedic knowledge. Sarva-bhūta-suhṛt. You should become... (pause)
Brāhmaṇa means Vaiṣṇava. Brāhmaṇa means paṇḍita. Therefore two words are used along with the word brāhmaṇa: brāhmaṇa-vaiṣṇava, brāhmaṇa-paṇḍita. Śruta-sampannaḥ. The first qualification is śruta-sampannaḥ. He must be learned scholar in Vedic... Vedic knowledge means śruti. So that is the first qualification. Ayaṁ hi śruta-sampannaḥ. So therefore brāhmaṇa is paṇḍita. Without becoming a paṇḍita, how one can become brāhmaṇa? Śruta-sampannaḥ. Śruta-sampannaḥ, then guru, agni, very respectful to spiritual master, agni, the fire... Because a brāhmaṇa has to make fire sacrifice every day.
Benefit. So the man killer, will he take that benefit? If somebody comes that "I shall kill you for your benefit," that he will be afraid of. But he is philosophizing, "mercy-killing." This is going on. So one should be respectful also to the old men. According to Vedic knowledge, brāhmaṇa, old men, child, woman, and cow—they have no fault. They are free. They are not within this jurisdiction of law. So therefore cow-killing, brāhmaṇa-killing, woman-killing, and elderly-person-killing, they are accepted as the great sinful activities. So gurv-agny-atithi-vṛddhānāṁ śūśrūṣur anahaṅkṛtaḥ. Anahaṅkṛtaḥ, not with any pride or puffedness, anahaṅkṛtaḥ, very humbly. Sarva-bhūta-suhṛtam. This is the most exalted qualification, to become well-wisher of all living entities, not that we open hospitals for the human being and we send the cows to the slaughterhouse or poor animals should be slaughtered. That is not suhṛt sarva-bhūtānām. That is partiality and it has no meaning.
So this person... There are many important words in this verse, and it can be explained for a long time. The one word is that stambhayann ātmanā ātmānam. Just like a thief is going to steal. He also tries to control him: "I am going to steal. The after-effect will be that I will be arrested, and I will have to go to jail, and it is forbidden by śāstra and human laws also, state laws. So I am going to steal. There is risk." Actually there is risk. But this consciousness beats him, but he cannot control. This is the position. He cannot control. He knows everything, but still, he steals. The same thing happened here. Here it is said, na śaśāka samādhātum. He was a brāhmaṇa, learned brāhmaṇa. He knew that "I am being agitated by these sex desires. It is not good. It is not good." Yathā-śrutam. Śruta. Śruta means Vedic knowledge. He had sufficient education in Vedic knowledge.
This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission. Those who have taken birth in India, Bhāratabhūmi, they should make their life perfect by understanding the Vedic knowledge. And the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa comes here to teach the Vedic knowledge. He left Bhagavad-gītā. Then Vyāsadeva developed the idea of Kṛṣṇa consciousness from Bhagavad-gītā, Vedānta-sūtra, into Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. Bhāṣyayaṁ brahma-sutrānām. So we have got this advantage, and we are giving up these advantages. First of all, the advantage is that we are born in India, and we have got the stock of knowledge left by great sages, ṛṣis and the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And you are not taking advantage of it. How much foolish we are becoming by so-called education, we should understand that. It is graha-grasta. We are thinking that... Our leaders are thinking that India, becoming too much religiously conscious, they have been poverty-stricken. No. That is not the fact. By Kṛṣṇa's desire, by Kṛṣṇa's will, everyone is provided.
So the Vedic injunction, tattva-jijñāsā, that is the first aphorism in the Vedānta-sūtra. Athāto brahma-jijñāsāḥ: "The human form of life is meant for inquiring about the Absolute Truth." Therefore Bhāgavata explains, jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā. That is the explanation of Brahma-sutra. Therefore you will find at the end of each chapter of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, śrīmad-bhāgavate mahā-purāṇe brahma-sutra-bhasye. The Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is the real comment on Brahma-sutra, Vedānta-sūtra. Vedānta-sūtra was compiled by Vyāsadeva. He summarized all the Vedic knowledge, summarized all Vedic knowledge into Brahma-sutra, in nutshell. Then he was not satisfied, although he made so many Purāṇas, Mahābhārata, Brahma-sutra, Upaniṣads and... Means these were correct. He wrote into letters in the book. Being compassionate on the people of this age, all fools and rascals—they have no good memory—therefore he compiled all these Vedas into writing. Before that, there was no writing.
Why an impersonalist, although very advanced in knowledge, in Vedic knowledge, still he does not know what is Kṛṣṇa? He inquires, "What is God?" Just see. God is canvassing, "Here I am," and he is inquiring, "What is God?" So this is our misfortune. Why they cannot realize? Duṣkṛtina. Duṣkṛtina means acting sinfully. Specifically denying the existence of God. That is the greatest offense. Suppose you are a gentleman, and if I say, "You are blind. You are lame. You are handless. You are armless. You have no head. You are...," will you be sat..., happy? Will anybody be happy? Similarly, those persons who are describing the Absolute Personality of Godhead, "He has no eyes..." In other words, he is blind. "He has no hand" mean armless. "He has no leg," then he is lame man. "He has no tongue." In this way it is the definition by negation, and after all, make it zero. If you cut my hand, leg, my head, my eyes, ears, then what I remain?
Therefore Brahma-saṁhitā says, advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyam purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca vedeṣu durlabha (Bs. 5.33). Simply by Vedic knowledge it is very difficult to understand what is Govinda. Vedeṣu durlabha adurlabha ātma-bhaktau: "But He is available from His pure devotees." So here the same thing is stated by Yamarāja. Yaṁ vai na gobhir manasāsubhir vā hṛdā girā vāsu-bhṛto vicakṣate. So ātmānaṁ jīvanam ātmānaṁ draṣṭāraṁ yam akṛtayaḥ rūpāṇi cakṣur yathā karma-bhūtaṁ na jānanti tataḥ param akṛtinaṁ prakāśakaṁ na hi pramata-pramāṇasya viṣaya iti. Bhāla. So our bhakti process is not to try to see God personally. Just like the karmīs, they challenge, "If we can see eye to eye, God?"
As I described the other day that there are twelve authorities. Out of them, Śukadeva Gosvāmī himself is one of the authorities. But still, he is citing the authority of Kṛṣṇa. That is the way of presenting things. That is called Vedic knowledge, that you must giving... Whatever you say, it must be supported by the authority. Just like a good lawyer. He gives good evidence from other courts' judgement, authority. So Śukadeva Gosvāmī said that "This very question was inquired by your grandfather, Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, to Kṛṣṇa because they were put into so many calamities, the Pāṇḍavas. Kṛṣṇa was their personal friend. Still, they were put into so many calamities for which they had to fight forcibly." So Kṛṣṇa answered. When Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira inquired "Why this contradiction? The Vaiṣṇava, who is worshiper of the most opulent personality, Viṣṇu, they appear to be poorer, whereas the worshiper of Lord Śiva, who appears to be poorer than ordinary man, they become very richer. Why?"
So Prahlāda Mahārāja, a great devotee, he's in the line of disciplic succession. He's considered one of the great ācāryas. An authority, ācārya. And who is ācārya? Ācārya means one who knows the intricacies of Vedic knowledge and he personally behaves in terms of that knowledge and teaches his disciple in terms of that knowledge. Ācārya means the person whose behavior is to be followed. Not that as we follow somebody according to our taste. Not like that. That ācārya comes in the standard disciplic succession. So ācārya. So this Prahlāda Mahārāja, we are discussing the instruction of Prahlāda Mahārāja because he happens to be one of the stalwart ācāryas. And the names of such ācāryas, authorized ācāryas, are also mentioned in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
And in the Brahma-saṁhitā—Lord Brahmā, he wrote Brahma-saṁhitā—it is clearly explained there, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1), anādir ādiḥ. Anādir ādir govindaḥ sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1). And Kṛṣṇa also says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya (BG 7.7). Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo (BG 10.8). Sarvasya means including all the devatās, all the living entities, everything. And the Vedānta says, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). So Kṛṣṇa is the absolute Supreme Person, īśvaraḥ paramam, from Lord Brahma. He is the distributor of Vedic knowledge, and Kṛṣṇa says also, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyam (BG 15.15). This is ultimate goal.
Just like we are studying the outer space, so many scientists are studying. But still they cannot give any perfect information of all the planets. Although we see, actually, we are seeing daily. Take for example the sun planet. We see every morning the sun is there. But actually we do not know what is the sun planet. There are, may be so many theories, but actually, we do not know what is the sun planet. But we can understand from the Vedic literature. The sun planet is as good as this planet. There are also cities, towns, houses, and population, and it is very big. This information we get from the Vedic knowledge. Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, Kṛṣṇa says that, imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam (BG 4.1). "This knowledge of Bhagavad-gītā, I spoke first to the sun-god. His name is Vivasvān." Vivasvān manave prāha. "And that Vivasvān explained this knowledge to his son Manu." Manur ikṣvākave 'bravīt. "And Manu also explained the same knowledge to his son, Mahārāja Ikṣvāku, King Ikṣvāku." He's the forefather of the kṣatriya dynasty in which Lord Rāmacandra appeared. So we get this knowledge from the Vedas, perfectly.
There are so many things, just like the forms of life, how many form of life are there. That is stated in the Vedic knowledge. 8,400.000 species. Jalajā nava-lakṣāni. In the water, there are 900,000 forms of life. It does not say one million or eleven hundred or, no, exactly. Nine hundred. Jalajā nava-lakṣāni sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Sthāvarā means the living entities which cannot move. Just like the trees, plants, they are also living entities, but they cannot move. They are called sthāvarā. Two millions. Now where is the botanist who can give exact information how many plants and trees are there? But you get fully, full information. Sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ. This is the evolutionary process, from aquatics to the plant life, then insect life, kṛmayo. Rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ. Rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ means eleven hundred thousand. Pakṣiṇāṁ daśa-lakṣaṇam.
So anyway, it is our attempt to give you the ripened fruit of Vedic knowledge. This is our attempt. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is just distributing the ripened fruit of Vedic knowledge. So Vedic knowledge, the ultimate goal of Vedic knowledge is to know God. Not only Vedic, any scripture, any book of knowledge. So the ultimate goal of knowledge is to know God. If you do not... Because this human form of life is meant for that purpose. That is explained here by Prahlāda Mahārāja: kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha (SB 7.6.1). This Prahlāda Mahārāja, he was a small boy, five years old. Somehow or other, he was enlightened in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and at the age of five years old, he was going to school and he was trying to preach this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement in the school. I'm especially reading these verses because it is university, a school for teaching to the students. So Prahlāda Mahārāja says that this teaching of this learning of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, should begin from very childhood.
But Vedic civilization is not like that. Vedic civilization is how to rescue him from this disease, bhava-roga. Bhava-roga, to cure this bhava-roga, Caitanya Mahāprabhu has also prescribed, and it is since the creation, Vedic knowledge is that bhavauṣadhi. Nivṛtta-tarṣair upagīyamānād (SB 10.1.4). This chanting of the holy name of the Lord is called nivṛtta tarṣair upagīyamānād. This chanting can be performed by nivṛtta tarṣair, one who has ceased from all kinds of tṛṣṇa, or desire: sarvopādhi vinirmuktam (CC Madhya 19.170) or anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11).
So in this way, if we study through the śāstra, everything is there. If you want to find out the Absolute Truth, how? Śāstra cakṣuṣāt. Through the śāstras, through the Vedic knowledge, you'll find the Absolute Truth. If we actually accept that Veda means knowledge... Vetthi veda vida jñāne. Veda means knowledge, jñāna. So Veda-anta, the last, last phase of knowledge. The last phase of knowledge is the Absolute Truth. You have to go up to that. So that Absolute Truth, if you go on speculating, panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara-sampragamyo (Bs. 5.34), that will not be possible. Śata-vatsara-sampragamyo, by hundreds and hundreds of years, if you go on with speed... What is that speed? Panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara-sampragamyo vāyor athāpi. Airplane, vāyor athāpi. And what is the speed? Vāyor athāpi, panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara sampragamyo vāyor athāpi manaso. By the speed of air and mind. Mind is very speedy. You are sitting here, you can immediately remember ten thousand miles away, it is so speedy. So even by the mind's speed you cannot, by going over the space, koṭi-śata-vatsara, many millions of years still it remains unknown. So this is not the way to understand the Absolute truth, but if we accept the Vedic process, avaroha panthā, when the knowledge comes from the Absolute Truth, then it is possible.
Several times we have discussed. There are 8,400,000 of species of life. Out of these, trees and plants they are two millions. And the aquatics, there are 900,000's. Similarly, the bacteria, worms and reptiles, they are sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati kṛmayo rudra-saṇkhayakāḥ, eleven..., 1,100,000's. There are analytical study in the Vedic knowledge. They are experimented, and if you like, can experiment yourself also. Just like the information is that there are 900,000's of aquatics. Now, if you have got power to study how many aquatics are there, you can corroborate. Or two millions of plants and trees and creepers—that also, you can corroborate. But we get from Vedic literature these informations. So these are the different manufactures, different presentation of this interaction of these twenty-four elements. Dehas tu sarva-saṅghāto jagat tasthur iti dvidhā. And this deha, this body, is divided into two classes of body: one class, moving, and one class, not moving, standing stationary.
He's therefore known as prajā-pati or called pitā-maha, grandfather, prajā-pati. He is the origin of everything. The Darwin's theory, a rascal theory, that there was no life, but according to Vedic knowledge there were the best life, Brahmā. From there begins life, and gradually they become degraded, material contamination. Not that there was no life. From low type of living condition one is elevated higher and higher. That is a wrong theory. The real theory is that life begins from the most exalted person, Lord Brahmā, prajā-pati.
The living entity which is moving the body, that is superior energy. So they have no information, neither there is an attempt to understand that superior energy in their universities or institution. Therefore they are mūḍha, mūḍhas. They may be very much puffed up of their so-called knowledge, but according to Vedic knowledge they are mūḍhas. And if one cannot understand the superior energy, prakṛti, nature, then how one can understand God? That is not possible. Then again, dealings between God and the superior energy, that is bhakti. It is very difficult. Manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye (BG 7.3). That siddhaye means to understand that superior energy. That is siddhi. And after that, one can understand Kṛṣṇa.
So brahmādayaḥ, Brahma is ādi, ādi-kavi. He was instructed by Kṛṣṇa, tene brahma ādi-kavaye. Lord Kṛṣṇa, He instructed Brahma to spread knowledge, Vedic knowledge, all over the universe. Tene. Tene means broadcasted, expanded. So tene brahma, brahma means śabda-brahma, Vedas. Hṛda, one may question how Brahma was instructed. So that is also stated, hṛda. Hṛda means from within the heart. So, therefore, Kṛṣṇa is also caitya-guru, a guru, spiritual master, within the heart. Sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭhaḥ. In the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa says that "I am situated in everyone's heart."
He has ordered all Indians, manuṣya janma. All Indians means those who have taken birth as human beings. Janma sārthaka kari. This is very important. The Indians, they have got the opportunity of making their life successful because the spiritual knowledge, the spiritual treasurehouse, is there in India. So janma sārthaka kara para-upakāra. First of all you learn yourself what is Vedic knowledge, what is spiritual life, and go and distribute to the rest of the world, para-upakāra. They are suffering. This is the mission of Lord Caitanya.
This verse we have been discussing. (aside:) You can open. So vipra. Vipra means one who is fully conversant with Vedic knowledge. He is called vipra. For spiritual elevation there are gradual evolutionary stages. So vipra stage is just before becoming a qualified brāhmaṇa. That is called vipra. The first stage, by birth everyone is śūdra. Śūdra means affected by the miseries of this world. He is śūdra. Śocati. The material condition is full of anxiety, so anyone who is full of anxiety, he is śūdra. This is the... So if you analyze the present society, that who is not anxiety, full of anxiety, oh, nobody will say that "I am not full of anxiety." "I have got so many anxieties." So that means he is a śūdra. Kalau śūdra-sambhavaḥ: "In this age, everyone is śūdra." That is concluded. A brāhmaṇa is not afraid. He is not anxious because he is dependent on God. He knows that "I have surrendered unto God completely, and He is all-powerful. Therefore I have no anxiety." Just like a small child, he has no anxiety. Why? Because he is completely dependent on the parents. He knows confidently that in any danger, "Oh, my mother is there." As soon as he feels there is some danger, "Mother!"
The birds are called also dvija because they get twice birth. Once they come as egg, the form of birth in the egg, and then, when they come out from the egg and the shell, break the shell and come out, that is real life. Similarly, we are in the egg, within the shell of ignorance. So when we come out from the shell of ignorance, that is our second birth. The first birth is by father and mother, and the second birth is by the spiritual master and Vedic knowledge. There is also mother. The Vedic knowledge is mother, and the spiritual master is the father. So saṁskārād bhaved dvijaḥ. The spiritual master trains the student gradually. That is called initiation. That is called dvija. Janmana jāyate śūdraḥ: "By birth by the father and mother, everyone is śūdra." It doesn't matter where he takes his birth, not that only India they are brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra. Everywhere. Cātur-varṇyam mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). In the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find that these four system of social division—brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra—they are all over the universe, not that... Don't think that it is in India. Everywhere.
Whatever we are seeing, the manifestation, expansion, this is Brahman. You can have little idea of the sky, but the sky which you are seeing, it is very little fraction, fragment, of the whole sky, Brahman sky. So Brahman is so great, and Brahman can expand. Bṛhatvāt. That which is greater than the greatest, and that which can expand unlimited, that is called Brahman. But in the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find Kṛṣṇa says, brahmaṇo 'haṁ pratiṣṭha, that "I am the resort of Brahman. Brahman is resting upon Me." So who is greater? Kṛṣṇa or Brahman? You'll find in the Bhagavad-gītā, brahmaṇo 'haṁ pratiṣṭha. Just like the sunshine. The sunshine is distributed all over the universe. According to Vedic knowledge, the sunshine is distributing its shining all over the universe, and the stars or the moons, they're glittering, being reflected by the sun.
So Prahlāda Mahārāja is requesting Lord Nṛsiṁha that "Now You can become peaceful because the disturbing element, my father, is now finished." So there are two missions when Kṛṣṇa appears, incarnation: paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām (BG 4.8). This material world is a field of activity for the persons who have forgotten Kṛṣṇa. But there are regulative principles, Vedic knowledge. If we act according to the regulative principle, then we can enjoy. Not actually enjoy, but we think we enjoy. Because in the material world, there is nothing enjoyable for the spirit soul. Just like a fish, it is an animal of the water. It has nothing to enjoy on the land. So if, by mistake, a fish thinks that "I shall become an elephant and enjoy in the land," that is not possible. Similarly, we spirit soul, ahaṁ brahmāsmi, we are all Brahman, and we have nothing to do with this material world.
One must try to learn what is the ultimate source of everything, not that theorizing or, what is called, imagining something. Take knowledge from the right source, brahma-vidyā, the Vedic knowledge, and try to understand the situation, what is Brahman, what you are. We are also Brahman. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. These things are to be known. And when we neglect to understand these things, that means we are going to the wrong way of life. The wrong way of life can be allowed up to the animal life. Out of 8,400,000 forms of life, the animal life, three million types of animal life, by evolutionary process we come to the human life. Now we should inquire about spiritual life. That is civilization. Without spiritual life, without inquiring the spiritual life, it is animal life. Sa eva go-kharaḥ (SB 10.84.13). So try to understand this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. And spiritual life means to understand Kṛṣṇa. That is spiritual life. Kṛṣṇa comes to explain Himself. And hear from Him and understand Him as He says. Then, as soon as you understand Kṛṣṇa, your life is successful. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.
So if you study this point only, you'll see the whole world is full of fools and rascals, that's all, because everyone is identifying with his body. There is fight, the United Nation. What is this United Nation nonsense? Assembly of rascals and fools, that's all. (laughter) Because they have got this bodily concept of life we can say, freely. There is no—what is called?—defaming. Everyone, fools and rascals. How we can say? On the strength of Vedic knowledge. This is our power. Otherwise how we can challenge the United Nation that "You are all assembly of fools and rascals"? This is Vedic knowledge. We can say and prove it, that they are all fools and rascals from the spiritual point of view because they do not know their identification.
Nondevotees, they call—what is?—"mythology." It is not mythology; it is all fact. But foolish people who do not know how Kṛṣṇa or His confidential devotee act, they do not know it. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said that ye bhaje sei baḍa abhakta hīna chāra: "One who is devotee, he is exalted. And those who are not devotees, they are low grade," hīna chāra, "condemned." So nobody can be exalted personality without Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is not possible. This is the verdict of the Vedic knowledge. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇā mano-rathena āsato dhāvato bahiḥ: (SB 5.18.12) "Those who are not devotees of the Lord, they cannot have any good qualities." That is not possible.
So ordinarily you see heaps of dirt, but everything is there. Similarly, ordinarily we see this universe, but in every atom there is Kṛṣṇa. That was realized by Brahmā. Then he became the great personality to teach us. Tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye, In this way he instructed ādi-kavi, the first learned man-kavi means learned man—Brahma, Vedic knowledge. So there was no other teacher. Kṛṣṇa taught him. Therefore we belong to the Brahma-sampradāya. Kṛṣṇa instructed Brahmā. Brahmā instructed Nārada. Nārada instructed Vyāsadeva. Vyāsadeva instructed Śukadeva. In this way our guru-paramparā system... Therefore we worship the guru as Vyāsa-pūjā because representative of Vyāsa. And who is Vyāsa? Representative of Nārada. What is Nārada? Representative of Brahmā. What is Brahmā? Representative of Kṛṣṇa. This is called paramparā system.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: "My dear Lord, when You appeared as Hayagrīva with a head like that of a horse to kill the two demons named Madhu and Kaiṭabha, who were full of the modes of passion and ignorance, after killing the demons You delivered the Vedic knowledge to Lord Brahmā. Therefore all the great saintly persons accept Your forms as transcendental, untinged by material qualities."
Prabhupāda:
- tasmai bhavān haya-śiras tanuvaṁ hi bibhrad
- veda-druhāv atibalau madhu-kaiṭabhākhyau
- hatvānayac chruti-gaṇāṁś ca rajas tamaś ca
- sattvaṁ tava priyatamāṁ tanum āmananti
- (SB 7.9.37)
So spiritual kingdom is beyond this material world made of three modes of material nature, sattva-rajas-tamaḥ. So when incarnation of the Supreme Lord comes... Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati (BG 4.7). Kṛṣṇa has given us.
So this is going on. As soon as there is creation... Brahmā was created and he was given the Vedic knowledge. Tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye. We get it. Brahmā was born. He was to establish the kingdom of God or, as Brahmā was born, the other living entities also were in the body of Garbhodakaśayī Viṣṇu. They were also to take birth later on. And before their birth, Brahmā was instructed Vedic knowledge. Vedic knowledge means these bewildered living entities struggling for existence may get Vedic knowledge so that they can revive their old, original Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is the purpose of Vedic knowledge. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyam (BG 15.15). The Vedic... What is Vedic knowledge? Vedic knowledge means to revive our Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is Vedic knowledge. If you revive your Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is the perfection of Vedic knowledge. But if you read only Vedas and perform formalities, ritualistic ceremonies, but you do not awaken your Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is useless waste of time.
So human life is meant for understanding the Supreme, our connection with the Supreme Being. That is real human life. Therefore the Vedas are there. So as soon as Brahmā was born... Because he is in charge of this universe... There are innumerable universes and innumerable Brahmās also. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa koṭi (Bs. 5.40). Yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ (Bs. 5.48). So Brahmā is jagad-aṇḍa-nātha. He's the chief person within this material world, in this universe. So he is in charge; therefore he was given the Vedic knowledge. And he got the Vedic knowledge, but at the same time, two demons known as Madhu-Kaiṭabha, they wanted to snatch away, take away the Vedic mantras from Brahmā. This is the attempt from the very beginning. The devotees following the disciplic succession of Brahmā... Just like we are. We belong to the Brahma-sampradāya. Several times I have explained. So our original guru is Brahmā, Svayambhū.
So here is the example, that Brahmā was given the Vedic knowledge. Tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye. Brahmā is ādi-kavi. He's the first learned man within this universe. We do not follow this nonsense Darwin's theory. Our beginning of this creation is from the most learned man, Brahmā, not from the monkey. (laughter) We do not follow this rascal philosophy. We do not follow. So our beginning is Lord Brahmā, a devotee of Kṛṣṇa, empowered to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness, Vedic knowledge. Why Vedas there? Anādi bahirmukha jīva kṛṣṇa bhuli gela, ataeva kṛṣṇa veda-purāṇa karilā. So Veda-Purāṇa is required. Why the Vedas are there for us? To revive our Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And the gist of the Vedas, the śāstra, is Bhagavad-gītā, sarva-śāstra vinijya (?). So if we read Bhagavad-gītā carefully, spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and follow it according to the direction of the Brahmā and his disciplic succession, then Kṛṣṇa will give you all protection from the demons. There is no doubt. That is Kṛṣṇa's business. He said, yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata (BG 4.7). Dharmasya glāniḥ means discrepancy in the matter of understanding Vedas. That is dharmasya glāniḥ.
So we must follow śruti-smṛti-purāṇādi-śāstra-vidhi. Kṛṣṇa condemns such persons, rascals, who do not accept this śāstra-vidhi and manufacture something. This rascal has spoiled the whole world. No. Śāstra-vidhi, the Vedic knowledge. Anādi bahirmukha jīva kṛṣṇa bhuli gela, ataeva kṛṣṇa veda-purāṇa karilā. So we have to take protection of the Vedic knowledge, and that is summarized, and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the ripened fruit of Vedic knowledge. Nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalaṁ idam (SB 1.1.3). Kalpa-taru, the tree... You get a tree. You protect tree. So this Vedic knowledge is called kalpa-taru. Kalpa-taru means whatever you want, you can get from the tree. Here we have got experience, you can get mango from the mango tree, but a kalpa-taru, you can get mango, apple, pineapple, anything. That is called kalpa-taru. So from the Vedas you can get all kinds of knowledge—material, spiritual, anything.
So if we read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Bhagavad-gītā, these two literatures, then we get all Vedic knowledge, and then we can revive our Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And to do this business there is no difficulty. Kṛṣṇa will give you all protection, provided you remain, I mean to say, adhere to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa.
Puṣṭa-Kṛṣṇa: (reading) "...authorized Vedic knowledge one can see the cause and effect of the cosmic manifestation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, because the cosmic manifestation is also His energy. Both of them are different energies of the Lord and nothing else. The wise man can see how the fire is spread within the wood by consideration of cause and effect. Similarly, persons engaged in devotional service understand, O my Lord, how You are both the cause and effect."
Now, in order to approach a bona fide spiritual master, one must be very much disgusted with this material way of life. That is very nice qualification. Unless one is disgusted with this materialistic way of life, that actually in this materialistic way of life there is no happiness... This proposition must be convinced by one, that he should know certainly that "In the material way of life I cannot become happy." This is the first condition. Tasmād. Tasmād means "therefore." Similarly, in Vedānta-sūtra also, atha ataḥ brahma-jijñāsā. When we become fed up, disgusted with the materialistic way of life, natural inquiry is then "What is next?" That "next," in order to understand that "next," the Vedānta-sūtra says, the Vedic knowledge says that tasmād gurum evābhigacchet. Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta. Therefore one should seek after a bona fide spiritual master and learn there.
Yes. Vedas means from the beginning of creation. Brahma, the first living creature, he was impregnated with Vedic knowledge by Kṛṣṇa. And that is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye. Ādi kavi means the first living creature, Brahma. In his heart, hṛdā... Hṛdā means heart. Tene, impregnated. Brahma, brahma means Vedic knowledge. So he was the first living creature. So one may inquire that how he was educated in Vedic knowledge, because there was no other living being. So therefore it is stated, tene brahma hṛdā. Hṛdā means from within. There is education from within and without. From within the Supersoul gives you education. Kṛṣṇa gives you education. Not to everyone. Who is devotee, to him, the Lord speaks from within. And from without, the spiritual master. So both ways we are getting opportunity for learning Vedic knowledge, from without, from within. And if still we don't take advantage of it, then it is our misfortune. The spiritual master is considered to be the outward expression of the Supersoul. God is so kind that He is within, giving you education, provided you are prepared to hear.
There was only one flag, only one ruler, one scripture, Vedic scripture, and the Aryans, Arya, they were the civilized persons. You Europeans, Americans, you are also Aryans. Indo-European stock. Mahārāja Yayāti, grandson of Mahārāja Parīkṣit, he gave to his two sons the portion of eastern Europe, Greek and Roman. That is the history, Mahābhārata. Mahābhārata means great India. So there was no different religion. One religion, Vedic religion. Vedic religion means to accept the Supreme Personality of Godhead as the Supreme Person Absolute Truth. This is Vedic religion. Those who have read Bhagavad-gītā, it is said there in the Fifteenth Chapter, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyam (BG 15.15). Vedic knowledge means to understand God. This is Vedic religion.
| Page Title: | Vedic knowledge (Lectures, SB) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, Partha-sarathi, Rishab |
| Created: | 03 of Oct, 2010 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=240, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 240 |